Seeecrenecenrornieens Spereg erent career eres — Sete eter Saar sna gn ~~ paar raretnnr ar NET, Se ee . ” eae eas colnet Se a eS TE Oa os Sralietenine tem een carta eon tg : ee ~ Toe gre oe Sa alas: - = terrae ret aatane aga ee cman gree gap rekon aD whee ae we, Van 98 Chae eweeh we ee 2 > emer eae ae ee a ao in oe) ¥ ~ pene ead incre hn atstatgraesehss oases aaa en mh wa etna «) Tabla reer np etvtaralandsseneesbsaenes pets - ~ “ eer te rash abet wrenavene hao whe banare abana Raheey-Siosinancach ebenenet Rohan en tu0e® pashegsyesDntareht eben a nube ve. Norn oon : : rahi aanstasacaatometiamananiaeareercic iengurshsstntchanyreeetsioeeaeep tsar y — eivnenrenoeneness eee 3 ji sartcbeiyy bse) sense Ss yay f min 7 NA nh Wl “Vie Hi ha op Supplement to Nature, af F f December 10, 1896 ’ Nature AoE EISIY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE VOEUNEE. Ey MAY 1896 to OCTOBER 1896 “To the sclid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—\WORDSWORTH Fondon . : ~~ ws\AW iNStd > Ps 6" . MEAG Vole Aun ACN DC ©. Liwrrsep Vay t NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY i? \ \) ¢ : * i ie SE warional © a — - yy. ene ube (07 Hoe 4 ‘eth ‘ oe ~ RICHARD CLA : LONDON A ie i, ‘* hae * is ’ ts *% SA, 4 a Supplemen € { Decemi Aspe (Prof. Cleveland), Evaporation, 283 Abbott (Dr. George), Proposed Union of South-eastern (English) Natural History Societies, 16; on a Plan for the Organisation of Local Natural History Societies, 636 Abbott's (Dr. W. L.) Natural History Collections, 423 Aberration and Atmospheric Refraction, an Investigation on, G. C. Comstock, 426 Abney (Capt. W. de W., F.R.S.), Spectrum Photography with Capt. Abney’s Colour Patch Apparatus, 37; Becquerel’s Colour Photographs, 125 Abram (Dr.), on Detection of Lead in Organic Fluids, 636 Absorption Force, Distance Action of, W. Miiller-Erzbach, 456 Acetylene, Laboratory use of, A. E. Munby, 414; on the Limiting Explosive Proportions of Acetylene, and Detection and Measurement of this Gas in the Air, Prof. F. Clowes, 583 ; Explosive Properties of, MM. Berthelot and Vieille, 591 ; Ex- plosion in Paris, 597 Ackroyd (William), the Old Light and the New, 76, 173 Acoustics: Barisal Guns, 102 ; Sir Edw. Fry, F.R.S., 8; New Synchronising Sound Generator, Joseph Goold, 36; The Determination of Overtones, C. Stumpf, 45; Diminution of Sound-Intensity with Distance, K. L. Schaefer, 45 ; Remark- able Sounds, Kumagusu Minakata, 78; the Direction of Signals at Sea, E. Hardy, 373; Prof McKendrick on the Application of the Phonograph to the Analysis of Sound, 633 Acquired Characters, the Ankle-Joint in Man, and the Inherit- ance of, Prof. Retzius, 162 Adulteration, Food, Réntgen Rays as Detector of, W. Arnold, 356 Aerators, Read, Campbell, and Co.’s, 37 Aérodrome, Prof. Langley’s, 61 Aeronautics : the Aeronautical Annual, 1896, 25 ; Zur Mechanik des Vogelfluges, Dr. Fr. Ahlborn, 25; Prof. Langley’s Aérodrome, 61 ; Experiments in. Mechanical Flight, Prof. S. P. Langley, Prof. Alexander Graham Bell, 89; André’s Polar Expedition, 81 ; Flying Engines, Hon. Chas. A. Parsons, 148 5 the Death of Herr Lilienthal, 371; Prof. A. du Bois Reymond, 413; Sailing Flight, Dr. R. von Lendenfeld. 436 ; the Dune Park Experiments, Octave Chanute and A, M. Hering, 518; Accident to William Paul, 577 Africa: a Naturalist in Mid-Africa, G. F. E. Scott Elliot, 5; Geology of British East, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 38; Paleolithic Implements from Somaliland, H. W. Seton-Karr, 92; the South African Museum, 107; Cattle Plague in Africa, Sir John Kirk, F.R.S., 171; the Preservation of Rare Cape Plants, Sir F. von Mueller, 184; a Geological Sketch Map of Africa South of the Zambesi, E. P. T. Struben, through Jungle and Desert, Travels in Eastern Africa, W. A. Chanler, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 313; the Great Rift Valley, Dr. J. W. Gregory, Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 347; Hausaland, C. H. Robinson, 364; Ruined Temples in Mashonaland, R. M. W. Swan, 424; the Livingstone Tree, E. J. Glave, 454; Death of Dr. JmA. Moloney, 549; onthe Influence of African Climate and V egetation on Civilisation, G. F. Scott Elliot, 587; Mr. Alexander Whyte’s Botanical Expedition into Nyika Plateau, 629; the Preservation of Big Game in German East Africa, M. Gosselin, 630 Agamennone (Dr. G.), New Seismometrograph, 68 ; Velocity of Propagation of Paramythia Earthquake of May 13-14, 1895, 311; Record of Mediterranean Earthquakes for “1895, 733 Turkish Earthquakes in 1895, 424 ; Observations of Turkish Earthquakes, 447 Agassiz (A.), the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, 488 Agriculture : the Reclamation of the Australian Deserts, 41 ; Ma- nurial Experiments on Turnips, Prof. Somerville, 62 ; Bangor 221; 221; | \ | TEN: DD) EX Agricultural Department Field Experiment, 62; Agriculture in Connecticut, 206 ; Calcium Carbide as an Insecticide, M. Chuard, 229 ; Crows and Turnips, 255; the ‘“‘ Running Out” of Peas, 279; Dr. Nobbe’s Nitragin, 326; Oxidation of Organic Soil-matter, P. P. Dehérain and E. Demoussy, 359 ; County Councils and Agriculture, 368; Prof. R. P. Wright’s Scotch Manuring, &c., Experiments, 403 ; English Weeds as Pasture-grasses in France and Australia, 423; Shade-tree Insects in the United States, 424; a Cure for Locusts, 424 Ahlborn (Dr. Fr.), Zur Mechanik des Vogelfluges, 25 Air, Measurement of Odours in, A. Gerardin and M. Nicloux, 23 Air, Dr. J. Haldane on his Calorimetric Method of Estimating Small Amounts of Carbon Monoxide in the, 584 Air-pump, New Mercurial, R. W. Wood, 190 Aitken (John, F.R.S.), Notes on Clouds, 164 Albatross Flying Machine, Accident to William Paul, 577 Albertus Magnus, Bird and Beast Names in, Prof. D’Arey Thompson, 118 Alcohol, Influence on Digestion of, Drs. Chittenden and Mendel, Alkali Metals, the Amides of the, and some of the Derivatives, Dr. A. W. Titherley, 584 Allbutt (Dr. T. C., F.R.S.), a System of Medicine, vol. i., edited by, 361 Allen (G. Y.), Myricetin, Sumach, 408 Allen (Dr. Harrison), Peedomorphism, 240 Allen (Prof.), on the Physical Basis of Life, 635 Allmann (Prof. G. J., F.R.S.), Linnean Society's Gold Medal- list, 81 Alloys, the Electrical Resistance of, Lord Rayleigh, Sec. R.S., 154; Walter G. McMillan and Robert H. Housman, 171 Alpengliihen, W. Larden, 53 Altcar, Mr. Morton on a Boring near, 586 Alumina Factory at Larne Harbour, J. Sutherland, 329 ; Aluminium and its Alloys, Resistance to Corrosive Liquids of, J. W. Richards, 253 Alzola (Pablo de), the Spanish Iron Industry, 515 Amazon River, Cable-laying on the, Alexander Siemens, 162 Amazons, Capture of a Specimen of ‘* Lepidosiren”’ in the River, Dr. Albert Giinther, F.R.S., 270 America: University Observations in, 64; the Water Supply of the City of New York, Edward Wegmann, 242; Arche- ological Studies in Mexico, Alfred P. Maudsley, 274; American Association, 450, 480; American Journal of Mathematics, 22, 431, 639 ; American Journal of Science, 45, 91, 189, 285, 383, 488, 639; American Meteorological Journal, 68; American Museum of Natural History, 83; an American Professor, Sir J. G. Fitch, 409 ; American Public Health Association Meeting, 525 America, South, Mine of Vanadium Compounds in, 300 Amides of the Alkali Metals, and some of their Derivatives, Dr. A. W. Titherley, 584 Amphibia, Remarkable Blind Batrachian, Dr. Stejneger, 156 Amphipod, Nest-building, in the Broads, Henry Scherren, 367 Amphoteric Solutions, Dr. T. Bradshaw on the Behaviour of Litmus in, 584 Amsterdam Academy of Sciences, 48, 96, 240, 360, 639 Anemia, [ich Altitudes and, Dr. Kuthy, 577 Anesthetics, the Jubilee of Ether in Surgery, 597 Analytical Chemistry, N. Menschutkin, 6 the Colouring Matter of Sicilian Anaspides, Afiiaities of, to Fossil Crustacea, W. T. Calman, 119 Sap SONY 5 Death of Dr. Theodor Margo, 597; Death of Dr W. II. Ross, 507; Death of Dr. Riidinger, gor iv Index Ancestry of the Vertebrates, on the, Dr. Gaskell, 606 ; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 606; Prof. C. S. Minot, 606 ; E. W. MacBride, 606; Walter Garstang, 606; F. A. Bather, 606 Anchovy, on the Occurrence of the Pelagic Ova of the, off Lytham, 296 Ancient British Interment in Somersetshire, on the Discovery of an, F. T. Elworthy, 611 Anderson (T. D.), New Variable in Hercules, 327 Anderson (Dr.), on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rail, 608 André (G.), the Volatility of Leevulic Acid, 384; the Acid Decomposition of Sugars, 639 André’s Polar Expedition, 81 Andrews (T.), Microscopic Internal Flaws in Steel Axles, 159 Angelini (Dr. S.), Observations on Transparency of Waters of Venetian Lagoon and Gulf of Gaeta, 352 Anglesey, Sir Archibald Geikie on some Rocks hitherto de- scribed as Volcanic Aggregates in, 585 Angot (A.), the Paris Diurnal Rain-variation, 192; Wind- velocity at Top of Eiffel Tower, 230; the Paris Tornado of September 10, 1896, 520 Animals, Domesticated, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, 220 Ankle-joint in Man, the, and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters, Prof. Retzius, 162 Anthropology: Anthropological Institute, 71; Anthropology of Australia, Prof. R. Semon, 135: Pithecanthropus erectus, Dr. Dubois, 135; Dr. R. Martin, 135; L. Manouvrier, 135; O.C. Marsh, 189 ; the Reason of Right-handedness, Dr. D. G. Brinton, 230; Centralblatt fiir Anthropologie, 237 ; the Novilara Necropolis, Dr. P. Orsi, 237 ; Comparison between Mortalities of Yale Graduates in 1701-1744 and 1745-1762, Prof. H. A. Newton, 254; the Metopic Suture, Dr. G. Papillault, 254; the Structure of Man: an Index to his Past History, Prof. R. Wiedersheim, 291 ; Osteology of Pigmy Peoples, Dr. R. Verneau, 325 ; Prehistoric Graves in Penn- sylvania, 325; the Utility of Specific Characters, Prof. David Wetterhahn, 342; Prof. E. R. Lankester, F.R.S., 365; the Anthropology of British India, Edgar Thurston, 404 ; Ruined Temples in Mashonaland, R. M. W. Swan, 424; the Khmer of Kamboja, S. E. Peal, 461: the Ancient City of Coapan, Honduras, Prof. F. W. Putnam, 480; Fossil Tridacnid Arm- Rings in the Solomon Islands, Dr. Arthur Willey, 523; the Bertillon System of Identification, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 569; Human Evolution an Artificial Process, H. G. Wells, 589. Sve adso Section H, British Association Antarctic Exploration, Projects for, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 29 Anthrax disseminated by Horse-hair, Dr. Silberschmidt, 204 Antichrist Legend, the, W. Bousset, 491 Antitoxin Treatment of Diphtheria, the, Dr. Lennox Browne, 260 Antonovich (M.A.), Charles Darwin and his Theory, 101 Ants, Parasol, J. H. Hart, 526 Apollonius of Perga : Treatise on Conic Sections, 314 Appleyard (R.), Dielectrics, 93 Applied Mechanics, a Text-book of, Alexander Jamieson, 7 Aquatic Hymenoptera, Fred. Enock, 28 Arachnids: Habits and Distribution of Galeodes, Surgeon- Major E. Cretin, 366; R. I. Pocock, 367 Aragonite, on the Effects of Solution on Organisms with, and on those with Calcite Shells, Mr. Kendall, 587 Archeology : Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia, Robert Munro, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., 78; Archeology of South-west Florida, Prof. F. N. Cushing, 230; the Reliquary, 237; the Novilara Necropolis, Dr. P. Orsi, 237 ; Death of Prof. E. Curtius, 252 ; the British School at Athens, 254 ; Archzeological Studies in Mexico, Alfred P. Maudsley, 274; Ruined Temples in Mashonaland, R. M. W. Swan, 424; the Ancient City of Coapan, Honduras, Prof. F. W. Putnam, 480; Prehistoric European Sculpture, Salomon Reinach, 482 Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy, 17 Arcidiacono (S.), Eruption Phenomena in Sicily and Adjacent Islands, September-December 1895, 68 ; the Syracuse Earth- quake of April 13, 1895, 525 Artesian Leakage, the alleged, J. P. Thomson, 156 Arctica: André’s Polar Expedition, 81; Arctic Hail and Thunderstorms, H. Harries, 215 ; Glacial Geology of Arctic Europe, II., Colonel H. W. Feilden and Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R S., 263 ; the Conway Spitzbergen Expedition, 324, 401 ; [Sees to Nature, December 10, 1896 Trevor-Battye, 543; Dr. Nansen’s Polar Expedition, 374; the Ice-Voyage of the Aram, Captain Sverdrup, 430; the Arctic Record of 1896, Dr. H. R. Mill, 392; Submarine Range in Davis Strait, 400 ; Return of Mr. Jackson’s Expedi- tion, 445; Suggested Submarine Boat Expedition to North Pole, G. L. Pence, 519; Return of the Peary Greenland Expedition, 524 Argentina, the Extinct Vertebrates of, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 86 Argon, Combination with Water of, P. Villard, 432 gen of Fire-Damp, the Nitrogen and, Th. Schloesing, jun., 336, 359 Argon and Helium, Inactivity of, Prof. William Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. J. N. Collie, 143 ; Homogeneity of, Prof. W. Ramsay and Dr. J. N. Collie, 336, 406, 546 Arloing (S.), Bactericidal Power of Blood Serum, 192 Armstrong (Dr. H. E., F.R.S.), Purification of Sulphur, 225 ; Frank Campbell’s Theory of National and International Bibliography, 617 Arnaud (A.), Transformation of Tariric and Stearoleic Acids into Stearic Acid, 47 Arnold (W.), Rontgen Rays as Detectors of Food Adulteration, 356; Luminosity of Solids under Rontgen Rays, 356 Arnold-Bemrose (H. H.), Mammalian Remains in old Derwent River-gravels near Derby, 70 Arsonval (A. d’), Physiological and Therapeutic Action of High Frequency Currents, 264 Arthur (Prof. J. C.), the Germination of Cockle-bur Seeds, 34 Artificial Silk, the Manufacture of, 66 Asconidz, Development of Lezcosolenea variabilis and other, E. A. Minchin, 286 Ashworth (J. H.), Tubers of Anthrocerus tuberosus, 591 Asia: the Roborovsky Expedition to Central Asia, 282; Cata- logue of the Described Diptera from South Asia, F. M. Van der Wulp, 435; Sand-buried Towns in Central Asia, Sven Hedin, 550 Asteroids, Mass of the, G. Ravené, 206 Astronomy: Daylight Meteor, April 12, C. E. Stromeyer, 9 ; Two Brilliant Meteors, W. F. Denning, 27; a Brilliant Meteor, C. H. H. Walker, 271; November Meteors, G. Johnstone Stoney, 301; W. F. Denning, 623; Horary Variation of Meteors, G. C. Bompas, 296; Meteor Trails, 354; Meteors transiting the Solar and Lunar Discs, 449; Our Astronomical Column, 17, 35, 63, 84, 108, 137, 158, 185, 206, 231, 256, 280, 301, 327, 354, 374, 403, 426, 448, 487, 519, 526, 551, 579, 599, 632; Comet Swift, 1896, 7, 137 3 Dr. Schorr, 35 ; the Planet Mercury, 17, 84 ; New Divisions of Saturn’s Rings, M. Flammarion, 17; the Planet Saturn, Prof. Barnard, 327 ; Determination of the General Brightness of the Corona, Joseph Lunt, 17; Inclinational Terms in Moon’s Coordinates, P. H. Cowell, 22; the Astronomy of Milton’s ‘‘Paradise Lost,” Thomas N. Orchard, W. T. Lynn, 26; Milton’s Astronomy, C. F. Clarke, 83; a Photographic Transit Circle, Dr. H. C. Russell, 35; Mr. Tebbutt’s Observatory, 35; the Total Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 46; M. Deslandres, 301 ; the Eclipse of the Sun, August 9, 1896, 153, 344, 369; J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 197, 395, 418, 441; M. Tisserand, 487: Prof. H. Geelmuyden, 519 ; Sir G. Baden-Powell’s Solar Eclipse Expedition, Mr. Shackleton, 400; the Russian Solar Eclipse Expedition, 400 ; the Solar Eclipse in North Finland, 427 ; the Total Solar Eclipse at Bodé, Dr. A. Brester, jun.,/390 ; Air Temperature during Solar Eclipse, Dr. H. R. Mill, 391 ; Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, H. Wollaston Blake, F.R.S., 436; the System of Castor, Dr. Belopolsky, 63; Efficiency of Photographic Telescopes, Dr. Isaac Roberts, 63; Solar Photography at Meudon, Dr. Janssen, 64; University Observatories in America, 64; Stellar Photography with Small Telescopes without Driving Clocks, Joseph Lunt, 84 ; Temperature Errors in Meridian Observations, M. Hamy, 84; Search Ephemeris for Comet, 1889 V. (Brooks) Dr. Bauschinger, 84; Return of Comet Brooks (1889 V.), 185; W. F. Denning, 251; M. Javelle, 354; Brooks’s Periodlc Comet, 231; Comet Brooks, Prof. E. Lamp, 487 ; Comet Brooks (1896), 448; Constants for Nautical Almanacs, 84 ; Carbon and Oxygen in the Sun, J. Trowbridge, 91 ; Remark- able Eclipses, W. T. Lynn, 76; the Ring Nebula in Lyra, Prof. Barnard, 108 ; Variable Star Clusters, 108; Variable Stars, 206; Variable Star Observations, 426; Variable Stars, Dr. Chandler, 426; New Variable in Hercules, T. D. Ander- —_ Supplement to Nature, December to, 1896 ‘son, 327; the Variable Star Z Herculis, Paul S. Yendell, 527; Variable Star Z Herculis, Cuthbert Peek, 595; Occultation of Jupiter, 137; Spots and Marks on fupiter, Prof. Hough, 137; the Displacement of Lines in Spectrum of Jupiter, M. Deslandres, 162; Rotation Period oe Jupiter, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 280; Comet Perrine Lamp (1896 I.), 137; Comets Perrine (1895 IV.) and Perrine Lamp (1896), Joseph and Jean Fric, 600; Greenwich Observatory, 139; Work with Equatorials at, 139; Greenwich Observatory Photographic Chart and Cata- logue, 140; Photographs of Stellar Spectra, Dr. F. McClean, 158; the Natal Observatory, 158; Possible Changes in the Earth’s Rotation, Prof. Newcomb, 158; on the Rotation of the Earth, Th. Sloudski, 161; Work at Paris Observatory, 1895, M. Tissandier, 162; Moon-Photographs at Paris Observatory, 162 ; Spectroscopic Photographs of Velocity of Altair in Line of Sight, 162; Period of Earth's Free Eulerian Precession, J. Larmor, 166 ; Visibility of Solar Prominences, Prof. Hale, 185 ; Shooting Star Radiants, Dr. Doberck, 186 ; Kepler and his Work, Dr. Ernst Goldbeck, 186 ; Declina- tions of Fifty-six Stars, 206 ; Graphical Prediction of Occul- tations, Major Grant, 206 ; Mass of the Asteroids, G. Ravené, 205; New Nebulosity in the Pleiades, W. Stratonoff, 327; the Pleiades, 449; Magnitudes of Southern Stars, S. I. Bailey, 231; Rugby Observatory, 231; Harvard College Observatory, Prof. Pickering, 231; a Solar Halo, Dr. H. Warth, 248 ; the Cluster in Coma Berenices, 256 ; Objective Gratings, Messrs. Hall and Wadsworth, 256; Distortion of the Earth’s Surface, Prof. Milne, 256; Double Star Orbits, Dr. See, 280; Double Star Observations, Dr. Doberck, 426 ; Telluric Lines, Prof. Ricco, 280; Explanation of Solar Phenomena, J. Fenyi, 281; Plumb-Line Deviations, M. Messerschmitt, 301; the Hamburg Observatory, Prof. Rumker, 301 ; the Dunsink Observatory, 301 ; Observatory of Moscow, 301; Sun-Spots and Facule, James Renton, 317; the Reproduction of Diffraction Gratings, Lord Ray- leigh, F.R.S., 332; Meeting of International Committee of the Carte du Ciel, 350; Personal Equation in observing Transits, R. H. Tucker, 354; Lunar Photographs, Prof. Weinek, 374; Distribution of Binary Star Orbits, Miss Everett, 374; Comet 1890, VII., Dr. Spitaler, 374 ; Photo- graphy of Solar Corona, Count de la Baume Pluvinel, 374; Obituary Notice of Prof. H. A. Newton, 394; Death of Frederick Brodie, gor; the Cape Observatory, 426; an Investigation on Aberration and Atmospheric Refraction, G. C. Comstock, 426; New Feature on Mars, 427; New Feature on Mars, 487; the Canals on Mars, 600; Mars at Opposition in 1894, Percival Lowell, Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 625; Telegrams to Astronomischen Nachrichten, 448 ; New Comet, 448; Comet Giacobini, 520, 632; Dr. H. Kreutz, 487, 551; a New Spectroscopic Binary, Prof. E. C. Picker- ing, 527; the Solar Rotation, Lewis Jewell, 526; E. J. Welczynski, 579; Death of W. C. Winlock, 549; Comet Sperra, Prof. Lamp, 551 ; Obituary Notice of Prof. Ludwig Philip v. Seidel, Prof. Seeliger, 551 ; Astronomical Society of Wales, 579; the Elements of Comet 1885, III., 579; the Leander McCormick Observatory, 579; Death of M. Tisse- rand, 597 ; Obituary Notice of, 628 ; Telegrams about Comets, 599 ; Comet 1870, II., 632 ; Planetary Notes, Percival Lowell, 633 Athanasiu (J.), the Coagulation of the Blood, 432 Athens, Seismological Observatory formed at, 16; the British School of Archzeology at, 254; Athens Pasteur Institute, 252 Auantic, North, Pilot Chart of, 372 Atlas d’Ostéologie, Articulations et Insertions Musculaires, Prof. Ch. Debierre, 148 Atlas of Nerve-cells, Dr. M. A. Starr, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 340 Atmospheric Refraction, an Investigation on Aberration and, G. C. Comstock, 426 Atolls, a Query concerning the Origin of, Prof. Ralph S. Tarr, 101 Atomic Theory, Dalton’s, 28; Leonard Dobbin, 126 Atoms, a Cosmographical Review of the Universal Law of the Affinities of, James Henry Loader, 268 August Meteor Shower, 1896, W. F. Denning, 415 Aurora, an Auroral Display on May 2nd, 9 Aurora Borealis, suggested Origin of, Kr. Birkeland, 16 Aust Cliff, Mr. Montagu Browne on the True Bone-Bed of, and the Pudlastra arenicola Bed which occurs above it, 586 Lndex v Austen (E. E.), Zoological Voyage up Lower Amazons, 215 Australia: the Reclamation of the Deserts of, G. E. Boxall, 41; Anthropology of, Prof. R. Semon, 135; the Alleged Artesian Leakage, J. P. Thomson, 156; New Cambrian Fauna from Australia, R. Etheridge, jun., 184; Report on the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, 241; Origin of Australian Vegetation, Henry Deane. 253; the Causes of Australian Weather, H. C. Russell, F.R.S., 374 ; Diatomace- ous Earth Deposits of Warrumbungle Mountains, Prof. T. W. E. David, 384; English Weeds and Pasture Grass in, 423 ; the Great Barrier Reef, A. Agassiz, 488; the Royal Society’s Coral Reef Boring Expedition, Prof. Sollas, 517; New Aus- tralian Avanetde, W. J. Rainbow, 544; Three Lizards, A. H. S. Lucas and C. Frost, 544; New Coleoptera, A. M. Lea, 544; Australian Museum, 598 Austrian State Institute for Preparation of Anti-toxin Serum, Report of, 447 Ayrton (Prof. W. E.), Small Dynamo for Measuring Permea- bility and Hysteresis of Iron, 159; Rontgen Rays and allied Phenomena, 566 ; the Tests of Glow-lamps, 609 Azimuth Tables for the Higher Declinations, H. B. Goodwin, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 337 Bablich (H.), Morin, I., 118 Baby-Talk, the World’s, Chas. Johnston, 589 Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, L. W. King, 489 Bacteriology: Fermentation of Uric Acid by Micro-orzanisms, E. Gerard, 47, 312; the Bacteriology of Milk, Prof. Conn, 82 ; Effect of Rontgen Rays on Diphtheria Bacillus, 112; Action of Rontgen Rays on Diphtheria Bacillus, F. Berton, 287 ; Rontgen Rays inactive on Bacteria, Prof G. Sormani, 136 ; Diphtheria Toxine Preparation, M. Nicole, 372; Fossil Bacteria, B. Renault, 120; Weitere Ausftihrungen iiber den Bau der Cyanophyceen und Bacterien, Prof. O. Biitschli, 124 ; New Distinguishing Test of Colon and Typhoid Bacilli, Dr. Piorkowski, 156 ; Association of Typhoid Bacillus with Osteo- myelitis, Dr. Bruni, 184 ; Bactericidal Power of Blood Serum, S. Arloing, 192 ; Bacteriology of Roman Fowl Disease, Dr. S. Santori, 229; Bacteria in Paris Air, M. Miquel, 229; Bacteriology of Valparaiso Water, Dr. Mourgues, 254; In- action of High Frequency Currents on Microbian Pvisons, L. A. Marmier, 298; Dr. Nobbe’s Nitragin, 326 ; Action of Rarefied Air on Pneumococcus of Fraenkel, Dr. D. Kuthy, 352; the Bacillococcus of Anatolian Goat-Pneumonia, M. Nicole and Refik Bey, 372; Bacteria and Carbonated Waters, G. C. Frankland, 375 ; Influence of Sodium Bicarbonate on Bacteri- cidal Properties of Blood, M. London, 432; Bacteriology of Norwegian Pult-ost Cheese, Dr.fAxel Holst, 484 ; Dr. Klein’s Micro-organisms and Disease, Joseph Lunt, 490 ; Bacteriology of St. Petersburg Milk, M. P. Sacharbekoff, 550; Bacteri- ology of Sea-water, Prof. B. Fischer, 577; Profs. Lorrain Smith and Westbrook on Febrile Reaction on Inoculation with certain Bacilli, 633; Dr. Copeman on the Action of Gly- cerine upon the Growth of Bacteria, 635 ; Dr. Durham on some Points in the Mechanism of the Reactions to Peritoneal In- fections, 635; Dr. Kanthack on the Bacteria in Food, 635 ; Dr. Sims Woodhead on the Organisation of Bacteriological Research, 635; Profs. Boyce and Herdman on the Bacteri- ology of the Oyster, 635 Baden-Powell’s (Sir G.) Shackleton, 400 Bailey (S. I.), Magnitude of Southern Stars, 231 Baily (F. G.), Hysteresis of Iron in Rotating Magnetic Field, Solar Eclipse Expedition, Mr. 237 Baines (F. E.), Rooks at Nesting Time, 9 Baker (Charles Frederic), the Salaries of Science Demon- strators, 196 Baker (H. B.), the Position of Science at Oxford, 295 ; Chemical Inactivity of Réntgen Rays, 408 Baku and its Oil Industry, Dr. W. F. Hume, 232 Ball (Sir R.), a Point in Theoretical Dynamics, 166 Balloon, Captive, for Reconnoitring Purposes, 483 Baly (E. C. C.), the Atomic Weight of Oxygen, 258 Bangor Agricultural Department Field Experiments, 62 Barisal Guns, 102 ; Sir Edward Fry, F.R.S , 8 Barley Straw, Report of the Committee on the Constituents of, 585 Barlow (Dr. L.}, the Laws of Osmosis, 185 ; on Osmosis, 635 Barnard (Prof.), the Ring Nebula in Lyra, 108; the Planet Saturn, 327 vi Lndex Tes upplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Barnard (Prof. F. A. B.), Fulton’s Memoirs of, Sir J. G. Fitch, 409 Barnes (Howard), Winter Temperature Measurements of St. Lawrence, 141 Barr (J. M.), the Réntgen Rays, 82 Barriére (P.), Lucium, a New Element, 598 Barrington (R. M.), Wasps as Fly-catchers, 549 Bartlett (A. D.), the Breeding of the Surinam Toad, 71 Basset (Mr., F.R.S.), Stability of a Frictionless Liquid and the Theory of Critical Planes, 70 Bassett (Prof. J. S.), Slavery in North Carolina, 157 Bather (F. A.), on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates, 606; on the Value of the Morphological Method in Zoology, 606 Batrachian, Remarkable Blind, Dr. Stejneger, 156 Battelli (Prof. A.), Experiments on Rontgen Rays, Researches on Réntgen Rays, 355 Battelli (F.), Action of various Substances on Movements of Stomach, 239 Bauer (Dr. L. A.), the Notation of Terrestrial Magnetic Quantities, 391 Bauschinger (Dr.), Search Ephemeris for Comet, 1889, V., Brooks, 84 Bazin (M.), Distribution of Velocities in Tubes, 144 Beasley (Mr. H. C.), on Foot-prints from the Trias in the Neighbourhood of Liverpool, 586 Beaulard (F.), Non-Refractibility of X-rays by Potassium, 62; 359 Beaumont (Mr.), on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rails, 607 Becquerel and Lippmann’s Colour Photographs, Meldola, F.R.S., 28 ; C. H. Bothamly, 77 Becquerel’s Colour Photographs, Captain W. de W. Abney, F.R.S., 125 Becquerel (H.), Uranium, 94 Beddoe (Dr. John, F.R.S.), Complexion and Disease, 260 ; Manx Anthropology, 609 Bedell (Dr. F.), the Principles of the Transformer, 545 Bedford (Rev. W. K. R.), on some Old Tapestry Maps of Parts of England, 588 Beecher (C. E.), the Morphology of Triarthus, 45 Bell (Prof. Alexander Graham), Experiments in Mechanical Flight, 80 Bell (A.), on the Tertiary Deposits of North Manxland, 586 Belopolsky (Dr.), the System of Castor, 63 Benesch (Herr F.), Pauling’s New Method of Drawing Relief Maps, 352 Benham (Dr. W. B.), the Blood of Magelona, 142; Fission in Nemertines, 142 Bennett (Alfred W.), Aydrodictyon reticulatum, 172 Benoit (L.), Action of X-rays on Electrified Bodies, 23 Berlin Meteorological Society, 95, 120 Berlin Physical Society, 95, 120 Berlin Physiological Society, 120 Bernard (H. M.), British Museum Catalogue of Corals, 593 Berthelot (M.), Cyanic Acid, 384; the Volatility of Lzevulic Acid, 384; the Abandoned Copper Mines of Sinai, 432, 447 ; Explosive Properties of Acetylene, 591 ; the Acid Decom- position of Sugars, 639 Bertillon Criminal Identification System in Ceylon, the, 518 Bertillon System of Identification, the, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 569 Bertillon (Alphonse), Signaletic Instructions, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 569 Berton (F.), Action of Rontgen Rays on Diphtheritic Bacillus, 287 Bertrand (G.), Oxidation of Aromatic Polyphenols, 95; New Soluble Oxidising Vegetable Ferment, 119; Simultaneous Presence of Laccase and Tyrosinase in Mushroom Sugar, 520 Bertrand (J.), Maxwell and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 106 Besson (A.), Action of Gaseous Hydrogen Iodide and Phosphonium Iodide on Thiophosphory! Chloride, 119 Besson (M.), Thiophosphoryl Chlorobromide, 63 Bevan (E. J.), Constitution of Cereal Celluloses, 46 Beyrich (Dr. H. E.), Death of, 371 Bibliography : Die Bauern Praktick, 329; Frank Campbell’s Theory of Scientific Bibliography, Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 617 ; the Organisation of Technical Literature, M. W. Brown, 622 Bicycle, Measurement of Work in Driving, M. Bouny, 192 Prof. R. Emission of New Radiation by Metallic Bicycle, Control of Results obtained by Dynamometric Pedal of, M. Bouny, 239 Bidston Hill, Mr. Morton on a Boring on the West of, 586 Bidwell (Shelford), the Fluorescence of Photographic Plates, III Biggin (F. C.), Modern Stone-Cutting and Masonry, 27 Binary Star Orbits, Distribution of, Miss Everett, 374 Binary, a New Spectroscopic, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 527 Biology : a Biological Application of Roéntgen Photography, Alexander Meek, 8; Death and Preliminary Notice of Dr. H. B. Pollard, 183; Legons sur la Cellule Morphologie et Réproduction faites au College de France pendant le semestre dhiver, 1893-94, Félix Henneguy, 193; the Biological Problem of To-day, Preformation or Epigenesis ? the Basis of a Theory of Organic Development, Dr. Oscar Hertwig, 316 ; Prof. Allen on the Physical Basis of Life, 635; Marine Biology : Sea-Fish Hatching at Port Erin, 15 ; Respiratory Processes in Sand-burrowing Annelids and Crustacea, Walter Garstang, 38; Dr. C. S. Dolley’s Planktonokrit, 120 ; Molluscan Archetype considered as Veliger-like form, A. E. Verrell, 383 ; By the Deep Sea, Edward Step, 522 ; Biology, see also Natural Selection Birch (R. W. R.), Death of, 446 Birds: Books on Birds, 58 ; a Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain, R. Bowdler Sharpe, 58; British Birds, W. H. Hud- son, 58; The Wild-Fowl and Sea-Fowl of Great Britain, by a ‘*Son of the Marshes,” 58; Birds from Moidart and else- where ; drawn from Nature, Mrs. Hugh Blackburn, 58; the Birds of Berwickshire, George Muirhead, 58 ; North American Shore Birds, D. G. Elliot, 58; the Birds of Ontario, Thos. Mcllwraith, 58 ; Birdcraft, Mabel Osgood Wright, 58 ; Pho- tographs of the Life-History Groups of Birds in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 58; the Royal Natural History, 58; the Fauna of British India, 58; a Curious Bird’s Nest, P. B. Brodie, 172; British Birds’ Nests, How, Where, and When to Find and Identify Them, R. Kearton, 433; a Concise Handbook of British Birds, H. Kirk Swann, 245 ; the Evolu- tion of Bird-Song, Charles A. Witchell, W. Warde Fowler, 290; Sailing Flight, S. E. Peal, 317; British Sea Birds, Charles Dixon, 433; a Handbock to the Birds of Great Britain, R. Bowdler Sharpe, 433; a Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin, J. A. Harvie Brown, T. E. Buckley, 433; Birds Profiting by Experience, Dr. R. Williams, 597 Birkeland (Kr.), Suggested Origin of Aurora Borealis, 16 Birkeland (M.), Recent Observations of Discontinuous Line Spectrum of Kathode Rays produced by Magnetic Deflection, 566 Bishops and Science, our, Rev. J. F. Heyes, 77 Bison, the European, Eugen Biichner, 484 Black (Capt. W. M.), the United States Public Works Guide and Register, 267 Blackburn (Mrs. Hugh), Birds from Moidart and elsewhere ; drawn from Nature, 58 Blake (H. Wollaston, F.R.S.), Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, 436 Blakiston (A. A.), Habits of Chameleons, 621 Blandford (W. F. H.), Variationsin He/écontws Butterfly, 161 ; the Tsetse Fly, 247 Blanford (Dr. W. T., F.R.S.), the Ancient Geography of Gondwana Land, 373; the Great Rift Valley, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 347 Blood- Brotherhood, G, Archdall Reid, 77 Blount (Bertram), Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, I BIR OuE Shots and Coal Mine Explosions, 576 Bloxam (A. G.), Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, 51 Blue Sun, Prof. H. Mohn, 483 Boas’s (Dr. J. E. V.) Text-book of Zoology, 491 Bodé, the Total Solar Eclipse at, Dr. A. Brester, jun., 390 Body, Application of Réntgen Rays to the Soft Tissues of the, Dr. J. Macintyre, 451 : Boedtker (E.), Action of Aluminium Chloride on Benzene con- taining Thiophene, 360 Bois (Dr. du), Magnetising and Hysteresis of various kinds of Steel and Iron, 95: Rontgen Rays and Polarisation, 166 Bois-Reymond (Prof. A. du), the Death of Otto Lilienthal, 413 Bollettino della Societa Botanica Italiana, 213, 334 Bollettino della Societa Seismologica Italiana, 68, 311, 325, 456, 544 Supplement to Nature, } 4 ecember 10, 1896 : Index Vii Boltzmann (Prof.), Zermelo and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 106 Bompas (G, C.), Horary Variation of Meteors, 296 Bonney (Prof. T. G., F. R.S.), Glacial Geology of Arctic Europe, II., 263 Bordas (L.), Sub-intestinal Nervous System of Platyphyllum and Loranths, J. J. Fletcher, 592; Compendium of Genera) Botany, Dr. Max Westermaier, 594; Death of Dr. H. Trimen, F.R.S., 596 ; Obituary Notice of, W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., 628; Abnormal Hickory Nuts, F. H. Herrick, 639 ; Botanical Expedition into Nyika Plateau, Alexander Whyte, 629. See also Section K, British Association gtganteum, 616 Bothamly (C.H.), Becquerel and Lippmann’s Colour Photo- Bordas (M.), the Freezing-Point of Milk, 456 graphs, 77 Boring a Coral Reef at Funafuti, W. W. Watts, 201 Bott (Samuel), Text-book of Physical Exercises, 341 Borings: Mr. Morton on a Boring near Altcar and another | Bougault (J.), Action of Chloride of Sulphur on Penta-Erythrite, Boring on the West of Bidston Hill, 586 312 Bose (M.), Stability of Blood rendered incoagulable by Extract | Boulenger (George Albert), Catalogue of the Snakes in the of the Leech, 520 British Museum (Natural History), 266 Bose (Prof. J. Chunder), on an Apparatus for Studying the | Bouny (M.), Measurements of Work in Driving Bicycle, 192; Properties of Electric Waves, 567 Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia, Rambles and Studies in, Control of Results obtained by Dynamometric Pedal of Bicycle, 239 Robert Munro, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., 78 Bourquelot (E.), Action of Soluble Oxidising Mushroom Bost (W. D. A ), the Spontaneous Combustion of Charcoal, Ferment on Naphthols, 456 577 Bourot (M.), Digestibility of Cocoa-Butter and ordinary Butter, Botany : Magical Growth of Plants, W. R. M. Semple, 8; 639 Linnean Society, 23, 190; Death of R. P. Delavay, 33; | Bousset (W.) the Antichrist Legend, 491 the alleged Development of Yeast Cells from Moulds, Messrs. ; Bouveault (L.), Action of Ethyl-oxalyl Chloride on Aromatic Klécker and Schionning 33; the germination of Cockle-bur Seeds, Prof. J. C. Arthur, 34; Nuclear Division in Spores of Fegatella conica, Prof. J. B. Farmer, 38; Cocoa: all about Hydrocarbons in presence of Aluminium Chloride, 71, 119; Action of Hydrazine on Glycoxylic Acids, 216; New Method of Preparing Aromatic Aldehydes, 239 it, 50; Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum Sump- | Boxall (G. E.), the Reclamation of the Australian Deserts, 41 tibus beati Caroli Roberti Darwin ductu et consilio Josephi | Boyce (Prof.), on the Bacteriology of the Oyster, 635 D. Hooker confecit B. Daydon Jackson, Fasciculus IV., 74 ; | Boys (Prof. C. V., F.R.S.), Geometric Wall Brackets and Steady Influence of Terrestrial Disturbances on the Growth of Trees, Blocks, 37 Prof. B. E Fernou, 77 ; Protective Alkaloids in the Solanaceze, | Bradshaw (Dr. T.), on the Behaviour of Litmus in Amphoteric Dr. Ph. Molle, 83; New South Wales Linnean Society, 96, Solutions, 584 168, 240, 384, 544, 592; Annals of the Royal Botanic | Branch (C. W.), Foreign Snails in West Indies, 392 Gardens, Calcutta, 98; the Philippine Island Bean, 106; | Branson’s (Messrs. Reynolds and) New X-ray Meter, 62 Plant Structure revealed by Rontgen Rays, G. J. Burch, 111 ; | Bread from Screened Flour, Food-Values of, A. Girard, 167, Effect of Rontgen Rays on Oat-Germination, A. Schober, 192 155; Persian Cyclamens, A. Hébert and G. Truffant, 119; | Bread-making, a Text-book of the Science and Art of, William New Soluble Oxidising Vegetable Ferment, G. Bertrand, Jago, 51 119; Plant-Breeding, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.R.S., 138; | Breckenridge (J. E.), the Separation of Potassium and Sodium, Proterandry in Palm, J. Daveau, 157 ; Osmotic Pressures in 639 3 Leaf-Cells, Henry Dixon, 167: Monographie der Gattung | Brehm (Alfred Edmund), from North Pole to Equator, 194 Euphrasia, Dr. R. von Wettstein, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., | Bremen Climate and Sunspots, 572 169 ; Die Protrophie, eine neue lebensgemeinschaft in ihren | Brester (Dr. A. jun.), the Total Solar Eclipse at Bodé, 390 auffalligsten erscheinungen, Arthur Minks, G. Massee, 170; | Brewer (W. H.), Earth Tremors and Sounds produced by Death of Lord Lilford, 182; Effect of Coloured Light on Niagara Falls, 155 Vegetable Growth, M. Flammarion, 184; the Preservation | Bricard (R.), a Self-registering Thermometer Balance, 23 of Rare Cape Plants, Sir F. von Mueller, 184 ; Journal of | Brinton (Dr. D.G.), the Reason of Right-handedness, 230 Botany, 213, 591; Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiana, 213, | BRITISH ASSOCIATION: Meeting at Liverpool, 462; Local 334; Bollettino della Societa Botanica Italiana, 213, 334 ; Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, Edward Step. 221; Arti- ficial Petrifaction of Vegetable Tissues, Enrico Clerici, 229 ; Erigeron strigosus, Thomas Meehan, 240; Extraction of Chlorophyll by Benzol, Dr. J. A. Keller, 240 ; Origin of Australian Vegetation, Henry Deane, 253; Digestion in Car- nivorous Plants, Dr. A. L. Gillespie, 263 ; the Principles of Vegetable Digestion, V. Poulet, 384 ; the ‘‘ Running-out” of Peas, 279; Fertilisation and Spore-Segmentation in Fucus, Prof. J. B. Farmer and J. Ll. Williams, 286; the Lime-Tree near Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), M. Prein, 311; the Displace- ment of Native Plants in New Zealand, T. Kirk, 327 ; Flora der Ostfriesischen Inseln, Prof. Dr. Buchenau,W. B. Iemsley, F.R.S., 341; the Mandrake, Kumagusa Minakata, 343 ; Death of Dr. Kanitz, 351; Acarus Galls on Scéndapsus dila- ceratus, Dr. de Gasparis, 403; Quercitin in Onion Skin, A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel, 408; Myricetin Colouring Matter of Myrica nagé Bark, A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel, 408 ; Myricetin Colouring Matter of Sicilian Sumach, A. G. Perkin and G. Y. Allen, 408; Fisetin Colouring Matter of Quer- bracho Colorado, A, G. Perkin and O. Gunnell, 408; Botany for Beginners, H. Edmonds, 412 ; English Weeds as Pasture- grasses in France and Australia, 423; the Student’s Hand- book of British Mosses, H. N. Dixon, 434; Orientation Tendency of Sylphium lacinatum and Terebinthinaceum, E. J Hill, 447; the Tuberculoids of the, Leguminosz, D. Clos, 456: Dr. Warming’s Lehrbuch der Okologischen Pflanzen- geographie, 458; the Crossing of Carnations, Martin Smith, 549; Manual of Botany, Prof. J. R. Green, F.R.S., 570; Death of Baron Sir F. von Miiller, 576; Obituary Notice of Baron Sir F. von Miiller, W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., 596; Rachiopteris cylindrica, Thomas Hick, 591 ; Tubers of Anthoceros tuberosus, J. H. Ashworth, 591: Eucalypts Arrangements, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 199, 367, 416, 492, 547; Inaugural Address by Sir Joseph Lister, F.R.S., President, 463 Section A (Mathematics and Phystcs)—Opening Address by Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S. (President of the Section), 471; Report of the Committee on the Establishment of a National Physical Laboratory, Sir Douglas Galton, 565 ; Rontgen Rays and Allied Phenomena, Prof. P. Lenard, Sir George Stokes, Prof. Fitzgerald, Prof. J. J. Thomson, and E. Rutherford, 565; Prof. Ayrton, 566; Prof. Riicker on Measurement of Transparency of Glass and Porcelain to Rontgen Rays, 566; Lord Kelvin on Measurements of Electric Currents through Air at different Densities down to one five-millionth of the Density of ordinary Air, 566; Dr. F. T. Trouton, on the Results of Experiments on the Duration of X-radiation at each Spark, made by rotating a Wheel between the Discharge Tube and a Sensitive Plate, 566 ; Prof. S. P. Thompson, on the Relation between Kathode Rays, X-rays, and Becquerel’s Rays, 566; M. Birkeland’s Recent Observations of Discontinuous Line Spectrum of Kathode Rays, produced by Magnetic De- flection, 566; Prof. S. P. Thompson on Hyper-phos- phorescence, 566; Lord Kelvin on the Molecular Dynamics of Hydrogen Gas, Oxygen Gas, Ozone, Peroxide of Hydrogen, Vapour of Water, Liquid Water, Ice, and Quartz Crystal, 566; Mr. E. Rutherford on a Method of Detecting Electro-Magnetic Waves, 567; Prof. J. Chunder Bose on an Apparatus for Studying the Properties ot Electric Waves, 567 ; Mr. A. W. Clayden’s Report on the Application of Photography to the Elucidation of Meteoro- logical Phenomena, 567 ; Reports submitted by the Com- ‘mittee on Electrolysis and the Electrical Standards Committee, 567; Mr. W. N. Shaw on the Total Heat of December 10, 1896 Vill In dex lige 52 to Nature, Water, 567; Mr. E. H. Griffiths on a Special Form of Resistance Box, 567; Profs. Elster and Geitel, Investiga- tions as to the Cause of the Surface Colourisation of Colourless Salts (KCI, NaCl) by the Kathode Rays, dis- covered by Goldstein, 567; Mr. J. Burke on Change of Absorption accompanying Fluorescence, 567 ; Lord Kelvin, Magnus Maclean, and Alexander Galt on the Communica- tion of Electricity from Electrified Steam to Air, 622 Section B (Chemistry).—Opening Address by Dr. Ludwig Mond, F.R.S. (President of the Section), 475; Prof. I. B. Dixon, E. H. Strange, and E. Graham on Reflected Waves in the Explosion of Gases, 583; Dr. J. H. Gladstone and Mr. W. Hibbert on the Contrast between the Action of Metals and their Salts on Ordinary Light and on the New Rays, 583; Prof. F. Clowes on the Limiting Explosive Proportions of Acetylene, and Detection and Measurement of this Gas in the Air, 583 ; Dr. A. W. Titherley on the Amides of the Alkali Metals and some of their Derivatives, 584; Prof. Oscar Liebreich on Diminution of Chemical Action due to Limitations of Space, 584; Dr. Wildermann on the Velocity of Reactions before Perfect Equilibrium takes place, 584; Dr. J. Bradshaw on the Behaviour of Litmus in Amphoteric Solutions, 584; Messrs. A. G. Green and A. Wahl on the Constitution of Sun Yellow or Curcumine and allied Colouring Matters, 584; Dr. F. E. Francis on Abnormalties in the Behaviour of Ortho-deri- vatives of Orthamido-, and Orthonitro-benzylamine, 584 ; Mr. W. Newton on Nitrates: their Occurrence and Manu- facture, 584; Prof. Ramsay on the very Remarkable and Abnormal Properties of Helium, 584; Dr. F. Hurter on the Manufacture of Chlorine by means of Nitric Acid, 584 ; Prof. J. Dewar on Low Temperature Research, 584; Dr. J. Haldane on his Calorimetric Method of Estimating small amounts of Carbon Monoxide in the Air, 584; Sir H. E. Roscoe on Chemical Education in England and Germany, 585; Science Teaching in Elementary Schools, 585; Report of the Committee on the Constituents of Barley Straw, 585; Proximate Constituents of Coal, 585 ; on Quantitative Methods of Electrolysis, 585 Section C (Geology)—Opening Address by J. E. Marr, F.R.S. (President of the Section), 494; Sir W. Dawson on pre-Cambrian Fossils, 585 ; Dr. G. F. Matthews on the Larval Characters of Entromostraca, Brachiopods, and Trilobites in those Faunas which preceded that of Para- doxides, 585; Sir Archibald Geikie on some Rocks hitherto described as Volcanic Agglomerates in Anglesey, 585; Mr. Greenly on the Quartzite Lenticles, 585; Mr. W. W. Watts on Ancient Rocks in Charnwood Forest, 585; Messrs. Howard and Small on the Rocks of Skomer Island, 585 ; Prof. Boyd Dawkins on the Geology of the Isle of Man, 586; Mr. Garwood’s Report on the Work on Carboniferous Zones, 586; Mr. HU. C. Beasley on Foot- prints from the Trias in the Neighbourhood of Liverpool, 586; Mr. Morton on a Boring near Altcar and another Boring on the West of Bidston Hill, 586; Mr. Montagu Browne on the True Bone-bed of Aust Cliff and the Pullastra arenicola Bed which occurs above it, 586; Mr. H. B. Woodward’s Notes on Sections along the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, 586 ; Glacial Geology, 586; Mr. A. Bell on the Tertiary Deposits of North Manxland, 586; Mr. Kendal on certain River Valleys in Yorkshire which have changed their direction in part since the Glacial Period, 586 ; Mr. Kendal and Mr. Lomas on the Glacial Phenomena of the Clwyd Valley, 586; Dr. Callaway on the Superficial Deposits of Shropshire, 586; Mr. Clement Reid on the Paleolithic Deposits of Hoxne, 586; Prof. Hull on the Great Uplift of the West Indian Islands, 586 ; Mr. Mellard Reade on the Evidence of Land Oscillation near Liverpool, 587; Mr. Morton on the Sea-coast of Wirral, 587 ; Prof. Seeley on a Skull of Diademodon brought from Wonder Boom, 587; Dr. Johnston-Lavis on the Interpretation placed by Messrs. Weed and Pirsson in an Igneous Mass in the Highwood Mountains, Montana, 587; Physical and Dynamical Geology, 587; Mr. Kendal on the Effects of Solution on Organisms with Aragonite and on those with Calcite Shells, 587; Prof. Milne on his Seismological Observations during the Year in the Isle of Wight, 587 Sectton D (Zoology)—Opening Address by Prof. E. B. Poul- ton, F.R.S. (President of the Section), 500, R. T. Giinther on Roman Oyster Culture, 605 ; Walter Garstang on Utility of Specific Character in Crabs, 605 ; Dr. C. 1. Hurst, 605 ; Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, 605 ; Prof. C. L. Morgan on Neo- Lamarckism, 605; F. Enock on Life-History of Tiger- Beetle, 605 ; J. W. Woodall on Dannevig’s Flodevigen Salt-water Fish Hatchery, 605; Dr. J. Hjort, 605; Rev. Canon Tristram on Bird Migration, 606 ; Dr. Gaskell on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates ;Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 606; Prof. C. S. Minot, 606; E. W. McBride, 606; Walter Garstang, 606; F. A. Bather, 606; Prof. C. S. Minot on the Theory of Panplasm, 606; E. W. McBride. on Value of Morphological Methods in Zoology, 606; F. A. Bather, 606; A. T. Masterman on Phoronis, 607; E. W. McBride, 607; A. T. Masterman on some Effects of Pelagic Spawning on the Life-Histories of Marine Fishes, 607. Section E (Geography)—G. F. Scott Elliot on the Influence of African Climate and Vegetation on Civilisation, 587 ; Sir Charles Wilson on the Geography of the Egyptian Sudan, 588 ; H. S. Cowper on a Journey in the Tarhuna and M’Salata Districts of Tripoli, 588 ; Rev. W. K. R. Bed- ford on some Old Tapestry Maps of Parts of England, 588 ; Mr. Vaughan Cornish on the Formation and Distribution of Sand-dunes, 588 ; G. G. Chisholm on the Relativity of Geo- graphical Advantages, 589 Section G (Mechanical Sctence)—Opening Address by Sir Douglas Fox (President of the Section), 510; Mr. Beau- mont on Cause of Failure of Railway Rail, 607; Prof. Unwin, 608; Mr. Johnson, 608; Dr. Anderson, 608; Sir Douglas Fox, 608; Prof. Hele-Shaw, 608: Mr. Spooner, 608; W. H. Wheeler, Report on Effect of Wind and Atmospheric Pressure on Tides, 608; A. J. Maginnis on Coal Consumption in British North Atlantic Mail Service, 608 ; Colonel Watkin’s Photographic Method of Comparing Screw-Gauges, 608 ; Price’s Microscopical Method of Com- paring Screw-Guages, 608 ; Report on Small Screw-Gauges, 609; W. H. Preece on Tests of Glow-lamps, 609 ; Prof. Ayrton, 609 Secteon H (Anthropology)—Opening Address by Arthur J. Evans (President of the Section), The Eastern Question in Anthropology, 527; Mr. A. W. Moore and Dr. J. Beddoe on Manx Anthropology, 609 ; Dr. D. Hepburn on the Trinil Femur, 610; G. Lawrence Gomme on the Method of Determining the Value of Folk-Lore as Ethno- logical Data, 610; C. H. Read on a Proposed Ethnological Bureau, 610; Dr. J. H. Gladstone on Prehistoric Metal Implements, 610 ; Dr. Munro, 610; Prof. Ridgeway on the Starting Point of the Iron Age in Europe, 610 ; Dr. Munro and Prof. Boyd Dawkins on the Glastonbury Lake Village, 610; Prof. Ridgeway on the Mykenzean Age, 610; Dr. O. Montelius on Pre-classical Chronology in Greece and Italy, 611; Prof. Petrie on Iron Tools discovered in Egypt, 611 ; Arthur J. Evans on Pillar and Tree Worship in Mykenzean Greece, 611 ; G. Coffey on the Relation of the Stone Carv- ings of the Tumuli of New Grange, Dowth, and Loughcrew to Scandinavian Art, 611; Graf von Pfeil on the Duk-duk and other Customs as Forms of Expression of the Melane- sian’s Intellectual Life, 611; F. T. Elworthy on the Dis- covery of an Ancient British Interment in Somersetshire, 611 Section I ( Phystology)—Opening Address by W. H. Gaskell, F.R.S. (President of the Section), The Origin of Verte- brates, 551; Prof. Kendrick on the Application of Phono- graph to Sound-Analysis, 633 ; Prof. Macallum on a means of detecting Difference between Organic and Inorganic Salts of Iron, 633; Dr. Marcet on Types of Human Respiration, 633 ; Prof. Lorrain Smith and Westbrook on Febrile Reaction on Inoculation with certain Bacilli, 633 ; Prof. Thompson on Physiological Effects of Vein-injected Pepsin, 633; Dr. J. L. Bunch on Intestinal Nerves, 634 ; Dr. Griinbaum on Effect of Peritonitis on Peristalsis, 634 ; Dr. Pavy on the Glucoid Constitution of Proteid, 634; Prof. Gotch on Time Relations of a Single Nerve-Cell, 634 ; Prof. Minot on a New Microtome, 634; Prof. Waller on Conditions Modifying Electrical Response of Isolated Nerve, 634; Dr. Mann on Nerve Cells, 634; Dr. Buchanan on Cell Granulation, 634; Prof. Paul on some Points in Dental Histology, 635; Dr. E. Stevenson on Effect on Eye-Move- ments of Destruction of Ear, 635; Prof. Haycraft on Flicker Photometry, 635; Prof. Allen on Physical Basis of Supplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Lndex 1X Life, 635; Dr. Lazarus Barlow on Osmosis, 635; Dr. Kanthack on Bacteria in Food, 635 ; Dr. Sims Woodhead on the Organisation of Bacteriological Research, 635 ; Dr. Hill on the Minute Structure of the Cerebellum, 635; Dr. Copeman on Action of Glycerine on Bacteria Growth, 635 ; Dr. Durham on Mechanism of Reaction to Peritoneal Infections, 635; Profs. Boyce and Herdman on Bacterio- logy of Oyster, 635; Dr. Kohn on Presence of Iron and Copper in White and Green Oysters, 636 ; Dr. Abram and Mr. Marsden on Detection of Lead in Organic Fluids, 636 Section K (Botany)—Opening Address by D. H. Scott, F.R.S. (President of the Section), Present Position of Morphological Botany, 535; British Association: Con- ference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies, 636; Mr. George Abbott on a Plan for the Organisation of Local Natural History Societies, 636; Prof. Flinders Petrie on a Federal Staff for Local Museums, 637 British Birds: a Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin, J. A. Harvie Brown, T. E. Buckley, 433; British Birds’ Nests: How, where, and when to find and identify them, R. Kearton, 433; British Sea-Birds, Charles Dixon, 433 ; a Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain, R. Bowdler Sharpe, 433 British Medical Association, the late Sir J. R. Reynolds's Presi- dential Address, 133 : British Mosses, the Student’s Handbook of, H. N. Dixon, 434 British Museum: Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), George Albert Boulenger, 266 ; Catalogue of Jurassic Bryozoa in the British Museum, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 412; British Museum Catalogue of Corals, IL., H. M. Bernard, 593 British Rainfall of 1895, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., and H. S. Wallis, 390 Brizard (L.), Action of Reducing Agents on Nitroso-Compounds of Osmium, 312 Broads, Nest-building Amphipods in the, Henry Scherren, 367 Brodie (Frederick), Death of, 401 Brodie (P. B.), a Curious Bird’s Nest, 172 Brooks’ Comets: Search Ephemeris for Comet 1889, V., Dr. Bauschinger, 84; Return of, 185 ; W. F. Denning, 251; M. Javelle, 354; Brooks’ Periodic Comet, 231 ; Brooks’ Comet (1896), 448; Brooks’ Comet, Prof. E. Lamp, 487 Brown (J. A. Harvie), a Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin, 4 ee (M. W.), the Organisation of Technical Literature, 622 Brown (Dr. R.), some New Fossil Species of Marsupials, 168 Browne (Dr. Lennox), the Antitoxin Treatment of Diphtheria, 260 Browne (Montagu), Taxidermy and Modelling, 319; on the true Bone-Bed of Aust Cliff and the Pxd/astra arentcola Bed which occurs above it, 586 Bruni (Dr.), Association of Typhoid Bacillus with Osteomyelitis, 184 Buchanan (Dr.) on Cell Granulations, 634 Buchenau (Prof. Dr. F.), Flora der Ostfriesischen Inseln, W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., 341 Bucherer (A. H.), Effect on Electromotive Force of Magnetism, 311 Buchner (Eugen), the European Bison, 484 Buckley (T. E ), a Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin, 433 Bullen (Frank T.), the Sperm Whale and its Food, 102 Bulletin of American Mathematical Society, 92, 213, 383 Bulletin de la Société de Naturalistes de Moscou, 190, 213, 237 Bunch (Dr. J. L.), on the Nerves of the Intestine, 634 Burch (G. I.), Electromotive Properties of Ma/apterurus elec- tricus, 92; Plant Structure revealed by Rontgen Rays, 111 ; Remarkable Lightning Flash, 492 Burgess (H. E.), Santalal and its Derivatives, 408 Burke (J.), on Change of Absorption accompanying Fluor- escence, 567 Burnside (Prof. W., F.R.S.), Isomorphism of a Group with itself, 69 Burstall (F. W.), Resistance Box, 36; Bare Wire Resistance Thermometers, 36 Burstall (H. R. J.), Bare Wire Resistance Thermometers, 36 Biitschli (Prof. O.), Weitere Ausfiihrungen tiber den Bau der Cyanophyceen und Bacterien, 124 Butter, Digestibility of Cocoa-Butter and ordinary, M.M. Bourot and F. Jean, 639 Butterflies: Prevention of Extinction of British, Messrs. Mc- Lachlan, Goss, Elwes, and Colonel Irby, 93 ; Butterflies and Hibernation, W. Tyson, 125; Variation of Helécon‘us, W. F. H. Blandford, 161 Cable Laying on the Amazon River, Alexander Siemens, 162 Cenolestes obscurus, Dr. St. G. Mivart, 41 Calcite Shells, on the Effects of Solution on Organisms with aragonite, and on those with, Mr. Kendal, 587 Calculus, Graphical, Arthur H. Barker, 435 Calcutta, Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 98 Calendar, the Indian, Robert Sewell and Saukara Balkrishna Dikshit, W. T. Lynn, 219 Callaway (Dr.), on the Superficial Deposits of Shropshire, 585 Callendar (Prof.), Rontgen Rays Influenced by Magnetism, 141 Callendar (Dr ), Death of, 597 Calman (W. T.), Affinities of Anaspides to Fossil Crustacea, 119 pers (Prof, A.), Snake-venom and Anti-venomous Serum, 380 Cambridge Philosophical Society, 94, 118, 166 Campbell (Frank), the Theory of National and International Bibliography, Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 617 Campbell (Mr.), New Instruments for Direct Measurement of Frequency of Periodic Currents, 93; the Measurement of very Large and very Small Alternating Currents, 165 Camphor, 116 Canadian Royal Society, 141 Canals and Rivers, L. F. Vernon-Harcourt, 459 Canals on Mars, the, 600 Cancani (Dr. A.), New Form of Seismometrograph, 424; the Perturbation of Animals Before Earthquakes, 424 Cannizzaro Memorial, Dr. Ludwig Mond, F.R.S., 125 Cape Observatory, the, 426° Capillary Ascents of Liquid Carbon near Critical Temperature, Mr. Verschaffelt, 360 Capman (M.), Antistaphyloccic Serotherapy, 592 Capranica (Prof. S.), Action of Rontgen Rays on Animals, 204 Captive Balloon for Reconnoitring Purposes, 483 Carbides, Metallic, 357 Carbonated Waters, Bacteria and, G. C. Frankland, 365 et ares Zones, Mr. Gardwood’s Report on the Work on, 586 Carnations, the Crossing of, Martin Smith, 549 Carnot (Adolphe), Variations in Apatites, 192 Carpenter (Dr. Boyd), on Huxley and Science, 31 Carte du Ciel, Meeting of International Committee of the, 350 Carter (Dr. A. H.), Text-book of Physical Exercises, 341 Carus- Wilson (C_), ‘‘ Cup and Ring” Markings on Stucco, 38 Carvallo (J.), the Coagulation of the Blood, 432 Castor, the System of, Dr. Belopolsky, 63 Catalogue Conference, the International, 248, 272 Catalogue of Science, International, 54 Cattell (Prof. J. McKeen), the Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, ror Cattle Plague in Africa, Sir John Kirk, 171 Caucasian Branch of Russian Geographical Society, Memoirs of, 46 Causse (H.), Reaction between Aldehydes and Phenylhydrazine, 144 Cavern, the Mitchelstown, E. A. Martel, 34 Caverns and their Inhabitants, Julien Fraipont, Prof. W. B. Dawkins, F.R.S., 339 Caves, Exploration of Tennessee, H. C. Mercer, 288 Cayley’s Colour Diagrams, Representation of Finite Groups by, H. Maschke, 22 Cazeneuve (P.), New Synthetic Method of preparing Urea, 47 ; Aromatic Symmetrical Derivatives of Urea, 95 ; New Mode of preparing Glyceric Acid, 119 Celebes Expedition, Messrs. P. and F. Sarasin’s, 372 Cell Theory, the, Legons sur la Cellule Morphologie et Répro- duction faites au College de France pendent le semestre d’hiver 1893-94, Felix Henneguy, 193 Centenary of Vaccination, the, 15 Centralblatt fiir Anthropologie, 237 Century Magazine, Science in, 454, 589 Century, the Last Day and Year of the, Remarks on Time- Reckoning, W. T. Lynn, 438 Cerebellum, on the Minute Structure of the, Dr. Hill, 635 Cetacea: the Sperm Whale and its Food, Frank T. Bullen, 102 x Index a upplement to Nature, Decentber 10, 1896 Ceylon, the Bertillon System in, 518 Chameleonic Notes, E. L. J. Ridsdale, 573 Chameleons, Food of, E. L. J. Ridsdale, 248 Chameleons, Habits of, A. A. Blakiston, 621 ; Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., 622 Chandler (Dr.), Variable Stars, 426 Chanler (William Astor), Through Jungle and Desert: Travels in Eastern Africa, 313 ‘Chanute (Octave), the Dune Park Aerial Locomotion Experi- ments, 518 Chapman (A. C.), Santalal and its Derivatives, 408 Charnwood Forest, Mr. W. W. Watts on Ancient Rocks in, 58 Grice (E.), Reduction of Crotonic Aldehyde, 287 Charteres (Prof.), the Physiological Action of Eucaine, 335 Character, Specific, among the Mutillide, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 461 Character, Utility of Specific, David Wetterhan, 342; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 365, 491 ; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 413, 546; Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 460; W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 522; J. T. Cunningham, 522 Charcoal, the Spontaneous Combustion of, W. D. A. Bost, 577 Chattaway (F. D.), Metadiphenylbenzene, 143 Chauveau (A.), Transformation of Fat into Carbohydrates in Unfed Animals, 95; Direct Potentialin Muscular Work, 119 ; Relation between Energy-Expenditure of Muscle and Amount of Shortening it undergoes, 312 Cheese, Bacteriology of Norwegian ‘‘ Pult-ost,” Dr. Axel Holst, 484 Chemistry : Analytical Chemistry, N. Menschutkin, 6 ; Chemical Society, 22, 46, 118, 143, 190, 408 ; New Organic Acid from Oxidation of Tartaric Acid, H. J. H. Fenton, 22; Bearing of Investigations of Simple and Double Sulphates containing Potassium, Rubidium, and Calcium upon the Nature of Structural Unit, A. E. Tutton, 22; Hydriodides of Hydroxy- Jamine, W. R. Dunstan and E. Goulding, 22; Acetonylmalic Acid, S. Ruhemann and E, A. Tyler, 22; Charas, T. B. Wood, W. T. N. Spivey and T. H. Easterfield, 22; Oxida- tion Products of a-bromocamphorsulphonic Acid, A. Lapworth and F. S. Kipping, 22: a Basic Nitrate of Magnesia, G. Didier, 23; Heat of Combustion of Cyanogen Derivatives, M. Guinchant, 23 ; Optical Superposition of Six Asymmetric Carbon Atoms in one Active Molecule, P. A. Guye and C. Goudet, 23 ; Crystallised Sesquiphosphide of Iron, A. Granger, 23; Action of Halogen Compounds of Phosphorus on Iron, &c., A. Granger, 312 ; Chemical Experiments, General and Analytical, R. P. Williams, 27; Dalton’s Atomic Theory, 28; Leonard Dobbin, 126; a Compound harder than Diamond, If. Moissan, 34; Constitution of Cereal Celluloses, C. F. Cross, E. J. Bevan, and C. Smith, 46; New Cobaltic Acid Salt, R. G. Durrant, 47: Ethereal Salts of Optically Active Malic and Lactic Acid, T. Purdie and S. Williamson, 47 ; Determination of Composition of a White Sou by Spectrum Analysis, W. N. Hartley, 47 ; Method of detecting Boric Acid, W. M. Doherty, 47; New Synthetic Method of preparing Urea, P. Cazeneuve, 47 ; Aromatic Symmetrical Derivatives of Urea, MM. P. Cazeneuve and Moreau, 95; Transformation of Tariric and Stearoleic Acids into Stearic Acid, A, Arnaud, 47; Substitution by other Substances of Water in Zeolites, G. Freidel, 47; Fermentation of Uric Acid by Micro-Organisms, E. Gerard, 47 ; Action of Nitric Acid on Methyl and Dimethyl Amides, Prof. Franchimont, 48; Action of Alkalis on Nitramines, Prof. Franchimont, 48 ; Isomers of Neutral Nitramines, Prof. Franchimont, 240; Elementary Practical Chemistry, G. S. Newth, 51; Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, Bertram Blount, A. G, Bloxam, 51 ; Thiophosphoryl Chloro- bromides, M. Besson, 63 ; Action of Air and of Peroxide of Nitrogen on Halogen Compounds of Bismuth, V. Thomas, 713; Action of Ethyloxalyl Chloride upon the Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Presence of Aluminium Chloride, L. Bouveault, 71, 119 ; Action of Ethoxalyl Chloride on Naphtha- Jene in Presence of Aluminium Chloride, L. Rousset, 264 ; Preparation of Aluminium Alloys by Chemical Reaction, C. Combes, 215; Resistance of Aluminium and its Alloys to Corrosive Liquids, J. W. Richards, 253 ; Action of Aluminium Chloride on Benzene containing Thiophene, E. Boedtker, 360 ; the Alumina Factory at Larne Harbour, James Suther- land, 329; New Methods of Separating Methylamines, Marcel-Delépine, 71 ; the Methylamines, M. Delépine, 144 ; Mercurous Nitrite, Dr. P. C. Ray, 83; Active Principle of Indian Hemp, Messrs. Wood and FEasterfield, 94; Nickel Cyanide, Raoul Varet, 95; the Chloraloses, M. Hanriot, 95; Oxidation of Aromatic Polyphenols, G. Bertrand, 95 ; Separation of Citric and Malic Acids, L. Lindet, 95 ; Leerboek der Organische Chemie, Dr. A. F. Holleman, Dr. J.B. Cohen, 100 ; Death of Prof. Rawlin, 105 ; the Decay of Potash Making in Essex, Henry Laver, 106; Uranium, 116 ; Condition of Sodium Sulphate in Solution, R. F. D’Arcy, 118; Luteolin, II., A. G. Perkin, 118; Morin, I., H. Bablich and A. G. Perkin, 118 ; Synthesis of Pentacarbon Rings, F. R. Japp and G. D. Lander, 118; Reduction of Desyleneacetic Acid, F. R. Japp and G. D. Lander, 118 ; Flourene and Acenaph- thene, W. R. Hodgkinson, 118; Vapour Pressures of Formic Acid Solutions, I. M. Raoult, 119; Action of Gaseous Hydrogen Iodide and Phosphonium Iodide on Thiophosphoryl Chloride, A. Besson, 119; New Mode of preparing Glyceric Acid, P. Cazeneuve, 119; New Soluble Oxidising Vegetable Ferment, G. Bertrand, 119 ; Inactivity of Helium and Argon, Prof. Wm. Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. J. N. Collie, 143 ; Homo- geneily of Argon and Helium, Prof, W. Ramsay and Dr. J. N. Collie, 336, 406; Metadiphenyl-benzene, F. D. Chattaway and R. C. T. Evans, 143; Derivatives of Camphoric Acid, F. S. Kipping, 143 ; Substances exhibiting Rotatory power both in Liquid and Crystalline states, W. J. Pope, 143; Dimethoxy-diphenylmethane and some of its homologues, J. E. Mackenzie, 143; Preparation of Molybdenum, M. Guichard, 144; Reaction between Aldehydes and Phenylhydrazine, H. Causse, 144; Action of Acetylene on Iron, &c., H. Moissan and Ch. Moureu, 144 ; Explosion and Detection of Acetylene in Air, F. Clowes, 408 ; Laboratory Use of Acetylene, A. E. Munby, 414; Explosive Properties of Acetylene, MM. Berthelot and Vieille, 591; Melted Vanadium and its Carbide, H. Moissan, 167 ; Extraction of Vanadium from Anthracite, K. Hélouis, 300; New Method of Preparing Alloys, H. Moissan, 167 ; Estimation of Potassium, Charles Fabre, 167; Heat of Vapourisation of Formic Acid, D. Marshall, 167; Gravi- metric Determination of Selenium, A. W. Peirce, 189 ; Mononitroguaiacol, R. Meldola, 190; Reaction of Cuprous Compounds as Characteristic Tests for Nitrites, Paul Sabatier, 192; Dark Blue Nitrodisulphonic Acid, P. Sabatier, 215; Action of Hydrazine on Glycoxylic Acids, L. Bouveault, 216 ; Purification of Sulphur, Prof. Richard Threlfall, 224 ; Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 225; Relation between Refrac- tion and Chemical Equivalents of Elements, Dr. J. H. Glad- stone, F.R.S., 238; New Method of preparing Aromatic Aldehydes, L. Bouveault, 239 ; Action of Iodine on Stannous Chloride, V. Thomas, 239; a Dictionary of Chemical Solu- bilities, Arthur Messinger Comey, 244; Death of Prof. A. K. von Stradonitz, 252; the Atomic Weight of Oxygen, Dr. E. W. Morley, EC. C. Baly, 258 ; Tungsten, H. Moissan, 264; Solubility of Carbon in Rhodium, Iridium, and Pal- ladium, H. Moissan, 264; Action of Nitrogen Perdxide on Antimony Trichloride, V. Thomas, 264; Effect of High Temperature on some Sulphides, A. Mourlot, 264; the Fusi- bility of Metallic Alloys, H. Gautier, 287 ; Action of Silicon on Metals, E. Vigouroux, 287 ; Action of Water on Formic Aldehyde, Marcel Delépine, 287; Reduction of Crotonic Aldehyde, E. Charon, 287; Rapid Estimation of Carbon Dioxide, M. Henriet, 288; Death and Obituary Notice of August Kekulé, 297; Measurements of Chemical Intensity of Light, Prof. Wiesner, 299 ; New Method of Preparing Salts of Hyponitrous Acid, O. Piloty, 300; Study of Lanthanum Carbide, H. Moissan, 312; Action of Reducing Agents on Nitroso-Compounds of Osmium, L, Brizard, 312; Fermenta- tion of Uric Acid by Micro-organisms, E, Gérard, 312 ; Action of Chloride of Sulphur on Penta-erythrite, J. Bougault, 312 ; Progress in Stereochemistry, Dr. Arnold LPiloart, 321; the Nitrogen and Argon of Fire-Damp, Th. Schloesing, jun., 336, 359; the Preparation of Selenic Acid, R. Metzner, 336; a New Cobaltite, E. Dufau, 336; the Black Diamond, H. Moissan, 336; Metallic Carbides, 357 ; Oxidation of Organic Soil-Matter, P. P. Dehérain and E. Demoussy, 359; Action of Iodine on Potassium Cyanide, and of Iodine Cyanide on Caustic Potash, Dr. P. van Romburgh, 360; Rapid Estima- tion of Mixtures of Amines, Ch, Gassmann, 360; a New Oxy- acid of Nitrogen, 377 ; Research on Liquefaction of Ielium, Prof. K. Olszewski, 377, 5443 Selenium Monoxide, A. W. Peirce, 383; Cyanic Acid, M. Berthelot, 384 ; the Volatility Supplement to Nature, December to, 1896 of Levulic Acid, MM. Berthelot and André, 384; Conden- sation of Chloral with Resorcinol, J. T. Hewitt and F. G. Pope, 408; Atomic Weight of Japanese Tellurium, Masumi Chikashigé, 408 ; Derivatives of Camphene Sulphonic Acid, A. Lapworth and F. S. Kipping, 408; Asitine, H. A. D. Jowett, 408; Quercitin in Onion Skin, A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel, 408; Myricetin Colouring Matter of AZyrica nagt Rock, A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel, 408; Myricetin Colouring Matter of Sicilian Sumach, A. G. Perkin and G. Y. Allen, 408; Fisetin Colouring Matter of Querbracho colorado, A. G. Perkin and O. Gunnell, 408; New Base from Camphoroxime, 408; Condensation of Benzil with Levulic Acid, F. R. Japp, 408; the Three Chloro- - benzeneazosalicylic Acids, J. T. Hewitt and H. E. Stevenson, 408 ; Action of Bromine on Pinene, W. A. Tilden, 408 ; Santalal and its Derivatives, A. C. Chapman and H. E. Burgess, 408 ; Liberation of Chlorine during heating of mixed Potassium Chlorate and Manganic Peroxide, H. McLeod, 408 ; Polymorphism as explanation of Thermochemical Pecu- liarities of Chloral and Bromal Hydrates, W. J. Pope, 408 ; Applied Chemistry of Nitro-Explosives, G. S. Sanford, 410 ; Combination of Argon with Water, P. Villard, 432; the Mutual Relation of Atomic Weights of Elements, E. W. Morley, 450; Action of Soluble Oxidising Mushroom-Fer- ment on {Naphthols, E. Bourguelot, 456; Prof. Clowes’ Elementary Practical Chemistry, 460; the Volatilisation of Refractory Substances in the Electric Furnace, H. Moissan, 485; Researches with Electric Furnace, _H. Moissan, 598 ; Iodometric Method of determining Phosphorus in Iron, Charlotte Fairbanks, 488 ; Simultaneous Presence of Laccase and Tyrosinase in Mushroom Sugar, G. Bertrand, 520; Chemistry in Daily Life, Dr. Lassan-Cohn, 521 ; Lord Kelvin on the Molecular Dynamics of Hydrogen Gas, Oxygen Gas, Ozone, Peroxide of Hydrogen, Vapour of Water, Liquid Water, Ice, and Quartz Crystal, 566; Osmotic Pressure, W. C. D. Whetham, 571 ; Lucium, a New Element, P. Barriere, 598 ; the Constitution of the Nitro-Paraffins, Prof. Hantzoch, 599 ; Thermal Studies on Cyanamide, Paul Lemouet, 616; Dr. Ludwig Gattermann, Practical Organic Chemistry, 619 ; the Production of ‘* Active” Oxygen during Slow Oxidation, W. P. Jorissen, 631 ; Measurements of Electrical Conductivity of Methyl Alcohol Solutions, Messrs. Zelinsky and Krapiwin, 632 ; on a Means of Detecting the Difference between Organic and Inorganic Salts of Iron, Prof. Macallum, 633; Dr. Pavy ~ on the Glucoside Constitution of Proteid, 634 ; Dr. Kohn on the Presence of Iron and Copper in the White and Green Varieties of Oysters, 636; Dr. Abram and Mr. Marsden on Detection of Lead in Organic Fluids, 636 ; the Separation of Potassium and Sodium, D. A. Kreider and J. E. Breckenridge, 639; Action of Ferric Chloride on Metallic Gold, P. C. Mclihiney, 639; the Acid Decomposition of Sugars, MM. - Berthold and André, 639; Detection of Nitrous Acid by Brucine, P. Pichard, 639; Peculiarities of Solubility Curves, H. Le Chatelier, 639. See a/so Section B, British Association Chernysheff (Prof.), Geology of Novaya Zemlya, 402 Chester (A. H.), a Dictionary of the Names of Minerals, in- cluding their History and Etymology, 124 Chickoshige (Masumi), Atomic Weight of Japanese Tellurium, 4 China: the Eastern Tian-Shan, G. E. G. Grzimailo, 388 Chisholm (G. G.) on the Relativity of Geographical Advantages, 587 Chittenden (Dr.), Influence of Alcohol on Digestion, 598 Chlorine: Dr. F. Hurter on the Manufacture of Chlorine by means of Nitric Acid, 584 Cholera in Indian Cantonments, E. H. Hankin, 26 Chree (Dr. C.), Atmospheric Electricity at Kew, 190 ; Responsi- bility in Science, 572 Christiansen (C.), Origin of Contact Electricity, 45 Christie (James C.), Folk og Natur i Finmarken, Dr. Hans Reusch, 123 Chrystal (Prof.), Discriminant of Differential Equation of First Order, 191 Chronology : the Indian Calendar, Robert Sewell and Saukara Balkrishna Dikshit, W. T. Lynn, 219 ; the Last Day and Year of the Century: Remarks on Time-Reckoning, W. T. Lynn, 438; on Pre-classical Chronology in Greece and Italy, Dr. O. Montelius, 611 Chuard (M.), Calcium Carbide as an Insecticide, 229 Ciel et Terre, Science in, 359 Lndex Circulation of Organic Matter, the, Dr. C. V. Poore, 141 Clarke (C. F.), Milton’s Astronomy, 83 Clarke (Chas. L.), Halley’s Chart of Magnetic Declinations,. 126 Clayden (A. W.), Report on the Application of Photography to the Elucidation of Meteorological Phenomena, 567 Clayden(P. W.), Siemens’ Smokeless Grate, 492 Clayton (H. H.), the Seven-day Weather Period, 285 Clerici (Enrico), Artificial Petrifaction of Vegetable Tissues,. 229 Climate of Bremen and Sun-spots, 572 Clos (D.), the Tuberculoids of the Leguminosz, 456 Clouds: the Height of Luminous Clouds, 31 Clonds, Notes on, John Aitken, F.R.S., 164 Cloud-heights and Velocities, Measurement of, Dr. E. Kayser,, 2 Gigs: (Prof. F.), Portable Apparatus for Gas-testing in Electric Culverts, 37; Explosion and Detection of Acetylene in Air, 408 ; Elementary Practical Chemistry, 460 ; on the Limiting Explosive Proportions of Acetylene, and Detection and Measurement of this Gas in the Air, 583; Detection and, Measurement of Infammable Gas and Vapour in Air, 620 Clwyd Valley, on the Glacial Phenomena of the, Messrs. Kendal and Lomas, 586 Coal in Labuan, 82 Coal, Proximate Constituents of, 585 Coal Consumption in British North Atlantic Mail Service. A. J. Maginnis, 608 Coal-damp, the Hydrogen Lamp, Prof. F. Clowes and B. Redwood, 620 Coal-dust Explosions, Prof. W. Galloway, 414 Coal mine Explosions, Blown-out Shots, 576 Coapan, Honduras, the Ancient City of, Prof. F. W. Putnam, 480 Cobra Venom destroyed by High Frequency Currents, Dr.. D’Arsonval, 372 Cockerell (Prof. T. D. A.), Specific Characters among Mutillidee, 461 Cocoa: All About It, 50 Coffey (G.), on the Relation of the Stone Carvings of the Tumuli of New Grange, Dowth, and Loughcrew to Scandinavian Art, 611 Cohen (Dr. J. B.), Leerboek der Organische Chemie, Dr. A. F. Holleman, 100 Cohnstein (Dr.), the Theory of Lymph Formation, 120 Colardeau’s (M.) New Arrangement of Vacuum Tubes for Roéntgen Rays, 357 Cole (Prof. G. A. G.), Hullite, 391 Cole (R. S.), Instantaneous Photographs of Splashes, 37 Collie (Dr. J. Norman), Inactivity of Helium and Argon, 143 ; Homogeneity of Argon and Helium, 336, 406 Colliery Explosions, Causes of Death in, Dr. John Haldane, 207 Colonisation in Tropical Regions, M. Stokvis, 525 Colour Photography with Obliquely Incident Light, Kelvin, F.R.S., on Lippmann’s, 12 Colour Photographs, Becquerel and Lippmann’s, Prof. R. Mel- dola, F.R.S., 28; C. H. Bothamly, 77 Colour Photographs, Becquerel’s, Captain W. de W. Abney, F.R.S., 125 Colour Relations of Atoms, Ions, and Molecules, M. C. Lea,. 189 Colour-sense in Literature, the, Havelock Ellis, 41 Colour Variations in Ducks and Pigeons, W. T. Van Dyck, 54 Colours: Messrs. A. G. Green and A, Wahl on the Constitution: of Sun-yellow or Curcumine and Allied Colouring Matters, 584 Colquhoun (A. R.), the Nicaragua Canal, 127 Colson (R.), Mode of Action of X-rays on Photographic Plate, 23; Action of Zinc on Photographic Plate, 264 Coma Berenices, the Cluster in, 256 Combe (Abram), Rope-driving, 328 f Combes (C.), Preparation of Aluminium Alloys by Chemical Reaction, 215 Comets: Comet Swift, 1896, 17, 137; Dr. Schorr, 35; Search. Ephemeris for Comet 1889 V. (Brooks), Dr. Bauschinger, 843 Return of, 185; W. F. Denning, 251; M. Javelle, 354 : Prof. E. Lamp, 487; Brooks Periodic Comet, 231 ; Comet Brooks (1896), 448; Comet Giacobini, Dr. H. Kreutz, 487, 551; Comet Giacobini, 520, 632; Comet Perrine- Lamp: Lord Xi Index Supplement to Nature, . December 10, 1896 (1896 I.), 137; Joseph and Jean Fric, 600; Perrine (1895 IV.), Joseph and Jean Fric, 600; Comet 1890 VII., Dr. Spitaler, 374 ; New Comet, 448; Telegrams about Comets, 599; Comet Sperra, Prof. Lamp, 551; The Elements of Comet 1885 III., 579; Comet 1870 IT., 632 Comey (Arthur Messinger), a Dictionary of Chemical Solu- bilities, 244 Computation Rules and Logarithms, Prof. Silas W. Holman, 6 7 Complexion and Disease, Dr. John Beddoe, F.R.S., 260 Comstock (G. C.), an Investigation on Aberration and Atmospheric Refraction, 426 Conant (Prof. Levi Leonard), the Number Concept: its Origin and Development, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 145 Conchology, a Rare Variation in Pterocera dambis, Dr. A. Willey, 240 Conic Sections, Apollonius of Perga, Treatise on, 314 Conn (Prof.), the Bacteriology of Milk, $2 Connecticut, Agriculture in, 206 Connection, a Curious, Margaret McEvoy, 248 Constant, the Solar, J. Vallot, 239 Constants for Nautical Almanacs, 84 Contemporary Review, Science in the, 41, 42, 260, 331, 454, 599 Continent, in the Heart of a, Capt. Frank E. Younghusband, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 130 Conway Arctic Expedition to Spitzbergen, the, 324, 401; Dr. J. W. Gregory, 437 ; Trevor-Battye, 543 Cope (Prof. E. D.), Vertebrate Remains from Port Kennedy, (U.S.A.), Bone-Fissure, 312 Copeman (Dr.), on the Action of Glycerine upon the Growth of Bacteria, 635 Copenhagen, Meteorology of, V. Williams, 578 Coral Reef at Funafuti, Boring a, W. W. Watts, 201; Prof. Sollas, 517 Corals : Catalogue of the Madreporarian Corals in the British Museum (Natural History), H. M. Bernard, 593 Cornish (Vaughan), on the Formation and Distribution of Sand- Dunes, 588 Cornwall, Earthquakes in, 106 Corona, Determination of the General Brightness of the, Joseph Lunt, 17 Cosmographical Review of the Universal Law of the Affinities of Atoms, a, James Henry Loader, 268 Counting, the Evolution of, Prof. Levi Leonard Conant, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 145 County Councils and Agriculture, 368 Cowell (P. H.), Inclinational Terms in Moon’s Coordinates, 22 Cowper (H. S.), on a Journey in the Tarhuna and M’Salata districts of Tripoli, 585 Cox (Prof.), Rontgen Rays affected by Magnetic Attraction, 141 Crabs, on the Utility of Specific Character in Crabs, Walter Garstang, 605; Dr. C. H. Hurst, 605; Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, 605 Crabs, Measurements of, J. T. Cunningham, 621 Crawford (J. H.), Wild Life of Scotland, 268 a4 (Surg.-Maj. E.), Habits and Distribution of Galeodes, 36) 3 Criminal Identification, the Bertillon System in Ceylon, 518 ** Cromerite,”” a Mechanical Problem, 622 Crosfield (M. C.), Geology of Carmarthen Neighbourhood, 23 Cross (C. F.), Constitution of Cereal Celluloses, 46 Crows and Turnips, 255 Crump (T. G.), Increasing the Efficiency of Réntgen Ray Tubes, 225 Crustacea, Affinities of Anaspides to Fossil, W. T. Calman, 119 Cryoscopy of Precision, F. M. Raoult, 568 Crystallography: Grundriss der Krystallographie fiir Studi- rende und zum Selbstunterricht, Gottlob Linck, 7; Crystal- lography for Beginners, C. J. Woodward, 522 Cuckoo, the Note of the, A. H. Macpherson, 526 “Cup and Ring” Markings on Stucco, Natural, C. Carus- Wilson, 38 Cumming (Linnzeus), Mechanics for Beginners, 546 Cunningham (J. T.), the Utility of Specific Characters, 295, 522; Measurements of Crabs, 621 Curtis (R. H.), the Exposure of Anemometers, 94 Curtius (Prof. E.), Death of, 252 Cushing (Prof. F. N.), Archeology of S.-W. Florida, 230 Cyanide Processes, E. B. Wilson, T. K. Rose, 7 Cyclones: The Paris Cyclone, 481; Most Destructive West Indian Cyclone on Record, 577 Cyprus, Earthquakes in, 229; the June-July Earthquakes in Cyprus, 325 : Dallas (James), Information on Scientific Questions, 296 Dalmatia, Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and, Robert Munro, Prof. W. Boyd-Dawkins, F.R.S., 78 Dalton’s Atomic Theory, 28; L. Dobbin, 126 Danilewsky (B.), Influence of Lecithine on Growth of Warm- blooded Animals, 312 Dannemann (Dr. Friedrich), Grundriss einer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, 316 Dannevig’s Flodevigen Salt-water ie Ke Woodall, 605 ; Dr. J. Hjort, 605 Darby (J. H.), Mond Gas as applied to Steel-making, 40 D'Arcy (R. F.), Condition of Sodium Sulphate in Solution, 118 Dark Light, the Condensation of, G. Le Bon, 71 Darwin (Charles) and his Theory, M. A. Antonovich, 101 Date of the Glacial Period, the, Percy F. Kendall, 319 Daubeny, (G. A.), Forestry in Germany, 353 Daubrée (Prof.), Death of, 105 ; Obituary Notice of, 132 Daveau (J.), Proterandry in Palm, 157 David (Prof. W. E.), Diatomaceous Earth Deposits of War- rumbungle Mountains, 384 ‘ Davidson (Dr.), the California Trap-door Spider, 288 Davies (Benjamin), New Form of Apparatus for the Production of Réntgen Rays, 281; Remarkable Lightning Flash, 573 ; Extension of Visible Spectrum, 622 Davison (Dr. C.), the Relative Lengths of Post-Glacial Time in the Two Hemispheres, 137 Davison (J. M.), Wardite, 383 Davy-Faraday, the Research Laboratory, 200 Dawkins (Prof. W. Boyd, F.R.S.), Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia, Robert Munro, 78; Les Cavernes et leurs Habitants, Julien Fraipont, 339; on the Geology of the Isle of Man, 586; on the Lake Village of Glastonbury, 610 Dawson (Sir W.), on pre-Cambrian Fossils, 385 Deaf-Mutes, Kcenig’s System of Visual Aid in Oral Teaching of, T. Hawksley, 523; A. Farrar, jun., 573 Deane (Henry), Origin of Australian Vegetation, 253 Death, Causes of, in Colliery Explosions, Dr. John Haldane, Fish- Hatchery, 207 Debierre (Prof. Ch.), Atlas d’Osteologie, Articulations et Inser- tions Musculaires, 148 Declinations, Halley’s Chart of Magnetic, Thos. Ward, 196 Declinations of Fifty-six Stars, 206 Deeley (R. M.), Mammalian Remains in Old Derwent River Gravels near Derby, 70 Deep Sea, by the, Edward Step, 522 Defacoz (E.), Analytical Characters of Tungsten Compounds, 60 Denerain (P. P.), Oxidation of Organic Soil-matter, 359 Delavay (R. P.), Death of, 33 Delebecque (André), the Fata Morgana, 432 Delépine (Marc), the Methylamines, 144 ; Action of Water on Formic Aldehyde, 287 Delezenne (C.), Slowness of Coagulation of Blood in Birds, 144; Stability of Blood rendered incoagulable by Extract of Leech, 520 Deluge, Testimony of Science to, W. B. Galloway, 594 Demerliac (R.), Application of Clapyron’s Formula to Melting- points of Benzene, 95 Demoussy (E.), Oxidation of Organic Soil-Matter, 359 Denning (W. F.), Two Brilliant Meteors, 27; the August Meteor-Shower, 415; the November Meteors, 623; the Re- turn of Brook’s Comet, 251 Dennis (Prof.), Potassium Platino Cyanide best for Fluorescent Screens, 481 Dental Histology, on some Points in, Prof. Paul, 635 Deslandres (M.), Displacement of Lines in Spectrum of Jupiter, 162; the Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, 301 Deviations, Plumb-Line, M. Messerschmitt, 301 Dewar (Prof. J.), on Low Temperature Research, 584 Dewar (T. I.), Algebraic Spherical Catenary, 159 Diademodon, on a Skull of, brought from Wonder Boom, Prof. Seeley, 587 Diamond : a Compound harder than Diamond, H. Moissan, 34; Study of the Black Diamond, H. Moissan, 336; the Supplement to see December to, 1896 Index xiil Preparation of the Diamond, II. Moissan, 327 ; the Diamond Sands of Brazil, H. Moissan, 359; the Formation of Diamonds in Steel, M. Rossel, 279 Dickson (H. N.), the Specific Gravity of the Waters of the Sea, 235 Didier (G.), a Basic Nitrate of Magnesia, 23 Dielectrics, R. Appleyard, 93 Diffraction Gratings, the Reproduction of, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 332 Diffusion of Metals, the, Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S., 55 Digestion, Influence of Alcohol on, Drs. Chittenden and Mendel, 598 Dikshit (Saukara Balkrishna), the Indian Calendar, 219 Diminution of Chemical Action due to Limitations of Space, Prof. Oscar Liebreich, 584 Diptera from South Asia, Catalogue of the Described, F. M. Van der Wulp, 435 Diphtheria: the Antitoxin Treatment of Diphtheria, Dr. Lennox Browne, 260; Diphtheria Toxine Preparation, M. Nicole, 372 ; Report of Austrian State Institute for Prepara- tion of Anti-toxin Serum, 447 Disease: Complexion and Disease, Dr. John Beddoe, F.R.S., 260 ; See also Morbology Distortion of the Earth’s Surface, Prof. Milne, 256 Dixey (Dr. F. A.), Ueber Germinal-Selection; eine Quelle bestimmt gerichteter Variation, August Weismann, 121 Dixon (A. F.), Method of Reconstruction of Serial Micro- scopical Sections by use of Glass Plates, 38 Dixon (Charles), British Sea Birds, 433 Dixon (Edward T.), the Positions of Retinal Images, 54 Dixon (Henry), Osmotic Pressures in Leaf-cells, 167 Dixon (H.B.), Chemical Inactivity of Réntgen Rays, 408 Dixon (Prof. H. B.), Reflected Waves in the Explosion of Gases, 583 Dixon (H. N.), the Student’s Handbook of British Mosses, 434 Dobbin (Leonard), Dalton’s Atomic Theory, 126 Doberck (Dr.), Shooting Star Radiants, 186; Double Star Observations, 426 Doherty (W.M.), Method of Detecting Boric Acid, 47 Dolley’s (Dr. C. S.) Planktonokrit, 120 Domestic Science Readers, Vincent T. Murché, 196 Domesticated Animals, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, 220 Donath (Bruno), Bolometric Investigations of Absorption Spectra of Fluorescent Substances and Ethereal Oils, 455 Donnan (F. G.), Dependence of the Colour of the Solutions on the Nature of the Solvent, 55 Double Star Orbits, Dr. See, 280 Drapes (Thomas), the Increase of Insane under Detention, 589 Drinking-Water, Koch’s Gelatine Process for the Examination of, Frank Scudder, 150 Drobisch (Dr. M. W.), Death of, 576 Drude (P), Anomalous Electric Dispersion of Liquids, 189 ; Refractive Indices of Water and Aqueous Solutions, 544 Duane (W.), Damping Action of Magnetic Fields on Rotating Insulators, 311 Dublin Royal Society, 119, 167 Dubois (Dr.), Pzthecanthropus erectus, 135 Ducks and Pigeons, Colour Variations in, W. T. Van Dyck, 54 Dufau (E.), a New Cobaltite, 336 Duk-duk, on the, and other Customs as Forms of Expression of the Melanesian’s Intellectual Life, Graf. von Pfeil, 611 Dunlop (Dr. J. C.), Action of Acids on the Metabolism, 71 Dunsink Observatory, the, 301 Dunstan (W. R.), Hydriodides of Hydroxylamine, 22 Dupré (Dr. A., F.R.S.), Researches on Réntgen Rays and Fluorescence, 354 Durége (Dr. H.), Elements of the Theory of Functions, 101 Durham (Dr.), on some Points in the Mechanism of the Re- action to Peritoneal Infections, 635 Durrant (R. G.), New Cobaltic Acid Salt, 47 Dussy (J.). Specific Heat of Viscous Sulphur, 359 Dust-Storm, a Remarkable, 41 Dwelshauvers-Dery (Dr. F. V.), Actinochroism of Réntgen Rays, 356; Reflection of Rontgen Rays, 356 Dyck (W. T. Van), Colour Variations in Ducks and Pigeons, 54 Dyeing, Wool, W. M. Gardner, 571 Dyer (W. T. Thiselton, F.R.S.), Character, 435 Dynamics, Theoretical, a Point in, Sir R. Ball, F.R.S., 166 the Utility of Specific Earth’s Crust, the Relief of the, Prof. Wagner, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 112 Earth’s Rotation, on the, Th. Sloudski, 161 ; Possible Changes in the Earth’s Rotation, Prof. Newcomb, 158 Earth’s Surface, Distortion of the, Prof. Milne, 256 Earthquakes: Earthquakes in Cornwall and Scotland, 106 ; Earthquakes in Japan, 182, 446; Earthquakes in Cyprus, 229 ; the June—July Earthquakes in Cyprus, 325; the Earth- quake of January 22, 1896, in S.W. Germany, Prof. A. Gerland, 352; Record of Mediterranean Earthquakes for 1895, Dr. Agamennone, 373; Earthquakes in Iceland, 446, 517, 518; the Recent Earthquakes in Iceland, Dr. J. Stefansson, 574; Earthquake in N.W. Italy, 597 ; a Seismic Survey of the World, 234 Easterfield (T. H.), Charas, the Active Principle of Indian Hemp, 22, 94 Eastern Question in Anthropology, the, Arthur J. Evans, 527 Ebeling (A.), Magnetic Irregularity and Annealing of Iron and Steel, 285 Eccles (A. S.), the Practice of Massage, 411 Eclipses: the Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 36, 46 ; M. Deslandres, 301 ; the Approach- ing Total Eclipse of the Sun, 153; the Eclipse of the Sun, 344, 369 ; the Total Eclipse of the Sun, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 197, 395, 418, 441; M. Tisserand, 487; Prof. H. Geelmuyden, 519; the Total Solar Eclipse at Bodo, Dr. A. Brester, jun., 390; Air Temperature during, Dr. H. R. Mill, 391 ; SirG. Baden-Powell’s Expedition, Mr. Shackleton, 400 ; the Russian Expeditions, 400; the Solar Eclipse in North Finland, 427 ; Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, H. Wollaston Blake, 436; Remarkable Eclipses, W. T. Lynn, 76 Edinburgh Royal Society, 71, 118, 166, 191, 263, 335 Edison (T. A.), New Electric Lamp, 112 ; Award and Presenta- tation of the Rumford Premium to, 207 Edmonds (H.), Botany for Beginners, 412 Education : the New Education Bill and Libraries, Museums, and Art Galleries, John J. Ogle, 8; the Position of Science at Oxford, 225, 342 ; Oswald H. Latter, 269 ; C. J. Gardiner, 270; the Writer of the Article, 318; G. F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 391; T. H. Warren, 491; the University of London, 236; London University Commission Bill, 284 ; the Salaries of Science Demonstrators, 271, 317; Frederic Baker, 196 ; Saville Shaw, 247 ; Report cf Science and Art Department, 382; Scientific Education in Germany and England, Prof. Ostwald, 385, 405 ; Memoirs of Prof. F. A. B. Barnard, J. Fulton, Sir J. G. Fitch, 409; Keenig’s System of Visual Aid in Oral Teaching of Deaf Mutes, T. Hawksley, 523; A. Farrar, jun., 573; Sir H. E. Roscoe on Chemical Education in England and Germany, 585 ; Science Teaching in Elementary Schools, 585; Influence of Atmospheric Variation on Attention of School Children, Dr. M. C. Schuyten, 631 Eel, the Freshwater, in Alpine Lakes, Dr. Imhof, 134 Eginitis (Mr.), the Constantinople Earthquake, 447 Egli (Prof.), Death of, 446 Egrets, the Destruction of, Sir William Flower, 204 Egypt; Prof. Petrie on Iron Tools discovered in Egypt, 611 5 on the Geography of the Egyptian Sudan, Sir Charles Wilson 88 Filoart (Dr. Ammold), Progress in Stereo-chemistry, 321 Electricity : Action of Powerful Magnetic Field on Kathodic Rays in Crookes’ and Hittorffs Tubes, Kr. Birkeland, 16 ; Electrostatic Deviation of Kathode Rays, G. Jaumann, 47, 111; M. Poincaré, 47; Rotation of Kathode Disc, Prof. F. E. Nipher, 111; the Kinetic Theory of Kathodic Rays, R. P. Leray, 112; Electric Welding of Steam Pipes, Samuel MacCarthy, 20; Action of X-Rays on Electrified Bodies, L. Benoit and D. Hurmuzescu, 23; Manner in which X-Rays discharge Electrified Bodies, Emile Villari, 287; Effect of R6ntgen Rays on Electrified Bodies, Prof. E. Villari, 355; Prof. A. Righi, 355; How Roéntgen Rays discharge Electrified Surfaces, Dr. Oliver Lodge, 402; the Discharge of Electrified Bodies by X-Rays, 488 ; Rontgen Ray Phenomena, J. William Gifford, 53; on the Action of Rontgen Rays and Ultra-Violet Light on Electric Sparks, Dr, A. Sella, Dr. Q. Majorana, 53; Simi- larity of Effects of Réntgen Rays and Ultra-Violet Light on Electrified Bodies, Prof. A. Righi, 111 ; Attempt to Polarise Roéntgen Rays, Dr. John Macintyre, 109; Rontgen Rays and Resistance of Selenium, J. W. Giltay, 109; Prof. Haga, 109; XIV Increasing the Efficiency of Réntgen Ray Tubes, T. G. Crump, 225; Electric Dust-Shadows produced by R6éntgen Rays, Prof. S. P. Thompson, 159 ; New Form of Apparatus for the Production of Réntgen Rays, Benjamin Davies, 281; on the Electric Convection following the Lines of Force produced by the Réntgen Rays, 432; X-Ray Pictures obtainable with Static Electricity, W. A. Rogers, 481 : Tesla Spark and X-Ray Photography, Rev. F. J. Smith, F.R.S., 594; the Discharge of Conductors by the X-Rays, Spark and Silent Discharge, E. Villari, 639 ; Self-Testing Resistance Box and Bridge, E. H. Griffiths, F.R.S , 36, 165 ; Mr. E. H. Griffiths on a Special Form of Resistance-Box, 567; Resistance-Box, F. W. Burstall, 36 ; Bare Wire Resistance Thermometers, Messrs. F. W. and H. R. J. Burstall, 36; Experiment with Aluminium Wire, Prof. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S., 37 ; Portable Apparatus for Gas Testing in Electric Culverts, Prof. Clowes, 37 ; Origin of Contact Electricity, C. Cristiansen, 45; Contact Electricity, W. Nernst, 455; Polarisation and Resistance of Galvanic Cell, Franz Streintz, 45; True Resistance of Electric Arc, Messrs. Frith and Rogers, 69; Electromotive Properties of Electrical Organ of Malapterurus electricus, Fras. Gotch, F.R.S., and G, I. Burch, 92; Dielectrics, R. Appleyard, 93 ; Prof. Viriamu Jones’ Value for the True Ohm, 93; New Instrument for Direct Measurement of Frequency of Periodic Currents, Mr. Campbell, 93; Dissipation of Electricity by Vapour, Dr. Schwalbe, 95; Electrical Behaviour of Vapours from Electrified Liquids, G. Schwalbe, 311; Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97 ; Elementary Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism founded on Joubert’s Traité Elémentaire d’Electricité, G. C. Foster, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97; All-round World Tele- graphy, 106, 155; New Electric Lamp, T. A. Edison, 112 ; Action of Light on Sparking Discharge, Prof. Warburg, 120, 544; the Electrical Resistance of Alloys, Lord Rayleigh, Sec.R.S., 154; Walter G. McMillan and Robert H. Housman, 171 ; Electric Discharges in Vacuo, Siemens and Co., 159 ; Different Effects of Superimposing small Alternating on Direct Current Are with Cored or Solid Carbons, J. Frith, 159 ; the Measure- ment of very Large and very Small Alternating Currents, Mr. Campbell, 165; Anomalous Dispersion of Liquids, P. Drude, 189 ; Thermo-Couples of Amalgamsand Electrolytes, A. Hagenbach, 189; Atmospheric Electricity at Kew, Dr. C. Chree, 190; the Story of Electricity, John Munro, 1096; Properties of Body having Negative Resistance, Prof. S. P. Thompson, 214; Mr. Frith’s Electric Arc, 214 ; Effect of Strong Magnetic Field on Discharges in Vacuo, A. A. C. ‘Swinton, 238; Rev. Walter Sidegreaves, 367 ; Magnetic De- tection of Electrical Waves, E. Rutherford, 239; Refrac- tive Indices of Substances for very Short Waves, Dr. A. Lampa, 298; Prof. J. Chunder-Bose on an Apparatus for studying the Properties of Electric Waves, 567; Mr. E. Rutherford, on a Method of Detecting Electro- magnetic waves, 567; Dr. Zeeman’s Measurements in Varia- tion of Absorption of Electrical Waves, 640; Physiological and Therapeutic Action of High Frequency Currents, A. d’Arsonval, 264; Effect of Lightning, Worthington G. Smith, 271; Electrolysis of Water, A P. Sokolow, 285; A Treatise on Industrial Photometry, with special application to Electric Lighting, A. Palaz, 289; Discharge of an Electrified Body by means of the Tesla Spark, Rey. Frederick J. Smith, F.R.S., 296 ; Inaction of High Frequency Currents on Microbian Poisons, L. A. Marmier, 298; Dr. W. W. Jacques’s Carbon Consumption Cell, G. Stockbridge, 298 ; C. J. Reed, 353 ; Effect of Magnetism on Electromotive Force, A. H Bucherer, 311; Death of Sir William Grove, F.R.S., 3243 Obituary Notice of Sir W. R. Grove, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 393; Electric Lighting in Belfast, V. A. H. McCowen, 328; Cause of Production of Atmospheric Elec- tricity, P. de Heen, 356; Cobra Venom destroyed by High Frequency Currents, Dr. D’Arsonval, 372; the Volatilisation of Refractory Substances in the Electric’ Furnace, H. Moissan, 485; Researches with Electric Furnace, H. Moissan, 598; Refractive Indices of Water and Aqueous Solutions, P. Drude, 544; the Principles of the Transformer, Dr. F. Bedell, 545; Lord Kelvin on Measurements of Electric Currents through Air at different Densities down to one five-millionth of the Density of Ordinary Air, 566 ; Report submitted by the Committee on Electrical Standards, 567 ; Report submitted by the Committee on Electrolysis, Index ie upplement to Nature, December to, 1896 567; Quantitative Methods of Electrolysis, 585; on the Communication of Electricity from Electrified Steam to Air, Lord Kelvin, Magnus Maclean, and Alexander Galt, 622 ; Electrical Conductivity of Methyl Alcohol Solutions, Messrs. Zelinsky and Krapiwin, 632; on the Time Relations of the Activity of a single Nerve-cell, Prof. Gotch, 634; Prof. Waller on Conditions which Modify the Electrical Response of an Isolated Nerve to Stimulation, 634 ; New Methods for reading Deflections of Galvanometers, C. B. Rice, 639 Elementary. Schools, Science Teaching in, 585 Elliot (D, G.), North American Shore Birds, 58 Elliot (G. F. E. Scott), a Naturalist in Mid-Africa, being an Account of a Journey to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika, 5; on the Influence of African Climate and Vegetation on Civilisation, 587 Fllis (Havelock), the Colour-Sense in Literature, 41 Elster (Prof.), Investigations as to the Cause of the Surface Colourisation of Colourless Salts (KCl NaCl) by the Kathode Rays discovered by Goldstein, 567 Elwes (Mr.), Prevention of Extinction of British Butterflies, 93 Elworthy (F. T.), on the Discovery of an Ancient British Interment in Somersetshire, 611 Embryology: Death of Mr. Hirota, 82 Encouragement, French Société d’, Prize Awards, 252; Prizes offered by the, 331 Engelmann (Prof.), Origin of Normal Heart-movement, 360 England and Germany, Sir H. E. Roscoe on Chemical Education in, 585 English and German Science, Prof. Ostwald on, 285, 405 Engineering : Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 19, 327 ; Steam Superheating, Prof. W. C. Unwin, 20; Electric Weld- ing of Steam Pipes, Samuel MacCarthy, 20; Proceedings of Toronto Engineering Society, 83 ; the Nicaragua Canal, A. R. Colquhoun, 127; Engineer Draughtsmen’s Work, 148; Flax Scutching and Hackling Machinery, John Horner, 328; Electric Lighting in Belfast, V. A. H. McCowen, 328; Un- usual Corroding of Marine Machinery, Hector McColl, 328 ; Rope Driving, Abram Combe, 328; the Alumina Factory at Larne Harbour, James Sutherland, 329 ; Death of R.W. R. Birch, 446; Death of H. A. Résal, 446 ; the Microstructure and Hardening Theories of Steel, A. Sauveur, 578 ; Death of J. H. Greathead, 630 Engines, Flying, Hon. Chas. A. Parsons, 148 Enock (Fred), Aquatic Hymenoptera, 28; on Life-History of Tiger Beetle, 605 Entomology : Breeding Habit of Perzplaneta orientalis, C. F. Seiss, 72; Entomological Society, 93, 190; Effect of Tem- perature on Pupze of Govepterix rhamnz, Mr. Merrifield, 93 ; Prevention of Extinction of British Butterflies, Messrs. McLachlan, Goss, Elwes, and Colonel Irby, 93 ; Butterflies and Hybernation, W. Tyson, 125 ; Leucanta flavicolor, Mr. Tutt, 190; New Forest Oaks stripped by Lepidopterous Larve, Mr. Waterhouse, 191; Difference between Axodia hyperanthus and Epinephele tanira, Mr. Tutt, 191 ; Actino- trochaand Phoronts, A. T. Masterman, 191 ; Paedomorphism, Dr. G. H. Horn, 240; the Tsetse-Fly, L. Péringuey, Walter F. H. Blandford, 247 ; Eucalyptus Gall-making Coccids, C. Fuller, 279; the Californian Trap-Door Spider, Dr. David- son, 288 ; Vision-Range and Colour-Sense of Spiders, G. W. and E. G. Peckham, 371; Dr. Weismann’s New Experi- ments on Seasonal Dimorphism of Lepidoptera, 326 ; Habits and Distribution of Galeodes, Surgeon-Major E. Cretin, 366 ; R. I. Pocock, 367; Dr. Gleadow, 574: Death of Miss G. Ormerod, 401: Shade-Tree Insects in the United States, 424; a Cure for Locusts, 424; Catalogue of the Described Diptera from South Asia, F. M. van der Wulp, 435; Ento- mological Notes for the Young Collector, W. A. Morley, 460; Specific Characters among Mutillide, Prof. T. D. A. Cock- erell, 461; Parasol Ants, J. H. Hart, 526; New Australian Araneidz, W. G. Rainbow, 544; New Australian Coleoptera, A. M. Lea, 544; Wasps as Flycatchers, R. M. Barrington, 549; Wasps and Flies, 595; Prof. Meldola, 576; Eucalypts and Loranths as Food-Plants, J. G. Fletcher, 592 ; Sub- intestinal Nervous System of Platyphyllum giganteum, L. Bordas, 616 Loz00n Canadensa, James Thomson, 595 Epidemics, Mental, Medieval, Boris Sidis, 589 Erichsen (Sir John), Death of, 525; Obituary Notice of, 548 ; Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 548 Eskimo Throwing-Sticks, Dr. Otis T. Mason, 271 Supplement to ee lecember 10, 1806 Index xv Essex, the Decay of Potash-making in, Henry Laver, 106 Ether in Surgery, the Jubilee of, 597 Etheridge (R. jun.), New Cambrian Fauna from Australia, 184 Ethnography : Internationales Archiv, 237. See a/so Anthro- pology Ethnology: C. H. Read on a Proposed British Ethnological Bureau, 610 ; G. Lawrence Gomme on the Method of Deter- mining the Value of Folk-Lore as Ethnological Data, 610 ; see also Anthropology Eucaine, Prof. Charteris, 335 Euphrasia, Monographie der Gattung, Dr. R. Von Wettstein, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 169 Europe: the Spas and Mineral Waters of Europe, Hermann Weber, F. Parkes Weber, 195; Prehistoric European Sculp- ture, Salomon Reinach, 482 Evans (Arthur J.), Opening Address in Section H of the British Association, 527 ; the Eastern Question in Anthropology, 527; Pillar and Tree Worship in Mykenzean Greece, 611 Evans (R. C. T.), Metadiphenylbenzene, 143 Evaporation, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 283 Everett (Miss), Distribution of Binary Star Orbits, 374 Evolution : the Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, ror ; the Evolution of Counting, Prof. Levi Leonard Conant, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 145; the Evolution of Bird-Song, Charles A. Witchell, W. Warde Fowler, 290; Utility of Specific Character, David Wetterhan, 342; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 365, 491 ; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, 413, 546; Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 460; W. T. Thiselton- Dyer, F.R.S., 522; J. T. Cunningham, 522 ; Specific Charac- ter among the Mutillide, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 461 ; Human Evolution an Artificial Process, H. G. Wells, 589 ; Utility of Specific Character in Crabs, Walter Garstang, 605 ; Dr. C. H. Hurst, 605 ; Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, 605 ; Measure- ments of Crabs, J. T. Cunningham, 621 ; Paleontology and Evolution, 619 Ewing (Prof., F.R.S.), Apparatus for Measuring Permeability of Iron or Steel, 36 Exploration, Projects for Antarctic, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 29 Explosion, Acetylene, in Paris, 597 r Explosions, Causes of Death in Colliery, Dr. John Haldane, 207 Explosions, Coal-Dust, Prof. W. Galloway, 414 Explosions, Coal-Mine, Blown-out Shots, 576 Explosive Properties of Acetylene, MM. Berthelot and Vieille, 591 Explosives, Nitro-, P. G. Sandford, 410 Eye Movements, Effect produced upon the, by the Destruction of the Ear, Dr. Stevenson, 635 Eykman (C.), Respiratory Exchange of Inhabitants of Tropics, 360 Fabre (Charles), Estimation of Potassium, 167 Faculz, Sun-Spots and, James Renton, 317 Fairbanks (Charlotte), lodometric Method of Determining Phos- phorus in Iron, 488 Farmer (Prof. J. B.), Nuclear Division in Spores of Fegatella aie 38 ; Fertilisation and Spore-Segmentation in Fucus, 286 Farrar (A., jun.), Koenig’s System of Visual Aid in Oral Teach- ing of Deaf Mutes, 573 Fata Morgana, the, André Delebecque, 432 Fear: Angelo Mosso, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 74 Bir (Colonel H. W.), Glacial Geology of Arctic Europe, II., 203 Fenton (H. J. H.), New Organic Acid from Oxidation of Tar- taric Acid, 22 Fényi (J.), Explanation of Solar Phenomena, 281 Fernow (Prof. B. E.), Influence of Terrestrial Disturbances on the Growth of Trees, 77 Finland, North, the Solar Eclipse in, 427 Finmark, Man and Nature in, Dr. Hans Reusch, James C. Christie, 123 Finmarken, Folk og Natur i, Dr. Hans Reusch, James C. Christie, 123 Fire-damp Detector, New, E. Hardy, 279 Fisheries : Decline of Lobster Fishery in United States, Prof. F. H. Hewick, 108 Fishes : on Dannevig’s Flodevigen Salt-water Fish Hatchery, J. W. Woodall, 605 ; Dr. J. Hjort, 605 Fitch (Sir J. G.), Fulton’s Memoirs of, Prof. F. A. B. Barnard, 409 Fitzgerald (Prof. G. F., F.R.S.), the Position of Science at Oxford, 391 Fitzgerald (Prof.), Rontgen Rays and allied Phenomena, 565 Fizeau (Hippolyte), Death of, 517; Obituary Notice of, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 523 Flammarion (M.), New Divisions of Saturn’s Rings, 17 ; Effect of Coloured Light on Vegetable Growth, 184 Flax Scutching and Hackling Machinery, John Horner, 328 Fletcher (J. J.), Eucalypts and Loranths, 592 Flies, Wasps and, 595; Prof. Meldola, 576 Flight : the Aeronautical Annual, 1896, 25 ; Zur Mechanik des Vogelfluges, Dr. Fr. Ahlborn, 25 ; Experiments in Mechanical Flight, Prof. S. P. Langley, Prof. Alexander Graham Bell, 80; Sailing Flight, S. E. Peal, 317; Dr. R. von Lendenfeld, 436. See a/so Aeronautics Flintoff (R. J.), Peculiarity in Perch, 492 Flora der Ostfriesischen Inseln, Prof. Dr. F. Buchenau, W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., 341 Florida, Archzeology of South Western, Prof. F. N. Cushing, 230 Flower (Sir William), Local Museums, 1343; the Destruction of Egrets, 204 Fluid Friction, the Theory of, Dr. A. Umani, 204 Fluorescence, G. C. Schmidt, 189; Mr. J. Burke on Change of Absorption accompanying Fluorescence, 567 Flying Engines, Hon. Chas. A. Parsons, 148 Folgheraiter (Dr.), Record of Earth’s Magnetism afforded by Ancient Terra-cotta Objects, 485 Folk-Lore : the Mandrake, Kumagusu Minakata, 343 ; Bousset’s Antichrist Legend, 491 ; on the Method of Determining the Value of Folk-Lore as Ethnological Data, G. Lawrence Gomme, F.S.A., 610 Fomm (Dr. L.), Wave-length of Rontgen Rays, 355 Food Adulteration, Réntgen Rays as Detectors of, W. Arnold 6 nr : Digestibility of Cocoa-Butter and ordinary Butter, MM. Bourot and F. Jean, 639 Food-Value of Bread from Screened Flours, A. Girard, 167, 192 Food of Chameleons, E. L. J. Ridsdale, 248 Forbes (Dr. Henry O.), Tufted Hair, 151 Forestry: Annual Loss by Fire to United States Forests, 155 ; Forestry in Germany, G. A. Daubeny, 353 Forster (M. O.), New Base from Camphoroxime, 408 Fortnightly Review, Science in, 41, 331, 454, 589 Fossils : the Morphology of Zrzarthrus, C. E. Beecher, 45; New, from Carboniferous Limestone, Dr. G. Hinde, 70; Mammalian Remains in Old Derwent River-gravel near Derby, H. H. Arnold-Bemrose and R. M. Deeley, 70; Fossil Bacteria, B. Renault, 120; Sir W. Dawson on pre-Cambrian Fossils, 585; Dr. G. F. Mathews on the Larval Characters of Entro- mostraca, Brachiopods, and Trilobites in those Faunas which preceded that of Paradoxides, 585. Sze a/so Palzontology and Geology ‘ Foster (C. Le Neve, F.R.S.), First Annual General Report upon the Mineral Industry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the year 1894, 99 Foster (F. W.), Siemens’ Smokeless Grate, 462 Foster (G. C., F.R.S ), Elementary Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism founded on Joubert’s Traité Elémentaire d’Electricité, Prof. A. Gray, 97 Foster (Prof. M.), Recent Advances in Science and their Bearing on Medicine and Surgery, 580, 600 Fournier’s Portrait of Pasteur, 61 Fournier (J.), Ratio of Specific Heats of Air, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen, 336 Fowl-Disease, Roman, Bacteriology of, Dr. S. Santori, 229 Fowler (W. Warde), the Evolution of Bird-Song, Charles A. Witchell, 290 we Fox (Sir Douglas), Opening Address in Section G of the British Association, 510; on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rails, 608 Fraipont (Julien), Les Cavernes et leurs Habitants, Prof. W. B. Dawkins, F.R.S., 339 Fram, the Ice-Voyage of the, Captain Sverdrup, 430 France: the French Universities, 64; English Weeds as Pasture-grass in, 423; French Societé d’Encouragement, Prize Awards, 252. 331 Franchimont (Prof.), Action of Nitric Acid on Methyl and Dimethyl Amides, 48; Action of Alkalis on Nitramines, 48 ; Isomers of Neutral Nitramines, 240 XV1 Francis (Dr. F. E.), on Abnormalities in the Behaviour of Ortho-derivatives of Orthamido- and Orthonitro-benzilamine, 84 Franttland (Prof. Percy F., F.R.S.), Koch’s Gelatine Process ‘for the Examination of Drinking Water, 52 Frankland (Mrs. Percy), Bacteria and Carbonated Waters, 375 Fraser (Colonel A. T.), Researches on Rontgen Rays, 483 Fraser (J. M.), Dry Periods, 591 Freezing-point Curves of Alloys of Silver or Copper with another Metal, C. T. Heycock and F. II. Neville, 263 Fric (Joseph and Jean), Comets Perrine (1895 IV.) and Perrine- Lamp (1896), 600 Friedel (G.), Substitution of Water in Zeolites by other Sub- stances, 47 Frith (J.), Different Effects of superimposing Small Alternating on Direct Current Are with Cored or Solid Carbons, 159 Frith (Mr.), Electric Arc, 214 Frith and Rogers (Messrs.), True Resistance of Electric Arc, 69 Frost (C.), Three Australian Lizards, 544 Fry (Sir Edw., F.R.S.), Barisal Guns, $ Fucus, Fertilisation and Spore-Segmentation in, Prof. J. B. Farmer and J. Ll. Williams, 286. Fuller (C.), Eucalyptus Gall-making Coccids, 279 Fulton’s (John) Memoirs of Prof. F., A. B. Barnard, Sir J. G. Fitch, 409 Funafuti, Boring a Coral Reef at, W. W. Watts, 201 Functions, Elements of the Theory of, Dr. H. Durége, 101 Fur and Feather Series—the Hare, 315 Galeodes, Habits and Distribution of, Surgeon-Major E. Cretin, 366; R. I. Pocock, 367; F. Gleadow, 574 Gallatly (W.), Mechanics for Beginners, 148 Galloway (Prof. W.), Coal-Dust Explosions, 414 Galloway (W. B.), the Testimony of Science to the Deluge, 594 Galt (Alexander), Communication of Electricity from Electrified Steam to Air, 622 Galton (Sir Douglas), Report of the Committee on a National Physical Laboratory, 565 Galton (Francis, F.R.S.), a Curious Idiosyncrasy, 76; the Bertillon System of Identification, 569 Game, Big, in German East Africa, the Preservation of, Mr. Gosselin, 630 Garbasso (Dr. A.), Experiments on Réntgen Rays, 62, 355 Garber (Dr. David), Death of, 597 Gardening: Plant-Breeding, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.R.S., 138 Gardiner (C. I.), the Position of Science at Oxford, 270 Gardner (W. M.), Wool Dyeing, 571 Garstang (Walter), Respiratory Process in Sand-burrowing Annelids and Crustacea, 38; on the Utility of Specific Character in Crabs, 605 ; on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates, 606 Garwood (Mr.), Report on the Work on Carboniferous Zones, 586 Gas Testing in Electric Culverts, Portable Apparatus for, Prof. Clowes, 37 Gas Inflammable in Air, Detection and Measurement of, Prof. F. Clowes and B. Redwood, 620 Gases, the Kinetic Theory of, Dr. C. del Lungo, 298 Gases, Reflected Waves in the Explosion of, Prof. H. B. Dixon, E. H. Strange, E. Graham, 583 Gaskell (W. H., F.R.S.), Opening Address in Section I of the British Association, the Origin of the Vertebrates, 551; on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates, 606 Gassmann (Ch.), Rapid Estimation of Mixtures of Amines, 360 Gasparis (Dr. de), Acarus-Galls on Sczndapsus dilaceratus, 403 Gattermann’s (Dr. Ludwig) Practical Organic Chemistry, 619 Gaudry, (Prof. Albert), Essai de Paléontologie Philosophique, 619 Gautier (H.), the Fusibility of Metallic Alloys, 287 Geelmuyden (Prof. H.), the Recent Solar Eclipse, 519 Geikie (Sir Archibald), on some Rocks hitherto described as Volcanic Aggregates in Anglesey, 585 Geitel (Prof.), Investigations as to the Cause of the Surface Colorisation of Colourless Salts (KCl, NaCl) by the Kathode Rays discovered by Goldstein, 567 Gelatine Process for the Examination of Drinking Water, Koch’s, Frank Scudder, 52; Prof. Percy F. Frankland, BERS. 52 In de ae te [es ipplement to Nature, Decemler 10, 1896 Genoud (M.), Effect of Rontgen Rays on Tuberculosis, 255 Geodesy: Systematic Errors in Levellings of Precision, Ch. Lallemand, 456; Stability of Provisional Bench-marks in Levelling of Precision, C. Lallemand, 520 Geography : Reclus’ Proposed Gigantic Model of the Earth, Dr. A. R. Wallace, 42; Memoirs o: Caucasian Branch of Russian Society, 46; Geographical Evolution of Jamaica, Dr. J. W. Spencer, 94; the Relief of the Earth’s Crust, Prof. Wagner, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 112; the Nicaragua Canal, A. RK. Colquhoun, 127; the Heart of a Continent, Captain Frank E. Younghusband, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 130; Royal Geographical Society Medal &c. Awards for 1896, 134; Lecons de Géographie Physique, Albert de Lapparent, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 146; the Roborovsky Expedition, 282; Russian Geographical Society Medal Awards, 298; Izvestia of Russian Geographical Society, 311 ; Depth-measurements of Lake Onega, 311; the Lime Tree near Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), M. Prein, 311; Through Jungle and Desert, Travels in Eastern Africa, W. A. Chanler, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 313; the Great Rift Valley, Dr. J. W. Gregory, Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 347; Pauliny’s New Method of Drawing Relief Maps, Herr F. Benesch, 352 ; Hausaland, C. H. Robinson, 364; Messrs. P. and F. Sarasin’s Celebes Expedition, 372; the Ancient Geography of Gondwana Land, Dr. W. T. Blanford, 373; Dr. Nansen’s Polar Expedition, 374; the Eastern Tian-Shan, G. E. G. Grzimailo, 385 ; Submarine Range in Davis Strait, 400; the Conway Expedition to Spitzbergen, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 437 ; Death of Prof. Egli, 446; Geographical History of Mam- mals, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 457; Is the Land round Hudson Bay rising? J. B. Tyrrell, 488; the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, A. Agassiz, 488; Sand-buried Towns in Central Asia, Sven Hedin, 550. See a/so Section E British Association. Geology: Geological Society, 22, 70, 94, 166, 191, 263 Junction-Beds of Northamptonshire Upper Lias and Inferior Oolite, Beeby Thompson, 22; Geology of Carmarthen Neighbourhood, M. C. Crosfield and E. G. Skeat, 23; Geology of British East Africa, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 38; Climatic Zones in Jurassic Times, A. E. Ortmann, 45; Meta- morphism of Gabbro in St. Laurence Co., N.Y., C. H. Smith, jun., 45; Free Gold in Granite, G. P. Merrill, 45; New Fossils from Carboniferous Limestone, Dr. G. Hinde, 70; Eocene Deposits of Dorset, Clement Reid, 70; Mammalian Remains in Old Derwent River-Gravels near Derby, H. H. Amold-Bemrose and R. M. Deeley, 70; Geographical Evolution of Jamaica, Dr. J. W. Spencer, 94 ; Death of M. Daubrée, 105; Obituary Notice of, 132; the Relative Lengths of Post-Glacial Time in the Two Hemi- spheres, Dr. C. Davison, 137; the alleged Artesian Leakage, J. P. Thomson, 156; Pliocene Deposits of Holland, F, W. Harmer, 166 ; Period of Earth’s Free Eulerian Precession, J. Larmor, 166; Death of Sir Joseph Prestwich, F.R.S., 182; Obituary Notice of, 202 ; Age of Yellowstone Igneous Rocks, A. Hague, 189; Foliated Granite and Crystalline Schists in Eastern Sutherland, J. Horne and E. Greenly, 1913; a Geological Sketch Map of Africa South of the Zambesi, E. P. T. Struben, 221 ; Glacial Geology of Arctic Europe, II., Colonel H. W. Feilden and Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 263; The Student’s Lyell: a Manual of Elementary Geology, 265; the Date of the Glacial Period, Percy F. Kendall, 319 ; the Gorge of the Aar and its Teachings, Dr. A. R. Wallace, 331; the Great Rift-Valley, Dr. J. W. Gregory, Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 347; Death of Dr. Ii. E. Beyrich, 371; Diatomaceous Earth Deposits of Warrumbungle Mountains, Prof. T. W. E. David, 384: Death and Obituary Notice of, Prof. J. D. Whitney, 4o1 ; Death of Prof. A, H. Green, F.R.S., 401 ; Obituary Notice of, 421; Geology of Novaya Zemlya, Prof. Chernysheff, 402 ; the Conway Expedition to Spitzbergen, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 437; the Scenery of Switzerland, Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie. 439, 547 ; the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, A. Agassiz, 488; the Royal Society’s Coral Reef Boring Expedition. Prof. Sollas, 517 ; Mineral Composition of Sedimentary Deposit Evidence of Climate, G. P. Merrill, 577; the Testimony of Science to the Deluge, W. B. Galloway, 594; Zoz00n Canadensa, James Thomson, 595. See a/so Section C, British Association Geometric Wall Brackets and Steady Blocks, Rey. F. J. Smith, F.R.S., and Prof. C. V. Boys, F.R.S. 37 Supplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Lndex XVil Geometry: Monument to Lobachevsky, 524; Ktude de Géometrie Cinematique Réglée, R. de Saussure, 639 Geomorphogeny, Albert de Lapparent, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 6 14 Génin (M.), the Freezing Point of Milk, 456 Gerard (E.), Fermentation of Uric Acid by Micro-Organisms, 47, 312 Gerard (Léon), the Seat of Emission of Rontgen Rays, 204 Gerardin (A.), Measurement of Odours in Air, 23 Gerland (Prof. A.), the Earthquake of January 22, 1896, in South-west Germany, 352 Germany: Railway Speed Trials in, 204; the Earthquake of January 22, 1896, in South-west Germany, Prof. A. Gerland, 352; Forestry in Germany, G. A. Daubeny, 353; English and German Science, Prof. Ostwald, 385, 405; the German Association, 575; Sir H. E. Roscoe on Chemical Education in England and Germany, 585 Giacobini Comet, 632; Dr. H. Kreutz, 487, 551 Giacosa (Prof, P.), Italian Scientific Expedition to Monte Rosa, 358 Giazzi (Dr. F.), Best Form of Tungstate of Calcium for showing Fluorescence, 357 Gibier (P.), Effectlessness of Rectal Injection of Toxins and Anti-Toxins on Animals, 71 Giddings (Franklin Henry), the Principles of Sociology, 49 Gifford (J. William), Roéntgen Ray Phenomena, 53; Are Rontgen Rays Polarised? 172 Gillespie (Dr. A. L.), Digestion in Carnivorous Plants, 263 Giltay (J. W.), Influence of Réntgen Rays on Resistance of Selenium, 109 Girard (A ), Food Value of Bread from Screened Flours, 167, 192 Glacial Geology, 586 Glacial Period, the Date of the, Percy F. Kendall, 319; Mr. Kendal on certain River Valleys in Yorkshire which have changed their direction in part since the Glacial Period, 586 Glacial Phenomena of the Clwyd Valley, on the, Mr. Kendal and Mr. Lomas, 586 Glaciation : the Gorge of the Aar and its Teachings, Dr. A. R. . Wallace, 331 Gladstone (Dr. J. H., F.R.S.), Relation between Refraction and Chemical Equivalents of Elements, 238; Contrast between the Action of Metals and their Salts on Ordinary Light and on the New Rays, 583 ; on Prehistoric Metal Implements, 610 Glan (P.), Theoretical Investigations concerning Light, 189 Glasgow, Celebration of Jubilee of Lord Kelvin’s Professorship at, 80; Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 151, 173; Glasgow Meeting of Museums Association, 401 Glass and Porcelain, Prof. Riicker on Measurements of Trans- parency of, to Rontgen Rays, 566 Glastonbury Lake Village, on the, Dr. Munro and Prof. Boyd Dawkins, 610 Glave (E. J.), the Livingstone Tree, 454 Gleadow (F.), Distribution of Galeodes, 574 Ase the Tests of, W. H. Preece, 609 ; Prof. Ayrton, 09 “ Glucoside Constitution of Proteid, on the, Dr. Pavy, 634 Glycerine, Action of, upon the Growth of Bacteria, Dr. Cope- man, 635 Sea on the Liquation of certain Alloys of, Edward Matthey, 25' Gold discovered in Newfoundland, 422, 518 Gold discovered in Kamtchatka, 517 Goldbeck (Dr. E.), Kepler and his Work, 186 Goldhammer (D. A.), the Nature of the X-Rays, 45 Goldstein (M.), Profs. Elster and Geitel’s Investigations as to the Cause of the Surface Colorisation of Colonrless Salts (KCI, NaCl) by the Kathode Rays, discovered by, 567 Gomme (G, Lawrence, F.S.A.), on the Method of Determining the Value of Folk-Lore as Ethnological Data, 610 Gondwana Land, the Ancient Geography of, Dr. W. T. Blan- ford, 373 Goode (Dr. G. B.), Death of, 517 Goodrich (E. N ), New Species of Enchytrzeus, 142 Goodwin’s (11. C.), Azimuth Tables for the Higher Declinations, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 337 Goold (Joseph), New Synchronising Sound Generators, 36 Goss (Mr.), Prevention of Extinction of British Butterflies, 93 Gosselin (Mr.), Preservation of Big Game in German East Africa, 630 Gotch (Fras., F. R.S.), Electromotive Properties of AZa/apterurus electricus, 92 Gotch (Prof.), on the Time Relations of the Activity of a Single Nerve Cell, 634 Gottingen Royal Academy of Sciences, 96 Goudet (C.), Optical Superposition of Six Asymmetric Carbon Atoms in one Active Molecule, 23 Goulding (E.), Hydriodides of Hydroxylamine, 22 Gouy (M.), Refractions ot X-Rays, 119, 264 Graham (E.), Reflected Waves in the Explosion of Gases, 583 Gramont (A. de), Spectrum of Phosphorus in Fused Salts and Alloys, 239 Granger (A.), Crystallised Sesquiphosphide of Iron, 23 ; Action of Halogen Compounds of Phosphorus on Iron, &c., 312 Grant (Major), Graphical Prediction of Occultations, 206 Graphical Calculus, Arthur H. Barker, 435 Graphical Prediction of Occultations, Major Grant, 206 Grate, Siemens’ Smokeless, F. W. Foster, 462; P. W. Clay- den, 492 Gratings, Diffraction, the Reproduction of, Lord Rayleigh, BRIS 332 Gratings, Objective, Messrs. Hall and Wadsworth, 256 Gray (Prof. A., F.R.S.), Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 97 ; Elementary Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism founded on Joubert’s Traité Elémentaire d’Electricité, G. C. Foster, F.R.S., 97 ; Lord Kelvin’s Jubilee, 151, 173 ; Obituary Notice of Sir W. R. Grove, 393 ; Lehrbuch der Experimental Physik, Prof. Edward Riecke, vol. i., 363 ; Obituary Notice of A. H. L. Fizeau, 523; Rontgen Rays and Polarisation, 166 Gray (J. M.), a Multiplication Frame, 159 Great Britain and Ireland, First Annual General Report upon the Mineral Industry of the United Kingdom of, for the year 1894, C. Le Neve Foster, F.R.S., 99 Great Rift Valley, the, Dr. J. W. Gregory, Dr. W. T. Blan- ford, F R.S., 347 Greathead (J. H.), Death of, 630 Gredilla y Gauna (M.), Petrographical Study of Madrid Meteorite of February 10, 1896, 239 Greece and Italy, on Pre-Classical Chronology in, Dr. A. Mon- telius, 611 Green (A. G.) and A. Wahl, on the Constitution of Sun Yellow or Curcumine and allied Colouring Matters, 584 Green (Prof. A. H., F.R.S.), Death of, 4o1 ; Obituary Notice of, 421 Green (Prof. J. R., F.R.S.), a Manual of Botany, 570 Greenhill (Prof. A. G.), Algebraic Spherical Catenary, 159 Greenland : Return of the Peary Greenland Expedition, 524 Greenleaf (J. L.), Hydrology of the Mississippi, 285 Greenly (E.), Foliated Granites and Crystalline Schists in Eastern Sutherland, 191 Greenly (Mr.), on the Quartzite Lenticles, 585 Greenwich, the Royal Observatory, 139 Gregory (Dr. J. W.), Geology of British East Africa, 38; Through Jungle and Desert: Travels in Eastern Africa, W. A. Chanler, 313; the Great Rift Valley, Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 347; Catalogue of Jurassic Bryozoa in British Museum, 412 ; the Conway Expedition to Spitzbergen, 437 Griffiths (E. H, F-.R.S.), Self-testing Resistance-Box, 36 Improved Resistance-Box, 165 ; on a Special Form of Resist- ance-Box, 567 Grotrian (O.), Iron Sphere in Homogeneous Magnetic Field, 45 Grotto of Spelugues, the, E. Riviere, 239 Grove (Sir William, F.R.S.), Death of, 324 ; Obituary Notice of, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 393 Griinbaum (Dr.), on the Effect of Peritonitis on Peristalsis, 634 Guichard (M.), Preparation of Molybdenum, 144 Guinchant (M.), Heat of Combustion of Cyanogen Derivatives, 22 Garvell (O.), Fisetin, the Colouring Matter of Querbracho Colorado, 408 Giinther (Dr. Albert, F.R.S.), Capture of a Specimen of Lepidosiren in the River Amazons, 270 Giinther (R. T.), on Roman ( yster Culture, 605 Guye (P. A.), Optical Superposition of Six Asymmetric Carbon Atoms in one Active Molecule, 23 Haddon (Prof. A. C.), the Number Concept: its Origin and Development, Prof. Levi Leonard Conant, 145 XViii Index December 10, 1896 — Haga (Prof.), Influence of Rontgen Rays on Resistance of Selenium, 109 ; Different Kinds of X-Rays, 639 Hagenbach (A.), Thermo-Couples of Amalgams and Electro- lytes, 189 Hague (A.), Age of Yellowstone Igneous Rocks, 189 Haig-Brown (F. A.), Hints on Elementary Physiology, 546 Hair, Tufted, Dr. Henry O. Forbes, 151 Haldane (Dr. John), Causes of Death in Colliery Explosions, 207; on his Calorimetric Method of estimating Small Amounts of Carbon Monoxide in the Air, 584 Hale (Dr. W. M.), Washington Meeting of National Academy of Sciences, 65 Hale (Prof.), Visibility of Solar Prominences, 185 Hall (B. J.), Hot Blast Stoves, 39 Hall (Mr.), Objective Gratings, 256 Halley’s Chart of Magnetic Declinations, Chas. L. Clarke, 126 ; Thos. Ward, 196 Halm (Dr.), Theoretical Researches on Daily Change in Temperature of Air, 335 Halo, a Solar, Dr. H. Warth, 248 Haltermann (H.), St. Elmo’s Fire at Sea, 299 Hamburg Observatory, Prof. Rumker’s Report of the Work of, 301 Hamy (M.), Temperature Errors in Meridian Observations, 84 Hankin (E. H.), Cholera in Indian Cantonments, 26 Hann (Dr.), Mean Temperature Conditions of Verchoyansk, Siberia, 230 Hanriot (M.), the Chloraloses, 95 Hantzsch (Prof.), the Constitution of the Nitro-Paraffins, 599 Harbord (F. W.), Fixed Nitrogen in Steel, 516 Hardy (E.), New Fire-damp Detector, 279; the Direction of Acoustic Signals at Sea, 373 Hare, the, Fur and Feather Series, 315 Harker (Dr. J. A.), Determination of Freezing Point of Mer- curial Thermometers, 334 Harley (Dr. George), Death and Obituary Notice of, 630 Harmer (F. W.), Pliocene Deposits of Holland, 166 Harmer (S. F.), Development of Lichenopora verrucaria, 142 Harries (H.), Arctic Hail and Thunderstorms, 215 Hart (J. H.), Parasol Ants, 526 Hartley (Prof.), Photographic Spectra of Bessemer Flames, 36 ; Determination of Composition of a White Sou by Spectrum Analysis, 47 ; the Nature of Réntgen Rays, 110 Harvard College Observatory, Prof. Pickering, 231 Hatching Lizards’ Eggs, Mrs. H. A. Ross, 55 Hausaland, C. H. Robinson, 364 Hawksley (T.), Visual Aid in Oral Teaching of Deaf Mutes, 523 Haycraft (Prof.), on Photometry by means of the Flicker Method, 635 Heart of a Continent, in the, Captain Frank E. Younghusband, Dr. H. R. Mill, 130 Heart and Respiration, the Researches of Newell Martin upon the, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 147 Heat: Heat of Combustion of Cyanogen Derivatives, M. Guinchant, 23; Application of Clapyron’s Formula to Melting-point of Benzene, R. Demerliac, 95; Heat of Vaporisation of Formic. Acid, D. Marshall, 167 ; Measure- ment of Flame-Temperatures by Thermo-Elements, W. J. Waggener, 311; Ratio of Specific Heats of Air, Carbon- dioxide, and Hydrogen, G. Maneuvrier and J. Fournier, 336 ; Specific Heat of Viscous Sulphur, J. Dussy, 359; Capillary Ascents of Liquid Carbon near Critical Temperature, Mr. Verschaffelt, 360; Thermal Studies on Cyanamide, Paul Lemoult, 616 Hebert (A.), Persian Cyclamens, 119 Hedin (Sven), Sand-buried Towns in Central Asia, 550 Heen (P. de), Cause of production of Rontgen Rays and of Atmospheric Electricity, 356 Heights of Meteors in August and November, 1895, a fine Shoot- ing Star and, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 221 Me shaw (Prof.), on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rail, 10. Helium, Research on Liquefaction of, Prof. K. Olszewski, 377, 5443 Prof. Ramsay on the very Remarkable and Abnormal Properties of Helium, 584 Helium and Argon, Inactivity of, Prof. William Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. J. N. Collie, 143 ; Homogeneity of, Prof. W. Ramsay and J. N. Collie, 336, 406 Helland (A.), Depths of Lakesin Jotunheim and Thelemark, 34 [> ipplement to Nature, Helouis (K.), Extraction of Vanadium from Anthracite, 300 Hemp, Indian, Active Principles of, Messrs. Wood and Easter- field, 94; Pharmacological Action of Hemp Resin, Mr. Marshall, 94 Hemsley (W. Botting, F.R.S.), Monographie der Gattung Euphrasia, Dr. R. Von Wettstein, 169 ; Flora der Ostfriesis- chen Inseln, Prof. Dr. Buchenau, 341 ; Obituary Notice of Baron Sir F. von Miiller, 596 ; Obituary Notice of Dr. Henry Trimen, 628 ‘ Henneguy (Felix), Legons sur la Cellule Morphologie et Répro- duction faites au Collége de France pendant le semestre d’hiver 1893-94, 193 j : Henriet (M.), Kapid Estimation of Carbon Dioxide, 288 Henry (C.), Photometry of Phosphorescent Sulphide of Zinc excited by Kathode Rays, 119; Use of Zinc Sulphide Screen in Radiography, 432 Hepburn (Dr. D.), on the Tyinil Femur, 610 Herculis, New Variable in, T. D., Anderson, 327 Z Herculis, the Variable Star, Paul S. Yendell, 527 Herdman (Prof. W. A., F.R.S.), the Liverpool Meeting of the British Association, 199, 367, 416, 492, 547 ; the Pacteriology of the Oyster, 635 Heredity : a Curious Idiosyncrasy, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 76 Hering (A. M.), the Dune Park Aerial Locomotion Experiments, 518 Herpetology : Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), George Albert Boulenger, 266 Herrick (Prof. F. H.}, Decline of Lobster Fishery in United States, 108 ; Abnormal Hickory Nuts, 639 Herschel (Prof. A. S., F.R.S.), a Fine Shooting-Star and Heights of Meteors in August and November, 1895, 221 Hertwig (Dr. Oscar), the Biological Problem of To-day. Pre- formation or Epigenesis? the Basis of a Theory of Organic Development, 316 Heterogeneous Liquid, on the Motion of a, commencing from Rest with a Given Motion of its Boundary, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 250 } Hewitt (J. T.), the Three Chlorobenzeneazosalicylic Acids, 408 ; Condensation of Chloral with Resorcinol, 408 Heycock (C. T.), Complete Freezing-point Curves of Alloys of Silver or Copper with another Metal, 263 Heyes (Rev. J. F.), our Bishops and Science, 77 Hibbard (H. D.), Sand on Pig-Iron, 516 Hibbert (W.), Contrast between the Action of Metals and their Salts on Ordinary Light and on the New Rays, 583 Hick (Thomas), Rachzopterts cylindrica, 591 High Altitudes and Anzemia, Dr. Kuthy, 577 Highway, Power Locomotion on, Rhys Jenkins, 365 Hill (E. J.), Orientation-Tendency of Sz/phium dacenatum and terebinthinaceum, 447 Hill (Dr.), on the Minute Structure of the Cerebellum, 635 Hinde (Dr. G.), New Fossils from Carboniferous Limestone, 70 Hirota (Mr.), Death of, 82 Histology: an Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum, E. B. Wilson, E. Leaming, Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R:S.5 73 Histological Evidence, Photography of, Dr. M. A. Starr, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 340 History of Modern Mathematics, David E. Smith, 435 Hjort (Dr. J.), on Dannevig’s Flodevigen Salt-Water Fish Hatchery, 605 Hobhouse (Lord), the Departure of the Swallows, 546 Hodgkinson (W. R.), Flourene and Acenaphthene, 118 Holleman (Dr. A. F.), Leerboek der Organische Chemie, 100 Holm (Dr.), the Preservation of Yeasts, 299 Holman (Prof. Silas W.), Computation Rules and Logarithms, 76 Holowinski (A. de), Photography of Heart Sounds, 312 Holst (Dr. Axel), Bacteriology of Norwegian ‘‘ Pult-Ost”’ Cheese, 484 Horary Variation of Meteors, G. C. Bompas, 296 Horn (Dr. G. H.), Paedomorphism, 240 Horn Scientific Expedition, Report on the, to Central Australia, 241 Horne (J.), Foliated Granites and Crystalline Schists in Eastern Sutherland, 191 Horner (John), Flax Scutching and Hackling Machinery, 328 Horsehair, Anthrax disseminated by, Dr. Silberschmidt, 204 Horticulture : Model Gardens in Russia, 484; the Crossing of Carnations, Martin Smith, 549 ; ‘ Supplement to | lecember 10, 1896 Hosius (Dr. August), Death of, 81 Hough (Prof.), Spots and Marks on Jupiter, 137 Housman (Robert H.), the Electrical Resistance of Alloys, 171 Howard (Mr.), and Mr. Small on the Rocks of Skomer Island, 585 Howes (Prof. G. B.), Zoological Publications, 196 Hoxne, on the Paleolithic Deposits of, Clement Reid, 586 Hubrecht (Prof.), the Embryonic Vesicle of Zarszus spectrum, 240 Hudson (W. H.), British Birds, 58 Hudson Bay Rising ? Is the Land round, J. B. Tyrrell, 488 Hull (Prof.), on the Great Uplift of the West Indian Islands, 86 Hallite, on, Prof. G. A. G. Cole, 391 Human Respiration, on Types of, Dr. Marcet, 633 Hume (Dr. W. F.), Baku and its Oil Industry, 232 Hummel (J. J.), Quercitin in Onion Skin, 408; Myricetin Colouring Matter of A/yrica nag? Bark, 408 Humphrey (Sir G. M., F.R.S.), Death of, 525 Hurion (M.), Determination of Deviation of Réntgen Rays by Prism, 119 Hurmuzescu (D.), Action of X-Rays on Electrified Bodies, 23 Hurst (Dr. C. H.), on the Utility of Specific Characters, 605 Hurter (Dr. F.), on the Manufacture of Chlorine by means of Nitric Acid, 584 Hutton (Capt. F. W., F.R.S.), Theoretical Explanations of Distribution of Southern Faunas, 168 Huxley and Science, the Bishop of Ripon on, 31 Huxley Lecture : Recent Advances in Science and their bearing on Medicine and Surgery, Prof. M. Foster, 580, 600 Hybernation, Butterflies and, W. Tyson, 125 Hydrodictyon reticulatum, Alfred W. Bennett, 172 Hydrogen Lamp, the, Prof. F. Clowes and B. Redwood, 620 Hydrography: Features of General Surface Circulation of North Atlantic, 372; the Po/a’s Red Sea Voyage, 485 Hydrology of the Mississippi, J. L. Greenleaf, 285 Hygiene: Water Supply, W. P. Mason, 412 ; American Public Health Association Meeting, 525 Hymenoptera, Aquatic, Fred Enock, 28 Hyperdiabatic Radiations, proposed New Name for X-Rays, F. P. Le Roux, 23 Hyper-phosphorescence, Prof. S. P. Thompson on, 566 Ice-voyage of the Fram, the, Capt. Sverdrup, 430 Iceland, the Recent Earthquakes in, 446, 517, 518; Dr. J. Stefansson, 574 Ichythyology : on the Occurrence of the Pelagic Ova of the Anchovy off Lytham, 296 ; Welanotenide, a New Australian Family, J. D. Ogilby, 384; Peculiarity in Perch, R. J. Flintoff, 492 Identification, Criminal, the Bertillon System in Ceylon, 518 Identification, the Bertillon System of, 569; Francis Galton, F.R.S., 569 Idiosyncrasy, a Curious, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 76 Illusion, an Optical, F. H. Loring, 248 Imhof (Dr.), Freshwater Eels in Alpine Lakes, 134 Imperial Institute, the Scientific Department of, 627 Index Kewensis Plautarum Phanerogamarum. Sumptibus beati Caroli Roberti Darwin ductu et consilio Josephi D. Hooker, confecit B. Daydon Jackson. Fasciculus IV., 74 India: Cholera in Indian Cantonments, E. H. Hankin, 26; Meteorological Observations in Mysore, 1893-4, 107 ; the Indian Calendar, Robert Sewell and Saukara Balkrishna Dikshit, W. T. Lynn, 219; the Anthropology of British India, Edgar Thurston, 404 Individuality in the Mineral Kingdom, Henry A. Miers, F.R.S., 208 Industrial Photometry, a Treatise on, with special application to Electric Lighting, A. Palaz, 289 Inflammable Gas in Air, Detection and Measurement of, Prof. F. Clowes and B. Redwood, 620 Inheritance of Acquired Characters, the Ankle-joint in Man and the, Prof. Retzius, 162 Insane under Detention, the Increase of, Thomas Drapes, 589 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 19, 327 International Catalogue Conference, the, 248, 272 ; International Catalogue of Science, 64, 181 Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographie, 237 Index Xix Irby (Colonel), Prevention of Extinction of British Butterflies, 93 ; Iron Age in Europe, on the Starting-point of the, Prof. Ridgeway, 610 Iron Tools discovered in Egypt, Prof. Petrie on, 611 Iron and Steel Institute, 38, 514 Isle of Man, Prof. Boyd Dawkins on the Geology of the, 586 Isolated Nerves, Observations on, 18 Italian Scientific Expedition to Monte Rosa, Prof. P. Giacosa, 358 Italy, North-west, Earthquakes in, 597 Italy and Greece, on Pre-Classical Chronology in, Dr. O. Montelius, 611 Ives (F. E.), Stereoscopic Photo-Chromoscope, 37 Izarn (M.), Determination of Deviation of Rontgen Rays by Prism, 119 Izvestia of Russian Geographical Society, 311 Jackson (Herbert), Use of Phosphorescent Materials in render- ing Rontgen Rays visible, 36 Jackson’s (Mr.) Arctic Expedition, Return of, 445 Jacques’s (Dr. W. W.) Carbon Consumption Electrical Cell, G. H. Stockbridge, 298 Jacques’ Cell Thermo-electric, the, C. J. Reed, 353 Jago (William), a Text-book of the Science and Art of Bread- Making, 51 Jamaica, Geographical Evolution of, Dr. J. W. Spencer, 94 Jamieson (Alexander), a Text-book of Applied Mechanics, 7 Janssen (Dr.), Solar Photography at Meudon, 64 Japan: Earthquakes in, 182, 446; the Great Tidal Wave in, 252; the Great Seismic Wave of, 449 Japp (F. R.), Synthesis of Pentacarbon Rings, 118 ; Reduction of Desyleneacetic Acid, 118; Condensation of Benzil with Levulic Acid, 408 Jaubert (J.), the Paris Tornado of September ro, 1896, Jaumann, (Prof. G.), Electrostatic Deviation of Kathode Rays, 47; Deviation of Kathodic Rays by Electrostatic Force, 111 Javelle (M.), Brooks’s Comet, 354 Jean (F.), Digestibility of Cocoa-Butter and ordinary Butter, 639 Jenkins (Rhys), Power Locomotion on Highway, 365 Jewell (Lewis), the Solar Rotation, 526 Johnson (Sir George, F.R.S.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 12 Johseon (Mr.), on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rails, 608 Johnston (Charles), the World’s Baby-Talk, 589 Johnston-Lavis (Dr.), on the Interpretation placed by Messrs. Weed and Pirsson in an Igneous Mass in the Highwood Mountains, Montana, 587 E Joly (C. J.), Quaternion Invariants of Linear Vector Functions and Quaternion ])eterminants, 167 Jones (Prof. Viriamu), Value for the True Ohm, 93 Jorissen (W. P.), the Production of ‘* Active” Oxygen during Slow Oxidation, 631 Journal of Botany, 213, 591 Jowett (H. A. D.), Asitine, 408 Jubilee, Lord Kelvin’s, 80, 199; Prof, A. Gray, F.R.S., 151, 173 Jungle and Desert, through, Travels in Eastern Africa, W. A. Chanler, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 313 Jupiter, Spots and Marks on, Prof. Hough, 137; Occultation of, 137; Rotation Period of Jupiter, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 280 Jiiptner von Jonstorff (Baron Hans), the Introduction of Standard Methods of [Metallurgical] Analysis, 40 Kamboja, the Khmer of, S. E. Peal, 461 Kamtchatka, Gold discovered in, 517 Kanitz (Dr.), Death of, 351 Kanthack (Dr. A. A.), on Bacteria in Food, 635 Kathode Rays: M. Birkeland’s Recent Observations of Dis- continuous Line Spectrum of Kathode Rays produced by Magnetic Deflection, 566; Profs. Elster and Geitel, Inves- tigations as to the Cause of the Surface Colorisation of Colourless Salts (KCl, NaCl) by the Kathode Rays dis- covered by Goldstein, 567 Kayser (Dr. E.), Measurements of Cloud Heights and Velocities, 274 XX Index fF upplement to Nature,. December 10, 1896 Kearton (R.), British Birds’ Nests: Tlow, where, and when to find and identify them, 433 Kekulé (August), Obituary Notice of, 297 Keller (Dr, I. A.), Extraction of Chlorophyl by Benzol, 240 Kelvin (Lord, F.R.S.) Jubilee of Professorship of, 80, 199, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 151; 173; on Lippmann’s Colour Photography with Obliquely Incident Light, 12; on the Motion of a Heterogeneous Liquid, commencing from Rest with a given Motion of its Boundary, 250; on Measurements of Electric Currents through Air at different Densities down to One Five-Millionth of the Density of Ordinary Air, 566 ; on the Molecular Dynamics of Hydrogen Gas, Oxygen Gas, Ozone, Peroxide of Hydrogen Vapour of Water, Liquid Water, Ice, and Quartz Crystal, 566; Communication of Electricity from Electrified Steam to Air, 622 Kendal (Mr.), on the Glacial Phenomena of the Clwyd Valley, 586; on certain River Valleys in Yorkshire which have changed their Direction in part since the Glacial Period, 586 ; on the Effects of Solution on Organisms with Aragonite and * on those with Calcite Shells, 587 Kendall (Percy F.), the Date of the Glacial Period, 319 Kepler and his Work, Dr. E. Goldbeck, 186 Kew: Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum. Sump- tibus beati Caroli Roberti Darwin ductu et consilio Josephi D. Hooker confecit B, Daydon Jackson. Fasciculus IV., 74 Kinetic Theory of Gases, the, J. Bertrand, 106; Prof. Boltz- mann, 106; Dr. C. del Lungo, 298 King (L. W.), Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, 489 Kipping (F. S.), Oxidation Products of a-Bromocamphor Sul- phonic Acid, 22; Derivatives of Camphoric Acid, 143; Derivatives of Camphene Sulphonic Acids, 408 Kirk (Sir John, F.R.S.), Cattle Plague in Africa, 171 Kirk (T.), the Displacement of Native Plants in New Zealand, 327 Kitasato (Prof.), Anti-Cholera Serum Experiments, 279 Kite-flying at Blue Hill Observatory, 629 Kite-flying, Meteorological, R. de C. Ward, 156 Kite-flying, Scientific, Mr. Rotch, 598 Klein (Dr.), Micro-Organisms and Disease, Joseph Lunt, 490 Klemencie (Ignatz), Loss of Energy in Magnetisation by Oscillatory Condenser Discharges, 285 Klécker (Herr), the Alleged Development of Yeast Cells from Moulds, 33 Kmer of Kamboja, the, S. E. Peal, 461 Koch’s Gelatine Process for the Examination of Drinking- Water, Frank Scudder, 52, 150; Prof. Percy F. Frankland, BARI; 5052 Keenig’s System of Visual Aid in Oral Teaching of Deaf Mutes, T. Hawksley, 523; A. Farrar, jun., 573 Kohn (Dr.), on the Presence of Iron and Copper in the White and Green Varieties of Oyster, 636 Konig (Prof.), Number of Visual Units in Human Retina, 95 Krapiwin (Herr), the Electrical Conductivity of Methyl Alcohol Solutions, 632 Kreider (D. A.), the Separation of Potassium and Sodium, 639 Kreutz (Dr. H.), Comet Giacobini, 487, 551 Kriiger (Dr. Adalbert), Death and Obituary Notice of, 14 Kuthy (Dr. D.), Action of Rarefied Air in Pneumococcus of Fraenkel, 352; High Altitude and Anemia, 577 Kyurin Language, the, Baron Uslar, 526 Laboratory, the Davy-Faraday Research, 200 Laboratories, the Evolution of Modern Scientific, Prof. William H. Welch, 87 Labuan, Coal in, 82 Ladies’ Conversazione of the Royal Society, 159 Lady birds, Protest against the Destruction of, 82 Lake Onega, Depth-measurements of, 311 Lakes of Jotunheim and Thelemark, Depths of, A. Helland, 34 Lallemand (Ch.), Systematic Errors in Levellings of Precision, 456; Stability of Provisional Bench Marks in Levelling of Precision, 520 Lamp, the Hydrogen, Prof. F. Clowes and B. Redwood, 620 Lamp (Prof. E.), Comet Brooks, 487 ; Comet Sperra, 551 Lampa (Dr. A.), Refractive Indices of Substances for very Short Electric Waves, 298 Lancaster (A.), Intensity of Tropical Rainfall, 359 Lander (G. D.), Synthesis of Pentacarbon. Rings, 118; Reduction of Desyleneacetic Acid, 118 : Langley’s (Prof. S. P.) Aérodrome, 61; Experiments in Mechanical Flight, 80 Lankester (Prof. F. Ray, F.R.S.), Are Specific Characters useful, 245; the Utility of Specific Characters, 365, 491; the Position of Science at Oxford, 295 Lapparent (Albert de), Legons de Geographie Physique, 146 Lapworth (A.), Oxidation Products of a-Bromocamphorsul- phonic Acid, 22 ; Derivatives of Camphene Sulphonic Acids, 408 Larden (W.), Alpengliihen, 53; an Antidote to Snake-Bites, 573 Larmor (J.), Period of Earth’s Free Eulerian Precession, 166 Lassan-Cohn (Dr.), Chemistry in Daily Life, 521 Latitude and Longitude: How to find them, W. J. Millar, 292 Latter (Oswald H.), the Position of Science at Oxford, 269 Laurie (Malcolm), Nutrition of Embryo in Scorpions, 167 Laver (Henry), the Decay of Potash-making in Essex, 106 Laveran (A.), Hematozoa in Marsh Fever, 47 Lea (A. M.), New Australian Coleoptera, 544 Lea (M. C.), the Rontgen Rays not present in Sunlight, 92 ; Numerical Relations between Atomic Weights of Elements, 92; Colour Relations of Atoms, Ions, and Molecules, 189 Leaming (E.), an Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum, E. B. Wilson, 73 Leander McCormick Observatory, the, 579 Leap Years and their occasional Omission, W. T. Lynn, 126 Le Bon (G.), the Condensation of Dark Light, 71 Le Chatelier (H.), Peculiarities of Solubility Curve, 639 Le Roux (F. P.), New Name (Hyperdiabatic Radiations) pro- posed for X-Rays, 23 Lecercle (L.), Increased Elimination of Phosphorus under Réntgen Rays, 384 Lehrbuch der Experimental Physik, Prof. Edward Riecke, Vol. I., Prof. A. Gray, F-R.S., 363 Leiden Physical Laboratory, Dr. Kamerlingh Onnes, 345 Lemoult (Paul), Thermal Studies on Cyanamide, 616 Lenard (Prof. P.), Rontgen Rays and allied Phenomena, 565 Lendenfeld (Dr. R. von) Sailing Flight, 436 Lepidoptera: Variations of He/éconzws, W. F. H. Blandford, 161 ; New Experiments on Seasonal Dimorphism of, Dr. Weismann, 326 Lepidostren, Capture of a Specimen of, in the River Amazons, Dr. Albert Giinther, F,R.S., 270 Leray (R. P.), the Kinetic Theory of Kathodic Rays, 112 Leslie (G. D ), Riverside Letters, a Continuation of ‘* Letters to Marco,” 122 Leucosolenia variabilis and other Asconide, Development of, E. A. Minchin, 286 Levellings of Precision, Systematic Errors in, Ch. Lallemand, 456; Stability of Provisional Bench Marks, C. Lallemand, 29 Léy (A. M.), the Deep Borings at Charmoy and Macholles, 216 Lewitsky (Prof. G.), Rebeur-Paschwitz Pendulum Observations at Charkow, 299 Ley (Rev. W. C.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 15 Lichtsinn Augenloser Tiere, Der, Dr. W. A. Nagel, 341 Liebreich (Prof. Oscar), Diminution of Chemical Action due to Limitations of Space, 584 Liesgang (Dr. J. P. E.), Death of, 549 Life, on the Physical Basis of, Prof. Allen, 635 Light, Coloured, Effect on Plant-Growth of, M. Flammarion, 184 Light, Dark, the Condensation of, G. Le Bon, 71 Light, the Old Light and the New, William Ackroyd, 173 Light, Theoretical Investigations concerning, F’. Glan, 189 Lightning, Effect of, Worthington G. Smith, 271 Lightning Flash, Remarkable, G. J. Burch, 492; Benjamin Davies, 573 Lilford (Lord), Death of, 182 Lilienthal (Herr Otto), Fatal Accident to, 371; the Death of, Prof. A. du Bois-Reymond, 413 Limpets, Tidal Migrations of, Dr. A. Willey, 125 Linck (Gottlob), Grundriss der Krystallographie fiir Studirende und Zum Selbstunterricht, 7 Lindet (L.), Separation of Citric and Malic Acids, 95 Linebarger (C. E.), Apparatus for Rapid Determination of Surface Tension of Liquid, 383 Supplement to Nature, : hs Dae 10, 1396 ] Index XX1 Linnean Society, 23, 81, 190 ; Years and their occasional Omission, 126; the Indian 2 3 Lippmann’s Colour Photography with Obliquely Incident Light, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 12 Lippmann’s Colour Photographs, Becquerel and, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 28 ; C. H. Bothamly, 77 Liquation of certain Alloys of Gold, on the, Edward Matthey, 256 Liquid, on the Motion of a Heterogeneous, commencing from Rest with a given Motion of its Boundary, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 250 Liquids: Experiments on Transparency of Liquids, W. Spring, 136; Relation between Viscosity and Chemical Nature of Liquids, Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., and J. W. Rodger, 213 ; Apparatus for Rapid Determination of Surface Tension of Liquids, C. E. Linebarger, 383 Lister (Sir Joseph, F.R.S.), Scientific Worthies, Prof. H. Till- manns, 1; Inaugural Address at the Meeting of the British Association at Liverpool, 463 Literature, the Colour-sense in, Havelock Ellis, 41 Literature, Technical, the Organisation of, M. W. Brown, 622 Litmus, Dr. T. Bradshaw on the Behaviour of, in Amphoteric Solutions, 584 Liverpool: Mr. H. C. Beasley on Footprints from the Trias in the Neighbourhood of Liverpool, 586 ; on the Evidence of Land Oscillation near Liverpool, Mellard Reade, 587; the British Association Meeting in Liverpool, Local Arrange- ments, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 199; Liverpool Meeting of the British Association, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 367, 416, 462, 492, 549 ; Inaugural Address by Sir Joseph Lister, P.R.S., President, 463 Liveing (Prof.), Photography of Whole Length of Spectrum at once, 94 Livingstone Tree, the, E. J. Glave, 454 Lizards, Three Australian, A. H. S. Lucas and C. Frost, 544 Lizards’ Eggs, Hatching, Mrs. H. A. Ross, 55 Loader (James Ilenry), a Cosmographical Universal Law of the Affinities of Atoms, 268 Lobachevsky, Monument to, 524 Lobster Fishery in United States, Decline of, Prof. F. H. Herrick, 108 Local Societies, the Work of, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 114 Lockyer (J. Norman, F.R.S.), Photograph of Coronal Spectrum Rings in Total Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, 36, 46 ; Photo- graphic Spectra of a Cygni, y Cygni, and Arcturus, 36; the Total Solar Eclipse of August 9, 1896, 197, 395, 418, 441; Unknown Lines in certain Mineral Spectra, 261 Lockyer (Dr. W. J. S.), Percival Lowell on Mars, 625 Locomotion, Power, on Highway, Rhys Jenkins, 365 Lodge (Alfred), Mensuration, 620 Lodge (Dr. Oliver J., F.R.S.), How Rontgen Rays discharge Electrified Surface, 402; Extension of Visible Spectrum, 622 Logarithms, Computation Rules and, Prof. Silas W. Holman, 76 Lopes (Mr.), on the Glacial Phenomena of the Clwyd Valley, 586 London: the Paleontographical Society of London, 484; Post- Graduate Study in London, 173; the University of London, 236; London University Commission Bill, 284, 306 London (M.), Influence of Sodium Bicarbonate on Bactericidal Properties of Blood, 432 Loring (F. H.), an Optical Illusion, 248 Lortet (M.), Effect of R6ntgen Rays on Tuberculosis, 255 Low Temperature Research, Prof. J. Dewar, 584 Lowell (Percival) on Mars, Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 625 ; Planetary Notes, 633 Lubbock (Right Hon. Sir John, F.R.S.), the Scenery of Switzerland, 439, 547 Lucas (A. H. S.), Three Australian Lizards, 544 Lucium, a New Element, P. Barriére, 598 Luminous Clouds, the Height of, 31 Lunar Photographs, Prof. Weinck, 374 Lungo (Dr. C. del), the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 298 Lunt (Joseph), Determination of the General Brightness of the Corona, 17; Stellar Photography with Small Telescopes with- out Driving Clocks, 84; Dr. Klein’s Micro-organisms and Disease, 490 Lydekker (R., F.R.S.), the Extinct Vertebrates of Argentina, 86 ; Geographical History of Mammals, 457 Lynn (W. T.), the Astronomy of Milton’s ‘‘ Paradise Lost,” Thomas N. Orchard, 26; Remarkable Eclipses, 76 ; Leap Review of the Calendar, 219; the Last Day and Year of the Century, Re- marks on Time-Reckoning, 438 Lyra, the Ring Nebula in, Prof. Barnard, 108 Lytham, on the Occurrence of the Pelagic Ova of the Anchovy off, 296 Macallum (Prof.), on a Means of detecting the difference between Organic and Inorganic Salts of Iron, 633 MacBride (E. W.), on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates, 606 ; on the Value of the Morphological Method in Zoology, 606 MacCarthy (Samuel), Electric Welding of Steam Pipes, 20 McClean (Dr. F.), Photographs of Stellar Spectra, 158 McClelland (J. A.), the Selective Absorption of Rontgen Rays, 354 oe (Hector), Unusual Corrosion of Marine Machinery, 32 McEvoy (Margaret), a Curious Connection, 248 Mcllhiney (P. C.), Action of Ferric Chloride on Metallic Gold 639 Mcllwraith (Thos. ), the Birds of Ontario, 58 Macintyre (Dr. John), an Advance in Rontgen Photography, 29; New Results with X-Rays, 71; Attempt to Polarise Roéntgen Rays, 109 ; Réntgen Photographs, 159 McKendrick (Prof.), Electro-physiological Effect of “X-Rays, 713; on the Application of the Phonograph to Sound-Analysis, 633 Mackenzie (J. E.), Dimethyldiphenylmethane and its Homo- logues, 143 Mackenzie (Thomas), Practical Mechanics for Sailors, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 364 Melatulan (Mr.), Prevention of Extinction of British Butter- ies, 93 Maclean (Magnus), Physical Units, 101 ;; Communication of Electricity from Electrified Steam to Air, 622 McLeod (H.), Liberation of Chlorine during heating of Mixed Potassic Chlorate and Manganic Peroxide, 408 McMillan (Walter G.), the Electrical Resistance of Alloys, 171 Macpherson (A. H.), the Note of the Cuckoo, 526 Madagascar, Return of Dr. Forsyth Major from, 446 Magazines, Science in the, 41, 117, 260 Maggi (Gian Antonio), Principii della Teoria Matematica del Movimento dei Corpi, 124 Magic and Sorcery, Babylonian, L. W. King, 489 Magical Growth of Plants, W. R. M. Semple, 8 Maginnis (A. J.), Coal Consumption in British North Atlantic Mail Service, 608 Magnetism: Action of Powerful Field on Kathodic Rays in Crookes’ or Hittorfs Tubes, Kr. Birkeland, 16: Apparatus for measuring Permeability of Iron or Steel, Prof. Ewing, F.R.S., 36; Iron Sphere in Homogeneous Field, O. Grotian, 45; Magnetising and Hysteresis of various kinds of Steel and Iron, Dr. du Bois, 95 ; Magnetic Torsion of Soft Iron Wire, G. Moreau, 119 ; Small Dynamo for measuring Permeability and Hysteresis of Iron, Prof. W. E. Ayrton and T. Mather, 159; Hysteresis of Iron in Rotating Magnetic Field, F. G. Baily, 237; Magnetic Irregularity and Anneal- ing of Iron and Steel, A. Ebeling and E. Schmidt, 285; the Roasting of Iron and Steel Ores with a View to their Magnetic Concentration, Prof. H. Wedding, 515; Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, J. J- Thomson, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97; Elementary Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, founded on Joubert’s Traité Elémentaire d’Electricité, G. C. Foster, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97; Halley’s Chart of Magnetic Declinations, Chas. L. Clarke, 126; Thos, Ward, 196; Magnetic Observations at Greenwich Observatory, 140; Rontgen Rays influenced by, Profs. Cox and Callendar, 141; Magnetic Rotatory Power, W. H. Perkin, 190; Non-isotropic Magnetisation of Crystal- lised Magnetite, Pierre Weiss, 192; Magnetic Anomaly in Russia, M. Moureaux, 215; Measurement of Elements in South Russia, M. Moureaux, 254; Surprising Perturbations observed by M. Moureaux, 483; Effect of Strong Magnetic Field on Electric Discharges in Vacuo, A. A. C. Swinton, 238; Rev. Walter Sidgreaves, 367; a Magnetic Detector of Electrical Waves, E. Rutherford, 239; Loss of Energy in Magnetisation by Oscillatory Condenser Discharges, Ignatz Klementi¢é, 285; Magnetisation of Liquids, J. S. Townsend, 311; Effect on Electromotive Force of, A. H. XXii Index lie upplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Bucherer, 311; Damping Action of Magnetic Field on Rotating Insulators, W. Duane, 311; the Notation of Ter- restrial Magnetic Quantities, Dr. L. A. Bauer, 391; Record of Earth’s Magnetism afforded by Ancient Terra-cotta Objects, Dr. Folgheraiter, 485 ; Dilute Ferro-magnetic Amalgams, H. Nagaoka, 544; Influence of Pulling and Pushing Forces on Magnetic Properties, G. S. Meyer, 544; Magnetic Rotation Measurements, Dr. H. L. Siertsema, 640 Magnitude of Southern Stars, S. J. Bailey, 231 Major (Dr. Forsyth), Return from Madagascar of, 446 Majorana (Dr. Q.), on the Action of Réntgen Rays and Ultra- Violet Light on Electric Sparks, 53 ; ; Malapterurus electricus, Electromotive Properties of Electrical Organ of, Fras. Gotch, F.R.S., and G. J. Burch, 92 Maltezos (C.), some Properties of X-Rays penetrating Ponderable Media, 95 Mammals, Geographical History of, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 457 Man, the Ankle-joint in, and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters, Prof. Retzius, 162 Man, the Structure of, an Index to his Past History, Prof. R. Wiedersheim, 291 Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 591 Mandrake, the, Kumagusu Minakata, 343 Maneuvrier (G.), Ratio of Specific Heats of Air, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen, 336 Mann (Dr.), on Nerve Cells, 634 Manouvrier (L.), Péthecanthropus erectus, 135 Manurial Experiments on Turnips, Prof. Somerville, 62 Manx Anthropology, Mr. A. W. Moore and Dr. J. Beddoe on, 60 Manette: Mr. A. Bell on the Tertiary Deposits of North, 86 Mabe Pauling’s New Method of Drawing Relief, Herr F. Benesch, 352 Marcel-Delépine (M.), New Method of separating Methylamines, 71 Marcet (Dr.), on Types of Human Respiration, 633 Margo (Dr. Theodor), Death of, 597 Marine Biology: Sea-fish Hatching at Port Erin, 15; Respira- tory Processes in Sand-burrowing Annelids and Crustacea, Walter Garstang, 38; Dr. C. S. Dolley’s ‘‘ Planktonokrit,” 120; Tidal Migrations of Limpets, Dr. A. Willey, 125; Molluscan Archetype considered as Ve/zger-like form, A. E. Verrill, 383 ; by the Deep Sea, Edward Step, 522 Marmier (L. A.), Inaction of High Frequency Currents on Microbian Poisons, 298 Marr (J. E., F.R.S.), Opening Address in Section C of the British Association, 494 Mars: New Feature on Mars, 427, 487; the Canals on Mars, 600 ; Mars at Opposition in 1894, Percival Lowell, Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 625 Marsden (Mr.), on Detection of Lead in Organic Fluids, 636 Marsh (O. C.), Péthéecanthropus erectus, 189 Marsh-Fever, Hematozoa in, A. Laveran, 47 Marshall (D.), Heat of Vaporisation of Formic Acid, 167 Marshall (Mr.), Pharmacological Action of Hemp Resin, 94 Martel (E. A.), the Mitchelstown Cavern, 34 Martin (H. Newell), Physiological Papers, 147 Martin (Dr. R.), Pethecanthropus erectus, 135 Maschke (H.), Representation of Finite Groups by Cayley’s Colour Diagrams, 22 Mashonaland: Ruined Temples in Mashonaland, R. M. W. Swan, 424 Mason (Dr. Otis T.), Eskimo Throwing-Sticks, 271 Mason (W. P.), Water Supply, 412 Masonry, Modern Stone-cutting and, John S. Siebert and F. C. Biggin, 27 Mass of the Asteroids, G. Ravené, 206 Massage, the Practice of, A. S. Eccles, 411 Massee (G,), Die Protrophie, eine neue Lebensgemeinschaft, in ihren Auffalligsten Erscheinungen, Arthur Minks, 170 Masterman (A. T.), Acténotrocha and Phoronts, 191 ; on some Effects of Pelagic Spawning on the Life-history of Marine Fishes, 606 ; on Phoronts, 607 Masters (Dr. Maxwell T., F.R.S.), Plant-Breeding, 138 Mathematics: Inclinational Terms in Moon’s Co-ordinates, P. H. Cowell, 22 ; Representation of Finite Groups by Cayley’s Colour Diagrams, H. Maschke, 22; American Journal of Mathematics, 22, 431, 639 ; Mathematical Society, 69, 118, 190; Bulletin of American Mathematical Society, 92, 213, 383 ; Isomorphism of a Group with itself, Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S., 69 ; Stability of a Frictionless Liquid, and Theory of Critical Planes, Mr. Basset, F.R.S., 70; Computation Rules and Logarithms, Prof. Silas W. Holman, 76; the Ruffini- Abelian Theorem, Prof. J. Pierpont, 92; Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97; the & (Sigma) of Diophantus, Prof. D’Arcy Thompson, 118; Principii della Teoria Matematica del Movimento dei Corpi, Gian Antonio Maggi, 124; a Multiplication Frame, J. M. Gray, 159; Algebraic Spherical Catenary, Prof. A. G. Greenhill and T. I. Dewar, 159; the Linear and Vector Function, Prof. Tait, 166 : Quaternion Invariants of Linear Vector Functions and Quaternion Determinants, C. J. Joly, 167: Mathematical Papers read at the International Mathematical Congress held in connection with the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, 170; # Discriminant of Differential Equation of First Order, Prof. Chrystal, 191 ; Remarkable Covariant of a System of Quantics, Prof. H. B. Newson, 213 ; Apollonius of Perga: Treatise on Conic Sections, 314: Death of Prof. H. A. Newton, 371; Graphical Calculus, Arthur H. Barker, 435; History of Modern Mathematigs, David E. Smith, 435 ; Death of Dr. David Garber, 597 ; Etude de Géometrie Cine- matique Réglée, R. de Saussure, 639. See aéso Section A, British Association Mather (T.), Small Dynamo for Measuring Permeability and Hysteresis of Iron, 159 Mathews (Dr. G. F.), on the Larval Characters of Entro- mostraca, Brachiopods, and Trilobites in those Faunas which preceded that of Paradoxides, 585 Matthey (Edward), on the Liquation of certain Alloys of Gold, 256 Maudsley (Alfred P.), Archzeological Studies in Mexico, 274 Maxwell and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, J. Bertrand, 106 Mayer (Prof. A. M.), Experiments on Roéntgen Rays, 65, 66, 189 Measurements of Crabs, J. T. Cunningham, 621 Mechanics: a Text-book of Applied Mechanics, Alexander Jamieson, 7 ; Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 19, 327 ; Traité de Mécanique générale, H. Resal, 27 ; Experiments in Mechanical Flight, Prof. S. P. Langley, Prof. Alexander Graham Bell, 80; Mechanics for Beginners, W. Gallatly, 148; Measurement of Work in Driving Bicycle, M. Bouny, 192; Control of Results obtained by Dynamometric Pedal of Bicycle, M. Bouny, 239; Practical Mechanics for Sailors, Thomas Mackenzie, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 364 ; Power Locomotion on Highway, Rhys Jenkins, 365; Mechanics for Beginners, Linnzeus Cumming, 546; a Mechanical Problem, ‘‘ Cromerite,” 622. See a/so Section G, British Association Medizeval Mental Epidemics, Boris Sidis, 589 Medicine: Physics for Students of Medicine, Alfred Daniell, 100; Death of SirJ. R. Reynolds, F.R.S., 105 ; Presidential Address to the British Medical Association, 133; Death and Obituary Notice of Sir George Johnson, F.R.S., 133 ; a System of, vol. i., edited by Dr. T. C. Allbutt, F.R.S., 361 ; Recent Advances in Science and their Bearing on Medicine, Prof. | M. Foster, 580, 600; Death of Dr. Rochard, 597; Death and Obituary Notice of Dr. George Harley, 630; see also Therapeutics Mediterranean Earthquakes for 1895, Record of, Dr. Agamen- none, 373 Meeham (Thomas), Zrzgeron strigosus, 240 Meek (Alexander), a Biological Application of Réntgen Photo- graphy, 8 Melanesian’s Intellectual Life on the Duk-duk and other Customs as Forms of Expression of the, Graf von Pfeil, 611 Melanotenitde, a New Australian Family of Fishes, J. D. Ogilby, 384 Meldola (Prof. R., F.R.S.), Becquerel and Lippmann’s Colour Photographs, 28; the Work of Local Societies, 114; Mono- nitro Guaiacol, 190; Wasps and Flies, 576, Utility of Specific Characters, 594 Memoirs of Caucasian Branch of Russian Geographical Society, 46 Mendel (Dr.), Influence of Alcohol on Digestion, 598 Mental Epidemics, Medieval, Boris Sidis, 589 Menschutkin (N.), Analytical Chemistry, 6 Mensuration, Alfred Lodge, 620 Mercer (H. C.), Exploration of Tennessee Caves, 288 Supplement to Nature, December to, 1396 Index ercury: the Planet, 17, 84 : _ Meridian Observations, Temperature Errors in, M. Hamy, 84 - Merrill (G. P.), Free Gold in Granite, 45 ; Mineral Composition of Sedimentary Deposit evidence of Climate, 577 eslin (M.), a Photometer for Rontgen Rays, I11 | Messerschmitt (M.), Plumb-line Deviations, 301 etallic Carbides, 357 Metallurgy: Iron and Steel Institute, 38; the Production of Metallic Iron Bars of any Section by Extrusion, P. F. Nursey, 39; Process of Covering Telephone Cables with Lead by Extrusion, Mr. Snelus, 39; New Zealand Method of Smelting Iron Sand, E. M. Smith, 39; the Introduction of Standard Methods of Analysis, Baron Hans Jiiptner von Jonstorff, 40; Mond Gas as applied to Steel Making, J. H. Darby, 40; the Diffusion of Metals, Prof. W. C. Roberts- Austen, F.R.S., 55; Magnetising and Hysteresis of various kinds of Steel and Iron, Dr. Du Bois, 95 ; Magnetic Irregu- larity and Annealing of Iron and Steel, E. Schmidt, 285 ; Microscopic Internal Flaws in Steel Axles, &c., T. Andrews, 159; on the Liquation of certain Alloys of Gold, Edward Matthey, 256; Steel-making in Northern Spain, 514; the Spanish Iron Industry, Pablo de Alzola, 515; the Roasting of Iron Ores with a View to their Magnetic Concentration, Prof. H. Wedding, 515; Sand on Pig-iron, H. D. Hibbard, 516; Fixed Nitrogen in Steel, F. W. Harbord and T. Twynam, 516; the Micro-structure and Hardening Theories of Steel, A. Sauveur, 578; Contrast between the Action of Metals and their Salts on Ordinary Light and on the New Rays, Dr. J. H. Gladstone and Mr. W. Hibbert, 583 Metopic Suture, the, Dr. G. Papillault, 254 Metric System in the United States, the, 42 Metz (G. de), Photography in the Interior of a Crookes’ Tube, 384 Metzner (R.), the Preparation of Selenic Acid, 336 Meudon, Solar Photography at, Dr. Janssen, 64 Mexico: Ancient Mexican Mosaics, A. Oppel, 280; Archzo- logical Studies in Mexico, Alfred P. Maudsley, 274 ; Remark- able Meteorite in Mexico, 324 Meyer (G. S.), Influence of Pulling and Pushing Forces on Magnetic Properties, 544 Meteorology: Auroral Display on May 2, 9; Suggested Origin of Aurora Borealis, Kr. Birkeland, 16; Death and Obituary Notice of Rev. W. C. Ley, 15; Proposed Concerted Inter- national Investigation of Upper Currents of Atmosphere, 16 ; Dissolution of New England Meteorological Society, 17; a Self-registering Thermometer Balance, H. Parenty and R. Bricard, 23; the Height of Luminous Clouds, 31; Bare Wire Resistance Thermometers, F. W. and H. R. J. Burstall, 36; a Remarkable Dust Storm, 41; Alpengliihen, W. Larden, 53: the Recent Drought, 61; the Spring Drought of 1896, Mr. Symons, 334; Severe Storm in Texas, 61; the Brocken Observatory, A. L. Rotch, 68; American Meteorological Journal, 68; the Exposure of Anemometers, R. H. Curtis, 94; Royal Meteorological Society, 94, 215; Dissipation of Electricity by Vapour, Dr. Schwalbe, 95; Berlin Meteoro- logical Socjety, 95, 120; the Tornado at St. Louis, 104; Observations in Mysore, 1893-4, 107; Definitions of Fog, Mist, and Haze, 118; Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, 118, 213, 334, 455, 591; Meteorological Observations at Greenwich Observatory, 140; Measure- ments of St. Lawrence Winter Temperature, Howard Barnes, 141; a Prognostic of Thunder, B. Woodd-Smith, 151; Meteorological Kite-flying, R. de C. Ward, 156; the First use of Kites in Meteorology, A. L. Rotch, 445; Scientific Kite-flying, Mr. Rotch, 598; Kite-flying at Blue Hill Observatory, 629 ; Notes on Clouds, 164; Measurement of Cloud Heights and Velocities, Dr. E. Kayser, 274 ; Meteorology of Edinburgh, RK. C. Mossman, 167; Atmo- spheric Electricity at Kew, Dr. C. Chree, 190; the Paris Diurnal Rain-Variation, A. Angot, 192 ; Meteorological Work of Mersey Docks Observatory, 1895, W. E. Plummer, 205 ; Gale of March 24, 1895, 213; Arctic Hail and Thunder- storms, H. Harries, 215 ; the Deep Borings at Charmoy and Macholles, A. M. Lévy, 216 ; Mean Temperature Conditions of Verchoyansk, Siberia, Dr. Hann, 230; Wind Velocity at Top of Eiffel Tower, M. Angot, 230 ; a Solar Halo, Dr. H. Warth, 248; Report of Scottish Meteorological Society, 253 ; the Great Tidal Wave in Japan, 252; a Curious Rainbow, C. O. Steevens, 271; Evaporation, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 283; the Seven-Day Weather Period, H. H. Clayton, 285 ; St. Elmo’s Fire at Sea, H. Haltermann, 299 ; Measurements of Chemical Intensity of Light, Prof. Wiesner, 299; Baro- metrical Levellings, General Pyevtsoff, 299; Die Bauern Praktick, 329; Determination of Freezing Point of Mer- curial Thermometers, Dr. J. A. Harker, 334; Theoretical Researches on Daily Change in Temperature of Air, Dr. Halm, 335; Abnormally Hot Weather in United States, 351, 401 ; Cause of Production of Atmospheric Electricity, P. de Heen, 356; Ciel et Terre, 359; Intensity of Tropical Rainfall, A. Lancaster, 359; the Transvaal Volksraad on Rain-making, 371 ; Pilot Chart of North Atlantic, 372; the Causes of Australian Weather, H. C. Russell, F.R.S., 374 ; Periodicity of Good and Bad Seasons, H. C. Russell, F.R.S., 379; the British Rainfall of 1895, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., and H. S. Wallis, 390 ; the Sonnblick Observations for 1895, Dr. Trabert, 425 ; Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, H. Wollaston Blake, F.R.S., 436; the Thames run dry, Mr. Symons, 455; the Paris Cyclone, 481; Blue Sun, Prof. H. Mohn, 483 ; Remarkable Lightning Flash, G. J. Burch, 492; Benjamin Davies, 573; the Paris Tornado of September 10, 1896, A. Angot, 520; J. Jaubert, 520; International Meteorological Conference at Paris, 523,624; the September Rainfall, 525; a Lunar Rainbow, Walter Williams, 525 ; Mr. A. W. Clayden’s Report on the Application of Photo- graphy to the Elucidation of Meteorological Phenomena, 567 ; Bremen Climate and Sunspots, 572; the Stormy October Weather, 576; Most Destructive West Indian Cyclone on Record, 577 ; the Meteorology of Copenhagen, V. Willaume, 578; the First Daily Weather Map, 591; Dry Periods, G, J. Symons and J. M. Fraser, 591; Influence of Atmespheric vee on Attention of School-children, Dr. M. C. Scb-1yten, 31 Meteors: Daylight Meteor, April 12, C. E, Stromeyer, 9 ; Two Brilliant Meteors, W. F. Denning, 27; Analysis of Madrid Meteoric Stone of February 10, 1896, S. B. Mirat, 168 ; Petrographical Study of Madrid Meteorite of February 10, 1896, M. Gredilla y Gauna, 239; a Fine Shooting Star, and Heights of Meteors in August and November, 1895, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 221; a Brilliant Meteor, C. H. H. Walker, 271 ; Horary Variation of Meteors, G. C. Bompas, 296 ; November Meteors, G. Johnstone Stoney, 301 ; W. F. Denning, 623 ; Remarkable Meteorite in Mexico, 324 ; Meteor Trails, 354; the August Shower, 1896, W. F. Den- ning, 415 ; Meteors Transiting the Solar and Lunar Discs ,449 Michelson (Prof. Albert A.), Experiments on Réntgen Rays, 65; a Theory of the X-Rays, 66 Micro-Organisms and Disease, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., Joseph Lunt, 490 Microscopy: Method of Reconstruction from Serial Sections by use of Glass Plates, R. F. Dixon, 38 ; Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 142; the Blood of Magelona, Dr. W. B. Benham, 142; Fission in Nemertines, Dr. W, B. Benham. 142; New Enchytrzus, E. S. Goodrich, 142 ; Development of Lichenopora verrucaria, S. F. Harmer, 142 ; Microscopic Internal Flaws in Steel Axles, &c., T. Andrews, 159; Royal Microscopical Society, 215; Death and Obituary Notice of H. J. Slack, 351; Mr. Price’s Microscopical Method of Comparing Screw Gauges, 608 ; on a New Microtome, Prof. Minot, 634; Dr. Buchanan on Cell Granulations, 634; Prof. Paul on some Points in Dental Histology, 635 Microstructure of Steel, the, A. Sauveur, 578 Microtome, on a New, Prof. Minot, 634 Miers (Henry A., F.R.S.), Individuality in the Mineral King- dom, 208 Migrations, Tidal, of Limpets, Dr. A. Willey, 125 Milk, the Bacteriology of, Prof. Conn, 82 Milk, St. Petersburg, Bacteriology of, M. P. Sacharbekoff, 550 Milk, the Freezing Point of, MM. Bordas and Génin, 456 Mill (Dr. Hugh Robert), Projects for Antarctic Exploration, 29 ; the Relief of the Earth’s Crust, 112; the Heart of a Con- tinent, Captain Frank E. Younghusband, 130 ; Legons de Geo- graphie Physique, Albert de Lapparent, 146; Air Tempera- ture during Total Solar Eclpse, 391; the Arctic Record of 1896, 392 Millar (W. J.), Latitude and Longitude: How to find them, 292 Milne (Prof. John, F.R.S.), Distant Earthquake Disturbances recorded, 229 ; Distortion of the Earth’s Surface, 256 ; Seismo- logical Observations, 352 ; on his Seismological Observations during the Year n the Isle of Wight, 587 XXIV Index Supplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Milton’s ‘‘ Paradise Lost,” the Astronomy of, Thomas N. Orchard, W. T. Lynn, 26 ; Milton’s Astronomy, C. F. Clarke, 8 Miibiory: the Philippine Island Bean, 106 Minakata (Kumagusu), Remarkable Sounds, 78 ; the Mandrake, Mivchin (E. A.), Development of Lezcosolenta variabilis and other Asconidz, 286 Mineralogy : a Compound harder than Diamond, H. Moissan, 34; Death of Dr. August Hosius, 81; First Annual General Report upon the Mineral Industry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the Year 1894, C. Le Neve Foster, F.R.S., 99; a Dictionary of the Names of Minerals, including their History and Etymology, A. H. Chester, 124 ; Analysis of Madrid Meteoric Stone of February 10, 1896, S. B. Mirat, 168 ; Petrographical Study of Madrid Meteorites, February 10, 1896, M. Gredilla y Gauna, 239; Variation in Apatites, Adolphe Carnot, 192; Individuality in the Mineral Kingdom, Henry A, Miers, F.R.S., 208; the Formation of Diamond in Steel, M. Rossel, 279; Study of the Black * Diamond, H. Moissan, 336; the Diamond-Sands of Brazil, H. Moissan, 359; a Mine of Vanadium Compounds in South America, 300; Wardite, J. M. Davison, 383; Hullite, Prof. G. A. G. Cole, 391 ; Gold discovered in Newfoundland, 422, 518; the Abandoned Copper Mines of Sinai, M. Berthelot, 432, 447; Gold discovered in Kamtchatka, 517 Mineral Waters of Europe, the Spas and, Hermann Weber, F Parkes Weber, 195 Mining : New Fire-damp Detector, E. Hardy, 279 Minks (Arthur), Die Protrophie, eine neue lebensgemeinschaft, in ihren auffalligsten erscheinungen, 170 Minot (Prof. C. S.), on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates, 606 ; on the Theory of Panplasm, 606 ; on a New Microtome, 634 Miquel (M.), Bacteria in Paris Air, 229 Mirat (S. B.), Analysis of Madrid Meteoric Stone of February 10, 1896, 168 Mississippi, Hydrology of the, J. L. Greenleaf, 285 Mitchelstown Cavern, the, E. A. Martel, 34 Mivart (Dr. St. George, F.R.S.), Cenolestes obscurus, 413 Are Specific Characters the Result of Natural Selection, 246 Modelling, Taxidermy and, Montagu Browne, 319 Mohn (Prof. H.), Blue Sun, 483 Moissan (H.), a Compound harder than Diamond, 34; Action of Acetylene on Iron, &c., 144: Melted Vanadium and its Carbide, 167; New Method of preparing Alloys, 167; Tungsten, 264; Solubility of Carbon in Rhodium, Iridium and Palladium, 264; Study of Lanthanium Carbide, 312: the Preparation of the Diamond, 327; Study of the Black Diamond, 336; the Diamond Sands of Brazil, 359; the Volatilisation of Refractory Substances in the Electric Furnace, 485 ; Researches with Electric Furnace, 598 Molecular Dynamics of Hydrogen Gas, Oxygen Gas, Ozone, Peroxide of Hydrogen, Vapour of Water, Liquid Water Ice, and Quartz Crystal, Lord Kelvin on the, 566 Molle (Dr. Ph.), Protective Alkaloids in the Solanacez, 83 Molluscan Archetype considered as a Ve/zger-like Form, A. E. Verrill, 383 Moloney (Dr. J. A.), Death of, 549 Mond (Dr. Ludwig, F.R.S.), Cannizzaro Memorial, 125; Opening Address in Section B of the British Association, 475 Monte Rosa, Italian Scientific Expedition to, Prof. P. Giacosa, 358 Montelius (Dr. O.), on pre-Classical Chronology in Greece and Italy, 611 Moore (A. W.), Manx Anthropology, 609 Moray Basin, a Vertebrate Fauna of the, J. A. Harvie Brown, T. E. Buckley, 433 Morbology: the Treatment of Phthisis, Dr. Arthur Ransome, F.R.S., 7; Cholera in Indian Cantonments, E. H. Hankin, 26 ; Hzmatozoa in Marsh-Fever, A. Laveran, 47 ; Effect of Rontgen Rays on Diphtheria Bacillus, 112; Association of Typhoid Bacillus with Osteomyelitis, Dr. Bruni, 184; Anthrax disseminated by Horse-hair, Dr. Silberschmidt, 204 ; Complexion and Disease, Dr. John Beddoe, F.R.S., 260; Action of Rarefied Air on Pneumococcus of Fraenkel, Dr. D. Kuthy, 352; the Bacillococeus of Anatolian Goat-Pneu- monia, M. Nicole and Refik Bey, 372; Dr. Klein’s Micro- Organisms and Disease, Joseph Lunt, 490 Moreau (M.), Aromatic Symmetrical Derivatives of Urea, 95 Moreau (G.), Magnetic Torsion of Soft Iron Wire, 119 Morgan (Prof. C. L.), on Neo-Lamarckism, 605 Morley (Dr. E. W.), the Atomic Weight of Oxygen, 258; the Mutual Relation of Atomic Weight of Elements, 450 Morley (W. A.), Entomological Notes for Young Collectors, 460 Morstetre: Present Position of Morphological Botany, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 5353; on the Value of the Morpho- logical Method in Zoology, E. W. McBride, F. A. Bather, ~ 606 Morton (Mr.), on a Boring near Altcar, and another Boring on the West of Bidston Hill, 586 ; on the Sea-Coast of Wirrall, 587 Mosaics, Ancient Mexican, A. Oppel, 280 Moscou, Bulletin de la Société de Naturalistes de, 190, 213, 237 Moscow, Observatory of, 301 Mossman (R. C.), Meteorology of Edinburgh, 167 Mosso (Angelo), Fear, 74 Mosso (Prof. U.), Human Respiration at High Altitudes, 33 Moulds, the alleged Development of Yeast Cells from, Messrs. Klécker and Schidnning, 33 Mount Mounier, the Observatory at, 13 Moureaux (M.), Magnetic Anomaly in Russia, 215 ; Measure- ment of Magnetic Elements in South Russia, 254 ; Surprising Magnetic Perturbations observed in Russia by, 483 Mouren (Ch.), Action of Acetylene on Iron, &c., 144 SR se (Dr.), Bacteriology of Valparaiso Water, 254 Mourlot (A.), Effect of High Temperature on some Sulphides, 264 Mueller (Baron Sir F. von), the Preservation of Rare Cape Plants, 184 ; Death of, 576; Obituary Notice of, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 596 Muirhead (George), the Birds of Berwickshire, 58 Miiller (Otto), Researches on Rontgen Rays, 456 Miiller-Erzbach (W.), Distance Action of Absorption Force, 456 Munby (A. E.), Laboratory use of Acetylene, 414 Munro (Dr.), on the Lake Village of Glastonbury, 610; Pre- historic Metal Implements, 610 Munro (John), the Story of Electricity, 196 Munro (Robert), Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia, 78 Murché (Vincent T.), Domestic Science Readers, 196 Museums: the New Education Bill and Libraries Museums and Art Galleries, John J. Ogle, 8; American Museum of Natural History, 83; the South African Museum, 107; Local Museums, Sir William Flower, 134; the Official Guide to the Norwich Castle Museum, Thomas Southwell, 292 ; Glasgow Meeting of Glasgow Museums Association, 401 ; Report of the Australian Museum, Sydney, 598; on a Federal Staff for Local Museums, Prof. Flinders Petrie, 637 Mutes, Deaf, Dr. Koenig’s System of Visual Aid in Oral Teaching of, T. Hawksley, 523 ; A. Farrar, jun., 573 Mykenzan Age, the, Prof. Ridgeway, 610; Pillar and Tree Worship in Mykenzean Greece, Arthur J. Evans, 611 Nagaoka (I1.), Dilute Ferromagnetic Amalgams, 544 Nagel (Dr. W. A.), Der Lichtsinn Augenloser Tiere, 341 Nansen’s (Dr.) Polar Expedition, 374 Natal Observatory, the, 158 National Academy of Sciences, 65 National Physical Laboratory, Report of the Committee on a, Sir Douglas Galton, 565. National Review, Science in the, 42, 454 Natural History : a Naturalist in Mid-Africa, being an Account of a Journey to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika, G. F. E. Scott Elliot, 5; Proposed Union of South-Eastern (English) Societies, Dr. George Abbott, 16; Hatching Lizards’ Eggs, Mrs. H. A. Ross, 55; Books on Birds, 58; American Museum of Natural Tistory, 83; the Sperm Whale and its Food, Frank T. Bullen, 102; the Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist, Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., 169; A. C. Williamson, 173; Dr. E. Frankland, F.R.S., 247 ; Bulletin dela Société de Naturalistes de Moscou, 190, 213, 237; from North Pole to Equator, Alfred Edmund Brehm, 194; Food of Chameleons, E. L. J. Ridsdale, 248 ; Chameleonic Notes, E. L. J. Ridsdale, 573 ; Habits of Chameleons, A, A. Blakiston; 620% Dr. PF. ek Sclater, F.R.S., 623; Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Supplement to Nature, ecember 10, 1896 Index Vy, Museum (Natural History), George Albert Boulenger, F.R.S., 266; Dr. W. L. Abbott’s Natural History Collection, 423 ; Mr. George Abbott ona Plan for the Organisation of Local Natural History Societies, 636 Natural Selection: Are Specific Characters the Result of Natural Selection? Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 246; Are Specific Characters Useful? Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 245; Utility of Specific Characters, Prof. E. R. Lankester, F.R.S., 491 ; W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 293, 435 ; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 294, 413; J. T. Cunningham, 295; Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 460; Among Mutillidze, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 461 Naturwissenschaften, Grundriss einer Friedrich Dannemann, 316 Nautical Almanacs, Constants for, 84 Navigation: Azimuth Tables for the Higher Declinations, H. B. Goodwin, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 337; Practical Mechanics for Sailors, Thomas Mackenzie, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 364 ; the Direction of Acoustic Signals at Sea, E. Hardy, 373 ; Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, Rev. F, C. Stebbing, 389 Nebulosity in the Pleiades, New, W. Stratonoff, 327 Neo-Lamarckism, Prof. C. L. Morgan on, 605 Nernst (W.), Contact Electricity, 455 Nerve-Cells, Atlas of, Dr. M. A. Starr, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 340 Nerve-Cells, Dr. Mann on, 634 Nerves, Observations on Isolated, 18 Nest, a Curious Bird’s, P. B. Brodie, 172 Nesting Time, Rooks at, F. E. Baines, 9 Nest-building Amphipod in the Broads, Henry Scherren, 367 Neurology: Death of Dr. Callender, 597 Neville (F. EI.), Complete Freezing-point Curves of Alloys of Silver or Copper with another Metal, 263 New South Wales Linnean Society, 96, 168, 240, 384, 544, Geschichte der, Dr. 592 New South Wales, Royal Society of, 488 New York, the Water Supply of the City of, Edward Wegmann, 242 New Zealand: the Displacement of Native Plants, T. Kirk, 327 Mesa (Prof.), Possible Changes in the Earth’s Rotation, 15 Newfoundland, Gold discovered in, 422, 518 Newson (Prof. H. B.), Remarkable Covariant of a System of Quantics, 213 Newth (G. S.). Elementary Practical Chemistry, 51 Newton (Prof. II. A.), Comparison between Mortalities of Yale Graduates in 1701-1744 and 1745-1762, 254; Death of, 371 ; Obituary Notice of, 394 Newton (W.), on Nitrates: their Occurrence and Manufacture, 584 Niagara Falls, Earth-Tremors and Sounds produced by, W. H. Brewer, 155 Niagara as a Timepiece, J. W. Spencer, 481 Nicaragua Canal, the, A. R. Colquhoun, 127 Nicloux (M.), Measurement of Odours in Air, 23 Nicole (M.), the Bacillococcus of Anatolian Goat-Pneumonia, 372; Diphtheria Toxine Preparation, 372 Nipher (Prof. F. E.), Rotation of Kathode Disc, 111 Nitragin, Dr. Nobbe’s, 326 Nitrates: their Occurrence and Manufacture, Mr. W. Newton, on, 584 Nitro-Explosives, P. G. Sanford, 410 Nitrogen, a New Oxyacid of, 377 Nobbe (Dr.), Nitragin, 326 North Carolina, Slavery in, Prof. J. S. Bassett, 157 North Pole to Equator, from, Alfred Edmund Brehm, 194 Norway: Depths of Lakes in Jotunheim and Thelemark, A. Helland, 34 Norwich Castle Museum, the Official Guide to the, Thos. Southwell, 292 Nosology : see Morbology aor Meteors, G. Johnstone Stoney, 301 ; W. F. Denning, 23 Number Concept, the: its Origin and Development, Prof. Levi Leonard Conant, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 145 Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, 213, 334 Nursey (R. F.), the Production of Metallic Bars of any Section by Extrusion, 39 Objective Gratings, Messrs. Hall and Wadsworth, 256 Observatories: the Observatory at Mount Mounier, 13; Mr. Tebbutt’s Observatory, 35; University Observatories in America, 64; the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 139 ; the Natal Observatory, 158 ; Rugby Observatory, 231 ; Harvard College Observatory, Prof. Pickering, 231; the Ilamburg Observatory, 301 ; the Dunsink Observatory, 301 ; Observatory of Moscow, 301; the Cape Observatory, 426; the Leander McCormick Observatory, 579 Occultation of Jupiter, 137 Occultations, Graphical Prediction of, Major Grant, 206 Odours in Air, Measurement of, A. Gerardin and M. Nicloux, 22 Ogilby (J. D.), Aedanotenzide, a New Australian Family, 384 Ogilvie (Dr. Maria M.), the Scenery of Switzerland, and the Causes to which it is due, Right Hon. Sir J. Lubbock, F.R.S., 439, 547 Ogle (John J.), the New Education Bill and Libraries, Museums, and Art Galleries, 8 Oil: Baku and its Oil Industry, Dr. W. F, Hume, 232 Old World Meteorology, 329 Olszewski (Prof. K.), Research on Liquefaction of Helium, 377, 544 Onnes’ (Dr. Kamerlingh) Physical Laboratory at Leiden, 345 Oppel (A.), Ancient Mexican Mosaics, 280 Optics: Optical Superposition of Six Asymmetric Carbon Atoms in One Active Molecule, P. A. Guye and C. Goudet, 23; New Stereo-Telescopes, Carl Zeiss, 37; Stereoscopic Photo-Chromoscope, F. E. Ives, 37; the Positions of Retinal Images, Edward T. Dixon, 54; the Condensation of Dark Light, G. Le Bon, 71; Number of Visual Units existing in Human Retina, Prof. K6nig, 95; Effect of Light on Spark Discharges, E. Warburg, 120, 544; Modern Optical Instru- menis and their Construction, Henry Orford, 170 ; Theoretical Investigations concerning Light, P. Glan, 189 ; an Optical Illusion, F. H. Loring, 248; Refraction and Diffraction of X-Rays, M. Gouy, 254 ; Measurements of Chemical Intensity of Light, Prof. Wiesner, 299; Polarised Fluorescence, L. Sohncke, 311 ; Der Lichtsinn Augenloser Tiere, Dr. W. A. Nagel, 341; Observations on Transparency of Waters of Venetian Lagoon and Gulf of Gaeta, 352; the Fata Morgana, André Delebecque, 432; Death and Obituary Notice of A. H. L. Fizeau, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 523 Orbits, Double Star, Dr. See, 280 Orchard (Thomas N.), the Astronomy of Milton’s “‘ Paradise Lost,” 26 Orford (Henry), Modern Optical Instruments and their Con- struction, 170 Organic Evolution, the Primary Factors of, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, ror Organic Matter, the Circulation of, Dr. C. V. Poore, 141 Organisation of Technical Literature, the, M. W. Brown, 622 Origin of Atolls, a Query concerning the, Prof. Ralph S. Tarr, IOI Origin of the Vertebrates, the, W. H. Gaskell, F.R.S., 551 Ormerod (Miss G. E.), Death of, 401 Ornithology : Rooks at Nesting Time, F. E. Baines, 9 ; Books on Birds, 58; Slowness of Coagulation of Blood in Birds, C. Delezenne, 144; the Destruction of Egrets, Sir William Flower, 204 ; a Concise Ilandbook of British Birds, H. Kirke Swann, 245; the Evolution of Bird-Song, Charles A, Witchell, W. Warde Fowler, 290; a Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin, J. A. Harvie Brown, T. E. Buckley, 433 ; British Birds’ Nests: How, where, and when to find and identify them, R. Kearton, 433; British Sea Birds, Charles Dixon, 433; a Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain, R. Bowdler Sharpe, 433; the Note of the Cuckoo, A. H. Macpherson, 526; the Departure of the Swallows, 595 ; Lord Hobhouse, 546; Birds Profiting by Experience, Dr. R. Williams, 597; Meeting of British Ornithologists’ Club, 629 Orsi (Dr. P.), the Novilara Necropolis, 237 Ortman (A. E.), Climatic Zones in Jurassic Times, 45 Osmosis: the Laws of Osmosis, Dr. L. Barlow, 185 ; Osmotic Pressure, W. C. D. Whetham, 571; Dr. Lazarus Barlow on, 6 Geclene Atlas d’, Prof. Ch. Debierre, 148 Osteology of Pygmy Peoples, Dr. R. Verneau, 325 Ostfriesischen Inseln, Flora der, Prof. Dr. Buchenau, W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., 341 XXVI Index (ee to Nature, December 10, 1896 Ostwald (Prof.), on English and German Science, 385, 405 Overtones, the Determination of, C. Stumpf, 45 Ovum, an Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the, E. B. Wilson, E. Leaming, Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 73 Oxford: the Position of Science at Oxford, 225, 342; Oswald H. Latter, 269 ; C. I. Gardiner, 270; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 295; H. B. Baker, 295; ‘‘A Parent,” 295; the “‘ Writer of the Article,” 318 ; Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 391 ; T. H. Warren, 491 Oxyacid of Nitrogen, a New, 377 Oxygen, the Atomic Weight of, Dr. E. W. Morley, E. C. C, Baly, 258 Oyster, on the Bacteriology of the, Profs. Boyce and Herdman, Oyster, Dr. Kohn on the presence of Iron and Copper in the White and Green Varieties of, 636 Palaz (A.), a Treatise on Industrial Photometry, with Special Application to Electric Lighting, 289 Paleolithic Deposits of Hoxne,. Mr. Clement Reid on the, 586 Paleolithic Implements from Somaliland, H. W. Seton-Karr, 92 Palzeontographic Society of London, the, 484 Palxontology : the Extinct Vertebrates of Argentina, R. Lydek- ker, F.R.S., 86; Affinities of Azaspides to Fossil Crustacea, W. T. Calman, 119 ; some New Fossil Species of Marsupials, Dr. R. Broom, 168 ; New Cambrian Fauna from Australia, R. Etheridge, jun., 184; the Grotto of Spelugues, E. Riviere, 239 ;, Lower Devonian Fossil-Fishes from Gmiinden, Dr. R. H. Traquair, F.R.S., 263 ; Exploration of Tennessee Caves, H. C. Mercer, 288; Vertebrate Remains from Port Kennedy (U.S.A.) Bone-fissure, Prof. E. D. Copes, 312; Catalogue of Jurassic Bryozoa in British Museum, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 412; Fossil Tridacnids in Solomon Islands, Dr. Arthur Willey, 523; Essai de Paléontologie Philosophique, Prof. Albert Gaudry, 619 ; Paleontology and Evolution, 619. See also Fossils and Geology Palmer (A. de F.), Rate of Condensation in Steam-Jet, 638 Palmieri (Luigi), Death and Obituary Notice of, 482 Panplasm, Prof. C. S. Minot on the Theory of, 606 Papillault (Dr. G.), the Metopic Suture, 254 “Paradise Lost,” the Astronomy of Milton's, Thomas N. Orchard, W. T. Lynn, 26 Parenty (H.), a Self-registering Thermometer Balance, 23 Paris: Paris Academy of Sciences, 23, 47, 71, 94, 119, 144, 167, 192, 215, 239, 264, 287, 312, 335, 359, 384, 432, 456, 488, 520, 544, 568, 591, 616, 639; Astronomical Work, 1895, at Paris Observatory, M. Tisserand, 162; Bacteria in Paris Air, M. Miquel, 229; the Paris Cyclone, 481; Acetylene Explosion in Paris, 597 ; Paris International Meteorological Conference, 523, 624 Parsons (Hon. Chas. A.), Flying Engines, 148 Passy (J.), the Surfusion of Water, 192 Pasteur, Fournier’s Portrait of, 61 Pasteur Anti-Rabic Treatment in Russia, 106 Pasteur Institute, the Athens, 252 Pathology: Death of Prof. Germain Sée, 60 ; see also Mor- bology Paul (Prof.), on some Points in Dental Histology, 635 Paul (William), Accident to, 577 Pauling’s New Method of Drawing Relief Maps, Herr F. Benesch, 352 Pavy (Dr.), on the Glucoside Constitution of Proteid, 634 Peal (S. E.), Sailing Flight, 317 ; the Khmer of Kamboja, 461 piers, (Prof. Karl, F.R.S.), Utility of Specific Characters, 460 Peary-Greenland Expedition, Return of the, 524 Peas, the Running-out of, 279 Peckham (G. W. and E. G.), Vision-Range and Colour-Sense of Spiders, 371 Peek (Cuthbert), Variable Star Z Herculis, 595 Peirce (A. W.), Gravimetric Determination of Selenium, 189 ; Selenium Monoxide, 383 Pelagic Ova of the Anchovy, on the Occurrence of the, off Lytham, 296 Pelagic Spawning, A. T. Masterman on some Effects of, on the Life-History of Marine Fishes. 606 Pence (G. L.), Submarine Boat Expedition to North Pole sug- gested, 519 Pender (Sir John), Death of, 228 Peptone, on the Physiological Effects cf, when injected into the Venous System, Prof. Thompson, 633 Perch, Peculiarity in, R. J. Flintoff, 492 Péringuey (L.), the Tsetse Fly, 247 Periodicity of Good and Bad Seasons, H. C. Russell, F.R.S., 79 Pehonsal Infections, Dr. Durham on some Points in the Mechanism of the Reactions to, 635 Peritonitis, on the Effect of, on Peristalsis, Dr. Griinbaum, 634 Perkin (A. G.), Luteolin, II., 118; Morin, I., 118; Quercitin in Onion Skin, 408; Myricetin Colouring Matter of AZprica nag? Bark, 408; Fisetin the Colouring Matter of Querbracho colorado, 408; Myricetin the Colouring Matter of Sicilian Sumach, 408 Perkin (W. H.), Magnetic Rotatory Power, 190 Perrine (1895 IV.) Comet, Joseph and Jean Fric, 600 Perrine-Lamp, Comet (1896 I.), 137; Joseph and Jean Fric, 600 Personal Equation in observing Transits, R. H. Tucker, 354 Petrie (Prof. Flinders) on Iron Tools discovered in Egypt, 611 ; on a Federal Staff for Local Museums, 637 Pfeil (Graf von), on the Duk-duk and other Customs as Forms of Expression of the Melanesian’s Intellectual Life, 611 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 71, 95, 120, 216, 240, 288, 312 Philippine Island Bean, the, 106 Philology: the Kyurin Language, Baron Uslar, 526 Philosophy : Death of Dr. M. W. Drobisch, 576 Phonograph, on the Application of the, to the Analysis of Sounds, Prof. McKendrick, 633 Photography : a Biological Application of Réntgen Photography, Alexander Meek, 8; an Advance in Rontgen Photography, Dr. John Macintyre, 29 ; Practical Radiography, H. Snow- den Ward, 245; on Lippmann’s Colour Photography with Obliquely Incident Light, Lord Kelvin, .R.S., 12; Bec- querel and Lippmann’s Colour Photographs, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 28; C. H. Bothamly, 77; Becquerel’s Colour Photographs, Captain W. de W. Abney, F.R.S., 125: a Photographic Transit Circle, Dr. H. C. Russell, 35; Photograph of Coronal Spectrum Rings in Total Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 36; Photo- graphic Spectra of a Cygni, y Cygni, and Arcturus, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 36; Photographic Spectra of Bessemer Flame, Prof. Hartley, F.R.S., 36; Spectrum- Photography with Captain Abney’s Colour Patch Apparatus, 37 ; Instantaneous Photographs of Splashes, Prof. Worthing- ton, F.R.S., and R. S. Cole, 37; the Efficiency of Photo- graphic Telescopes, Dr. Isaac Russell, 63; Solar Photo- graphy at Meudon, Dr. Janssen, 64; an Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum, E. B. Wilson and E. Leaming. 73; Stellar Photography with Small Telescopes without Driving Clocks, Joseph Lunt, 84 ; the Fluorescence of Dry Plates, Shelford Bidwell, 111 ; Dr. Hugo Schroeder’s Correctcr Lens, 156; Photographs of Stellar Spectra, Dr. F. McClean, 158; Action of Zine on Plate, R. Colson, 264; Photography of Heart Sounds, A. de Holowinski, 312; the Reproduction of Diffraction Gratings, Lord Rayleigh, F.RS., 332; Photography of Histological Evidence, Dr. M. A. Starr, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 340; Meeting of International Committee of the Carte du Ciel, 350; Lunar Photographs, Prof. Weinek, 374 ; Photography of Solar Corona, Count de la Baume Pluvinel, 374; Photography in Interior of a Crookes’ Tube, G. de Metz, 384; H. Poincaré, 384; Death of Dr. J. P. Ey Liesgang, 549; Mr. A. W. Clayden’s Report on the Applica- tion of Photography to the Elucidation of Meteorological Phenomena, 567 ; Colonel Watkins’ Photographic Method of Comparing Screw Gauges, 608 ; see also Rontgen Rays. _ Photometry: Photometer for Rontgen Rays, A. M. Meslin, 111; Photometry of Phosphorescent Sulphide of Zine excited by Kathode Rays, C. Henry and G. Seguy, 119; a Treatise on Industrial Photometry, with Special Application to Electric Lighting, A. Palaz, 289; on Photometry by Means of the Flicker Method, Prof. Haycraft, 635 Phthisis, the Treatment of, Dr. Arthur Ransome, F.R.S., 7 Physical Exercises, Text-book of, Dr. A. H. Carter and Samuel Bott, 341 Physics : Measurement of Odours in Air, A, Gerardin and M. Nicloux, 23 ; Elementary Practical Physics, William Watson, Supplement to a ine December to, 1896 TL; ndex XXVil 51; the Diffusion of Metals, Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S., 55; Dependence of the Colour of Solutions on the Nature of the Solvent, F. G. Donnan, 55 ; Physical Society, 69, 93, 165, 214; Numerical Relations between Atomic Weights of Elements, M. C. Lea, 92; Atomic Weight of Oxygen and Combining Volumes of Carbon Monoxide and Oxygen, A. Scott, 94; Application of Clapyron’s Formula to Melting-point of Benzene, R. Demerliac, 95; Berlin Physical Society, 95, 120; Physics for Students of Medicine, Alfred Daniell, 100; Physical Units, Magnus Maclean, tor ; the Kinetic Theory of Gases, J. Bertrand, 106; Prof. Boltz- mann, 106; Dr. C. del Lungo, 298; Vapour Pressures of Formic Acid Solutions, G. M. Raoult, 119 ; Experiments on Transparency of Liquids, W. Spring, 136; the Circulation of Organic Matter, Dr. C. V. Poore, 141; Distribution of Velocities in Tubes, M. Bazin, 144; the Linear and Vector Function, Prof. Tait, 166; Fluorescence, G. C. Schmidt, 189 ; Colour Relations of Atoms, Ions and Molecules, M. C. Lea, 189; New Mercurial Air-Pump, R. W. Wood, 190; the Surfusion of Water, J. Passy, 192; the Theory of Fluid Friction, Dr. A. Umani, 204; Relation between Viscosity and Chemical Nature of Liquids, Dr. J. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., and J. W. Rodger, 213; Properties of Body having Negative Resistance, Prof. S. P. Thompson, 214; Death of Prof. A. G. Stoletow, 228; Relation between Re- fraction and Chemical Equivalents of Elements, Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S., 238 ; Physical Laboratory at Leiden, Dr. Kamerlingh Onnes’, 345 ; on the Motion of a Heterogeneous Liquid, commencing from Rest with a given Motion of its Boundary, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 250; Resistance to Liquids of Aluminium and its Alloys, J. W. Richards, 253 ; Complete Freezing-point Curves of Alloys of Silver or Copper with another Metal, C. T. Heycock and F. H. Neville, 263; Ex- periment with Liquid Carbon Dioxide, C. Barus, 285; Per- cussion Figures on Cleavage Plates of Mica, T. L. Walker, 285; the Fusibility of Metallic Ailoys, H. Gautier, 287 ; Polarised Fluorescence, L. Sohncke, 311 ; Measurement of Flame-Temperatures by Thermo-Elements, W. Waggener, 311; Ratio of Specific Heats of Air, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen, G. Maneuvrier and J. Fournier, 336; Specific Heat of Viscous Sulphur, J. Dussy, 359; Capillary Ascents of Liquid Carbon near Critical Temperature, Mr. Verschaffelt, 360; a Text-book of Experimental, Prof. Edward Riecke, vol. i, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 363; Research on Liquefac- tion of Helium, Prof. K. Olszewski, 377, 544; Apparatus for Rapid Determination of Surface Tension of Liquids, C. E. Linebarger, 383 ; Distance Action of Absorption Force, W. Miiller-Erzbach, 456 ; Cryoscopy of Precision, F. M. Raoult, 568 ; Osmotic Pressure, W. C. D. Whetham, 571; Re- sponsibility in Science, Dr. C. Chree, 572 ; Rate of Condensa- tion in Steam-jet, A. de F. Palmer, 638 ; Peculiarities of Solu- bility Curves, H. Le Chatelier, 639. See also Section A, British Association Vhysiography : Death of Dr. Simony, 351 Vhysiology: Human Respiration at High Altitudes, Prof. U. Mosso, 33; Action of Acids on Metabolism, Dr. J. C. Dunlop, 71; Effectlessness of Rectal Injection of Toxins and Anti-Toxins on Animals, P. Gibier, 71; Die Physiologie des Geruchs. Dr. H. Zwardemaker, 75; Active Principle of Indian Hemp, Messrs. Wood and Easterfield, 94; Pharma- cological Action of Hemp Resin, Mr. Marshall, 94 ; Trans- formation of Fat into Carbohydrates in Unfed Animals, A. Chauveau, 95; Direct Potential in Muscular Work, A. Chauveau, 119; Berlin Physiological Society,120; the Theory of Lymph Formation, P. D., Cohnstein, 120 ; Slowness of Coagu- lation of Blood in Birds, C. Delezenne, 144 ; Physiological Papers, H. Newell Martin, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 147 ; the Laws of Osmosis, Dr. L. Barlow, 185; the Reason of Right-Handedness, Dr. D. G. Brinton, 230 ; Action of Various Substances on Movements of Stomach, F. Battelli, 239 ; Physiological Action of High Frequency Currents, A. d@Arsonval, 264 ; Effects of Dividing one Inferior Peduncle ot Cerebellum, Dr. J. S. R. Russell, 287 ; Relations between Energy Expenditure of Muscle and amount of Shortening it undergoes, A. Chauveau, 312; Photography of Heart-Sounds, A. de Holowinski, 312; Influence of Lecithine on Growth of Warm-blooded Animals, B. Danilewsky, 312 ; Physiological Action of Eucaine, Prof. Charteris, 335 ; Atlas of Nerve Cells, Dr. M. A. Starr, Prof. E. A. Schifer, F.R.S., 340; Respira- tory Exchange of Inhabitants of Tropics, C. Eykman, 360; Origin of Normal Heart-Movement, Prof. Engelmann, 360 ; the Coagulation of the Blood, J. Athanasiu and G. Carvallo, 432 ; Stability of Blood rendered incoagulable by Extract of Leech, MM. Bose and Delezenne, 520; Hints on Elementary Physiology, F. A. Haig-Brown, 546; High Altitudes and Anemia, Dr. Kuthy, 577 ; Influence of Alcohol on Digestion, Drs. Chittenden and Mendel, 598; Digestibility of Cocoa- Butter and ordinary Butter, MM. Bourot and F. Jean, 639. See also Section I, British Association Physiology, Vegetable: see Botany Pichard (P.), Detection of Nitrous Acid by Brucine, 639 Pickering (Prof. E. C.), Harvard College Observatory, 231; a New Spectroscopic Binary, 52 Pierpont (Prof. J.), the Ruffini-Abelian Theorem, 92 Pigeons, Colour Variation in Ducks and, W. T. Van Dyck, 54 Pillar and Tree Worship in Mykenzean Greece, Arthur J. Evans, 611 Pilot Chart of North Atlantic, 372 Piloty (O.), New Method of preparing Salts of Hyponitrous Acid, 300 Piorkowski (Dr.), New Distinguishing Test of Colon and Typhoid Bacilli, 156 Pisciculture : Sea-Fish Hatching at Port Erin, 15 ; Fresh-water Eels in Alpine Lakes, Dr. Imhof, 134 Pithecanthropus erectus, Dr. Dubois, 135 ; Dr. R. Martin, 135 ; L. Manouvrier, 135; O. C. Marsh, 189 Planets: the Planet Mercury, 17, 84 ; New Divisions of Saturn’s Rings, M. Flammarion, 17 ; the Planet Saturn, Prof. Barnard, 327; Mass of the Asteroids, G. Ravené, 206 ; Rotation Period of Jupiter, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 280; New Features on Mars, 487; the Canals on Mars, 600; Planetary Notes, Percival Lowell, 633 Planktonokrit, Dr. Chas. S. Dolley’s, 120 Plant-Breeding, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.R.S., 138 Plant-Distribution, the Rational Study of, 458 Plants, Magical Growth of, W. R. M. Semple, 8 Pleiades, the, 449; New Nebulosity in the Pleiades, W. Stratonoft, 327 Plumb-Line Deviations, M. Messerschmitt, 301 Plummer (W. E.), Meteorological Work of Mersey Docks Ob- servatory, 1895, 205 ‘ Pluvinel (Count de la Baume), Photography of Solar Corona, 374 Pocock (R. I.), Distribution of Galeodes, 367 Poincaré (H.), Electrostatic Deviation of Kathode Rays, 47 ; Photography in Interior of Crookes’ Tube, 384 Pola’s Red Sea Voyage, the, 485 Polarised ? Are Rontgen Rays, J. W. Gifford, 172 Pole (Mr. W., F.R.S.), Siemens’s Domestic Gas Fire, 595 Pollard (Dr. H. B.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 183 Poore (Dr. C. V.), the Circulation of Organic Matter, 141 Pope (F. G.), Condensation of Chloral with Resorcinal, 408 Pope (W. J.), Substances exhibiting Rotatory Power both in Liquid and Crystalline States, 143; Polymorphism as Ex- planation of Thermochemical Peculiarities of Chloral and Bromal Hydrates, 408 Porcelain, Prof. Riicker on Measurements of Transparency of Glass and, to Rontgen Rays, 566 Port Erin, Sea-Fish Hatching at, 15 Porter (T. C.), Analysis of Rontgen Rays, 110 ; Experiments on R6éntgen Rays, 149 Post-Glacial Time in the Two Hemispheres, the Relative Lengths of, Dr. C. Davisor, 137 Post-Graduate Study in London, 173 Potash- Making in Essex, the Decay of, Henry Laver, 106 Poulet (V.), the Principle of Vegetable Digestion, 384 Poulton (Prof. E. B., F.R.S.), Opening Address in Section D of the British Association, 500 Power Locomotion on Highway, Rhys Jenkins, 365 Practical Mechanics for Sailors, Thomas Mackenzie, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 364 Preece (W. H.), on the Tests of Glow-Lamps, 609 Prein (M.), the Lime-Tree near Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), 311 Pressure, Osmotic, W. C. D. Whetham, 571 Prestwich (Sir Joseph, F.R.S.), Death of, Notice of, 202 Prehistoric European Sculpture, Salomon Reinach, 482 Prehistoric Graves in Pennslyvania, 325 Prehistoric Metal Implements, Dr. J. H. Gladstone, 610; Dr. Munro, 610 182; Obituary XXViil Price’s (Mr.) Microscopical Method of Comparing Screw Gauges, 608 Prizes offered by the Société d’ Encouragement, 331 Proceedings of Toronto Engineering Society, 83 Professor, an American, Sir J. G. Fitch, 409 Professorial Qualifications, 126 Progress in Stereochemistry, Dr. Arnold Eiloart, 321 Proximate Constituents of Coal, 585 Psychology : Medizeval Mental Epidemics, Boris Sidis, 589 Public Works Guide and Register, the United States, Capt. W. M. Black, 267 Purdie (T.), Ethereal Salts of Optically Active Malic and Lactic Acids, 47 Purification of Sulphur, Prof, Richard Threlfall, 224; Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 225 Putman (F. W.), the Ancient City of Coupan, Honduras, 480 Pyevtsoff (General), Barometrical Levellings, 299 Pyne (Ii. S.), Rontgen Photographs with Wimshurst Machine, 62 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 142 Quartzite Lenticles, Mr. Greenly on the, 585 Rabies : Pasteur Anti-Rabic Treatment in Russia, 106 Radiants, Shooting Star, Dr. Doberck, 186 Radiography, Practical, H. Snowden Ward, 245; see Rontgen Rays Railway Rails, on the Cause of Failure of, Mr. Beaumont, 607 ; Prof. Unwin, 608 ; Mr. Johnson, 608 ; Dr. Anderson, 608 ; Sir Douglas Fox, 608 ; Prof. Hele-Shaw, 608 ; Mr. Spooner, 608 Railway Speed Trials in Germany, 204 Rain-Making, the Transvaal Volksraad on, 371 Rainbow (W. J.), New Australian Aranetd@, 544 Rainbow, a Curious, C. O. Steevens, 271 Rainfall, British, of 1895, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., and [H. S. Wallis, 390 Rambaut (Prof. A. A.), Rotation Period of Jupiter, 280 Ramsay (Prof. Wm., F.R.S.), Inactivity of Argon and Helium, 143; Homogeneity of Argon and Helium, 336, 406; on the very Remarkable and Abnormal Properties of Helium, 584 Ransome (Dr. Arthur, F.R.S.), the Treatment of Phthisis, 7 Raoult (F. M.), Cryoscopy of Precision, 568 Raoult (J. M.), Vapour Pressures of Formic Acid Solutions, 119 Raulin (Prof.), Death of, 105 Ravené (G.), Mass of the Asteroids, 206 Ray (Dr. P. C.), Mercurous Nitrite, 83 Rayleigh (Lord, Sec. R.S.), the Electrical Resistance of Alloys, 154; the Reproduction of Diffraction Gratings, 332 Read, Campbell, and Co.’s Aerators, 37 Read (Carveth), the Principles of Sociology, Franklin Henry Giddings, 49 Read (C. H.) on a Proposed British Ethnological Bureau, 610 Reade (Mellard) on the Evidence of Land Oscillation near Liverpool, 587 Rebeur-Paschwitz, Pendulum Observations at Charkow, Prof. G. Lewitsky, 299 Reclus’ Proposed Gigantic Model of the Earth, Wallace, 42 Reconnoitring Purposes, Captive Balloon for, 483 Red Sea Voyage, the Po/a’s, 485 Rede Lecture, the: the Rontgen Rays, F.R.S., 302 Redwood (B.), the Detection and Measurement of Inflammable Gas and Vapour in Air, 620 Reed (C. J.), the Jacques Thermo-Electric Cell, 353 Refik Bey, the Bacillo-coccus of Anatolian Goat-Pneumonia. Dr. A. R. Prof. J. J. Thomson, 372 Reflected Waves in the Explosion of Gases, Prof, H. B. Dixon, E. H. Strange, E. Graham, 583 Reid (Clement), Eocene Deposits of Dorset, 70; on the Palzo- lithic Deposits of Hoxne, 586 Reid (G. Archdall), Blood-Brotherhood, 77 Reinach (Salomon), Prehistoric European Sculpture, 482 Relative Lengths of Post-Glacial Time in the two Hemispheres, the, Dr. C. Davison, 137 Relief of the Earth’s Crust, Robert Mill, 112 the, Prof. Wagner, Dr. Hugh Index ae to Nature, December 10, 1896 Reliquary, Science in the, 237 Remarkable Sounds, Kumagusu Minakata, 78 Renault (B.), Fossil Bacteria, 120 Renton (James) Sun-Spots and Facule, 317 Report of Science and Art Department, 382 Resal (H.), Traité de Mécanique Générale, 27 5 Death of, 446 Resistance Box, Mr. E, H. Griffiths on a Special Form of, 36, 165, 507; F. W. Burstall, 36 Responsibility in Science. Dr. C. Chree, 572 Retinal Images, the Positions of, Edward T. Dixon, 54 Retzius (Prof.), the Ankle-joint in Man and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters, 162 Reusch (Dr. Hans), Folk og Natur i Finmarken, 123 REVIEWS AND OuR BOOKSHELF :— A Naturalist in Mid-Africa, G. F. E. Scott Elliot, 5 Analytical Chemistry, N. Menschutkin, 6 Grundriss der Krystallographie fiir Studirende und zum Selbstunterricht, Gottlob Linck, 7 Cyanide Processes, E. B, Wilson, 7 The Treatment of Phthisis, Dr. Arthur Ransome, F.R.S., 7 ‘A Text-book of Applied Mechanics, Alexander Jamieson, 7 The Aeronautical Annual, 1896, 25 Zur Mechanik des Vogelfluges, Dr. Fr. Ahlborn, 25 The Astronomy of Milton’s ‘‘ Paradise Lost,” Thomas N. Orchard, W. T. Lynn, 26 Cholera in Indian Cantonments, E. H. Hankin, 26 Chemical Experiments, General and Analytical, Ree Williams, 27 Traité de Mécanique Générale, H. Resal, 27 Modern Stone-Cutting and Masonry, John S. Siebert and F. C. Biggin, 27 The Principles of Sociology, Franklin Henry Giddings, Car- veth Read, 49 Cocoa: All about it, Historicus, 50 Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, Bertram Blount and A. G. Bloxam, 51 / Elementary Practical Physics, William Watson, 51 Elementary Practical Chemistry, G. S. Newth, 51 ‘A Text-book of the Science and Art of Bread-Making, William 0, 51 An Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum, E. B. Wilson, Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, PRS su7s Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum. Sumptibus beati Caroli Roberti Darwin ductu et Consilio Josephi D. Hooker confecit B. Daydon Jackson, Fasciculus IV., 74 Fear, Angelo Mosso, Prof. E. A. Schifer, F.R.S., 74 Die Physiologie des Geruchs, Dr. H. Zwaardemaker, 75 Computation Rules and Logarithms, Prof. Silas W. Holman, 76 Remarkable Eclipses, W. T. Lynn, 76 The Old Light and the New, Wm. Ackroyd, 76 Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97 Elementary Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, founded on Joubert’s Traité Elémentaire d’Electricité, G. C. Foster, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 97 Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 98 First Annual General Report upon the Mineral Industry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the Year 1894, C. Le Neve Foster, F.R.S., 99 Leerboek der Organische Chemie, Dr. A. F, Hollemann, Dr. J. B, Cohen, 100 Physics for Students of Medicine, Alfred Daniell, 100 Physical Units, Magnus Maclean, IO! Elements of the Theory of Functions, Dr. H. Durége, 101 Charles Darwin and his Theory, M. A. Antonovich, 101 Ueber Germinal-Selection ; eine Quelle bestimmt gerichteter Variationen, August Weismann, Dr. F. A. Dixey, 121 Riverside Letters, George D. Leslie, 122 Folk og Natur i Finmarken, Hans Reusch, James C. Christie, 123 Weitere Ausfiihrungen iiber den Bau der Cyanophyceen und Bacterien, Prof. O. Biitschli, 124 A Dictionary of the Names of Minerals, A. H. Chester, 124 Principii della Teoria Matematica del Movimento dei Corpi, Gian Antonio Maggi, 124 The Number Concept: its Origin and Development, Levi Leonard Conant, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 145 Supplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Index XXIX Lecons de Géographie physique, Albert de Lapparent, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 146 Physiological Papers, H. Newell Martin, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 147 Atlas d’Ostéologie, Prof. Ch. Debierre, 148 Mechanics for Beginners, W. Gallatly, 148 Engineer Draughtsmen’s Work, 148 Monographie der Gattung Euphrasia, Dr. R. von Wettstein, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 169 The Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist, William Craw- ford Williamson, F.R.S., 169 Die Protophie, eine neue lebensgemeinschaft, in ihren auftal- ligsten erscheinungen, Arthur Minks, G. Massee, 170 Mathematical Papers read at the International Mathematical Congress held in connection with the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, 170 Modern Optical Instruments and their Construction, Henry Orford, 170 Lecons sur la Cellule Morphologie et Réproduction faites au ollége de France pendant le semestre d’hiver 1893-94, Felix Henneguy, 193 From North Pole to Equator, Alfred Edmund Brehm, 194 The Spas and Mineral Waters of Europe, Hermann Weber, F. Parkes Weber, 195 Domestic Science Readers, Vincent T. Murché, 196 The Story of Electricity, John Munro, 196 Gesammelte Abhandlungen iiber Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen, Wilhelm Roux, 217 The Indian Calendar, with Tables for the conversion of Hindu and Muhammadan into A.p. Dates and véce versd, Robert Sewell, W. T. Lynn, 219 Domesticated Animals, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, 220 A Geological Sketch Map of Africa South of the Zambesi, E. P. T. Struben, 221 Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, Edward Step, 221 Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, 241 The Water Supply of the City of New York 1658-1895, Edward Wegmann, 242 A Dictionary of Chemical Solubilities: Inorganic, Arthur Messinger Comey, 244. A Concise Handbook of British Birds, H. Kirke Swann, 245 Practical Radiography, H. Snowdon Ward, 245 The Student’s Lyell: a Manual of Elementary Geology, 265 Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), George Albert Boulenger, F.R.S., 266 The United States Public Works Guide and Register, Captain W. M. Black, 267 Wild Life of Scotland, J. H. Crawford, 268 A Cosmographical Review of the Universal Law of the Affinity of Atoms, James Henry Loader, 268 A Treatise on Industrial Photometry, with Special Applica- tion to Electric Lighting, A. Palaz, 289 The Evolution of Bird Song, Charles A. Witchell, W. Warde Fowler, 290 The Structure of Man, Prof. R. Wiedersheim, 291 The Official Guide to the Norwich Castle Museum, Thomas Southwell, 292 Latitude and Longitude, How to find them, W. J. Millar, 292 Through Jungle and Desert, Travels in Eastern Africa, William Astor Chanler, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 313 Apollonius of Perga, Treatise on Conic Sections, T. L. Heath, 314 Fur and Feather Series, the Hare, A. E. T. Watson, 315 Grundriss Einer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Dr. Freidrich Dannemann, 316 The Biological Problem of To-day, Epigenesis, Prof. Dr. Oscar Hertwig, 316 The X-Rays, Arthur Thornton, 316 Azimuth Tables for the Higher Declinations, H. B. Goodwin, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 337 Les Cavernes et leurs Habitants, Julien Fraipont, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., 339 Atlas of Nerve Cells, M. Allen Starr, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 340 Flora der Ostfriesischen Inseln (einschliesslich der Insel Wangerorg), Prof. Dr. F. Buchenau, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 341 A Text-book of Physical Exercises adapted for the use of Preformation or Elementary Schools, Dr. A. H. Carter and Samuel Bott, 341 Der Lichtsinn augenloser Tiere, Dr. Wilibald A. Nagel, 341 A System of Medicine, 361 Lehrbuch der Experimental Physik, Eduard Riecke, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S , 363 Hausaland, or Fifteen Hundred Miles through the Central Soudan, Charles Henry Robinson, 364 Practical Mechanics applied to the Requirements of the Sailor, Thomas Mackenzie, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 364 Power Locomotion on the Highway, Rhys Jenkins, 365 La Vie d’un Homme: Carl Vogt, William Vogt, Dr. Henry de Varigny, 386 Description of a Journey to Western China, G. E. Grum Grzimailo, 388 Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, F. C. Stebbing, 389 The Distribution of Rain over the British Isles during the Year 1895, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., and H. Sowerby Wallis, 390 Memoirs of Frederick A. P. Barnard, John Fulton, Sir J. G. Fitch, 409 Nitro-Explosives, P. Gerald Sandford, 410 The Practice of Massage, A. Symons Eccles, 411 Catalogue of the Fossil Bryozoa in the Department of Geo- logy, British Museum (Natural History), J. W. Gregory, 412 Water Supply, Wm. P. Mason, 412 Botany for Beginners, Henry Edmonds, 412 A Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin, J. A. Harvie Brown and T. E. Buckley, 433 British Birds’ Nests, R. Kearton, 433 British Sea-Birds, Charles Dixon, 433 A Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain, R. Bowdler Sharpe, 433 The Student’s Handbook of British Mosses, H. N. Dixon, 434 Catalogue of the Described Diptera from South Asia, F. M. Van der Wulp, 435 History of Modern Mathematics, David E. Smith, 435 Graphical Calculus, Arthur H. Barker, 435 A Geographical History of Mammals, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 457 Lehrbuch der Okologischen Pflanzengeographie ; eine einfiih- rung in die kenntniss der Pflanzenvereine, Dr. Eugen Warming, 458 Rivers and Canals, Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt, 459 Elementary Practical Chemistry and Qualitative Analysis, Frank Clowes, J. Bernard Coleman, 460 Entomological Notes for the Young Collector, William A. Morley, 460 Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, L. W. King, 489 Micro-Organisms and Disease, Dr. E. Klein, Joseph Lunt, 490 Text-Book of Zoology, Dr. J. E. V. Boas, 49r The Anti-Christ Legend : a Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folk-lore, W. Bousset, 491 Chemistry in Daily Life, Dr. Lassar-Cohn, 521 Crystallography for Beginners, C. J. Woodward, 522 By the Deep Sea, Edward Step, 522 The Principles of the Transformer, Frederick Bedell, 545 Mechanics for Beginners, Linnzeus Cumming, 546 Hints on Elementary Physiology, Florence A. Haig-Brown, 546 Signaletic Instructions, including the Theory and Practice of Anthropometrical Identification, Alphonse Bertillon, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 569 A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, Andrew Dixon White, 570 A Manual of Botany, J. Reynolds Green, 570 Wool-Dyeing, Walter M. Gardner, 571 Catalogue of the Madreporarian Corals in the British Museum (Natural History), Henry M. Bernard, 593 A Compendium of General Botany, Dr. Max Westermaier, 594 The Testimony of Science to the Deluge, W. B. Galloway, 594 The Theory of National and International Bibliography, Frank Campbell, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 617 Essai de Paleontologie Philosophique, Prof. Albert Gaudry, 619 Practical Methods of Organic Chemistry, Ludwig Gattermann, 619 XXX L[ndex & upplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 The Detection and’ Measurement of Inflammable Gas and Vapour in the Air, F. Clowes and Boverton Redwood, 620 Mensuration, Alfred Lodge, 620 ‘Reynolds and Branson’s (Messrs.) New X-Ray Meter, 62 Reynolds (Sir J. R., F.R.S.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 105; his Presidential Address to the British Medical Association, 133 Ricco (Prof.), Telluric’ Lines, 280 Rice (C. B.), New Method for Reading Deflections of Galvan- ometers, 639 Richards (E. W.), Presidential Mechanical Engineers, 19 Richards (J. W.), Resistance to Liquids of Aluminium and its Alloys, 253 Ridgeway (Prof.) on the Starting-point of the Iron-Age in Europe, 610; on the Mykenzan Age, 610 Ridsdale (E. L. J.), Food of Chameleons, 248 ; Chameleonic Notes, 573 Riecke (Prof. Edward), Lehrbuch der Experimental Physik, Prof. A. Gray, F-R.S., 363 Righi (Prof. A.), Similarity between Effects on Electrified Bodies of Roéntgen Rays and Ultra-Violet Light, 111 ; Effect of Réntgen Rays on Electrified Bodies, 355; the Electric Connection following Lines of Force of Rontgen Rays, 432 Right-handedness, the Reason of, Dr. D. G. Brinton, 230 Ring Nebula in Lyra, the, Prof. Barnard, 108 Ripon, Bishop of, on Huxley and Science, 31 Rivers and Canals, L. F. Vernon-Harcourt, 459 Riverside Letters ; a Continuation of ‘* Letters to Marco,” G. D. Leslie, 122 Riviere (E.), the Grotto of Spelugues, 239 Roberts-Austen (Prof. W. C., F.R.S.), Electrical Heating of Aluminium Wire, 37; the Diffusion of Metals, 55 Robinson (C. H.), Hausaland, 364 Roborovsky Expedition, the, 282 Robson (W, G.), Stuidy of X-Rays at St. Andrews University, 118 Rochard (Dr.), Death of, 597 Rodger (T. W.), Relation between Viscosity and Chemical Nature of Liquids, 213 Rogers (Messrs. Frith and), True Resistance of Electric Arc, Address to Institution of 69 Rogers (W. A.), X-Ray Pictures obtainable with Static Elec- tricity, 481 Roiti (Prof. A.),a New Rontgen Ray Tube, 185 ; Cryptochroism in Rontgen Rays, 576 Roman Fowl Disease, Bacteriology of, Dr. S. Santori, 229 Romburg (Dr. P. van), Action of Iodine on Potassium Cyanide and of Iodine Cyanide on Caustic Potash, 360 Rontgen Rays: a Biological Application of Rontgen Photography, Alexander Meek, 8; the Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy, Sydney Rowland, 17; an Advance in Rontgen Photography, Dr. John Macintyre, 29; Mode of Action on Photographic Plates of, R. Col- son, 23; New Name (Hyperdiabatic Radiations) pro- posed for, F. P. Le Roux, 23; Action on Electrified Bodies of, L. Benoist and D. Hurmuzescu, 23; Use of Phosphor- escent Materials in rendering Visible the Rontgen Rays, Her- bert Jackson, 36 ; Surgical Applications of the Rontgen Rays, Sydney Rowland, 36; the Nature of the X-Rays, D. A. Gold- hammer, 45; on the Action of Rontgen Rays and Ultra- Violet Light on Electric Sparks, Dr. A. Sella, Dr. Q. Majorana, 53; Rontgen Ray Phenomena, J. William Gif- ford, 53; Fluorescence of Photographic Plates under the Rontgen Rays, W. J. D. Walker, 62; Rontgen Photographs with Wimshurst Machine, H. S. Pyne, 62; New X-Ray Meter, Messrs. Reynolds and Branson, 62; Researches and Experiments on Roéntgen Rays, Dr. A. Garbasso, 62 3553; Prof. A. Battelli, 62, 355; Prof. Rowland, 65; Prof. A. Michelson, 65 ; S. W. Stratton, 65; Prof. A. M. Mayer, 65. 66, 189; Prof. O. N. Rood, 66, 488; Prof. A. W. Wright, 66; Dr. John Macintyre. 71, 109, 159; Prof. McKendrick, 71; J. W. Giltay, 109; Prof. Haga, 109, 639; Prof. W. N. Hartley, 110 ;T. ©. Porter; 110; G. J. Burch, 715 M: Meslin, 111 ; Shelford Bidwell, 111 ; Prof. G. Jaumann, 111 ; Prof. A. Righi, 11t, 355, 432; Prof. F. E. Nipher, 111; T. A. Edison, 112; R. P. Leray, 112; W. G. Robson, 118 ; M. Hurion, 118; Mr. Izarn, 118; M. Gouy, 118, 264; C. Henry, 118, 432; G. Leguy, 118; A. A. C. Swinton, 125, 166; Prof. G. Sormani, 136 ; Prof. Cox, 141; Prof. Callen- car, 141; T. C. Porter, 149 ; A. Schober, 155; Prof. S. B. Thompson, 159, 165; Prof. Dubois, 166; Prof. A, Gray, 166; Prof. A. Roiti, 184, 576; Léon Gerard, 204; Prof. S. Capranica, 204; Alex Thurburn, 248; M. Lortet, 255; M. Genoud, 255; O. Zoth,. 285; Emile Villari, 287, 355, 456, 488, 639; F. Berton, 287; Dr. A. Dupré, F.R.S., 354; J. A. MacClelland, 354; Dr. L. Fomm, 355; Dr. F. V. Dwelshauvers-Dery, 356; P. D. Heen, 356; W. Arnold, 356; Dr..F. Giazzi, 357; M. Colandeau, 357; F. Beaulard, 359; G. D. Metz, 384: H. Poincaré, 354; L. Lecercle, 384; Dr. Oliver Lodge, 402 ; H. B. Dixon, 408; H. B. Baker, 408; Sir G. G. Stokes, 427; Otto Miiller, 456; Prof. Dennis, 481; W. A. Rogers, 481 ; Colonel A. T. Fraser, 483 ; Rev. F. J. Smith, F.R.S., 594; a Theory of the X-Rays, Prof. Albert A. Michelson, 66 ; Jaumann’s Experiments, R. Swyngedauw, 71 ; the Old Light and the New, William Ackroyd, 76 ; Reversing Current Re- viving Focus Tube, J. M. Barr, 82; the Rontgen Rays not present in Sunlight, M. C. Lea, 92 ; Emission of New Radia- tions by Metallic Uranium, H. Becquerel, 94 ; Some Proper- ties of X-Rays Penetrating Ponderable Media, C. Maltézos, 95; Recent Researches on R6ntgen Rays, 109; Effect on Diphtheria Bacilli, 112; Are Rontgen Rays Polarised? J. William Gifford, 172; Increasing the Efficiency of Rontgen Ray Tubes, T. G. Crump, 225; Practical Radiography, H. Snowden Ward, 245; New Form of Apparatus for the Production of Roéntgen Rays, Benjamin Davies, 281; the Rede Lecture, Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 302; the X-Rays, Arthur Thornton, 316; Application of Réntgen Rays to the Soft Tissues of the Body, Dr. John Macintyre, 4513; Prof. S. P. Thompson on Hyper-phosphorescence, 566 ; Ro6ntgen Rays and Allied Phenomena, Prof. P. Lenard, Sir — George Stokes, Prof. Fitzgerald, Profs. J. J. Thomson and E. Rutherford, 565; Prof. Ayrton, 566; Prof. Riicker on Measurements of the Transparency of Glass and Porcelain to Roéntgen Rays, 566; Dr. F. T. Trouton on the Results of Experiments on the Duration of X-Radiation at each Spark made by Rotating a Wheel between the Discharge Tube and a Sensitive Plate, 566; Prof. S. P. Thompson on the Relation between Kathode Rays, X-Rays, and Becquerel’s Rays, 566 ; Dr. J. H. Gladstone and Mr. W. Hibbert, Contrast between the Action of Metals and their Salts on Ordinary Light and on the New Rays, 583 ; Effect on Hands of the Rontgen Rays, 621 Rood (Prof. O. N.), Experiments on Réntgen Rays, 66; Re- flection of Réntgen Rays from Polished Metallic Surfaces, 488 Rooks at Nesting Time, F. E. Baines, 9 Rope Driving, Abram Combe, 328 Roscoe (Sir H. E.), on Chemical Education in England and Germany, 585 Rose (T. K.), the Treatment of Phthisis, Dr. A. Ransome, 7 Ross (Mrs. H. A.), Hatching Lizards’ Eggs, 55 : Ross (Dr. W. H.), Death of, 597 Rossel (M.), the Formation of Diamonds in Steel, 279 Rotation: Possible Changes in the Earth’s Rotation, Prof. Newcomb, 158 ; on the Rotation of the Earth, Th. Sloudski, 161; the Rotation Period of Jupiter, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 280; the Solar Rotation, Lewis Jewell, 526; E. J. Welczynski, 579 Rotch (A L.), the Brocken Meteorological Observatory, 65 ; the first use of Kites in Meteorology, 455; Scientific Kite- Flying, 598 Rousset (L.), Action of Ethoxalyl Chloride on Naphthalene in Presence of Aluminium Chloride, 264 Roux (Wilhelm), Gesammelte Abhandlungen iiber Entwicklungs- mechanik der Organismen, 217 Rowland (Sydney), the Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy, 17 ; Surgical Applications of Rontgen Rays, 36 ; Experiments on Rontgen Rays, 65 Royal Geographical Society, Medals and Awards for 1896, 134 Royal Meteorological Society, 94, 215 Royal Microscopical Society, 215 Royal Society : Selected Candidates, 9 ; Royal Society, 36, 46, 71, 92, 143, 159, 213, 237, 261, 286, 311, 334; the Royal Society Conversazione, 46; the Royal Society Ladies’ Con- versazione, 159; the Royal Society’s Coral Reef Boring Ex- pedition, Prof. Sollas, 517 Royal Society of Canada, 141 Supplement to | December 10, 1896 Index XXX1 Royal Society of New South Wales, 488 Riicker (Prof.) on Measurements of Transparency of Glass and Porcelain to Rontgen Rays, 566 Riidinger (Dr. ), Death of, 401 Rugby Observatory, 231 Ruhemann (S.), Acetonylmalic Acid, 22 Rumford Premium, Award and Presentation of the, to T. A. Edison, 207 Rumker’s (Prof.), Report of the Work of the Hamburg Obser- vatory, 301 Russian Geographical Society, Memoirs of Caucasian Branch of, 46; Medal Awards, 298 ; Izvestia of, 311 Russia: Pasteur Anti-Rabic Treatment in Russia, 106; Magnetic Anomally in, M. Moureaux, 215; Measurement of Magnetic Elements in South Russia, M. Moureaux, 254; Surprising Magnetic Perturbations observed by M. Moureaux in, 483 ; the Russian Solar Eclipse Expeditions, 400 ; Model Gardens in Russia, 484 Russell (Dr. H. C., F.R.S.), a Photographic Transit Circle, 35 ; the Causes of Australian Weather, 374; Periodicity of Good and Bad Seasons, 379 Russell (Dr. Isaac), the Efficiency of Photographic Telescopes, 6 3 Russell (Dr. J. S. R.), Effects of Dividing Inferior Peduncle of Cerebellum, 287 Rutherford (Prot. E.), a Magnetic Detector of Electrical Waves, 239; Rontgen Rays and allied Phenomena, 565; ona Method of Detecting Electromagnetic Waves, 567 Ruwenzori, an Expedition to, G. F. E. Scott Elliot, 5 Rydberg (J. R.), the Spectrum of Parhelium, 455 Sabatier (Paul), Reaction of Cuprous Compounds as Character- istic Test for Nitrites, 192; Dark Blue Nitrodisulphonic Acid, 215 Sacharbekoff (M. P.), Bacteriology of St. Petersburg Milk, 550 Sailing Flight, S. E. Peal, 317; Dr. R. von Lendenfeld, 436 Sailors, Practical Machanics for, Thomas Mackenzie, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 364 St. Louis, the Tornado at, 104 St. Petersburg Milk, Bacteriology of, M. P. Sacharbekoff, 550 Salaries of Science Demonstrators, the, 271 ; Charles Frederick Baker, 196; Saville Shaw, 247; ‘An Aggrieved Tadpole,” 319 Salts of Iron, on a Means of Detecting the Difference between Organic and Inorganic, Prof. Macallum, 633 Sand-Dunes, on the Formation and Distribution of, Vaughan Cornish, 388 Sanford (P. G.), Nitro-Explosives, 410 Santori (Dr. S.), Bacteriology of Roman Fowl-Disease, 229 Sarasin’s (Messrs. P. and F.) Celebes Expedition, 372 Saturn, the Planet, Prof. Barnard. 327 Saturn's Rings, New Divisions of, M. Flammarion, 17 Saussure (R. de) tude de Geometrie Cinématique Réglée, 639 Sauveur (A.), th Micro-Structure and Hardening Theories of Steel, 578 Scandinavian Art, Relation of Stone Carvings of the Tumuli of New Grange, Dowth, and Loughcrew to, G. Coffey, 611 Scenery of Switzerland, the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 439, 547 Schaefer (K. L.), Diminution of Sound Intensity with Distance, 45 Schafer (Prof. E. A., F.R.S.), Fear, Angelo Mosso, 74; Physi- ological Papers, H. Newell Martin, 147 ; Atlas of Nerve-Cells, Dr. M. A. Starr, 349; Obituary Notice of Sir J. E. Erichsen, F_R.S., 548 Scherren (Henry), Nest-Building Amphipod in the Broads, 367 Schionning (Herr), the Alleged Development of Yeast-Cells from Moulds, 33 Schloesing (Th., jun.), the Nitrogen and Argon of Fire-Damp, 336, 359 Schmidt (E.), Magnetic Irregularity and Annealing of Iron and Steel, 285 Schmidt (G. C.), Fluorescence, 189 Schober (A.), Effect of R6ntgen Rays on Oat-Germination, 155 Schools, Science for Secondary, 308 Schorr (Dr.), Comet Swift, 1896, 35 Schroeder's (Dr. Hugo) *‘ Corrector’ (Photographic) Lens, 156 Schuyten (Dr. M: C.), Influence of Atmospheric Variation on Attention of School-Children, 631 Schwalbe (Dr.), Dissipation of Electricity by Vapour, 95 ; Electrical Behaviour of Vapours from Electrified Liquids, 311 Science: Scientific Worthies, Sir Joseph Lister, Prof. H. Tillmanns, 1; the Bishop of Ripon on Huxley and Science, 31; our Bishops and Science, Rev. J. F. Heyes, 77 ; Science in the Magazines, 41, 117, 260, 331, 454, 589; International Catalogue of Science, 64, 181; the Evolution of Modern Scientific Laboratories, Prof. William H. Welch, 87 ; Science and Art at the Central Technical College, 186; the Salaries of Science Demonstrators, Charles Frederic Baker, 196; Saville Shaw,247; ‘* An Aggrieved Tadpole,” 319; the Position of Science at Oxford, 225, 342; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 295; H. B. Baker, 295 ; ‘‘ A Parent,” 295 ; Oswald H. Latter, 269: C. I. Gardiner, 270; ‘‘the Writer of the Article,” 318; Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 391; T. H. Warren, 491 ; Science Progress, 260 ; Information on Scientific Questions, James Dallas, 296 : Science for Secondary Schools, 308 ; Report of Science and Art Department, 382 ; German and English Science, Prof. Ostwald, 385, 405 ; Science and Theology, Dr. A. D. White, 570; Responsibility in Science, Dr. C. Chree, 572 ; Science Teaching in Elementary Schools, 585; Recent Advances in Science and their Bearing on Medicine and Surgery, Prof. M. Foster, 580, 600; Frank Campbell’s Theory of Scientific Bibliography, Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 617 ; the Scientific Department of Im- perial Institute, 627 Sclater (Dr. P. L., F.R.S.), Chameleons at Zoological Gardens, 622 Scorpion Oil an Antidote to Snake-Bites, W. Larden, 573 Scorpions, Nutrition of Embryo in, Malcolm Laurie, 167 Scotch Agricultural Experiments, Prof. R. P. Wright, 403 Scotland, Earthquake in, 106 Scotland, Wild Life of, J. H. Crawford, 268 Scott (A.), Atomic Weight of Oxygen, 94 ; Combining Volumes of Carbon Monoxide and Oxygen, 94 Scott (D. H., F.R.S.), Opening Address in Section K of the British Association. Present Position of Morphological Botany, 535 Scott (R. H.), International Meteorological Conference at Paris, 624 Screw ate Mr, Price’s Microscopical Method of Compar ing, 60 Screw Gauges, Colonel Watkins’ Photographic Method of Com- paring, 608 Screw Gauges, Report on, 609 Scribner’s Magazine, Science in, 260 Scudder (Frank), Koch’s Gelatine Process for the Examination of Drinking-Water, 52, 150 Sculpture, Prehistoric European, Salomon Reinach, 482 Sea, the Specific Gravity of the Waters of the, H. N. Dickson, 235 Sea-Fish Hatching at Port Erin, 15 Sea-Water, Bacteriology of, Prof. B. Fischer, 577 Seasons, Periodicity of Good and Bad, H. C. Russell, F.R.S., 379 Secondary Schools, Science for, 308 Sée (Prof. Germain), Death of, 60 See (Dr.), Double Star Orbits, 280 Seeley (Prof.), on a Skull of Déademodon brought from Wonder Boom, 587 Seeliger (Prof.), Obituary Notice of Prof. Ludwig Philip v. Seidel, 551 Seidel (Prof. Ludwig Philip v.), Obituary Notice of, Prof. Seeliger, 551 Seismology : Seismological Observatory formed at Athens, 16 ; Eruption Phenomena in Sicily and adjacent Islands, September- December, 1895,5. Arcidiacono, 68 ; New Seismometrograph, G. Agamennone, 68; Bollettino della Societa Sismologica Italiana, 68, 311, 325, 456, 544; Distant Disturbances Re- corded, John Milne, 229; a Seismic Survey of the World, 234; Rebeur-Paschwitz Pendulum Observations at Charkow, Prof. G. Lewitsky, 299; Velocity of Propagation of Para- mytha Earthquake of May 13-14, 1895, Dr. G. Agamennone, 311; Prof. John Milne’s Observations, 352; Record of Mediterranean Earthquakes for 1895, Dr. Agamennone, 373 ; Prof Vicentini’s Modified Microseismograph, 402 ; the Per- turbation of Animals before Earthquakes, Dr. A. Cancani, 424; Turkish Earthquakes in 1895, Dr. Agamennone, 424 ; Prof. G. Vicentini’s Microseismographic Observations, 424 ; New Form of Seismometrograph, Dr. A. Cancani, 424; XXXIl Index ba upplement to Nature, December 10, 1896 Observations of Turkish Earthquakes, Dr. Agamennone, 447 ; Mr, Eginitis, 447 ; the Great Seismic Wave of Japan, 449; Death and Obituary Notice of Luigi Palmieri, 482; the Syracuse Earthquake of April 13, 1895, Prof. Arcidiacono, 525; the Recent Earthquakes in Iceland, Dr. J. Stefansson, 574; Prof. Milne on his Seismological Observations during the Year in the Isle of Wight, 587 Seguy (G.), Photometry of Phosphorescent Sulphide of Zinc excited by Kathode Rays, 119 Seiss (C. F.), Breeding Habits of Pertplaneta orientalis, 72 Selection, on behalf of, August Weismann, Dr. F, A. Dixey, 121 Sella (Dr. A.), on the Action of Réntgen Rays-and Ultra- Violet Light on Electric Sparks, 53 Semon (Prof. R.), Anthropology of Australia, 135 Semple (W. R. M.), Magical Growth of Plants, 8 Sero-Therapy: Blood-Brotherhood, G. Archdall Reid, 77 ; Pasteur Anti-Rabic Treatment in Russia, 106; Bactericidal Power of Blood Serum, S. Arloing, 192; Athens Pasteur Institute, 252; the Anti-Toxin Treatment of Diphtheria, Dr. Lennox Browne, 260; Diphtheria Toxine Preparation, M. Nicole, 372 ; Report of Austrian State Institute for Prepara- tion of Anti-Toxin Serum, 447; Prof. Kitasato’s Anti-Cholera Serum Experiments, 279 ; Snake Venom and Anti- Venomous Serum, Prof. A. Calmette, 380; Anti-Staphyloccic Sero- Therapy, M. Capman, 592 Seton-Karr (H. W.), Paleolithic Implements from Somaliland, 92 “Sewell (Robert), the Indian Calendar, 219 “Shackleton (Mr.), Sir G. Baden-Powell’s Solar Eclipse Ex- pedition, 400 “Shaler (Nathaniel Southgate), Domesticated Animals, 220 Sharpe (R. Bowdler), a Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain, 58, 433 Shaw (Saville), the Salaries of Science Demonstrators, 247 Shaw (Mr. W. N.),on the Total Heat of Water, 567 Shooting-Star, a Fine, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 221 Shooting-Star Radiants, Dr. Doberck, 186 Shropshire, on the Superficial Deposits of, Dr. Callaway, 586 Sidgreaves (Rev. Walter), Influence of Strong Magnetic Field on Electric Discharge in Vacuo, 367 Sidis (Boris), Medizeval Mental Epidemics, 589 Siebert (John S.), Modern Stone-Cutting and Masonry, 2 Siemens (Alexander), Cable Laying on the Amazon River, 162 Siemens’ Smokeless Grate, the, F. W. Foster, 462; P. W. Claydon, 492 Siemens and Co., Electric Discharges in Vacuo, 159 Siertsema (Dr. H. L.), Magnetic Rotation Measurements, 640 ‘Signals, Acoustic, at Sea, the Direction of, E. Hardy, 373 ‘Silberschmidt (Dr.), Anthrax disseminated by Horsehair, 204 Silk, the Manufacture of Artificial, 66 Simon (Jules), Death and Obituary Notice of, 133 Simony (Dr.), Death of, 351 Skeat (E. G.), Geology of Carmarthen Neighbourhood, 23 Skiagraphy, the Archives of Clinical, 17 Skiagraphy : see Rontgen Rays Skomer Island, Messrs. Howard and Small on the Rocks of, 585 Slack (H. J.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 351 Slavery in North Carolina, Prof. J. S. Bassett, 157 ~ Sloudski (Th.), on the Rotation of the Earth, 161 Small (Mr.), Mr. Howard and, on the Rocks of Skomer Island, 585 * Smell: Die Physiologie des Geruchs, Dr. H. Zwaardemaker, 75 Smith (C.), Constitution of Cereal Celluloses, 46 Smith (C. H., jun.), Metamorphism of Gabbro in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., 45 Smith (David E.), History of Modern Mathematics, 435 Smith (Rev. F. J., F.R.S.), Geometric Wall Brackets and steady Blocks, 37; Discharge of an Electrified Body by Means of the Tesla Spark, 296; Tesla Spark and X-Ray Photography, 594 Smith (Prof. Lorrain), on Febrile Reaction produced in Mice by Inoculation with certain Bacilli, 633 Smith (Martin), the Crossing of Carnations, 549 Smith (M.), New Zealand Method of Smelting Iron Sand, 39 Smith (Worthington G.), Effect of Lightning, 271 Smokeless Grate, the Siemens, F. W. Foster, 462; P. W. Clayden, 492 Snails, Foreign, in West Indies, C. W. Branch, 392 Snake-Bites, an Antidote to, ‘* Scorpion Oil,” W. Larden, 573 Snake Venom and Anti-Venomous Serum, Prof. A. Calmette, 380 Snakes, Catalogue of the, in the British Museum (Natural His- tory), George Albert Boulenger, F.R.S., 266 Snelius (Mr.), Process of Covering Telephone Cables with Lead by Extrusion, 39 Societé d’Encouragement, French, Prize Awards, 252 Sociology, the Principles of, Prof. Franklin, Henry Giddings, Carveth Read, 49 Soft Tissues of the Body, Application of Réntgen Rays to the, Dr. John Macintyre. 451 Sohncke (L.), Polarised Fluorescence, 311 Sokolow (A. P.), Electrolysis of Water, 285 Solar Constant, the, J. Vallot, 239 Solar Corona, Photography of, Count de la Baume Pluvinel, 374 Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 36, 46; M. Deslandres, 301 Solar Eclipse of August 9, 1896, the, 153, 344, 369; J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 197, 395, 418, 441; M. Tisserand, 487 ; Prof. H. Geelmuyden, 519; the Total Solar Eclipse at Bodo, Dr. A. Brester, jun., 390; Air Temperature during, Dr. H. R. Mill, 391; Sir G. Baden-Powell’s Expedition, Mr. Shackleton, 400; the Russian Expeditions, 400; the Solar Eclipse in North Finland, 427; Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, H. Wollaston Blake, 436 Solar and Lunar Discs, Meteors Transiting the, 449 Solar Phenomena, Explanation of, J. Fényi, 281 Solar Photography at Meudon, Dr. Janssen, 64 Solar Prominences, Visibility of, Prof. Hale, 185 Solar Rotation, the, Lewis Jewell, 526; E. J. Welczynski, 579 Sollas (Prof. ), the Royal Society’s Coral Reef Boring Expedition, 517 Solomon Islands, Fossil Tridacnids in the, Dr. Arthur Willey, 23 Sotutilities, a Dictionary of Chemical, Arthur Messinger Comey, 244 Solutions, Dependence of the Colour of, on the Nature of the Solvent, F. G. Donnan, 55 Somersetshire, on the Discovery of an Ancient British Interment in, F. T. Elworthy, 611 Somerville (Prof.), Manurial Experiments on Turnips, 62 Sonnblick Meteorological Observations for 1895, Dr. Trabert, 42 eeu (Prof. G.), Rontgen Rays Inactive on Bacteria, 136 Sounds, Remarkable, Kumagusu Minakata, 78 South African Museum, the, 107 Southern Stars, Magnitude of, S. I. Bailey, 231 Southwell (Thomas), the Official Guide to the Norwich Castle Museum, 292 Spain, Northern, Steel Making in, 514 Spas and Mineral Waters of Europe, Hermann Weber, F. Parkes-Weber, 195 : Specific Characters, the Utility of, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 245, 365, 491; W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 293, 435, 522; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 294, 413, 546; J. T. Cunningham, 295, 522; Prof. David Wetterhan, 342 ; Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 460; among Mutillide, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 461 ; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 594 Specific Characters the Result of Natural Selection, Are, Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 246 Specific Gravity of the Waters of the Sea, H. N. Dickson, 235 Spectrum Analysis: Photograph of Coronal Spectrum Rings in Total Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 36, 46; the Solar Eclipse, August 9, 1896, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 395, 418, 441; Photographic Spectra of a Cygni, y Cygni, and Arcturus, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 36; Photographic Spectra of Bessemer Flame, Prof. Hartley, F.R.S., 36; Spectrum Photography with Captain Abney’s Colour Patch Apparatus, 37; Determination of Composition of a White Sou by, W. N. Hartley, 47 ; Carbon and Oxygen in Sun, J. Trowbridge, 91 ; Photography of whole Length of Spectrum at once, Prof. Liveing, 94; Spectroscopic and Heliographic Observation at Greenwich Observatory, 140; Photographs of Stellar Spectra, Dr. F. McClean, 158; Spectrum of Phosphorus in Fused Salts and Alloys, A. de Gramont, 239; the Displacement of Line in Spectrum of Jupiter, M. Deslandres, 162; Spectroscopic Photographs of Velocity of Altair in Line of Sight, 162; Unknown Lines in etal Supplement to eee | December 10, 1896 Index XXXIil certain Mineral Spectra, J, Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 261 ; Telluric Lines, Prof. Ricco, 280; Uniformities in Spectra of Solid Bodies, F. Paschen, 311 ; the Reproduction of Diffrac- tion Gratings, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 332; Bolometric In- vestigations of Absorption Spectra of Fluorescent Substances and Essential Oils, Bruno Donath, 455; Emission Spectra of a Black Body, Willy Wien, 455; the Spectrum of Parhelium, J. R. Rydberg, 455; a New Spectroscopic Binary, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 527; M. Birkeland’s Recent Observations of Discontinuous Line Spectrum of Kathode Rays produced by Magnetic Deflection, 566; Extension of Visible Spectrum, Prof. O, J. Lodge, F.R.S., and Benj. Davies, 622 Spelugues, the Grotto of, E. Riviére, 239 Spencer (Dr. J. W.), Geographical Evolution of Jamaica, 94 ; Niagara as a Time-piece, 481 Sperm Whale, the, and its Food, Frank T. Bullen, 102 Sperra Comet, Prof. Lamp, 551 Spiders: the California Trap-door Spider, Dr. Davidson, 288 ; Vision- Range and Colour- Sense of, G. W. and E. G. Peck- ham, 371; New Australian dvaneide, W. J. Rainbow, 544 Spitaler (Dr.), Comet 1890 VII., 374 Spitzbergen, the Conway Expedition to, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 437; Trevor-Battye, 543 Spivey (W. T. N.), Charas, 22 Spooner (Mr.) on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rails, 608 Spring (W.), Experiments on Transparency of Liquids, 136 Starr (Dr. M. A.), Atlas of Nerve-Cells, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 340 Stars: the System of Castor, Dr. Belopolsky, 63 ; Photographs of Stellar Spectra, Dr. F. McClean, 158; Magnitude of Southern Stars, S. I. Bailey, 231; the Cluster in Coma Berenices, 256; Double Star Orbits, Dr. See, 280; Double Star Observations, Dr. Doberck, 426; Variable Stars, 206 ; Dr. Chandler, 426; Variable Star Clusters, 108; Variable Star Observations, 426; New Variable in Herculis, T. D. Anderson, 327; the Variable Star Z Herculis, Paul S. Yendell, 527; Distribution of Binary Star Orbits, Miss Everett, 374; a New Spectroscopic Binary, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 527 ; Declinations of Fifty-six Stars, 206 ; Stellar Photography with Small Telescopes without Driving-Clocks, Joseph Lunt, 84 Steam-Jet, Rate of Condensation in, A. de F. Palmer, 638 Steam Pipes, Electric Welding of, Samuel MacCarthy, 20 Steam, Superheating, Prof. W. C. Unwin, 20 Stebbing (Rev. F. C.), Goodwin’s Tables for Navigators, 337 ; Practical Mechanics for Sailors, Thomas Mackenzie, 364 ; Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, 38 Stebbing (Rev. T. R. R.), on the Utility of Specific Character in Crabs, 605 Steel-Making in Northern Spain, 514 Steel, the Micro-structure and Hardening Theories of, A. Sauveur, 578 Steevens (C. O.), a Curious Rainbow, 271 Stefansson (Dr. J.), the Recent Earthquakes in Iceland, 574 Stejneger (Dr.), Remarkable Blind Batrachian, 156 Stellar Spectra, Photographs of, Dr. F. McClean, 158 Step (Edward), Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, 221 ; By the Deep Sea, 522 Stereochemistry, Progress in, Dr. Arnold Eiloart, 321 Stevenson (Dr. E.), on the Effect Produced upon the Eye Move- ments by the Destruction of the Ear, 635 Stevenson (H. E.), the Three Chlorobenzeneazosalicyclic Acids, 408 Stockbridge (G. H.), Dr. W. W. Jacques’s Carbon Consump- tion Electrical Cell, 298 Stokes (Sir G. G , F.R.S.) Researches on the Réntgen Rays 427; Rontgen Rays and Allied Phenomena, 565 Stokvis (M.), Colonisation in Tropical Regions, 525 Stoletow (Prof. A. G.), Death of, 228 Stone Carvings of the Tumuli of New Grange, Dowth, and Loughcrew, on the Relation of the, to Scandinavian Art, G. Coffey, 611 Stone-Cutting and Masonry, Modern, John S. Siebert and F. C. Biggin, 27 Stoney (G. Johnstone), November Meteors, 301 Stoves, Hot Blast, B. J. Hall, 39 Stradonitz (Prof. A. K. von.), Death of, 252 Strange (E. H.), Reflected Waves in the Explosion of Gases, 583 Stratonoff (W.), New Nebulosity in the Pleiades, 327 Stratton (S. W.), Experiments on Réntgen Rays, 65 Streintz (Franz), Polarisation and Resistance of Galvanic Cell, 45 Stromeyer (C. E.), Daylight Meteor, April 12, 9 Struben (E. P. T.), a Geological Sketch Map of Africa South of the Zambesi, 221 Structure of Man, the, an Index to his Past History, Prof. R. Wiedersheim, 291 Scucco, Cup and Ring Markings on, C. Carus-Wilson, 38 Stumpf (C.), the Determination of Overtones, 45 Submarine Boat Expedition suggested to North Pole, G. L. Pence, 519 Submarine Telegraphy, Death of Sir John Pender, 228 Sulphur, Purification of, Prof. Richard Threllfall, 224; Dr. H. E. Armstrong. F.R.S., 225 Sun: Solar Photography at Meudon, Dr. Janssen, 64; Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 9, 1896, 153, 344, 369; J. Nor- man Lockyer, F.R.S., 197, 395, 418, 441; M. Tisserand, 487 ; Prof. H. Geelmuyden, 519; at Bodé, Dr. A. Brester, jun., 390; Air Temperature during, Dr. H. R. Mill, 391 ; Sir G. Baden Powell’s Expedition. Mr. Shackleton, 400; the Russian Expeditions, 400; the Solar Eclipse in North Fin-- land, 427 ; Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, H. W. Blake, 436; a Solar-Halo, Dr. H. Warth, 248; Telluric- Lines, Prof. Ricco, 280; Explanation of Solar Phenomena, J. Fényi, 281 ; the Solar Rotation, Lewis Jewell, 526; E. J. Welczynski, 579; Sunspots and Facule,’ James Renton, 317 ; Sunspots, Bremen Climate and, 572 Surgery: Scientific Worthies, Sir Joseph Lister, Prof. H. Till- manns, 1; Death of Sir John Erichsen, F.R.S., 525; Obituary Notice of, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 548; Death. and Obituary Notice of Sir G. M. Humphrey, F.R.S., 525; Recent Advances in Science and their Bearing on Surgery, Prof. M. Foster, 580, 600; the Jubilee of Ether in Surgery, 597 Surinam Toads, the, 14; the Breeding of the Surinam Toad, A. D Bartlett, 71 Sutherland (James), the Alumina Factory at Larne Harbour, 329 Suture, the Metopic, Dr. G. Papillault, 254 Sverdrup (Captain), the Ice Voyage of the Aram, 430 Swallows, the Departure of the, 595 ; Lord Hobhouse, 546 Swan (R. M. W.), Ruined Temples in Mashonaland, 424 Swann (H. Kirke), a Concise Handbook of British Birds, 245 Swift, Comet, 1896, 17, 137; Dr. Schorr, 35 Swinton (A. A. C.), Rontgen Ray Experiments, 125; Rontgem Rays and Polarisation, 166; Effect of Strong Magnetic Field on Electric Discharges in Vacuo, 238 Switzerland, the Scenery of, Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 439, 547 Swyngedauw (R.), Jaumann’s Experiments on Réntgen Rays, 71 Sydney Museum, 598 Symons (G. J., F.R.S.), the Spring Drought of 1896, 334 ; British Rainfall of 1895, 390; the Thames Run Dry, 455 ; Dry Periods, 591; Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, 118, 213, 334, 455, 591 System of Medicine, a, vol. i., edited by Dr. T. C. Allbutt. F.R.S., 361 Tables for Navigators, Goodwin’s, Rev. F. C. Stebbing, 337 Tait (Prof.), the Linear and Vector Function, 166 Tapestry Maps of parts of England, on some Old, Rev. W. K. R. Bedford, 588 Tarr (Prof. Ralph S.), a Query concerning the Origin of Atolls, IOI Taxidermy and Modelling, Montagu Browne, 319 Tebbutt’s (Mr.) Observatory, 35 Technical College, Science and Art at the Central, 186 Technical Literature, the Organisation of, M. W. Brown, 622 Telegrams about Comets, 599 Telegraphy, All-round World, 106, 155 Telegraphy, Submarine: Death of Sir John Pender, 228 Telescopes, the Efficiency of Photographic, Dr. Isaac Russell, 63 Telluric Lincs, Prof. Ricco, 280 Temperature : Errors in Meridian Observations, M. Hamy, 84 Tennessee Caves, Exploration of, H. C. Mercer, 288 Terrestrial Disturbances, Influence of, on the Growth of Trees, Prof. B, E. Fernow, 77 XXXIV Index i ada to Nature, lecember 10, 1896 Tertiary Deposits of North Manxland, Mr. A. Bell on the, 586 Tesla Spark, Discharge of an Electrified Body by Means of the, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, F.R.S., 296 Tesla Spark and X-Ray Photography, Rev. F. J. Smith, F.R.S., 94 Toe Severe Storm in, 61 Thames Run Dry, the, Mr. Symons, 455 Theology, Science and, Dr. A. D. White, 570 Therapeutics: Effect of Réntgen Rays on Tuberculosis, MM. Lortet and Genoud, 255; Therapeutic Action of High Frequency Currents, A. d’Arsonval, 264; the Practice of Massage, A. S. Eccles, 411 Thermometer Balance, a Self-Registering, H. Parenty and R. Bricard, 23 Thermometer Readings during the Eclipse, H. Wollaston Blake, 436 ° Thermometer, Bare Wire Resistance, F. W. and H. R. J. Burstall, 36 Thermometers, Mercurial, Determination of Freezing-Point of, Dr. J. A. Harker, 334 Thiselton-Dyer (W. T., F.R.S.), Characters, 293, 522 Thomas (V.), Action of Air and Peroxide of Nitrogen on Halogen Compounds of Bismuth, 71; Action of Iodine on Stannous Chloride, 239; Action of Nitrogen Peroxide on Antimony Trichloride, 264 Thompson (Beeby), Junction-Beds of Northamptonshire, Upper Lias and Inferior Oolite, 22 Thompson (Prof.), on the Physiological Effects of Peptone when Injected into the Venous System, 633 Thompson (Prof. D’Arcy), the = (Sigma) of Diophantus, 118; Bird and Beast Names in Albertus Magnus, 118 Thompson (Prof. S. P.), Production of Electric Dust Shadows by Réntgen Rays, 159; Rontgen Rays and Polarisation, 165 ; Properties of Body having Negative Resistance, 214; on Hyper-phosphorescence, 566; on the Relation between Kathode Rays, X-Rays, and Becquerel’s Rays, 566 Thomson (James), Zozoon canadensa, 595 Thomson (J. J., F.R.S.), Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, Prof. A. Gray, 97; the Rontgen Rays, 302; Rontgen Rays and Allied Phenomena, 565 ; Opening Address in Section A of the British Association, the Utility of Specific 471 Thomson (J. P.), the Alleged Artesian Leakage, 156 Thornton (Arthur), the X-Rays, 316 Thorpe (Dr. T. E., F.R.S.), Relation, between Viscosity and | Chemical Nature of Liquids, 213 Threlfall (Prof. Richard), Purification of Sulphur, Throwing-Sticks, Eskimo, Dr. Otis T. Mason, 271 Thunder, a Prognostic of, B. Woodd-Smith, 151 Thurburn (Alex.), Rontgen Rays, 248 Thurston (Edgar), the Anthropology of British India, 404 Tian-Shan, the Eastern, G. E. G. Grzimailo, 388 Tidal Migrations of Limpets, Dr. A. Willey, 125 Tidal Wave in Japan, the Great, 252 Tides, Report on Effects of Wind and Atmospheric Pressure on, W. H. Wheeler, 608 Tiger Beetle, on the Life-History of, F. Enock, 605 Tilden (W. A.), Action of Bromine on Pinene, 408 Tillmanns (Prof. H.), Scientific Worthies—Sir Joseph Lister, 1 Time, the Relative Lengths of Post-Glacial, in the Two Hemi- spheres, Dr. C. Davison, 137 Time-Reckoning, the Last Day and Year of the Century, Remarks on, W. T. Lynn, 438 Tisserand (M.), Astronomical Work at Paris Observatory, 1895, 162 ; the Recent Solar Eclipse, 487 Tisserand (M.), Death of, 597 ; Obituary Notice of, 628 Titherley (Dr. A. W.), on the Amides of the Alkali Metals and some of their Derivatives, 584 Toads, the Surinam, 14 Tornado, the, at St. Louis, 104 Toronto Engineering Society, Proceedings of, 83 Townsend (J. S.), Magnetisation of Liquids, 311 22 Toxicology ; Cobra Venom destroyed by High Frequency | Currents, Dr. D’Arsonval, 372 Trabert (Dr.), Sonnblick Meteorological Observations for 1895, 2 Traité de mécanique générale, H, Resal, 27 Transformer, the Principles of the, Dr. F. Bedell, 545 Transit Circle, a Photographic, Dr. H. C. Russell, 35 Transits, Personal Equation in Observing, R. H. Tucker, 354 Transparency of Liquids, Experiments on, W. Spring, 136 Transvaal Volksraad on Rain-making, the, 371 Traquair (Dr. R. T., F.R.S.), Lower Devonian Fossil Fishes from Gmiinden, 263 Travels among the Hausa, C. H. Robinson, 364 Trees ; Influence of Terrestrial Disturbances on the Growth of Trees, Prof. B. E. Fernow, 77 Trevor-Battye (Mr.), the Conway Spitzbergen Expedition, 543 Trias, Mr. H. C. Beasley on Footprints from the, in the Neigh- bourhood of Liverpool, 586 Trimen (Dr. H., F.R.S.), Death of, 696 ; Obituary Notice of, W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., 628 f Trinil Femur, Dr. D, Hepburn on the, 610 Tripoli, on a Journey in the Tarhuna and M’Salata Districts of, H. S. Cowper, 588 Tristram (Rev. Canon), on Bird Migration, 606 Trouton (Dr. F. T.), on the Results of Experiments on the Duration of X-Radiation at each Spark made by Rotating a bees between the Discharge Tube and a Sensitive Plate, 5 Trowbridge (J.), Carbon and Oxygen in Sun, 91 Truffant (G.), Persian Cyclones, 119 Tsetse Fly, the, L. Péringuey, Walter F. H. Blandford, 247 Tuberculosis, Effect of Rontgen Rays on, MM. Lortet and Genoud, 255 Tubes, Distribution of Velocities in, M. Bazin, 144 Tucker (R. H.), Personal Equation in Observing Transits, 354 Tufted Hair, Dr. Henry O. Forbes, 151 Turnips, Manurial Experiments on, Prof. Somerville, 62 Turnips, Crows and, 255 Tutt (Mr.), Leucania flavicolor, 190; Difference between Enodia hyperanthus and Epinephale tantra, 191 Tutton (A. E.), Bearing of Investigations of Simple and Double Sulphates containing Potassium, Rubidium, and Cesium on Nature of Structural Unit, 22 Twynam (T.), Fixed Nitrogen in Steel, 516 Tyler (E. A.), Acetonylmalic Acid, 22 Tyrrell (J. B.), Is the Land round Hudson Bay Rising, 488 Tyson (W.), Butterflies and Hybernation, 125 Ultra-Violet Light on Electric Sparks, on the Action of Rontgen Rays and, Dr. A. Sella, Dr. Q. Majorana, 53 Umani(Dr. A.), the Theory of Fluid Friction, 204 United States ; the Metric System in the, 42; Decline of Lobster Fishery in, Prof. F. H. Herrick, 108 ; Annual Loss by Fire to United States Forests, 155; Slavery in North Carolina, Prof. J. S. Bassett, 1573 Agriculture in Connecticut, 206 ; Archeology of South-west Florida, Prof. F. N. Cushing, 230; Comparison between Mortalities of Yale Graduates in 1701-1744 and 1745-1762, 254; the United States Public Works Guide and Register, Captain W. M. Black, 267 ; Pre- historic Graves in Pennsylvania, 325; Abnormally Hot Weather in, 351, 401; Fulton’s Memoirs of Prof. F. A. B. Barnard, Sir J. G. Fitch. 409; Shade-tree Insects in the, 424; the American Association, 450, 480; Most Destructive Cyclone on Record, 577; Kite-flying at Blue Hill Observa- tory, 629 University Intelligence, 21, 44, 67, 90, 117, 142, 164, 188, 212, 236, 260, 285, 310, 333, 358, 383, 497, 430, 454, 487, 520, 543, 568 ,590, 615, 638 University of London, the, 236 ; London University Commission Bill, 284, 306 University Observatories in America, 64 Universities, the French, 64 Unwin (Prof. W. C.), Steam Superheating, 20 Unwin (Pref.), on the Cause of Failure of Railway Rails, 608 Uranium, 116 Uslar (Baron), the Kyurin Language, 526 Utility of Specific Characters, the, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 245, 365, 491; W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 293, 435, 522; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 294, 413, 546; J. T. Cunningham, 295, 522; Prof. David Wetterhan, 342; Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 460; Among Mutillidee, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 461 ; Prof. R. Meldola, 594 ; Are Specific Characters the Result of Natural Selection? Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 246 Supplement to Nature, December 19, 1896 Index XXXV Vaccination, the Centenary of, 15 Vallot (J.), the Solar Constant, 239 Valparaiso Water, Bacteriology of, Dr. Mourgues, 254 Variable Stars, 206; Dr. Chandler, 426; Variable Star Clusters, 108 ; Variable Star Observations, 426; New Vari- able in Herculis, T. D. Anderson, 327; the Variable Star Z-Herculis, Paul S. Yendell, 527 Variation : Colour, in Ducks and Pigeons, W. T. Van Dyck, 54 Varet (Raoul), Nickel Cyanide, 95 Varigny (Dr. H. de), La Vie de Carl Vogt, William Vogt, 386 Vegetable Physiology : see Botany : Velocity of Reactions before Perfect Equilibrium takes place, Dr. Wildermann, 584 Verneau (Dr. R.), Osteology of Pygmy Peoples, 325 Vernon-Harcourt (L. F.), Rivers and Canals, 459 Verrill(A. E.), Molluscan Archetype considered as a Vedzger-like Form, 383 Verschafielt (Mr.), Capillary Ascents of Liquid Carbon near Critical Temperature, 360 Vertebrates, the Origin of the, W. H. Gaskell, F.R.S., 551 Vertebrates, on the Ancestry of the, Dr. Gaskell, 606; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 606; Prof. C. S. Minot, 606; E. W. MacBride, 606 ; Walter Garstang, 606; F. A. Bather, 606 Vicentini’s (Prof.) Modified Microseismograph, 402 ; Microseis- mographic Observations, 424 Vieille (M.), Explosive Properties of Acetylene, 591 . Vigouroux (E.), Action of Silicon on Metals, 287 Villard (P.), Combination of Argon with Water, 432 Villari (Prof. Emile), Manner in which X-Rays Discharge Electrified Bodies, 287 ; Effect of Réntgen Rays on Electrified Bodies, 355; Deflection of X-Rays behind Opaque Bodies, 456 ; the Discharge cf Electrified Bodies by X-Rays, 488 ; the Discharge of Electrified Conductors by the X-Rays, Sparks and Silent Discharge, 639 Visibility of Solar Prominences, Prof. Hale, 185 Visual Aid in Oral Teaching of Deaf Mutes, T. Hawksley, 523 ; Keenig’s System of, A. Farrar, jun., 573 Vivisection : Observations on Isolated Nerves, 18; Return of Licensed Experiments in 1895, 352; Effects of Dividing one Inferior Peduncle of Cerebellum, Dr. J. S. R. Russell, 287 ; on the Physiological Effects of Peptone when injected into the Venous System, Prof. Thompson, 633; on the Effect of Peritonitis on Peristalsis, Dr. Grunbaum, 634; on the Nerves of the Intestine, Dr. J. L. Bunch, 634; on the Effect pro- duced upon the Eye Movements by the Destruction of the Ear, Dr. E. Stevenson, 635 Vogelfluges, Zur Mechanik des, Dr. Fr. Ahlborn, 25 Vogt (Carl), Dr. H. de Varigny, 386 Vogt (William), La Vie de Carl Vogt, Dr. H. de Varigny, 386 Wadsworth (Mr.), Objective Gratings, 256 Waggener (W. J.), Measurement of Flame-Temperatures by Thermo-Elements, 311 Wagner (Prof.), the Relief of the Earth’s Crust, 112 Wahl (A.), Messrs. A. G. Green and, on the Constitution of Sun Yellow or Curcumine and allied Colouring Matters, 584 Waite (Edgar R.), Zoological Publications, 196 Wales: Astronomical Society of Wales, 579 Walker (C. H. H.), a Brilliant Meteor, 271 Walker (W. J. D.), Fluorescence of Photographic Plates under Rontgen Rays, 62 Wallace (Dr. A. R.), Reclus’ proposed Gigantic Model of the Earth, 42 ; the Gorge of the Aar and its Teachings, 331 Waller (Prof.), Conditions which modify the Electrical Response of an Isolated Nerve to Stimulation, 634 Wallis (H. S.), British Rainfall of 1895, 390 Warburg (Prof. E.), Action of Light on Sparking Discharge, 120; Effect of Light on Spark Discharges, 544 Ward (H. Snowden), Practical Radiography, 245 Ward (R. de C.), Meteorological Kite-flying, 156 Ward (Thos. ), Halley’s Chart of Magnetic Declinations, 196 Warming (Dr. E.) Lehrbuch der Ukologischen Pflanzengeo- graphie, 458 Warren (T. H.), Position of Science at Oxford, 491 Warth (Dr. H.), a Solar Halo, 248 Wasps and Flies, 595; Prof. Meldola, 576; Wasps as Fly- catchers, R. M. Barrington, 549 Water: Koch’s Gelatine Process for the Examination of Drink- ing-Water, Frank Scudder, 52, 150; Prof. Percy F. Frank- land, F.R.S., 52 Water, the Surfusion of, J. Passy, 192 Water, Mr. W. N. Shaw on the Total Heat of, 567 Water Supply, W. P. Mason, 412 Water Supply of the City of New York, the, Edward Wegmann, 242 Waterhouse (Mr.), New Forest Oaks Stripped by Lepidopterous Larvee, 191 Watkin’s (Colonel) Photographic Method of Comparing Screw Gauges, 608 Watson (William), Elementary Practical Physics, 51 Watts (W. W.), Boring a Coral Reef at Funafuti, 201; on Ancient Rocks in Charnwood Forest, 585 Wave in Japan, the Great Tidal, 252 Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, Edward Step, 221 Weber (F. Parkes and Hermann), the Spas and Mineral Waters of Europe, 195 Wedding (Prof. H.), the Roasting of Iron and Steel Ores with a view to their Magnetic Concentration, 515 Weed and Pirsson’s (Messrs.) Interpretation in an Igneous Mass in the Highwood Mountains, Montana, Dr. Johnston-Lavis on, 587 Wenn (Edward), the Water Supply of the City of New York, 242 Weinck (Prof.), Lunar Photographs, 374 Weismann (August), Ueber Germinal-Selection; eine Quelle bestimmt gerichteter Variationen, Dr. F. A. Dixey, 121 Weismann’s (Dr.) New Experiments on Seasonal Dimorphism of Lepidoptera, 326 Weiss (Pierre), Non-isotropic Magnetisation of Crystallised Magnetite, 192 Welch (Prof. William H.), the Evolution of Modern Scientific Laboratories, 87 Welczynski (E. J.), the Solar Rotation, 579 Weldon (Prof. W. F. R., F.R.S.), an Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum, E. B. Wilson, E. Leaming, 733; the Utility of Specific Characters, 294, 413, 546; on the Ancestry of the Vertebrates, 606 Wells (H. G.), Human Evolution, an Artificial Process, 589 West Indian Cyclone, most Destructive on Record, 577 West Indian Islands, Prof. Hull on the Great Uplift of the, 586 West Indies, Foreign Snails in, C. W. Branch, 392 Westbrook (Prof.), on Febrile Reaction produced in Mice by Inoculation with certain Bacilli, 633 Westermaier (Dr. Max), Compendium of General Botany, 594 Wetterhan (Prof. David), Utility of Specific Characters, 342 Wettstein (Dr. R. Von), Monographie der Gattung Euphrasia, 169 | Whale, the Sperm, and its Food, Frank T. Bullen, 102 f Wheeler (W. H.), Report on Effects of Wind and Atmospheric Pressure on Tides, 608 Whetham (W. C. D.), Osmotic Pressure, 571 White (Alexander), Botanical Expedition into Nyika Plateau, 62 White (Dr. A. D.), the Warfare of Science with Theology, 570 Whitney (Prof. J. D.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 401 Wiedemann’s Annalen, 45, 189, 285, 311, 455, 544 : Wiedersheim (Prof. R.), the Structure of Man an Index to his Past History, 291 Wien (Willy), Emission Spectra of a Black Body, 455 ‘ Wiesner (Prof.), Measurements of Chemical Intensity of Light, 299 Wild Life of Scotland, J. H. Crawford, 268 Wildermann (Dr.), the Velocity of Reactions before Perfect Equilibrium takes place, 584 Willaume (V.), Meteorology of Copenhagen, 578 Willey (Dr. A.), Tidal Migrations of Limpets, 125; a Rare Variation in Shell of Prerocera lambzs, 240 ; Fossil Tridacnids, in the Solomon Islands, 523 ; P Williams (J. Li.), Fertilisation and Spore-Segmentation in Fucus, 286 Williams (Dr. R.), Birds profiting by Experience, 597 Williams (R. P.), Chemical Experim ents, General and Ana- lytical, 27 Williams (Walter), a Lunar Rainbow, 525 " : Williamson (S.), Ethereal Salts of Optically Active Malic and Lactic Acids, 47 : Williamson (Prof. W. C., F.R.S.), the Reminiscences of a XXXVI Index te upplement to Nature, December to, 1896 Yorkshire Naturalist, 169, 247; A. C. Williamson, 173; Dr. E. Frankland, F.R.S., 247 Wilson (Sir Charles), on the Geography of the Egyptian Sudan, 88 Wilson (E. B.), Cyanide Processes, T. K. Rose, 7; an Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum, E. Leaming, 7 Wirlock (W. C.), Death of, 549 Wirrall, on the Sea-Coast of, Mr. Morton, 587 Witchell (Charles A.), the Evolution of Bird-Song, 290 Wood (T. B.), Charas, 22 ; Cannabinol, the Active Principle of Indian Hemp, 94 Woodall (J. W.), on Dannevig’s Hatchery, 605 Woodd-Smith (B.), a Prognostic of Thunder, 151 Woodhead (Dr. Sims), on the Organisation of Bacteriological Research, 635 Woodward (C. J.), Crystallography for Beginners, 522 Woodward (Mr. H. B.), Notes on Sections.along the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffeld, and Lincolnshire Railway, 586 Woodward (M. F.), Dentition of certain Insectivores, 71 World’s Baby-Talk, the, Charles Johnston, 589 Worthington (Prof., F.R.S.), Instantaneous Photographs of Splashes, 37 Wool-Dyeing, W. M. Gardner, 571 Wright (Prof. A. W.), Experiments on Rontgen Rays, 66 Wright (Mabel Osgood), Birdcraft, 58 q Wright's (Prof. R. P.) Scotch Agricultural Experiments, 403 Wulp (F. M. Van der), Catalogue of the described Diptera from South Asia, 435 Flodevigen Salt-Water Yeast Cells, the alleged Development from Moulds of, Messrs. Klécker and Schiénning, 33 Yeasts, the Preservation of, Dr. Holm, 299 Yendell (Paul S.), the Variable Star Z-Herculis, 527 Yorkshire: Mr. Kendal on certain River Valleys in Yorkshire which have changed their direction in part since the Glacial Period, 586 Yorkshire Naturalist, the Reminiscences of a, Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., 169, 247; A. C. Williamson, 173; Dr. E. Frankland, F.R.S., 247 Younghusband (Captain Frank E.), the Heart of a Continent, 130 Zalinsky (Herr), the Electrical Conductivity of Methyl Alcohol Solutions, 632 Zeeman’s (Dr.) Measurements on Variation of Electrical Waves, 640 Zeiss (Carl), New Stereo-Telescopes, 37 Zermelo and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, Prof. Boltzmann, 106 Zoology : the Surinam Toads, 14; the Breeding of the Surinam Toad, A. D. Bartlett, 71 ; Additions to Zoological Gardens, 17, 35, 63, 84, 108, 137, 158, 185, 206, 231, 256, 277, 280, 300, 327, 354, 374, 403, 425, 448, 487, 519, 526, 550, 599, 632 ; Zoological Society, 23, 47, 70,94, 144, 215 ; Cwnolestes obscurus, Dr. St. G. Mivart, 41; Dentition of certain In- sectivores, Mr. F. Woodward, 71; a Linnean Society’s Gold Medal awarded to Prof. G. J. Allman, F.R.S., 81: Nutrition of Embryo in Scorpions, Malcolm Laurie, 167 ; Theoretical Explanations of Distribution of Southern Faunas, Captain F, W. Hutton, F.R.S., 168; Zoological Publications, Edgar R. Waite, 196; Prof. G. B. Howes, 196; Gesammelte Abhandlungen iiber Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen, Wilhelm Roux, 217; Voyage up Lower Amazon, E. E. Austen, 215; Pzdomorphism, Dr. Harrison Allen, 240; the Embryonic Vesicle of Tarsius Spectrum, Prof. Hubrecht, 240 ; Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, 241 ; La Vie de Carl Vogt, William Vogt, Dr. H. de Varigny, 386; Hybrid between Burchell’s Zebra and Mare, 402; the European Bison, Eugen Buchner, 484 ; Text-book of Zoology, Dr. J. E. V. Boas, 491 ; Geographical History of Mammals, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 457 ; Death of Dr. G. B. Goode, 517; Habits of Chameleons, A. A. Blakeston, 621; Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., 622 Zoth (O.), Transparency of Bodies for Réntgen Rays, 285 Zwaardemaker (Dr. H.), Die Physiologie des Geruchs, 75 ERRATUM P. 624, col. 2, 1. 13, for ** Magnitudes ” read ‘‘ Magnetism.” a Supplement to Nature, May 7th, 1896. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OE «SCIENCE. )- “To the solid ground ? Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WorDSWORTH. ’ . + THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1806. SCIENTIFIC: WORT ATES. XXIX.—SIR JOSEPH LISTER. HAVE responded with great pleasure to the honour- able request that I should give some sketch, for the | readers of NATURE, of Sir Joseph Lister's scientific eminence. As a confrdye I know him not merely from his prominent scientific renown, but also as a friend, and I too, like other German surgeons, have sought out the founder of modern surgery in his London hospital and, filled with gratitude, have laid my homage at his feet. Lister was many years ago in Leipzig, and I shall never ‘forget the féte we then organised in his honour. How we cheered him on that evening, professors and students, old and young! For was it not in Germany first, rather than in England, that his scientific works met with their earliest recognition and general appreciation ! was in his day a prophet, and proclaimed a new doctrine for the healing of wounds. And how often prophets fail to find in their own fatherland, especially m the early | micro-organisms the ’ Schizomycetes or» bacteria. wounds which first showed the way to the attainment of that healing “by first intention,” which had been a subject of discussion for centuries, and of that certain avoidance of traumatic infection of which’ the general nature was so well known. And now every day we note, | with joyful and grateful hearts, and with hitherto unknown feelings of innermost seeden: the splendid outcome of this the greatest acquisition of modern surgery. Lister did not create antiseptic surgery suddenly, or without means to his hand, for the path was already smoothed with invaluable scientific facts from the: domains of physiology, chemistry, botany, and general experimental * pathology. Schulze, Schwann, Helmholtz, ” Schroeder,” Dusch, and, above all, Pasteur had -proved: that all?fermentation® and putrefactions are due ‘to organised’ germs, to those’ ever-present This fact had at first recéived only scant’ attention, but in Lister | Lister’s hands its importance for the’ development of surgery was immense. He began his experiments’ on the _ treatment of wounds in the Glasgow ‘Infirmary, some- stages of their activity, the recognition they so well | deserve ! | parts affected. Lister’s immortal life-work is his antiseptic method of | operating and of treating wounds, and it constitutes the | greatest advance which surgery has ever made. It is true that operational technique had reached a previously undreamt of development after chloroform and ether had banished pain in 1846 and 1847. But the-surgery of those days wanted one thing more—certainty of a successful issue to its operations. Surgeons were still helpless in fighting the ever-present septicaemic in- fection of wounds, which snatched to the grave so many patients and injured sufferers. Were they but able to circumvent this deadly infection of the bodily fluids, the blood and the lymph, and could they but secure as a rule and not the exception the reactionless healing of wounds without inflammation and suppuration, then’ would surgery as an art be diverted into new channels, and strive for the goal of final perfection. It was exactly Lister’s antiseptic method of operating and treating NO. 1384; VOL. 54] whefe about the year 1864,’and characterised his method as “antiseptic,” since it was consciously and confidently aimed atthe avoidance of all putrefactive changes in the In his views as to the nature of traumatic infection, Lister took his stand on the basis of -those scientific facts regarding fermentation and* putréfaction which, as already stated, Had been™ “thoroughly estab- lished. He said’ to himself, “It is not-the’mere air as such that is antagonistic’ to, the process of ‘healing a wound, but ‘rather those organised germs which are so universally disseminated! in the world’atound us : bacteria are the cause of all inflanimation and’ ‘suppuration, and hence of’ sépticeemia.” ‘In -this persuasion he directly attacked the problem of how not only to exclude bacteria from entering a wound, but also to destroy by dis- infectants those already present, and to stay their further development. Lister selected carbolic acid as a dis- infectant. Now it is true that even before his time various antiseptics, and among these carbolic acid, had been employed in bandaging ; but to Lister alone is due the unending merit of methodically and confidently work- ing out the detailed technique of antiseptic operating ; 7 B 2 NATURE [May 7, 1896 and bandaging. Like many a new invention, Lister’s was also at first incomplete, and was attacked from many sides, partly as to the principles on which it was based, and partly on the grounds of the somewhat complicated manipulations it involved. But, firmly persuaded of the correctness of his theoretical views, he went on steadily developing the details of his antiseptic methods, at first in Glasgow, and later in Edinburgh and London. He endeavoured to prevent the entrance of bacteria by careful disinfection of every object which comes into direct or indirect contact with the wound, more especially of the operational area on the patient, of the hands of the surgeon and his assistants, of the instruments, sponges and absorbents. To the same end he intro- duced the use of carbolic “spray” during the operation itself and each subsequent change of dressings, and by his ingeniously devised carbolised gauze protected the wounds from further infection. Injuries or wounds already infected were methodically disinfected by 2°5 to 5°0 per cent. solution of carbolic acid. Lister’s typical dress- ing, as it first came into more general use, was applied as follows. A layer of waterproof silk, the “protective,” was placed over the wound to shield it from the direct action of the irritant substances (carbolic acid, paraffin) in the antiseptic dressing materials ; over this came some eight or more layers of carbolised gauze or muslin, and between the outer two of these a sheet of gutta-percha tissue. The whole was then securely bound round with carbolised gauze so as to effect as far as possible an air- tight enclosure of the wound. This Listerian bandage, as it soon came to be called, was both applied and changed under a continuous carbolic spray. The results which followed the application of Lister's methods, as used not only for operational but accidental injuries, were at that time—1873 to 1875—-simply astound- ing. We read with the deepest satisfaction the surgical reports of those early days of the more general employ- ment of Lister’s antiseptic devices, and find them inspired with proud feelings as of a mighty victory finally won after prolonged and grievous defeats. No such curative results had ever been attained up to that time. In the self-same hospitals in which till then septiceemic in- fection had kept the upper hand, the best results were henceforth obtained, and the once-dreaded wound-fevers became more and more a rarity. Operations were now successful which had previously been nearly always fatal. The ever-advancing scientific investiga- tions of traumatic septicemia, more particularly as carried on by Koch and his pupils, and dealing with its origin and nature from the point of view of the deleterious action of bacteria, gave more and more a sound scientific basis for Lister’s antiseptic method and removed all doubts as to the correctness of his views. Most convincing proof of the part played by the bacteria was provided by the inoculation of animals with pure cultures of these various organisms ; and it was exactly and solely these experiments that proved the all-important fact that in reality all the troubles and dangers which threaten a wound, and hence the life of a patient, are determined by the deadly action of bacteria. This is the fact on which modern surgical methods are based. And in the face of this, people are still found who contest the utility of experiments on animals! It would be well if NO. 1384, VOL. 54] the opponents of vivisection could correctly picture to themselves the blessings for which the human race has to thank Lister’s antiseptic method, and their relation to animal experiment. Did they but realise how many human lives are now saved in comparison with the past, surely they would be compelled to admit the use of vivi- section. And, in the future also, scientific medicine imperatively demands experiments on animals for its investigations in the interest of mankind. When once surgeons had learnt complete mastery of Listerian method, the results they obtained were pro- gressively better. With the help of antiseptic precautions they succeeded in operations on which they would pre- viously have never dared to venture. With these splendid results before their eyes, even those scattered opponents of the system who had at its inception raised their voice against it became silent, for they could no longer blind themselves to the conviction that a new and brilliant era was opening up for surgery. After Lister's antiseptic method had become the common property of all surgeons, it was progressively improved and simplified, more especially in Germany. One of the most important facts for its further develop- ment was the proof that wound infections are chiefly due solely to actual contact with already infected objects, and that any infection by the entry of microbes from the neighbouring air rarely, if ever, occurs. Moreover, it was shown with inereasing certainty of proof that under normal conditions the blood, lymph and tissues of healthy animals are free from bacteria. Upon these important facts the eonclusion was based that it is unnecessary to disinfect a fresh and uninfected wound, such as a surgical incision, so long as every object which comes into direct or indirect contact with the wound is truly and perfectly sterilised or aseptic in accordance. with Listerian requirements. Hence nowadays operations are performed with almost painfully precise sterilisation of every object or instrument employed, as Lister first taught us to do, while at the same time we limit as far as possible the action of irritant antiseptics, such as carbolic acid, and even advantageously use none at all, operating with as little fluid as possible. So far as it may be necessary the fluid now employed is a sterilised solution of common salt, or else sterilised water. In the place, then, of carrying out our operations under the former strictly antiseptic precautions, we now operate aseptically. But the fundamental idea on which Lister’s antiseptic method was based has remained unchanged, and will always be the same. We deal with it in internal opera- tions merely in a slightly different way, in so far as we omit the disinfection of wounds with such substances as carbolic acid or corrosive sublimate, regarding their action as unnecessary or even injurious. But all our precautions against traumatic infection are taken with the most minute care. The operational area on the patient is carefully disinfected in accordance with Lister’s instructions, and is surrounded with aseptic linen com- presses sterilised in steam at 100~-130° C. We employ exact and definite methods to free our hands from microbes, and the instruments are sterilised by boiling in I per cent. solution of sodium carbonate. All bandages and the outer garments we wear are made aseptic by prolonged exposure to steam at 100°-130° C. in a specially May 7, 1896] constructed apparatus ; and so, also, in respect of all else. Steam thus provides us nowadays with non-irritant _ bandaging materials free from germs with even greater certainty than did their earlier impregnation with anti- septic substances, for bacteria may always be found after _the lapse of time in dry bandages which have been dipped in either carbolic acid or corrosive sublimate. Instead of sponges we now use muslin absorbents sterilised by steam, and these, like every other fragment _of bandaging material, are burnt after being used but once. In short, the technique of modern surgery is based on Lister's method, and takes for its watchword “asepsis without the use of antiseptics.” Antisepsis has given place to asepsis, but the latter is just as surely based on the ground first broken by Lister. The results of operations carried out under aseptic precautions are magnificent. Surgery now celebrates its greatest triumphs in dealing with the skull and cranial cavity, with the brain, spinal column and spinal canal, _with the thoracic and abdominal viscera, with bones and joints, with tendons and nerves. For accidental injuries, or wounds which are already infected, the older anti- septics are still employed, although we know that the complete disinfection of a festering wound is most difficult, nay almost impossible, for we cannot sufficiently reach the microbes lurking in the substance of the tissues. What we chiefly look to in this case is the efficient removal of the purulent secretion from the wound, securing this by free incisions and drainage. Sir Joseph Lister must indeed experience a glorious feeling of deepest satisfaction when he surveys the labours of his life. His work is accomplished and brought to an incomparable conclusion. He has con- quered and attained his object. When we but compare the surgery of thirty years ago, before Lister appeared on the scene, with that of to-day, what a change we see ! We can scarcely carry ourselves back in imagination to the pre-antiseptic days of surgery, but each one who has known the older state of things from personal ex- perience, cannot fail to realise with fuller understanding and livelier joy how great a blessing Lister is to suffering humanity. Formerly the healing of injuries or wounds after an operation lay by no means certainly in the hands of the surgeon. In many hospitals the conditions which existed before the advent of Lister were simply incredible. Innumerable victims were snatched away to death by traumatic infections. And how do things stand now? To-day, thanks to Lister, we can heal the most grievous injuries and carry out the most difficult operations with- out inflammation, suppuration, or fever. We have now a firmly grounded confidence in our surgical art, and our patients, too, trust to the capabilities of modern surgery, for they know that we can heal the wounds we make. The possibility now afforded by Listerian method of preserving and giving back health and life to our patients has led to the growth among the surgeons of every nation of a pride in their professional activities, which finds its expression in the form of active theoretical and practical work. Science and art are international. The doctors of all nations are fighting shoulder to shoulder for the welfare of suffering humanity, and we Germans recognise without a suspicion of jealousy that the sun of modern surgery first rose in the person of Sir Joseph Lister and in NO. 1384, VOL. 5 4] NATURE 3 England. The word surgery in its origin signifies a handicraft ; but that which was thus manual at first has become an art and a science which has, thanks above all to Lister, raised itself with impetuous and surprising speed in the last twenty years to a previously unknown height of development. Modern surgery no longer stops short at the exterior, but has gone even deeper, and now includes within the sphere of its activity every organ of the human body without exception. And for this man- kind is indebted in the first place to Sir Joseph Lister. As far as there is an earthly immortality it must be his, for as long as ever surgery is scientifically discussed his name cannot fail to be mentioned. H. TILLMANNS. Sir Joseph Lister is not, as has been often stated, a Scotchman. He was born at Upton, in Essex, which was then a pretty suburban village, though it has long since been completely swallowed up in the metropolis, and here the greater part of his early life was spent. His father, Joseph Jackson Lister, was a man of rare ability, who devoted the intervals of business to scientific pursuits. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and is best known for his work on the improvement of the microscope, which is embodied in a paper inthe Phzlosophical Trans- actions for 1831, “On some Properties in Achromatic Object-glasses applicable to the Microscope.” Other papers of his appeared in the PA/losophical Transactions, one of which was written in conjunction with the well- known Dr. Hodgkin, who belonged, like him, to the Society of Friends. They were the first to describe the tendency of the red corpuscles of the blood to arrange themselves in rouleaux. Sir Joseph Lister was thus early imbued with scientific tastes, and learned by example, if he did not inherit by descent, the habit of accurate observation and relentless logic ; in short, that capacity for taking pains which has been in a special manner the characteristic feature of his genius. He was educated at a private Quaker school at Tottenham, which numbered amongst its pupils at about the same time the late Mr. William Edward Forster and Dr. Wilson Fox ; and afterwards he became a student at University College, London, from which he graduated B.A. at the University of London in 1847. He then entered upon his medical studies at University College, and here he came under the influence of Sharpey, which possibly had something to do with turning his attention, in the first place, to the study of physiology. His first publications appeared in the year 1853, whilst he was still a student, “On the Muscular Tissue of the Skin ” and, “ On the Contractile Tissue of the Iris.” He began his surgical studies just at the close of the career of Liston, one of the last of the brilliant and rapid operators of the last generation ; and he was one of the first house surgeons to Mr.—now Sir John—Erichsen. After a very distinguished career at the hospital and the University, where he graduated M.B. in 1852, he went to Edinburgh, to see the surgical practice there. Here he was closely associated with, and soon became deeply attached to the late Prof. Syme, whose daughter he subse- quently married. At first he was Mr. Syme’s house surgeon, but before long he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, and Extra-Academical Lecturer on 4 Surgery, in which capacity he soon attracted to himself a devoted band of admirers. Whilst in Edinburgh he not only published notes of Mr. Syme’s cases, but continued to pursue his physiological and pathological researches. Between 1857 and 1860 several papers appeared on a variety of kindred matters, of which the most important are those dealing with the subject of inflammation and that of coagulation of the blood. In 1857 his paper “ On the Early Stages of Inflammation” was read before the Royal Society, preceded by two others, one being “An Inquiry regarding the Parts of the Nervous System which regulate the Contractions of the Arteries,” and the other “On the Cutaneous Pigmentary System of the Frog.” This work remains up to the present time one of the most important contributions to the subject. Various observations on the coagulation of the blood, a much- debated matter at that time, culminated in the Croonian Lecture of 1862, which excited great interest, upsetting as it did most of the accepted notions, and forming the groundwork of much of our modern teaching on the sub- ject. In 1860 Lister was appointed Regius Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow, and it was there, surrounded by the typical surgery of the old 7égzme, and shocked by the prevalence and fatality of the so-called hospital diseases, that his work in connection with anti- septic surgery was begun. Those, however, who have studied his various writings will not fail to observe how his physiological observations were the precursors of his pathological studies, and these again, as he traced first the appearances and then the causes of inflammation, led on step by step to the association in his mind of the in- flammation occurring in open wounds with the action of micro-organisms introduced from without, and so to the crowning performance by which his name will be princi- pally handed down to posterity. He always acknowledged the influence of Pasteur’s work on the evolution of his ideas, as has been pointed out by Prof. Tillmanns. His writings since that time have been chiefly devoted to one branch or another of the subject of the germ theory of disease. They consist of articles scattered about amongst various periodicals, so that it would be a difficult matter to produce a complete list of them. Some are elaborate investigations into the processes of fermentation and the life-history of certain micro-organisms, most of which were carried out before the introduction of the plan of cultivating these low forms of life upon solid media, and therefore involved far greater difficulties than are met with at the present day; others are treatises on the bearing of bacteriology upon surgical treatment. The controversy which was raised on the first pro- mulgation of his views was very warm, and it took a strangely long time before their acceptance in this country was by any means general. To many educated under the old system, it seemed hard to appreciate, first that there was anything new in the antiseptic system at all, and secondly that the modifications of the details of the treatment in the course of its evolution, did not imply a recession from the principles upon which it was founded. It was a stumbling-block to some that, as knowledge advanced, and as it became recognised that the atmosphere was not, as it had been at first supposed, charged with innumerable particles bearing the germs of putrefaction—the details of the treatment NO. 1384, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 7, 1896 became simpler. By an unlucky chance, the term “spray-and-gauze-treatment” had by some been substi- tuted for the “antiseptic treatment” ; and when our German confréres started the watchword “fort mit dem spray,” and it was enthusiastically taken up here, it was assumed that Lister had shifted his ground. The assumption was, it need not be said, absolutely without foundation. ‘The earliest antiseptic dressings were much more cumbrous than those mentioned by Prof. Tillmanns. The first attempts consisted in making an antiseptic crust of blood and pure carbolic acid which was pro- tected by a sheet of block tin, then followed the use of — carbolic acid and oil, and then that of a layer of putty made with carbolic acid ; after this came a plaister made of shellac and carbolic acid, and all these preceded the carbolic acid gauze, whilst the use of the spray was for a long time unknown. Lister was always aiming at simplifying the details of the treatment ; none regretted more than he did its complications, and no one rejoiced — more than he, when he found that he could give up the use of the spray with a clear conscience. His idea, in fact, has always been to make an external wound behave as much like a subcutaneous injury as possible by the simplest practicable means. The antiseptic system was fairly launched about 1867, and in the year 1869 Lister was appointed successor to his father-in-law in the chair of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh ; and here he continued the elaboration of his system, lecturing to large and enthusiastic classes, numerically much greater than any which can be met with in London, whilst his clinique acquired a world- wide reputation. In 1877, on the death of Sir William Ferguson, he was appointed Professor of Clinical Surgery at King’s College, London, a position which he held till three years ago. No reference has hitherto been made to the many improvements and modifications in surgical practice with which the name of Lister is associated ; but though they may not be of much interest to the general reader, it would not be right to pass them over altogether. Long before Esmarch introduced his method of blood- less operation on the limbs, Lister was in the habit of obtaining the same result in a less objectionable way, by simply elevating the limb, which, as he has shown, empties itself not merely mechanically, but by means of an active contraction of the arteries consequent upon the altered position. He also was the inventor of a tourni- quet for compressing the abdominal aorta, thus diminish- ing haemorrhage in operations in the neighbourhood of the hip-joint. He has introduced several new operations to the profession, notably an amputation which bears his name, and an operation for excision of the wrist, which, although it is now almost superseded, was for a long time looked-upon as the orthodox method of treatment. He was the first to undertake osteotomy for the purpose of rectifying deformity of the limbs, and the first to advo- cate a more complete method of operating on cancer of the breast, than had been practised by his predecessors. Another advance associated with his name is that of treating fractures of the patella and other bones com- municating with joints, by means of open incisions and wiring, a procedure which, before the introduction of May 7, 1896] NATURE 5 antiseptic surgery, would have -been obviously unjusti- fiable. We have hitherto dwelt chiefly upon his scientific work, but such facts as those just mentioned serve to show how largely he has devoted himself to, and how much he has advanced, the practical side of his profession. It seems almost unnecessary to refer to a list of his honours, which is a very long one, including that of LL.D. Edinburgh, 1878, Hon. M.D. Dublin, 1879, LL.D. Glasgow, 1879, D.C.L. Oxon, and LL.D. Cambridge, 1880. He is Surgeon-Extraordinary to the Queen, and Knight of the Prussian order, “ Pour le Mérite,” Knight Commander of the First Class Order of the Danebrog, and honorary member of foreign learned societies without number. He was created a baronet in 1883, and last year succeeded Lord Kelvin as President of the Royal Society. It would be more to the point if one could suitably describe the estimation in which he is held by the civilised world, and the enthusiasm he has always inspired amongst those who have come under his immediate personal influence. AN EXPEDITION TO RUWENZORI. A Naturalist in Mid-Africa; being an Account of a Tourney to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika. By G. F. E. Scott Elliot, M.A., F.L.S., F.R.G.S. 8vo. Pp. xvi + 413, with 50 illustrations and 4 maps. (London: A. D. Innes and Co., 1896.) ie 1862 Baron von der Decken discovered on Kilima Njaro a number of plants which are quite different from those of the surrounding country, and are allied to those of the mountains of Abyssinia and the Cameroons, and of the lowlands of the Mediterranean and the Cape. The collections made by the late Joseph Thomson on the lower slopes of the same mountain and on the plateau of Masai-land proved the complex nature of the East African flora, and enabled Sir Joseph Hooker, in a paper which is one of the classics of African literature, to suggest the sources whence its constituents were derived. The interest thus aroused in the geographical affinities of this flora subsequently sent Sir H. H. Johnston and a host of German botanists to undertake detailed work in Kilima Njaro. Still more recently it inspired Mr. Scott Elliot to undertake his adventurous journey to Ruwenzori ; for he tells us in his opening page, that the object of his expedition was “to solve the question of botanical areas which on this side of Africa had often puzzled me.” Mr. Scott Elliot left Mombasa in November 1893, and began his march into the interior along theytrack known as the ** Uganda road.” His men had been chosen for him by the agents of the British East Africa Company, and the selection does not appear to have been a good one. Mr. Scott Elliott had to dismiss his head man, the terms of whose engagement were at least remarkable ; and his opinion of Zanzibari (or “ Suahili,” as he generally calls them) appears to have been permanently affected by the unsatisfactory character of his men. The narra- tive takes us rapidly across the country of the Wakamba to that of the Masai, in which the author had the mis- fortune to lose all his donkeys and their loads. He pressed on to Kavirondo, and thence along the northern NO. 1384, VOL. 54] shores of the Victoria Nyanza to Uganda. The direc route on to Ruwenzori was unsafe, as Kabbarega the king of Unyoro, was then at war with the British authorities. Anxious to avoid interference from this chief, whom he describes as one of the “ruffians of the sort who always obtain the sympathy of Mr, Labouchere,” Mr. Scott Elliot kept southward along the western shore of the Nyanza. Having reached the Kagera River, he followed up this, and crossed Ankole to the southern end of Ruwenzori. This was the main goal of the expedition, and Mr. Scott Elliot spent four months exploring and collecting on the flanks of this snow-capped range. He made several attempts to reach the snow-line, but the nature of the work and illness prevented him. His account of mountaineering in Central Africa is not inviting. “Tt was an awful ascent. Sometimes over deep moss, where jagged root-ends of heather seemed to spring out and stab ankles and knees at every step; sometimes through a dense wood of gnarled and twisted heather- trees, fifteen to twenty feet high, and covered with grey lichens, then down a steep little ravine and dense jungle ; and things soon became very hopeless. Everything was shrouded in a cold chilling mist, and first one man and then another became knocked up, until at about Io a.m. I was left alone. I went on by myself till2 p.m. The effect of mountain sickness was most trying ; I could not walk more than fifty yards without stopping to get breath, and by 2 p.m. I was utterly exhausted, and with- out food or anything to sleep in. This was at about 12,500 feet.” The level at which the author suffered from mountain sickness was unusually low ; but it can be easily explained as due to the effects of malarial fever, which renders men liable to attacks of this malady, at elevations at which they would otherwise be safe. Two of the men who took part in this excursion never recovered from it, and next time Mr. Scott Elliot tried the ascent, he went alone. He succeeded in reaching the height of 13,000 feet, after a weary struggle with rain, and cold and fever. Climbing over some half- buried boulders, he fell and nearly broke his leg ; after this, numbed with cold, and shivering with fever, he crawled back to the point where he had left his blanket- bag, when fireless and foodless in the drenching rain, the night passed as “a sort of horrible dream.” Though Mr. Scott Elliot did not reach the summit of Ruwenzori, he reached the Alpine meadows below the snow-line, and this for his purpose was far more important. From Ruwenzori he returned to the Kagera River at the point where he had left it, and followed it southward through Karagwe, of Speke’s description of which Mr. Scott Elliot speaks most highly. He crossed Urundi to the northern end of Tanganyika ; he journeyed down the lake by dhow, marched along the Stevenson road to Lake Nyasa, and then returned home by the Zambesi. Mr. Scott Elliot’s book consists of twenty chapters, which may be divided into two groups. The larger of these is devoted to the narrative of the expedition. This gives a most interesting record of a brilliant piece of pioneer exploration, which was carefully planned, was pluckily carried out in spite of exceptional discourage- ments, and is described with much charm of style and 6 NATURE {May 7, 1896 many touches of dry humour. This part of the work is of high value, as the notes on the country, the sketches of the life of the people, and the account of the incidents of the march, enable one to form a clear and true idea of the present condition of British East Africa. The second group of chapters (Nos. x., xi., xii., xvill. and xx.) are devoted to the discussion of general topics. These, taken in order of length, and beginning with the longest, deal with transport, meteorology and climate, outfit, botany and geology. The great length at which transport is treated, and the brevity of the chapter on botany, remind us of the main disappointment of the book. It is entitled “A Naturalist in Mid-Africa”; but, unfortunately, there is in it more about politics than about nature. The author is the only botanical expert who has travelled in British East Africa since Hildebrandt’s journey to Ukamba, in 1877, and hence results of the highest importance might be expected from his labours. The chapter on botany is devoted to an attempt to explain the present distribution of the Africa floras. He assumes first, that in Miocene times a sea stretched “across the whole of the desert country which now ex- tends from Beluchistan to the Atlantic, between Morocco and Senegal.” But it is practically certain :that no such sea has existed since at least Palaeozoic times. The second assumption is a use of Kérners thermal constants, to which the author appeals to prohibit the movement of plants along certain directions, and to produce variation by a factor which is almost the same as Romanes’ physiological selection. He tells us that in the Victoria Nyanza region, “the rainy season is from October to April. It follows from this that the plants there could not have come from the Congo area, for their climate is a very wet one, and their rainy season is from April to October.” If we are not always converted to Mr. Scott Elliot’s theories, we always enjoy his sketches of wild life and of nature. He is seen at his best as an observer. The spirit of the true naturalist comes out in his sketches of life in the woods and on the hillside ; and some of his observations, such as on the original limits of the Victoria Nyanza and on the shapes of the valleys of the upper streams of the Nile basin, are of great interest and value. He is always happier when speaking of plants and describing the habits of animals, than when dealing with men. Mr. Scott Elliot takes things sadly, and his quiet humour brings into relief the spirit of sadness that per- vades the book. He draws a dismal picture of the con- ditions of life with a small expedition in Equatorial Africa; and then remarks that on his return people always asked him, “Did you enjoy yourself?” He appears to have been ill-used during his expedition by the officials of both the British East Africa Company and of the German territories. He repeatedly complains that naturalists at home are very inconsiderate of the diffi- culties of collectors. He grieves that his meteorological notes are of little service, for, as usual, “in the interval between my departure and return, quite new instruments and observations were found to be absolutely essential.” In his dedication he describes his book as the ‘result of a most inconvenient love of botany.” In his preface he regrets that he cannot use the map of Ruwenzori pre- pared from his materials by the Geographical Society, NO. 1384, VOL. 54] iis more recognised authority than myself.” He deplores that “insects are usually collected by travellers, but it is difficult to obtain any information about them in this country.” Mr. Scott Elliot’s complaint appears to be that the collections of English travellers are not described as thoroughly or as well as those of Germans, and that in consequence there is little inducement to Englishmen to undertake scientific exploration. There are so few men willing to run the risks and spend their money in this work, that we greatly hope that Mr. Scott Elliot’s complaints are not to be taken as proof of a widespread evil. British naturalists have exceptional opportunities for obtaining rich harvests of material from abroad ; but owing to the neglect of systematic zoology and botany in our educational centres, the number of trained labourers who can work at them is far too few. The loss to science is no doubt very serious ; but as it is impossible for a single collector to collect everything, a traveller can protect himself by devoting his attention to groups in which he knows that his materials will not be wasted. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. Analytical Chemistry. By N. Menschutkin. Translated from the third German edition by James Locke. Pp. xii + 512. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1895.) HERE is, perhaps, hardly any branch of chemistry so overstocked with text-books as that of analysis. In the work before us, however, the subject is presented -in such a clear and original manner, that it can hardly fail to become as popular in this country as in Germany, where it has already reached a third edition. In the preface the author states that although general and analytical chemistry are usually commenced together, - yet, in his opinion, the study of the former should always precede that of the latter, the best order of attack being general, analytical, organic, and finally physical chemistry. In view of the difference of opinion in this country as to the best lines to follow in the elementary teaching of chemistry, the following remarks of Prof. Menschutkin are of sufficient interest to quote in full. “The student cannot rightly turn to analytical chemistry until he has obtained a thorough preparation in the general science ; and his knowledge of the latter is measured, not by the number of single and isolated facts with which he is familiar, but by the clearness with which he understands the fundamental chemical phe- nomena and theories. For these reasons I strongly advise the beginner not to devote himself too quickly to analytical chemistry, and my advice is justified by the character which its study must assume if it is to be of value.” Rather more than half of the book deals with qualitative analysis. The metals are grouped, as usual, according to the properties and modes of formation of their sul- phides. Under the heading “ General reactions,” the corresponding compounds of all the methods of a group are given, and then, as “ Special reactions,” follow the properties of the chief compounds of each element used in analysis. Especial stress is laid upon the fact that every analytical reaction depends upon definite con- ditions, which must be known and fulfilled for the suc-- as several inaccuracies were retained in deference to a May 7, 1896] cessful performance of any given separation. The analysis of these conditions is one of the most admirable features of the book, complete explanations being given in all cases where the theory of the reactions is known (as in the separation of nickel and cobalt) ; conditions found to be necessary by experience, for which no theoretical reason can be given, are definitely stated to be empirical. One point emphasised here, to which no reference is made in our current text-books, has reference to the composition of the metallic sulphides obtained in the wet way. It is pointed out that the anhydrous sulphides as obtained in quantitative analysis differ considerably in their proper- ties (colour, rate of oxidation) from the precipitates obtained in the ordinary course of qualitative work, and these differences of behaviour correspond to differences in composition, Thus the precipitates obtained with hydrogen and ammonium sulphides are in many cases hydrated sulphides (R(SH)(OH) rather than RS). The anhydrous sulphides are occasionally formed in solution, and might give rise to confusion in certain cases. Thus, whilst the ordinary hydrated sulphide of manganese is yellow or flesh-coloured, in presence of an excess of ammonia and ammonium sulphide a green precipitate of anhydrous manganous sulphide is sometimes formed, especially from hot solutions. Again, the black precipitate obtained by treating cupric solutions with hydrogen sulphide is CuyS,, and not CuS, as usually stated, the latter substance, according to Prof. Menschutkin, being unknown. The analytical properties of the rarer metals are briefly treated in separate chapters. It would have added much to the scientific value of the book if this artificial distinc- tion between ordinary and so-called “rare” metals could have been dispensed with. The present stereotyped mode of treatment is the chief cause of the want of knowledge by the average student of the properties and reactions of metals such as gold, platinum, cerium, uranium, and others that can only be conventionally con- sidered as “rare.” The second half of the book deals with quantitative analysis. The descriptions are concise and the methods well chosen, but are hardly sufficiently detailed for the beginner. OUR BOOK SHELF. Grundriss der Krystallographie fiir Studirende und zum Selbstunterricht. By Gottlob Linck. Pp. vi-+ 252, 482 figures, and 2 plates. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1896.) TH1s book makes no pretence at supplanting such well- known works as those of Groth and Liebisch, but is intended for the less advanced student, and more especially for the chemist, to whom the necessity of some knowledge of crystallography is becoming increas- ingly felt. Except in one important particular, little attempt is made to break away from old methods of treatment. The thirty-two classes of symmetry are not treated as independent, but crystal symmetry is distri- buted in the usual way into the six systems, and under each system are described the holohedral, hemihedral and tetartohedral forms. Both the Naumann and the Millerian symbols for the faces are used, but greater prominence is given to the former. An important innovation, however, is made in the chapter on the optical characters of crystals. Here, we NO. 1384, VOL. 54] NATURE 7 are glad to see, the author has followed the example of Prof. Groth and adopted the purely geometrical treat- ment involving the use of the ‘Optical Indicatrix,” as devised by Mr. Fletcher. The book is fairly evenly divided between the two sections dealing respectively with the geometrical and the physical characters of crystals, about a hundred pages being devoted to each. As it is not written for the advanced student, the subject of the calculation and graphic representation of crystals is not touched upon. The book appears to be well adapted to the purpose for which it is intended. Giiae: Cyanide Processes. By E. B. Wilson, E.M. Pp. 116 (New York: John Wiley and Sons. London: Chap- man and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) IT is difficult to say with what object this little book has been written, and so it would perhaps be rash to assert that its object has not been attained. It is, at any rate, to be regretted that -Mr. Wilson’s work ever saw the light, as it is distinctly inferior to each of the half-dozen accounts which have already appeared of the cyanide process for the extraction of gold from its ores, and can only mislead and confuse those who expect to learn something from it. It is evident, from his own statements in the preface and elsewhere, that the author has derived much of his acquaintance with the subject from Patent Office literature, although he also claims to have read extracts from technical journals and other periodicals. He has not touched on mechanical details, but has con- fined himself to expounding the chemical principles of the process, which he appears to understand very imper- fectly. The book is full of mistakes, such, for example, as that “the standard solution of cyanide contains from o°5 to 1°5 per cent.,” and that mercury oxidises quickly in the air at ordinary temperatures. On p. 74 It is stated that “the gold positive dissolves to the cyanide solution negative, with the result that the gold cyanide solution is positive. .. . Whether this electrolyte becomes con- verted into an electrode by absorbing the gold we are unable to say, but when they become ‘cations’ the gold is in the metallic state and the potassium cyanide is im- mediately set free.” The book is well supplied with such statements as this. T. K. ROSE. The Treatment of Phthisis. By Dr. Arthur Ransome, M.A., F.R.S. Pp. viii +237. (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1896.) MeEpIcAL men will be grateful for this treatise on the treatment of phthisical patients. The first part of the work comprises a general statement on the etiology pathology of phthisis, and the limits of infection; while the second part deals with the special and medicinal treatment of the malady. The contents are largely con- fined to descriptions of methods of treatment which have been personally used by the author, and results which have come under his own experience ; but they, neverthe- less, constitute a broad account of the nature and means of combating phthisis, and one which will give physicians brighter views as to the possibility of cure in the disease. A Text-book of Applied Mechanics. Vol.1. By Alexander Jamieson, M.I.C.E., Professor of Electric Engineering in the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical Col- lege, &c. Pp. 416. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 1895.) chee auenee of Rankine is apparent here; the ground covered is much the same as in Rankine’s “ Applied Mechanics,” but the treatment is more elementary, and the illustrative exercises and diagrams of a modern character. If our writers of elementary school books on Mechanics, all copied from each other and almost exactly alike, could be persuaded to lift their eyes from their own pages and look elsewhere for novelty and reality, they would derive some profit from a treatise such as this. G. NATURE | May 7, 1896 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible Jor opinions ex- | pressed by his correspondents ? to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. } A Biological Application of Réntgen Photography. THE accompanying Rontgen radiograph of Astrospecten wrregu- aris was made in the physical department of this college, for a popular lecture on the new photography given by Prof. H. Stroud. Tt will be seen that not only are the ossicles of the oral surface fairly successfully shown through the thickness of the body and arms, markedly the first of the series of adambulacra, but cer- tain striking and unlooked-for objects appear as well. On. dis- section the dark conical body to the right proves to be a Jarge piece of the shell of Dentalium lying in one of the cxca of that arm. The oval bodies, one in each of the ceca of the opposite arm, are masses of sand and indigestible material enclosed in the | thinned shells of molluscan victims. These are made by the action of the cilia, and form a convenient way of getting rid of the useless matter by way of mouth. The minute anus, indeed, Astropecten irregularts. is quite inadequate, and is doubtless used more for fluid than solid evacuation. ‘The madreporite plate and stone canal are seen in the inter-radius below and between the bodies referred to; and the position of the stone canal was in fact guide in determining their position. The darkish mass in the ceecum to the left of the stone canal consists mainly of broken and whole shells of young Cardia. The stomach was filled with a whole common mussel (JZy¢z/us edu/zs), minus the shell, and this is quite transparent. The paxillze will be seen to occur as dots all over the body and arms. A block of wood, which was laid over part of the star-fish, has evidently only made a part of the picture lighter. A radiograph of So/aster papposus, with the young Cribella, is enclosed for comparison, Though interesting also in regard to the skeletal parts shown, there is nothing calling for further note here, and they were not dissected. NO. 1384, VOL. 54] Neither can he undertake | the | All three were spirit specimens, and were got at St. Andrews some years ago. ALEXANDER MEEK. Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, April 25. Barisal Guns. In the correspondence on this subject I have not noticed any reference to the noises said to be heard in the mountains of the peninsula of Sinai. In his ‘Sinai and Palestine” (ed. 1868, pp- 13-14), the late Dean Stanley refers to ‘‘the mysterious noises which have from time to time been heard on the summit of Jebel Musa, in the neighbourhood of Um Shaumer, and in the mountain of Nakus or the Bell, so called from the legend that the sounds proceed from the bells of a convent enclosed within the mountain. In this last instance the sound is sup- posed to originate in the rush of sound down the mountain side. . . . In the case of Jebel Musa, where it is said that the monks had originally settled on the highest peak, but were by these strange noises driven down to their present seat in the valley, and in the case of Um Shaumer, where it was described to Burckhardt as like the sound of artillery, the precise cause has never been ascertained.” Burckhardt (‘‘ Travels in Syria and the Holy Land,” 1822, p- 591) refers to these noises and says: ‘* The wind and weather are not believed to have any effect upon the sound.” Failand, April 30. Epw. Fry. The New Education Bill and Libraries, Museums, and Art Galleries. REFERRING to the letter by ‘‘C.” in NATURE for April 23, p- 580, I would urge the importance of his suggestion, but would go further and suggest that all institutions in England and Wales supported out of a rate raised under the Public Libraries Acts or the Museums and Gymnasiums Act, should be put under the management and control of the same local authority as may be appointed for elementary, technical and secondary education. The management of educational institutions cannot be unified so long as such essentially educational work as that done in public libraries, museums, and art galleries does not come under the purview of the local education authority. There should, of course, be conditions inserted in any Bill having the object suggested to secure the expenditure of the rates received under the special Acts referred to, on the support of libraries, museums, art galleries and gymnasiums. At present the Public Libraries Acts may be adopted and a rate levied, not one penny of which goes to the support of a library or museum. A certain Lancashire local authority applies the rate for purposes which would have been equally covered by the adoption of the Technical Instruction Acts. On the other hand, some public libraries and museums obtain subsidies out of the funds received by corporations under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, though usually on condition that | strictly educational books or objects are purchased out of the grants given. I hope this subject will receive due consideration from such parliamentary advocates of scientific education as Sir John Lubbock and the members who act with him. In conclusion, may I refer all who are interested in this sub- ject to a paper entitled ‘‘ The Relationship of the Public Library Committee to other Educational Bodies,” published in the Library (vol. vii. p. 129), the organ of the Library Association of the United Kingdom. Joun J. OGLE. Free Public Library, Museum, and Technical School, Bootle, April 28. Magical Growth of Plants. I Norice in NATURE of April 9 that mention is made of the experiments of M. Ragonneau in connection with what is termed the magical growth of plants. At the time when M. Ragonneau’s statements were first brought under my notice, I endeavoured as nearly as might be to repeat his experiments. _ I first used formic acid diluted 1°5000, the strength stated by M. Ragonneau as being that most successfully used by him. The soil was thoroughly dried, and was some which I had carefully prepared for growing Begonia seed. The seeds used were those of the Scotch thistle (Onopordiun Acanthium), a soft and easily-grown seed. The experiments were carried out in an ordinary greenhouse with temperature ranging from 55°F. to 75° F.; and although I | took every precaution to avoid mischance, the seeds have not to May 7, 1896] NATURE 9 this day shown any signs of life whatever, although seeds from the same packet, planted simultaneously under ordinary circum- stances, are now well-grown young plants. After my first failure, I procured pure concentrated formic acid (sp. gr. 1°300) freshly made, and on repeating the experiments with it, other things being the same as in the former experiment, the result was again entirely negative. I then tried various other seeds, first soaking them in water for periods varying from five hours to three days before treating them with the acid, but all with no result. So far as I could judge, the only effect of the acid was to increase the density of the seed and to retard the growth, so much so that some of the seeds (common Lupinus), which under formic acid showed no signs of growth, as soon as they were thoroughly washed and placed under normal conditions began to germinate in the usual way. Since these experiments I have tried many different seeds and many different strengths, but have only so far succeeded in retarding their growth. I also attempted to inject the acid (1"5000) by means of a hypodermic syringe into the substance of growing seeds and bulbs, and in two instances I succeeded in killing a Begonia tuber and an Arum lily, and cer- tainly none of the other plants treated showed the faintest symptom of increased vitality. W. R. M. SEMPLE. Hendford Park, Yeovil, April 11. Rooks at Nesting Time. OpposITE my windows are lofty elms on which rooks have established themselves. In one tree there are three nests with sitting birds; a fourth nest, which was built this spring, has never been fully occupied, and a fifth is now in course of con- struction. It is in relation to the last two nests that a singular fact is noticeable. A pair of rooks are apparently mated, flying off and returning together, and roosting at night on the same branch. Both are engaged in building, but on different boughs ; both select the same tree, almost the same branch, for twigs, and both return home spray in beak. But while the hen bird flies to the incomplete nest (which she has built up, unaided, from the beginning, and is now three-fourths finished), the cock bird settles on the old nest, at the other side of the tree, and adds an upper story to an already capacious mansion. How is this binary housekeeping or nest-building to be explained ? There have been further complications in the rookery since I wrote the foregoing a fortnight ago. Then the situation was that a couple of rooks (apparently paired) were working together in collecting twigs ; but while the hen bird carried hers to a new nest on the north side of an elm, the cock took his to an old nest on the south side. Still they roosted and flew together, and behaved as engaged rooks should do, the cock now and then bringing a twig or two to the hen’s nest, but chiefly working on his own, In a few days the cock brought home another mate, and both birds set to work at the old nest. Although, for a day or two, appearances were still preserved, the original hen at last resented this trifling with her affections ; she pecked at and drove off the cock, stole lining from his nest, and has since lived a life solitary and misanthropic. I see no sign of a new mate, but the hen sits by or on her own nest, and routs all new-comers who approach it. On the same tree I have seen a singular case of wholesale burglary in which the sufferers are the new occupants of the old nest I have referred to, and the burglars a new pair of rooks. For a week they strove and failed to build a nest in an honest way, 7.¢. by breaking twigs from other trees; but they made no progress, the wind repeatedly blowing away the foundation during their absence in quest of materials. One night, however, the wind dropped. The pair got up very early next morning, fell on the old nest (the tenants having gone off to feed), and by nine o'clock had three parts finished a new nest, on the north-west side, built entirely out of plunder from the old nest. To this they have since added a clumsy top story made of new materials. One other curious fact, and I will take up no more of your space. On another elm a stray hen had persisted in thrusting her unwelcome attentions on an established pair now feeding their squabs. She had been there some days, and apparently was at last tolerated. One night, however, as many as ten desperate battles took place ; the combatants falling, still locked NO. 1384, VOL. 54] in combat, from the topmost bough almost to the ground, and as often returning to the fray at the nest-side. This morning Aunt Caroline is on est, but I expect she will turn up again before long. Meanwhile, due perhaps to the extra food the young birds got by the exertions of the aunt, they are the largest and strongest in the rookery. F. E. Barnes. Leamington, April 28, An Auroral Display on May 2, ON the evening of Saturday, May 2, at Filey (Yorkshire) I observed faint indications of an auroral display as early as 10 o'clock. On going out of the house at 11.10, five streaks of light were seen in the north, and a small cloud of light appeared on the horizon, which quickly rose and formed a perfect bow of light of great length and some 10° above the horizon at its highest point ; by 11.15 all the streaks had disappeared. At 11.30, rapid beams of light were seen following the curve of the bow from west to east,each succeeded by straight arrow-like flashes aboye the bow in the opposite direction; 11.36, streaks again appeared on the eastern side ; 11.39, the bow threw off clouds of light radially, first on the western, then on the eastern side ; 11.42, the phenomena observed at 11.30 again set in on the western side ; 11.49, the bow became very sharp towards the west and threw out streaks of light, while towards the east it became broken and flickering; 11.55, streamers appeared on the eastern side, and the bow became contracted on this side and smaller, striking the horizon at a higher angle ; 11.58, the bow thickened and threw off radial clouds again; 12.1, a fine streamer appeared on the extreme eastern side; 12.3, the bow became very irregular, and for the first time the streamers appeared to start below the bow, three very sharp ones forming towards the east ; 12.7, a second bow formed below the original one ; 12.9, the bow broke up entirely towards the east into fine streamers, radial clouds of light being thrown off in the west ; 12.20, bow became very indistinct in the west, and streamers gave place to clouds of light in the east ; 12.22, streamers re- appeared in the east ; 12.25, arc of the bow reformed ; 12.27, bow narrowed down and broke into two bows; 12.30, bow became irregular and sank down towards the horizon ; 12.37, bow disappeared and faint streamers formed. After this a gradual fading set in, but the light was still visible though feeble at I a.m. The atmosphere had been exceptionally clear all through the day. A, E. M. ~ Felsted School, Essex. Daylight Meteor, April 12. THE meteor referred to in NATURE of April 23 (p. 581), was seen by me in Glasgow, low down on the S.E. horizon, at 8.5 p.m. The position of its visible path was carefully noted at the time in relation to a church spire, which it just seemed to touch. On April 27, at 10.30 p.m. the céntre of the fuil moon was 2° above this point, its declination was therefore 22° 13’ S., and its R.A. on April 12 at 8.5 p.m. was toh. 39m. On account of some intervening shrubs the meteor’s path was only visible over a distance of 10°, but the declination seemed to remain unchanged. C. E. STROMEYER. Glasgow, May 2. THE ROYAL SOCIETY SELECTED CANDIDATES. ee following are the names and qualifications of the fifteen candidates recommended by the Council of the Royal Society for election this year :—- SIR GEORGE SYDENHAM CLARKE, Major, R.E., K.C.M.G., Secretary to the Colonial Defence Committee and Associate Member of the Ordnance Committee. Late Secretary to the Royal Commission on Administration of the Naval and Military Services. Examiner to the Science and Art Department and the Military Education Department. Formerly (from 1871 to 1880) Instructor in Geometrical Drawing in the Royal Engineering College, Cooper’s Hill, Joint Author of paper ‘‘ On some Figures Exhibiting the Motion of Vibrating Bodies, and on a New Method for Determining the Speed of Machines ” (Proc. Hoy. Soc., vol. xxvi., pp. 157-163), and of a paper *‘On the Determination of the Rate of Vibration of Tuning Forks” (Phz/. 7rans., 1880, pp. 1-14). Author of fe) ‘* Practical Geometry and Engineering Drawing” (1875) ; “Principles of Graphic Statics” (1879); ‘‘ Perspective Ex- plained and Illustrated” (1884); ‘‘ Plevna: a Study of the Operations of 1877” (1880); ‘‘ Official Report on the Effects of the Bombardment of Alexandria” (1882); ‘* Fortification : Past, Present, and Future” (1890) ; and of a large number of papers on naval and military subjects. J. NORMAN COLLIE, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University College, London. Distinguished as a worker in Organic Chemistry. Author of numerous papers published during the period from 1881 to the present time in the Proceedings and 7ransactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Zzebzg’s Annalen, the Berichte of the German Chemical Society, and the 7vansactzons of the Chemical Society. His earlier papers relate chiefly to the study of phosphonium and phosphine derivatives and allied ammonium compounds, their behaviour when decomposed by heat having been thoroughly studied by him. Of late years he has made important contributions to our knowledge of dehydracetic acid, having described a number of very remarkable ‘‘condensations,” whereby it is converted into pyridine, orcinol and naphthalene derivatives. ARTHUR MATTHEW WELD DOWNING, M.A., D.Sc., Vice-President of the Royal Astronomical Society. President of the British Astronomical Association. Super- intendent of the Maztical Almanac, Author of the following papers, among many others, which have appeared in the J/on¢hZy Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society :—‘‘ Proper Motions of Certain Stars in the Greenwich Seven Year Catalogue for 1864” (vol. xxxviii., p. 514); ‘‘ On the N.P.D.’s of the Green- wich Seven Year Catalogue for 1860” (vol. xl., p. 85); ‘‘ The Greenwich Standard Right Ascensions” (vol. xl., p. 162): **The Possible Ten-month Period of Variation in Latitude” (vol. xl., p. 430); ‘On the N.P.D.’s of the Cape Catalogue for 1880, and on the Greenwich and Cape Mean Systems of North Polar Distances” (vol. xlii., p. 20); ‘‘ Discussion of the Obser- vations of y Draconis, made with the Greenwich Reflex Zenith Tube, during the years 1857-75 ” (vol. xlii., p. 326); ‘* On the relative Motion of the Components of / Eridani” (vol. xliii., p. 263); ‘On the Orbit of y Coron Australis” (vol. xliii., p. 368); “*On the Periodic Time of a Centauri” (vol. xlv., p. 151); ‘SA Comparison of the Star Places of the Argentine General Catalogue for 1875 with those of the Cape Catalogue, 1880” (vol. xlvii., p- 446); ‘* Positions for 1750 and Proper Motions of 154 Stars, S. of — 29° dec., from a revision of Powalky’s Reduction of the Star Places of Lacaille’s Astronomiz Fundamenta ” (vol. xlviii., p. 322); ‘* Discussion of Washington Observations of the Sun, 1875-83” (vol. xlix., p. 431); ‘‘ Corrections to the Orbit of Juno” (vol. 1., p. 487); ‘The Orbit of Flora, with corrections to Briinnow’s Tafeln der Flora” (vol. lii., p. 585). FRANCIS ELGAR, LL.D., F.R.S.E., Naval Architect and Engineer, Professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in the University of Glasgow, and Director of Her Majesty’s Dockyards. Prof. Elgar has advanced the science of naval architecture by original investigations, notably in the departments of stability and of the structural strength of ships. These are described in papers communicated to the Royal Society, one of which is printed zm extenso in Roy. Soc. Proc. No. 232, 1884. An abstract of the other was read before the Society on January 14, 1886. The first describes an important and novel principle which determines the variation of stability with draught of water, and the second greatly advances the investigation of the straining actions upon ships at sea. Prof. Elgar is distinguished for his acquaintance with the theory and practice of Naval Architecture, and was unanimously elected on that account by the Court of Glasgow University to the ‘‘ John Elder” Chair of Naval Architectural and Marine Engineering. He is eminently dis- tinguished as a Naval Architect and Engineer, being a Fellow of the late Royal Society of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and Member of Council of the Institution of Naval Architects, Member of Council of the Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was appointed in January 1884 by the Council of the Institution of Naval Architects to sit as their representative upon the Committee formed by the President of the Board of Trade to frame rules for regulating the load lines of ships. NO. 1384, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 7, 1896 Supplementary Certificate.—Is now a representative of the Institution of Naval Architects upon the Technical Committee of Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Was Vice-President of the International Jury in the class of A/atéviel de Navigation et Sauvetage, in the Paris Exhibition, 1889. Is the Consulting Naval Architect for the Cunard Steamers Cam- pania and Lucania, which are the most powerful and, with the exception of the Great Zastern, the largest ships ever built. ANDREW GRAY, M.A. (Glasgow), F.R.S.E , Professor of Physics, University College of North Wales. Examiner in Mathematics for degrees in the University of Glasgow. For five years Private Assistant and Secretary to Sir W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) ; for four years Official Assistant to the Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow ; and for the last nine years in his present post. Distinguished for his acquaintance with theoretical and experimental physics. Author of the following scientific works and papers :—‘‘ Absolute Measurements in Electricity and Mag- netism” (1889); ‘*Theory and Practice of Absolute Measure- ments in Electricity and Magnetism” (vol. i., 1888 ; vol. ii., in two parts, 1893); ‘A Treatise on Magnetism and Electricity,” shortly to be published; ‘‘ On the Determination in Absolute Units of the Intensity of Powerful Magnetic Fields” (Pv. Mag., 1883) ; “On the Dynamical Theory of Electro-magnetic Action” (z4éd., 1890); ‘*On the Calculation of the Induction Coefficients of Coils” (zdzd., 1892); ‘*On a New Reflecting Galvanometer of great sensibility, and on New Forms of Astatic Galvanometers,” jointly with T. Gray (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1884) ; “©On the Relation between the Electrical Qualities and the Chemical Composition of Glass and Allied Substances,” Part I., jointly with T. Gray and J. J. Dobbie (Proc. Ray. Soc., 1884) “On the Electro-magnetic Theory of the Rotation of the Plane of Polarised Light” (Rept. Bret. Assoc., 1891). GEORGE JENNINGS HINDE, Ph.D. (Munich), F.G.S. Studied at University College, Toronto, Canada (1874-75) ; afterwards (1879-80) studied, under Dr. Karl Zittel, in the University of Munich, where he graduated. Author of numerous papers on Geology and Palzontology, viz. :—‘‘ The Glacial and Interglacial Strata of Scarboro’ Heights and other localities near Toronto, Ontario” (Canad. Journ., 1877, pp. 28, one plate) ; ** On Conodonts from the Cambro-Silurian and Devonian of Canada and the United States” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. Xxxv., pp. 351-369, pl. xv.-xvili., 1879); ‘*On Annelid Jaws from the Cambro- Silurian and Devonian of Canada and the Lower Carboniferous of Scotland (of. cét., vol. xxxv., pp. 370-389, pl. xviii.—xx., 1879); ‘*On a New Genus of Favosite Coral from the Upper Silurian, Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron” (Geo/. Mag., 1879, pp- 244-246); ‘* Fossil Sponge Spicules from the Upper Chalk, Horstead, Norfolk” (Jzaug. Déssert., Munich, 1880, 8vo, pp. 84, 5 plates); ‘‘On Annelid Jaws from Wenlock and Ludlow formations of the West of England” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxxvi., pp. 368-378, pl. xiv., 1880) ; ** Notes on Fossil Ca/céspongie with Descriptions of New Species” (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. x., pp. 185-205, pl. x.-xii., 1882); ‘*On Annelid Remains from the Silurian Strata of the Island of Gotland” (Bzhang till K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl., Bd. vii. No. 5, pp. 28, 3 plates, 8vo, Stockh., 1882); “Catalogue of the Fossil Sponges in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) with Descriptions of New and little-known Species” (4to. pp. 248, 38 plates, 1883); ‘*On some Fossil Calcispongie from the Well-boring at Richmond, Surrey” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xl., pp. 778-783, 1 plate, 1884) ; “©On the Structure and Affinities of the Receptaculitide,” &c. (op. czt., vol. xl., pp. 795-849, pl. xxxvi.—xxxvii., 1884); “On a New Species of Crinoid with Articulating Spines” (dz. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. xv., pp. 157-173; pl. vi., 1885); “*On Beds of Sponge Remains in the Lower and Upper Green- sands of the South of England” (Phz/. Zrans., 1885, vol. clxxvi., p. 51, pl. xl.—xlv.) pe Supplementary Certificate.— A Monograph of the British Fossil Sponges” (Paleeontographical Soc., Part I., 1887, pp. 1-92, pl. i.-viii. ; Part II., 1888, pp. 93-188, pl. ix. ; Part. TIES 1893, pp. 189-254, pl. x.-xix.) ; ‘*On the Cherts and Siliceous Schists of the Permo-Carboniferous of Spitzbergen ” (Geod. AZag., 1888, pp. 241-251, 1 pl.) ; ‘On some New species of Uruguaya (Carter), with Remarks on the Genus” (Az, and Mag. Nal. Hiist., ser. 6, vol. ii., 1888, pp. 1-12, 1 pl.); ‘*On a True May 7, 1896] NATURE II Deuconid Calcisponge from the Middle Lias of Northampton- shire” (z¢d., vol. iv., 1889, pp. 325-358, 1 pl.); ‘On Arch- zocyathus, Billings, and on other Genera allied to it, from Cambrian Strata, &c.” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xlv., 1889, pp. 125-148, 1 pl.); ‘f Notes on Rauiolaria from the Lower Palzozoic Rocks of the South of Scotland” (Azz. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. vi., 1890, pp. 40-59, 2 pl.); **On the Sponge Remains in the Tertiary Strata, near Oamaru, New Zealand” (in conjunction with Mr. W. M. Holmes), (Linn. Soc. Journ. Zool., vol. xxiv., 1891, pp. 177-262, with 9 pl.) ; ‘‘Note on a Radiolarian Rock from Fanny Bay, Port Darwin, Australia” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xlix., 1893, pp- 221-226, 1 pl.). Has paid special attention to the micro- scopic structure of Siliceous Deposits and Cherts, and has demonstrated the existence of Sponges, Radiolaria, and other organisms in them, and as largely composing such deposits, of all ages, and from the most distant parts of the world. HENRY ALEXANDER MIERS, M.A. (Oxon), F.G.S., F.C.S., Assistant in the Department of Minerals, British Museum (Nat. Hist.). Has improved the Adams instrument for the measurement of optic axal angles ; devised a form of goniometer for measuring the angles of grow- ing crystals; and a stage-goniometer for use with the micro- scope. Distinguished as a mineralogist and erystallographer, fnd author of important investigations in crystallography and mineralogy, 1882-94, as under :—‘‘Cerussit von La Croix” (Zettsch. fiir Krystall., vi.) ; “‘ The Crystalline Form of Mene- ghinite” (J/ineral. Mfag., v.); ‘‘ Hemihedrism of Cuprite” (Phil. Mag., xviii.); ‘* Monagite from Cornwall and Connel- lite” (A/ineral. Mag., vi.) ; ‘‘ Crystallography of Bromostrych- nine” (Journ. Chem. Soc., xvii.) ; ‘‘ Crystallography of Tri- cupric Sulphate ” (zézd.) ; ‘* Orthoclase from Kilima-n-jaro and Adrelavia, Switzerland ” (I/ineral. Mag., vii.) ; “* New Cornish Mineral” (AZtneral. Mag., vii.) ; ‘* Zonenformal fiir Orthogonate Systeme” Zeztsch. fiir Krystall., xii.); ‘* Crystals for Baric Slag” (Journ. Chem. Soc., li.) ; ‘‘ Use of Gnomonic Projec- tion” (Mineral. Mag., vii.) ; ‘‘Calcites, Egremont, Cumber- land” (z62d., viii.) ; ‘‘ Pyrargyrite and Proustite” (zdzd., viii.) ; “* Mineralogical Notes—Polybasite, Aikinite, Quartz, Cuprite, and Locality of Turnerite ” (zézd.) ; ‘‘ Stephanite and Kaolinite” (zbzd., ix.) ; ‘‘Sanguinite (new mineral), Krennerite” (zézd.) ; **Ullmannite Tetartohedrism” (zézd.); ‘‘ Student’s Gonio- meter” (2ézd.) ; ‘‘ Orpiment ” (zz. , x.) ; ‘‘ Cornwall Danalite” (with G. T. Prior, zéz¢.); (with W. J. Pope) ‘‘ Mittheil. aus dem Krystall Laboratorium des City and Guilds of London Inst.” (Zettsch. fiir Krystall., xx.) ; ‘‘Spangolite from Corn- wall (Neues Jahresbr. fiir Min., ii.) ; ‘Quartz from North Carolina” (dmer. Journ. Sci., x\vi.); ‘‘Xanthocanite,” &c. (Mineral. Mag., x.); ‘‘Spangolite” (¢bzd., x.); ‘*On a New Method of Measuring Crystals,” &c. (Rept. Brit. Assoc., NATURE, 1.). FREDERICK WALKER MOTT, M.D. (Lond.), F.R.C.P. Lecturer on Physiology, Charing Cross Hospital. Distinguished as a physiologist. The follow- ing are his most important published papers :—‘‘ Bacteria, or their Antecedents, in Healthy Tissues” (with Prof. Horsley— Journ. of Phystol., 1883); ‘* Myxofibroma of Spinal Cord” (Brain, 1888); ‘‘ Cardio-vascular Nutrition and its relation to Sudden Death” (Practitioner, 1888) ; ‘‘ Pathology of Pernicious Anemia” (zbzd., 1890); ** Clarke’s Column in Man, Monkey, and Dog” (Journ. of Anat. and Physiol., 1887); ‘*On Eye Movements produced by Cortical Faradisation of the Monkey’s Brain” (with Prof. Schafer—Arazz, 1890, and Internat. Med. Congress, Berlin); ‘‘On Movements resulting from Excitation of the Corpus Callosum in Monkeys” (with Prof. Schafer— Brain, 1891); ‘*Complete Sclerosis of Golt’s Column” (/nternat. Journ. of Med. Sci., 1891); ‘“‘The Results of Hemisection of the Spinal Cord in Monkeys” (Phz/. Trans., 1892). Supplementary Certificate.—Physiologist and Neurologist. Secretary of the Neurological Society. Pathologist to the London County Council Asylums. Has published the following papers recently :—‘‘ The Bipolar Cells of the Spinal Cord and their Connections” (Avain, 1891); ‘‘ Ascending Degenerations of the Spinal Cord” (zézd., 1892); Article on ‘* Pernicious Anemia” (‘‘ Quain’s Dict. of Med.,” 2nd edit.); ‘* A Case of Multiple Infective Neuritis ” (C/i. Soc. Trans.); ‘A Case of NO. 1384, VOL. 54] Amystrophic Lateral Sclerosis with Degeneration of the Motor Path from the Cortex to the Periphery” (Bvazz, 1895); “‘ Ex- perimental Enquiry upon the Afferent Tracts of the Central Nervous System ” (z#zd., 1895) ; ‘‘ The Sensori-Motor Functions of the Central Convolutions of the Cerebral Cortex” (ourv. Physiol., 1894) ; ‘‘ Experiments upon the Influence of Sensory Nerve upon Movement and Nutrition of the Limbs” (Prelimi- nary Communication, with Prof. Sherrington, F.R.S.) (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lvii.). JoHN Murray, Ph.D. (Jena)., LL.D. (Edin.), D.Sc. (Camb.). One of the Naturalists on board the Chadlenger, 1872-76. First Assistant on the Challenger Editorial Staff, 1876-82. Editor and Director of the Cha//lenger publications, 1882-95. Editor of the Reports on the Scientific Results of H.M.S. Challenger ; joint Author of the Narrative of the Cruise of the Chadlenger, and of the Report on Deep-Sea Deposits; Author of a Summary of the Scientific Results of the Challenger Expedition; Author of numerous Papers dealing with Oceanography, Physical Geo- graphy, and Marine Biology. KARL PEARSON, M.A., LL.B., late Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics at University College, London. Editor and joint Author of vol. i. of Todhunter’s- ‘* History of Elasticity.” Author of the following papers on Elasticity :—‘‘ On the Distortion of a Solid Elastic Sphere” (Quart. Fourn. Math., vol. xvi.); ‘On Twists in an Infinite Elastic Medium” (AZess. of Math., vol. xiii.) ; ‘‘On the Flexure of Heavy Beams” (Quart. Fourn. Math., vol. xxiv.) ; ‘On the Generalised Equations of Elasticity, and their Application to the Wave Theory of Light” (Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., vol. xx.) ; ** On Energy in an Elastic Solid” (A/ess. of Math., 1889) “€ On Wohler’s Experiments on Alternating Stress” (267d. , 1890) : also ‘* Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Evolution” (Phil. Trans., 1894). THOMAS ROSCOE REDE STEBBING, M.A. (Oxon.), B.A. (Lond.). Clerk in Holy Orders. Late Fellow and Tutor of Worcester College. Author of Report on the Amphipoda collected by H.M.S. Challenger, a task which. has occupied him almost exclusively for six years. It forms three large volumes (vol. xxix. of the Report), and consists of 1774 pages, and 212 plates, with a map, 4to, 1888. (The figures were all drawn by the author.) Also author of the following :—‘‘ Note on Calceola sandalina, Lk.” (Geol. Mag., vol. x., pp. 57-61, pl. v., 1873) ; ‘‘ A New Species of Sessile- eyed Crustaceans” (dun. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. Xvil., pp. 73-80, pl. iv.—v., 1876) ; ‘‘ Amphipodous Crustaceans. (Ayale, Aronyx, &c.)” (tbéd., pp. 337-346, pl. xviii.—xix., 1876) “Some New and little-known Amphipodous Crustaceans ” (zbéd., vol. xvili., pp. 443-449, pls. xix.-xx., 1876); ‘‘On Sessile-eyed Crustaceans” (2ézd., ser. 5, vol. I., pp. 31-37, pl- y., 1878); ‘*On Species of Amphipodous Crustaceans” (z4id., vol. I1., pp. 464-370, pl. xv., 1878); ‘‘The Sessile-eyed Crustaceans of Devonshire” (Z7avs. Devon. Assoc., vol. xi., pp- 516-524, 1879); ‘‘On Gastrosaccus spinifer” (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. vi., pp. 114-118, pl. iii, and p. 328, 1880); ‘*A New English Amphipodous Crustacean” (2dzd., vol. xv., pp. 58-62, pl. ii., 1885); ‘‘ On the Crustacea Isopoda of the Lightning, Porcupine, and Valorous Expeditions” (joint paper with the Rev. A. M. Norman, Trans. Zool. Soc., 1886, vol. xii., pp. 77-142, pls. xvi.-xxvii.) ; ‘‘ Exotic Amphipoda from Singapore and New Zealand” (zdzd., vol. xii., pp. 199-220, pls. xxxviii.—ix.); Address as President of Devonshire Assoc. (Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1884). Supplementary Certificate.—Author of ‘*The Naturalist of Cumbre ; being the Life of David Robertson, F.L.S., BiGeS es by his Friend” (1891)” ‘The right Generic Names of some Amphipoda” (Anz. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1890) ; ‘‘ Sessile-eyed Crustaceans” (zézd., pl. xv.-xvi., 1891); ‘‘On the genus Urothe and a new genus Uyothowdes” (Trans. Zool. Soc., pi. i.-iv., 1891); ‘‘ A History of Crustacea” and ‘‘ Recent Mala- costracee” (1893); ‘‘ A New Pedunculated Cirripede” (477. and Mag. Nat. Hist., pl. xv., 1894); *‘The Amphipoda col- lected during the Voyages of the /’7//em Barents in the Arctic Seas in the Years 1880-84” (Soc. Nat. Art. Mag., Amsterdam, 1894, pl. i.-vii.); ‘‘On the Amphipoda of the Buccaneer” (Zool. Soc. Tramns., 1895, pls. i.-iv.); *‘ Notes on Crustacea” 12 NATURE (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., pl. ii., 1895); ‘On Four New British Amphipoda (Stebbing and Robertson, Zoo/. Soc. Trans., vol, xili., pl. v.-vi., 1891), ; CHARLES STEWART, M.R.C.S., President of the Linnean Society. Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Hun- terian Professor of Human and Comparative Anatomy. Late lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, and joint lecturer on Physio- logy at St. Thomas's Hospital. Distinguished as a Biologist. Author of the following papers :—‘‘ On the Structure and Cause of Colour in the Nacreous Layer of Shells” (Devon. Assoc. Trans., 1864); ‘‘ On the Spicula of the Regular Echinoidea”’ (Trans. Linn, Soc., 1865); ‘On a New Sponge, Zethyopszs columnifer” (Quart, Journ. Micros. Sct., 1870); ‘On the Minute Structure of certain Hard Parts of the genus Cidaris” (zbé¢., 1871): ‘*Note on the Scalp of a Negro” (AZonthly Micros. Journ., 1873); ‘* Note on the Calcareous Parts of the Sucking Feet of an Echinus, Podophora atrata” (tbid., 1873) ; ““Notes on Bucephalus polymorphus” (tbed., 1875); ‘On the Lachrymal Gland of the Common Turtle (zézd., 1877); ‘‘ On a New Coral, Sty/aster ste!ulatus, and Note on Tubipora musica” (zbéd., 1878); Note on an Abnormal Amblypneustes griseus” (Journ. Linn. Soc., 1880); ‘*On certain Organs of the Cidaridee” (Zinn. Soc. Trans., 1877); ‘‘On Some Structural Features of Echinostrephus molare, Parasalenia gratiosa, and Stomopneustes variolaris” (Journ. Roy. Micros. Soc., 1880) ; **On a Supposed New Boring Annelid” (zé2d., 1881); ‘‘Ona Hermaphrodite Trout, Salmo fario” (Journ. Linn. Soc., 1891) ; **On a Hermaphrodite Mackerel, Scomder scomber” (cbid., 1891); ‘On Some Points in the Anatomy of Heloderma” (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1891) ; ‘On a Specimen of the True Teeth of Ornithorhynchus” (Quart, Journ. Micros. Scz., 1891). Supplementary Certéficate.—Fullerian Professor of Physiology in the Royal Institution. WILLIAM E. WILSON, \ gentleman who has devoted himself to astronomical research. In December 1870, he was engaged on the Total Solar Eclipse Expedition to Oran. In 1872 he built an astronomical observa- tory at Daramona and equipped it with a 12” reflector by Grubb. In 1881 he built a new observatory and equipped it with a 24" reflector by Grubb. In 1891 this was remounted and provided with electric control for stellar photography. Author of **A Method of recording the Transits of Stars by Photo- graphy” (Roy. Astron. Soc., 1889); ‘fA New Photographic Photometer for Determining. the Magnitudes” (zézd., 1892) ; “© On the Radiation of Heat from Sun Spots” (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lv.) ; ‘The Absorption of Heat in the Solar Atmosphere ” (Pro. Roy. Irish Acad., 1892), in conjunction with Prof. Rambaut; ‘‘ Experimental Investigations on the Effective Radiation from the Sun” (P22. Zrans., 1894), in conjunction with Mr. P. L. Gray ; ‘‘ On the Temperature of the Carbons in the Electric Arc” (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1892), in conjunction with Mr. P. L. Gray. Supplementary Certificate.—In addition to the qualifications already set forth the following may be mentioned :—(1) Mr. Wilson has undertaken to carry out Experiments on Solar Radiation for the Committee of the British Association ; (2) he has written a paper entitled ‘*‘ The Thermal Radiation from Sun Spots” (Monthly Notices R.A.S., vol. lv., No. 8); (3) he has also written on ‘‘ The Effect of Pressure of the surrounding Gas on the Temperature of the Crater of the Electric Arc” (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lviii.). HORACE BOLINGBROKE WOODWARD, F.G.S., Geologist on the Geological Survey of England and Wales. Hon. Mem. Norfolk Nat. Soc. and Yorksh. Phil. Soc. Awarded the Murchison Fund by the Council of the Geological Society in 1885. On the staff of the Geological Survey since 1867, and author of the following memoirs :—‘‘ Geology of East Somerset and Bristol Coalfields” (1876); ‘‘ Geology of the Country around Norwich” (1881); ‘‘ Geology of the Country around Fakenham, &c.” (1884); and of parts of five other memoirs ; also of parts of sixteen sheets of the map, and of nine sheets of sections. Author of *‘ The Geology of England and Wales” (1876 and 1887) ; of two papers in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (1876, 1886); nine papers, &c., in Proc. Geol. Assoc. (1875-1889); of two Presidential Addresses to the Norwich NO. 1384, VOL. 54] [May 7, 1896 Geol. Soc. (1879, 1880); of eleven other papers published by Norfolk and Somersetshire Societies (1874-1887) ; of nine papers in the Geological Magazine ; of Reports on Coast Erosion (Brit. Assoc., 1885, 1889); and of Reports on Pliocene and Post Pliocene Beds to the British Sub-Committee of the International Geological Congress (1882, 1888), Supplementary Certdficate.—Since the above certificate was sent in, Mr. Woodward has been President of the Geologists’ Association and. of the Norfolk Naturalists’ Society. He has also published various papers and memoirs, including the follow- ing :—‘‘ Formation of Landscape Marble ” (Geo/. AM/ag., 1892) ; ** Geological Zones” (Proc. Geol. Assoc., 1892) ; ** Oolitic Iron Ore in Raasay” (Geol, Mag., 1893); ‘* Memoir on the Lias of England” (Geological Survey, 1893). WILLIAM PALMER WYNNE, D.Sc. (Lond.), Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, Distinguished for his zeal and ability as an organic chemist. Author of * Action o. Sulphuryl Chloride on Acetorthotoluidide and Acetopara- toluidide, Mono-, Di-, and Tri-chlorotoluenesulphonic Acids,” and ‘* Note on the Constitution of Nevile and Winther’s Ortho- toluidenesulphonic Acid and of the Sulphonic Acids of Orthe- chlorotoluene and, Orthobromotoluene” (Zyvans. Chem. Soc., 1892). Joint Author with Prof. Japp of ‘‘ Action of Alde- hydes and Ammonia on Benzil” (Zyrans. Chem. Soc., 1886).« Joint Author with Prof. Armstrong of twenty-four papers in the Proc. Chem. Soc. from 1886-93 on Naphthalene and its Derivatives. . Supplementary Certificate.—Has submitted to the Chemical Society since 1893 papers on the Disulphonic Acids of Toluene and of Ortho- and Para-chlorotoluene (in conjunction with Mr. James Bruce) ; on the Six Dichlorotoluenes and their Sulphonic Acids (in conjunction with Mr. Alfred Greeves); and eleven communications on Naphthalene Derivatives (in conjunction with Dr. Armstrong). In their communications on Naphthalene (thirty-nine in all) made to the Chemical Society during the past ten years, Drs. Armstrong and Wynne have revised practically the whole of the Chemistry of Naphthalene in so far as relates to the formation of its Chlorinated and Sulphonated Derivatives, and, besides describing many new Derivatives, have placed beyond question the structure of the ten Di- and fourteen Tri- Chloronaphthalenes to which respectively all other Di- and Tri- Derivatives may be referred. ON LIPPMANN’S COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY WITH OBLIQUELY INCIDENT LIGHT. N the discussion which followed Prof. Lippmann’s splendidly interesting communication to the Royal Society (April 23), on colour photography, I suggested the possibility of applying his method to the Rontgen X-light ; but at the same time remarked that it might be found impracticable on account of the smallness of the specular reflection of the X-light from polished sur- faces, unless at obliquities little short of 90°. Lord Blythswood’s experiments, communicated to the Royal Society on March 19, seemed to prove decisively some- thing of true specular reflection of X-light, incident on a plane mirror of speculum metal at 45°. Experiments, which he has since made by means of a concave mirror of speculum metal, have demonstrated beyond all doubt that there is regular reflection at nearly normal in- cidence ; but they have also proved that the amount of regularly reflected light is exceedingly small in propor- tion to diffuse light caused to emanate from the mirror, by the incidence of X-light upon it. Experiments by Joly, of Dublin, have, I believe, proved somewhat abundant specular reflection of the X-light, at incidences little short of 90°, on surfaces of bodies transparent to ordinary light. And the extremely small refractivity of the photographic gelatine film for X-light, will allow incidences little short of 90° upon the metal mirror, to be used instead of the normal incidences which Prof. Lippmann has hitherto used. But for very oblique incidences the mercury mirror, with its surface fitted to ~ her May 7, 1896] NATURE TS the not rigorously plane surface of the photographic film, would be unsuitable ; and the plan, which Lord Rayleigh described in the discussion, of forming the film on a solid metallic mirror, might be substituted for it. All things considered, it seems not improbable that Lippmann’s process may be applied successfully to X-rays at nearly grazing incidences on metallic mirrors, and possibly even on non-metallic mirrors. _ Suppose now, for instance, the directions of the incident and reflected rays to be inclined to the mirror at angles of ‘1 of a radian (57). The distance between the planes of stratification in the photograph would be ten times that which would be produced by the same light at normal incidence. Thus if, for example, the wave-length of the particular X-light used is 5 x 10 ®cms. (or one-tenth of that of green light), the photograph would show tints of from green to violet when viewed normally, or at less or more oblique angles, by Lipp- mann’s ordinary arrangements. It is quite possible, however, that when we know some- thing of the composition of Réntgen light, we may find such great differences of wave-lengths! in it, and so much difficulty to obtain approximately homogeneous X-light by sifting through metal plates (as we sift ordinary visible light by coloured glasses), or by other may be normally, according to Prof. Lippmann’s ordinary procedure, will be seen as a complete spectrum in con- centric circles, with violet in the centre, and red, of wave- length 7°15 x 10 °, at the circle of 56° incidence ; but, if viewed by an eye placed at the position of the source of the violet light which photographed it, it will, according to the principles explained by Dr, Lippmann in his paper, be seen of uniform violet light throughout its whole area. KELVIN. THE OBSERVATORY AT MONT MOUNIER. HERE is no end to the generosity of M. Bis- choffsheim. Not so very many years ago he endowed science with an observatory at Nice, and now again he has presented another, and this one is at the high altitude of over 8900 feet The observatory is situated on the summit of Mont Mounier, one of the peaks in the Maritime Alps. The advisability of having it at this spot was suggested by M. Bischoffsheim himself. It was not till early in 1893 that the plans were worked out, but the observatory was sufficiently finished in August of the same year, to allow observations of Venus to be made before the planet passed into its inferior conjunction. Mont Mounier Observatory (altitude over 8900 feet). means if other means can be found, that the experiment which I have suggested may fail on account of want of homogeneousness of the incident light. But here, suggested to me by thinking of oblique in- cidence for the photographic light, is an illustrative experiment which (with variations of detail to facilitate realisation) cannot fail if Prof. Lippmann will think it worth while to try it. Place a point source of homogeneous violet light (wave-length 4 x 107° cms.) so near to the centre of the mirror and sensitive film that rays shall be received at all angles of incidence from zero up to 56° (being the angle of which the secant is 1°788). The thick- ness of each stratum will vary in different parts of the photo- graph in simple proportion to the secant of the angle of incidence, and in the centre it will be equal to the half wave-length. It will therefore vary from 2 x 10° in the centre to 36 X 10° at the circle of 56° incidence. This photograph, viewed or thrown on a screen as nearly as 11t is to be hoped however that, very soon, we shall have definite knowledge of wave-lengths of Réntgen X-light by diffraction fringes actually seen instead of estimates of their smallness from diffraction fringes not seen. I should explain that I am writing on the supposition which seems to me, after much correspondence with Sir George Stokes, to be exceedingly probable that Réntgen light is merely ordinary transverse-vibrational light of very short period. That its period is less than one-fifth that of green light seems well proved by the skilful experiments described by Perrin in Com/ftes rendus, January 27, 1896, p. 187; and by Sagnac, Comptes rendus, March 30, p. 783. NO. 1384, VOL. 54] The buildings consist of a house for the astronomer and his assistant, the actual observatory, which has a revolving metallic dome (26 feet in diameter), and a wooden hut, used as workshop or depéot. The house and actual observatory are united by a passage, which is indeed a necessary arrangement, on account of the very severe weather, and the snow, which sometimes lies thickly | on the ground. The observatory is a branch of the one at Nice, and at the time that important observations were being made at Nice, for the purpose of verifying M. Schiaparelli’s discoveries on the rotation of the planet Venus, they were simultaneously being carried on at Mont Mounier by M. Perrotin, and with most successful results. M. Bischoffsheim suggested that the observatory should be a meteorological station; it has therefore been furnished with Richard’s recorders, and instruments for ascertaining the temperature, pressure, and other conditions of the air. Nor is the observatory now isolated. For some weeks the house has been connected by telephone to Beuil, the nearest village with a telegraph office, a distance of five miles. This was also done at the expense of M. Bischoffsheim. It will therefore be possible to send _ daily reports to the central meteorological office of the | observations made on Mont Mounier. 14 NATURE [ May 7; 1896 There can be no doubt that the Mont Mounier observa- tory, started under such favourable conditions, and so well supplied with instruments, will considerably assist in the advance of science. DR. ADALBERT KRUGER. STRONOMERS in all observatories and of all nationalities will have learned with regret of the death of Dr. Kriiger, the Director of the Kiel Observatory, but who, perhaps, will be more generally recalled as the editor of the Astronomische Nachrichten, and gratefully remembered for his services to that journal. From the time that Schumacher, under the auspices of the Danish Government, started the Machrichten, no astronomical journal has proved itself so indispensable, both as a means for the publication of observations and the dis- semination of astronomical knowledge, or contributed more to its advance and progress. For that large class of observations of which early publication 1s its greatest value, but the details of which are a weariness to most editors, the Ast. Mach. has stood unrivalled, and its general conduct has wisely preserved the broad lines on which it was originally established. And with the pro- gress of time, as the eagerness of observers has increased with their numbers, Prof. Kriiger has recognised the necessity of still more rapid means of communication, and by adding to his manifold duties that of the manage- ment of the Bureau central des dépéches astronomiques, he has made still further demands on our gratitude, for the ease and certainty with which astronomical dis- coveries are sent all over the globe, and made available to those who take advantage of the system he has elaborated. Prof. Férster, of Berlin, we believe, early advocated the plan which has proved itself so useful, but the details of the management have been wisely left in the hands of the Director of the Kiel Observatory. But these services to science, rendered continuously from 1880, when the death of Dr. Peters made vacant both the positions which Dr. Kriiger has since filled so admirably, should not put out of sight the fact that he has been both a skilled observer and an ardent astro- nomer. It is sufficient to recall here his more prominent services, such as the share he took with the late Dr. Schonfeld in the observation of the zones for the Durchmusterung at the Bonn Observatory: a work at first voluntarily undertaken on his part, but later in regular and active co-operation with Argelander and Schonfeld. Here, too, during Winnecke, which prevented the heliometer being used, he began and carried to a successful issue the determina- tion of the parallax of 70 Ophiuchi, in two very accordant series. In 1862 Dr. Kriiger was appointed Director of the Helsingfors Observatory, in which the instrumental equipment was probably insufficient. There he busied himself with an inquiry into the orbit of Themis, with the view of obtaining a more accurate value of the mass of Jupiter, which the continued observation of that planet is likely to afford. The result, published in the Proceedings of the Finnish Society of Sciences, was to show that Bessel’s value of the mass of Jupiter, the then received value, required to be increased by the 68/100,000 part, and to give a value intermediate between that of Airy and Bessel, as derived from the motions of the satellites. From Helsingfors, Dr. Kriiger went to the Observatory at Gotha, where he stayed five years, leaving that city to take up his final position at the well-equipped Kiel Observatory, in 1880. For after the termination of the Danish dominion in the Elbe Duchies, the observatory had been enriched by the instruments from the old observatory at Altona, and had been brought into closer relations with the university. This position naturally NO. 1384, VOL. 54] an absence of Dr. | | liner the (ist Bismarck free of charge. carried with it the editorship of the Wachrichten, to which allusion has already been made. _ It is true that since the journal has been under his care, the words “ Unter Mit- wirkung des Vorstandes der Astronomischen Gesellschaft ”’ have appeared on the title-page, but we imagine Dr. Kriiger has enjoyed a free hand in its management, with beneficial results to the journal and to his own reputation. In his capacity as Director, he has published many obser- vations of comets, and prepared, or had prepared under his own eye, the orbits and ephemerides of many of these bodies. These computations have been occasionally enriched by notices of a mathematical character, such as the effect of perturbations by planets near the sun. He has also occasionally given original observations of stars observed with comets, and in many useful, if not brilliant, ways, he has shown his capacity as a Director of an observatory. His career has been marked by an energy and industry, to which might be applied the words of Schiller, “ Beschaftigung die nie ermattet, die langsam wirkt doch nie zerst6rt.” ; NOTES. THE first of the two annual conversaziones of the Royal Society was held last night, as we went to press. THE Council of the British Association have resolved to nominate Sir John Evans, K.C.B., Treasurer of the Royal Society, for the presidency at the meeting whieh will be held next year in Toronto, THE following fifteen candidates were selected on Thursday Jast by the Council of the Royal Society, to be recommended for election into the Society :—Sir G. S. Clarke, Dr. J. N. Collie, Dr. A. M. W. Downing, Dr. F. Elgar, Prof. A. Gray, Dr. G. J. Hinde, Prof. H. A. Miers, Dr. F. W. Mott, Dr. J- Murray, Prof. K. Pearson, Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, Prof. C. Stewart, Mr. W. E. Wilson, Mr. H. B. Woodward, Dr. W. P. Wynne. The qualifications of the candidates will be found in another part of this issue. THE Surinam Toads (Pipa americana), at the Zoological Society’s Gardens, have recommenced breeding this year, and two of the females may now be seen with their backs covered with cells, in each of which an egg is located. The hitherto un- explained mode in which the eggs are transferred into their cells has been discovered, and the secret was divulged at the last scientific meeting of the Society. AN unnamed donor has given Harvard University 100,000 dols. to found a Chair of Comparative Pathology, the only one of the kind in any leading American University. THE generous hospitality always dispensed to British men of science by continental Governments beggars anything ever done officially in England to welcome foreign visitors dis- tinguished in science. We have already notified that the summer meetings of the Institution of Naval Architects will be held this year in Hamburg on Monday, June 8, and the follow- ing day. On Wednesday, June 10, the meetings will be trans- ferred to Berlin, on the invitation of the Impenal German Government, and will be continued there during the remainder of the week. With a public spirit which should put British steamboat companies to shame, the Hamburg-American Com- pany have generously offered to take the members over in a body from Tilbury to Hamburg in their twin-screw Transatlantic The steamer will start either late on Saturday night, June 6, or else early on Sunday morning, June 7, and will arrive in Hamburg in about twenty hours after its departure. The meetings are receiving the warmest support from the Imperial Government, and the arrangements in Berlin are being carried out by the Imperial May 7, 1896] NATURE : 15 Ministry of the Interior and the Imperial Ministry of Marine. A programme of exceptional interest for the instruction and entertainment of the members is already in course of prepara- tion. The meetings for the reading and discussion of papers will be held in Hamburg in the Biirgerschafts-Saal in the building of the Patriotische Gesellschaft, and in Berlin in the large hall of the Technical High School. Papers have already been promised by the following German members of the Institu- tion :—Herr Dietrich (Privy Councillor), Constructor-in-Chief of the Imperial German Navy, Herr F. Laeisz, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Hamburg, and by Mr. B. Martell and Dr. F. Elgar, amongst other home members of the Institu- tion. It is hoped that the members of the Institution will do all in their power to assist in doing honour to their most hospitable hosts by attending in large numbers. Ir is with sad feelings that we read of the elaborate prepara- tions that have been made abroad to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of vaccination, and reflect that nothing is being done in England to honour Jenner’s memory. The British Medical Journal says:—On May 14, 1796, Edward Jenner performed the first successful vaccination. The centenary of that event is to be celebrated in a manner befitting its import- ance in the history of mankind in Germany, Russia, and the United States. In Berlin preparations have been made under the direction of a Committee which includes Profs. Virchow, Gerhard, von Leyden, Robert! Koch, von Bergmann, Koenig, Heubner, Langerhans, Proskauer, and other leading representa- tives of medical and sanitary science, for a great meeting on May 14 in honour of the discoverer of vaccination. There is also to be an exhibition in the Medicinische Waarenhaus (Friedrichstrasse, 108 I, Berlin, N.) of literature, old and new, relating to vaccination, portraits, medals, instruments, &c. In St. Petersburg, the Russian Public Health Society, the Honorary President of which is the Grand Duke Paul Alex- androvitch, has, with the sanction of the Czar, organised a commemoration festival on a still larger scale. On May 14 a “*general and solemn” meeting will be held in honour of the discovery. Four prizes will be awarded for the best works on vaccination. An exhibition of objects connected with vaccina- tion will be held. A Russian translation of Jenner’s writings, witha biography and portrait, and reproductions of his drawings, will be published under the editorship of Dr. W. O. Hubert. The Council of the Society, with the help of the Government, of provincial and municipal administrative bodies, of scientific societies, and private medical practitioners, has collected materials for a history of small-pox and vaccination in Russia, which will appear at the same time. In the United States arrangements for the celebration of the centenary have been made by a conjoint Committee appointed by the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association. The celebration is fixed for May 7, the third day of the meeting of the American Medical Association at Atlanta, and the whole of that day will be occupied by addresses and discussions on Jenner and vaccination. Truly is a prophet without honour in his own country when that country is England. Sir JOHN GorsT stated in the House of Commons, on Thursday last, that arrangements are being made to open the Geological Museum in Jermyn Street on Sundays, but the con- tinuance of the practice will depend upon how far the number of visitors appears to justify it. THE Sotanical Gazette has passed into the possession of the University of Chicago. It is not, however, to be the botanical organ of the University, but will be freely open, as before, to botanists of all parts of the globe. The object of the change is to secure permanence and possibility of development. The old NO. 1384, VOL. 54] editors, Prof. J. M. Coulter, Prof. C. R. Barnes, and Prof. J. C. Arthur, remain. WE learn from the Botanical Gazette that the recent “Culver gift ” of one million dollars to the University of Chicago for biological endowment has resulted in the establishment of a Department of Botany, in which Dr. John M. Coulter has accepted the head professorship. A large building, to be known as the ‘* Hull Botanical Laboratory ” has been planned, and its erection will soon be begun. The four stories of this building will contain ample space for lecture-rooms, libraries, laboratories, and private research rooms for morphology, physiology, and taxonomy. Above the fourth story a large roof-greenhouse will supply an abundance of living material under all conditions As the building will not be completed before April 1897, the full botanical staff will not be organised before the autumn of that year. DuRING the last few weeks some experiments in sea-fish hatching have been carried on at the Port Erin Biological Station, for the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee. Prof. Herdman has erected a series of wooden tanks and sand filters, through which the water is passed by the action of a water- wheel worked by the fresh-water tap. The Sea Fisheries steamer, Fohn Fed/, spent several days at Port Erin trawling for the spawning flsh. The ova were fertilised on board, and then conveyed to the tanks. The first batch of young fish (‘* witches” or white soles) were hatched out on April 29, exactly seven days after fertilisation ; and there are now in the tanks, far advanced in their development, lemon soles, witches, and grey gurnards. The work, so far, has been carried out successfully, and the result ought to encourage the Lancashire Committee to realise their project of erecting a sea-fish hatchery near the principal spawning grounds of the Irish Sea. WE regret to note the death of the Rev. W. C. Ley, on the 22nd ultimo, at the age of fifty-five. He was ordained in 1863, and in 1874 was presented by the Lord Chancellor to the rectory of Ashby Parva, near Lutterworth, which he held until 1892. Mr. Ley had for many years paid special attention to the study of the clouds and the movements of upper air-currents. In 1872 he published an important work on ‘‘The laws of the winds prevailing in Western Europe,” in which he showed how the preparation of synchronous weather charts, and the accu- mulating testimony of the universality of the law generally known as Buys Ballot’s, connecting wind conditions with the distribution of barometric pressure, had proved some accepted weather theories to be erroneous, and had rendered necessary a new investigation of the general laws. In the year 1879 the Meteorological Council appointed him Inspector of their English stations, and in the following year they requested him to prepare a manual to facilitate the study of the weather in connection with the information supplied by their Daily Weathe Reports. This work, entitled ‘* Aids to the study and forecast of weather,” explains clearly the relations of weather conditions to the distribution of areas of both high and low atmospheric pressure. His most recent work, ‘‘ Cloudland, a study on the structure and characters of clouds,” published in 1894, was prepared for press by his son, owing to the serious illness of the author. It embodies the results of his life’s work in connection with this subject ; the nomenclature is probably too advanced for general adoption, but the treatise contains much valuable information upon the classification of the clouds and the origin of their formation, as well as upon the important bearing of cloud observation on the prognostication of weather. Many papers of minor importance were contributed by Mr. Ley to the Fournal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Mr. F. E. Bepparnp, F.R.S., gave the first of a course of lectures on the animals in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, in the 16 NATURE © [May 7, 1896 lecture-room at the Gardens, on Saturday last. The lecture was of an introductory character, explaining the position of Mammals amongst the Vertebrates, and their classification into three main divisions. The extinct Multituberculata and their possible relation to the Monotremes were also spoken of. The course will be continued every Saturday at 4 p.m. until July 4. Ar the International Meteorological Conference at Munich, in 1891, a Committee was appointed to consider the question of concerted observations on the direction of motion and the height of clouds. The report of this Committee was made to the International Meteorological Committee at their meeting at Upsala in 1894, the result being that all countries were invited to take part in the investigation of the upper currents of the atmosphere, by means of cloud observations, which are to com- mence on the Ist prox., and be continued for a year at least. For the use of observers who adopt the international classifica- tion recommended at Munich, a standard cloud atlas has been prepared, consisting of about thirty coloured pictures, and is now in course of publication in Paris; while persons who do not adopt that classification are at liberty to use the nomen- clature employed in their country. The observations of motion may be made without instruments, or with simple nephoscopes ; but the measurements of altitudes require the use of theodolites or photogrammeters, and can only be carried out at regular observatories. Descriptions of the methods to be employed have been published by Dr. Hildebrandsson, of Upsala, and others, and also in Das Wetter for February last. Various countries in Europe, the United States, and Java, have under- taken to make the more difficult instrumental observations, and it is recommended by the International Meteorological Com- mittee that the observations from each country should be eventually published 27 ex/enso, as a separate publication. THE south-east of Europe is one of the most pronounced seismic districts of the world, and it is gratifying to learn that the earthquakes there are to receive the attention they deserve. In a -previous note, we have referred to the work of the seismo- logical section of the meteorological observatory at Constanti- nople, and we have now to announce the formation of a similar section of that at Athens. This has been placed under the charge of Dr. S. A. Papayasiliou, who is well known for his careful investigation of the Locris earthquakes of 1894. In- formation with reference to Greek earthquakes has indeed been transmitted to the observatory since 1893, and the accounts of these shocks will be published later on. It is only, however, within the last few months that an attempt has been made to organise regular observations. At the observatory of Athens two Brassart seismoscopes of a simple character have been erected, one of them giving the time of occurrence of each shock felt there. The officials at the meteorological stations and .telegraph offices (twenty-three in number) have been in- structed to make observations, and forward their registers to the observatory; and, commencing with this year, a monthly seismological bulletin has been started. The number for January has just been published, and tends to confirm Dr. Papavasiliou’s estimate that hardly a day passes without an earthquake being felt somewhere in Greece, for no less than thirty-four are recorded as occurring during January alone. The most interesting is an after-shock, on the 24th ult., of the great earthquakes of April 20 and 27, 1894, showing a still further displacement of the epicentre towards the W.N.W. along the great fault formed at the time of the last-mentioned shock. In Tunbridge Wells, on Saturday last, a congress was held of the naturalists of the South-Eastern District, with the object of forming a Union of Natural History Societies for mutual help and investigation. The idea originated with Dr. George Abbott, who carried out all the preliminary details for the congress. NO. 1384, VOL. 54| The first part of the day was taken up by the delegates inspect- ing the geological features of the town, and after luncheon they assembled in the Pump Room, where the congress was held, under the chairmanship of the Rey. T. R. R. Stebbing, President of the Tunbridge Wells Natural History and Philosophical Society, and whose name is amongst those selected for election into the Royal Society. A large number of delegates from im- portant Natural History Societies of the south-eastern counties of England were present. Dr. Abbott described how the Union could be of assistance to science. Each Society in the Union would offer its members (1) free admission to their lectures and excursions ; (2) copies of their Transactions ; (3) the use of their library ; (4) assistance in naming of specimens, and with the formation of school museums. The corresponding members, in return, would be asked to (1) forward surplus natural history specimens to their Societies’ Museum ; (2) supply prompt in- formation on the following subjects: (a) new geological sec- tions ; (4) details of wells, borings, springs, &c. ; (c) finds of geological and antiquarian interest ; (3) answer such questions as the British Association or the local Society may require ; (4) keep an eye on historic buildings ; (5) assist the Selborne Society in carrying out its objects. Such appointments would be certain to stimulate individual investigation in the parishes, and useful scientific work would be done. After a discussion, the following resolution was adopted: ‘‘That the delegates from various scientific Societies of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex, assembled in congress at Tunbridge Wells on April 25, 1896, agree that the congress shall meet annually, by invitation, at the home of one or other of the associated Societies.” The Rev, T. R. R. Stebbing was elected President of the Union, and Dr. Abbott, Secretary. It was agreed that Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, and Hampshire should be included within the scope of the Union’s operations. AN extremely interesting series of experiments on the action of a powerful magnetic field on the kathodic raysin Crookes’ or Hittorfs tubes, is described by Herr Kr. Birkeland in the Z/s- troteknisk Tidsskrift (Christiania). These experiments prove that in such a field, the kathode rays are strongly deflected in the direction of the lines of force, and can even be concentrated on to the surface of the tube until the glass melts. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the rays which emanate from one and the same kathode fall into groups, of which the physical constants are connected by some definite law, just as are the frequencies of the different tones emitted by a vibrating rod. The investi- gation has an important bearing on the theory of the Aurora Borealis. The Danish meteorologist, Herr A. Paulsen, is of opinion that the aurora owes its origin to phosphorescence of the air produced by kathodic rays in the upper strata of the atmo- sphere, and Herr Birkeland suggests that the earth’s magnetism may be the cause of this phosphorescence becoming intensified in the neighbourhood of the terrestrial poles. UNDER the editorship of Mr. F. S. Macaulay, of St. Paul’s School, the first number of a new series of Zhe Mathematical Gasette has just been issued by the Association for the Improve- ment of Geometrical Teaching. The size of the pages has been changed from quarto to demy octavo ; by this change the Gazef/e has been brought into uniformity with the leading English and continental mathematical and other scientific octavo publications. The present number contains articles on ‘‘The Geometrical Method,” by Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S. ; ‘‘ Annuities treated with- out Progressions,” by Dr. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S.; and “* The Conic determined by Five Given Points,” by the editor; to- gether with a large number of problems and solutions. The Gazette deals exclusively with points of interest in the history and teaching of elementary mathematics (not extending beyond the Calculus), and it thus covers a somewhat different range of A ——— May 7, 1896] subject-matter to any other mathematical journal in the United Kingdom. Messrs. DuLAU AND Co, haye just issued a catalogue (No. xv.) of works on geographical botany, containing more than four thousand titles, offered for sale by them. Tue Appendix of ‘ Quain’s Elements of Anatomy ” (Long- mans, Green, and Co.), which completes the tenth edition of the work, has now been published. The subject, ‘* Superficial and Surgical Anatomy,” is treated by Profs. G. D, Thane and R. J. Godlee, WE learn from the current (and final) number of the Amerzcan Meteorological Journal, that the New England Meteorological Society has been dissolved. It was formed in Boston, in June 1884, to promote the study of atmospheric phenomena in the New England States, and to establish systematic observation. It has done much useful work, especially relating to rainfall, thunderstorms and range of temperature, the results of which have from time to time been published in the above-named journal. The system of regular meteorological observations and the publication of a monthly bulletin were transferred to the New England Weather Service, in connection with the Washington Weather Bureau, several years ago. Tue Rebman Publishing Company have issued the first number of the Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy, by Mr. Sydney Rowland, being the commencement of a series of collotype illus- trations, with descriptive text, illustrating applications of the new photography to medicine and surgery. In an introduction Mr. Rowland gives a brief account of Rontgen’s discovery, and describes the great advantages obtained by the use of the form of Crookes’ tube known as the focus tube, devised by Mr. Herbert Jackson. The excellent results obtained by British investigators working with X-rays are almost entirely due to the introduction of this form of tube. As to the constitution of fluorescent screens, Mr. Rowland agrees with the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Jackson after a systematic examination of numerous substances, viz? that the best salt to use is platino- cyanide of potassium. The plates included in the present number of the dArchzves show the skeleton of a full-grown child, aged three months (exposure fourteen minutes), a needle em- bedded in a finger (exposure two minutes), knee-joint, from a case of multiple exostosis (exposure nine minutes), and hand of same case (exposure three minutes), wrist and forearm showing syphilitic disease of radius (exposure six minutes). The illus- trations may be taken as an indication of how the Rontgen photography is able to supplement diagnosis in all cases of bony disease. It is really astonishing to think that, though Prof. R6ntgen’s discovery is but a few months old, it has already taken its place among the approved and accepted aids to dia- gnosis, and a publication has been started to deal with its developments in medicine and surgery. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Rhesus Monkey (A/acacus rhesus, 8) from India, presented by Mr. E. Turnham; a Fennec Fox (Canzs cerdo) from Egypt, presented by Mr. J. G. Mackie ; a Mexican Skunk (Mephitis macrura) from Mexico, presented by Mr. Henry Heath Cochrane ; a Brahminy Kite (Ha/éastw tndus) from India, presented by Mr. A. Kemmis-Betty; an African Tantalus ( Zantalus zbis), a Leopard Tortoise ( Zestudo pardalzs) from East Africa, presented by Captain Dugmore ; a Canary Finch (Serénus canarius) from Madeira, presented by Mr. H. B. Hewetson; a Great Wallaroo (JZacropus robustus, 2), a Gould’s Monitor ( Varanus gould), a Black and Yellow Cyclodus (Cyclodus négroluteus) from Australia, a Yellow-headed Conure (Conurus jendaya), two Brazilian Tortoises (Zestudo tabulata) from Brazil, five Meyer’s Parrots (Peocophalus meyert), two NO. 1384, VOL. 54] NATURE 17 Alario Sparrows ( Passer alario) from South Africa, a Brown- throated Conure (Conwrus eruginosus) from South America, deposited; a Chimpanzee (Anthropopithecus troglodytes, 9) from West Africa, a Red-naped Fruit-Bat (Pteropus funereus), — Bandicoot (Perameles ) from Australia, two Spotted Tinamous (Nothura macilosa) from Buenos Ayres, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE PLANET MERCURY.—An unusually good opportunity of observing the planet Mercury with the naked eye, or with an opera-glass, will be afforded about the middle of the present month. The planet will be at its greatest eastern elongation on May 16, when it will be 22° from the sun, and will remain above the horizon for two hours and a quarter after sunset, At this time the apparent diameter of the planet will be 8’, and about 0°4 of the disc will be illuminated. On May 14, at 6 p.m., the planet will be in conjunction with the moon, Mercury being 2° 24’ to the south; at 9 p.m. on the same evening, the crescent of the two days’ moon will be about 3° N.N.E. of the planet. ComMEY Swirv 1896.—The following continued ephemeris for the new comet is from revised elements computed by Dr. Schorr for Berlin midnight :— R.A. Decl. Brightness. h. m. s. Pe ty) = May 8 2 12 41 +62 58°1 10 I 58 52 64 46°1 0°35 12 I 44 41 66 17°4 14 I 30 19 +67 33°9 0°26 The unit of brightness is that on April 16. The comet was easily visible in a three-inch telescope on April 30, when the computed brightness was 0°7. New Divisions oF SATURN’s Rincs.—In the current num- ber of the Comptes rendus, M. Flammarion gives particulars of some very interesting observations of Saturn’s rings which have been made at his observatory by M. Antoniadi during the last month. Between the Cassini division and the Crape ring, three new divisions of the ring have been noted. The darkest of these, which is easily visible when the air is transparent, nearly bisects the inner bright ring ; the fainter divisions, one on each side, are only observed with difficulty. The inner bright ring is thus divided into four zones, gradually darkening towards the planet. This is by no means the first time that divisions of this kind have been recognised. Herschel, De Vico, Bond,~ Hall, and others, have in turn observed or suspected them, but Cassini’s division is the only one which seems to be certainly permanent. M. Flammarion concludes that the fainter divisions observed on the rings are variable, and possibly dependent upon the varying attractions of the eight satellites upon the meteoritic particles of which the rings are composed. ; DETERMINATION OF THE GENERAL BRIGHTNESS OF THE Corona.—In the current number (vol. vi. No. 6) of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Mr. Joseph Lunt suggests a method by which a numerical value could be obtained for the general photographic intensity of the light of the corona during a total solar eclipse. The method consists in photographing a ‘‘sensitometer window,” consisting of twenty-five numbered squares of graduated opacities (like a Warnerke’s sensitometer, but with different values). The opacities are so adjusted that an exposure of ninety seconds to full moon-light, which approximates to the coronal light, should yield a negative showing the figure 12. The negative could be obtained either by direct contact with the “*sensitometer window” (as in lantern-slide making), or by forming an image of the ‘‘ window ” on the plate by means of a lens. The plates could be standardised by exposure to any standard artificial light or to full moon-light, according to Mr. Maunders’ suggestion, in order to reproduce the precise illumination of the sensitometer window given by the corona, The conditions of development of the negatives for comparison should be identical, and the plates used should all be of identical sensitiveness. The apparatus required 1s very simple, consisting of a box of square section, about three feet long, closed at one end bya 3-plate dark slide, and at the other by the 4-plate sensitometer, 18 NATURE [May 7, 1896 screened by a dew-cap. A diaphragm in the middle carries a lens to form an image of the sensitometer on the plate. A simpler way is to obtain the negative by direct contact, in which case the sensitometer should be screened from the general sky illumination of the horizon. OBSERVATIONS ON ISOLATED NERVE. “THE work which Dr. Waller has recently summed up in the Croonian Lecture, is an experimental study of the influence of reagents upon excitable—that is to say, living—protoplasm. The choice of nerve as the most convenient form of living matter in such an inquiry is justified by the consideration that nerve, as is now generally admitted, is practically inexhaustible. That nerve fibre, apart from its end organs, is peculiarly responsive to even slight changes of chemical condition; and, further, that with this tissue there is the advantage of a wide and regular range between minimal and maximal effects. A previous research had shown (4vaz7, 1895) that in nerve, contrary to what obtains in muscle, stimulus and response, cause and effect are propor- tional, the curve expressing their relation to one another being a straight line. Probably, however, the autographic records of these nerve experiments will afford the most convincing argument for the employment of nerve fibre as a test tissue. The main principle upon which the inquiry is based is the proposition of Du Bois-Reymond and of Hermann, that dis- turbed protoplasm is electro-negative to the normal; that excited is electro-negative to resting protoplasm. The excised and still living nerve of the frog gives off to the galvanometer a current, called by Hermann ‘‘ the current of inquiry,” which current, on stimulation of the nerve, undergoes a reversal of direction, the ‘negative variation,’ or ‘‘current of action.” Supposing the nerve to be set up so that the current of inquiry is manifested as a northward deflection of the galvanometer (the arrangement followed in these experiments), the negative varia- tion will be south. It is the magnitude of this negative variation which is taken as the index to the magnitude of chemico-physical change aroused in the nerve under various chemical conditions. To a series of stimuli of uniform intensity and duration, given at regular intervals, the nerve responds by a series of uniform de- flections or negative variations, which persist for an indefinite time in the absence of modifying agents. 5 82°0 Protoxide of iron J Oxide of titanium 8:0 Silica me So Water and loss 2'0 100'0 Of course iron sand is known in other countries besides New Zealand, and efforts have often been made to smelt it. The difficulty, however, has been that it comes down and chokes the furnace when melting begins, so that it descends to the hearth unreduced. This is got over in New Zealand by kneading it into bricks with clay, which is found close by. In this way hard and compact lumps are procured, which will stand the pressure and grinding action in travelling through the furnace. One ton 12 cwt. of iron sand is mixed with 10 ewt. of clay ; and in this 40 NATURE [May 14, 1806 way, what is.equivalent to a very rich ore is produced. The pig iron made gives an excellent analysis. It is not, however, necessary to smelt all the iron sand in this way, for a certain part of it can be mixed with fluid iron, tar being added. The liquid metal will melt and absorb the iron sand, the tar giving sufficient carbon to retain the metallic iron in a fluid state. There is, of course, a saving in cost in this method of procedure, and the metal may be run direct for castings, thus avoiding the loss in re- melting. Bar iron is made by puddling from tarred iron sand and smelted metal. In the Siemens furnace, also, the same method of procedure is followed. Figures are given in the paper as to the cost of these processes, but the most remarkable details are those referring to the quality of the product. Thus we are told that by the treatment described, bar iron, equal in quality to BBH, can be produced for £7 per ton, and wrought iron, which will give what the author truly described as ‘* the extraordinary tensile stress of 52 tons to the square inch.” One would be inclined to describe this tenacity in wrought iron, not only as extraordinary, but as almost incredible ; at any rate, one would wish to see the test authenticated by at least more than one experimenter of high reputation before accepting it as unques- tionable. This would be more especially the case if, as we understood the author to say, the elongation was 334 per cent. Mr. Walford’s paper was next taken. Its object was to describe the character of the Middle Lias ironstone of the Midlands and its organic origin, and the making of the stone and its ferruginous changes. At the conclusion of the reading of this paper the meeting adjourned until the next day. On the members again assembling on Friday morning the paper of Baron Jiiptner was the first taken, being read by Mr. H. Bennett Brough in the absence of the author. This wasa very long contribution consisting of thirty-six pages, but, as was said during the discussion which followed its reading, it was not a word too long. The subject is one of great importance, and has been far too long neglected. The want of uniformity in analysis has led to much confusion and consequent loss of money in the iron and steel industries. In a general description of the meeting, such as this, it would be impossible to do justice toa subject of this magnitude, and at present we can only make brief reference to the proposals contained in the paper, hoping to return to the question so as to deal with it at greater length ona future occasion. A large part of the paper was occupied in giving examples of discrepancies in analyses; thus, in an instance quoted, a chill roll was examined in two laboratories, and quite incredible differences were obtained. In one case the carbon was returned as 3°5 per cent., in another 2°785 per cent. Silicon in the first analysis was given at 1°3 per cent., the second laboratory gave 0°668 per cent. Other instances almost as striking were quoted by the author. What is proposed now to be done is to establish an international laboratory in Switzer- land. All the important nations are to nominate honorary directors of work. For the purposes of making analyses, how- ever, paid investigators will be necessary. Dr. Wedding, who spoke during the discussion, said that it was estimated the cost would be about £3000 a year, and he thought that if 300 of the principal iron and steel works in the world would contribute yearly £10 apiece, the work for a period of ten years could be done. Sir Lowthian Bell was of opinion that there should be no difficulty in getting this amount of money, and promised that his own works should contribute. It is perhaps unnecessary to point out that English iron and steel works are in some cases— there are, of course, notable exceptions—lamentably deficient in the scientific department. Mr. Stead, whose experience is very wide, and who speaks as a disinterested observer, said that in some establishments of considerable importance the chemist only received a salary of £100 a year. How can a man be expected, not only to work with that enthusiasm with which all scientific men must work for their labours to be effective, but to keep abreast of knowledge by the purchase of books, and subscriptions to technical or scientific societies, on such a stipend as this, which can allow no surplus after the barest necessities of life have been supplied ? Mr. Stead pointed out that technical libraries were not common enough in this country, and he would suggest that in all large manufacturing centres libraries of that nature should be instituted. This, how- ever, would not quite meet the difficulty. Abroad, especially in Germany, one finds iron and steel works have libraries of their own, the collection of books they possess being sufficiently large in most cases to be dignified by the name. Unfortunately in NO. 1385, VOL. 54] England, beyond a few elementary treatises or text-books, very little literature is seen in the laboratories, the chemist too often contenting himself with following well-known and stereotyped methods of analysis, and not troubling himself with any original work which might lead to fresh industrial developments. A good deal has been heard latelyabout German competition in the iron and steel trade, and there has been an inclination to attribute it to higher wages paid in this country. It may be, however, that there is something to be said not only against Jabour, but against capital in this matter ; and certainly German steel makers have gone ahead of those in England in many cases. We have in mind, perhaps just now more especially, the development of the basic steel industry, the invention of which originated in this country. By the exercise of greater foresight, greater enterprise, and improvement in processes, Germany has gained a commercial advantage from which England is now suffering. In the discussion that followed the reading of the paper, one or two suggestions were made which should be put on record. Prof. Arnold drew attention to the effect of segregation, of which he has met with some striking examples of late. Ina tyre examined, sulphur was in one case I per cent. ; in another sample, taken an inch and a half from the first, the sulphur was ‘043. Mr. R. A. Hadfield said that allowance should be made for previous treatment of metal, and, in considering the history of a sample, its size, previous mechanical treatment, and from what part of the ingot it was taken, should be noted. Dr. Readel was of opinion that the iron and steel industry was behind other industries in devising standard methods of analyses. The British Association Com- mission, he said, did good work, but there was the defect of want of organisation. Each member went on his own line, so that the same ground was covered more than once. An orderly scheme of procedure was the first thing necessary, certain work being allotted to different individuals; he had had, recently, occasion to look into the subject of chromium, and had found even for this metal some thirty or forty processes for de- termining its presence. What was necessary was that some one with authority should make a selection showing that which might be the most desirable to retain. Mr. Ainsworth made a suggestion which it is to be hoped will not be lost sight of. The accumulated funds of the Institute are about eight or nine thousand pounds, and with the improved management of the present day, the sum is likely to be increased at a rapid rate. Mr. Ainsworth pointed out that it is not desirable to hoard this money, and no better means could be devised for spending it than bringing out of the present chaos an orderly method of chemical analysis. The suggestion was warmly supported by the Chair- man, Sir Lowthian Bell. It may be said that chemical analysis has fallen somewhat into disfavour with iron and steel makers of late, and also with engineers, the tendency being to trust wholly to physical ex- periment, aided latterly by microscopical examination. It is certain, however, that nothing can take the place of chemistry in metallurgical research ; and the disfavour with which it is now regarded is not the result of faults inherent to the system of chemical examination, but to the imperfect manner in which it is carried out. Mr. Darby’s paper was taken next. It described a process. which promises to be of great importance in the iron and steel trade, by means of which sulphate of ammonia is obtained from producer gas without the gas being rendered unfit for steel making. For many years steel makers have had such a process in view, and experiments have been made with a view to bring it to practical shape. So far as we are aware, however, they have all hitherto resulted in failure, or, at any rate, have not been a commercial success. Mr. Darby’s experiments, however, go to show that Dr. Mond has solved the problem. We have not space to enter into details here, but must refer our readers to the very interesting paper which will be published in the Transactions, and in which the method of working the ap- paratus is shown by adiagram, Although the experiments of Mr. Darby were carried out on a practical scale, the furnace was a small one ; but this was rather against the process, as it is more difficult to work a small steel furnace, and keep the metal fluid, than a large one. The plant required for carrying out the pro- cess is undoubtedly very costly, but as the return in ammonia will enable a dividend of 25 per cent. to be paid on the outlay, there doubtless will be little difficulty in finding the money in large steel works. It is to be hoped that the English steel makers will not neglect to inquire into and consider this oppor- May 14, 1896] tunity of adding to their returns, and will not once more allow the foreigner to develop a system originally devised in this country. In the discussion on the paper, several steel makers, who had seen Mr. Darby’s plant in operation, spoke as to the excellent way in which the furnace worked when using gas which had been treated for the extraction of the ammonia. Prof. Roberts-Austen next gave a brief address on the diffu- sion of carbon in iron, he not having prepared a paper in the usual way. The subject has recently been described by the same author in the Bakerian Lecture of the Royal Society and will shortly be treated in these columns ; it is therefore unnecessary for us to go into the matter on the present occasion. The remainder of the sitting was almost wholly occupied by the reading and discussion of M. Osmond’s and Mr. Howe’s papers, the paper of M. de Benneville being taken as read. It would be impossible at the end of a report of this nature to deal with the highly controversial matters which form the subject of these two papers ; and indeed, without the introduction of the micro-sections supplied by Mr. Howe, the matter would not be intelligible. The allotropic theory of the hardening of steel, which has already caused so much discussion, did not appear to be carried very much further on Thursday last, or, at any rate, the majority of those present at the meeting did not seem to see their way much further towards the end of the problem. M. Osmond welcomes Mr. Howe asa friend and ally. He looks on the latter’s carbo-allotropic theory as not antagonistic to his own. The discussion was confined principally to Prof. Arnold and Mr. Hadfield, who are the chief opponents of the school represented principally by M. Osmond and Prof. Roberts- Austen, now, we suppose, with Mr. Howe as an ally. The summer meeting of the Institute is this year of an unusually ambitious nature, and will be held in September in Bilbao, a steamer having been chartered for the conveyance of members to that port. The vessel is the Orient liner Ormwz, which will also serve as a floating hotel for members during the meeting. A REMARKABLE DUST-STORM. "THE American journal Zéectrécéty for February 19 contains an account of an unusual kind of storm which occurred in January of this year. The details were communicated by L. H. Korty, telegraph superintendent of the Union Pacific System, of Omaha, Neb. It was on the telegraph lines of this system between Weber and Peterson, Utah, that considerable difficulty was experienced in working, owing, asit is stated, to the peculiar character of the storm in question. The description is as follows :— “On the afternoon of January 16, a very peculiar rain-storm occurred in Eastern Utah and Western Wyoming, along the Union Pacific Railway, extending from Ogden, Utah, to Evanston, Wyoming, a distance of 75 miles. The rain con- sisted of salt water or brine. The clothing of persons exposed to the shower had, when dry, the appearance of having been sprinkled with whitewash. The windows in the stores and residences at Evanston were so encrusted with salt deposit as to make it impossible to look out. Dr. C. T. Gamble, of Almy, Wyo., a gentleman of undoubted trustworthiness, states that the storm deposited in Almy alone 27 tons of salt. ‘ This assertion may appear fabulous,’ says the doctor, ‘ but nevertheless is true, as it has been proved by carefully estimating the quantity on a given surface in different parts of the camp. The area of Almy is something over nine miles, and three tons to the mile would make 27 tons of the sodium deposited. The salt if collected and sacked would make ten ordinary wagon-loads. Those who doubt the above statements, go to figuring.’ ‘* The salt-storm lasted about two hours. After it had ceased raining, the sun came out, and as fast as things dried they turned a whitjsh colour, and it was found that everything was covered with a thick coating of salt. Cars, buildings, trees, telegraph poles, insulators and wires all looked ghastly in their white coats. Through Weber Cajon the salt storm turned into snow later. A peculiar effect of the salt deposit on the telegraph poles, arms and insulators through Weber Cajion was noticed in operating the wires. During the day, when the sun came out, the wires worked clear and without interruption, while at night, when it turned cold, the wires were rendered unserviceable, which was attributed to the fact that the snow, having melted, NO. 1385, VOL. 54] NATURE 41 some during the daytime and again freezing at night, created a moisture in conjunction with the salt deposit underneath, so as to entirely destroy the insulation of the wires. After several unsuccessful attempts to remove the cause of the trouble, an engine with a pump and long hose was sent over the line, and the deposit thoroughly washed off the poles and fixtures for a distance of 40 miles. The wires of the Rio Grande Western Railroad between Ogden and Salt Lake City were slightly affected in the same way, as were also those of the Southern Pacific for a short distance west of Ogden.” It has been suggested, as an explanation of the facts, that the salt was raised in vapour over Great Salt Lake, and was carried by the wind and deposited over the country for many miles to the eastward. This, of course, could not have happened, as salt could not be raised in vapour. It seems likely, however, that the white residue may have had the appearance of salt, but was not actually salt. Would not a more reasonable explanation be that fine white dust in the region about the lake may have been carried into the upper regions by the wind, and after traversing some miles brought to earth again owing to the condensation of the vapour surrounding them ? SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. THs month’s magazines contain numerous articles on scientific topics or with scientific bearings. Rontgen photography naturally forms the theme of several contributions. The Quarterly Review contains a short descriptive account of methods employed, results obtained, and theories propounded, and even blossoms into illustrations reproduced from radio- graphs taken by Mr. A. A. C. Swinton. The Century Magazine has ‘*a Symposium on the Réntgen Rays,” the writers being T. C. Martin, R. W. Wood, Elihu Thomson, Sylvanus P. Thompson, J. C. McLennan, W. J. Morton, and Thomas A. Edison. The result of this composite article is vain repetition of experimental conditions, and a confusion of tongues; Prof. Thompson referring to pictures obtained by Rontgen rays as ‘‘sciographs,” while other writers describe them as “‘ shadowgraphs,” and all the illustrations are designated **cathodgraphs.” Dr. St. George Mivart writes on ‘“‘ Life from the Lost Atlantis” in the Fortnéghtly, his paper being concerned chiefly in pointing out the significance of the discovery of Cavolestes obscurus, a still-existing survivor of Ameghino’s Epanorthide, and the representative of a new family of recent marsupials, described by Mr. Oldfield Thomas before the Zoological Society on December 17, 1895. “This little, apparently insignificant, mouse-like creature,” to quote the author, ‘‘turns out to be an animal of extreme interest, for it affords strong evidence that what we now know as South America and Australia must have been connected, and the Atlantic at least bridged by dry land, if even an Antarctic continent may not have existed, of which South America and Australia are divergent and diverse outgrowths.” Mr. G. E. Boxall puts forward, in the Contemporary, the view that the vast sedimentary plains of Australia, which thirty years ago were so “‘ rotten” that no stock could be kept upon them, have been trampled into compactness by large herds of cattle and sheep. He gives reasons for believing the dry plains of Western Australia to be similar to those described by Oxley and others as once existing in the delta of the Murray, where about one hundred millions of sheep are now pastured, besides large herds of cattle and horses; and therefore he thinks that the present sandy plains will sooner or later be consolidated and rendered secure for stock, He concludes : “ Ses ame » 45 Societies andjAttademies% =... ..' s Mepeeer sa) 40 Diary of Sociemes® . salir ec) +). =.) inns 48 Books, Pamphlet, and Serials Received ...... 48 WATORE THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1896. SOCIOLOGY. The Principles of Sociology ; an Analysis of the Pheno- mena of Association and of Social Organisation. By Franklin Henry Giddings, M.A., Professor of Sociology in Columbia University in the City of New York. Pp. xvi + 476. (New York and London: Macmillan and Co., 1896.) ITH extensive learning and a good deal of original speculation, Prof. Giddings has written a very useful general introduction to sociology. The scope and nature of this recently established science are not yet well understood, and hitherto it has been difficult to refer to any one book from which they could be learnt ; for Comte is out of date; Mr. Spencer’s great work is still incomplete, though already rather terrifying in its pro- portions ; and the greater part of the information obtain- able on the subject must be sought in innumerable mono- graphs on primitive law, marriage, religion, art, in volumes, essays, and the journals of learned societies. In the present volume, however, the most interesting lines of sociological mquiry are indicated, and the best ascertained results are collected, critically examined, and scientifically arranged within a moderate compass. The preliminary discussions of the province of sociology and its logical methods of research, attest the care with which the author has prepared for his task by studying the physical sciences. Some passages in chapter iii., on method, may perhaps be considered fanciful, but they do not prevent his coming to sound conclusions. The second book is descriptive and classificatory, deal- ing with the facts of population, its growth; diffusion, and localisation ; with the social mind, its traditions and standards (there is no mysticism about it) ; with social composition according to tribes and nations, and social constitution or organisation for government, industry, &c. Then follows an investigation of the history of society ; the place of man’s origin, the origin of races, and of the great groups of ideas that constitute law, art, religion, &c.; the growth of the tribe in its metronymic and patronymic forms, and finally of civilised peoples. The fourth and last book formulates the ultimate causes and laws of social evolution, as objectively a conflict of physical forces tending to equilibrium, and subjectively the production of personality and of forms of association that partly result from and partly determine the characters of human beings. The treatment throughout is scientific : it is well pro- portioned, and fully illustrated from history and anthro- pology. If fault must be found, it may perhaps be said that there are some needless pages in Book iii. chapter ii., where Prof. Giddings tries to frame hypotheses as to the birthplace of our race and the origin of races ; inquiries which, in the present state of our knowledge, can only lead to a submerging of the halfpennyworth of fact by floods of speculation. And the first chapter of Book iv., on the physical interpretation of the social process, should be much expanded and illustrated. As it stands, it is intelligible only to trained readers. NO. 1386, VOL. 54] 49 There are also, of course, in so comprehensive a work, a good many disputable positions, two of which may be selected for special comment. In Book iii. chapter iv., on demogenic association, Prof. Giddings distinguishes three stages in the growth of civilised societies: (1) the Mili- tary-Religious, (2) the Liberal-Legal, (3) the Economic- Ethical. Noticing previous attempts to demarcate such epochs of progress, he complains that Hegel’s doctrine of successive steps in the acquisition of freedom or self- realisation, and Comte’s “law of the three states,” are alike one-sidedly subjective, and fail to give any account of the structural changes of society. Mr. Spencer, again, recognises only two stages, the military and industrial, corresponding on the whole to (1) and (3) of the author’s own divisions. But this criticism rests upon an over- sight with regard to Comte. Turning to Comte’s chap- ters on sociology, it will be seen that the indication of the military and industrial stages of society is due to him. He regards them as naturally coinciding respec- _ tively with the theological and positive stages of ex- planation ; and, further, he indicates an intermediate phase of social organisation similar to Prof. Giddings’ (2), the Liberal-Legal, and naturally coinciding with the age of metaphysical explanation. This intermediate stage, however, in both organisation and explanation, he treats as essentially transitional and as wanting the re- lative stability of militarism and industrialism. How comparatively unimportant it is in universal history (though important to us who have not yet escaped from it), may be seen at p. 301 of this work, where its extent in modern history is indicated as dating from the Renaissance : 500 years! Merely a list of revolutions ! Mr. Spencer seems to be fully justified in not giving to this unstable period the rank of those forms of culture of which one endured, and the other may endure, for thousands of generations. As for Comte, he has been adulated and repudiated enough, and would now gain much by getting bare justice. Again, in his first chapter, Prof. Giddings, after ob- serving that sociology, having for its object phenomena which, on the one hand, may be viewed as a redistribu- tion of matter and motion, and, on the other, as effects of knowledge and volition, must seek its explanations in the co-operation of physical and psychical causes, according to laws subjective and objective, coinciding and verifying one another, goes on to say that he accepts Mr. Spencer’s objective interpretation of the social pro- cess, as.a “formal evolution through the equilibration of energy,” but that an adequate conception of the pro- cess on the subjective side is still wanting. He then offers to supply the want thus :— “The original and elementary subjective fact in society is the consciousness of kind. By this term I mean a state of consciousness in which any being, whether low or high in the scale of life, recognises another conscious being as of like kind with itself” (p. 17.) But surely this cannot be the fact he is in quest of ; for the “consciousness of kind” is mainly a fact of per- ception; whereas what he needs is something corre- sponding to the physical energy that moulds societies considered objectively, and this subjectively can only be a fact of volition. The fact that is wanted, moreover, must not only correspond with the physical cause of the D 59 f NATURE [May 21, 1896 ; social process, but also in its consequences with the physical result, namely, the establishment of a moving equilibrium. Both these requirements are met by our old- fashioned friend utility ; desires are the psychical causes ; and the maximum satisfaction with the nearest approach to equal conditions, may one day correspond with the nearest approach to equilibrium. No doubt the con- sciousness of kind is a condition of the development of social life, as in the phenomena of sympathy and (to take the social process pretty early) in bisexual generation. But it may be presumed that the consciousness of kind, sympathy, and bisexual generation are all subordinate to objective utility (survival), or they could never have existed at all; and the connection of subjective with objective utility through the laws of pleasure and pain is well known. It is a pleasure to add that this unpromising theory at the outset of the book does very little harm in the sequel, and by no means prevents the authors knowledge and penetration from producing very interesting and in- structive work. CARVETH READ. COCOA CONNOTATIONS. Cocoa: All about It. By Historicus. Pp.99. (London : Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., Limited, 1896.) N this book the author has managed to justify his title, for if he has not reproduced a// that has been written and said about cocoa, he has strung together a large number of extracts from early records referring to its history, cultivation, and uses. About one-half the book is devoted to these subjects, and the remainder to the manufacture, the value of cocoa as food, its adultera- tions, and finally a few pages to the subject of vanilla as a flavouring agent to chocolate. The chief interest of the book, however, will be found in the first two chapters, namely, “The History and Cultivation of the Cocoa Plant,” and “History of the Use of Cocoa”; and we say this advisedly, for the author has apparently been at some pains in collating these extracts, which do not appear in every essay on cocoa, while cocoa manufacture, its value as food, and its adulterations have been the subject of many themes since it has become such a popular and wide- spreading beverage. It may be a surprise to some persons to know that though cocoa is a comparatively modern drink with us, it was well known to the early Mexicans. The author says: “Our knowledge of cocoa as an article of diet dates from the discovery of the Western World in 1494 by Columbus, who, we are told, took home with him samples of the article; and from the subjugation of Mexico by Cortez in 1521. History informs us that the Spaniards were the first who tasted chocolate, which was part of their spoil in the conquest of Mexico.” An additional tribute to the early use of cocoa is given from a MS. in the British Museum, “written in Old English characters and entitled ‘A Voyage to the West Indies and New Spain’ (Yucatan) made by John Chilton in the year 1560. He says: ‘So we were provided of victualls till we came where Townes were in the province of Soconusco, where groweth Cacau, w* the Christianes carrye from thence unto NO. 1386, VOL. 54] Nova Hispaniola because y‘ will not grow in a cold countrye. . . . Their chiefest marchandize is Cacau.’” It is not a little remarkable that one of the finest qualities of cocoa at the present time is produced at Soconusco on the coast of Guatemala. The following extract from an account of the rise and growth of the West Indies, written in 1690, is given as showing an early attempt and failure by the English to cultivate cocoa. “Cocoa,” it is said, “is now a commodity to be regarded in our colonies, though at first it was the principal invitation to the peopling of Jamaica, for whose walks the Spaniards left behind them there, when we conquered it, produced such prodigious profit with so little trouble that Sir Thos. Modiford and several others set up their rests to grow wealthy therein, and fell to planting much of it, which the Spanish slaves had always foretold would never thrive, and so it happened, for though it promised fair, and throve finely for five or six years, yet still at that age when so long hopes and cares had been wasted upon it, withered and died away by some unaccountable cause, though they imputed it to a black-worm or grub which they found clinging to its roots, and did it not almost constantly die before, would come into perfection in fifteen years’ growth and last till thirty, thereby becoming the most profitable tree in the world, there having been £200 sterling made in one year of an acre of it. But the old trees being gone by age, and few new thriving as the Spanish negroes foretold, little or none now is produced worthy the care and pains in planting and expecting it. Those slaves gave a superstitious reason for its not thriving, many religious rites being performed at its planting by the Spaniards, which these slaves were not permitted to see. But it is probable that where a nation, as they, removed the art of making cochineal and curing vanilloes into their island provinces, which were the commodities of those islands in the Indians’ time, and forbade the opening of any mines in them for fear some maritime nation might be invited to the conquering of them, so they might likewise in their transplanting cocoa from the Caracas and Guatemala conceal wilfully some secret in its planting from their slaves, lest it might teach them to set up for themselves, by being able to produce a com- modity of such excellent use for the support of man’s life, with which alone and water some persons have been necessitated to live ten weeks together without finding the least diminution of health or strength.” The value in which cocoa is now held as an article of diet, seems from the foregoing paragraph to have been established so long ago as 1690, and its cultivation and consumption still goes on at a marvellous rate. The processes of collecting the pods, extracting the seeds, fermenting, drying, &c., which are more or less generally known, are carefully detailed in the succeeding pages, and it is pointed out that if well cured a cocoa-bean should have the outer skin hard, crisp, and separating easily from the seed inside, which should be firm, bright, and should break readily on pressure, forming the familiar cocoa-nibs of commerce. On the subject of adulteration, to which cocoa and chocolate lend themselves so readily, and to which so much attention has of late years been drawn, it is curious to note the following paragraph. “So far back as 1640 in‘A Curious Treatise of the Nature and Quality of Chocolate,’ by Antonio Colmenero, which was translated from the Spanish into English, there are some remarkable statements as to the value of chocolate, but the writer recognises the mischief that May 21, 1896] adulteration had already done. He says: ‘Those who mix maize in the chocolate do very ill, because these grains do beget a very melancholy humour, and those which mix it in this confection, do it only for their profit.’” The book is illustrated by numerous full-page and smaller illustrations, and is well printed on thick, glazed paper. ; THE CHEMISTRY OF ENGINEERING. Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers. A Prac- tical Text-book. By Bertram Blount, F.I.C., F.C.S., and A. G. Bloxam, F.I.C., F.C.S. Volume I. Chemistry of Engineering, Building, and Metallurgy. Pp.x + 244. 35 illustrations. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., Limited, 1896.) HIS book gives a general view of chemical tech- nology, and is intended for the use of engineers, managers of works, and students. It is meant to be read, and not to be treated as a book of reference, and therein differs from the larger works which have already covered the same ground. Theauthors have confined themselves to explaining the general chemical principles underlying each process, working details and exact descriptions of plant being omitted. Thus the manager of works en- gaged on a particular process can probably, by perusing this book, find out as much as he desires about any other typical process, although it is perhaps unlikely that he will learn from it much regarding his own business. It is to be regretted that in pursuance of their plan of avoiding all semblance of a book of reference, the authors have in no case indicated where further information can be obtained to supplement their own accounts. The volume is divided into two parts, the first part dealing with the chemistry of engineering and building, and the second with metallurgy. These two parts are very unequal in merit, the first being what it claims to be, a practical treatise, which will doubtless be much appreciated by manufacturers. In this part the accounts given of fuels, and particularly that of gaseous fuel, are useful summaries, and the chapters on steam-raising and on lubricants contain a considerable amount of practical information. These sections will be of value in enabling an owner of machinery or user of power to detect causes of waste, and to realise when saving may be effected by calling in expert assistance. The part devoted to metallurgy is much less satis- factory. It is evident that, as the attempt has been made to compress an account of the whole art into 104 pages, only the barest outlines of the various processes could be given. Among the unfortunate results of this are that the Patio process for extracting silver from its ores, and the cyanide process for extracting gold, are each dismissed in half a page, though in these cases the chemical actions are complicated and the mechanical arrangements of secondary importance. Such paragraphs serve no useful purpose. There are more mistakes in this part than should have been allowed to creep in, this constituting another point of difference between the two parts. For example, in describing the wet process of copper extrac- tion, the reason for preventing the temperature from rising much above 38° C. is incorrectly stated, the true NO. 1386, VoL. 54] NATURE oo reason being that the production of ferric saltsis favoure by higher temperatures ; moreover, a little-used method of keeping down the percentage of ferric salts in the solution is given, while no allusion is made to the ordinary one, viz. the passage of the liquid through a layer of cupriferous pyrites, rich in copper. Again, on p. 214, sul- phurous acid is given as one of the agents used to precipitate gold from the solutions obtained in the chlorination process, the fact being that it is only employed to prepare solutions for the passage of sulphuretted hydrogen, which is not mentioned. It may be a hard saying, but there is little doubt that the whole book would have been improved if the part on metallurgy had been left out. Space could then have been found to expand here and there the first part, which, excellent as it is, might thus have been made still more useful. OUR BOOK SHELF. Elementary Practical Physics. By William Watson, B.Sc. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) Elementary Practical Chemistry. By G. S. Newth, F.I.C. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) WE have long deplored the unfortunate division between theoretical and practical chemistry in many schools and classes, and have been convinced that, alike for educa- tional and utilitarian purposes, physics was a neglected instrument ; therefore, very heartily do we welcome the new movement of which these books are a manifestation. Each volume is described on its title-page as a “laboratory manual for use in organised science schools.” Each is written to the new syllabus of the South Kensing- ton Science and Art Department, and each gives excel- lent directions for setting up (and often for constructing) apparatus, and for taking observations to demonstrate the chief phenomena, and to verify the fundamental laws, of chemistry and physics respectively. Inthe physics we are glad to see that nearly all the experiments are of a quantitative character ; in the chemistry this is far less often the case, partly owing, doubtless, to the nature of the subject. In both works the experiments are judiciously chosen, carefully described, and well illustrated, and in many cases strikingly original. One criticism of principle may be made. Mr. Newth says: “In a text-book it is almost inevitable that in giving such directions as will lead a student on to the discovery of a fact, the fact itself shall be stated.” He may be right in this; but if so, it appears to afford an ‘argument against the use of such text-books in the laboratory at all, for, speaking generally, the most valuable exercise of all for the student is the study of his recorded observations, and the endeavour to deduce therefrom the property or law they demonstrate. Is not the getting up of a proposition of Euclid a smaller intel- lectual feat than the solution of a “rider”? Especially does this principle of research appear to be applicable to the laws of elementary physics ; but Mr. Watson apparently endorses Mr. Newth’s view. With this reservation, we cordially recommend both these volumes to the notice of teachers of elementary science. From the point of view taken, the work has been well done in both cases, and the books reflect credit alike on authors and publishers. Ga. Dt A Text-Book of the Science and Art of Bread-Making. By William Jago, F.I.C., F.C.S. Pp. 618. (London : Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, and Co., 1895.) THE practical application of science to the arts and trades has been one of the most notable features of the present century, with the almost universal result of 52 raising the standard of the articles made, and at the same time of improving the prosperity and health of those who are employed in making them. The volume now before us shows the application of science to the art of bread- making, and a glance at its size and contents will at once show all those who are entering into this business that there is a very large amount of scientific knowledge required to equip a man efficiently to succeed in the keen competition of the present day. The chemistry of the subject is very fully dealt with, with valuable suggestions for practical work; and we have also a chapter on bacteriology, in which the history of our present knowledge of fermentation is clearly given up to date. Fermentation is, of course, an important process in bread-making, and a chapter on technical researches in this subject is given. The use of the microscope is also pointed out in the examination of different starches, &c. In addition to these principles, which may be said to form the groundwork of the subject, the more practical side also finds a place, such as commercial testing of wheat and flours, different methods of baking, both by machinery and otherwise ; and, lastly, there are a few paragraphs on adulterations and the methods for recognising them. Numerous good illustrations are scattered throughout the book. This work will doubtless appeal to all those connected with the business of bread-making, and we imagine it will also find a place on the book-shelves of many medical and other scientific men. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NAVURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. | Koch’s Gelatine Process for the Examination of Drinking Water. Dr. EDWARD FRANKLAND, in a discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on February 21 (see NarurReE, April 30), paid a just tribute to the work of the late Dr. Angus Smith, for he stated that Dr. Koch’s invention was first made known and practised in England in 1882 by Dr. Angus Smith. On the other hand, Dr. Percy Frankland has put forward a claim, in his work on ‘* Micro-organisms in Water ” (page 119), that Koch’s method was introduced into this country by himself —a claim reiterated in his evidence before the Royal Com- mission on Metropolitan Water Supply at Question 11099 (Prof. Dewar). ‘TI believe you tell us that you were the first person in this country who adopted the Koch method, and applied it to the London Water Supply?” ‘‘ Yes, that is so.” As I was scientific assistant to the late Dr. Angus Smith, and worked with him on Dr. Koch’s gelatine method, I should like to state that not only was the method applied by Dr. Angus Smith to the London Water Supply in February 1883, but also to a variety of waters from different parts of the country, The results of Dr. Angus Smith’s work are to be found in the second Report of the Local Government Board R.P.P. Act, 1876. Ellerslie, Alderley Edge, May 6. FRANK SCUDDER. I aM much indebted to Mr. Scudder for furnishing an oppor- tunity for calling attention to a misapprehension which appears to exist In some quarters as to the time and manner in which Dr. Koch’s method of water examination by the process of gelatine- plate-culture was introduced into this country, as but for his letter I should not have thought it worth while to discuss a matter which must be sufficiently well known to all who are really conversant with the development of bacteriological inquiry in Great Britain during the past fifteen years. In the first place, I would point out that in making the statements referred to by Mr. Scudder, I did so with the full cognisance of the late Dr. Angus Smith’s work as published by him in his second Report to the Local Government Board, and in an article of his which appeared in the Sanztary Record in 1883. In this work I was so much interested that I at once, in the same year, set NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 21, 1896 about applying the method described by Dr. Angus Smith to- a number of the samples of London and other waters which were being subjected to analysis in my private house at the time. These experiments yielded, however, such indefinite and unintelligible results that I entirely abandoned Dr. Smith’s process, and it was not until the summer of the following year (1884) that I became really acquainted with Koch’s method of plate-cultivating bacteria through the now classical demonstra- tions given by Mr, Watson Cheyne at the Health Exhibition.. It was this method of gelatine-plate-culture which I then im- mediately applied to the investigation of a number of problems connected with the bacterial purification of water by filtration, precipitation, &c., both on the laboratory and on the industrial scale, and the results of which I placed in the hands of the Royal Society in May 1885, in a paper entitled ‘‘ The Removal. of Micro-organisms from Water.” It is this paper which I believe to be the first published account in this country of the application of what is now universally understood as ‘* Koch’s gelatine-plate-process” to the examination of water, and the first to contain numerical determinations of the bacteria present in a given volume of the various waters supplied to London. In the autumn of the same year (1885) I undertook, at the request of the late Sir Francis Bolton, then Water Examiner for the Metropolis, to make for the Local Government Board regular monthly examinations by this process of the various waters, both before and after filtration, supplied by the several London Water Companies, and the results of these were regularly published in the monthly reports issued by the Local Govern- ment Board. That I do not stand alone in viewing Dr. Angus Smith’s method and that of Dr. Koch as distinct, will be apparent from the following words, extracted from Dr. Smith’s above-mentioned Report to the Local Government Board :—‘‘I do not know, even now, if I employ the method which Dr. Koch would con- sider the best, but the book on the subject promised by himself and his coadjutor not having appeared, I consider myself liberty to proceed with my inquiries” ; and in point of fact, if any competent bacteriologist will take the trouble to read Dr. Angus Smith’s report, he will see that although both processes of course involve the use of gelatine, they are in many important respects widely divergent. In the first place, the medium employed by Dr. Angus Smith contained gelatine only, and was destitute of the nutrient constituents—meat-broth and peptone ; so that the appearance of colonies in his process would thus partly depend upon the chemical composition of the water, a condition of things which tends to defeat the object in view, viz. the discovery of the living as distinguished from the dead and unorganised matter in the water. Indeed Dr. Angus Smith distinctly deprecates rendering the medium more nutritive, e.g. by the addition of sodium phosphate and sugar, which he employed in some of his experiments. On the other hand, one of the cardinal principles of Koch’s method is the use of as highly nutrient a medium as possible, so as to render the cultiva- tion results absolutely independent of the chemical composition of the water. Again, of fundamental importance in the Koch method is the cultivation in such a thin stratum of the solid medium that all parts of it shall be practically under identical conditions and plentifully supplied with oxygen. Dr. Angus Smith, on the other hand, cultivated in test-tubes eight inches in depth, and the disadvantage of this he appears to have him- self realised, as he points out that the cultures of very impure waters suffer from want of oxygen in the depth, and thus lead to erroneous results. In fact I have failed to find in Dr. Angus Smith’s publications any mention whatsoever of cultivation on plates or their equivalents in any shape or form, which I hold to be the essence of the process which bears the name of Koch, and to which modern bacteriology is so profoundly indebted. Without, therefore, in any way wishing to detract from the interest attaching to Dr. Angus Smith’s independent investiga- tions on the application of gelatine to water examination, it appears to me that as he seems not to have been acquainted with what is known and described in text-books as Koch’s method of water examination, he cannot obviously be said to have introduced it into this country. Indeed, I cannot personally find any more justification for the statement that Dr. Angus Smith practised Koch’s method of gelatine-plate-culture in 1882, than there would be for saying that Hero drove a steam locomotive in Alexandria more than a century before the Christian era. Percy F, FRANKLAND. Mason College, Birmingham, May 12. May 21, -1896} NATURE a -On the Action of Réntgen Rays and Ultra-violet Light on Electric Sparks, In Nature of April 30, the writer of ‘“ Recent Work with Roéntgen Rays” has not exactly described the results of our experiments, published in the Aendéconti dell’? Accademia det Lincet. We had formerly found that the sparking distance between two electrodes, in a shunt-circuit on the discharge of an induction -coil, which illuminates a Crookes’ tube, is strongly diminished if the Réntgen rays sent from the tube fall upon the positive electrode. The phenomenon is very interesting, as it is the reverse of the phenomenon discovered by Hertz, in which the ultra-violet light acts on the sparking distance in lengthening it, when falling on the negative pole. On subsequent experiments, we found that when the sparking distance was the same as that used with Réntgen rays, the ultra- violet light acted exactly in the same way, and the passive pole —so to say—was then the positive one. So far we had succeeded in reversing the phenomenon dis- covered by Hertz, and further investigated by Wiedemann, Ebert, Elster and Geitel, and had shown the parallelism of the two radiations as to their impeditive action on the spark. But on diminishing the sparking distance, when the ultra- violet light has a facilitating action, we have shown that the R6ntgen rays would provoke the passing of the spark. In the last case the passive pole—?.e. on which the radiation must fall —is in both cases the negative. So taking as electrodes two spheres of amalgamated brass, 52 mm. in diameter, when the sparking distance was below 30 mm., the Réntgen rays and the ultra-violet light provoke the passing of the spark when falling on the negative electrode. When, on the contrary, the distance was more than 30 mm., both radiations act in an impeditive way when falling on the positive pole. This result is quite different to that referred to in the cited article, in which it is said that the simultaneous actions of the Réntgen rays and the ultra-violet light could be made to neutralise each other. From our experiments it follows, on the contrary, that the action of the two radiations is in every respect identical. “We willdescribe a method by which the action of the Réntgen rays on the spark is very clearly demonstrated. s, S’ are the terminals of the secondary of an induction coil. In front of the portion of the tube on which the kathode rays fall Ss Ss’ s a thin aluminium plate 20 cm. square, in connection with the negative electrode of the Crookes’ tube ; whilst the positive is connected with a sphere so that the sparks between the plate and the sphere take place in the direction of propagation of the Rontgen rays, to which the aluminium plate is transparent. The plate is connected to the earth. With this apparatus the length of the spark can be made four times greater when the Réntgen rays are screened before falling on the aluminium plate. On diminishing the intensity of the current in the primary so as to conveniently shorten the sparking distance, the inverse phenomenon can be obtained, so that the spark does not pass when the Rontgen rays are screened. NO. 1386, VOL. 54] Our present researches aim at the study. of the alteration of the nature of the discharge when the spark is under the action of the Rontgen rays. A. SELLA. , , Q. MAJORANA, Istituto fisico della Universita di Roma, May 3. Rontgen Ray Phenomena. AY one of my demonstrations last week two tubes failed to act. They were both of the kind which depend for their action on a piece of platinum placed within, and from which after bombard- ment by kathode rays the Réntgen rays take origin. A glance at the tubes showed that owing to the unusual strength of spark the platinums within them were red-hot at the point of impact. Before the demonstration the tubes had been in good working order. I considered they had broken down, but, on returning home, tried them with the spark from my own apparatus, with which they had before answered well. I was somewhat astonished to find them giving off Réntgen rays rather more freely than when first tried. This tends to show that Réntgen rays are not given off by platinum heated above a certain temperature. I think this has already been suggested, but I have not seen it cor- roborated. Following up the idea of reinforcing the effect of the Rontgen rays by placing a fluorescent screen under a sensitive film on celluloid, the celluloid side being next the screen to prevent *orain,” and having tried screens of barium platino-cyanide, potassium platino-cyanide, calcium tungstate, natural scheelite, artificial scheelite (Edison’s), fluor-spar and calcium fluoride, I find that potassium platino-cyanide and artificial scheelite alone produce any effect through celluloid. Barium platino- cyanide, placed underneath, gave no effect either in contact with the sensitive film itself or through celluloid, but the films were not sensitive to yellow, and this salt gives yellow fluor- -escence. The effect with potassium platino-cyanide was decidedly the best. Chard, May 3. J. WILLIAM GIFFORD. Alpengluhen. : Arrer the shadows of the lower mountains have swept up past the tops of the higher snow peaks, z.e. after the sun has set upon these last, and as the general light of the sky fades, the contrast between the illumination of the snow and of the sky usually increases. The westerly-facing snow peaks stand out against the darkened sky, and gradually change in tint. Very often the most noticeable change is to a clear greenish- white. But sometimes there is a period during which they have a faint rose or crimson glow. This is the true Alpengliihen ; often confused by tourists with the ordinary rose-coloured illumination preceding the setting of the sun. I see (NATURE, vol. lili. p. 588) that it has been suggested that this afterglow is due to what practically amounts to a second rising of the sun upon the high snow, owing to a peculiar arrangement of layers of hot and cold air in the atmosphere. This may be so; but it is rather a startling theory, and should be tested by observations from, say, the higher or lower obser- vatories of Mont Blanc, simultaneously with observations of the Alpenglithen made from below anywhere to the west. A reappearance of the sun would be an interesting sight for the higher observer. In the meantime, my own observations of some twelve or thirteen summers would lead me to suggest the following explanation. In the first place, I do not think that the afterglow is nearly as vivid as an observer believes. To the eye, the stars ‘‘come out,” and the moon becomes almost dazzling, as the general light of the sky fades ; and both ‘‘ fade” as day breaks. Next, I noticed the following during five months of uninter- rupted observations of sunsets in the plains of Argentina. On some fine evenings, there was left, as daylight faded, a vivid line o¢ band (of uneven thickness) of intense crimson colour in the west. This was so strong and so well defined that it lit up the westerly face of the estancia with crimson, and actually threw a fairly sharp shadow of the horizontal gutter. Vertical poles, &c., had of course no shadow ; the source was too long in a horizontal direction. This crimson streak did not appear always, by any means. The westerly sky itself often passed through various tints of a clear greenish-blue. It seems to me that, considering the snow heights facing the 54 west, what has been pointed out concerning the fading of the rest of the sky, the comparative localisation of light and colour in the west, and the illusion as to brightness that occurs when the background fades, the phenomenon of Alpengliihen, and that of the greenish illumination so often seen, can be accounted for without the help of the startling hypothesis quoted. But it would be more satisfactory if observations could be made from above. Would M. Vallot sacrifice himself and spend some nights up in the observatories that he directs ? R.N.E. College, Devonport. W. LARDEN. The Positions of Retinal Images. Tue thanks of your psychological readers are due to Mrs. Ladd Franklin for having, in her letter published in your number of February 13, called attention to Sch6n’s experiments, which, as she says, have been unaccountably overlooked. I have in consequence been repeating the experiment which Mrs. Franklin describes, but so far with purely negative results. Although some of the observers gave answers which might hastily have been interpreted as confirmations of Sch6n’s illusion, a further analysis showed conclusively that no one on whom I have experimented, so far, perceived it. Allow me to indicate one or two points in Mrs. Franklin’s letter which seem to require elucidation. She writes as if the object looked at in the experiment ‘‘ consists of a single bright point.” But surely the point H in her diagram—the fixation point—was a bright point as well as 0 or 0’? In Schén’s experiments the apparent distance of O or 0’ was judged relatively to H (which was a stick of phosphorus), by the “* stereoscopic (or pseudoscopic) effect,” and his explanation of the illusion was that we (unconsciously) judge as if the image actually produced on the right retina had been produced on the left, and wce versa. The image on each retina consists of two bright points, but cannot strictly be called a ‘‘double image,” since the bright points are produced by two distinct objects—by the phosphorus at H, and by the light proceeding from 0’ or 0. If Schén’s explanation is correct, then, supposing the light really proceeds from 0’, and when the ray 0/7” is darkened appears to come from 0, the observer ought to say the object appeared to be not merely as far off as H, but a Zovg way behind it. Further, if the ray 0’ 7 is darkened instead of 0’ 7” there ought to be no illusion—he should say the object appears much nearer than H (¢.e. still at 0’); and if either ray is cut off altogether, he will have no reason for judging the object to be at 0’, but will probably judge it to be further back—where the source of light actually is. In my experiments, so far, none of the observers have made any distinction between cases where the ray 0’ 7’ was darkened and those where the ray 0’ /’ was ; but if either of them was darkened considerably, they answered just as they did when one of them was totally extinguished ; judging the object to be about where the source of light actually was—which was about the same distance as the phosphorus mark H, and very much nearer than the point 0 would have been. I hope to continue the experiments, if possible until I get a positive result, and should be glad therefore to hear some further details of Mrs. Franklin’s experiments, especially with reference to the points I have brought forward, either privately or through your columns. EpwaArp T. DIxon. 4 Cranmer Road, Cambridge, April 17. Colour Variations in Ducks and Pigeons. Apour a year ago you published a short article by Mr. Francis Galton (April 11, 1895, vol. li. p. 570), in which he urged the desirability of making careful records of all cases of ‘‘ sports” isudden variations in domesticated animals, &c. Two such sports having arisen recently under my own observation, one in ducks and one in pigeons, I write to place the facts before your Feaders. (1) Ducks.—In January 1894, I bought in Beyrout market a drake of the common ‘‘ Mallard” colours and four ducks, two of normal wild-duck colour, one pure white, and one black, splashed with white. From these ducks I raised, the same season, thirty- six ducklings; and, from eggs given by a friend, nine more. Concerning the latter, nothing need be said at present, except that their own mother was of a very dark, dingy brown, and the ducklings were nearly black in the down. Of the thirty-six ducklings hatched from my own ducks’ eggs, twelve or thirteen NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 21, 1896. (I neglected to note the exact number at the time) were different in colour from their olive-green brethren and from anything I had seen before, being of a beautiful pale fawn colour above, shading into canary-yellow beneath, with darker pencillings and shadings on the sides of the head and back, and with the normal, sym- metrical series of three pairs of light marks on the upper surface, distributed just as in normal, olive-green ducklings. The entire set of these pale ducklings proved to be females, and their plumage, when adult, was a pretty yellowish or sandy buft colour, with darker shadings, due to a brown streak down the middle of each of the contour-feathers. The speculum on the wing gave mostly sky-blue reflections, instead of the usual metallic green of common ducks. Two only of the dozen (or thirteen) differed perceptibly from the others, being of wnéform cinnamon-brown colour, with white throats. Five of these pale ducks were kept and allowed to breed, viz. one cinnamon-brown ‘and four yellow ones. In addition, my stock during the season of 1895 consisted of three of the original old ducks (one white, one black, and one normal) ; three normal- coloured young ducks related to the pale ones (z.e. same pater- nity, and presumably same maternity to some extent) ; and two ducks raised from the eggs given by my friend, as above mentioned, and therefore non-related to the others—in all thirteen, ducks. Of drakes there were four—two of normal mallard colour (related, as above, to the pale ducks), and two own brothers to the dark ducks, these having green heads and beautifully-pencilled stone-grey bodies, with no brown on the breast and no white collar—a departure from typical drake- colouration which is normal (in Syria at least) to dark varieties. From this stock of ducks I raised last spring sixty-two ducklings, of which nineteen were fawn-coloured in the down. One of these died very young. Of the remainder, fourteen were females and four males. All were sandy-buff, none cinnamon- brown; but one—a female—was a shade or two darker than the rest, and when adult showed no metallic colours on the speculum, agreeing in this respect with the dark ducks of alien parentage. Of greatest interest to me was the question: What will the “yellow” drakes be like when adult? Time has answered as follows : Head and neck, soft coffee 6owr, with obscure greenish reflections in some lights ; narrow white collar ; chestnut-brown breast, similar to mallard; upper tail-coverts (including curled feathers), and under-tail coverts, chocolate-brown ; the rest delicate cream colour, with fine transverse pencillings on back and sides, similar to those on the mallard, but paler and less distinct : the whole effect very pleasing. Of course all this may be familiar enough to some people, but it is quite new to me, and no mention of such drakes is made by Darwin in ‘*‘ Animals and Plants,” nor by any other writer whose works I have been able to consult. Whether atavism has anything to do with the matter, I cannot say, as the parentage of my original stock is entirely unknown ; but I am accustomed to notice very carefully all the ducks I see about town and the surrounding country, and am sure I have never come across any such during an experience of about twenty-five years. In any case, it is interesting to note that the new variety was far from being ‘swamped ” by the inevitable crossing with its parent form. (2) Pégeons.—In 1894 I procured a pair of birds of a variety known to Arab fanciers as black Urjanz (or Shamandarizz). These are largish pigeons, wholly black, with two ‘‘red” (z.e. bright reddish brown) bars on each wing, corresponding to the black bars on normal ‘‘ blue” pigeons. The pair were un- related, the male coming from Hums, the female from Damascus. The variety is scarce in Beyrout, and is valued more or less by all Syrian fanciers, who breed it with some care ; and it habitually breeds true. My birds produced during the season of 1895 ten young ones: six (3d, 39) quite normal in colour; one (?) slightly mottled on the shoulders with brown and a very little white ; and three (all ¢), which in the nest .plumage were uniform /éght ved. (I had nota red bird in the loft—scarcely a red feather, aside from the red bars of the U7anzs themselves, so there was no question of illegitimate paternity.) But, strange to relate, when these red birds moulted, nine-tenths or more of their red feathers were replaced by fue white. so that their adult plumage may be described thus: w/z/e birds with red neck, abdomen red mottled with white, a very few red feathers scattered over back and shoulders ; no trace of red bars. Careful inquiry among Arab fanciers having personal ex- perience of the breed in question, elicited the following May 21, 1896] NATURE 55 information. Black Usjanis usually breed true ; when they fail to do so, the progeny is generally a sport of a particular kind called dijji, uniformly red when young, more or less mottled with white when adult. These az are apt to ‘‘ throw back,” and in turn produce good Uryanzs. One of my own mottled birds (277) remains in my posses- sion, and is now mated to an Urjazz—an own brother. The pair has produced this spring four young : three di72s, just like the mother, and one partial reversion to the Urjanz form, being dark-chequered blue, with red bars on the wings. The original parent pair of Urjands have also raised four squabs this season —three normal and one dz; sexes not yet determined. I state these facts without comment ; but would be glad to know whether fanciers in England or elsewhere have observed any- thing quite as striking in the way of colour-variation. Beyrout, Syria. W. T. VAN Dyck. Dependence of the Colour of Solutions on the Nature of the Solvent. Tr is a well-known fact that the colour exhibited by one and the same body in solution depends more or less on the nature of the solvent. In some cases this phenomenon can be satis- factorily accounted for by electrolytic dissociation, but in the majority of cases hitherto examined this explanation is not admissible. Perhaps the most striking of these is that of iodine, the solutions of which are coloured variously violet, blue, brown, and yellow. The hypothesis has been put forward that the variation in absorption might be due to the formation of molecular aggregates of variable complexity ; but this, at least in the case of iodine, has been rendered very improbable by the recent researches of Beckmann and others. Nor does the hypothesis that the variation may be due to a varying degree of combination with the solvent seem much more promising. If, now, absorption be a case of electrical resonance, should one not expect a relation between the absorption of the dissolved body and the physical properties of the solvent, sufficient to account for the observed variations? That such a relation should exist, seems possible from the following rough considerations, The period of vibration of an electric oscillator is, in the usual notation, T = aN LC, where L = self-induction, and C = capacity. But now :— LC = gKpz, where g is a geometrical factor and K and 4 are the dielectric constant and permeability of the surrounding medium. Also n? = Ky, where 7 is the index of refraction of the medium for very long waves, whence it follows that T = 207 ,J/g, which means that the principal absorption-band should travel towards the red end of the spectrum as the index of refraction of the solvent increases. This result is identical with the general qualitative law enunciated many years ago by Kundt, on the basis of experimental data. There are, it is true, various breaks in the parallelism ; still this mode of viewing the question seems to offer more possibilities than the others Holywood, Belfast. F. G, DONNAN. Hatching Lizards’ Eggs. CAN any of your readers suggest a way to hatch lizards’ eggs ? I have had a pair of bright-green lizards (I think they came from Italy) in a glass vivarium in a very sunny window for two years and athalf. Last year, on May 19, the female laid eleven eggs. I left them exactly as the mother laid them, and after about three weeks I opened one and found the rudiments of a young lizard ; but the other eggs never came to anything. I should like to rear them this year if it is possible. H. A. Ross. Trevean, Penzance. THE DIFFUSION OF METALS. 1 is now quite usual to think of alloys as being solid solutions and to recognise that the atoms of solid metals are in active movement. That this must be the case, is revealed by the passage of metals to allotropic NO. 1386, VoL. 54] modifications in which the physical properties differ widely from those of the same metals in their normal state. It is well, therefore, that we should remember how much was done for us thirty years ago by Matthiessen in framing such views, and by Graham in showing that solid metals are true solvents for gases which move and diffuse freely in them, sometimes to reappear with gaseous elasticity. The experimental portion of the latter work, Graham entrusted to me, and my hope that I should be able to extend his work on the diffusion of salts, to liquid and solid metals, has been somewhat tardily realised by the delivery in the present year of the “ Bakerian Lecture” of the Royal Society, of which the following is a brief abstract. PART 1.—Dzffusion of Molten Metals. In the first part of it allusion is made to some earlier experiments of my own conducted in 1883 on the diffusion of gold, silver, and platinum in molten lead. It issstrange that although the action of osmotic pressure in lowering the freezing point of metals has been care- fully examined, very little attention has been devoted to the measurement, or even to the consideration, of the molecular movements which enable two or more metals to form a truly homogeneous fluid mass. The absence of direct experiments on the diffusion of molten metals is probably explained by the want of a sufficiently accurate method. Ostwald has stated, moreover, with reference to the diffusion of salts, that “ to make accurate experiments in diffusion is one of the most difficult pro- blems in practical physics,” and the difficulties are obviously increased when molten metals diffusing into each other take the place of salts diffusing into water. The continuation of the research was mainly due to the interest Lord Kelvin had always taken in the experi- ments. The want of a ready method for the measure- ment of comparatively high temperatures, which led to the abandonment of the earlier work, was overcome when the recording pyrometer was devised, and the use of thermo-junctions in connection with this instrument rendered it possible to measure and record the tempera- ture at which diffusion occurred. Thermo-junctions were placed in three or more positions in either a bath of fluid metal or an oven carefully kept hotter at the top than at the bottom. In the bath or oven, tubes filled with lead were placed, and in this lead, gold, or a rich alloy of gold, or of the metal under examination, was allowed to diffuse upwards against gravity. The amount of metal diffusing in a given time was ascertained by allowing the lead in the tubes to solidify ; the solid metal was then cut into sections, and the amount of metal in the respective sections determined by analysis. The movement in linear diffusion is expressed, in accordance with Fick’s law, by the differential equation dy _ ,av dt ax In this equation x represents distance in the direction in which diffusion takes place, v is the degree of concen- tration of the diffusing metal, and 7 is the time; & is the diffusion constant, that is, the number which expresses the quantity of the metal in grams diffusing through unit area (1 sq. cm.) in unit time (one day) when unit differ- ence of concentration (in grams per c.c.) is maintained between the two sides of a layer 1 cm. thick. The ex- periments described in the Bakerian Lecture showed that metals diffuse in one another just as salts do in water, and the results were ultimately calculated by the aid of tables prepared by Stefan for the calculation of Graham’s experiments on the diffusion of salts, special tables being calculated by one of my students, Mr. A. Stansfield, in connection with this research. The necessary precautions to be observed and the corrections to be made were described at length and the 56 NATURE [May 21, 1896 values for —the diffusivity of certain metals in lead, tin, bismuth and mercury, given in sq. cm. per day, are as follows :— kh Gold in lead 3°19 at 550° s, bismuth Anse ace 2” tin... 4°65 ” Silver in tin ASlAe es Lead in tin va. Rares e ees Rhodium in lead ... BOA Tes Platinum in lead ... 1°69 at 490° Gold in lead SOs Gold in mercury 0'72 at 11° In order to afford a term of comparison, it may be stated that the diffusivity of chloride of sodium in water at 18° is 1°04. It is at present too soon to draw any conclusion as to the evidence which the results afford respecting the molecular constitution of metals, but it is evident that they will be of value in this connection, because, with the exception of the gases, they present the simplest possible case which can occur—the diffusion of one element into another. Thus the relatively slow rate of diffusion of platinum as compared with gold, points to its having a more complex molecule than the latter. It is very difficult within the limits of this brief abstract to show that molten metals actually pass into each other by diffusion. The following method will, however, serve to give a rough qualitative demonstration that such is the case. A white sheet of card, B, is, as Fig. 1 shows, mounted on a frame, and by means of the gearing CC’ can be raised or lowered at a definite rate, which can be maintained by the aid of a metronome. The diffusion cell is shown at A. It consists ofa clay tube about 30 mm. long, heated from its upper part so that the top portion of the tube is hotter than the lower portion. ‘This tube is filled with molten lead, and at the bottom of the lead, is a layer of a lead- gold alloy rich in gold. A sample of lead may be with- | drawn from the tube at the beginning of a lecture and Fic tr set aside, while a second sample of lead may be re- moved at the end of an hour, by which time gold will have diffused into the upper layers of lead, and conse- quently this second sample will be auriferous. Other experiments have shown that in this case convection currents do not complicate the result. No. 1386, VOL. 54] The proof that gold had diffused into lead can then be afforded by the fact that the point of solidification of the second portion of lead is, owing to the presence of gold in it, lower than that of the first portion, and this is shown to be the case in the following way. The first sample of lead is placed in a small crucible, p, and_a = i rl are » & 19 i f if ' ! = SS Ss Ss Fic. 2. x protected thermo-junction is immersed in the lead when it is fluid. The spot of light E from the mirror M, of the galvanometer connected with the thermo-junction is allowed to fall on the movable screen, and’ as the lead cools down the spot of light traverses the screen from right to left. The consecutive positions occupied by the centre of this spot of light are marked by hand with a stroke of char- coal. During the solidification of the metal the spot of light remains in one position, and consequently the portion of the curve which represents the solidification of the metal is the vertical line x,y. If the second sample of lead be treated in exactly the same | way, and its “cooling curve” traced, it will be seen that the freezing point is lowered, | and a demonstration is thus afforded that diffusion of gold has occurred in the lead | contained in the tube A. é The results of the diffusion of platinum | and gold in fluid lead during twenty-four | hours is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. | The lead was placed in tubes which were arranged side by side in the oven, to which reference has been made. The columns A B represent the actual length and diameter of the columns of fluid lead. The spheres, which are drawn to the left of the diagram, are slightly smaller than the buttons of gold and of platinum extracted from the several sections, shown by horizontal lines, into which the columns of lead were divided after the metal had been allowed to solidify. The curves represent the respective diffusivity of gold and of platinum. The vertical ordinate represents the distance in the direction in which diffusion takes place, and the horizontal ordinates concendvadion of the diffusing metal. Each of the metals gold and platinum which diffused into the fluid column of lead occupied in the form of an alloy rich in lead, the length @ d, of the May 21, 1896] tube, and in both cases, the initial concentration of the alloy, denoted by a@ c, from which diffusion pro- ceeded, was the same, so that the area, a ¢ e ad, represents the total amount of gold or platinum em- ployed in the experiment, the whole quantity of either metal being initially below the line de. The final state of complete diffusion would be represented by the area a bg f, which is the same as a@ ce d,since the quantity of gold or of platinum remains unaltered. In the same manner the area a yx /, would represent the distribu- tions of the gold at the end of the experiment, and conse- quently in experiments which have lasted for equal times, the nearer the curve approximates to the line 4, g, the more rapid is the diffusion of the metal it represents. It will be evident from the distribution of the spheres of gold and platinum that diffusion can be accurately measured iri molten metals. PART II.—Difusion of Solid Metals. The second part of the investigation was devoted to the consideration of the diffusion of solid metals. Much of the evidence is historical, for there has long been a prevalent belief that diffusion can take place in solids, and the practice in conducting important industrial operations supports this view. In this connection two truly vener- able “cementation” processes may be cited. The object in the first of these is the removal of silver from a solid gold-silver alloy, while the second is employed in steel making by the carburization of solid iron. In both of these processes, however, a gas may intervene, though the carburization of iron by the diamond, which, in 1889, I effected z7 vacuo, suggests that if a gas does intervene in the latter case,its quantity must be very minute. In connection with the mobility of various elements in iron the work of Colson, of Osmond, and of Moissan must be carefully kept in view. The electro-deposition of metals also affords evidence of the interpenetration of metals. I observed in 1887 that an electro-deposit of iron on a clean copper plate will adhere so firmly to it that when the metals are severed by force, a copper film is actually stripped from the copper plate and remains on the iron, thus affording clear evidence of the interpenetration of metals at the ordinary temperature, and this interpenetration of copper and iron will take place through an intervening film of nickel. My friend Dr. George Gore has given me the follow- ing interesting reference to the penetration of gold and platinum at a temperature below redness, which is re- corded in “ Weldon’s Register” for July 1863 by Edward Sonstadt, who states that he gilded a platinum crucible “inside and out... but no sooner was the platinum warmed than it began to change colour, and before the crucible attained visible redness not a vestige of the gilding remained.” This is interesting in connection with the earlier observation of Faraday and Stodart, who in 1820 showed that platinum will alloy with steel at a temperature at which even the steel is not melted, and they expressed their interest in the formation of alloys by cementation, that is by the union of solid metals. The remarkable view expressed by Graham, in 1863, that the “three conditions of matter (liquid, solid, and gaseous) probably always exist in every liquid or solid substance, but that one predominates over the other,” affords ground for the anticipation that metals will diffuse into each other at temperatures far below their melting points. The important work by Spring, in 1886, on the lead-tin alloys, showed that they retain a certain amount of molecular activity after they become solid, and special importance will always be connected with the proof afforded by him (1882), that alloys may be formed either by the strong compression of the finely divided constituent metals at the ordinary tempera- ture, or (1894) by the union of solid masses of metal NO. 1386, VoL. 54] NATURE oF compressed together at temperatures which varied from 180° in the case of lead and tin, to 4oo” in the case of copper and zinc ; tin melting at 227° and zinc at 415°. Early evidence as to the volatilisation of solid metals may be traced to the expression of Robert Boyle’s belief, that even such solid bodies as glass and gold might respectively “ have their little atmospheres, and might in time lose their weight,” and Merget’s experiment on the evaporation of frozen mercury is specially interesting in relation to Gay-Lussac’s well-known discovery that the vapours emitted by ice and water both at o° C., are of exactly equal tension. Demarcay’s experiment on the volatilisation of metals zz vacuo at comparatively low temperatures is, moreover, connected with the evidence afforded by Spring (1894), that the interpenetration of. two metals at a temperature below the melting point of the more fusible of the two is preceded by volatilisation. It is well to remember, however, that interesting as the results of the earlier experiments are, as affording evidence of molecular interpenetration, they do not, for the purpose of measuring diffusivity, come within the prevailing con- ditions in the ordinary diffusion of liquids, in which the diffusing substance is usually in the presence of a large excess of the solvent, a condition which was fully main- tained in the experiments on the diffusion of liquid metals described in the first part of the Bakerian Lecture. Van ’t Hoff has made it highly probable that the osmotic pressure of substances existing in a sol¢d solution is analogous to that in liquid solutions, and obeys the same laws ; and it is probable that the behaviour of a solid mixture, like that of a liquid mixture, would be greatly simplified if the solid solution were very dilute. The experiments on the diffusion of solid metals are of the same nature as in the case of fluid metals, except that the gold, which was the metal chosen for examination, was placed at the bottom of a solid cylinder of lead instead of a fluid one. In the first series of experiments, cylinders of lead, 70 mm. long, with either gold, or a rich alloy of gold and lead at their base, were maintained at a temperature of 251° (which is 75 below the melting point of lead) for thirty-one days. At the end of this period the solid lead was cut into sections, and the amount of gold which had diffused into each of them was determined in the usual way. Other experiments were made, in which the lead was maintained at 200°,and at various lower tempera- tures down to that of the laboratory. The following are the results in sq. cm. per day :—- - k Diffusivity of gold in fluid lead at 550 3719 0 solid a3, on 0'03 2 ” »» 200 0007 ” ” »» 165 0°004. > 100 000002 oF) ” The experiments at the ordinary temperature are stil in progress, but there is evidence that slow diffusion of gold in lead occurs at the ordinary temperature. If clean surfaces of lead and gold are held together 27 vacuo at a temperature of only 40° for four days, they will unite firmly, and can only be separated by the application of a load equal to one-third of the breaking strain of lead itself. The nature of welding, however, remains to be in- vestigated, as there is probably interlocking of molecules and atoms, which precedes true diffusion. It may be considered remarkable that gold placed at the bottom of a cylinder of lead, 70 mm. long (which is to all appear- ance solid), will diffuse to the top in notable quantities at the end of three days. At 100° the diffusivity of gold in solid lead can readily be measured, though its diffusivity is only 1/100,000 of that in fluid lead at a temperature of 500°, and experiments which are still in progress show that the diffusivity of solid gold in solid silver, or copper, at 800° is of the same order as that of gold in solid lead at 100°, 58 NATURE [May 21, 1896. I trust, therefore, that the experiments described in the Bakerian Lecture will show that the diffusion can readily be measured in solid metals, and that they will carry one step further the work of Graham. W. C. ROBERTS-AUSTEN. BOOKS ON BIRDS | ‘HE issue of works on ornithology continues in an unbroken stream. There can be little doubt that since the arrangement of the birds in the National Museum in South Kensington, in their natural attitudes and surroundings, was adopted—a system largely followed in many of our provincial museums—there has been a distinct increase in the interest taken in natural history, and, as might be expected from the amount of knowledge as to their life and habits which these groups convey, the study of birds has largely increased. The constant demand for work after work on the limited subject of British birds is very remarkable, and is to some extent a measure of the growing interest in this branch of science. With the second volume, which has lately appeared, Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe has completed his “ Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain” in Allen’s Naturalist’s Library, of which he is the editor. His knowledge of the subject of which he treats is admittedly unrivalled, while the thorough manner in which he performs all his work— though vast in amount—is so well known, that his name, as editor and author, is sufficient guarantee for the value and excellence of these two volumes. All that is essential to be known in the life-history of British birds is related shortly yet fully, in clear, popular language. This work forms a concise monograph of our native birds ; indeed, no better or more authoritative work on the subject has yet been published. It is illustrated by numerous coloured full-page plates, the bulk of them the resus- citated drawings of Lizars from Jardine’s Library. As has been often already pointed out, and pressed upon the attention of the publishers in regard to other volumes of this series, those plates are quite unworthy of the text. In the preface to the second volume the author replies to the critics who have attacked his method of nomen- clature adopted in this and other volumes of the Library, the result of which is that certain species come to be 1 ‘‘ A Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain.” By R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D. Vol. i. 1894. Pp. xxii + 342. Vol. ii. 1895. Pp. xi + 308. (London: W. H. Allen and Co., Ltd.). _ ‘British Birds.” By W. H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S._ With a Chapter on Structure and Classification, by Frank E. Beddard, F.R.S. Pp. xviii + 363. (London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895.) “The Wild-Fowl and Sea-Fowl of Great Britain.” By a ‘‘ Son of the Marshes.” Edited by J. A. Owen. With Illustrations by Bryan Hook. Pp. 326. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1895.) *“ Birds from Moidart and Elsewhere; drawn from Nature.” By Mrs. Hugh Blackburn. Pp. viii + 191. (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1895.) “* The Birds of Berwickshire, with Remarks on their Local Distribution, Migration, and Habits, and also on the Folk-lore Proverbs, Popular Rhymes and Sayings connected with them. By George Muirhead, F.R.S.E. In two volumes. Vol. i. 1889. Pp. xxvi + 334. Vol. ii. 1895. Pp. xii + 390. (Edinburgh: David Douglas.) “North American Shore Birds: a History of the Snipes, Sandpipers, Plovers, and their Allies.” By Daniel Giraud Elliot, F.R.S.E. With seventy-four plates. Pp, viii + 268. (London: Suckling and Galloway. New York: Francis P. Harper, 1895.) “‘The Birds of Ontario, being a Concise Account of every Species of Bird known to have been found in Ontario, with a description of their Nests and Eggs, and Instructions for Collecting Birds and Preparing and Preserv- ing Skins, and Directions how to form a Collection of Eggs.” By Thomas Mellwraith. 2nd edition. Pp. ix + 426. (London: T. Fisher Unwin; Toronto: William Briggs, 1894.) ‘ Birdcraft ; a Field-book of Two Hundred Song, Game, and Water Birds.” By Mabel Osgood Wright. With full-page plates. Pp. xvi + 317. (New York and London; Macmillan and Co,, 1895.) “Photographs of the Life-History Groups of Birds in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester.” Prepared by Mr. R. Newstead, Curator ; photographed by G. W. Webster. 1895. **The Royal Natural History.” Edited by Richard Lydekker, B.A., F.R.S. Vol. iv. Birds (chaps. viii.-xxi.). Pp. xv + 583. (London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1895.) ** The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma.” Published der the authority of the Secretary of State for India in Council. Edited by W. T. Blanford. Birds. Vol. iii. By W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. p- xiv + 450. (London: Taylor and Francis; Calcutta and Bombay: hacker and Co. ; Berlin: Friedlander, 1895.) NO. 1386, VOL. 54] designated by a duplication of their generic and specific names. Dr. Sharpe appears to us to have adopted the only logical course open to him, and his reply would seem to be unanswerable. “Thus if Linnzeus,” he says, “called the Partridge Zetrao perdix, the name ferdix ought to be retained at all costs for the species. When Perdix was taken in a generic sense and the species was called Perdix cinerea, 1 contend that it ought never to have been allowed, and if in restoring the Linnean specific name of erdrx, it results that the oldest generic name is also Perdix, and the species has to be called Perdix perdix (L.), 1 can only say I am sorry, but it cannot be helped.” In Mr. Hudson’s “ British Birds” a brief account is given of the appearance, language and life-habits of all the birds that reside permanently or for a portion of each year within the limits of the British islands. The descriptive accounts of the various species are shorter, less technical and precise, but not less accurate than those in Dr. Sharpe’s “ Handbook.” On the other hand, our author trusts that his work has the merit of simplicity, as it is intended for the general reader and, more especi- ally, for the young. The species alone are described, the family and generic characters being omitted, as there was not space to make the book, “at the same time, a technical and a popular one.” Like all that comes from Mr. Hudson’s pen on this subject, the present volume is sympathetically and attractively written. It is illustrated by eight chromolithograph plates from original drawings by A. Thorburn, in addition to eight full-page plates and one hundred figures in black-and-white, from drawings by G. E. Lodge, prepared for this work, the whole of which are exquisitely reproduced. Altogether the book is to be very highly recommended. It is prefaced by a chapter on structure and classification by so competent an anatomist as Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. His contribution, however, though very clear and condensed, is, we fear, somewhat above the heads of the bulk of the young readers for whom Mr. Hudson’s pages have been written. On p. 17, he remarks, with reference to the fore-limb in Dznorzis that no trace of a wing has been so far discovered. In 1892 a scapulo-coracoid, with a distinct glenoid cavity, was figured in NATURE (vol. xlv. p. 257), indicating the presence of a humerus, which is surely at least a “trace” of a wing. In the “Wild Fowl and Sea-Fowl of Great Britain,” a “Son of the Marshes” depicts the haunts rather than the habits of the birds of our estuaries and fen-lands. His volume is more a collection of shooting sketches than a serious contribution to ornithology, notwithstanding the short technical descriptions, at the conclusion of each chapter, of the several species of the group to which the chapter is devoted. The author has given us during many years numerous delightful sketches of marsh-land life at every season, and under all conditions of sky and tem- perature ; but we have had his message so often now, that it has begun to lose much of its freshness and flavour. In this latest delivery we cannot resist the impression that we have heard all he tells us before, and said even better than here. Many of his pages leave with the reader the irritating suspicion of having been elaborated with toil, and the matter beaten out to cover an allotted space. The numerous quotations from all sorts and conditions of marsh-folk, ““coy” men, net-setters, and wild-fowlers, in which we fail, through obtuseness probably, to perceive anything humorous, quaint or original, might have been largely curtailed with advan- tage to the narrative. J. A. Owen, who edits the volume, has allowed to escape detection such unorthodox expressions as “to flight” and “ flighting birds,” as also the use of that most objectionable term “scientist,” to indicate the professed man of science. The volume has numerous excellent full-page black-and-white illustrations by Bryan Hook. May 21, 1896] We next come to notice two local faunas. The first of which is Mrs. Hugh Blackburn’s “Birds from Moidart and Elsewhere.” The authoress is a well-known artist, and the volume before us is not so much a systematic avi-fauna of the region in which she resides, as a series of drawings from nature, all of them artistic, vigorous, and true to life, of such birds as she has known person- ally, “to which are added,” as she tells us in the preface, “simply, and I trust truthfully, a few observations which I have had the opportunity of making on their life and habits.” Her sketch of the young and callow cuckoo ejecting the rightful meadow pipits from their nest, is the original illustration of this most interesting fact, which, first made known by Henry Jenner in 1788, and long rejected as apocryphal, was in 1871 re-described, and still more fully establlshed in 1872, when it was sketched from actual observation by Mrs. Hugh Blackburn. Her plates illustrating the habits of many species not to be observed everywhere, such as “Solan-geese fishing,” “Cormorants feeding their young,” “ Osprey carrying a fish,” are of real scientific interest and value. So also are the sketches of the nestlings of several birds whose breeding-places are chosen in out-of-the-way corners, whither our artist seems to have followed them. Mrs. Blackburn states the interesting facts that in 1856 there were no starlings in Moidart, where they are now plentiful, and not for many years after were there any common sparrows. On the advent of the latter, however, the yellow-hammers, “which used to be very common,” began to decrease rapidly. She records also, on the faith of a correspondent, that a nightingale was heard for three weeks, and also seen during the month of June 1889, “at Achnacary,” which, if the observation can be depended on, is a far cry beyond its usual northern limit. On turning to Dr. Sharpe’s and Mr. Hudson’s volumes, noticed above, we find it recorded that in Scotland and Ireland the nightingale is unknown. (!) “The Birds of Berwickshire,” by Mr. George Muir- head, of which the first volume was published in 1889, and the second in 1895, contains a full account of every bird known to occur in that extensive shire. The work, published by David Douglas, of Edinburgh, is printed on special paper, and on its pages space and variety of type have been generously lavished. Each bird’s history is concluded by a charming pen-and-ink etching of its nest, of one of its favourite haunts, or of some interesting, historical, or beautiful Berwickshire “bit,” which has more or less direct reference to the subject of the chapter. There are, in addition, several full-page etchings by Scottish Academicians, and an excellent map of the county. Altogether, therefore, no expense has been spared (as is wont with the publishing house of David Douglas) to produce a work worthy of its pre- decessors in their sumptuous Natural History Library. And although these volumes can but record few new facts about the birds described in them except what is of local distributional interest, they are full of folk-lore, pro- verbs, popular rhymes and sayings about them, which must ensure the book being greedily desired as a prized addition to his volumes de /wxe, not only by every lover of birds and their haunts, but by all who treasure dainty books. The three volumes next on our list follow much the same lines as those above noticed, only they deal with American instead of British birds. ‘“ North American Shore Birds,” by D. G. Elliott, who is well known by his numerous magnificent scientific monographs, ‘“‘is a popular work and in no sense a scientific treatise,” as the preface informs us. Its object is to enable the sportsman and those who love to study birds in their haunts, to know and recognise those they shoot or observe on the wing. “The accounts of their habits have been written, to the best of the author’s ability, in anguage ‘understanded of the people.” Mr. Elliott NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE 59 will, we have no doubt, be fully successful in his object, for his book cannot fail to satisfy both those classes ; and we are confident it will be their frequent companion, both “in the open” and in the study. The volume is not a mere compilation, for the record of the habits of most of the species are derived from the author’s own experience in the many hunting excursions he has undertaken from arctic Alaska all over the North-American continent, and as far south as Rio de Janeiro. Nearly every species described in the book is illustrated by a full-page plate in black-and-white from drawings of great beauty by Edwin Sheppard, of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia, “an artist possessing exceptional talent for portraying birds and bird-life.” Mr. Mcllwraith, in his “ Birds of Ontario,” enumerates 317 species, which he believes to be the complete tale of the birds occurring in the province of his domicile. A short, but sufficient, account is given of their plumage, their range, their distribution in Ontario, and, as they are nearly all migatory, of where they spend the breeding season, as well as of their nests and eggs. In the introduction full instructions are provided for the young collector how to obtain and preserve his specimens. In “ Birdcraft,” Mabel Osgood Wright describes and illustrates two hundred song, game, and water birds of North America. Her book is written for the young, in whom she wishes to encourage the study of “the living bird in his love songs, his house-building instincts, and his migrations,” to discourage in them the “greed of possession” of the skin, nest and eggs of her feathered friends, and to enable them to identify and properly name the species they may observe in their excursions. To her disciples—may they be many !—she gives this ex- cellent advice: “Take with you three things, a keen eye, a quick ear, and loving patience” ; but leave to “the practised hand of science,” “the gun that silences the bird-voice, and the looting of nests.” The authoress, who is herself, apparently, a keen and sympathetic observer of nature, believes that all the lover of birds wishes to know of their forms closer at hand, on his return from the field, should be sought for, and will be found, in those “great picture-books ”—the museums. “ Birdcraft ” should form an excellent guide to the young American field-naturalist. Unfortunately the chromo- lithograph plates, on which eight to ten species, varying greatly in colour and size, are crowded, leave much to be desired. A “key to the birds” is provided at the end of the book, by which (a) land birds, (4) birds of prey, and (c) game, shore and water birds may be identified by their predominant colours. The “ Life-History Groups of Birds” in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, most of which have been mounted by the Curator, Mr. Newstead, have been photographed “in life-like attitudes” with the “natural surroundings proper to the particular specimens,” by Mr. G. W. Webster of the same city, and offered to the public in a handsome volume. It is hoped by the authors that these pictures “will appeal to curators and museum authorities, to all lovers of birds and _ nature, and to artists.” To curators of museums they may on occasion afford suggestions ; but as they are aclass who strongly object to imitate slavishly the methods of even the greatest of their colleagues, they will probably prefer to seek inspir- ation from the same source as Mr. Newstead. To artists and lovers of birds we have no doubt these platinotypes will afford a great deal of pleasure, and in the case of the former they will be extremely useful as models. The weight of the volume and its high price (necessary from the costliness of its get- up) will, however, we fear, militate against .a wide circulation, and certainly against its use for frequent and comfortable reference. The fourth volume of the “ Royal Natural History,” edited by R. Lydekker, F.R.S., completes the account of 60 NATURE [May 21, 1896 the birds, The contributors on this occasion are Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, and the editor, whose names are sufficient sponsors that the present volume is in no way behind its predecessors, which every section of the press has been unanimous in praising on account of the scientific excellence of the text, and the beauty of the illustrations. Asa “Natural History,” presenting a popular and comprehensive survey of the subject, the “ Royal” is unsurpassed. The now well-known two first volumes of the “ Birds ” in the valuable “ Fauna of British India,” which the India Office has been so well advised in publishing, were written by Mr. Oates. The present volume has been prepared by the editor of the series, Dr. W. T. Blanford, “ who,” as he says, “has endeavoured to keep the [continuation of the] work uniform in general plan, and to render the change in authorship as little conspicuous as possible.” Every- where throughout the book, the same care and pains that were manifest in Mr. Oates’ two volumes are evident in the third before us. Thanl.s to Hume—the value or extent of whose unsurpassed rift to the nation has yet hardly begun to be appreciated as it must one day be—never before has material for an avi-fauna of India, approaching in its richness been anywhere brought together as that now conserved in the British Museum. The amount of comparison and original investigation demanded, consequently, of the authors in compiling for the first time since this collection has been available, the bird-fauna of our Eastern empire, has been enormously ex- tended, as well as facilitated. Although Mr. Oates, on being prevented from completing the work he commenced, by his recall to official duty in India, handed over to Dr. Blanford, on his departure, the notes he had prepared for its continuation (which have been “ of very great service,” as the author admits), yet the more arduous part of the work had still to be done. That this task, slow, full of drudgery, and testing all the penetration and dis- crimination of the ornithologist, has been most con- scientiously fulfilled, is evident on every page, and with a result in all respects on which Dr. Blanford is to be congratulated. : It had been intended to complete the “ Birds” and (with that section) the Vertebrata of India with the present volume ; but as the work progressed, it “became evident that the proposed third volume would be of inconvenient size,” and it was, therefore, decided to divide it into the present and a concluding volume, which, it is stated, is now in an advanced state of preparation. The volume under notice includes the Eurylenmit, Pict, Zygodactyli, Anisodactyli, Macrochires, Coccyges, Psittact, Striges, and Accipitres. The different orders are distinguished chiefly by their anatomical characters. The S¢riges are rightly kept distinct from the Accifitres ; but the Pandionide are included within its limits. We should rather have seen them constituted a distinct order, Pandiones. It is with satisfaction we note that the publication of the final volume will not be long delayed. NOTES. Tue long list of birthday honours contains the names of a few men distinguished for their scientific attainments. Prof. Max Miiller is to be sworn of the Privy Council. Mr. Clements R. Markham, C.B., F.R.S., the President of the Royal Geographical Society, is promoted to be K.C.B., and Dr, David Gill, F.R.S., Astronomer Royal at the Cape, is made a C.B. Dr. J. G. Fitch, who until lately was Chief Inspector in the Education Department, and Mr. Le Page Renouf, the Egyptologist, have been knighted. THE Chemical Society’s Lothar Meyer Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Prof. P. P. Bedson, at an extra meeting of the Society on Thursday, May 28. NO. 1386, VOL. 54] THE Cracow Academy of Sciences has appointed Prof. L. Natanson as its representative at the forthcoming Kelvin cele- bration at Glasgow. Tue Council of the Sanitary Institute have accepted an in- vitation from the city and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne to hold a Sanitary Congress and Health Exhibition in that city in the autumn of this year. Pror. ANGELO HEILPRIN has been appointed to represent the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia at the Mining and Geologica Millennial Congress, to be held at Budapest, September 25 and 26, in connection with the celebration of the founding of the kingdom of Hungary. Messrs. Persifor Frazer, Angelo Heilprin, Benjamin Smith Lyman, and Theodore D. Rand have been appointed by the Academy as the Committee on the Hayden Memorial Geological Award for 1896. ON the occasion of the Hungarian Millennium, the Emperor Francis Joseph has authorised the Budapest University to confer the following honorary degrees :—On Prof. Henry Sidgwick, of Cambridge, the honorary degree of Doctor of Political Economy ; on Prof.’ J. S. Billings, of Philadelphia, and on Sir Joseph Lister the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine ; on Mr. Bryce, M.P., Mr. Herbert Spencer, Lord Kelvin, and Prof. Max Miiller, the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy. THE conversazione of the Society of Arts will be held at the South kensington Museum on Wednesday, June 17. Pror. E. Suess, the well-known geologist, and Liberal politician, has just retired from his party in the Austrian Parlia- ment. Tue death is announced of Prof. Germain Sée, the dis- tinguished Frenchpathologist, and member of the Paris Academy of Medicine. A CONVERSAZIONE of the Society for the Protection of Birds will be held at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Piccadilly, to-morrow evening. WE learn, from the Journal de Botanique, that M. L. Diguet has been commissioned by the Minister of Public Instruction for France, and by the Museum of Natural History, with a botanical mission to Lower California, where he will probably make a prolonged stay. Mr. Mark JupGE, Honorary Secretary to the Sunday Society, sends us the following statement of attendances on Sunday last at the great national museums in London :—South Kensington Museum, 2659; Bethnal Green Museum, 799; Geological Museum, 212 ; British Museum, 1790; Natural History Museum, 2398; National Gallery, 2106. The total is 9864, which number of visitors may be taken to justify the continuance of the Sunday opening of the museums. Tue Croonian Lectures of the Royal College of Physicians will be delivered on June 2, 4, 9 and 11, by Dr. George Oliver, who will take for his subject ‘* The Study of the Blood and the Circulation.” ON Tuesday next, May 26, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., will begin a course of two lectures, at the Royal Institution, on the ‘* Building and Sculpture of Western Europe” (the Tyndall Lectures). On Thursday (May 28) Dr. Robert Munro will deliver the first of two lectures on ‘‘ Lake Dwellings,” and on Saturday (May 30) Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum, will begin a course of two lectures on the ‘* Moral and Religious Literature of Ancient Egypt.” The Friday evening discourse on June 5 will be on ‘‘ Electrical and Magnetic Research at Low Temper- atures,” the lecturer being Prof. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S. May 21, 1896] A SEVERE storm is reported by Reuter to have swept over ‘Sherman, Texas, on Friday afternoon, completely destroying the western portion of the town. It is estimated that 120 persons, a large proportion of whom were negroes, were killed, and that 100 were injured. The storm, which travelled in a norherly direction over a path of 400 yards wide, swept every- thing before it. A waterspout burst at the same time over Howe, Texas, where eight persons were killed and many injured. Tue Swedish Tourists’ Club has organised an expedition to the Great Lake Falls next August. The object of the expedi- tion isto give those who join it an opportunity of seeing the total eclipse of the sun on August 9, of becoming acquainted with Lapland, and at the same time to see two of the finest waterfalls in Europe—the Great Lake Falls (Stora Sjéfallet) and Hayspringet. The party will start from Gellivare on August 3 Further information with reference to the journey ean be obtained at the Tourists’ Club, No. 28 Fredsgaten, Stockholm. Pror. §. P. LANGLEY, who has for some time devoted attention to the problem of artificial flight, appears to have attained a remarkable degree of success. The New York correspondent of the Daz/y Chronicle reports that trials made with Prof. Langley’s ‘‘aérodrome ” have clearly demonstrated the efficiency and practicability of the invention. It is stated that “two upward ascents of about half a mile were made at a speed of twenty miles an hour. The machine in motion suggests a huge bird, soaring in large curves. When the steam gave out, the aérodrome sank gracefully and was picked up undamaged. No passengers were carried in the trial trips.” WirH reference to the reported dispatch of an American Antarctic Expedition under Dr. Cook, which was referred to in NATuRE last week, we observe in the new number of the quarterly Audletin of the American Geographical Society, New York, that the report is entirely incorrect, and that there does not appear to be ‘‘any immediate prospect of the launching of such an enterprise.” The Belgian expedition, on the other hand, seems to be in course of rapid organisation ; but it does not appear that the necessary funds have yet been completely subscribed. It will be under the command of Lieut. de Gerlache, of the Belgian Navy, and M. Arctowski will have charge of the oceanographical work to be carried out on board. THE second annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America will be held in Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday and Saturday, August 21 and 22, 1896. Dr. William Trelease, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, will retire from the presidency, and will be succeeded by the President-elect, Dr. Charles E. Bessey, Professor of Botany in the University of Nebraska. At the evening session on Friday, August 21, the retiring President will deliver a public address on ‘‘ Botanical Oppor- tunity.” The Botanical Society of America is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the sessions of which this year begin on Monday, August 24, in Buffalo. Tue Batavian Society of Experimental Philosophy at Rotter- dam has offered prizes for the following botanical subjects :— The anatomical and chemical composition and vital functions of one or more at present undescribed species of plant natives -of Holland or of the Dutch colonies ; description of the vital conditions and properties of a mould-fungus, ferment, or bac- terium of technical importance ; new investigations on the action of flowers of sulphur or of copper salts on a pathogenous parasite ; investigations on the presence, formation, and pro- -perties of the latex in the leaves of the caoutchoue-plant. For NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE 61 each subject a medal worth thirty duc. is offered; the work: must be hitherto unpublished, and may be written in Dutch, German, French, or English. The essays must be sent, before February 1, 1897, with a motto, and the name in an enclosed envelope, to Dr. G. J. W. Bremer, Secretary to the Society, Rotterdam. THE Ottawa correspondent of the Z%es, writing under date May 19, says: ‘‘The Royal Society of Canada, representing all the scientific and learned societies in the Dominion, met to- day. The business transacted included the adoption of a memorial to the Governor-General on the subject of the sixth resolution of the Prime Meridian International Conference of 1884, praying his Excellency’s intervention with the home authorities with respect to the unification of nautical, civil, and astronomical time. Evidence was submitted establishing the fact that ship masters, both British and foreign, are almost unanimously in favour of the proposal, and that Canada, not only as a maritime portion of the Empire, but in other respects also, is peculiarly interested in the matter. It is strongly urged that the reform should be adopted so as to come into effect on the first day of the new century, and that, as nautical almanacs are prepared some years in advance, no time should be lost in adapting them to the change.” THE Paris correspondent of the Chemést and Druggtst remarks that there are several pictures of interest to men of science at the Salon of the Champs Elysées this year. The most attractive of these is a decorative panel by Fournier, ordered by the State for the purpose of being placed in Pasteur’s old laboratory at the Ecole Normale Superieure. The centre figure of the panel is an excellent portrait of Pasteur, who is depicted working by gaslight at a table in his laboratory, and the light is made to illuminate his fine features. Before him is a microscope, and he is shown ina reflective attitude as though about to make an entry in an open book that lies before him. Immediately above him is the figure of a woman personifying Science, receiving another, representing suffering humanity, in her arms. On the left are two young doctors in the act of in- oculating a patient. On the right is a group of women, one holding forward her baby. A number of appropriate inscriptions appear on the panel. THE Weekly Weather Report of the 16th inst. shows that the rainfall of the British Islands since the beginning of the year is deficient in all districts except the north of Scotland. The greatest deficiency is in the Channel Islands, where it amounts to 6°3 inches; in the south-west of England it amounts to 5°7 inches, and in the south of England to 4°5 inches. The severity of the recent drought may be judged by the following low falls in hundredths of an inch between April 17 and May 17, inclusive, in various districts :—Scarborough, 18; Spurn Head, 14; Cambridge, 17; Rothamsted, 8; Loughborough, 7; Oxford 0; London, 4; Dungeness, 1c; Holyhead, 15; Prawle Point, 5; Donaghadee, 18; Roche's Point, 11; Scilly, 5. The general distribution of barometric pressure over our Islands during the drought has been anticyclonic, with light or moderate north-easterly and easterly winds; while areas of low pressure occasionally passed over the north of Scotland, and occasioned slight falls of rain in the north and west. On the 18th inst., however, a well-marked ‘‘ V-shaped” depression passed across the northern parts of our Islands, causing rain at many stations, and amounting to half an inch in parts of Scotland. TuHE rule followed by Irishmen at Donnybrook fair, to hit a head whenever they saw one, seems now to be applied to meteorclogical instruments. Writing from Edinburgh, Mr. W. 62 NATURE [May 21, 1896 Black says a friend of his recently had his meteorological instruments upset and kicked about by Irish miners working in Lanarkshire. But the exuberance of spirits which led to this destruction is not confined to Irishmen, for Mr. Black says that at Duddingston Loch, some time ago, a number of Bank Holiday savages upset a complete meteorological equipment into the water near which it was installed; while in several northern towns it is necessary to enclose the instruments in iron cages to preserve them from being used as targets by the demon boy, Probably much of the destruction is the result of sheer wanton- ness, but anthropologists might be able to find evidence that the instruments are considered uncanny, in which case we should have to confess to the survival of the medize val super- stition against meteorology. Mosr workers with RGntgen rays have observed that a photo- graphic plate becomes more or less fluorescent when the rays fallupon it. Mr. W. J. D. Walker informs us that a Paget x xx x x plate used by him fluorised so decidedly, that it made a very fair fluorescent screen, capable of showing coins in a purse, the bones of the fingers, screws and nails in a wooden block, and similar objects. A NUMBER of excellent Réntgen photographs received from Mr. H. S. Pyne, of King William’s College, Isle of Man, show that the Wimshurst machine is capable of producing effects com - parable with those given by means of a good induction coil. The machine employed had plates fifteen inches in diameter, and the best results were obtained when the discharge was made intermittent. By this means the tube is rested, and, even with a quarter of an hour’s continuous work, the phosphorescent area does not become appreciably warm. A Newton's “‘ focus” tube was used, and the definition of the pictures produced by its radiations is exceedingly good and sharp. All the plates used were ‘‘Ilford rapid,” with the exception of one, being a **Cadett” lightning. The latter plates Mr. Pyne has found to require the least exposure. THE peculiar glow exhibited by a ‘‘ focus” tube working well furnishes a good criterion of efficiency as regards R6ntgen rays. A more definite means of comparing the actinic power of the radiation has been produced by Messrs. Reynolds and Branson, Leeds. A small quadrant of aluminium is constructed in con- centric terraces, ranging from one millimetre to ten milli- metres in thickness. By holding this quadrant between an excited Crookes’ tube and a phosphorescent screen, the thick- ness of aluminium which the rays are capable of traversing can be seen upon the screen; or, by substituting a sensitive plate for the screen, the effect may be photographed. The ‘‘ X-ray meter,” as the quadrant is called, thus furnishes an easy means of comparing the intensity of Rontgen rays emitted by different tubes and by the same tubes at different times. From Prof. A. Battelli and Dr. A. Garbasso, of Pisa, we. have received several interesting papers describing their experiments Referring to the discovery that the time of exposure required for taking photographs with these rays can be greatly shortened by placing certain fluorescent substances behind the photographic plate, the authors point out that they described a method of doing this in the January number of // Nuovo Cimento. In some cases Prof. Battelli and Dr. Garbasso obtained good photographs with an exposure of only two seconds. In their paper, experiments were also described proving that Rontgen rays can be reflected (or at any rate scattered) from surfaces, but indicating an absence of refraction. Since the appearance of the above paper, Prof. Battelli has com- municated two further papers to the same journal. In the first, the author arrives at the conclusion that Réntgen rays behave as if they emanate from the base of the vacuum tube rather than NO. 1386, VOL. 54] on Rontgen rays. from the anode or kathode, also that they are emitted even after the discharge in the tube has ceased (as proved by the discharge of an electrified disc in the neighbourhood of the tube). In the second paper, Prof. Battelli deduces that the rays which emanat from the kathode in a vacuum tube possess photogrephic properties ; that their action increases as the rarefaction increases (at least up to 94> mm. of pressure) ; and that some of the ray are deflected by a magnet, while others are not. It is hence quite permissible to maintain that R6éntgen rays exist in the interior of the tube. This view does not contradict the result that the rays affear to have their origin at the point where kathodic rays meet with an obstacle. It is easily seen that such an obstacle would act on the rays either as a filter or by scattering them in all directions. THE various manurial trials conducted on behalf of tae County Councils of Cumberland, Durham, and Northumberlard in 1895, form the subject of a report by Prof. Somerville, of the Durham College of Science. Results of experiments on turnips, con- ducted at twelve centres, are considered to give a definite answer to the question as to whether it is the potash, the magnesia, or the salt in kainit that determines its value, its efficacy being attributed to the potash, which is the only substance that has consistently increased the average crop in these trials. No poin has been more clearly demonstrated in the field trials of the last few years than that large dressings of dung or artificial manures d not increase the turnip crop to the extent usually supposed. It argued that they would be more effective if they were applie in small quantities to each crop in the rotation as it came t occupy the land, instead of being, as at present, put into the land, say, eyery four years, to be exposed to all the wastefu agencies that may operate upon them till the plant food that they contain is exhausted. Manurial reform would seem to be most needed in the case of the artificial manures, since, for the incorporation of dung with the soil, the root-break offers facilities such as are afforded by no other crop in the rotation. The report includes details of experiments with finger-and-toe i turnips, and with Jdouzlle bordelaise as a check upon potato disease. THE report of the field experiments carried out in 1895 Sy the Agricultural Department of the University College of Nor Wales, Bangor, under the auspices of the County Councils of Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, and Montgomery, ferms a brochure of some fifty pages. The experiments were con- cerned with the manuring of swedes, of pasture land, and of hay fields, the growth of oats from different quantities of seed, and the effects of various manures on the growth of vegetables. The work was conducted at more than thirty distinct centres, scattered over the five counties, and the question arises as to whether this is not too diffuse an application of energy to afford the best results. It is stated that within the last eleven years the trials ‘* have gone on increasing until the number of centres has almost reached forty.” Some of these places are nearly 150 miles apart, and many are far removed from railways. It is, however, correctly understood that these field trials are really intended to serve the purpose of object-lessons, ‘in which conclusions arrived at elsewhere may be made use of for the benefit of particular districts.” There is considerable variation in the results obtained from the use of the same manures when applied to hay and pasture lands in different parts of North Wales. Phosphatic manures have proved the most satisfactory, and of these the most economical manure in the majority of cases was basic slag. The experiments, which must have involved a large amount of work, were conducted by Messrs. T. Winter, Bryner Jones, R. H. Evans, and F. V. Dutton. Every care should be taken to secure exactitude in such reports as this, intended for circulation amongst farmers May 21, 1896] We notice that no denomination is given to the weights of seeds in the table on p. 47, though pounds, of course, are intended. Messrs. MACMILLAN AND Co. have made arrangements for the issue in New York and London of a ‘ Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology,” under the editorial supervision of Professor Baldwin of Princeton University. All the matter in the Dictionary will be original and signed, and the several departments will be entrusted to men most competent to deal with them. Wri?ING with reference to the diagram published in NATURE of February 27 (vol. liii. p. 404), to illustrate the movements of the terrestrial pole determined by Prof. Albrech, Mr. T. W. Kingsmill points out that the irregular variations in the curve are apparently coincident with remarkable seismic disturbances. He therefore suggests that there is a connection between move- ments of the earth’s axis and unusual seismic activity. WE have received two more of the valuable publications of the Geological Survey of Canada, forming Parts B and M of Annual Report, vol. vii. The first of these is a Report on the Kamloops map-sheet of British Columbia, by Dr. G. M. Dawson. It is accompanied by two maps of the area, one strictly geo- logical, the other glacial and economic, and the Report itself contains a number of reproductions of photographs of the district. The rocks of the area range from Cambrian to Tertiary and later, and are described at length; while topographical, meteorological, and mineralogical observations are also recorded. The whole volume consists of over 400 pages. The second is a Report by Mr. R. Chalmers on the surface geology of parts of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Besides minor matters of local interest, it includes discussions on the origin of the Bay of Fundy depression, the glacial strize of the district, and the destruction of the forests. Several maps ac- company the Report, and a photograph of the famous tidal bore in the Petitcodiac River, Bay of Fundy, deserves special mention, TRUE it is that at the Royal Victoria Hall, in Waterloo Bridge Road, music and mummery occupy a larger share of attention than lectures on scientific subjects. South London audiences have but a mere fenchant for the generous new wine of science ; they reserve their capacities for the variety enter- tainments. But though the audiences on Tuesday evenings, when scientific discourses are delivered, are very much smaller than on the evenings when a lighter vein predominates, they listen in a way which shows that. they appreciate the fare pro- vided for them. And it is satisfactory to know that most of the lecturers are in the front rank of scientific investigators, for this fact may be taken as a guarantee that sound information is imparted. The list of lecturers and subjects given in the report on the work of the Hall during 1895 is most creditable to the energy of Miss Cons, the Secretary, and to the generous spirit of the men of science who gave their services. FOLLOWING up the work which resulted in the preparation of the phosphoryl chlorobromides, M. Besson (Comptes rendus, May 11), by a similar method, has succeeded in preparing the corresponding thiophosphoryl derivatives. A mixture of hydro- bromic acid and thiophosphoryl chloride passed over pumice at 400"-500° C. yields a liquid from which it is possible, by fractional distillation under reduced pressure (60 mm.), to separate both the intermediate chlorobromides. These sub- stances resemble in their general behaviour the corresponding phosphoryl compounds. They undergo partial decomposition when distilled under ordinary atmospheric pressure, and are slowly acted upon by water. The chloromonobromide, (PSCI,Br), has been previously obtained by Michaelis by the action of bromine upon PSCI,(OC,Hs), but his product seems to have been impure. NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE : 63 THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Bonnet Monkey (J/acacus stnicus, 2) from India, presented by Mr. F. Greswolde-Williams ; a Red-fronted Lemur (Lemur rufifrons, 6) from’ Madagascar, presented by Mr. E. A. Pardoe ; a Grison (Gadzctzs vzttata), a Black Tortoise (Testudo carbonaria), a Brazilian Tortoise (Zestado tabulata), a Rough Terrapin (Clemmys punctularia), two Scorpion Mud Terrapins (Czmosternon scorpiotdes) from South America, pre- sented by Mr. J. J. Quelch; a Lesser Kestrel (Z2znwzcelus cenchris), captured off the coast of Sicily, presented by Mr. J. L. Spaull; a Natal Python (Python sebe, var. natalensis), a Ring-hals Snake (Sefedon hemachetes) from South Africa, pre- sented by Mr. W. Champion ; a Common Viper ( VzZera berus), British, presented by Mr. H. L. C. Barret ; eight Esquimaux Dogs (Canis familaris), Arctic Regions, deposited; a Pied Crow Shrike (Stvepera graculina) from Australia, two Whooper Swans (Cygnus muszcus), European, purchased ; two Barbary Wild Sheep (Ov2s tragelaphus), born in the Gardens. ErratuM.—In the letter entitled ‘‘ Simple Huyghens’ Apparatus for the Optical Lantern,” in the issue of NATURE for April 9, instead of ‘‘a thickness of 14 inches or more,” read ‘of 4 inch or more.” OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE SystEM OF CasToR.—A very interesting discovery with regard to this well-known binary star has been made by Dr. Belopolsky (Bull, Acad. Imp. Sez. St. Petersbourg, vol. iv. No. 3). In addition to the two luminous bodies, which perform their revolution in a period of about 1000 years, Dr. Belopolsky’s observations indicate that the brighter star, a, Geminorum, has a dark companion very similar to that of Algol, except that it never produces eclipses. The existence of this dark body was suspected in 1894, and it was fully confirmed by photo- graphs of the spectrum taken at Pulkowa early in the present year. showing periodic changes in the velocity of the star along the line of sight. Thirteen photographs were obtained, and from these the velocities of a) Geminorum towards or away from the sun were deduced. Although the available data are insufficient for a complete determination of the orbit, it may be taken to be circular as a first approximation, and a period of revolution of 2°98 days sufficiently accords with the spectroscopic measurements. The proper motion of the system of a is I'0 geographical mile (=4°6 English miles) per second away from the sun, while the relative orbital velocity is 4°5 geographical miles (20°7 English miles) per second. Dr. Belopolsky also tabulates the wave-lengths of some of the principal lines in the spectrum of a, Geminorum, which some- what resembles that of Sirius in having broad lines of hydrogen, and many finer lines which are chiefly due to iron. a, Gemi- norum gives a spectrum with less numerous lines. EFFICIENCY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TELESCOPES.—Dr. Isaac Roberts has recently conducted an important series of experi- ments with the view of ascertaining the relative efficiency of a reflector and of portrait lenses for the delineation of celestial objects (Afonthly Notices, vol. lvi. p. 372). It has often been asserted that portrait lenses have, by reason of their short focal lengths in relation to their apertures, greater photographic power than instruments of other forms ; but this does not accord with Dr. Roberts’s experience. A portrait lens of Dallmeyer’s latest pattern, 34 inches aperture and 94 inches focus, and a 5-inch Cooke patent triplet lens of 19°2 inches focus, were attached with their cameras to the 20-inch reflector, and photographs of the same regions were taken simultaneously with the three in- struments. The 5-inch lens was stopped down to a ratio of I to 4°8, while the ratio of aperture to focus in the case of the re- flector was I to 49. In three exposures on the region of M.33 Trianguli, the stars were 34 times more numerous on the re- flector photograph than on the photograph taken with the 5-inch lens in an equal angular area, and 7°8 times more numerous than in the case of the 34-inch lens. At the same time the re- flector photograph showed the nebula more extensively, more clearly depicted, at least two stellar magnitudes denser, and with far more structural details than can be seen on the other photographs. 64 Similar results were obtained with exposures on other regions, and in all cases the nebulosity shown on the plates taken with the reflector was denser than that registered by the portrait lenses in the approximate ratio of the relative numbers of faint stars shown on plates exposed simultaneously. Figures are also given which demonstrate the superiority of the reflector over the Willard lens, with which Prof. Barnard has obtained such striking photographs. The experiments seem to point to a practical limit of about 1 to 5 for the ratio of aperture to focus in the construction of instruments for celestial photography. Dr. Roberts further con- cludes that it is not possible, as is often stated, that a photo- graphic instrument of the portrait lens form can imprint images of nebulze that are fainter than the faintest star-images imprinted at the same time and under exactly similar conditions. So_ar PHoroGRaPHY aT Meupon.—In his recent presi- dential address to the Astronomical Society of France, Dr. Janssen gave a few particulars as to the progress of solar photo- graphy at Meudon. The well-known photographs taken some years ago revealed much that was new in regard to the granula- tion of the photosphere, and as the work has been continued, it has been found that the facula, and even the striz in the penumbra of a sun-spot, have a granular structure like the rest of the solar surface. One can look upon the granule, or small photospheric cloud, as an element of the photosphere just as the cell is that of organic tissues. These granular elements are very small, sometimes being only one or two-tenths of a second in diameter ; and exceptionally favourable atmospheric conditions appear to be necessary for their proper investigation. UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORIES IN AMERICA.—We learn from Science that at the last session of the Illinois Legislature an appropriation was made for the erection and equipment of an observatory for the State University at Champaign. The designs for the building were made, under direction of Prof. Ira O. Baker, by the Architectural Department of the Uni- versity. The instrumental equipment, consisting of a 12-inch equatorial, a 3-inch combined transit and zenith telescope and a chronograph, will be made by Warner and Swasey, the optical parts being made by Brashear. This makes four universities which have established observatories within the past year, all of which have ordered telescopes from Warner and Swasey, with optical parts by Brashear. The list is as follows: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (18-inch aperture) ; University of Ohio, Columbus (12-inch aperture) ; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1o}-inch aperture) ; University of Illinois, Cham- paign (12-inch aperture). INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENCE. WE have been requested to print the following circular, which the Royal Society has recently issued to the foreign and other delegates of various nations, now numbering about thirty, whose appointment has been already notified :— **Tn anticipation of the forthcoming International Conference to consider the preparation of a catalogue of scientific literature by international co-operation, we are directed to address to you the following :— «Tt is proposed that the Conference shall be held at the rooms of the Royal Society, Burlington House, London, éegenning on Tuesday, Jrly 14, 1896, at 11 a.m. **One of the earliest acts of this first meeting will be to appoint an organising committee to determine the mode of pro- cedure (including the language or languages to be used at the Conference), the course of business, and the way in which votes shall be recorded on occasions when it will be necessary to have recourse to formal voting. ‘“* The Committee of the Royal Society hopes to be in a posi- tion to bring definite proposals before the Conference with regard to its main work. Meanwhile, we are directed to submit to your consideration the following provisional suggestions, and to invite remarks from you upon them :— “*J. That the proposed International Authors and Subject Catalogue of Scientific Literature shall be restricted, in the first instance, to branches of pure science, such as mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, zoology, botany, physiology, and anthropology, to the exclusion of applied sciences, such as engineering, medicine, and the like: the determination of the distinction between pure and applied science being left to the Conference. NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 21, 1896 ‘II, That in such an International Catalogue of Science all definite contributions to pure science shall be thoroughly indexed, whether occurring in books, memoirs, &c., treating of pure science, or in those devoted to applied or practical science—in other words, that the catalogue shall not be confined to papers published in certain periodicals, or to books of a certain category. “III. That with regard to the form of the said Catalogue :— **(a) There shall be a first issue of authors’ titles, subject- matter, &c., in the form of sds or cards, which shall be distri- - buted as speedily and as frequently as possible to subscribers. generally. **(6) That a further issue in book form, in a state for use as a permanent work of reference, shall take place at such intervals: as may be determined on, parts corresponding to the several sciences being, if found desirable, published separately. “TV. That, in order to secure the preparation and publication. of such an International Catalogue, a Central Bureau shall be established under the control of an International Council. ““V. That the whole of the Catalogue shall be prepared and issued subject to the authority of the International Council, and that any particular undertakings which may be allotted to par- ticular countries, institutions, or persons, shall be subsidiary to- the work of the Central Bureau and subject to its control. “*VI. That the cost of preparing and publishing the said Slip- and Book-Catalogues at the Central Bureau during the years. 1900-1904, in so far as these are not met by sales, shall be pro- vided for by means of a guarantee fund, and that application be made to governments, learned societies, institutions, and indi- yicials throughout the world, to assist in establishing such a und. **The Conference will also have to take into consideration the following matters, among others :-— ‘*(a) Supposing that the plan of a Central Bureau is adopted, where shall the Bureau be placed ? ‘*(6) The mode of appointment and organisation of the Inter- national Council in charge of the Bureau. ' ‘*(c) The language or languages to be adopted for the Cata- ogue. ““(d) The system of classification to be adopted in the subject index. It is suggested that the decimal system of Dewey may be so amended as to be worthy of adoption. “* There is necessarily the greatest difficulty in estimating the cost of the work in advance, or in forming an opinion as to the extent to which such an enterprise will be self-supporting. It will probably, therefore, be best to raise a guarantee fund cover- ing a period of not less than five years, within which period it will undoubtedly be possible to determine the cost of the enter-- prise. The annual sum to be thus secured may be approxi- mately estimated at ten thousand pounds. ‘* We are, your obedient servants, “*M. Foster, Secretary, R.S. “ RAYLEIGH, Secretary, R.S. ‘°F, FRANKLAND, Foreign Secretary, R.S.” THE FRENCH UNIVERSITIES. ON March 5 the Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously for a reconstitution of the French universities. In order to- understand the object of this important law, it is necessary to recall the circumstances and the legislative proceedings which brought about its adoption. Until 1875 the faculties of literature, science, law, and medicine existed separately in France, without being united by a single tie, even when four of them (a university, in the acknowledged sense of the word) existed in the same town. In 1875 the National Assembly announced the liberty of higher instruction, permitted the installation of free faculties, and accorded to the group of three faculties (refused to similar groups of the faculties of the State) the title of University. This vote increased at once, by reaction, the force of the movement, which, since the fall of the Empire, claimed un- successfully, by means of such men as Guizot, Cousin, Duruy, and Renan, the constitution of State universities. In 1877 a first scheme of law was handed over to M. Waddington, then Minister of Public Instruction, by a Committee of eminent men ym ver 1 Condensed from an article in the Revue de 7U" 1 sité de Bruxelles, February 1896. May 21, 1896} and jurists, amongst whom were Renan, Taine, Berthelot, and others. This led to the creation of seven complete universities, to which the nearest separate faculties attached themselves. M. Waddington, after having looked over the scheme, did not ask for a discussion. He thought that universities could not be established before university life had been founded, before the material, scientific, and moral situation of the faculties had been ameliorated. It is in this direction that the reforms were directed. In 1885, the localities of the faculties having been changed, their scientific instruments being complete, their courses ex- tended, at the cost of great pecuniary sacrifices, the question of universities was again renewed. The Minister of Public In- struction, at this time M. R. Goblet, signed two important resolutions. For each group of faculties there was instituted a general Council composed of two delegates of each faculty, with extended functions for academic, scientific, administrative, finan- cial and disciplinary matters. The Rector of the Academy received the presidency. The ordinary life of the faculties of the same town was thus created. Each one of the faculties received, besides, confirmation of the right that they possessed since their creation, but which was repealed in deed to receive endowments, legacies and relief. The faculties became therefore civil persons, but their group- ing remained extra-legal, and had no judicial unity. It is in a scheme of law presented to the Senate in 1890 by M. Bourgeois, then Minister of Public Instruction, that the proposition is first made to confer the civil personality and the name of University on the groups, comprising at least the four faculties of law, literature, science and medicine, and to give to the universities the autonomy of their budget, by abandoning to them all the receipts which they effected (right of inscription, of study, revenues) for covering their expenses, with the help of a State subsidy. This project, rather badly received by the Senate, was sent back to a Commission, which very soon gave up its ex- amination, It met with the strong opposition of the senators who represented the towns of the little groups of two or three faculties, which could not, by the terms of the project, pretend to the rank of University. In spite of this repulse, the Minister of Public Instruction, and especially M. Liard, the eminent Director of Higher In- struction, were not discouraged. They succeeded in having inserted in the Finance Law of April 28, 1893, an article (No. 72) which conferred civil personality on the faculties in the same academic resort. The Senate, averse to the project of 1890, accepted the provision of 1893 by 212 votes against 56. Thus new progress was made. Nevertheless, as it became more evident that the Senate would never consent to sacrifice the little groups of faculties, the par- tisans of the universities had to content themselves, in order to obtain anything, with demanding less. In 1895, M. R. Poincaré presented the proposition which has just been voted for by the Chamber, and which he defended as Reporter, at the side of his successor in Public Instruction, M. Combes. Briefly, in the terms of the project, the bodies of faculties, instituted in 1893, take the name of University ; the general councils of the faculties, created in 1885, become councils of the university. In 1898 each faculty will have a budget of its own. This arrangement has its importance. for it confers on certain groups of the university considerable receipts—646,000 francs at Paris, 105,000 at Bordeaux, 128,000 at Lyons, 83,000 at Lille. By the vote of the Chamber, and that of the Senate, the uni- versities, suppressed by the Revolution, will be reconstituted in France and endowed with civil personification. The new law is, on the other hand, but the result of the long evolution com- menced twenty years ago. It perpetuates results already attained, and so little contested, that in 1889 M. Gréard, in his inaugural discourse at the Sorbonne, talked of the University of Paris, and the new buildings of the Faculties of Lille bear the inscription “* University of Lille.” It is certainly to be regretted that the proposal of 1890 was not adoped. Real universities must include four faculties. And, as the Rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris, M. d’Hulst, has said at the Chamber, it is a delusion to call the union of only two or three faculties}a university. It may be presumed that the incomplete groups, in order to maintain their new name and the concurrence of the complete groups, will try to give themselves the faculties which are wanting. If they do NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE 65 not succeed, they will remain, of necessity, in the shade ; and it is better, in short, to see the faculties of Paris become a university, even if those of Clermont-Fenaud receive the same title, than to see the ambiguous situation, created in 1885, continued. There are fifteen groups of faculties in France; there would, therefore, be fifteen universities, of which seven are complete = Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, Lille, and Nancy. It is to be remarked that the southern half of the country will possess four of the seven universities. The incomplete uni- versities are Aix-Marseilles, Rennes, Caen, Poitiers, Grenoble, Dijon (law, science, and literature), Clermont, and Besancon (science and literature). The above-mentioned towns, Clermont and Besancon ex- cepted, contain a preparatory school of medicine. Many of these schools will probably be turned into faculties. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.— WASHINGTON MEETING. HE recent annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington brought together an unusual number of members;. and the papers read during the first three days of the meeting included several of special interest and value. Naturally the Rontgen rays have been the prominent topic, and it is fortunate that most of the successful investigators have at- tended and read papers, or participated in the discussions. Some errors which have gained credence and wide publication have been corrected, and perhaps the most satisfactory feature of the discussion has been the elimination of these errors, and the correction of too hasty generalisation from experiments conducted without sufficient care. What the rays are Prof. Rowland frankly admits we do not know, nor are we perceptibly nearer a solution of the problem than when Rontgen first launched his epoch-making essay. Prof. Rowland presented to the Academy some notes on the rays, in which he said in part that investigators of the source of these rays generally overlook the fact that electrical currents are almost invariably accompanied by oscillations, so that each pole is alternately anode and kathode, thus vitiating any generalisations as to the anode or the kathode being the source of the rays. He mentioned that the rays are developed to the greatest extent when the kathode rays fall on the anode, and hence a kathode ground to a reflecting surface focused on the anode gives the best results. This fact is utilised in the con- struction of the ‘‘focus-tubes” now largly used in Réntgen photography. Prof. Rowland has obtained good results by using perfect vacuum tubes in which the electrodes are brought within one millimetre of each other. The source of rays here is less than 1/1000 of an inch in diameter. This throws a shadow with remarkably sharp outline, being less than 1/1000 inch. The width of the image gives the limit of wave-length—if it is indeed an undulation, and not the projection of material particles—not greater than 1/8 the length of waves of yellow light. A paper on the source of the Rontgen rays was read by Prof. A. A. Michelson and S. W. Stratton. Prof. Michelson maintains that these rays are not essentially different from those of Lenard. The latter produce their effect mostly within the tube, the former without ; but Lenard also found an actinic effect outside the tube. He also brought forward evidence to show that Rontgen rays radiate in all directions from the surface first en- countered by the kathode rays, and do not start from the anode. Prof. A. M. Mayer read several papers. He showed that investigations of polarisation of these rays must be made with some very thin substance of low density, herapathite being the best ; but this substance, which is an iodo-sulphate of quinine, is difficult to obtain. He described the process, already com- municated by him to Narure (April 2). On using plates of herapathite with three different {exposures of half-hour, one hour, and three and a half hours, no polarising effect was produced. ‘He remarked that calce-spar was utterly un- available as a test of polarisation of these rays, because it could not be procured of sufficient thinness for the rays to penetrate, Hence the researches of some experimenters, though widely published, were of no value whatever. He has determined the density of herapathite with great accuracy and by repeated 66 NATURE [May 21, 1896 experiments, and finds it much smaller than Herapath did, namely, 1°557- Prof. Mayer also gave formule of transmission of Rontgen rays through glass, tourmaline and herapathite. To determine whether rays just go through or nearly go through, he uses a wire grating which will appear in the picture if rays go through. Trans- mission depends on the thickness of the glass plus the time of exposure. Glass of various thickness is used, one plate being superposed upon another in successive gradations. The eye cannot distinguish a difference less than about 1/100, and this is what passes through glass of five millimetres thickness. If we begin with glass 1/10 millimetre thick, it absorbs 1/10 of the yays, and each superposed 1/10 millimetre absorbs 1/10 of the residue, so that the formula in general is I’=Iar. It is evident, therefore, that there is no constant ratio of comparison of ab- sorption by different materials, because the successive powers of ‘«q” have not the same ratio to each other that the first powers have. In the case of herapathite the absorption (a) is found to be °9382, so the formula becomes I’=I *9382'. The formula for tourmaline is the same as for glass, so tourmaline is a very imperfect substance to use. Prof. Ogden N. Rood read a paper detailing his experiments in reflecting the X-rays, which have enabled him to reflect 1/260th part of the rays incident on platinum at an angle of 45° (see Nature, April 30, p. 614). Prof. Arthur W. Wright read a paper on the relative perme- ability of magnesium and aluminium by Rontgen rays. He reported experiments showing that magnesium is much more permeable than aluminium. Magnesium is also more readily wrought than aluminium, thus making it much more desirable to use in the investigation of these rays. Prof. T. J. J. See, of Chicago University, read a paper on double stars, giving results of three years’ observations. He concludes that at the end of 115 years we know accurately only forty; that there is only evidence of disturbing bodies in a few cases, which are indecisive ; that great eccentricity of orbit prevails, the average being twelve times as much as that of planetary orbits, and that the law of gravity is rendered prob- able and may be hereafter confirmed by spectroscopic in- vestigation. Among other papers read are:—The geological efficacy of alkali carbonate solutions, by E. W. Hilgard, read by G. Brown Goode ; on the colour relations of atoms, ions, and molecules, by M. Carey Lea, read by Ira Remsen; on the characters of the Otoccelidee, by E. D, Cope; on the determination of the coefficient of expansion of Jessop’s steel, between the limits of o° C. and 64°C., by the interferential method, by E. W. Morley and Wm. A. Rogers; on a remarkable new family of deep-sea Cephalopods (Of¢stotenthis), and its bearing on molluscan mor- phology, and on the question of the molluscan archetype, by A, E. Verrill; on L2thecanthropus erectus from the Tertiary of Java, which was discovered by Dubois in 1895, by Prof. Marsh; on the separate measurement, by the interferential method, of the heating effect of pure radiations and of an envelope of heated air, by Wm. A. Rogers; judgment in sensa- tion and perception, by J. W. Powell; exhibition of a linkage whose motion shows the laws of refraction of light, by A. M. Mayer; location in Paris of the{dwelling of Malus, in which he made the discovery of the polarisation of light by reflection, by A. M. Mayer. Ira Remsen read a paper on some studies in chemical equilibrium, and several papers were read by title. The Academy adjourned to meet at New York, November 17, 1896. Wo. H. HALE. THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SILK. ANCASHIRE is on the eve of some important expan- sions of the textile trades, for, from an interesting article in the Zzmes, it appears that the manufacture of arti- ficial silk from wood pulp will shortly be added to her industries. At present the wood-silk comes from France, large works having been established at Besangon under patents granted to Count Hilaire de Chardonnet, who discovered the process, and first established in 1893 the fact that it might be made into a commercial success. The demand for the new commodity in- creased so considerably that the idea of introducing its manufac- ture into England was mooted, with the result that a number of silk and cotton manufacturers met to discuss the question, and finally sent out to Besancon a deputation, consisting of some of NO. 1386, VOL. 54] their own number, an engineer, a chemist, and a lawyer, to in- vestigate the subject thoroughly. This was done, and the out- look was found to be so promising that certain concessions have been secured and a company is now in process of formation, and, to begin with, a factory, which will cost £30,000, is to be built near to Manchester for the manufacture of artificial silk yarn from wood pulp, for sale to weavers, who will work it up by means of their existing machinery. The way in which wood pulp can be converted into silk yarn is explained in the Z%mes. The pulp, thoroughly cleansed, and looking very much like thick gum, is put in cylinders, from which it is forced by pneumatic pressure into pipes passing into the spinning department. Here the machinery looks like that employed in Lancashire spinning sheds, except that one of the pipes referred to runs along each set of machines. These pipes are supplied with small taps, fixed close together, and each tap has a glass tube, about the size of a gas- burner, at the extreme point of which is a minute aperture through which the filaments pass. These glass tubes are known as ‘‘ glass silkworms,”’ and some 12,000 of them are in use in the factory at Besancon. The effect of the pneumatic pressure in the cylinders referred to above is to force the liquid matter not only along the iron tubes, but also, when the small taps are turned on, through each of the glass silkworms. It appears there is a scarcely perceptible globule. This a girl touches with her thumb, to which it adheres, and she draws out an almost invisible filament, which she passes through the guides and on to the bobbin. Then, one by one, she takes eight, ten, or twelve other such filaments, according to the thickness of the thread to be made, and passes them through the same guides and on to the same bobbin. This done, she presses them together with her thumb and forefinger, at a certain point between the glass silk- worms and the guides. Not only do they adhere, but thence- forward the filaments will continue to meet and adhere at that point, however long the machinery may be kept running. In this way the whole frame will soon be set at work, the threads not breaking until the bobbin is full, when they break automat- ically, while they are all of a uniform thickness. The new pro- duct is said to take dye much more readily than the natural silk. The chief difference in appearance between the natural and the artificial silk is in the greater lustre of the latter. The success already secured by the new process in France is such that the introduction of the industry into Lancashire is expected to pro- duce something like revolution in the conditions of trade there, not only by bringing into existence a new occupation, but also by finding more work for a good deal of the weaving machinery that is now only partially employed. A THEORY OF THE X-RAYS} THE principal facts, which any satisfactory theory of the X-rays is called upon to explain, may be summarised as follows : (1) The production of the rays by electric impulse, at the kathode,? in a highly exhausted enclosure. (2) Propagation in straight lines and absence of interference, reflection, refraction and polafisation. (3) The importance of density of the medium as the deter- mining factor in the transmission of the rays. (4) The production of fluorescence and actinic effects, and the action on electrified conductors. Two theories have been proposed to account for these re- markable phenomena: (1) the theory of longitudinal waves ; (2) the theory of projected particles. In reference to the first theory it may be said that unless it is proved that an oscillatory discharge is essential to the pro- duction of the X-rays, there can be no reason for supposing that these rays are of a periodic nature—that they are wave- motion as commonly understood. The absence of interference, reflection and refraction is also a very formidable difficulty. Attempts have been made to account for the absence of these invariable accompaniments of every known form of wave- motion, but, as I think, with very indifferent success. The most serious difficulty in the second theory is the attempt to explain the passage of the electrified particles of the residual gas (or of the electrode) through the walls of the .1 From the American Journal of Science, April. Ke 2 Even should further experiment prove that the X-rays proper originat at the first obstruction encountered by the discharge, the fact remains tha this discharge originates at the kathode. May 2t, 1896] vacuum tube. The query at once arises, if glass is permeable to these particles in virtue of their relatively great velocity, why is it not permeable (in lesser degree) to the same particles moving with smaller velocities? That it is not, is evident from the fact that vacuum tubes retain their high degree of exhaus- tion unimpaired for years. In view of these difficulties, I would propose a third theory, which may be called the ‘‘ ether-vortex ” theory. Let it be supposed that the X-rays are vortices of an inter- molecular medium (provisionally, the ether?). These vortices are produced at the surface of the kathode, by the negative charge, which forces them out from among the molecules of the kathode. Let us now apply the tests above mentioned. According to this theory, an oscillatory discharge, while it may be just as effective as a series of separate impulses, is not essential to the formation of the vortices. The vortices being forced outwards from the surface of the kathode by the negative charge, the effect of the positive charge at the anode would be to drive them in. Hence their appearance at the kathode alone. One of the greatest puzzles connected with the behaviour of the X-rays is the fact that while they can pass almost unimpeded through air at atmospheric pressure (let alone water, glass, wood, flesh, bone, and metals) wher once outside the enclosure in which they are produced, they cannot even reach the walls of the enclosure, except there be a very high vacuum within. This problem receives a very natural solution if it be considered that, in order that ether-vortices may result from the electrical impulse, this impulse must be communicated to them ; and must not be dissipated in the interchange of molecular charges which accompanies, or rather produces, the discharge at moderate or high pressures. As exhaustion proceeds there are fewer molecules present to effect this discharge with sufficient rapidity, and as this limit is approached there will be a division of the energy of the electric impulse between the electrified molecules and the ether-vortices, and in the end all the energy of the discharge will be confined to the latter. The reason for the non-appearance of the rays under ordinary conditions is not that the rays cannot reach the walls of the enclosure or pass through them, but that they cannot form at all. The propagation of vortices in straight lines, the absence of interference phenomena, of reflection, refraction and polarisa- tion, follow from the properties of vortices, and from the absence of anything corresponding to a wave-front. The passage of an ether-vortex through a mass of matter may be compared with a passage of a smoke-ring through a wire gauze screen or a series of such; and as the motion of the rings is more impeded the greater the diameter and the number of wires per unit volume, so, the greater the number and the size of the molecules—that is, the greater the density—the more effective will the medium be in dissipating the energy of the ether-vortices. The production of fluorescence, actinic effects, and the dissi- pation of electric charges by light (which is an ether motion) would make it at least probable that similar (though perhaps not identical) effects would be produced by the motions of ether vortices. Prof. J. J. Thomson has measured the velocity of kathode rays and obtained a result so very far less than the velocity of light as to preclude entirely the idea of there being any con- nection between the two. If these results can be made to apply to the X-rays, the analogy with the properties of smoke-rings would lead us to expect such a result. The kathode rays have been shown by Lenard to have a considerable range in their properties, depending on the mode of their origin.” It seems likely that their velocities are to a considerable extent dependent on the potential and the suddenness of the electrical impulse ; and if this were shown to be true of the X-rays, it would be to that extent a confirmation of the theory. 1A possible objection occurs to the formation of ether-vortices in a medium which is usually considered free from viscosity; but the fact that vibrating molecules can and do communicate their motions to the surround- ing ether shows that the communication of vortex motion may also be possible. Though not a necessary part of the theory, it may be considered that the expulsion of the ether-vortices is due to an accumulation of ether in the kathode, and this would lend support to the theory that this accumula- tion is not merely a result of the negative charge, but that this excess of ether is what constitutes the negative charge. 2 The distinction between the X-rays and the kathode rays appears to be somewhat artificial, and it seems probable that the X-rays are only kathode rays sifted by the various media they have traversed. NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE 67 The foregoing evidence may be considered scarcely sufficient to entitle the proposition here advocated to the dignity of a theory, but it may at least merit consideration as a working hypothesis which may serve as a guide in future experiment. ALBERT A. MICHELSON. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. OxFrorD.—The Oxford University Junior Scientific Club will hold a conversazione on Tuesday evening, May 26. The rooms and laboratories of the University Museum, Oxford, will be thrown open by permission of the delegates and professors, and apparatus and experiments illustrating recent progress in the various branches of natural science will be exhibited. During the evening Prof. Silvanus P. Thomson will give a lecture on ‘* Luminescence,” with demonstrations, On Tuesday, June 2, before the above Club, Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., will deliver the fifth annual Robert Boyle Lecture, on ** Argon and Helium, the two recently discovered gases.” The “Robert Boyle Lecture” was instituted in 1892, and the lecturers hitherto have been Sir Henry Acland (1892), Lord Kelvin (1893), Prof. A. Macalister (1894), Prof. A. Crum Brown (1895). The vacancies in the Public Examinerships in the Honour School of Natural Science have been recently filled up as follows :—In Animal Morphology, Prof. E. Ray Lankester and Mr. Adam Sedgwick; in Botany, Prof. D. H. Scott and Mr. R. W. Phillips ; in Geology, Prof. A. H. Green and Mr. J. E. Marr; in Physics, Mr. R. E. Baynes ; in Chemistry, Prof. W. Ramsay ; and in Animal Physiology, Prof. C. S. Sherrington. The Scholarships and Exhibitions advertised for proficiency in Natural Science are not numerous this year. Merton and New College offer each one, the examination to be held conjointly by the two colleges at the end of June. Magdalen offers one or more Demyships in Natural Science for competition in October, and the Delegacy of Non-Collegiate Students offers a scholarship for Chemistry. There seems to be a tendency at the present time to curtail the number of scholarships in Natural Science. The Hope Professor of Zoology is giving a course of public lectures at the Museum, on the Hope Collections. The second lecture of the series will be given on Wednesday, May 27, at 2.30 p.m. Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S., Waynflete Professor of Miner alogy, gave his inaugural lecture at the University Museum on Wednesday last. A Decree will be proposed on the 26th inst. providing for the enlargement and alteration of certain rooms in the University Museum, in order that they may be adapted to the purposes of the Professor of Mineralogy. Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot gave a lecture to the Ashmolean Society last Monday, on the race elements of South Africa. CAMBRIDGE.—The dates of the examinations for entrance scholarships and exhibitions in Natural Science at the several colleges during the next academical year, have been announced as follows :—St. John’s and Trinity, November 3, 1896 ; Pem- broke, Caius, King’s, Jesus, Christ’s, and Emmanuel, November 17, 1896; Peterhouse and Sidney, Clare and Trinity Hall, December 8, 1896; Downing, April 20, 1897. The subjects are in General Chemistry, Physics, Zoology, Botany, Geology, and Physiology, two or more sciences being required. Ap- plication for particulars should be made to the respective tutors some weeks before the date of the examination, The yearly value of the scholarships varies from £80 to £40. Vacancies for students of Biology at the University tables in the Zoological Stations of Naples and Plymouth are announced. Applications to occupy these are to be sent to Prof. Newton by May 27. THE University of Utrecht will celebrate the 260th anni- versary of its foundation on June 22 and five following days. Mr. JoHN H. RocKEFELLER has given to Vassar College (women’s) 100,000 dols. for a new building, to be either dormitory or recitation hall. Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE has given to the city of Duquesne, Towa, a library, gymnasium, and public bath. The buildings are to cost 150,000 dols. 68 WATORE: Tue following are among recent appointments :—Dr. Otto Fischer to be Extraordinary Professor of Physiological Physics at Leipzig; Dr. Albert P. Brubaker to be Assistant Professor of Ilygiene in Jefferson College, Philadelphia; Dr. E. B. Sangree to be Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology in the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. THE new buildings at Owen’s School for boys, Islington, which were recently opened by the Master of the Brewers’ Company, include some new class-rooms for the teaching of practical science. There isa good science lecture-room, as well as physical and chemical laboratories, both well arranged and equipped. A new art room has also been added. The Brewers’ Company have provided the funds for building, and the London Technical Education Board those for furnishing. THE will of Mr. H. W. Massey, of Toronto, contains numerous bequests to charities and educational institutions. Among the latter are 50,000 dols. tothe American University at Washington, for a building to bear his name; 10,000 dols. to the Alma Ladies’ School at St. Thomas ; 100,000 dols. to the University of Mount Allison at Sackville, N.B.; 50,000 dols. to the Wesleyan Theological College at Montreal ; 200,000 dols. to the University of Victoria, Toronto ; 100,000 dols. to the Wesleyan College of Winnipeg, Manitoba. WE learn from the Zazcet that Glasgow University is to receive under the will of the late Dr. John Grieve the sum of £8000, which is to be applied at the discretion of the court to the foundation of a lectureship, fellowship, or scholarship. The present demand for teaching in the subject of public health is very inadequately met by the existing laboratory arrange- ments, and the University Court has decided to equip a tem- porary laboratory until more satisfactory permanent dispositions are possible. Some recent communications with possible bene- factors of the University render it probable that a lectureship in geology will shortly be instituted. AAs we reported in our issue of February 20 of this year, it was decided by the County Council of Hampshire that the Finance and Technical Education Committees should meet together and report to the next meeting of the Council their opinion upon the manner in which the balance remaining after the annual expenditure on technical education had been de- frayed, should be dealt with. At the meeting of the Council held on Monday, the rrth inst., the joint Committees reported that as an Education Bill had been introduced into Parliament dealing with the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Duties, they were of opinion that it would be undesirable to proceed with their deliberations. The report of the Technical Educa- tion Committee showed that good work had been done in the county during the past session, ON Saturday, May 2, the new grounds of Columbia University were dedicated, and the corner-stones of Physics Hall and Schermerhorn Hall were laid. A large and distinguished com- pany gathered to honour the events, among whom were the Governor of the State and the Mayor of the City of New York. Congratulations were sent by the President of the United States. The new grounds comprise about seventeen acres, com- manding a fine view of the Hudson, and very near to and in sight of the tomb of General Grant. The site is that of the Battle of Harlem, fought September 16, 1776. On this site a group of buildings are now rising, which will provide admirably for the University, giving it facilities unrivalled by any other in America, Its endowment also places it in the front rank. The University has productive property in New York City valued at twelve million dollars, besides large endowments of personal property. Several of the new buildings are gifts—the library from the President of the University, Seth Low, Schermerhorn Hall from William C. Schermerhorn, and the Havemeyer build- ing from the Havemeyer family. University Hall is to be built by gifts from alumni of the University. Tue Johns Hopkins University is only twenty years old, yet as regards excellence of work it ranks high among the leading universities in the world. A little brochure containing an ac- count of the constitution and growth of the University has been published in commemoration of the recent twentieth anniversary. The fact that contributions amounting to more than a million of dollars have been received, is an indication that the founda- tion is firmly established in the confidence of the public. Nearly three thousand students have been instructed; three hundred of the graduates have been teachers in universities, colleges, and high schools, and altogether eight hundred persons NO. 1386, VOL. 54| [May 21, 1896 who have been pupils of the University have been engaged in teaching ; in fact, nearly every university and college in America numbers among its faculty a student of Johns Hopkins Univer- sity. Since its opening, the University has encouraged the publication of the results of advanced scientific research. Several journals have been regularly maintained, and support has been given to many separate works. Among the most important serial publications are the American Journal of Mathematics, American Chemical Journal, American Journal of Philology, Studies from the Biological Laboratory, Memoirs from the Biological Laboratory, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and the Joins Hopkins University Circulars. Many separate publications have also been issued under the auspices, or with the aid, of the University, among the most noteworthy of these being Prof. Rowland’s ‘* Photographs of the Normal Solar Spectrum,” ‘‘ The Oyster in Maryland ” (a publication in popular form of Prof. Brooks’ investigation of the oyster and its relation to interests of Maryland), ‘* Embryology of Insects and Arach- nids,”” by Adam T. Bruce, ‘* Geology and Physical Features of Maryland,” by G. H. Williams and W. B Clark, Bulletins and Reports of various departments of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, anda number of topographical and geological maps. For the study of the marine fauna of the Chesapeake region, including the oyster, the Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory, or Marine Station, was instituted in 1878, and a considerable sum of money annually appropriated for its maintenance. Further, the Uni- versity annually nominatesa scholar to occupy a table at Wood's Ifoll Biological Laboratory, for the prosecution of biological in- vestigation. Thus in a variety of ways the University has fostered original research and sound instruction, and has there- fore contributed to the welfare of Baltimore and the advancement of science. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American Meteorological Journal, Aprii 1896.—A speculation in topographical climatology, by Prof. W. M. Davis. The author refers to certain relations between existing topographic features and climatic conditions, the study of which enable us to infer the vanished climates of the past by means of their still- preserved topographic products. He discusses at some length the records of arid and humid climates, the consequences of various glacial theories, &c., and suggests an exploration of the most critical regions by well-trained topographical climatologists, with the points at issue clearly in mind.—The new meteorological observatory on the Brocken, by A. L. Rotch. This observatory has an elevation of 3750 feet above the sea and is the highest mountain in Northern Germany. Observations, with some in- terruptions, were made between 1836 and 1869, and have now been resumed under the superintendence of the Prussian Meteoro- logical Institute. The greatest difficulty in securing continuous observations is the frost, owing to which an anemometer cannot be kept in action, and much trouble is experienced with thermo- meters and rain-gauges ; nevertheless, in addition to automatic records, direct observations are made thrice daily, from which important contributions will be added to our knowledge of the upper air. Further particulars of the work at this station will be found in Dée Natur of the 26th ult. by Herr Koch, the Superintendent. Bollettino della Societa Sismologica Italiana, vol. i., 1896, No. 10 and 11.—Summary of the principal eruption phenomena in Sicily and the adjacent islands during the four months September to December, 1895, by S. Arcidiacono. For the whole year (1895) the following summary is given. Etna was covered by clouds on forty-six days; of the remainder, it was in astate of ‘‘ emanation ’* on 172 days, and in a ‘‘ strombolian” condition on 147 days. In Vulcano, Stromboli, and Salsi di Paterno, no change has occurred except that, on March 29, Stromboli passed from the normal to the explosive phase, at the same time a sensible earthquake was felt at several places in Calabria. —On a new type of seismometrograph, by G. Agamennone. The instrument consists of a pendulum of mass 200 kg. and length 16 metres, whose movements are magnified by the light horizontal lines at right angles to one another. When the first tremor occurs, the velocity of the strip of paper is increased from about 30 cm. per hour to about 5 mm. per second. The instrument is installed in the Central Meteorological and Geodynamical Office at Rome.-—Notices of Italian earth- quakes (August-October 1895), the most important being the Adriatic earthquake of August 9. May 21, 1896] SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Lonpon. Physical Society, May 8.—Captain Abney, President, in the chair.—Messrs. Frith and Rogers read a paper on the true resistance of the electric arc. It was pointed out by Prof. Ayrton, at the British Association meeting at Ipswich, that if the ‘‘ true resistance ” of an are is defined as the ratio of a small increase of the P.D. between the carbons to the corresponding change in the current, it follows that this ‘‘true resistance” must be a negative quantity. In order to measure the ‘‘ true resistance ” without appreciably altering the form of the carbons, &c., the authors superpose a small alternating current on the main con- tinuous current. The arc lamp employed was adjusted by hand, and the are length was measured by projecting an image of the arc by means of a lens. The main (continuous) current and P.D. were measured by a Weston ammeter and voltmeter, while the auxiliary alternating current was measured by means of an air transformer and an electrostatic voltmeter. The authors find that between the limits employed the magnitude of the alter- nating current did not influence the results obtained for the resistance of the arc. The frequency, so long as it lies between the limits 250-7 complete alternations per second, and the wave form, do not influence the resistance, since the same results were obtained with a Pyke and Harris alternator, a Ferranti alternator, a Gramme alternator, and a Mordey transformer. For each make of carbon examined, four combinations were used :—+ cored, — cored: + cored, — solid; + solid, —cored ; + solid, —solid. The general characteristicof the curves obtained is that for the + solid, — solid combination the ‘true resist- ance” is always negative; while for + cored, — cored it is always positive; the other curves lying between these two extremes, those which have the + carbon solid always being more negative than those which have the + carbon cored. In the case of the curves showing, for solid carbons, the relation between the resistance of the arc and the P.D. between the carbons, the current being constant (10 amperes), a minimum (maximum negative) value for the resistance occurs at about 55 volts. With combinations having a cored positive this minimum becomes more strongly marked, and occurs at a lower voltage. The authors find that for cored carbons the position of this minimum is closely connected with the presence or absence of the dark space in the arc. For points on the curve to the right of the minimum point, the dark space is absent ; while for points to the left of the minimum, the dark space is always present. It was found that the effect of using as the + carbon a Carré carbon in which the core had been bored out, was to obtain a curve closely resembling that obtained when both car- bons were solid. On filling this hollow carbon with plaster of Paris or kaolin, the resistance of the arc became positive. The above experiments were made with the + carbon uppermost ; other experiments, made with the arc inverted, showed that with solid carbons the resistance is not appreciably altered by invert- ing the are. With cored carbons, however, the resistance, as well as the physical character of the arc, is altered; since, on inversion, the dark space disappears, and the resistance con- siderably diminishes. If, however, the conditions under which the arc is burning are such that the dark space is absent, then inverting the arc does not alter the resistance. Attempts were made to measure the ‘‘ true resistance ” of a direct current hissing arc, but it was found that, even with the alternator at rest, there was a large deflection of the electrometer, showing that the cur- rent through a hissing arc was oscillatory. In order to elucidate the marked difference between their results for cored carbons and those deduced from Mrs. Ayrton’s curves, the authors have made a series of measurements at low frequencies. They find that there is a critical frequency above which the resistance has a positive value which is independent of the frequency, and below which it has a negative value, this critical frequency lying between 7°5 and o. In order to investigate the sign of the resist- ance at low frequencies, the vibrations of the needles of the ammeter and voltmeter were made use of. By an arrangement of mirrors, the needles and scales of both instruments could be observed simultaneously. In this way it could be seen whether the two needles were, at any instant, vibrating in the same or in opposite directions. If the needles vibrate in the same phase, z.e. if an increase of P.D. is accompanied by an increase of current, then the resistance must be positive ; while if they are vibrating out of phase, z.e. if an increase of P.D. is accompanied by a decrease in current, then the resistance is negative. An NO. 1386, VOL. 54 | NATURE 69 attempt to run the arc off a continuous-current dynamo failed, since even with the alternator at rest the electrometer showed a large deflection, evidently due to the oscillation of the current, owing to the commutator of the dynamo having a finite number of segments. Prof. A. Gray doubted whether it was right to give the name ‘‘ true resistance” of the arc to the slope of the curve connecting the potential difference (V) and the current (A). The authors’ method of deducing 5V/6A was only true if the curve was a straight line ; while in the case of the arc, E and @ may both vary with the current. Mrs. Ayrton said, that with reference to the question of the existence of a back E.M.F. the evidence tended to show that it did not exist. By using an exploring carbon, no constant back E.M.F would be found. Prof. Ayrton said, that considering the are as consisting of a back E.M.F. and a resistance, it was necessary to separate these two. Simply obtaining one value of the P.D. and the current was of no assistance in solving this question, but a series of values had to be taken. By taking the change in P.D. and current sufficiently small, the curve over the range considered was practically straight. It was curious to note that as long as observers obtained a positive value for the resistance of the arc, no fault was found with the method; but that now a negative value was found, the accuracy of this method was questioned. If a back E.M.F. does really exist, then it follows that the arc must have a negative resistance.. Mr. Frith has shown why some people have got positive and some negative values for the resistance of the arc, and also that with an alternating current you may get either one or the other. Mr. Tremlett Carter asked if the fact that the arc hada negative resistance did not imply a back E.M.F. in order that the arc might be stable. If so, was a negative resistance such an absurdity? Mr. Campbell said he was very pleased to see that the authors had applied a methcd which he (Mr. Campbell) had suggested for measuring pulsating currents. If a pulsating current, such as could be obtained by means ofa make and break, were passed through a thermopile, you would get a back E.M.F.; while if an alternating current were employed, you would not. Mr. Frith, in his reply, said that he had defined the “‘ true resistance” as dV/dA. Mrs. Ayrton has shown that an arc will not run unless a certain resistance is placed in series with it ; this resistance must be numerically equal to the negative resistance of the arc itself. Prof. Ayrton said Mr. Frith’s remarks as to the cause of the want of stability of an arc without outside resistance, were most suggestive. The Chair- man (Captain Abney) said he did not like the expression P.D. He suggested the employment of photography to facilitate the accurate registration of the instrument readings. The further discussion on the paper was adjourned to the next meeting on May 22. Mathematical Society, April23.—Major MacMahon, R.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President communicated a portion of the following abstract of a paper by Prof. W. Burn- side, F.R.S., on the isomorphism of a group withitself. A one- to-one correspondence between the operations of a group, which leaves the multiplication table of the group unaltered, is spoken of as an isomorphism of the group with itself. Such a corre- spondence may clearly be represented as a substitution performed on the symbols of the operations of the group, z.e. the isomor- phism may itself be regarded as an operation, and the totality of the isomorphisms of a given group will themselves form a group. This group is known as the ‘‘ group of isomorphisms” of the given group. The only general theorems connected with the isomorphism of a group with itself hitherto published are due to Herr O. Holder! and Herr G. Frobenius.” In the first part of the present paper I have reproduced such of the definitions due to Herren Holder and Frobenius as are necessary to render it self-contained, and also one fundamental theorem. An isomor- phism is defined to be cogredient or contragredient according as it can or cannot be obtained by transforming all the operations of the group by one of themselves. The theorem is that the cogredient isomorphisms form a self-conjugate sub-group of the complete group of isomorphisms. A definition, due to Herr Frobenius, involving an important new conception, is that of a characteristic sub-group. It is as follows. If a sub-group of a given group is transformed into itself by every isomorphism of which the given group is capable, the sub-group is called a characteristic sub-group. In the second part I have first 1 Cf The first ten pages of a memoir with the title ‘‘ Bildung Zusammen- gesetzter Gruppen.” J/ath. Amt., xlvi. és > 2 Cf Parts of memoirs with titles ‘“ Ueber Endliche Gruppen” and “Ueber auflésbare Gruppen II.” Berdiner Sitsungsberichte, 1895. 7O investigated the conditions under which a group should have no characteristic sub-group. This condition is that the group should be generated by a number of holohedrically isomorphous simple groups, such that every operation of any one of them is permutable with every operation of all the rest; or, in the phraseology of Herr H6lder, the group must be the direct product of a number of holohedrically isomorphous simple groups. The following theorem is then proved. If G isa group which has no characteristic sub-group, and if R is the group of greatest order that contains G self-conjugately, while at the same time no operation contained in R, and not in G, is permutable with every operation of G ; then the group R admits of no contragredient isomorphisms, and contains no self-conjugate operation except identity. A special case of this theorem is that the group defined by the congruences + OynXn + By, +a2ntn+B,, (Mod. A, prime) Hy Sar + Hore t . . - Xt Say Hy + AggXet . - « Xl Sain Xy tangy + «+ + +QnnX%nt Bn; dmits only cogredient isomorphisms. In the third part I con- sider the group of isomorphisms of certain simple groups, some of whose properties I have already dealt with in vol. xxv. of the Society’s Proceedings. For the simple group of order 2”(2°" — 1) there defined, I show that the order of the group R of isomor- phisms is 2”(2°"—1), and that if H is the group of cogredient isomorphisms, the factor group R/H is a cyclical group of order n. For the simple groups of order $A”(A?”— 1), Aan odd _ prime, it is shown that the order of the group R of isomorphisms is A(A2”—1)2, the factor group R/H being the direct product of cyclical groups of orders 2 and 7. The latter class includes as a special case, (A” = 37), the alternating group of six symbols. In Herr Holder’s paper, referred to above, the isomorphisms of the alternating group are dealt with, and, as compared with all other degrees, it is found that the alternating group of degree 6 behaves exceptionally, and re- quires rather elaborate treatment. There seems, however, to be no reason for regarding the alternating groups of different degrees as a set of groups which are characterised by common group-properties in the same way, for instance, as the groups of the modular equation for different prime transformations are ; and this view is borne out by the fact that there is nothing exceptional in the behaviour of the alternating group of degree 6 when regarded as one of the class of groups here considered. —The President also read an abstract of a paper on division of the Lemniscate, by Prof. G. B. Mathews.—Dr. Hobson, F.R.S., read a paper on some general formulz for the potentials of ellipsoids, shells, and dises.—The President offered some remarks on the compensation for difference of capital in gambling 2 outrance, being a contribution to the theory of the ‘* Duration of Play.” —Mr. Basset, F.R.S., read a paper on the stability of a frictionless liquid and the theory of critical planes. In the theory of the stability of the steady motion of a frictionless liquid which is bounded by the parallel planes y=o and y=a, the disturbed motion depends upon the equation (n[/k + U) (@a/ay® — v)=vd?Uldy?. . . « (1) The usual process of solution fails whenever there is a plane, called a crztical plane, at which 7/2 + UW = 0, and the object of this paper is to examine the nature of the solution when such a plane exists. In steady motion U = 9(y), where > is a given function ; and if a critical plane exists, — 2/2 = o(c), which de- termines the relation between the time-constant 7 and the wave- constant #, provided a read value of ¢ can be found which lies between Oand a. The integral of (1) is of the form v = Afi(y) + BAL). The boundary conditions require that v=o when y=o and y=a. At a critical plane d?U/dy?=0 orv=o. If the first condition is satisfied, and if neither of the functions / become infinite between y=o and y=a, the boundary conditions enable the constants A and B to be eliminated, which leads to a relation of the form F(a, #, c)=0, and the conditions for the existence of a critical plane require that this equation should furnish at least one veal value of ¢ lying between 0 and a. But if one of the functions— say f:—becomes infinite between the limits, B=o, and the boundary conditions cannot usually be satisfied, in which case a critical plane cannot exist. When the form of JU is such that @U/dy" does not vanish when y=c, a critical plane cannot exist except in very special circumstances. The paper concludes by showing that the particular solutions obtained by the hypothesis NO. 1386, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 21, 1896 that x and ¢ enter into the solution in the form of the factor eéx+é can always be generalised by Fourier’s theorem, so as to include every possible disturbance which does not violate the boundary conditions. The author and Mr. Love, F.R.S., joined in a discussion on the subject of the communication. Geological Society, April 29.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Descriptions of new fossils from the carboniferous limestone. (1) On emmatites constipatus, sp. noy., a lithistid sponge. (2) On Paleacts humilis, sp. nov., a new perforate coral ; with remarks on the genus. (3) On the jaw-apparatus of an Annelid, Lumnzcztes Retdiz, sp. nov., by Dr. G. Hinde.—(1) The Pemmatztes, belonging to genus hitherto only known from the Permo-Carboniferous beds of Spitzbergen, was discovered in the Yoredale beds of Yorkshire by Mr. J. Rhodes, and is the only fairly complete sponge which has hitherto been detected_in the Yoredale beds of North-west Yorkshire. The author gave a full description of the species. (2) The Padeac?s was found by the Rev. G. C. H. Pollen in the carboniferous limestone and shale series, on the banks of the Hodder, near Stonyhurst. The specific characters of the form were given by the author, who, in the light of the new informa- tion, gave a fresh definition of the genus Padeaczs, which appears to represent a distinct family of perforate corals, in some features more nearly allied to the Favositidee than to the Madreporide or Poritide. (3) The third specimen was discovered by Miss Margery A. Reid in the Lower Carboniferous beds of Halkin Mountain, Flintshire, and is named in honour of its discoverer. A description of it was given, and it was stated that, notwith- standing certain peculiarities, the individual pieces correspond so closely with those of the recent Zzz2ce family that it may well be included in the genus Zuszcztes.—The Eocene deposits of Dorset, by Clement Reid. The new survey of the western end of the Hampshire basin shows that the Reading beds become fluviatile and gravelly in Dorset (as was already known), and contain, in addition to chalk flints, many fragments of Greensand chert. The London clay thins greatly and becomes more sandy, but is apparently still marine. The Bagshot sands become coarser and more fluviatile, changing rapidly west of Moreton Station, till they consist mainly of coarse subangular gravel. These gravels, formerly referred to the Reading series, are now shown to be continuous with the Bagshot sands, which as they become coarser cut through the London clay and Reading beds to rest directly on the chalk. The Bagshot gravels contain, besides chalk flints and Greensand chert, fragments of Purbeck marble and numerous Paleozoic grits and other stones probably derived from the Permian breccias of Devon.—Discovery of mammalian remains in the old river-gravels of the Derwent near Derby, Part i., by H. H. Arnold-Bemrose. A few mammalian bones were found in sinking a well at Allenton. On April 8, 1895, the authors commenced further excavations, and were successful in finding a number of bones of a Hzffopotamus, an Elephas, and of a Rhinoceros. They were found in a dark-coloured sand above the river-gravel, at a depth of 9 feet 8 inches below the surface. Mr. Clement Reid found some twenty or more species of plant-remains in the sand. These plants ‘‘ indicate a moist meadow or swampy ground, and a temperate ciimate. The species are all widely distributed.” Part ii., by R. M. Deeley. The deposits in which the bones were found occupy a wide trench which occurs on the inside edge of a gravel-terrace stretching for several miles south of Derby, at a height of 15 or 20 feet above the modern alluvial plain. The gravels are of later age than the great chalky boulder clay, and were formed at a time when the rivers were removing from their preglacial valleys the older boulder clays, with which they had been partially filled. Gravels of two ages are recognised ; (a) recent gravels well stratified, undisturbed, and covered in many places by a thick layer of brick-earth; and (4) high-level gravels showing ‘‘trail”” and contorted bedding. It is in these latter gravels that the trench containing the mammalian remains occurs. Zoological Society, May 5.—Dr. John Anderson, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—Mr. W. E. Hoyle exhibited a Réntgen-ray photograph of a snake in the act of swallowing a mouse.—Mr. G, A. Boulenger, F.R.S., read a paper on some little-known Batrachians from the Caucasus, based chiefly on specimens recently transmitted to the British Museum by Dr. Radde, of Tiflis. Among these was an example of the new frog of the genus Pe/odytes, for which he had proposed the name P. caucasicus, Altogether ten species of Batrachians May 21, 1896] NATURE 71 were now known from the Caucasus.—Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., read the second of his contributions to the anatomy of Picarian birds. The present communication related to the pterylosis of the Cafitontde.—Mr. M. F. Woodward read a paper on the dentition of certain Insectivores, and pointed out that there was strong evidence to show that the milk-dentition was undergoing reduction in this group as a whole, some of the milk-teeth in Zrzvaceus and Gymnura being present as small calcified tooth-vestiges only, while in Sovex there were ap- parently no calcified milk-teeth, but only vestigial milk-enamel organs.—A communication from Mr. A. D, Bartlett contained some notes on the breeding of the Surinam Toad (Pipa amertcana,) as recently observed in the Society’s Gardens. It had been observed that the eggs when issued from the cloaca of the female, which was protruded into a bladder-like process during their production, were arranged on the back of the female by the action of the male. Anthropological Institute, May 12.—Mr. E. W. Bra- brook, President, in the chair.—Mr. H. W. Seton-Karr ex- hibited and made remarks on a collection of stone implements discovered by him in Somaliland. Sir John Evans, Prof. Rupert Jones, and Mr. C. H. Read spoke and complimented Mr. Seton-Karr upon his discovery.—Dr. J. G. Garson read a paper on recent observations on the Andamanese by Mr. M. V. Portman. A discussion followed, during which remarks were made by Sir William Flower, Prof. Keane, Mr. C. H. Read, and Prof. Brigham of Honolulu. Dr. Garson read another paper on photographic apparatus for travellers, and exhibited a number of cameras of various designs. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, May 4.—Prof. M‘Kendrick in the chair.— Dr. John Macintyre made a further communication describing new results with the X-rays. Some of these have already ap- peared in NATURE (vol. liii. p. 614). He found that his coil gave better results when a mercury interrupter was used, and, on regulating this to give one flash in the tube, he was struck by the peculiar colour of the discharge. He exhibited a photo of the hand taken with one flash, which was quite distinct. With ten flashes it was excellent. What thesexposure would be in the case of one flash, he could not say. He had tried the effect of the rays on tourmaline, but could find no trace of polarisation. Prof. M‘Kendrick said he had satisfied himself that the rays had no effect on the electric phenomena of the pulsating heart, nor on the motor nerves, but that they had an influence on the currents referable to the retina.—Dr. J. C. Dunlop read a paper on the action of acids on the metabolism. He showed them .to have a marked diuretic action, to affect the acidity of the urine only slightly, the acidity being toa great extent neutralised by an increased alkali excretion, and to produce an increased excretion of nitrogen as pre-formed ammonia and extractives, but not as urea. His results did not agree with those of Dr. Haig in the same field. —The Secretary read a paper on clouds, by Mr. John Aitken.—Dr. C, G. Knott read a paper by Prof. J. M. Dixon, on a graphical representation of emotion as ex- pressed in rhythm. The author plotted a graph of the number of syllables in each stanza of Browning’s ‘‘ Abt Vogler,” and endeavoured to deduce from the graph the variations in Browning's feelings. Other specimens were treated similarly. Paris. Academy of Sciences, May 11.—On the 7é/e of the in- duction ring of iron in dynamo-electric machines, by M. Marcel- Deprez. A discussion as to the cause of the effect produced by the ring of iron in dynamos of the Pacinotti type. Some experi- ments are cited which tend to show that the explanations usually given in text-books are insufficient. The complete theory will be given in a future paper.—Nitrates in potable waters, by M. Th. Schleesing. The results are given of a large number of determinations of nitrates and of calcium in potable waters from various sources, Curves are given showing the variations of these with the season. —On the crepuscular phenomena, and the appear- ance of the dark face of Venus, by M. Perrotin.—On regular non- linear substitutions, by M. Antoine. —An elementary demonstra- tion of a theorem of M. Picard on complete functions, by M. E. Borel.—Remarks on the preceding communication, by M. Picard.—On the periodic solutions of the problem of the move- ment of a body suspended by one of its points, by M. G. Keenigs. —On the rotation of solids and Maxwell's principle, by M. R. Liouville. An examination of a case for which Maxwell’s prin- No. 1386, VOL. 54 | ciple does not hold good.—Observations concerning the note of M. Dongier on a method of measuring double refraction, by M. G. Friedel. It is pointed out that the method of M. Dongier was anticipated by the author in 1893.—On the lowering of the explosive dynamic potential by ultra-violet light, and the inter- pretation of certain experiments of M. Jaumann, by M. R. Swyngedauw. The study of the influence of the rate of variation of potential upon the explosive potential must be made in the absence of ultra-violet light. The neglect of this precaution Vitiates the results obtained by M. Jaumann.—On the condensa- tion of dark light, by M. G. Le Bon. Two plates of metal (copper and lead), after exposure to an electric arc for an hour, were made to enclose a negative and a sensitive plate, the faces that had not been exposed to the light being inwards. Precau- tions were taken to eliminate the possible effects of heat and of contact. That the resulting image must have been caused by something stored on the surface of the metal plates during the exposure to the arc lamp, was definitely proved by the negative results of parallel experiments with plates not exposed to the arc lamp.—The action of hydrogen bromide upon thiophosphoryl chloride, by M. A. Besson (see Notes, p. 63).—The action of air and of peroxide of nitrogen upon some halogen compounds of bismuth, by M. V. Thomas. The halogen compounds studied included the tribromide, triiodide, and the dichloride, which yielded as ultimate products bismuth oxybromide, bismuthic oxide, and bismuth oxychloride respectively. —Action of ethyl- oxalyl chloride upon the aromatic hydrocarbons in presence of aluminium chloride, by M. L. Bouveault. Under suitable con- ditions this reaction readily results in the production of ethyl phenyl-glyoxylate, or its derivatives —On a new method of separating the methylamines, by M. Marcel-Delépine. The mix- ture of amine hydrochlorides is boiled with caustic soda, and the gases passed into commercial formaldehyde. This distillate is now heated with caustic soda, and, after drying, submitted to fractional distillation. Three principal fractions are obtained, at 15°-20°, 67-68", and 166°C. The first is trimethylamine, and the two latter, on heating with alcoholic hydrochloric acid, yield the pure hydrochlorides of dimethylamine and methylamine. The separation is more perfect than in the classical method with ethyl oxalate.—On the Synascidia of the genus Co/e//a, and the polymorphism of their buds, by M. Maurice Caullery.—On the nephridia of Branchiobdella varians (vax. Astact), by M. D. N. Voinov.—Formation of an anti-coagulating substance by the liver in presence of peptone, by M. C. Delezenne.—On the effects produced on certain animals by the toxins and anti-toxins of diphtheria and tetanus injected into the rectum, by M. P. Gibier. Toxins and anti-toxins injected Aer rectum are without any effect, and appear to be destroyed or retained by the rectal mucus. For the animals used in the experiments (rabbit, dog, and guinea- pig), the toxins did not poison, and the anti-toxins conferred no immunity.—Hydrographical researches of M. Spindler in Lake Peypous, by M. Venukoff. PHILADELPHIA. Academy of Natural Sciences, March 31.—Prof. Henry A. Pilsby called attention toa fine collection of barnacles obtained from the bottom of a vessel recently returned from a voyage to Hong Kong from San Francisco and back, by way of Java and India. Aalanus tintinabulum was the commonest of the species represented, the varieties zesra and sfzmosus, although growing under identical conditions, retained their individuality perfectly.—The question of the constancy of varietal characters was debated by Messrs. Sharp, Pilsby, and Heilprin.—Mr. Pilsby also described a specimen of Pugnus pavvus, a ringiculate mollusc. The species is involute, a unique character, none of the fossil forms of the family possessing it. He also described a Central American Melanian, under the name Pachychezlus Daili. It is distinguished by aremarkable double sinuation of the outer lip, which has a deep and wide pleurotonoid sinus above, and a rounded projecting lobe in the middle, below which it is again retracted. —On the nomination of the Entomo- logical Section, Dr. Henry Skinner was elected Professor in the Department of Insecta. In response to an invitation from the Committee having charge of the celebration of the fiftieth year of Lord Kelvin’s tenure of office as Professor of Natural Philosophy inthe University of Glasgow, General Isaac Jones Wistar was ap- pointed to represent the Academy on the occasion. March 25.—Dr. George H. Horn made a communication re- garding the synonymy of the Elateride. He specially described the prosternum of Ludius. A Lower California form had the pro- 72 sternum of different shape from that of othermembers of the genus, the mesosternum being more protuberant. It will probably be referred to Probothrium.—Mr. Chas. S. Welles exhibited speci- mens of the larva of Harrisitmemna tristgnata. When full- grown they bore into wood preparatory to changing into chrysalids.—A paper was read entitled ‘‘ The breeding habits of Periplaneta ortentalis,’ by C. Few Seiss. Three females de- posited twenty-five egg-cases. Each of these contains sixteen eggs, so that a new generation of 400 cockroaches was repre- sented by thedeposit. The first of these egg-cases were dropped May 5 and May 14, 1895, and were hatched November 9. In most cases the deposits were dropped with no attempt at con- cealment, although in a few instances they were placed in little trenches made by the insect, and then covered up. The deve- lopment of the capsules was described. The young, probably, receive no maternal care or protection.—Mr, Lancaster Thomas exhibited an improved form of insect net-frame made from a continuous piece of rounded aluminium wire.—Mr. Westcott suggested linoleum as a substitute for cork in the arrangement of insects.—Dr. Henry Skinner called attention to a fungus, Polyporus betulinus, which might be used for the same purpose with advantage.—Mr. William J. Fox stated that about ninety species of Hymenoptera, six of which were perhaps new toscience, were included in the collections of insects brought by Dr. A. Donaldson Smith from Western Somaliland, Africa. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. LonpDon. THURSDAY, May 21 Roya Society, at 4.30.—On the Changes produced in Magnetised Iron and Steels by cooling to the Temperature of Liquid Air: Prof. J. Dewar, F.R.S., and Dr. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S.—Note on the Larva and of the Post-Larval Development of Leucosolenia variabilis, H. Sp., with remarks on the Development of other Asconide : E. A. Minchin.—Helium and Argon. Part III. Experiments which have yielded Negative Results : Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. Collie.—On the Amount of Argon and aera contained in the Gas from the Bath Springs: Lord Rayleigh, ec.R.S. Roya InsTITUTION, at 3.—The Art of Working Metals in Japan: W. Gowland. CueEmIcAL Society, at 8.—The Diphenylbenzenes. I. Metadiphenylben- zene: F. D. Chattaway and R. C. T. Evans.—Derivatives of Camphoric Acid : Dr. F. S. Kipping.—Some Substances exhibiting Rotatory Power, both in the Liquid and Crystalline states ; W. J. Pope. FRIDAY, May 22, Roya InstiTuTIon, at 9.—Hysteresis : Prof. J. A. Ewing, F.R.S. Puysicat Society, at 5.—On Dielectrics : R. Appleyard.—The Field of an Elliptical Current: J, Viriamu Jones.—An Instrument for Measuring Frequency : A. Campbell. SATURDAY, May 23. Geotosists' Association (Paddington, at 1x. 45).—Excursion to Chippen- ham, Calne, Kellaways, and Corsham. YorksHIRE Naruratists’ Union, at Hellifield—Four Days’ Excursion for the investigation of Bowland. MONDAY, May 25. LINNEAN Society, at 3.—Anniversary Meeting. TUESDAY, May 26. Royat InstiruTion, at 3.—The Building and Sculpture of Western Europe: Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. Roya PuHoroGrapHic Society, at 8.—Apparatus for Photography on Small Plates (smaller than Quarter Plates). WEDNESDAY, May 27. GEOLOGICAL Society, at 8.—On the Pliocene Deposits of Holland, and their relation to the English and Belgian Crags, with a Suggestion for the Establishment of a New Zone—‘‘ Amstelien "—and some Remarks on the Geographical Conditions of the Pliocene Epoch in Northern Europe: F. W.-Harmer.—The Lingula-Flags and Igneous Rocks of the Neighbour- hood of Dolgelly : Philip Lake and S. H. Reynolds. —The Kildare Inlier : C. J. Gardiner and S, H. Reynolds. BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION, at 5. THURSDAY, May 28. Roya INsTITUTION, at 3.—Lake Dwellings: Dr. Robert Munro. INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGIN s, at 8.—The Utilisation of Water- Power, especially with a Small Fall, with some Examples of Plants for the Generation of Electrical Energy : Alph. Steiger. Cuemicar Society, at §.—Lothar Meyer Memorial Lecture: Prof. P. Phillips Bedson. SATURDAY, May 30. Roya. InstiTuTION, at 3.—The Moral and Religious Literature of Ancient Europe: Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge. Roya Boranic Society, at 3.45. NO. 1386, VOL. 54 | NATURE [May 21, 1896 BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—The Evolution of Bird-Song : C. A. Witchell (Black).—Meteoro- logical Results of the Observations taken at the Bangalore, &c., Observa- tories, 1893-94: J. Cook (Bangalore).—Earth Knowledge: W. J. Harrison and H. R. Wakefield, Part 2 (Blackie).—The Flora of the Alps: A. W. Bennett, 2 Vols. (Nimmo).—Attaque des Places: Lieut.-Colonel E. Henne- bert (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—La Spectroscopie: Prof. J. Lefévre (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Grundriss_ der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der Saingethiere : Dr. O, Schultze, Erste Halfte (Leipzig, Engelmann). —Southall’s Organic Materia Medica: J. Barclay, 5th edition (Churchill).— Schlich’s Manual of Forestry. Vol. v. Forest ‘Utilization ¢ Prof. Fisher (Bradbury).—Water Supply : Prof. W. P. Mason(Chapman).—A Dictio of the Names of Minerals: Prof. A. H. Chester (Chapman).—Leerboe der Organische Chemie: Dr. A. F. Holleman (Groningen, Wolters).—The Elements of Physics: E. L. Nichols and W.S. Franklin. Vol. 1. Mechanics and Heat (Macmillan).—Memoirs of Frederick A. P. Barnard: J. Fulton (Macmillan).—Nature's Byepaths : Dr. J. E. Taylor. 6th edition (W. H. Allen).—The Aquarium: Dr. J. E. Taylor, 6th edition (W. H. Allen).— Mathematical Papers read at the International Mathematical Congress held in connection with the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 (New York, Macmillan).—Stanford’s Compendium of Geography and Travel, new issue. Asia, Vol. 1: A. H. Keane (Stanford).—Gehirn und Seele: Dr. P. Flechsig (Leipzig, Veit). Pampu_ets.—Remarkable Eclipses: W. T. Lynn (Stanford).—The Old Light and the New: W. Ackroyd (Chapman).—Nineteenth Report of the State Entomologist on the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IIl.). Serrats.—Engineering Magazine, May (Tucker).—Science Progress, May (Scientific Press).—Strand Magazine, May (Newnes).—American Naturalist, May (Philadelphia),—Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, April (New York, Macmillan).—Journal of the Chemical Society, May (Gurney).—Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, April (Williams).—Astrophysical Journal, May (Chicago).—Royal Natural History, Part 31 (Warne). CONTENTS. Sociology. By Carveth Read ... 4 2 scien eae Cocoa Connotations fay... . janie cule alien nen eee The Chemistry or Enpineering . (2). )-) ein ene Our Book Shelf:— Watson: ‘‘ Elementary Practical Physics”; Newth: ‘* Elementary Practical Chemistry.”—C. H.D.. . . 51 Jago: ‘* A Text-Book of the Science and Art of Bread- Making? gage» osci@alhies =) Gs isu stannic rueineiee ee me eens Letters to the Editor :— Koch’s Gelatine Process for the Examination of Drinking Water.—Frank Scudder; Prof. Percy F.. Frankland, (HORS. erly 0) © ie sae On the Action of Rontgen Rays and Ultra-violet Light on Electric Sparks. (W2th Diagram.)—Dr. A. Sella and Dr.iQMajorana’s ss cl. = ee eee Réntgen Ray Phenomena.—J. William Gifford. . . 53 Alpengliihen,—W. Larden. ...... .... 53 The Positions of Retinal Images.—Edward T. Dixon 273. . GRMN Colour Variations in Ducks and Pigeons.—W. T. Van Dyck: Siam RRs oto) ee re Dependence of the Colour of Solutions on the Nature of the Solventa—FiGe Donnan’: ] 2 7502) « 2 ees Hatching Lizards’ Eggs.—Mrs. H. A. Ross . . . . 55 The Diffusion of Metals. (///ustrated.) By Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austeg, Cabs ietesn) o) icine lessee Books on Birds . eegee (1s) cate stir he) eoeeeee memes INOteS: . . «| SRB +; cienpetaet ose, var 6) el ss rains See Our Astronomical Column:— The Systemig@@astoren.. si cust is) 6) Efficiency of Photographic Telescopes ....... 63 Solar Photography at Meudon. .......... G4 University Observatories in America... . .. . . 64 International Catalogue of Science. ........ 64 The French Unigersitieses. «<5. - + some aisn nO National Academy of Sciences—Washington Meet- ing. By DrgivmUboraley . . . . .)k ee eG The Manufacture of Artificial Silkk .... 66 A Theory of the X-Rays. Michelson. . . University and Educational Intelligence... ... 67 Scientific Serialay . Capped. << . « |seeSeEe, (0S Societies and Academies, . . . .. . . ae ee es 69 Diary of SocieRes . Japemehine kc o| <) s/c eeeeaRnon 87; Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received... . 7 By Prof. Albert A. NATURE THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1896. THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF HISTOLOGICAL EVIDENCE. An Atlas of the Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum. By E. B. Wilson, with the co-operation of E. Leaming. (New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.) ROF. WILSON has earned the gratitude of teachers and students of biology by publishing his “Atlas of Fertilisation.” He has collected, on ten plates of a conyenient size, a series of photographs illustrating the development of Zoxopneustes, from the mature ovarian ovum until the formation of a sixteen-celled blastosphere. The photographs were made by Dr. Leaming, from sections prepared by Prof. Wilson ; and they have been admirably printed from untouched negatives. Each figure is about three anda half inches in diameter, so that all details capable of photographic reproduction can be easily seen. The first plate contains two photographs of ovarian eggs, in which the nuclear structure is well seen ; a third, showing the nuclear division leading to the first polar body ; and a fourth, showing the mature egg after extrusion of both polar bodies. The next four plates illustrate the entrance of the spermatozodn, the ap- proximation of the male and female nuclei, and the formation of the “asters.” The sixth plate shows the changes in the approximated nuclei during the pause which follows the entrance of the spermatozoon ; and the seventh, eighth and ninth contain twelve very beautiful figures of the first division of the fertilised egg. Finally, some of the later divisions are exhibited on the tenth plate. The photographs are accompanied by a short but clear account of the phenomena they are intended to illustrate ; and in many cases difficult details are rendered intelligible by means of diagrams. There can be no doubt that this Atlas will be of great service to students and to teachers, as an exposition of our present knowledge concerning the main facts of fertilisation ; although one is tempted to regret the absence of any figures demonstrating the number of chromosomes, either in the polar bodies or the pronuclei. The excellence of the work suggests, however, another standard by which to judge it—a standard indicated by Prof. Wilson himself in his preface, when he points out that the most careful drawings involve a_ subjective element from which photographs are free, and states his belief that, in spite of certain necessary shortcomings, “the photographic plates here presented give, on the whole, a clear and accurate impression of the pre- parations.” If photography could indeed provide an image of his- tological preparations, as clear and accurate as that received by the eye of a trained observer, then a great ‘step would have been made ; for every histologist would be enabled to conyey to others the whole evidence for his statements in a way before impossible ; and a photo- graph, when once successfully taken, might serve as NO. 1387, VOL. 54] 73 material for future research in the hands of men unable to procure the object photographed. Unfortunately, Dr. Leaming’s photographs, admirable as they are, do not approach the perfection necessary if they are to be regarded as representing the whole evidence given by the actual sections. This may easily be seen by any one who tries to determine from them the truth of some statements made in the text. Prof. Wilson holds the view, now shared by the majority of observers, that both the centrospheres of the fertilised egg arise from a portion of the spermato- zoon; and he considers that the male and female chromatin elements lie side by side, without mixing, during the division of the single original centrosphere. As evidence of this, he gives photographs 17, 18 and 19, and woodcuts xi. and xii. In the woodcuts, the distinc- tion between the male nucleus and the female is clear and unmistakable ; while, at least in photographs 18 and 19, this is not the case. Again, in the photograph fig. 19 there is no clear indication of structure in the male nucleus ; while in the woodcut fig. xii. B, which may well have been drawn from the actual section photo- graphed, a distinct reticulum is indicated in its substance. Few persons will believe that Prof. Wilson has made positive statements on the evidence of sections showing no more than the photographs referred to: every one will feel that the woodcuts represent the essentials of his preparations better than the photographs. So that we have to judge the question, after all, by reading the authors account of what he says he saw; and when photography has done its best, the evidence of the con- dition of these nuclei at a particular moment still rests upon his reputation as a histologist, as completely as it would have done had he published the woodcuts only, or no figures at all. In the case just referred to, the author’s statement is so completely in accord with those of other workers, that few will hesitate to accept it ; but when he points to photograph No. 19 as evidence that the rays of the amphi-aster “are really fibres, and not, as some recent authors have maintained, merely the optical sections of thin plates or lamella in a radially arranged alveolar structure,” there is equally little evidence one way or the other to be obtained from the photograph, while there is more room for doubt as to the accuracy of the inter- pretation. The reference is, of course, to Biitschli’s work on the structure of protoplasm ; and those readers of NATURE who have compared Prof. Biitschli’s photo- graphs with his drawings, will remember that in his case also the photographic reproduction of the evidence was not a material addition to the strength of the argument. On the whole, it seems certain that the best photograph at present possible does not show so much as can be seen by looking directly ata good histological preparation : so that it is not yet possible for a histologist to multiply copies of his evidence in a form from which the subjec- tive element is altogether excluded. There is still no way of testing a histological statement without direct examination of the object described. Further, it seems that a careful drawing by a trained observer gives a better idea of appearances seen under the microscope than the best available reproduction by photography can at present achieve. W. F. R. WELDON. E 74 THE KEW INDEX OF PLANT NAMES. Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum. Sumptibus beati Caroli Roberti Darwin ductu et consilio Josephi D. Hooker confecit B. Daydon Jackson. Fasciculus iv. Pp. 641-1297. (Oxonii: e prelo Clarendoniano, 1895.) HE serial issue from the press of large works of reference like that under notice does not always proceed with the rapidity which, to those whose appetites are whetted by foretaste, appears possible and desirable. It is therefore with all the more satisfaction that we chronicle the issue with commendable promptness of this, the fourth, fasciculus of the Kew Index, by which the work is brought to completion. Botanists and all who have concern in the names of plants are thereby furnished with a book which must always form an essential tool in their library equipment. The appearance of the earlier fasciculi gave occasion for a notice in NATURE of the aim and scope of the work, and it is not necessary therefore to refer to these again, the less so as the two years that have elapsed since the first fasciculus came into our hands have sufficed to familiarise those who have need to use such a book with its value as a standard work of reference. It may not, however, be mistimed to repeat here the caution given by the Director of Kew in his address at the Ipswich meet- ing of the British Association, that the work is no more than its name signifies. It is a sound and safe guide; it is not a critical botanical work. The bulk of the names as cited in the Index may be regarded as definitely fixed for the nomenclature of botanists, at least in Great Britain; but throughout the volumes any one may find abundant evidence that it was not the intention of those who have laboured to produce this magnificent work to go beyond the identifications established in the literature of botany at the date at which their citations close. Further study and investi- gation must result in modifications of limits imposed by the state of botany in 1885, and names will change therewith ; but such alterations of names, the acceptation or rejection of which must be a matter of botanical op nion, will not detract from, but will rather enhance the value of the Index as a standard of botanical nomenclature. In no direction is the beneficent influence of the publication of the Index more immediately to be looked for than in the literature of horticulture, and it is in this aspect that the book will appeal to that large section of the public delighting in gardening, and which naturally objects to purchasing from a nurseryman the same plant over and over again under different names. It would appear that the Index is already exercising an effect, and that nurserymen are disposed to use the botanical name, if not instead of, at least cited alongside of, the trade name for plants in their catalogues—a practical result for which we cannot be too thankful, and in the hastening of which we must recognise the stimulus given by the excellent series of hand-lists of plants cultivated in the Royal Gardens, Kew, now in course of publication. On the completion of their labours upon this vast work the botanical world will accord to Mr. Daydon Jackson and Sir Joseph Hooker its hearty congratula- NO. 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 28, 1896 tions, nor will it forget that to Mr. Darwin it owes the projection and endowment of the book. To the Clarendon Press, too, its thanks will be given for the dress in which it has sent out the volumes. Whatever may be the future of botanical nomenclature—and the opening of the twentieth century is threatened with no less an in- fliction than a new “nomenclator,” prepared in conformity with his own special principles by Dr. Otto Kuntze, which is to sweep away the nomenclature of the Kew, Berlin, and New York “cliques” (the productive seats of systematic botany)—botanists in all time must recognise the sound, judicious, conscientious workmanship displayed in the Index Kewensis through which it takes and will retain its value as a work of reference. THE ANATOMY OF FEAR. fear. By Angelo Mosso. Translated from the fifth edition of the Italian, by E. Lough and F. Kiesow 8vo. Pp. 277. (London, New York, and Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) HE learned and eloquent Professor of Physiology at Turin has given us in the book which he has entitled “‘ Fear,” an analysis of this mental condition and its accompanying physical states, which, marked as it is by scientific accuracy and couched in charming and even in poetical diction, will take high rank as a popular exposition of our knowledge of the expression of one of the most interesting of the emotions of both men and animals. The extent of ground which is covered by the author, and the amount of information which he has contrived to convey within a small compass, excites our astonishment and admiration. Nor, in spite of the complicated scientific problems which are dealt with, is there a word of heavy reading from beginning to end. The book is beyond measure interesting, and one that when taken up it is difficult to lay down unread. Clearly it was impossible in a work with this title to avoid gruesome details, and readers whose nerves are dis- agreeably affected by descriptions of morbid conditions may put the book down with a shudder when they arrive at a passage in which a pathological case, which is used to illustrate the argument, is painted in glowing language from the life. For the author has in no wise burked such details ; on the contrary, they come before one from time to time in the work with a vividness which transports one bodily to the hospital ward, the asylum, the vivisection table! But there is at the same time such a strong under-current of sympathy with suffering pervading the whole, that while the reader will come away from the scenes depicted, deeply interested in the lessons which they teach, there is no fear that he will be rendered callous by the familiarity which he has acquired with their horrors. The idea of the book is to endeavour to rest the expression of this important emotion upon a_physio- logical basis. With this aim in view, the effects of dread upon the heart and circulation, upon the respirations, upon the muscular system both voluntary and visceral, upon the secretions, and upon the central nervous. system, are portrayed. Nor does the author confine himself strictly to the emotion which gives the book its. May 28, 1896} title, although this naturally constitutes the main theme. The number of other subjects incidentally treated of, furnishes a pleasing variety, and largely helps to maintain the interest of the reader, whether he be scientific or not. In pursuing his subject, Prof. Mosso is led into a criticism of Greek art, and contrasts as a medium of expression of the emotions the works of Phidias and Praxiteles with those of the schools of Pergamos and Rhodes. He compares the Niobe with the Laocoon ; in the former he finds lacking “the expression of intense emotion, of horror, fear, and pain, which would inevit- ably be present in the terrible moment of so cruel a butchery.” “Though Praxiteles himself were the creator of the Niobean group, I yet hold that a humble physiologist, looking with dispassionate eye at these statues, may affirm that they fall short of the fame of so great a master, because the faces are not so modelled as to produce the desired effect, because nature is not faithfully copied, and because there lacks the sublime ideality of terror aroused by the chastisement of an offended deity, which was the subject of the work.” On the other hand, in spite of certain anatomica errors in the furrows of the brow in the Laocoon, “an intense and majestic pain is written on the face,.. . one seems to hear the sigh of superhuman agony from his lips, and sees the lines of beauty and of pain wonder- fully blended.” In touching upon questions of inheritance, the author shows himself rather a disciple of Spencer than of Darwin. But it is not clear upon what evidence he founds the statement that if two hounds of the same litter are taken, and one trained for sport and the other as.a watch-dog, their offspring, after four or five generations of such training, although brought up under the same con- ditions and far from noise, will be in the one case excited, in the other terrified on first hearing the report of a gun. Nor I conceive will the assertion be generally accepted that the disappearance of the eyes in subterranean animals “is certainly not the result of natural selection, for eyes are not injurious even to beings living in the dark.” On the other hand all will agree with the author in deprecating the installation of fear in the child, of which the ignorant mother or nurse is so often guilty. “The children of ancient Greece and Rome used to be frightened with the lamias who would suck their blood, with the masks of the atellans, the Cyclops, or with a black Mercury who would come to carry them away. And this most pernicious error in education has not yet disappeared, for children are still frightened with the bogey-man, with stories of imaginary monsters, the ogre, the hobgoblin, the wizard and the witches.” “Children should be brought up as though they were rational. . . . The same methods should be followed in education as in the teaching of science . . . we should never issue any command without showing the reasons why it should be done in this way rather than in another.” . . . “They must not be fatigued with study. . . even for healthy children premature education is a very grievous error.” “Parents who have already some weak spot—a little fault in the character, a slight blemish in the organism— should redouble their care in order to cure their children from their own defects... . The paramount object of education should be to increase the strength of man, and NO. 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE 45 to foster in him everything which conduces to life... . We sometimes imagine that the most important branch of culture is that which we attain through education and study . . . but in ourselves, our blood, there is a no less important factor. . . . Fear is a disease to be cured; the brave man may fail sometimes, but the coward fails always.” The translation is excellent throughout. E. A. SCHAFER. OUR BOOK SHELF. Die Physiologie des Geruchs. (The Physiology of Smell.) By Dr. H. Zwaardemaker. Pp. 324. (Leipzig: Engel- mann, 1895.) Von HARTMAN, in defending himself against a friend who upbraids him for having wasted upon philosophy talents which might have been devoted to the accumula- tion of facts of positive science, points out in memorable words that facts of science are amassed only in order that they may be synthesised. The critic is bound to remember this in appraising a book like that of Dr. Zwaardemaker’s, for Dr. Zwaarde- maker has added to the burden of physiological facts, and he has not established any generalisations to assist us in the carrying of that load. If we overlook this fact, and we ought not to overlook it lightly, the work is a most praiseworthy one, a work that is characterised by the thoroughness which the Teuton strives after, and which, as a matter of fact, is found in the best of Low German science. There are very careful chapters in this book, only to mention a few, on the physical characteristics of odorous sub- stances, on the mechanics of smell, on “olfactory” and “breath-fields,” on the relations between taste and smell, on a new method of testing the acuity of smell, on the masking of smells by other smells, on the classification of smells, and on Prof. Haycraft’s work on the relations between odour and chemical composition. Many of these subjects are treated with considerable originality. The “breath-field” is mapped out by breathing on a bright metallic surface. It is shown that two patches of dimness are produced, corresponding respectively to the right and the left nostril. It is further shown that each of these fields is subdivided into two smaller fields by a linear interspace, which in all probability corresponds to the inferior turbinated bone. The two patches of dim- ness on each side, therefore, in all probability correspond to the two streams of air which pass respectively above and below the lower turbinated bone. The patch of dimness which corresponds to the current of air which passes over the lower turbinated bone is conterminous with the olfactory field as determined by an independent method. The apparatus for testing the acuity of smell consists of a porous clay cylinder, which is fitted up somewhat after the manner of a syringe. The piston-rod consists of a tube which serves to convey the air into the nostril. The air which is thus fed into the nostril consists in part of inodorous air which has been drawn in from without through the open end of the clay cylinder, and in part of air which has been in contact with the walls of the porous cylinder which has been impregnated with an odorous substance. The proportion of odorous to inodorous air can be varied at pleasure by regulating the position of the piston in the cylinder. The chapter on the association between smell and taste emphasises the fact that there is an inlet to the olfactory chamber through the posterior nares, as well as through the nostrils. We therefore smell both when we inspire and when we expire. It is because he is ignorant of this fact that the layman is incredulous when he is 76 NATURE [May 28, 1896 informed that many of the sensations which he refers to taste are in reality referable to smell, and it is on account of the same ignorance, that the child thinks he is treated irrationally when his noSe is held while his castor-oil is being administered to him. A few facts of this sort will be all that an ordinary reader will carry away from a perusal of this book. The book will be really valuable only to the physiologist who, like Dr. Zwaardemaker, is willing to devote himself to the study of the physiology of smell. Computation Rules and Logarithms. By Prof. Silas W. Holman. Pp. xlv + 73. (New York and London: Macmillan and Co., 1896.) THE first portion of this book treats of the way to use logarithms so as to apply no more figures than necessary ; the author pointing out that probably one half of the time expended in computations is wasted through the use of excessive number of places of figures, and through the failure to employ logarithms. With this in view, rules are given showing what place tables to employ, and also how many figures to retain to obtain an accuracy of any desired percentage. That such rules are of high importance may be seen from the fact that the use of five place tables when four would suffice nearly doubles the labour ; using six place instead of four nearly trebles it, thus wasting a hundred and two hundred per cent. respectively of the necessary amount of work, and probably a greater proportion of time. Besides these rules and the usual explanation to the collection of mathematical tables, there is a short treat- ment on “Notation by Powers of Ten,” which, as the author sees, is a method that if taught with elementary arithmetic, it would enormously facilitate the teach- ing of logarithms ; but his “Symmetrical Grouping of Figures” about the unit’s place is a departure likely to be received with some degree of conservatism. There is a useful paragraph on the “Habit in Reading off Numbers or Logarithms,” which consists in emphasising and grouping the figures ina certain habitual way. The latter part of the book is taken up by a collection of mathematical tables, e.g. logarithms, antilogarithms and cologarithms to four places, logarithms to five places, logarithms of the trigonometrical functions, slide wire ratios to four places, &c, The decimal point, usually omitted, has been retained in the tables for facilitating in reading off. Remarkable Eclipses. By W.T. Lynn. Pp. 52. (London : Edward Stanford, 1896.) THIs “sketch of the most interesting circumstances con- nected with the observation of solar and lunar eclipses, both in ancient and modern time,” appears at a very appropriate time, since in a little more than two months the general public will be mildly interested in a total eclipse of the sun, for the observation of which in Norway, Japan, and elsewhere, many astronomers are making pre- parations. Mr. Lynn has contrived to compress a mar- vellous amount of very readable information in his slender little volume, and as a condensed statement of the history of eclipse observations his essay is admirable. The book is uniform with “ Remarkable Comets,” and it deserves the same successful career as its forerunner. The Old Light and the New. By Wm. Ackroyd, F.1.C. Pp. 102. Illustrated. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) WE very much question the wisdom of placing this | book upon the market. The information on researches with Rontgen rays is very sketchy, while a large portion of the book, dealing with theories of the natural colours of bodies, is nothing more than padding, and is altogether out of place in a volume of this character. NO. 1387, VOL. 54] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications.) A Curious Idiosyncrasy. A STRONGLY marked idiosyncrasy has lately come to my notice, which should be recorded. A lady of my acquaintance was walking with a relative, Colonel M., when the wife of a tenant addressed her, and described how the hand of her own child had been pinched in a door. Overhearing her story, Colonel M. became quite unwell, so much so as to lead to par- ticular inquiry, which resulted in showing that allusions to any accidents of that kind affected him at once in a very perceptible way. Finally, at the request of the lady, he wrote an account of his peculiarity, which she forwarded to me. Thereupon I corresponded with Colonel M., who slightly revised what he had written, and sanctioned its publication. It is as follows :— ““From my earliest remembrance, and still up to now, any sight of an injured nail in any person, even if a total stranger, or any injury, however slight, to one of my own nails, causes me to break into a deadly cold perspiration, with feeling of sick faintness. But still further; if I chance to hear any one else narrating in casual conversation any injury of this particular sort to themselves or others, it brings on me exactly the same feeling I have described above. So much is this the case, that many years ago, when I was in the prime of life, at a large dinner party, when one of the guests near me persistently chanced to goon talking minutely of some such little accidental injury that had befallen hint, I turned very faint, tried all I knew to shake it off, but could not, and presently slid right under the table quite unconscious for the moment. This is the more singular because on no other point am I in the least squeamish. In old days I have seen soldiers flogged before breakfast without its affecting me, though some of the rank and file would be very much upset, and in cases of death, illness, or wounds, I have never ex- perienced, as an onlooker, the sensations I have alluded to above.” I may mention that the mother of Colonel M. had pinched her own finger-nail badly shortly before his birth, and, as is not un- common in coincidences of that kind, she believed her accident to have been the cause of her son’s peculiarity. He writes to me :— ““ Asa boy I was conscious of this repugnance of mine, but was ashamed of it, and never used to mention it to any one. When I became a young man I one day mentioned it prévately to my mother, who it appeared had already noticed it in me as achild. She then told me the incident about her own finger, and she and I being both utterly unscientific persons, assumed then and there that my squeamish feelings about injuries to finger- tips must be connected with her little accident.” In reply to further questions, I learn that the injury to the mother, however painful at the time, was not so severe as to leave a permanent mark. Also, that no analogous peculiarity is known to exist among the near relations of Colonel M., of whom he specifies his father, brother, three sisters, nephews and nieces. He has no children. This anecdote proves, so far as the evidence goes, that a very peculiar idiosyncrasy may spring suddenly into full existence, and need not develop gradually through small ancestral variations in the same direction. It is a more astonishing phenomenon than the equally sudden appearance of musical faculty in a single member of a non-musical family, being very special, and so uncommon and worse than useless that its aseription to rever- sion, in the common sense of the word, would beabsurd. That is to say, it would be silly to suppose a sickly horror of wounded finger-nails or claws to have been so advantageous to ancient man or to his brute progenitors, as to have formerly become a racial characteristic through natural selection, and though it fell into disuse under changed conditions and apparently disappeared, it was not utterly lost, the present case showing a sudden rever- sion to ancestral traits, Such an argument would be nonsense. But though this particular characteristic is of negative utility, its existence is a fresh evidence of the enormously wide range of possibilities in the further evolution of human faculty. FRANCIS GALTON, i a May 28, 1896} Becquerel’s and Lippmann’s Colour Photographs. THE point raised by Prof. Meldola (p. 28) is partially, if not completely, answered by Otto Wiener in a most valuable paper, ‘‘ Ueber Farbenphotogranhie durch K6rperfarben, und Mechanische Farbenanpassung in der Natur,” published in Wiedemann’s Annalen, 1895, lv. 225-281. Wiener devised a method of examining colour photographs through a right-angled prism in such a way that pigment colours, which owe their hues to absorption, are distinguished from interference colours by not changing their positions when seen through the prism. The application of this method to colour photographs by Lippmann’s process and the older processes of Seebeck, Poitevin and Becquerel, shows that in Lippmann’s photographs the colours are due entirely to interference. In Becquerel’s process they are due mainly to interference, though pigment colours are formed to an extent which is generally very small, but which increases with the duration of the exposure. The colours on Becquerel plates do change with the angle of incidence, though the changes are very small, probably in consequence of the high refractive power of the film. Further, when the film is examined from the back the colours do not occupy the same positions as when they are viewed from the front. It follows that the colours on Becquerel plates are due essentially to the same cause as those on Lippmann’s plates, and the theory of standing waves is applicable in both cases. With the processes of Seebeck and of Poitevin, on the other hand, the colours are exclusively pigment colours, and the theory of standing waves is not applicable. Weston-super-Mare, May 16. C. H. BOTHAMLEY. Influence of Terrestrial Disturbances on the Growth of Trees. IN reply to the note of Mr. H. J. Colbourn on ‘ Influences of Terrestrial Disturbances on the Growth of Trees,” in your issue of April 23, allow me to say that his ingenious suggestion of connecting a zone of narrow rings in a section of Douglas spruce with some supposed terrestrial disturbances occurring about the same time, is hardly tenable, even if the coincidence of the two phenomena were established, which seems not to be the case. The occurrence of a zone of narrow rings is common in all our trees, and I have observed it most frequently in all southern pitch pines, which are rarely over three hundred years old, and hence outside of the possibilities of the influence of unknown or uncertain terrestrial disturbances. The suddenness with which the rings become narrow and then again wide, described by Mr. Colbourn, and observed by us in many other trees, is, to be sure, puzzling ; nevertheless, we cannot escape the conclusion that it is due to changes in the conditions surrounding the tree. Yet it is not necessary that the change of conditions and of ring-width should be simultaneous, that is to say, the change of conditions may have occurred without having been immediately responded to by the growth of the tree. The following explanation may serve as atype. Let a tree grow up under favourable conditions for a hundred years, as the Douglas spruce in question seems to have done, when its ring- growth will be wide, its crown reaching above its neighbours. A hurricane breaks off a large part of its crown, when necessarily and suddenly, at least within a year, the rings become narrow in proportion. Within the next thirty years the crown recuperates, which in a resinous conifer like the Douglas spruce is possible without fear of fungus attacks and decay ; but the food-material descending from the foliage will for a long time be only sufficient, on the particular section in question at the base of the tree, to make the narrow annual ring, even after the crown is fully recuperated. Were a section cut higher up in the tree, it would be found that the rings there have begun to widen sooner than at the lower section. Finally, and rather suddenly for any given section, the supply has become normal, and especially if an exceedingly favourable season occurs at the same time the rings show again normal width. The same sudden change from narrow to wide rings is observed when a tree oppressed by its neighbours is suddenly relieved by windfall or by man’s interference from its oppressors; but the response even then is not simultaneous, it takes one or more years before the crown is in condition to utilise the full amount of light at its disposal, and to furnish food to all parts of the tree in increased ratio. B. E. Fernow. Washington, D.C., May 11. NO. 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE 77 Our Bishops and Science, THE friends of both science and religion will thank you warmly for publishing the Bishop of Ripon’s public testimony to Huxley’s spirit of sincerity and love of truth. It is the more timely because of your recent strictures upon the Bishop of London. May I therefore, as a country parson, with an equal love for scientific integrity and religious truth, suggest to the readers of those stricturesin NATURE (p. 607, April 30) that probably Bishop Temple has been misunderstood. I am sure it is not fair to his spirit to put into his mouth, ‘‘ Away with all these abominations. Purge the elementary schools of everything scientific, and substitute dogmas and subjects more fitted to the stations of life in which it has pleased God to call the scholars.” Is it not more likely that the real clue is in the sentence quoted about ‘‘instructing little children in e/ementary schools in a great many sctentific subjects?” For many earnest edu- cationalists have, as friends of science, spoken strongly on the evils of the cramming of bits of science subjects and “stages” by crudely crammed ‘‘ Government certificated ” **science”’ teachers cramming large classes for grants on ““ passes” to butter their bread. In any case, the true views of the great bishop will be found in his ‘‘ Bampton Lectures” for 1884, on the relations between science and religion ; and the last Quarterly Review, on G. J. Romanes, contains an eminent example of the reverent treat- ment of both. I will frankly add that I do not think your quotations from Mr. Mundella’s address can be too widely known among the bishops and clergy who have such influence with the laity. Agricultural pursuits suffer more from our ignorance than our want of money $ and agricultural science cannot be widely taught until the elementary principles of chemistry and physics are diffused in our villages. On this subject we have also had the weighty testimony of Mr. Gladstone. The voting of money for light railways and such objects is a quack remedy. The fact is that true edu- cational enthusiasts who will think first of our children, and be generous to them fst, have hitherto been appallingly scarce in the House of Commons and its parties. Nor is even the geographical significance of our need of science education likely to be perceived by the majority, if, as is stated in the Avztz-Slavery Reporter (March-April 1896, p. 80), two M.P.s can stand before a map of South America in the map room of the House of Commons, and dispute with one another as to where Egypt was to be found on that map. However matters are mending, we hope. J. F. HEYEs. Crowell, Oxon, May 15. Blood-Brotherhood. THERE are good reasons why this ancient custom can never be a preventive of disease, though sometimes it may be a cause of it. The serum treatment has been found useful, and presumably will be found useful only in such diseases or diseased conditions as are due to poisons (toxins) secreted by various species of pathogenic micro-organisms (e.g. those of rabies, anthrax, diphtheria), or by some animals (e.g. scorpion, snake), as weapons of offence or defence. As regards certain zymotic diseases (e.g. small-pox, scarlatina, syphilis), it is known that one attack confers more or less complete immunity against subsequent attacks; that is, the micro-organisms of these diseases are, after the recovery of the host, unable to persist and produce their toxins in him ; and this for the reason that during his illness certain of his body cells, known as phagocytes, become inured to the toxins, and are thus enabled to attack and destroy the micro-organisms producing them. When the phagocytes fail to become inured, the micro- organisms continue to produce these toxins, and the host perishes, poisoned by them. Now the toxins produced by the micro-organisms of most zymotic diseases are not always of the same degree of virulence, and when they are feeble the phago- cytes the more easily become inured to them, and destroy the micro-organisms ; and not only do they do so, but this pre- liminary training enables them, when attacked by more virulent micro-organisms of the same species, z.e. of the same disease, to react to the stronger toxins of these also, and again destroy the micro-organisms. Man has taken advantage of this fact to artificially lower or ‘‘ attenuate” the virulence of various species of pathogenic micro-organisms (e.g. those of anthrax an 78 cholera); and jnoculation with them or their toxins inures the individual so treated to resist the attacks of micro-organisms of the same species and of the normal degree of virulence. One way of attenuating or rendering less virulent the toxins is to inject them into an animal that does not easily perish of them (e.g. horse, as regards diphtheria), when they undergo partial intracellular digestion within his tissues. His blood serum then contains altered toxins (the so-called anti-toxins), experience of which inures the cells of an animal of a more susceptible species (e.g. man) to resist the attack of virulent micro-organisms with unaltered toxins. It is noteworthy that when toxins and anti- toxins are mixed the latter may inure the cells to the former before death occurs, for the reason that these do not under normal conditions cause immediate death. For this reason animals are able to withstand much more than a fatal dose of a toxin when it is mixed with the appropriate anti-toxin, and sometimes even to recover from a disease which would otherwise be fatal if during the course of it the anti-toxin is injected. But toxins and anti-toxins are not retained within the system. They are digested by the cells and excreted, and therefore enduring immunity is not conferred by their presence, but by the fact (in some diseases at least) that when the cells are once inured they remain so, It is clear that the serum treatment can be useful only in dis- eases against which immunity may be acquired, if only fora short time. In other diseases (e.g. tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy) against which immunity cannot be acquired, which do not run a pretty definite course of limited duration, of which one attack does not protect against subsequent attacks, it is useless ; for here training does not benefit the cells, or if in some cases it does benefit them, this benefit is of such limited duration as to be practically useless. After this, from want of space, very dogmatic statement of the rationale of serum-therapeutics, let us inquire what may be hoped from the ceremony of blood-brotherhood in its medical aspects. Clearly nothing. It will not, of course, endow the traveller with his blood-brother’s powers of resisting hardship (heat, cold, hunger, &c.); it will not confer immunity or increased powers of resistance against that class (the most death- dealing class) of diseases against which immunity cazzot be acquired ; and lastly, it will not confer immunity or increased powers of resistance against that class of diseases against which immunity caz be acquired, unless there is present in the blood- brother this or that micro-organism in an attenuated form, or unless antitoxins are present in him to an inconceivable degree of concentration—very remote possibilities, or rather impossi- bilities, on which the traveller were wise not to count. On the other hand the blood-brother may communicate actual virulent disease, for instance syphilis and malaria. G. ARCHDALL REeEIp. Remarkable Sounds. IN a Japanese work, ‘‘ Hokuetsu Kidan,” by Tachibana no Mochiyo (published czyca 1800, tom. ii., fol. 5, segg.), I have found some remarkable sounds described. Among the details given therein of the ‘‘Seven Marvels of the Province of Echigo,” we read: ‘The fifth marvel, the Dénari [literally Body Sounds, or Temple Sounds), is a noise certain to be heard in the autumnal days, just before a fine weather turns to stormy, it being sounded as if the thunder falls from the cloud, or the snow slides down a mountain, Where it originates is quite uncertain, as there are in the counties several mountains assigned therefor. The sounds are heard of same intensity in variously distant places.” Further, the author recites a folk-tale current in his time among the villagers of Kurotori, in Co, Kambara, which attributes these sounds to the head and body of a hero, Kurotori Hyoe [killed in 1062 ?]; separately interred under a Shintoist temple in this village, they ever strive to unite once more. ‘* The marvel, it is said, is now seldom met with ; still it occurs frequently within two or three miles of the village, proceeding doubtless from the precinct of the temple. And the fact is more wonderful that the inhabitants of Kurotori themselves never hear the sounds unless they go out of the village.” Concluding the narrative, the author, from his per- sonal observation, argues the action of the tide-waves upon the earth to be the real cause of these curious sounds. May 18. KuMmaGusu MINAKATA. NO. 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 28, 1896 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AND DALMATIA. ‘THE progress of prehistoric archeology, the youngest of the inductive sciences, is one of the more im- portant facts in the history of the intellectual develop- ment of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Up to 1870, attention was chiefly directed to the antiquity of man and his place in the geological record, and to the classification of his advance in the Neolithic, Bronze, and {ron ages in Europe. Man was proved to have lived in a remote past, not to be measured by years and under climatal and geographical conditions totally different to those now met with in Europe. The next ten years were chiefly spent in elaborating the details as to the range of Paleolithic man, and in working out the sequence of events, separating the Pleistocene period from the dawn of history. The Neolithic, Bronze, and Prehistoric Iron ages of human progress were traced far and wide over nearly the whole of the old and the greater part of the new worlds. In the last decade the centre of archzo- logical interest has shifted slowly in the direction of the frontier of history. On the one hand the researches of Flinders Petrie have revealed the close connection of ancient Egypt with the nations of the Mediterranean long before the rise of the Greeks, and have rendered it possible for us to use the Egyptian chronology as the standard to fix the date of prehistoric events in Southern Europe and in Asia Minor. On the other, in_ these latter areas, many workers, among whom _ Schlie- man stands foremost, have revealed the manners and customs, the daily life, the modes of warfare, the habitations, fortresses and tombs of the very peoples who were in touch with Egypt. We even know, thanks to Arthur Evans, that there was a system of writing in the AZgean area long before the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet, and we may look forward to his future researches to make it intelligible. A valuable book! on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dal- matia is the last contribution to the subject. Under the modest title of “Rambles and Studies,” it might very well be taken for the usual book of travels in a land of wonderful beauty, till now practically closed to the ordinary traveller. Under the Austro-Hungarian do- minion, now some twenty years old, good roads have replaced the old tracks, and law and order reign instead of the brigandage of the past. New lines of railway and of steamers connect the chief centres, manufactures are encouraged, and schools for the education of both Christian and Moslem are in full swing. There are luxurious hotels in place of the old caravanserais, and the records of the past are being carefully preserved in museums, under the charge of competent scientific men, instead of being ruthlessly destroyed, as they were under the old xégime. There are snow-covered mountains, great rivers and waterfalls, like those at Ottawa, and lakes embosomed in trees. There are ravines, like those of Miller's Dale, only larger, and caverns, and all the characteristic scenery of the limestone forms the surface of the country. The interest, however, chiefly centres in the inhabitants. The present phase of tran- sition from Eastern to Western ideas is of special value at this time, when the cry of oppressed lands is ringing in the ears of the Western nations, because it shows with what extraordinary rapidity a people ground down to the dust for centuries by the Turk, may become happy and prosperous under a good system of local self- government. What the Austro-Hungarians have done in the Bosnia-Herzegovina, may be done by the Powers in Asia Minor and in the islands of the 42gean Sea. From this point of view Dr. Munro’s well-written book is worthy of the attention of our rulers. Dr. Munro has dealt with all these things with a light and pleasant By 1“ Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia.” | Robert Munro, M.A., M.D., F-R.S.E. 8vo. (Blackwood, 1895.) May 28, 1896] NATURE ie) hand. He, accompanied by Mrs. Munro, travelled under great advantages. He went in 1894, at the invitation of the Austro-Hungarian Government, to attend an archzeo- logical congress, and he has made the most of his opportunities. It is not, however, the travellers side of the book which more immediately concerns us. It is rather with it as a contribution to archeological literature, in which the author brings to bear, on the discoveries made in those lands by others, the scientific method which he had already used so well in carrying out his investigations into Lake-dwellings in Britain and on the continent. We shall review in their chronological order the more im- portant of the discoveries, now laid before English readers, in a quarter of Europe shut off by lofty mountain ranges from the pathways of the nations. The group of Neolithic remains at Butmir gave rise to much difference of opinion at the congress. Accord- ing to Mr. Radimsky, they were deposits of refuse round ancient huts on the land, and the irregular amceba-like hollows in the clay were taken to be the bases of huts. In Dr. Munro’s opinion these hollows were made by the extraction of the clay for the covering of the wattles of the huts, as well as for the large amount of pottery and terra-cotta found on the site. He points out that they have been filled up by the deposit of silt under water, as well as by human débris, and concludes that the whole accumulation was formed in and round pile-dwellings like those of Switzerland, the piles of which, as well as all the other woodwork, have wholly rotted away. We agree with this view; and would advance a further argument in its favour, that a settlement on a clay soil liable to floods is unknown in the history of Neolithic dwellings. On that spot pile-dwellings would be the only habitations possible. The inhabitants were skilful potters, and their vessels made by hand were in some cases ornamented by spirals. They also manufactured stone implements, polished axes, spears, arrows, and the like. They were also spinners and weavers; they had herds of pigs, domestic oxen, among which we may note the short- horned ox (os /ongzfrons), and flocks of sheep and goats. In their fields they grew wheat and barley, and carried on a trade by barter with other communities. The rude terra-cotta idols imply that they had some kind of religion. Their burial-places have not yet been dis- covered. Among the purely Neolithic remains are twenty-seven perforated axe-hammers of a type found in the Bronze age elsewhere, and made of a stone which does not exist in the district. With the exception of three, all the rest of the implements amounting to 5118, are of native stone. It is probable that in this out-of- the-way place the Neolithic civilisation lingered long after the Bronze age had begun in the more accessible surrounding districts. We may accept Dr. Munro’s conclusion, that the settlement of Butmir “is one of the side eddies of the early stream of immigrants who found their way into Europe by the Danubian valley from the regions to the south and east of the Black Sea,” in the Neolithic age, and who lived on into the Bronze age— an age which in Bosnia is not so well defined and conspicuous as it is in Germany, Scandinavia, and Western Europe generally. While bronze implements and weapons were gradually finding their way into Bosnia-Herzegovina, a new civilis- ation appeared at the head of the Adriatic, and extended over the southern watershed of the Danube, Northern Italy, the Tyrol and the adjacent regions, known, from the principal site of the discoveries, as that of Hallstadt. From this centre the characteristic products were scattered far and wide over Europe by means of commerce, marking the close of the Bronze and the beginning of the Iron age. The tumuli on the plateau of Glasinac, more than 20,000 in number, mark this age in Bosnia. Of these about one thousand have been explored, proving NO. 1387, VOL. 54] that both inhumation and cremation were practised. The articles buried with the dead consist of iron knives swords, spear-heads and axes, some double-edged, others in the shape of socketed celts. Bronze vessels, pendants, bracelets, finger-rings, and brooches, were discovered in great variety. The brooches are of great interest as indices to the age of the tumuli. This is marked by the stage presented in the evolution of the brooch from a straight pin. The first stage is presented by the bending of the pin; the second, by its being twisted round so that the point is brought to rest on a development of the head specially made to receive it; the third, by the development of one or more twists, so as to form an elastic spring or springs—the safety-pin type. From those of one spring, the Greek and Roman fibulz are descended. At Glasinac about 44 per cent. were those with two springs, or of the Hallstadt type. Those with one are more closely allied to the Greek, while others are purely Roman. A helmet from a tumulus at Arareva is of pure Greek type and similar to one found at Olympia, bearing an inscription that it was dedicated by the Argives to Zeus out of the spoils of Corinth. It is also identical with the helmet on a warrior carved on the Harpy Tomb, Xanthos, Lycia, in the British Museum. Both these belong to about the middle of the sixth century before Christ. These things were found along with an infinite variety of ornaments and implements of bronze, iron and silver, of glass and amber and bone, together with fragments of pottery. It is obvious that these tumuli were used from the remote Hallstadt time down to the days of the Roman dominion. It is not a little remarkable that there is no mention of coins in the three elaborate volumes recording these discoveries, published by the scientific staff of the Public Museum in Sarajevo. Coins had not then found their way into the country, or if they had, were not buried with the dead. In 1890 a cemetery was discovered at Jezerine, belong- ing to the same period as the tumuli of Glasinac, and containing the same types, but with fewer weapons. It is remarkable for the beautiful rings and beads made of blue, yellow, white and green glass. A gravestone with a figure of a warrior found here is assigned by Dr. Hoernes to the late Hallstadt period. The helmet with the lofty crest reaching far down the back is identical with that carved on the Harpy Tomb at Xanthos, and those on the heads of warriors, on painted early Greek vases. It may very well be of late Hallstadt age, as well as early Greek. Besides burial-places such as the above, there are numerous forts belonging to this people, similar in con- struction to the hill-forts of Scotland, and built of rubble masonry without mortar. Nor are we without evidence as to the physique of the people themselves. Of thirty-two human skulls from Glasinac, examined by Dr. Glick, 76 per cent. are either long or mesocephalic, while 24 per cent. are short; a fact of considerable interest when contrasted with the present roundness of head of the Bosnians. Out of 1500 natives examined by Dr. Weissbach, 7 per cent. only were long and 93 per cent. short. The prehistoric inhabitants of Bosnia, like those ot Hallstadt, were mainly long-headed, while the presence of the short-headed minority shows the existence of two races in both regions. The reversal of this in Bosnia in later times is due to the immigration of short-headed people, mostly Slavs, from the time of the tumuli down to the present day. It may be inferred that in Herzegovina and Bosnia, as in Western Europe, the aboriginal and Neolithic peoples were long-headed, and that they were invaded by a new race of round-headed conquerors. Whether this took place in the Bronze age must be left for future inquiry, and whether it took place from the line of the valley of the Danube, or, as Dr. Munro suggests, by the head of the Adriatic, must also be left an 80 NATURE [May 28, 1896 open question in the present condition of the inquiry. The close connection with Hallstadt renders the latter view the more probable, although there is clear proof of the Greek influence from the south. This, however, it must be admitted, may belong to a later period. In closing this review, we may congratulate Dr. Munro on his success in writing a book which is short, picturesque, and scientific ; and we feel sure that he will gain his end, of attracting attention to the archzeological treasures awaiting the explorer in this hitherto little-explored corner of Europe. W. Boyp DAWKINS. EXPERIMENTS IN MECHANICAL FLIGHT. I HAVE been for some years engaged in investigations connected with aerodromic problems, and particularly with the theoretical conditions of mechanical flight. A portion of these have been published by me under the titles ‘“‘ Experiments in Aerodynamics” and “The In- ternal Work of the Wind,” but I have not hitherto at any time described any actual trials in artificial flight. With regard to the latter, I have desired to experiment until I reached a solution of the mechanical difficulties of the problem, which consist, it must be understood, not only in sustaining a heavy body in the air by mechanical means (although this difficulty is alone great), but also in the automatic direction of it in a horizontal and rectilinear course. These difficulties have so delayed the work, that in view of the demands upon my time, which render it uncertain how far I can personally conduct these ex- periments to the complete conclusion I seek, I have been led to authorise some account of the degree of success which has actually been attained, more particularly at the kind request of my friend Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, who has shown me a letter which he will com- municate to you. In acceding to his wish, and while I do not at present desire to enter into details, let me add that the aerodrome, or “ flying-machine” in question, is built chiefly of steel, and that it is not supported by any gas, or by any means but by its steam-engine. This is of between one and two horse-power, and it weighs, including fire-grate, boilers, and every moving part, less than seven pounds. This engine is employed in turning aerial propellers which move the aerodrome forward, so that it is sustained by the reaction of the air under its supporting surfaces. I should, in further explanation of what Mr. Bell has said, add that owing to the small scale of construction, no means have been provided for condensing the steam after it has passed through the engine, and that owing to the consequent waste of water, the aerodrome has no means of sustaining itself in the air for more than a very short time—a difficulty which does not present itself in a larger construction where the water can be condensed and used over again. The flights described, therefore, were necessarily brief. S. P. LANGLEY. Through the courtesy of Mr. S. P. Langley, Secre- tary of the Smithsonian Institution, I have had on various occasions the privilege of witnessing his experi- ments with aerodromes, and especially the remarkable success attained by him in experiments made on the Potomac River on Wednesday, May 6, which led me to urge him to make public some of these results. I had the pleasure of witnessing the successful flight of some of these aerodromes more than a year ago, but Prof. Langley’s reluctance to make the results public at that time prevented me from asking him, as I have done since, to let me give an account of what I saw. On the date named, two ascensions were made by the aerodrome, or so-called “flying machine,” which I will not describe here further than to say that it appeared to me to be built almost entirely of metal, and driven by a NO. 1387, VOL. 54] steam-engine which I have understood was carrying fuel - and a water supply for a very brief period, and which was" of extraordinary lightness. The absolute weight of the aerodrome, including that of the engine and all appurtenances, was, as I was told, about 25 pounds, and the distance, from tip to tip, of the supporting surfaces was, as I observed, about 12 or 14 feet. The method of propulsion was by aerial screw pro- pellers, and there was no gas or other aid for lifting it in the air except its own internal energy. On the occasion referred to, the aerodrome, at a given signal, started from a platform about 20 feet above the water, and rose at first directly in the face of the wind, moving at all times with remarkable steadiness, and sub- sequently swinging around in large curves of, perhaps, a hundred yards in diameter, and continually ascending until its steam was exhausted, when, at a lapse of about a minute and a half, and at a height which I judged to be between 80 and 1oo feet in the air, the wheels ceased turning, and the machine, deprived of the aid of its pro- pellers, to my surprise did not fall, but settled down so softly and gently that it touched the water without the least shock, and was in fact immediately ready for another trial. In the second trial, which followed directly, it repeated in nearly every respect the actions of the first, except that the direction of its course was different. It ascended again in the face of the wind, afterwards moving steadily and continually in large curves accompanied with a rising motion and a lateral advance. Its motion was, in fact, so steady that I think a glass of water on its surface would have remained unspilled. When the steam gave out again, it repeated for a second time the experience of the first trial when the steam had ceased, and settled gently and easily down. What height it reached at this trial I cannot say, as I was not so favourably placed as in the first ; but I had occasion to notice that this time its course took it over a wooded promontory, and I was relieved of some apprehension in seeing that it was already so high as to pass the tree-tops by twenty or thirty feet. It reached the water one minute and thirty- one seconds from the time it started, at a measured dis- tance of over goo feet from the point at which it rose. This, however, was by no means the length of its flight. I estimated from the diameter of the curve described, from the number of turns of the propellers as given by the automatic counter, after due allowance for slip, and from other measures, that the actual length of flight on each occasion was slightly over 3000 feet. It is atleast safe to say that each exceeded half an English mile. From the time and distance it will be noticed that the velocity was between twenty and twenty-five miles an hour, in a course which was constantly taking it “up hill.” I may add that on a previous occasion I have seen a far higher velocity attained by the same aerodrome when its course was horizontal. I have no desire to enter into detail further than I have done, but I cannot but add that it seems to me that no one who was present on this interesting occasion could have failed to recognise that the practicability of mechanical flight had been demonstrated. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. THE APPROACHING CELEBRATION OF THE KELVIN JUBILEE IN GLASGOW. T may interest our readers to state the programme of the approaching celebration of the jubilee of Lord Kelvin as Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Uni- versity of Glasgow. On the evening of Monday, June 15, at 8.30 p.m., the University will give a conversazione, when there will be an _ May 28, 1896) NATURE SI exhibit of Lord Kelvin’s inventions. On Tuesday, June 16, addresses will be presented to Lord Kelvin by delegates from home and foreign University bodies, from several of the learned Societies of which he is a member, from student delegates from other Universities, and from the students and graduates of the University of Glasgow. It is expected that the honorary degree of LL.D. will be conferred on the same day on several of the distinguished foreign visitors. On Tuesday evening, June 16, the City will give a banquet to Lord Kelvin, to which the visitors who have come to do him honour have been invited. _ On Wednesday, June 17, the Senate of the University will invite the visitors of the University staff to sail down the Clyde. The students of the University also invite the students’ delegates from other Universities to a similar trip. ’ Representative scientific men—about fifty im number— from America and the British colonies, and from all the European countries, and about 150 from the United Kingdom, have signified their intention to be present. The exceptional nature of the occasion, and the feeling which Lord Kelvin’s name awakens everywhere, will give these proceedings a peculiar interest. NOTES, THE University of Wales is to be represented at the forth- coming celebration of the Kelvin jubilee by Principal J. Viriamu Jones, F.R.S., of Cardiff (the Vice-Chancellor for the year), and Prof. A. Gray, of Bangor. THE Mayor of Bristol, at the suggestion of a deputation repre - senting the chief local scientific societies and educational in- stitutions, has decided to invite the British Association to visit Bristol in 1898. A visit to Bristol after the Toronto meeting would be made ina singularly opportune year, for it was in 1497 that Cabot discovered the American mainland, where the Association will be in 1897, whence he started on his second voyage in 1498. The meeting would thus serve to commemorate the tercentenary of a memorable voyage of one of Bristol’s greatest citizens. That the Association should take Bristol after Canada would, therefore, be very appropriate. THE Epidemiological Society of London has resolved, having regard to the historical connection of the Society with vaccina- tion and other preventive measures, to founda medal in memory of Jenner. It is proposed that the medal shall be founded with a view to the promotion of epidemiological research, and that it shall be bestowed from time to time by this Society on persons who shall have contributed to the knowledge of preventive medicine. Donations (not exceeding one guinea) may be sent to the Honorary Treasurer, 6 Hereford Mansions, Bayswater, W. THE death is announced of Dr. August Hosius, Professor of Mineralogy and Palzeontology in Miinster University. Tue King of Belgium has honoured Prof. Leo Errera, Professor of Botany in the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and Director of the Institut botanique, by creating him a Chevalier of the Order of Léopold. REUTER’S correspondent at Adelaide states that a well- equipped expedition started on May 22 to explore the interior of the Australian continent. It will be absent eighteen months. Mr. Calvert is defraying the cost of the expedition. AN extra Friday evening meeting of the members of the Royal Institution will be held on June 19, when Mr. Thomas C. Martin, of New York, American Delegate to the Kelvin jubilee, will deliver a lecture on ‘‘ The Utilisation of Niagara.” WE learn from the American Naturalist that a biological station will be opened on June 22 at Biscayne Bay, Florida, and will remain open for six weeks. The place is well situated for NO. 1387, VOL. 54] | F.R.S., for distinguished researches in zoology. the study of the tropical and subtropical flora and fauna, while its situation upon the continent makes it more readily accessible than the West India Islands. The station will be under the direction of Prof. Charles L. Edwards, of the University of Cincinnati. Mr. T. D. A. CocKERELL proposes to establish a biological station at Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.A. The climate of the country is exceptionally favourable for persons in the earlier stages of phthisis, while the abundance of new and interesting forms of life, especially among the insects, is remarkable. Many interesting general problems, such as those of the life-zones, can also be studied in New Mexico to great advantage. A beginning will be made this summer if students can be found. Mr. Cockerell will be glad to hear from any who are interested in the matter, and especially from those who might be inclined to work with him for longer or shorter periods during the present summer. A GENERAL meeting of the members of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers will be held in London on Thursday, June 4, andon Friday, June 5. The following papers. will be read, or taken as read :—Presidential address, by Mr. Geo. A. Mitchell; ‘* The Causes of Death in Colliery Explosions,” by Dr. J. S. Haldane ; *‘ Road Engines,” by Mr. John McLaren; ““The Gobert Freezing Process of Shaft-sinking,” by Mr. A. Gobert ; ‘* Precautions necessary in the Use of Electricity in Coal-mines,” by Mr. H. W. Ravenshaw. The papers down for discussion are: ‘‘ Photography in the Technology of Ex- plosives,” by Mr, Alfred Siersch; ‘*Coal-washing Plant at the Wirral Colliery, Neston, Cheshire,” by Mr. J. Platt ; ‘‘ Lead and Lap of Winding and other Engines,” by Mr. Hargrave Walters. THE gold medal of the Linnean Society of London, which is annually presented alternately to a zoologist and to a botanist, has this year been awarded to Prof. George James Allman, A graduate in medicine in the University of Dublin in 1844, and subsequently Regius Professor of Botany there, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1854, and from 1855 to 1870 held the chair of Regius Professor of Natural History in the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, where the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him. In 1873 he was awarded the “* Royal Medal” of the Royal Society. In 1874 he was elected President of the Linnean Society in succession to Mr. Bentham, and in 1879 was President of the British Association on the occasion of its meeting at Sheffield. His chief scientific work has relation to the lower forms of animal life, concerning which his most notable publications are his monographs of the Fresh- water Polyzoa and Hydroida—issued by the Ray Society— and his exhaustive report on the Hydroida collected by the Challenger exploring expedition. The medal will be presented at the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society, to be held on Thursday, June 4, at $ p.m. Messrs. C. GRIFFIN AND Co. have just published the thirteenth annual issue of their ‘‘ Year-Book of Scientific and Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland.” The work comprises lists of papers read during 1895 before these societies, which are arranged into fourteen classes according to the branches of science fostered by them. As a handy and accurate index to our scientific societies, and a record of progress, the work is most useful. WE learn from La Nature of May 23 that a meeting was held on April 24, at the Geological and Geographical Society of Stockholm, in favour of the Polar expedition of M. Andrée. That gentleman opened the meeting by an explanation of the preparations already made, and of the prospects of the ex- pedition. The generator of the hydrogen gas is nearly $2 completed, and the steamer La Vierge is in dock at Gothen- burg. A folding canvas boat, to carry three persons and 600 kilograms of provisions, has also been constructed. The ex- pedition is to sail from Gothenburg on June 7, and should arrive at Spitzbergen about the 18th of that month. After that, M. Andrée cannot state what may happen—whether it will be a long balloon voyage, or a sledge and boat journey. M. Ekholm enumerated the various instruments which will be taken; they include several self-recording meteorological instruments, photo- graphic apparatus, and electrometer. M. Strindberg gave details respecting the construction of the balloon. After the meeting a banquet took place, at which Baron Nordenskiold wished success to the expedition, to which M. Andrée warmly responded. IN spite of the numerous excursions that have been previously made to Spitzbergen, it is remarkable that so very little has been done in the interior. The botany of its coast-lands is-as well known as that of many British counties; its mosses, hepatics, and marine alge have been carefully monographed. Many groups of the fauna have been equally well described. The geology of the coast sections has been mapped, and rich collec- tions of fossils made from the remarkably rich sequence of rocks ranging from the Devonian to the Pleistocene, and including representatives of the Carboniferous, Permian, Trias, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Miocene. Nevertheless hardly anything is known of the interior of West Spitzbergen, the largest island of the archipelago. Nordenskidld and Palander crossed the north- east island in June 1873, but up to the present only two short excursions have been -made on to the ice-sheet of the main island. The first of these was a short traverse by the late Gustav Nordenskiold from Horn Sound to Bel Sound, and the other a visit by Ribot to Mount Milne-Edwards, to the south- east of Ice Fiord, The interior is known to be covered by an ice- sheet, and a careful study of this would no doubt throw much light on the problems of the former glaciation of Europe. An effort to fill this remarkable gap in our knowledge is now being made by Sir W. Martin Conway, who has organised an expedition to Spitzbergen, which will start on June 2. The main object of the expedition is the study of the interior, but it is hoped also to supplement our knowledge of the fauna of the coast-lands, and to make extensive collections for this country. The party will consist of five other members, Mr. Ed. Conway, Mr. R. D. Darbishire, Mr. E. J. Garwood, Dr. J. W. Gregory, and Mr. A. Trevor-Battye. The party expects to return early in Sep- tember. The collections made will be the property of the British Museum, the Trustees of that institution having lent Dr. Gregory’s services to the expedition. WRITING to the Z/ectrician on the subject of Réntgen rays, Mr. James Mark Barr enunciates the proposition that reversing the current in a ‘‘focusing” tube improves it for its normal working after ‘‘ fatiguing” has set in. He adds that the reverse current used should be comparatively weak. \ FINE specimen of a rare Marine Chalonian, the Leathery Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) has lately been presented to the South African Museum by Mr. P. C. Keytel, of Cape Town. The animal was stranded on Blaauwberg beach in Table Bay, and was secured by some fishermen ; its length is over 5 feet, and its breadth more than 2 feet. IN the Zudian Engineer some interesting statistics are given relating to the development of the coal fields in Labuan. The island contains four seams of coal varying in thickness from I} to 10 feet, and running from north-east to south-west. The coal is good steam coal containing an abundance of resin, and the outcrops are three-quarters of a mile from the sea. In prospecting for coal near the head of the Ogangara River, oil was NO. 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE [May 28, 1896 struck, which continued to flow for a few days, when the spring became exhausted. The yearly output of coal three years ago was 18,000 tons. THE current number of the Journal of the College of Science, at Tokyo, fully maintains the standard of its predecessors ; but we note with deep regret the announcement of the death of Mr. Hirota, whose last paper (on the ‘‘ Dendritic Appendage of the Urogenital Papilla of a Siluroid”) it contains. The half-dozen monographs which have fallen from Mr. Hirota’s pen are of exceptional merit, and show their author to have been a worker of much promise and sound judgment. His first paper on the “*Sero-Amniotic Connection and the Foetal Membranes in the Chick” came as a revelation ; and let it be recorded to his last- ing memory, that he therein disposed of an error in fundamentals, of which Western embryologists, studying the hen’s egg ad nauseum, had never dreamt. We tender our Eastern confréres our profoundest sympathy, for their loss is our own. A PROTEST is raised in the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales (vol. vii. part 2) against the indiscriminate destruction of beneficent lady-birds. The small yellow and black-banded pumpkin beetle, Az/ocophora hilaris, Boisd., feeds upon many plants frequented by the 28-spotted lady-bird, Zpz/achna 28- punctata, and it is common to find these two destructive species side by side upon the same plant. This appears to have led to the misapplication of the term “‘lady-bird” to Azlocophora hilarts, with the unfortunate result that the whole of the group Coccinellide, to which the appellation properly belongs, has been, in the most general terms, denounced and described as a scourge. Considering that, out of the large number of species of lady-birds to be found in New South Wales, only two— Epilachna 28-punctata and Epilachna guttato-pustulata—are really injurious, it would be a great misfortune if all the useful species of Coccinellidze were to be ostracised on their account. THE last number of the American journal, Modern Medicine and Bacteriological Review, draws attention to a report recently drawn up by Prof. Conn, of the Western University, on the bacteriology of milk, published by the United States Department of Agriculture. Examinations of milk made at various places yielded numbers varying from 330,000 to 9,000,000 microbes per ounce. The milk-supply of Boston was found to be par-° ticularly rich in microbes, as many as 135 million germs being found per ounce. The Sostox Medical and Surgical Journal lately reported a case in which a young man contracted tuber- cular disease by drinking milk from a herd of cows, fifty-nine of which were afterwards found to be tuberculous, whilst two per- sons employed in making butter from the same herd, and who drank large quantities of milk, also became infected. Although much has been accomplished in our country of late years to improve the sanitary conditions surrounding our public milk-sup- plies, yet a great deal still remains to be done, and there cannot be a doubt that the next important step will be the distribution by our dairies of ‘* pasteurised’’ milk and butter. The example has already been set by one important London dairy company, and it is to be hoped that others will follow what is, after all, but a tardy imitation of what has been done for some time past by our more enlightened neighbours on the continent. IN commemoration of the Jenner centenary, a special number of the Britzsh Medical Journal has been issued, containing a number of interesting papers on Edward Jenner’s life, work, and writings. THE Clarendon Press announces for early publication a ‘* Flora of Berkshire,” by Mr. G. C. Druce. It is intended to be not only a catalogue, but also a history, of the plants of the county. May 28, 1896] Dr. Pu. MOLLE has reprinted from the MJemozrs of the Royal Academy of Belgium his ‘‘ Recherches de microchimie comparée sur la localisation des alcaloides dans les Solanacées.” These alkaloids are found chiefly in the superficial organs of the plant, especially in the bark, where they serve to protect it against the attacks of herbivorous animals. They are entirely absent from both the embryo and the endosperm of the ripe seeds, and can in nosense be regarded as reserve food-materials ; if they occur at all in the seed, it is only in its integument. Mr. C. F. Crarke, of Plumstead, writes to point out a clerical slip in the notice of Dr. Orchard’s ** Astronomy in Milton’s Paradise Lost,” by which Satan’s shield is said to be compared to Galileo’s glass (not a very large object, that of the Lick or Yerkes telescope might have been more appropriate had such then existed), instead of the moon as viewed through it, Besides the three constellations mentioned in our notice, Milton also alludes to Orion, supposed by him, as by the ancient poets, to be associated with windy and stormy weather. WE welcome No. 12 of the Alembic Club Reprints, published by Messrs. W. F. Clay, Edinburgh. The volume contains Faraday’s papers on ‘‘ The Liquefaction of Gases ” (1823-1845), and an appendix consisting of papers by Thomas Northmore on the compression of gases, which were referred to by Faraday, in his historical statement, in the following terms. ‘*The most remarkable and direct experiments I have yet met with in the course of my search after such as were connected with the condensation of gases into liquids, are a series made by Mr. Northmore in the years 1805-6.” Students of physics, and every one interested in the subject of the liquefaction of gas, should possess a copy of this latest addition to the Alembic Club Reprints. THE Deutsche Seewarte has recently issued the last of its series of atlases dealing with maritime meteorology and other useful information relating to the great oceans. The present work, which refers to the Pacific Ocean, contains thirty-one folio coloured charts, with explanatory text, and, like its predecessors, forms an appendix to the Sailing Directions which are published in a separate form. The atlases for the Atlantic and Indian Oceans have been in the hands of German sailors for some years, and, being in a clear and popular form, are almost equally useful to other countries. In addition to the usual charts of ocean currents, specific gravity, temperature of air and sea-surface, relative frequency of winds, distribution of rainfall, &c., there are others containing useful da¢a, among which we may mention the mean sailing routes, and the distribution and principal haunts of various kinds of whales. The charts are based on a large amount of information supplied by German captains, and include materials collected by other nations. A just appreciation of this part of the work of the Deutsche Seewarte is shown by the fact that it has been found necessary to prepare a second edition of the Sailing Directions for the Atlantic Ocean, which will be published as soon as practicable. THE Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal can scarcely be said to have a place in our chemical libraries; the current number, however, contains a paper by Dr. P. C. Ray, of the Presidency College, Calcutta, on mercurous nitrite, that is worthy of note. During a preparation of mercurous nitrate by the action of dilute nitric acid in the cold on mercury, yellow crystals were deposited which, upon examination, proved to be mercurous nitrite. The analysis proved somewhat difficult, as the substance dissociates in solution into metallic mercury and mercuric nitrite. The fact that this nitrite is stable in strongly acid solutions, is an additional proof of the views advanced by Dr. Divers as to the ‘‘ nitronic” constitution of the nitrites of copper, silver, mercury, and bismuth. The stability of silver NO. 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE 83 nitrite towards nitric acid has already been noticed by Acworth and Armstrong, and by Russell, and the behaviour of mercurous nitrite is closely analogous. Dr, Ray proposes, in a subsequent communication, to give the results of an attempt to prepare fatty nitro-derivatives from this compound, THE Commissioners of the St. George’s Public Library record in their second report, that good progress has been made with the arrangement of the cases and specimens comprised in the natural history collection presented to the library. The donor generously undertook the laborious task of installing, classifying, and labelling the whole of the objects, as well as the preparation of the numerous explanatory reading-cases, which will contribute so much to the proper understanding of the contents of the room. The collection may now be considered as ready for the use of students, and it affords an illustration of what can be done to connect’ the public libraries with natural history museums generally. Certain annual subscriptions were promised for three consecutive years towards the cost of maintaining the collection, but unfortunately in the second year (1895) the full amount has not been realised. It is stated that at least £150 is re- quired to cover the working expenses during the four years for which the Commissioners have undertaken to house the collec- tion, until it shall’ be seen whether good use is made of it by natural history students; the cost of zvstal/ation having been defrayed partly out of the library rate and partly by the donor. THE School of Practical Science at Toronto may be proud of an Engineering Society which can issue a volume of Pro- ceedings (No. 9) such as we have just received. The papers in the volume are of more than engineering interest. Mr. McLennan has a paper on ‘* R6ntgen Radiation,” detailing results obtained by him ; and special attention should be called to an excellent essay on ‘‘The Pendulum,” by Mr. A. M. Scott, which gained for the author the 1851 Exhibition Science Scholarship allocated by the University of Toronto. There is also an original contribution on the action of heat upon cements, and another on brickwork masonry. Even astronomy finds a place in the volume. Mr. W. L. Innes contributes a brief history of celestial science, and Mr. A. T. Laing describes an ingenious planetarium devised by him. As an instance of the value of a little astronomical knowledge, we may refer to a short paper on ‘‘ Aspect and Prospect,” by Mr. C. H. C. Wright, in which a diagram is given to show the azimuth of the sun at any time of the year for any place in the latitude of Toronto. The diagram, which is due to Prof, Kerr, should be of much assistance to architects in deciding upon the best aspects for windows of various rooms. Other subjects treated are lightning arresters, planimeters, standards in machine shop practice, the Chicago Canal, and a simple form of telemeter. THE Report of the American Museum of Natural History, just issued, shows notable increase in the various collections, and large and expensive additions to the building. The expeditions to Peru, Honduras, Sumatra and Mexico, have resulted in the acquisition of a large number of interesting objects and photo- graphs. In the department of Public Instruction, regular courses of lectures have been delivered to the teachers of the public schools, and free lectures to the people on public holidays as well as every week. The department of Mammalogy and Ornithology received in 1895 the William Dutcher Collection of New York Birds, numbering over two thousand specimens, con- tributed by the Linnean Society of New York. A very large number of Arctic mammals and birds have been received as the result of the expedition to Greenland. The department of Vertebrate Palzeontology has been enriched by the Cope Collec- tion of Fossil Mammals of North America, comprising nearly ten thousand specimens, representing 483 species. The acquisi- tion of this valuable collection establishes the Museum as a 84 NATURE centre of study and research in paleeontology. Increasing interest in the Museum has been evinced by all classes of the citizens of New York. Every course of lectures has been attended by crowded audiences, and pupils of public and private schools, as well as students of science, have derived advantage from the library as well as from the collections. SEVERAL new edilions of scientific works have reached us during the past few days. . The first volume of a new edition of Prof. Fleming’s systematic treatise on ‘‘ The Alternate Current Transformer,” dealing with the induction of electric currents, has been published by the Zéc¢rzcéan Printing and Publishing Co. The great progress made during the seven years which have elapsed since the appearance of the original work, has necessitated a thorough revision of the matter, and the volume as it stands now will be appreciated by all who are concerned with alternating- current practice or investigations. Another volume having practical electricity for its subject is ‘‘ Electric Lighting and Power Distribution” (Whittaker and Co.), by W. Perren May- cock. The first volume of the third edition of this work has been issued in an enlarged form, after careful revision. The second edition of the first vile of Dr. Schlich’s ‘* Manual of Forestry” has been published by Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew, and Co. The original was reviewed in NATURE in December 1889 (vol. xli. p. 121), and quite recently (April 2, p. 510) was referred to in these columns. The second edition contains a new part on the State in relation to forestry, and a general review of the timber requirements of the British Empire. Messrs. Long- mans, Green, and Co. have issued a second edition of ‘‘ The Essentials of Chemical Physiology,” by Dr. W. D. Halliburton. The chief alterations made are those rendered necessary by the advance of knowledge since 1893, when the first edition was published. The fifth edition of ‘‘ Southall’s Organic Materia Medica,” by J. Barclay, has been published by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill. To quote the sub-title, the volume is ‘‘a hand- book treating of some of the more important of the animal and vegetable drugs made use of in medicine, including the whole of those contained in the British Pharmacopceia.” New editions of two volumes by the late Dr. J. E. Taylor, have been received from Messrs. W. H. Allen and Co, The books are ‘‘ Nature’s Byepaths,” a series of recreative papers in natural history, and “The Aquarium,” a popular manual on the history, construction, and principles of management of public aquaria. Dr. G. Herbert Fowler has edited the sixth edition of the late Prof. Milne Marshall's valuable work on the anatomy, histology, arid dembryology of ‘‘ The Frog” (David Nutt). A few additions and alterations have been made, but the work remains substan- tially the same practical and educational handbook that it ever was. Finally, the recent changes in the Physiography Syllabus of the Department of Science and Art have resulted in the pro- duction of a new edition (the sixth) of ‘* Earth Knowledge” (Part II.) by W. Jerome Harrison and H. R. Wakefield. The book follows the Department’s Advanced Syllabus, and appears to fulfil the purpose for which it has been designed. THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) from India, presented by Sir William Call; a Blue-bearded Jay (Cyanocorax cyanopogan) from Para, presented by Mr. H. C. T. Beadnell; four Puff Adders (Vipera arzetans), two Ring- hals{Snakes (Sefedon hemachates), an Egyptian Cobra (aia haje), three Cape Vipers (Cazsus rhombeatus), a Cape Buce- phalus (Bucephalus capensis), two Infernal Snakes (Boodon infernalis), a Nilotic Monitor (Varanus niloticus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. J, E. Matcham ; a Grey Ichneumon (Herpestes griseus) from India, deposited; two Indian Tree Ducks (Dendrocygna javanica) from India, purchased; a Japanese Deer (Cerws stka), born in the Gardens. NO. 1387, VOL. 54] | May 28, 1896 OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. TEMPERATURE ERRORS IN MERIDIAN OBSERVATIONS.—M. Hamy has applied his method of interference fringes to a study of the errors caused in meridian observations by the radiations of the sources of light usually employed in observatories, as well as those due to the presence of the observer himself (Bz//. Ast., vol. xiii. p. 178). The researches have completely demon- strated that the unequal distribution of light sources may produce errors in the measures amounting to several seconds of arc, while the heat from the observer may affect the results to the extent of several tenths of a second. It is evident therefore that the sub- ject is one of great importance, and the interferential method is specially adapted for its investigation. MM. Hamy has arrived at his conclusions from experiments made with the Gambey meridian circle of the Paris Observatory. In the case of an ordinary gas flame at a distance of 0°83 metre from the telescope, the mean angular displacement of the optic axis with respect to the meridian amounted to 2’*1, the flame being lit for ten minutes. Other observations indicate that the deviation is sensibly in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of the flame from the optic axis. The effects of different sources of light were also compared at one metre distance, and the practical outcome is that gas flames provided with chimneys are to be studiously avoided, the variation in collimation amounting in this case to 4’"4. The errors due to the heat of the human body are greatest in the case of declination measures, owing to the greater heating of the under side of the telescope tube. It is evident that these errors will depend to some extent upon the materials of which the instrument is constructed, and M. Hamy | is of opinion that the best possible material is a metal of high conductivity, such as copper, in which case inequalities of temperature would be almost impossible. SEARCH EPHEMERIS FOR ComMET 1889 V.—The following is a continuation of Dr. Bauschinger’s search ephemeris for the return of Brooks’s periodic comet (1889 V) (Ast. Wach., No. 3359). R.A. Decl. Bright- h. m. s. ee ness. May 28 22 238 =10)44. (2-59 )Or4a June 1 es 19 29 .. 0°48 eee ime .. 19 TA eee Ole Tie) |... 19)f00) pee Gung 13: oe TOMO ~' ... 18 49 ... O'61 17> ates 23 26 3 18:30 ..:3. (0766 QI i. hase 26AA. |... 1830) Oye 25. «-- 222944 —I18 22) 04.) (0°77, The unit of theoretical brightness is that on 1889 July 8, the date of the first accurate observation. The comet was last seen in January 1891, at the Lick Observatory, when the calculated brightness was only 0°08. During June the computed path lies in the southern part of Aquarius, so that observations can only be made in the early morning. ConsTaNTs FOR Nautical, ALMANACS.—At a conven- tion of Directors of Nautical Almanacs, held at Paris after the recent congress of the International Photographic Chart, Dr. Gill’s value of the solar parallax (8”*80), resulting from heliometer observations of minor planets, was adopted, and consequently the constant of aberration becomes 20"°47. Dr. Gills value for the mass of the moon, leading to 6”"21 for the nutation, was also adopted, and Newcomb’s value was accepted for the precession. THE PLANET MeErcuRY.—A postcard from Dr. Kreutz, Kiel, contains the information that Mr. Leo Brenner, of the Manora Observatory, saw the dark part of the planet Mercury sharp and distinct on May 18, at 23h. Manora time. STELLAR PHOTOGRAPHY WITH SMALL TELESCOPES WITHOUT DRIVING-CLOCKS. GTELLAR photography has now become such an important branch of astronomy, that anything which will encourage possessors of small telescopes to turn their energies in this direc- tion will tend towards the advancement of the celestial sciences. It is proposed to show here that useful work may be done by amateur astronomers with their ordinary small refractors, and with none of the mechanical contrivances which are essential for such large telescopes as are used in the international photo- graphic survey of the heavens, which are driven by elaborate and EE May 28, 1896] NATURE 85 costly machinery in order that the camera shall follow the apparent motion of the stars. The accompanying photographs were taken with a 34-inch refracting telescope of 29 inches focus, totally unprovided with any driving mechanism, not even a tangent screw and slow- motion rod, the guiding having been performed entirely by hand. The correct rate of angular motion was secured by constant visual observation of the image of a star, much out of focus, as seen in a 2}-inch guiding telescope, carrying an eyepiece magni- fying fifty times. This was mounted side by side with the telescopic camera, and moved with it. Fig. 1 shows the instruments mounted on a firm equatorial stand which is supported on a home-made brick pillar. The 2}-inch guiding telescope, by Cooke of York, is seen on the left, provided with its total reflection prism and eyepiece, and just above it is a small ‘‘ finder.” On the extreme left is a counter- poise which balances the 33-inch photographic telescope, which is on the opposite side of the declination axis, and is mounted in a home-made wooden tube of square section, with dew-cap and diaphragms of the same material. At the lower end the dark slide is seen, and behind isa smaller camera which carries an ordinary portrait lens of 2}-inch aperture, which is used for obtain- ing a duplicate photograph, on a smaller scale, simultaneously with the largerone. The whole is so evenly balanced by the two Fic. r.—3} inch Equatorial Photographic Telescope (as used for hand driving). counterpoise weights—one of which is seen low down on the right—that when unclamped it remains at rest in any position. Adjusting screws are provided in order to move the telescopic camera slightly in right ascension or declination whilst the guid- ing telescope remains stationary. This enables one to use the nearest bright star for guiding purposes when the centre of the photographic field contains no conspicuous stars. Absolute parallelism of the two telescopes is of no importance, but their rate of angular motion must be identical. Interesting results can be obtained with such a telescopic camera without any guiding whatever. The camera remaining fixed, the images of the stars travel along on the plate and leave “trails,” which appear on the negative as straight or curved parallel dark lines. By placing a small ink dot at one end of each of these lines, the relative positions of the stars can be indicated. It was found that the faintest stars visible to the naked eye, leave trails on negatives taken with sucha 3}-inch camera, and accurate charts of stars down to the sixth magnitude can be very easily secured in this manner. These trails can also be usefully employed in certain cases to secure records of the changes of brightness of ‘‘ variable” stars, as faint stars give very fine lines, and brighter stars leave thicker and denser ones on the negatives. Variations in brightness are thus recorded in the varying thickness and density of the lines, ~ > pep 7 NO. 1387, VOL. 54]. which are compared with the trails of other standard stars near. From what has been said about trails, and seeing that the image of a star moves more than its own diameter on a stationary plate in a few seconds, it is evident that all the naked-eye stars can be photographed with such an instrument with an exposure of a few seconds. As an illustration of this, a photograph taken with an exposure of only fifteen seconds, when the crescent moon was Fic. 2.—Orion’s belt. (Exposure 30 min.) close to the Pleiades, showed not only the crescent, but also the ‘Sold moon in the new moon’s arms,” due to earth-shine, and twelve of the stars in the Pleiades. Accurate hand driving for such a short period is a matter of comparative ease. Fig. 2 shows a photograph of Orion’s belt taken with an ex- posure of thirty minutes. The negative on close examination shows stars down to the tenth magnitude. In the region represented, lic 3.—The Pleiades (Exposure 60 min.) only about eight stars can usually be seen with the naked eye. The photograph shows that amateurs can obtain, by half an hour's exposure, a chart of any region of the sky, much more accurate and revealing a far larger number of stars than are shown in the star atlases usually in their hands. These phctographs, obtained by such simple means, can always be used as records, and might easily serve:for the detection of ‘‘new” and ‘‘ variable” stars 86 when repeated at intervals and compared. The scale of these photographs is 3°4 times as large as that of Klein’s Star Atlas, and the area of any region is 11°5 times larger. This is some- what smaller than Argelander’s charts. The multiple star 5 Orionis, a single star to the naked eye, is well shown as three stars, one of which is much elongated, showing the duplicity of that component; a curious S-shaped group of stars is clearly seen between 6 and e, These are quite invisible to the naked eye. Fig. 3 represents the Pleiades as photographed with sixty minutes’ exposure, In the region shown, ordinary keen eyes see only seven stars. On the negative seventy-eight stars can be counted in a space of 3° square in the centre of this region. These include stars of the eleventh magnitude. As regards the actual driving of the telescopes, very little practice is needed ; a gentle pressure of the finger at the lower end of the base-board carrying the objective and plate, is sufficient to move the telescope at the proper rate, and the co-operation of hand and eye during guiding seems soon to become almost automatic in character. When the instruments are stationary, the image of the star used for guiding, apparently travels many times faster than does the image of the star on the plate, owing to the magnification by the eyepiece ; and for this reason any tendency to error in driving can be readily seen, especially with the enlarged star disc divided into four quadrants by crossed hairs in the eyepiece—long before such an error would be appreciable on the plate itself. With the lens used, which was made by Hilger, and is uncorrected for photography, a field of good definition 5° square could readily be obtained. An ordinary portrait lens of 2}-inch aperture, mounted side by side with the 3}-inch refractor, gave very good results. One photograph of the Hyades, taken by its means, showed Neptune very distinctly. The wooden dew-cap was found remarkably effective in keeping the object-glass clear, even when that of the guiding telescope, provided with a metal dew-cap, became bedewed. When amateurs come to recognise that, with their small instruments, such a fruitful field for investigation is open to them, astronomy will probably be enriched by many discoveries which would otherwise be missed or delayed. Josep Lunt. THE EXTINCT VERTEBRATES OF ARGENTINA. THE fossil vertebrata of South America are of peculiar interest to English paleontologists, since much of our earlier knowledge of the extinct mammals of that region is due to col- lections sent to this country by Sir Woodbine Parish and Darwin, and described by Owen, Clift, and others. These col- lections, however, valuable as they were, gave no idea of the extraordinary variety and abundance of the extinct fauna, the full importance of which has only been recognised of late years. The terrestrial Mammalia of South America are, perhaps, the most remarkable and most strictly autochthonous in the world. If we except some marsupials as possibly Australian types and some comparatively recent immigrants, the whole of the mammals are peculiar. The American Edentata form a dis- tinct order (for there is no reason for associating the Old World Manidz and Orycteropidee with them), and until the Upper Miocene (Loup Fork), they are entirely confined to the southern half of the continent. The other great divisions of the Mammalia are either represented by peculiar sub-orders or families, or, as in the case of the Insectivora, are entirely absent. Remains of this remarkable fauna are found in deposits of several horizons, which, in the wealth of species and individuals they contain, can only be compared to the Tertiary lake-basins of North America. In some cases the series seems to be sufficiently complete for the history of certain of the groups to be, at least partly, worked out, and it is to be hoped that the study of the development of these isolated types, taken in conjunction with the already clearly determined phylogenetic history of many North American groups, may lead to important generalisations as to the laws in accordance with which mammalian evolution has advanced. Unfortunately, up to the present, much less 1 ** Contributions to a Knowledge of the Fossil Vertebrates of Argentina.” Parts I. and Il. By R. Lydekker, F.K.S. (Anades del Museo de la Plata, “ Palzontologia Argentina, II. and III.) Folio, La Plata. 1893-4. NO, 1387, VOL. 54] NATURE | May 28, 1896 attention has been paid to points of morphological interest than to the making of new genera and species, many of which are founded on quite insufficient evidence, the result being that the nomenclature has been brought into an almost unparalleled state of confusion. It was with the intention of clearing up some of this confusion that, at the invitation of Dr. Moreno, Mr. Lydekker, in 1893-94, paid two visits to the La Plata Museum. The brief time at kis disposal rendered it impossible for him to carry out his object with complete success, but he has nevertheless produced a work of the highest value, both from the purely original matter it contains, and also because it renders easily accessible descrip- - tions and good figures of many little-known forms. Moreover, he has earned the gratitude of all students of mammalian palzontology by relegating to the synonymy a large number of imperfectly defined genera and species. The first of the two volumes contains three memoirs, two of which consist of descriptions of new material, while the third is occupied by a revision of the Ungulata. The second, with the exception of a few supplementary pages on the Ungulates, and descriptions of two new species of Carnivora, is entirely devoted to the Edentata. . ‘ In the first memoir are described some Dinosaurian remains from Patagonia, the first recorded from South America. The most completely known form is a member of the Sauropodous group; it is referred to the genus Titanosaurus, species of which also occur in the Wealden of the Isle of Wight and in the Lameta beds of Central India ; but since these are only known by caudal vertebrae, it seems very doubtful whether there is sufficient evidence to establish the generic identity of the South American species with them. Nevertheless the existence of a gigantic Sauropodous Dinosaur in Patagonia is certain ; and this fact, together with the recently recorded discovery of a member of the same group in Madagascar, shows that these reptiles had extremely wide range during Jurassic and Cretaceous times in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The second memoir deals with a number of Cetacean skulls from Patagonia. "These are of great interest, both on account of the light some of them throw on the history of the group, and also because they show that the Santa Cruz beds are certainly later than the Eocene (to which they are assigned by the Argen- tine writers), and are probably Miocene. Physodon, a genus previously known only from teeth occurring in the Miocene and Pliocene of Belgium and England, and probably ancestral to the sperm whales (Physeter), is represented by Physodonx pata- gontcus, which possessed a series of teeth in the upper jaw; these have entirely disappeared in the recent form. Another interesting species is Prosgeéalodon australe, a Squalodont re- markable for the small number of its molars and for its com- paratively well-developed nasals, characters in which it ap- proaches the Eocene Zeuglodonts more nearly than any toothed whale previously known. (y) > (2) dx dy dz. M. Bertrand considers that the » component does influence y and z, and that by neglecting this influence, which is great, Maxwell obtained a solution of an insoluble problem. THE kinetic theory also forms the subject of an article by Prof. Boltzmann in Wiéedemann’s Annalen, in which he attacks some views recently enunciated by Herr Zermelo. Prof. Boltz- mann regards the Boltzmann-Maxwell Law as a theorem in probability, rather than a principle of abstract dynamics. There is nothing to preclude the fosszbz/éty of the molecules of a gas behaving at any instant in a totally different manner from that indicated by the law, but the greater the number of molecules the more improbable does sucha departure from the law become. In the Botanical Gazette for April, an interesting case of mimicry is described, the seeds of the ‘‘ Philippine island bean” from the coast near Manila, so closely resembling the quartz pebbles among which they fall, in shape, size, colour, lustre, hardness, and stratification, as to be indistinguishable from them except by a very close examination. The size and shape of the beans are both very variable, ranging from 10 to 23 mm. ; some perfectly resemble well-rounded beach pebbles, while others mimic pebbles which have been broken across. Their colour varies from moderately dark to light drab, some giving a faint greenish tinge ; others resemble pebbles of chalcedony or of crystallised quartz. Nearly all the specimens show a series of approximately parallel darker lines passing round, very suggestive of stratification. All are quite hard, cut only with difficulty June 4, 1896] with a knife, and give a clinking sound when shaken to- gether in the hand. They are not affected by soaking in sea-water. A monoGRapH of the Crambide (or grass moths) of North America, by Dr. C. H. Fernald, was issued by the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College in January of the present year. Much care seems to have been bestowed upon this essay, which extends to ninety-three pages, and is illustrated by three plates of details, and five coloured plates of quite unusual excellence, as well as occasional woodcuts. THE interesting address on Meteorological Observatories, de- livered by Mr. Richard Inwards before the Royal Meteoro- logical Society, early in this year, is published in the April Journal of the Society, with illustrations of the Temple of the Winds, Athens, Greenwich Observatory, and Kew Observatory. Mr. Inwards has brought together a large amount of general. information on meteorological observatories in various parts of the world. THE report of the Marlborough College Natural History Society for 1895 has just been issued, and contains numerous articles, not only on local ornithology, entomology, botany and meteorology, but also on archeology, astronomy and chemistry. There are also illustrations of Wayland Smith’s Cave, and of High Street, Marlborough, after the great storm of June 26, 1895. Times seem to have changed since classics and mathe- matics were regarded as the only subjects worth thinking about ata public school. By order of the Government of Madras, that Observatory has published a valuable series of daily, monthly, and yearly meteoro- logical means, as a supplement to the volumes already issued giving the meteorological observations from 1796 to 1890. They are not intended as a discussion of those observations, but have been prepared specially for use in various offices which issue daily weather charts of Indian regions. The rainfall values extend over eighty years, and the barometrical means over fifty years. WE have received the nineteenth report of the State Ento- mologist on the noxious and beneficial insects of the State of Illinois. It is the eighth report of S, A. Forbes, for the years 1893 and 1894 (1896); with a separately issued appendix on the Mediterranean Flour Moth (Zphest2a kuehniella, Zell.) in Europe and America, by W. G. Johnson, Assistant Entomologist. These reports are drawn up in the usual elaborate American manner, and the main report is chiefly devoted to the Chinch Bug (Blissus leucopterus, Say) and to White Ants, and is illustrated with thirteen plates of a very miscellaneous character in connection with the ravages of these and other insects. Much attention is given in this report to experiments on the dissemina- tion of vegetable parasites among insects. Tue latest number of the /owrna/ of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. lxiv. part ii. No. 3), contains articles of unusual interest and variety. Nearly three-quarters of the part are taken up with a list of the Butterflies of Sumatra, by Mr. De Nicéville and Dr. Martin; while Messrs. King, Prain and Pantling write on Papaverace@, new orchids from Sikkim, and on anew species of Renanthera. But in addition to these more technical entomo- logical and botanical papers, Surgeon Lieut.-Colonel Ranking writes on artificial immunity to snake venom by inoculation or internal application, in ancient and modern times (compare Prof. Fraser's articles in recent numbers of NATURE) ; and Mr. Frank Finn commences a series of contributions to the theory of warning colours and mimicry, by recording his experiments in feeding a Babbler (Crateropus canorus) on protectively-coloured butterflies and other insects. No. 1388, voL. 54] NATURE 107 WE note the appearance of three new volumes in the extensive: series which constitutes the Encyclopédie Scientifique des Aide- Mémoire, published by MM. Gauthier-Villars and G. Masson. One is the third volume on ‘‘ Géométrie Descriptive,” and it deals with changes of planes of projection, rotations, trihedrons, and polyhedrons. In ‘‘Calcul de Temps de Pose en Photo- graphie,” by M. H. Boursault, the complex problem of the conditions which affect calculations of the time of exposure is treated in a very satisfactory manner. Scientific photographers. will find much exact and serviceable information in M. Bour- sault’s little volume. A volume on ‘‘ Les Tramways,” by M. R. Seguela, is an account of methods and materials employed im the construction of tram-lines in France, the United States, Great Britain, and other countries. THE volumes in Stanford’s Compendium of Geography and Travel, now in course of reissue, have been subjected to such thorough revision and considerably enlargement, that they are practically new books. The work on Asia, for instance, first published in 1882 in one volume of 750 pages, has been expanded into two volumes of about 550 pages each, and the first, dealing with northern and eastern Asia, has just been published by Mr. Stanford. Mr. A. H. Keane is responsible for this volume, and he may be complimented upon the thoroughness with which he has performed his task of revision. If the forthcoming volume on southern and western Asia is as satisfactorily done as the one now published, the whole will form an admirable account of the geography of the Asiatic continent, and one which ac- curately records the results of the important expeditions made during the past few years. RECENT events in the Transvaal have had the effect of in- creasing the number of visitors to the South African Museum, according to the annual report of the Trustees ; and this con- nection is borne out by the fact that during January of the present year the number of visitors was 5574, three-fourths of which consisted of country people, while the other fourth con- sisted chiefly of new arrivals and inhabitants of the Cape Peninsula. Visits from the inhabitants of Cape Town are said to be comparatively rare. Several attempts were made during last year to procure some of the large South African mammals, but the Trustees have not yet been successful in obtaining specimens of the elephant, giraffe, hippopotamous, \c., to re- place the defective ones in the Museum collection. A number- of fossil remains procured by Mr. E. H. L. Schwarz from the Prince Albert district of the colony are being developed by him. Fragments of one of the fossil reptiles have been sent to- Prof. Seeley for development and identification, and the animal has been provisionally named by him 7e¢racynodon. Reference: is made in the report to the resignation of the Curator, Mr. R. Trimen, and the appointment of Mr. W. L. Sclater as his successor. We notice that on account of the increased require— ments of the new Museum, the buildings of which were taken over by the Trustees at the end of last year, the annual subsidy has been raised from £1600 to £2000. WE have received the meteorological results of the observa- tions taken at the Bangalore, Mysore, Hassan and Chitaldroog observatories for the years 1893 and 1894. The stations were established by the Mysore Government, in accordance with the desire of the Government of India. In addition to the usual tables, the work contains diagrams giving the mean daily and monthly values of the various elements, and a map of the Mysore Province, showing the average annual rainfall for the- twenty-five years (1870-1894). These diagrams exhibit at a glance the nature of the weather changes, much more easily than. could be gathered from a mere collection of figures. They show clearly that the rise of temperature from the cold of January to- the heat of March and April is much more rapid in Mysore than. 108 NATURE [JUNE 4, 1896 at Madras, where the climate is tempered by the influence of the sea. It is interesting to observe the interval between the mean dry and wet-bulb temperature throughout the year, and the daily range of temperature; the latter varies greatly, amounting to nearly 34° at Hassan, in January. The highest shade temperature in the two years was 99°°5 at Chitaldroog, in April 1893. THE Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for May is an unusually thick number, and its contents cover almost as wide a range of geological subjects as could be brought together. Palzontology is represented by the presidential address on the history of the Crustacea by Dr. Woodward, who also contributes papers on Cretaceous Crustacea from Vancouver, and on the only known fossil Octopod ; while Mr. C. W. Andrews discusses the Plesiosaurian skull, and Mr. P. Lake continues his work on a group somewhat neglected of late years by British geologists —the Trilobites—with a study of the Silurian species of Acid- aspis. Yn stratigraphy, Dr. Hicks contributes a paper in which he claims the Morte Slates as Silurian, and reopens ina new manner the North Devon controversy, while Miss Elles and Miss Wood show that there are Llandovery beds in the Conway district. The British Cretaceous rocks are subjected to a most ‘detailed correlation—as regards the Speeton series by Mr. Lamplugh, and as regards the Cenomanian by Messrs. Jukes- Browne and Hill; the former author urging that some of the strata dealt with are strictly Jurassic, while the two latter show that the true Cenomanian of France represents our Lower Chalk only, and not our Upper Greensand. The only Tertiary geology in the journal concerns the Basaltic plateaus of North-western Europe and the river-system of the old land across which the Javas were poured, described in a most interesting paper by Sir Archibald Geikie. This last paper, along with one on a part of the same subject—the Skye granophyres—by Mr. Harker, represents also the petrological contributions to the journal. Important evidence is adduced by Prof. Edgeworth David of a Permo-Carboniferous glaciation of Australia. Finally, Prof. _Hull’s paper on the geology of the Nile, and Mr. Hill’s, on transported Boulder Clay, must not be forgotten. AW elaborate monograph on ‘The American Lobster,” by Prof. F. H. Herrick, forming a part of the Azd/e/in of the United States Fish Commission for 1895 (pp. 1-252), has been issued as a separate publication. The memoir contains the results of a masterly study of the habits and development or general biology of the lobster, and is illustrated with the lavish- ness which is a feature of official publications of the United States. Until comparatively recent years the lobster was singularly neglected by naturalists ; nevertheless, Prof. Herrick gives at the end of his memoir a list of more than two hundred papers referring to the Crustacea, of which the lobster may be styled the king. The subjects of the chapters in the present contri- bution to this literature are: habits and environment, reproduction, moulting and growth, defensive mutilation and regeneration of lost parts, large lobsters, enemies of the lobster, the tegumental glands and their relation to sense organs, variation in colour and structure, structure and development of the reproductive organs, habits of the lobster from time of hatching until the period of maturity, history of the larval and early adolescent periods, and embryology of the lobster. It will be seen from this brief state- ment that Prof. Herrick has studied many phases of the general biology of the lobster, and in all of them he adds to the previous knowledge of the subject. His observations are of scientific value, and many of the facts described, more particularly those relating to the larval development and reproduction, have im- portant economic bearings. After some statistics pointing to the decline of the lobster fishery in the United States, Prof. Herrick remarks: ‘‘ Civilised man is sweeping off the face of the earth, no. 1388, vol. 54] one after another, some of its most interesting and valuable animals by a lack of foresight and selfish zeal unworthy of the savage. . . . Thus, as we shall see, the American lobster occupies only a narrow strip along a part of the North Atlantic coast, and while it is probably not possible to exterminate such an animal, it is possible to so reduce its numbers that its fishing becomes unprofitable, as has already been done in many places. The only ways open to secure an increase in the lobster are to protect the spawn-lobsters, or to protect the immature until they are able to reproduce, or to take the eggs from the lobsters them- selves, and hatch them artificially.” For the sake of the persons | engaged in the lobster fishery, it is to be hoped that measures will be taken in time to prevent its further decline in the United States. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Caracal (/e/’s caraca/) from India, pre- sented by Captain E. F. Carter; a Spotted Cavy (Cedogenys paca) from Trinidad, presented by Dr. F. G. C. Damian; a Common Otter (Letra vulgaris), British, presented by Mr. Henry Laver ; a Blue and Yellow Macaw (Ava ararauna) from South America, presented by Mrs. Browning ; a —— Deer (Cartacus paludosus, 8) from Paraguay, two Green-winged Doves (Chalcophaps indica), two White-backed Pigeons (Co/mba /euconota) from India, four Alligators (A//égator mississippiensis) from the Mississippi, four Dandin’s Tortoises ( Zestudo dandini?) from the Aldabra Island, deposited ; two Thick-tailed Opossums (Didelphys crassicaudata) from South America, four Gouldian Grass Finches (Poéphzla gouldiz), two Crimson Finches ( 2stvelda Pheton) from Australia, purchased; a Scemmerring’s Gazelle (Gazella swmmerringt, 8), two Striped Hyzenas (Hyena striata), an Egyptian Ichneumon (Herfestes ichneumon), two Libyan Zorillas (Zctonyx lybica), two Fennec Foxes (Canis cerdo), two Ruppell’s Vultures (Gyfs riteppell’), four Egyptian Vultures (Neophron perenopterus) from Egypt, received in exchange. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THe RinG NeBuLa In Lyra.—The appearance of the brightest of the ring nebule, as seen with the Lick 36-inch refractor, is described by Prof. Barnard in Ast. Nach. No. 3354. The aperture of the ring was filled with a feebler nebulosity, which was estimated to be nearly midway in bright- ness between the brightness of the ring and the darkness of the adjacent sky. This aperture was more nearly circular than the outer boundary of the nebula, so that the ends of the ring were thicker than the sides. The following end of the ring had a slightly greater extension, which was less bright than the ring itself, and the entire nebula was of a milky colour. The central star was usually seen, but was never a very conspicuous object. The brightest region of the nebula lies in the northern part. Micrometric measurements of the nebula gave the following mean results :— Position angle of major axis 65°°4 Outer major diameter ae 80'"'9 Inner major axis”... at ue 305 Outer minor axis 588 Inner minor axis 29""4 A magnifying power of 520 was generally employed. VARIABLE STAR CLuUSTERS.—The discovery of a large number of variable stars in certain star clusters was announced a few months ago by Prof. E. C. Pickering (NATURE, vol. liii. p- 91). Since then a special investigation has been made of the variables forming part of the cluster M.5 Serpentis, N.G.C. 5904 (Ast. Nach. 3354). Forty-five photographs of this cluster have been measured by Miss Leland, and the measures include the greater portion of the forty-six variables previously dis- covered. The periods of these variables are in general very short, not exceeding a few hours. One of these, designated No, 18, which follows the centre of the cluster about 6’ and is south 5’, has a probable period of 1th. 7m. 52s., or 0°4638 ee JuNE 4, 1896} NATUNE 109 days. The coordinates of the light curve of this variable are as follows :— Days. Mag. ° | Days. Mag. 0°00 13°50 0°25 “F 14°73 0°05 13°87 | o"30 B's 14°73 o'10 Ss 14°35 0°35 ne 14°72 O15 is 14°70 | 0'40 ee 14°65 0°20 14°72 0745 aot 13°56 It thus appears that the star remains about minimum brightness during half the period, while the maximum luminosity is of relatively short duration ; the decrease in light is rapid, and the rate of increase still more rapid. The succession of changes 28, Books, Pamphlet, and Serials Received... . » 120 NATURE 121 THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1806. ON BEHALF OF SELECTION. Ueber Germinal-Selection; eine Quelle bestimmt gerich- teter Variation. Von August Weismann. Pp. xi+ 79. (Jena : Gustav Fischer, 1896.) iia special purpose of the present treatise, the substance of which was given as an address at the International Congress of Zoologists at Leyden in 1895, is stated by the author to be the rehabilitation of the principle of selection. This principle, though many writers now seek to minimise or to dispense with it, still appears to him to be absolutely necessary for any scientific explanation of the problem of life. The only alternative would be to allow the existence of teleological contrivances, and this in science is inadmissible. The theory of natural selection, says Prof. Weismann, has been rated too highly, and is now suffering the effects of an inevitable reaction. It has not been overrated in the sense of having been credited with too wide a sphere of action, but in the sense that investigators have believed that they understood its whole method of operation, and had a clear conception of all its factors. This, however, is not the case. It has been generally left out of account that besides the individual or personal selection recognised by Darwin, there is a selective process always at work between the various parts of the individual organism (Roux), and even between the ultimate vital units within the germ itself. This conception had already been partly propounded by the author in his Romanes lecture delivered at Oxford in 1894, and in his last rejoinder to Herbert Spencer ;! it is here stated with greater com- pleteness, and brought into more intimate relation with the doctrine of selection as commonly understood. By its means he claims to have advanced a more satisfactory explanation of the origin of variations and their direction along appropriate lines of development than any as yet proposed. It is quite impossible to do justice to the view here stated within the limits of a short notice such as this. Those interested in the evolution controversy must be referred to the treatise itself, where they will find the author's position fully explained and illustrated, and from which they will also be able to judge for themselves how far his new conclusions are borne out by the facts and reasoning at his command. The main heads of the argument may, however, be briefly sketched as follows. The laws of variation provide the stones for the build- ing, which are laid in place by selection. Our knowledge of the selection-value of variations is necessarily limited ; we are able, however, to adduce many cases of trans- formation that can only be accounted for on principles of utility. One such instance is the distribution of colour in butterflies as between upper and under surface, and fore and hind wing. For example, while the upper side of Protogonius resembles a Heliconius, the under side is like a leaf; this must be a consequence of adaptation. So, too, must be the correspondence of the hind wing with the apex of the fore wing on the under surface of oN . ; 1 “Neue Gedanken zur Vererbungsfrage.” Jena, 1895. ‘‘ Heredity once more,” Contemporary Review, September, 1895. NO. 1389, VOL. 54] many butterflies. In view of the fact that the wing-areas so coloured accord with the usual posture of each species during rest, it is absurd to talk here of simple “corre- lation.” Can mere “laws of development ” account for the fact that all leaf-like butterflies are wood-haunting species? The case of Kadlima by itself is decisive for adaptation. But how have the suitable variations, which have culminated in such perfect adjustment to needs, origin- ated in the right situations, and in correlation with the appropriate instincts? Herbert Spencer applies Lam- arckian principles to the explanation of functional adjustments ; but this will not meet the case of such parts as are purely passive in function. The current conception of selection (.e. zdividual selection) is also inadequate to explain instances of this nature. The root of the process must lie deeper ; the variations in question must be determined in the germ. This is also shown by the dwindling of disused organs, which disappear in a manner not to be explained by individual selection. Lamarckism (face Lloyd Morgan) will not serve, even as a working hypothesis ; and if this be the case, there must be, as Osborn says. a hitherto unrecognised factor in transformation ; z.e. the direction taken by the varia- tion of a part must be determined by utility. Known facts, as for instance those of artificial selection, will carry us a certain distance towards an explanation. In such a case as that of the long-tailed poultry of Japan, the variation must have been enhanced by selection, and the germ itself must have undergone progressive alteration. For further steps we must have recourse to hypothesis. Variations oscillate about a mean, and selection raises the mean to a higher point. This. is satisfactorily accounted for by the theory of “determin- ants.” The determinants are subject to the same con- ditions of nutrition as body-constituents of a higher degree, and will accordingly differ in size and strength. Hence the opportunity for the progressive raising of the mean by individual selection. But a more important principle is yet to be introduced. The phenomena of retrogression in a disused part show that, as the advocates of Lamarckism have rightly alleged, the simple raising or lowering of the mean by “personal ” selection is not adequate to explain the facts. Panmixia will account for the degeneration of such a part up to a certain point, but not for a gradual and continued dwindling ending in complete disappearance. The really efficient cause is germinal selection. This rests on Roux’s conception of the “struggle of parts,” a principle which must apply to the most minute units of life, not only in the somatic, but also in the germ cells ; not, however, of course to “molecules” in the chemical sense. Panmixia starts the determinants of a dwindling organ on the inclined plane, down which they are impelled by intra-germinal selection to their final disappearance. The progressive increase, no less than the decrease of a part, must also be assisted by a like selective process taking place within the germ. But it is necessary to show how simultaneous useful variations arise under the law of selection. This follows from the fact that the alterations of determinants in the germ, when they are once set going by individual selection, continue without needing the help of that G principle as directed to one definite character alone. Individual selection must, however, step in from time to time, to check the other process when this latter exceeds the demands of utility. This is how so many different modifications can be set going at the same time. It is to be observed that qualitative no less than quantitative modification must be under the influence of the same principle. Selection must affect the “ biophors” as much as the “determinants” which they compose. A guantéi- vative alteration of constituent biophors appears to us as a qualitative modification of the corresponding deter- minants, and this enables us to understand how “units of variation” may play their part by either simultaneous or independent modification, as on the under side of a butterfly’s hind wing. The phenomena of mimicry can- not be accounted for by accidental variations only, but must depend on variation definitely directed by utility. It is to be observed that the determinants and groups of determinants here postulated have nothing to do with Bonnet’s preformation theory. The determination of the character of a developing ovum by its own constitution, instead of by the action of external forces, must be admitted by all those who do not, like O., Hertwig, confound the conditions of development with its causes. The assumption seems inevitable that every heritable and independent variation in the soma depends on the variation of a definite part of the germ; not, as Spencer thinks, on that of a// the units of the germ. The latter theory leads to needless complication. It is no valid objection to the determinant theory that it deals with invisible elements. The same is true of the chemical assumption of atoms and molecules. The theory justifies itself as such in that it can be used as a formula, to express, for example, the conditions of di- and poly-mor- phism. The “ Hotspurs of biology” forget that all our knowledge is provisional. The assumption of biophors and determinants is parallel to such conceptions as “ force,” “atoms,” and “ ether-waves” in the domain of physics. Epigenesis does not, as has been held, allow a simpler structure for the germ than the counter-theory, and germinal selection explains entirely the direction of variation by utility. It also disposes of the objection that selection cannot cause the variations with which it works. Given the numerical fluctuation of the units, selection will do the rest. Hence both the exactitude and simultaneity of useful variations, a simultaneity which may affect like parts, as in the development of eyes and limbs ; or unlike, as in the production of complex mimetic patterns. The principle of selection reaches just so far as utility reaches, and translates, as we have seen, quantitative into qualitative modifications. Utility undoubtedly goes hand in hand with modification, but the dwindling of disused parts shows that the inheritance of characters actively acquired does not cover the whole ground, as the selection theory does ; for how can the disuse of an organ affect the germ? The Lamarckians are right in pronouncing individual selection inadequate to account for the facts, and also in denying that panmixia could bring about the entire disappearance of a disused organ; they err, however, in attributing the results of Roux’s “ struggle of parts” to heredity. Thus then the three stages of selection are (1) personal | NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE [JUNE 11, 1896 or individual (that of Darwin and Wallace) ; (2) histo- logical, as maintained by Roux ; and (3) germinal, as pointed out by Weismann. There is indeed another stage, that namely between races or stocks. Here individuals play the same part as organs in individual selection ; the analogy, however, is not in all respects complete. Everything in nature, says the author in conclusion, is purposeful ; and this fact can only be accounted for by the theory of selection. What is obscure in the process is so from the imperfection of our methods, not of the principle. All kinds of knowledge ultimately resolve themselves into the hypothetical and unknowable. But doubt is the parent of progress ; the veil is raised little by little ; and what still remains dark in the explanation points, like the magic wand in the hands of the water- finder, to the hidden springs of truth, ready to yield themselves up to the persevering seeker. The preface contains a forcible and dignified vindica- tion of the use of hypothesis in scientific investigation ; both generally and with special reference to the author’s own theory of heredity. Appendices are added, in which several points raised by the paper receive more de- tailed treatment. The controversies that have centred round Prof. Weismann’s former works are not likely to be hushed by the present treatise. We may safely ven- ture to predict that the olive-branch held out to the neo- Lamarckians (p. 59) will not be accepted, though the admissions as to the inadequacy of individual selection will be welcomed by many as evidence of a change of view. The absence of all reference to amphimixis no doubt simplifies the argument greatly ; it will, however, be probably used in some quarters to point the moral of the author's inconsistency. But, whatever the amount of acceptance which this latest development of the selec- tion-hypothesis is destined to achieve, there can be no question that the present will rank among the most interesting and suggestive of the Freiburg professor's contributions to biological theory. F. A. DIXEY. [ADDENDUM.—Since the above notice was written, an English translation of Prof. Weismann’s treatise has been issued by the Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago.—F. A. D.] RIVERSIDE LETTERS. Riverside Letters; a continuation of “ Letters to Marco.” By George D. Leslie, R.A., author of “Our River.” Pp. xvi 251. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) A LTHOUGH in his preface Mr. Leslie is careful to state that he cannot assert in the case of these Letters, as he did in the previous volume of his “ Letters to Marco,” that they were written wholly without view to publication, yet is there little or no change in subject- matter or in style. They are, like the former collection, genuine letters sent to his friend Mr. Marks,“R.A., and the topics on which he writes are of mutual interest to the two friends who both, as he says, “love nature for her own sake, untrammelled by the prepossessions that not unfrequently accompany that love among the votaries of science or sport,” and in publishing them he doubtless June 11, 1896} NATURE 1123 hopes to find like sympathetic readers among the many who share that love with the two Royal Academicians. Nor do we think he hopes in vain. Admirers of nature are a companionable folk-; they love to Compare notes, to be asked to share each other's triumphs, to admire each other's finds, and among the topics on which Mr. Leslie dilates are many in which they will find an interest. They will be ready with their tribute of admiration for his Jris susiana and his Cipripedium spectabile (diverse triumphs), with their sympathetic sorrow at the loss of his old and faithful donkey, and will appreciate his avowal of the inexpressible pleasure he felt at the casual dis- covery of the exquisitely coloured berry of the lily of the valley. ‘ You will, I dare say, laugh at me for my senti- mentality,” he writes. We cannot believe that his corre- spondent did, nor will the appreciative reader. It is the spirit of the true lover of nature, to whom such sights, the more that they come unexpectedly, can ever “ bring thoughts that do lie too deep for tears.” Mr. Leslie confesses to a life-long fondness for garden- ing. He tells us that he had known the Jew’s Mallow for more than fifty years before he learnt its botanical name of Aerrvia japonica. We doubt if he is happier for the knowledge. We, for our part, love to think of these old favourite flowers by their nicknames, so to speak, and not by the mongrel Latin names of the florists’ catalogues. Among plants, as among men, the possession of a nick- name is a sign of popularity, and it is the tender old- world associations that linger round them that give such a charm to some mere list of flowers in the poetry of the Elizabethan age. As regards the name of “ Jew’s Mallow,” which, by the way, belongs to the rather numerous class of plants that cottagers seem to grow better than any one else, Mr. Leslie gives an explanation which is new to us. and which, though doubtless a true one, is far less interesting or suggestive than many a one which our imagination has tried to frame. While on the subject of names, surely Mr. Leslie is wrong in blaming (p. 75) English rose-growers for giving French names to the roses they introduce. Ina list of more than 170 kinds we cannot find one case of such unpatriotic conduct, while such well-known instances as Captain Christy, Hon. Edith Gifford, and W. A. Richardson seem to point the other way. The even tenor of Mr. Leslie’s narrative is interrupted by two important events—the great flood of November 1894, and the long frost of the early part of 1895, from both of which visitations he escaped comparatively un- scathed. In the case of the latter, he attributes his immunity to having such hardy and well-established plants in his garden; while in the former, the porous subsoil, chiefly gravel and sand, seems to have allowed the water to drain away, leaving only a little mud behind. We wonder, by the way, that Mr. Leslie found no fish stranded after the water subsided. We saw on that occasion hundreds of little ones, chiefly baby roach, left lamenting in a meadow near Marlow. But light as the visitation was, those who feel inclined to envy him the facilities to which he owes his Buck Bean and Czf77- pedium spectabile, will perhaps find some consolation in the sketch of his lawn tennis court on November 19, 1894, which, as he says, ‘‘was covered by four feet of water, and formed a lovely calm pool to boat on. I took NO. 1389, VOL. 54] the opportunity in my boat, of clipping the top of a hedge, which was rather too high to reach under ordinary circumstances.” A quaint touch. Like a true gardener, Mr. Leslie has his gird at the weather, anent the disastrous May frosts of two successive years, and at the devastating efforts of his paid staff, a gardener and a boy, in their attempts to help in the flower garden. In this we cordially sympathise with him. Work among the cabbages and potatoes seems to induce in the former official a breadth of handling quite inconsistent with the delicate stippling (we trust we do not misuse these technical terms) appropriate to the flower garden, while there is no weed, not even couch- grass or bindweed itself, that we would not rather see in our borders than “a boy” with a hoe. With the many other topics touched upon by Mr. Leslie, we have here no space to deal. The book is pleasantly illustrated with drawings by the author. In the sketch of the Nuthatch, we cannot think that he is represented quite stoutly enough built. We have very frequent opportunities of seeing one at his work, and have been much struck not less with the great development of the muscles of his neck, than with the evident force with which he uses them, which latter is admirably indicated in this drawing. To conclude, Mr. Leslie’s book is not, and does not pretend to be, scientific or exhaustive, but it is eminently readable; and those whose lighter occupations lead them to find interest in the same field as Mr. Leslie, will derive much pleasure from the congenial gossip of “ Riverside Letters.” MAN AND NATURE IN FINMARK. Folk og Natur t Finmarken. By Hans Reusch, Ph.D. Pp. 176. 32 Illustrations. (Kristiania: T. O. Brogger, 1895.) HE district treated of in this volume is one to which, at the present moment, the eyes of the astronomical world are turned with lively interest ; for within its bleak borders the approaching eclipse of the sun will be observed if the atmospheric conditions be favourable. To astronomers, therefore, this book will be specially interesting and opportune ; and not to them alone, but to every traveller who has visited the far north of Norway and sought the midnight sun, and even to the still more numerous class who are compelled to content themselves with acquiring a knowledge of lands and peoples solely from books. It is a model of what a book of travel should be ; all insignificant details are ignored, but we have the observations and suggestions of one of the shrewdest of observers. Dr. Reusch is deeply interested in the commercial progress and social welfare of his fellow countrymen, and his book is full of valuable suggestions for the advancement of both; while at the same time he is not only just, but very generous in the views he expresses about other races, especially in regard to the Russians, whose territory forms the eastern bound- ary of Finmark. He describes in graphic and, at times, eloquent language the physical and geological features of the desolate interior of this northern province, which lies far within the Arctic circle, its storm-beaten coasts and its inhospitable, silent, stony deserts, where no tree will 124 grow, not even a shrub, and from which animal life is almost completely banished. Only in its valleys and its waters is there any abundance of animal life ; and con- sequently its human inhabitants are confined mainly to the valleys and the coast. Finmark has a population of 18,000 Laps and 8000 Fins (the Norsk element is in- significant, being only 1 in 300); but these are actually increasing, the Laps having doubled, and the Fins more than doubled, between 1860 and 1887, in spite of the almost chronic condition of poverty in which they, especially the Laps, live, the frequent hunger from which they suffer, and the dirt which characterises their persons and miserable dwellings. They are, never- theless, healthy as a whole, though the infant mortality is high ; and, in spite of their wretched conditions, they are entirely free from those scourges of civilised life—con- sumption, cancer, calculus, dropsy and dysentery. The Laps are contented, honest (except as regards reindeer), unambitious, improvident and very drunken ; their luxuries being brandy, coffee and tobacco. Imprisonment with bread and water is no hardship to a Lap who has been sent to the house of correction for reindeer stealing ; he returns from Trondhjem with the air of a travelled man who has acquired distinction. In discussing the question of the amelioration of the condition of the Laps, Dr. Reusch writes like a far-seeing statesman. He wishes to see them Norwegianised and civilised by the State, and by the mildest methods ; he regards the school as the most effective agent, and re- commends free education, free food and lodging for children far distant from their homes, and the com- pensation of the parents by the State for the loss of the services of the children. He admits that there may be individual cases of oppression on the part of Norwegians, which are never heard of, because the Laps cannot or do not write to the papers like the Danes in Schleswig, or the Germans in the Baltic provinces of Russia. In addition to his own observations, the author has availed himself of all trustworthy local information regarding ethno- graphy, commerce, fisheries, industries, natural history, natural products, and mentions the Pasvyig River as the only locality in Europe where diamonds are to be found. He enters very fully into the social condition of all the races in Finmark—Lap, Fin, Norwegian, and the Russian traders. The book is an exceedingly interesting one, and is well illustrated ; but it is written in Norsk, a language with which, unfortunately, not many are familiar. JAMES C. CHRISTIE. OUR BOOK SHELF. Weitere Ausfihrungen tiber den Bau der Cyanophyceen und Bacterien. By Prof. O. Biitschli. (Leipzig : Wilhelm Engelmann, 1896.) SOME five years have elapsed since Prof. Biitschli first published his investigations on the structure of some of the sulphur bacteria: Chromatium, Ophidomonas, and Beggiatoa, and his views on this subject have been circulated and discussed far and wide. In the above work Prof. Butschli has restated at greater Jength, and at the same time more precisely, the position which he has been led to assume with regard to this delicate question. Wesay “delicate question,” because at present an opinion one way or another can only be based upon NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE } - [June 11, 1896 ' the degree of staining dexterity possessed by the in- vestigator, and the results obtained are directly de- pendent upon the skill with which such operations are manipulated, whilst their interpretation is also subject to the individual intelligence or originality of the experi- menter. Prof. Butschliis own words will best express the object which he has had in view in the publication of the present pamphlet. ‘Although I have made no fresh investigations in this direction during the years which have elapsed since I first published my views, it has appeared advisable to me for some time past to once more express myself on this question, and to support my opinion by the publication of micro-photographs. .. . I have, therefore, studied afresh during the past winter the greater number of the preparations I made in the years 1889-90, and I can only add that although some preparations have suffered in the interval, I have found everything exactly as I described it in 1890... . In the following exposition, which I have put together as briefly as possible, I have principally dealt with the doubts which have been thrown at, and attacks which have been made upon, my former statements.” In taking up this essay the reader is, therefore, plunged into a keen scientific controversy, and for those who are concerned one way or the other, the subject-matter is replete with interest, and the scientific /¢térateur will gratefully accept the exhaustive bibliography bearing upon the question ; whilst even the layman, who possibly feels but slender interest in the problems surrounding the structural character of these lowly forms of life, cannot but admire the beautiful plates with which the text is illustrated. A Dictionary of the Names of Minerals, including their History and Etymology. By A. H. Chester. Pp. xv. + 320. (New York: John Wiley and Sons. London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) THE study of mineral names by Prof. Chester was originally begun in the interest of Murray’s New English Dictionary: the results of years of patient work and search are conveniently collected together in the volume now issued. In the case of each name a record is given of the name of its author, the year of the first publication, a reference to the work in which the name was announced, the derivation, the reason for the name, and a description of the mineral sufficient to indicate the one to which the name was intended to beapplied. For many names the in- formation has been already given in Dana’s “ Mineralogy” ; Prof. Chester has gone to much trouble in the attempt to fill up the gaps which remain, but he gives a long list of names relative to which further information is still required. The book will be useful, not only to those who are interested in nomenclature, but to all who wish to have in a single small volume a brief statement of the chemical composition of the minerals to which names have at any time been given. It may be added that Prof. Chester appends a list of the authors of mineral names with the names for which each author is re- sponsible. Principit della Teoria Matematica de Movimento dei Corpi. Gian Antonio Maggi, Professore ordinario della R. Universita di Pisa. Pp. 503. (Milano: Ulrico Hoepli, 1896.) By omitting illustrations, examples and exercises, and diagrams, the author has managed to give a very com- pact treatise on all the ordinary formulas of Theoretical Dynamics, including a little Hydrostatics. The author has incorporated into his treatment the most modern ideas of Clifford and Mach; his analytical treatment is elegant and condensed; but a little geometrical and pictorial treatment would give some relief to the pro- cession of equations. I. ’ June 11, 1896] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. Tidal Migrations of Limpets. WHILE spending a few days, in March of this year, at the village of Matadona, situated on the south-east coast of British New Guinea, facing the China Straits and nearly opposite to the large island of Rogeia, I had the opportunity of making some observations on the habits of a species of limpets. On the beach near Matadona there is a sort of rugged plat- form formed by massive eruptive rocks, extending seawards and presenting in some places a more or less vertical frontage, of some three feet in height, to the sea. The rocky platform, covered at high tide, is quite exposed at low tide, the sea receding a considerable distance away from it. Great numbers of limpets live on the sub-vertical front of the rocks, while the numerous small holes and crevices, with which it is riddled, are occupied by Chitons, several of which are often crowded together in a very limited space. Several species of Patella inhabit these rocks at various points, but as a rule they occur as isolated individuals. One species, however, occurs in large herds of a hundred or so individuals, and it is to this gregarious Patella that the following notes refer. At low tide these limpets are attached to the seaward face of the rock, quite at its base, adjoining the sand of the beach, and it may then be observed that the zone of limpets, as a general rule, occupies a lower level than that of the Chitons. It may also be noted that many of the limpet shells are them- selves coated with Nullipores and other marine plants. I have several times observed, at the time of flood-tide, that at the approach of the surf, when the latter gets so close as to spray the rocks, the limpets commence to crawl slowly up the face of the rock, and as the tide rises higher so they climb higher, always keeping above the level of the surf. It can often be observed that they progress in the form of a triangle, the leader at the apex. From the time the procession commences until they reach the summit of the rocks, out of the reach of the violence of the surf, the slow movement is practically continuous, the whole company of limpets being found on close inspection to be in motion, and producing a unique effect. The Chitons, sheltered in their nooks and crannies, undertake no such migration; so that, in general, the zone of limpets is above that of the Chitons at high tide. When the ebb-tide sets in, the limpets start on their return journey; but I have not actually assisted at the downward pro- cession. Between the tides they are stationary, but they produce no scar on the rocks, so that there can be no question as to their ‘‘ homing ” on the same spot. On returning to the rocks on one occasion, after a stiff south- easterly breeze, I found the sand banked up to the depth of some two feet against the face of the rocks, approximately up to the level of the zone of Chitons, some of the latter being actually buried beneath the surface of the sand. Others again of the lower lying Chitons had shifted their positions in con- sequence of the inroad of sand. None of the limpets were thus buried, and they occupied their usual relative position at the base of the available face of rock. The zones of limpets and Chitons then nearly coincided. This tidal migration of limpets is interesting in comparison with the periodical phenomena in the lives of other marine organisms ; while the elevation of the limpet zone through the formation of a sandbank, may perhaps suggest stratigraphical reflections. ARTHUR WILLEY. Sydney, April 22. Butterflies and Hybernation, IN connection with Mr. Pidgeon’s communication, under the above heading, in NaTuRE of April 2, respecting the probable wintering of a tortoiseshell butterfly ina bath-room, I may state that the hybernation of butterflies is of well- established occurrence in at least certain portions of South Africa, where one species in particular, namely, Preczs sesamus, NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE 125 Trimen, assembles in numbers at the end o. the summer season for the purpose. This very distinct dingy blue and red insect is plentifully distributed in East Griqualand and Natal, especially affecting the road-cuttings between Ixopo and the Ingeli-Zuurberg mountain chain. As remarked in Mr. Roland Trimen’s monograph on South African butterflies, it likes shady places under a roadside bank or rocks in a cutting ; and Colonel Bowker—an enthusiastic and renowed South African lepidopterist—is quoted as having seen them congregated under rocks and in holes of dry banks, as many as twenty-nine being captured by placing the net over them. Their dark bronzy green under-colouring renders them, when thus massed, almost inconspicuous in association with withered fern, grass, &c., and it is only by startling them that one very often becomes aware of their presence. I particularly call to mind, while on one of my botanical rambles in the Lower Umzimkulu district of East Griqualand in 1885, accompanied by a younger son of Mr. Donald Strachan, unexpectedly flushing at least fifty of these butterflies in the cold frosty season of July, ina secluded glen of the Vubugas rivulet. Upon a little searching among the scrub and bush we discovered a boulder, under which there must have been as many again, if not more. These we roused out with branchlets, some being more torpid than others; but, as we retired from the spot, they all flitted back to their trysting- place. This was at the severest time of the season, and I never doubted, after having observed the massing of this butterfly at all times during the winter, that it emerged safe and strong in the ensuing spring. A description and coloured figure are given in Mr. Trimen’s work, vol. i. p. 231, pl. iv. f. 3. Cape Town, May 20. W. Tyson. Becquerel’s Colour Photographs. I sEE that the photographs in colour, taken by Becquerel’s plan, are said to be mainly due to interference. My own observ- ations do not confirm this statement. A photograph of the spectrum in colours can be readily taken on silver chloride on a glass plate, and be examined both by reflected and transmitted light. The colours in the two cases are identical, which is con- trary to the ‘‘ interference” explanation. E W. DE W. ABNEY. Bolton Gardens South, S.W. Cannizzaro Memorial. SINCE my return from Italy, I have been so frequently asked by friends and admirers of Prof. Cannizzaro what form it is proposed to give to this memorial, that I wish, through your valuable medium, to make it known that it is intended to present the Professor with a medal commemorative of the occasion, and to devote the balance of the sums subscribed to the creation of a Cannizzaro prize or medal to perpetuate his memory, the details of which will be left in his hands. Lupwic Monp. Rontgen Ray Experiments, Ir has been generally noticed that when focus tubes become much blackened, presumably by volatilisation and deposition upon the glass of the platinum of the anode, they cease to be effective owing to the apparent increase in their internal resist- ance. This is generally attributed to increase in the vacuum due to the occlusion of the residual gas by the platinum black. This may in part be the true explanation, but another is to be found in a curious phenomenon discovered by Prof. Crookes, and described in his 1891 presidential address to the Institution of Electrical Engineers. He says: ‘‘ It appears that the greater the phosphorescing power of the substance surrounding the poles, so much easier does the induction spark pass. Surround the poles with Bohemian glass or Yttria—two phosphorescent non-conductors of electricity—and the induction spark passes easily: immediately I surround the terminals with a non- phosphorescent conductor” [a film of deposited silver] “‘the current refuses to pass.” Very possibly the deposited platinum in an old or overworked focus tube has a similar effect to the silver in Prof. Crookes’ experiment. I have recently had ex- perience with a tube of special form which was much blackened, 126 NATURE and which appeared to have an enormous internal resistance, though its blue appearance and other indications pointed to rather a low vacuum, which seems to show that this is the case. A, A, C. SWINTON, 66 Victoria Street, S.W., June 8. . Dalton’s Atomic Theory. WIth reference to the communications from the authors and from the reviewer of the ‘‘ New View of the Origin of Dalton’s Atomic Theory,” published in NATURE for May 14, I beg leave to offer the following remarks. The most serious difficulty which the reviewer advances against the new view, seems to be that Dalton, in his manuscript lecture to the Royal Institution in 1810, states that, as a consequence of an idea respecting elastic fluids which occurred to him in 1805, ‘‘it became an object to determine the relative s?ses and weighs, together with the relative zezzber of atoms in a given volume”; whereas in one of his note-books, under date September 6, 1803, a table of atomic weights is given. The reviewer says :—‘‘ The authors notice this conflict of statement, but get rid of it by assuming 1805 to be a clerical error for 1803.” In regard to these conflicting dates, I beg to draw attention to a passage which appears to have escaped the vigilance both of the authors and of the reviewer, and which seems to tell strongly in favour of the clerical error theory. In the preface to Part I. of Dalton’s ‘* New System of Chemical Philosophy” (1808), the author, writing of himself, says :—‘‘ In 1803, he was gradually led to those primary laws, which seem to obtain im regard to heat, and to chemical combinations, and which it is the object of the present work to exhibit and elucidate. A brief outline of them was first publicly given the ensuing winter in a course of lectures on natural philosophy, at the Royal Institution in London, and was left for publication in the journals of the Institution ; but he is not informed whether that was done.” I do not think there is any room for reasonable doubt that this passage refers, amongst other things, to the same idea as that stated in the manuscript lecture to have occurred to Dalton in 1805. In any case the date 1803 is definitely settled by the sentence referring to the lectures at the Royal Institution, since we know that Dalton’s lectures were begun there on December 22, 1803 (compare Roscoe and Harden’s ‘* New View, &c.,” p. 61). It ought to be possible to place this matter beyond all doubt if the notes stated by Dalton to have been left for publication in the journals of the Royal Institution are forthcoming. LEONARD DOBBIN. University of Edinburgh, May 15. Halley’s Chart of Magnetic Declinations. I AM again able to add another reference to the list of publications of Halley’s Chart of Magnetic Declinations (see Nature, vol. lii. pp. 79, 106, 343). The chart to which I now refer is one of the plates of Peter van Musschenbroek’s work, entitled ‘* Physicae Experimentales et Geometricae de Magnete, Tuborum Capillarium Vitre- orumgue Speculorum Attractione, Magnitudine Terrae, Coliaer- entia Corporum Firmorum” ; Lugundi Batavorum, MDCCXXIX, Its size is 19} inches x 79 inches, and it takes in the entire circumference of the globe. The title, in the upper left-hand corner, reads: ‘‘ Tabula Totius Orbis Terrarum Exhibens Declinationes Magneticas, ad Annum 1700. Composita ab Edmundo Halleyo. Simul eum Inclinationibus a Poundio Observatis.” Cuas. L. CLARKE. New York, May 28. Professional Qualifications. I AM anxious to prepare myself for the appointment of professor or teacher in chemistry at one of the new technical schools held under the County Councils. Will you kindly inform me the best way to become competent for the post ? My age is twenty-five, and I hold first-class certificates in advanced chemistry at South Kensington Science and Art examinations. Is it necessary to obtain the F.I.C. or some similar degree first? Any hints you could give me would be of great help to me. I must add that at present I have had no experience in teaching. STUDENT, NO. 1389, VOL. 54] | JUNE 11, 1896 LEAP-YEARS AND THEIR OCCASIONAL OMISSION. A® TER the present year there will be no leap-year, at any rate, in the many countries which now observe the Gregorian style, until 1904; in other words 1900, which would, by the Julian rule, have been a leap- year, will be a common year and have to content itself, like the three years preceding and the three years follow- ing it, with the ordinary number of three hundred and sixty-five days. Only once has a similar omission occurred before since the reformation of the calendar in England, viz. in 1800, a year remarkable enough in other respects. The change was originally made in 1582; but as centuries divisible by four hundred without remainder were to be considered leap or bissextile years by either reckoning, there was only occasion, in 1700, when a year was observed as such in England, which was a common year in southern Europe ; for 1600 was, as 2000 will be, a leap-year by the Gregorian as well as by the Julian reckoning. Few persons seem to recollect that the change which was effected at Rome in 1582, and followed in this country in 1752, was twofold in its character. If it be desired to make the date in any year correspond exactly with the season of the year, this can of course be done for any future time by inserting or omitting certain intercalary days in the calendar in some such way as is directed by the Gregorian rule to which we are now accustomed, and which was devised by Clavius under > the authority of Pope Gregory XIII. But if this had not been done in past ages through want of exact know- ledge of the true length of the year, or from any other cause, the fact may either be accepted as inevitable and therefore regretfully disregarded, or we may, if we wish, so change the existing dates in the year from which we start, as to make the seasons correspond with what they were on these dates at some definite period in the past. This is what was actually done, the period selected being A.D. 325, the year of the first great Council of the Church held at Niczea in the reign of Constantine the Great. At that time the vernal equinox fell on March 21 ; and as, in consequence of the observance of the Julian length of the year in the interim, it fell in 1582 on the 11th of that month, it was decreed that in the following autumn ten days should be struck out of the calendar, by calling the day after October 4 the 15th, so that in future the vernal equinox (and all the other seasons) should fall as they had done in 325. This arrangement involved another inconvenience besides the awkward enumeration of days in that year, viz. that the seasons were made to disagree appreciably with their dates in the years and centuries immediately preceding the time of the change. However, on the whole, it was thought to be the best arrangement, and it was gradually followed by most of the nations of Europe excepting Russia. In England the change was made in 1752, and the calendar in all respects assimilated to that of the New Style, adopting the Gregorian rules. As in accordance with these, 1700 had not been a leap-year, whereas in England by the Julian reckoning it had been, the two calendars now differed by eleven days; the Act of Parliament therefore, which ordered the change, enacted that the day after September 2, 1752, should be called the 14th. In speaking of the erroneous length of the year assumed in the Julian calendar, we used the expression “through want of knowledge of the true length of the year, or from any other cause.” This was intended as a reference to the fact that, although the exact length of the year was not known in the time of Julius Czesar, it was certainly known that it fell several minutes short of 3654 days. But it seems that he thought this was sufficiently near for all practical purposes; and a dis- tinguished American astronomer of our own day, in the light of all our modern improved knowledge, is of that JuNE 11, 1896] opinion. “The change of calendar,” says Prof. New- comb, “met with much popular opposition, and it may hereafter be conceded that in this instance the common sense of the people was more nearly right than the wisdom of the learned. An additional complication was in- troduced into the reckoning of time without any other real object than that of making Easter come at the right time. As the end of the century approaches, the question of making 1900 a leap-year as usual, will no doubt be dis- cussed, and it is possible that some concerted action may be taken on the part of leading nations looking to a return to the old mode of reckoning.”' We are now several years nearer that time than when these words were written, but there is no proposition to return to the Julian reckoning, whilst it seems likely that Russia, which still observes it, will shortly adopt, either at once or by degrees, the Gregorian style, in which case all Christian nations will conform to its use. But it should never be forgotten that Czesar’s main object was to get rid of the previous Roman complication between a solar and a lunar year (endeavouring to keep them together by the insertion from time to time of an intercalary month), and substitute an entirely solar year with only an inter- calary day every fourth year, making the length equal to its true amount within a few minutes. But now comes the question, Is the so-called Gregorian year absolutely exact? Its length is unquestionably nearer that of the true typical year than the Julian year is. Buta further modification is necessary if we really desire to make the date of the year correspond with the seasons for all time. The Gregorian rule amounts in fact to considering the year to contain 365°24250 days, whereas the typical year really consists of 365°24220 days, the difference being o’00030 day, and the Gre- gorian year is too long by that amount. It in fact drops a leap-year not quite often enough, and a better rule would have been to drop one at the end of each successive period of 128 years. M. Auric has therefore recently suggested in the Comptes rendus of the French Academy a modification of the Gregorian rule, which would render it almost absolutely accurate, but which this generation need not, and in fact cannot, decide upon adopting. In 3200 years there are twenty-five periods of 128 years, so that there should be twenty-five omissions of leap- years. But by the Gregorian rule, only twenty-four leap- years are dropped in that interval, or one too few. His proposition then is to make an additional drop or omission of a leap-year in the year 3200 (which would, as the Gregorian rule now stands, be a leap-year), and at every succeeding period of 3200 years, A.D. 6400, 9600, being not leap-years. Strictly speaking, however, as the Gregorian calendar was arranged to start from A.D. 325, the first of these periods should expire more than three centuries later than A.D. 3200, and as A.D. 3500 will not be a leap-year by the Gregorian rule of dropping all divisible by 1oo without remainder unless also divisible by 400, the nearest way to carry this proposal out prac- tically would be to enact that A.D. 3600 should be an exception and not a leap-year; M. Auric’s rule being afterwards applied at intervals of 3200 years, so that A.D. 6800 and A.D. 10000 would not be leap-years, although the Gregorian rule would make them so. The present writer ventures to propound his own view that this same object would be carried out more straight- forwardly by the natural course of dropping a leap-year at the end of each period of 128 years as it was com- pleted, making unnecessary the Gregorian complication of an exception of an exception (¢.e. the usual leap-year) now proposed to be increased by an exception of an exception of an exception. How exact this one exception would make the calendar (and M. Auric’s suggestion 1 What Prof. Newcomb means here is making the vernal equinox which the paschal full moon followed, fall on the same date as it did at the time of the Niczean council. NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE 127 would do precisely the same thing in a more roundabout way) may easily be shown. By dropping a leap-year (which usually occurs every fourth year) at the end of 128 years, we obtain in that period ninety-seven common years of 365 days, and thirty-one bissextile years of 366 days, or 46,751 days in all. Dividing this by 128, it is seen that this is equivalent to making each year contain 365°24219 days, the true length of the tropical year being (as above stated) 365'24220 days. It is agreed on all hands that 1900 is not to be a leap-year ; and the effect of acting on this proposal would be that the next omission of a leap- year after that date would be in A.D. 2028. W. T. LYNN. THE NICARAGUA CANAL? Vee author of this book, though originally an engineer by profession, has become a traveller, a newspaper correspondent in Africa, the Far East, and Central America, and a writer about Eastern countries and problems. The book, accordingly, somewhat naturally reflects the two-fold experiences of the writer. Nicaragua is regarded, on the one hand, as the probable site of a gigantic engineering undertaking for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, rivalling in commercial importance the Suez Canal; and the feasibility and prospects of the proposed canal are considered from an engineering standpoint, in combination with its commercial and political aspects, which cannot be disassociated from the more purely engineering problems involved. On_ the other hand, Nicaragua is described, in four chapters in the middle of the book, from the traveller's point of view ; and details are given of the manners and customs of the population, the means of communication and resources of the country, with descriptions of the principal towns and other matters of interest noticed in the author’s tour through the country. This portion of the book will possess attractions for readers of books of travel ; but it appears to have been introduced rather with the object of recording the facts casually collected by the author, than as having any special bearing on the important problem of interoceanic communication. The main object of the book is unquestionably the Nicaragua Canal; and the Suez Canal has demonstrated that it is quite possible to construct a highway for navigation in a country devoid of natural resources, and that the physical conditions of the site selected, and the climate, are the main points which determine the feasibility of isthmian canals. Several routes have been proposed for forming a water- way across the isthmus of Panama; but the only two which have been deemed capable of practical adoption are the line chosen for the Panama Canal, traversing a narrow portion of the isthmus between Colon and Panama, nearly following the course of the Panama Railway, and the more northerly Nicaragua route crossing a much wider part of the isthmus, in which, however, Lake Nicaragua provides a considerable length of natural water-way. The Paris Commission of 1879, presided over by M. de Lesseps, decided in favour of the Panama route in preference to all the others, including Nicaragua, mainly on the ground that it was essential that an inter- oceanic canal, with prospects of a very large traffic, should be an open water-way unimpeded by locks, like the Suez Canal; and Panama was the only route which could possibly fulfil this condition. When, however, owing to the treacherous nature of the soil under a tropical rainfall, the unhealthiness of the site when the surface vegetation was disturbed by the excavations, and the difficulties experienced in attempting to cope with the floods of the river Chagres, whose course frequently 1 “ The Key of the Pacific, the Nicaragua Canal.” By A. R. Colquhoun. Pp. xiii + 443, with numerous illustrations, plans, and maps. (London: Archibald Constable and Co., 1895-) 128 crosses the line of the canal, it became imperative to in- troduce locks on the Panama Canal, in order to endeavour to complete the canal within a reasonable time and at a practicable cost, the special advantage of the Panama route disappeared. During the progress of the Panama Canal works, the Nicaragua scheme naturally remained BRITO LOCKS #4TO6 ye TOLA BASIN LAJAS a ° co] isl a =| He si FORT SAN CARLOS ic2] n ic] > 9 Bo < is] ea SANT Si pS NVAC NvS UK V7 ") Zz L/ ik GREYTOWN WINVILV Fic. 1.—Nicaragua Canal (longitudinal section). in abeyance ; but when the works at Panama came to a standstill for want of funds in 1889, and discredit fell upon the promoters, interest was again aroused in the necting the Atlantic and Pacific. The two routes across NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE [JUNE 11, 1896 the isthmus,'starting from points 280 miles apart on the Atlantic side, present a remarkable contrast in their natural configuration. The Panama route, starting from Colon in the Bay of Limon on the Atlantic side, and terminating near Panama in the Bay of Panama on the Pacific coast, has a length of 464 miles ; and the ground rises on the Atlantic side with a fairly gentle slope to the central Culebra ridge, reaching a maximum elevation of about 317 feet above sea-level, and descends with a steeper slope to the Pacific. The canal, as originally designed, had to be formed in cutting throughout ; and a considerable portion of the excavations had been accom- plished along the 27 miles of lower ground at the two ends before the cessation of the works, but’ comparatively little progress had been made in cutting through the main central ridge, 19 miles in width. The introduction of five locks on each slope has very greatly reduced the amount of excavation for carrying the canal through the central high ground; but it has been estimated that nearly forty million cubic yards of excavation still remain to be effected, and that an expenditure of £36,000,000 is required for the completion of the canal with locks. The Nicaragua Canal is designed to start from Greytown on the Atlantic side; and after traversing about twelve miles of low marshy land, it is to rise by three locks to its summit-level (Fig. 1). This summit-level is to consist of dammed-up waters of the Deseado, San Francisco, and San Juan rivers on the Atlantic slope, Lake Nicaragua, from which the San Juan River issues, and the Tola basin formed by damming-up the waters of the Tolaand Grande rivers on the Pacific slope. The canal is to descend by three locks from the Tola basin to the harbour which is to be constructed at Brito, by two converging breakwaters, at the Pacific end of the canal. The peculiar feature of the Nicaragua Canal is the long summit-level provided, about 110 feet above mean sea-level, by damming-up the rivers on each slope, in addition to the natural water-way across the lake, thereby greatly diminishing the ex- cavation for forming a canal with a total length of 1694 miles between the two oceans, and substituting free navigation along 1424 miles of the route, in place of the restricted navigation of anarrow canal (Fig. 2). Inspite, however, of the engineering skill exhibited in adapting the design so as to take advantage of the special physical conditions of the site, two high ridges have to be pierced near the two extremities of the summit-level, known re- spectively as the Eastern and Western Divides, involving, in the case of the Eastern Divide, a maximum depth of | cutting of 328 feet, equalling in depth the Culebra cutting originally contemplated for a tide-level canal at Panama, through strata apparently not very dissimilar to the Culebra cutting, and exposed, as in that case, to an exceptionally heavy tropical rainfall and a very unhealthy climate. In addition to these unusually deep and for- midable cuttings, a considerable amount of dredging will be necessary along the upper part of the San Juan River, to procure the requisite depth of 28 feet, together with the removal of rock from its channel | at its exit from the lake and across some rapids in its course. The formation of the canal across the low-lying land between Greytown and the locks on the eastern slope, presents no engineering difficulty; but the provision of a deep-water entrance between this portion of the canal and the Atlantic, and its mainten- ance, constitutes one of the most difficult problems of the undertaking. Greytown, the only place along that part | of the coast, for a long distance, where deep water ap- | proaches the shore, is situated upon a lagoon which has gradually formed in front of the port, by the advance of the delta of the river San Juan under the influence of the waves raised by south-easterly winds ; and it is pro- | posed to carry a breakwater out from the shore into deep Nicaragua Canal as the only alternative method of con- | water to arrest the littoral drift, under the shelter of which an approach channel is to be dredged. A dam, 0 EE —_—EEEeeeeeeeermerrrererer—s”sS JuNE 11, 1896] NATURE 129 composed of a mound of loose rubble stone, is designed to be formed across the San Juan River at Ochoa, below the confluence of the river San Carlos, 44$ miles from the lake, in order to raise the water-level of the river to that of the lake along this distance, amounting to an elevation often in the very words of the promoter. In comparing, however, the Nicaragua Canal with the Panama Canal, it is evident that Mr. Colquhoun adopts the part of an in- | terested advocate instead of an impartial critic. Thus, | after alluding to the main points of the Panama Canal and of 56 feet at the site of the dam ; but, considering that - it is proposed to place this dam on the unstable sandy bed of the river, and that the floods of the river will pass over its crest, the design has not been given ade- quate solidity. The dam at La Flor, for the Tola basin on the Pacific coast, is to be given a masonry core ; and dams will have to be formed for retaining the water in the San Francisco and Deseado valleys ; and upon the security of these dams, and the provision for the discharge of the surplus water of the rivers, will depend the safety of the canal. Mr. Menocal, the engineer of the Nicar- agua Canal, estimated the cost of the works originally at 13,000,000 ; but, after revising the estimates, and making allowance for contingencies, the capital has been fixed at £20,000,000 ; though on this point Mr. Colquhoun remarks that, “ taking into consideration all the circum- stances—especially the climate, its debilitating character generally, and the excessive rainfall on the eastern side, the volcanic question, the difficulties as regards labour —I am inclined to think that £30,000,000 in genuine ex- penditure on the work will be found nearer the mark than the present estimate.” The sites of the two rival schemes for piercing the isthmus of Panama, though differing greatly in their general configuration, are very similar in respect of un- healthiness and excessive rainfall on the Atlantic slope and the nature of the strata to be traversed by the excava- tions ; whilst, though a greater height has been adopted for the summit-level for the Panama Canal with locks, necessitating a larger number of locks than for the Nicar- agua Canal, the excavation for the Panama Canal has been reduced considerably below the amount required at Nicaragua, and the maximum depth of the Culebra cutting is now about 150 feet less than that of the cutting through the Eastern Divide. The Panama scheme has a greater length of restricted water-way ; but this will be com- pensated for by the much shorter length of the canal, and by the proposed damming-up of the river Chagres, providing free navigation along one or two of the reaches, as well as controlling its floods. The chief difficulty in the con- struction of the Panama Canal, as now designed, consists in the control of the discharge of the torrential Chagres, which has, however, been greatly minimised by the intro- duction of locks ; whilst not less difficult problems con- front the promoters of the Nicaragua Canal, in ensuring the stability of the dams for raising the water-level, the control of the floods of the rivers impounded to form the water-way, and the formation and maintenance of a deep- water entrance through the advancing sands encumber- ing the approach to Greytown. Nicaragua, moreover, is much nearer the zone of volcanic disturbances than Panama ; and severe shocks from this cause would be fatal to the stability of the dams. The estimated cost of completing the Panama Canal is indeed greater than the highest estimate quoted for the Nicaragua Canal, and more searching investigations of the site are in progress, which may possibly lead to an increase in the estimates ; but, on the other hand, the recent very adverse report of the United States Commission on the Nicaragua Canal, both as regards construction and cost, shows that no reliance can be placed on the estimates hitherto pre- sented, and that the designs of the dams and other im- portant works will have to be entirely remodelled. A ANTIC OCEAN Fic. 2.— Nicaragua Canal. considerable amount of interesting information about the | Nicaragua Canal, and its prospects and probable influence on trade, is given in the first five and two last chapters out of tne fourteen contained in the book, the description of the project being naturally largely derived from the reports by Mr. Menocal, the originator of the scheme, NO. 1389, VOL. 54] | Tehuantepec Ship Railway, he concludes the first chapter | with the statement, that— ah ca oe “The greatest obstacles met with in other localities : : 5 5 : are; (1) high elevations in the Cordillera separating the two oceans, requiring tunnelling ; or (2) a high summit- 130 NATURE [JUNE 11, 1896 level requiring a large number of locks, for which an adequate water-supply is not obtainable ; or (3) torrential streams whose control within economical limits defies the skill of the engineer.” “ Nicaragua is free from all these obstacles.” It would naturally be supposed that Mr. Colquhoun was summing up the views he had arrived at after due deliberation ; but in reality he is only acting as the mouth- piece of Mr. Menocal, for the statement is taken verbatim from this engineer’s paper on “The Nicaragua Canal,” read before the Water Commerce Congress of Chicago in 1893. Summing up the results of his visit to the Panama Canal, the author says: “The general impression I gained from my visit was that a large amount of useful work remained accom- plished. Still the Chagres river and the Culebra cut appeared to me to be obstacles which may be considered insurmountable” ; whereas, in reference to the Nicaragua Canal, he says: “The only serious difficulties are (a) the Ochoa dam, (4) the Great Divide, (c) the Greytown Harbour, none of them, however, insurmountable.” In fact, Mr. Colquhoun exhibits a disposition to mini- mise the obstacles to the construction of the Nicaragua Canal, and to exaggerate those of the Panama Canal, which occasionally leads him to make contradictory state- ments in different parts of the book. Thus on p. 116, he says: “While the lake region and Pacific slope are healthy and superior to Panama, the country embraced between Ochoa and Greytown, in my opinion, presents much the same climatic difficulties. Here occurs the dredging of the channel through the stagnant swamps of the San Juan delta, as well as the cut in the ‘Great Divide’ and the Deseado and San Francisco basins through dense tropical jungle with a rich (but rotten) surface soil. The past history of the Panama Canal and Panama Railway, with their enormous expenditures of life, makes it im- perative to treat very seriously this question, and to take every possible precaution. The climates of both Colon and Panama have greatly improved since the canal days.” Later on, however, in contrasting the two schemes on page 142, he remarks : ' “The advantages over Panama are these :—It is a fresh-water canal, with an admirable natural reservoir— the lake ; it passes through a region offering prospects of great development, free from the marshy soil, the overpowering heat, and the unhealthy climate of Panama; there is no Chagres River problem, and the ‘ Divide’ stands in a different category to that of the Culebra at Panama.” Again on page 317, he states : “The Panama isthmus, in addition to being very un- healthy, is a region of floods with very poor local resources ; the Suez Canal runs through a sandy desert. Nicaragua stands in marked contrast to both these projects. of Panama, a fertile soil, and internal intercommunica- tion, with great resources both vegetable and mineral.” It may be observed, with regard to these last two extracts, that the Panama Canal with locks would be a fresh-water canal, amply supplied by the Chagres, Obispo, and other rivers ; it is curious to call the Suez Canal a project ; and the desert traversed by the Suez Canal has proved no bar to its unprecedented financial success. In justice to English engineers, we must draw attention to a misstatement made by the author on page 138, where he says, with regard to the Suez Canal: “The report of other engineers was equally unfavourable.” If Mr. Colquhoun had referred to the report he alludes to, he would have found that the Commission which reported was an international one, that the report was eminently favourable and formed the basis of the subsequent canal works, and that, in addition to the foreign members, three English engineers signed the report. NO. 1389, VOL. 54] It has a climate immensely superior to that- The Nicaragua Canal has naturally been preferred by the United States, as being nearer, and therefore more convenient for the trade of North America; and we agree with Mr. Colquhoun in considering that the simplest solution of the difficulty of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, would be for the Govern- ment of the United States to construct the canal, which would be of incalculable benefit tothe trade of that country. If, however, the United States is deterred from embarking upon this work by the very unfavourable report of the Government Commission, there appear to be no in- superable obstacles to the completion of the Panama Canal with locks, provided the necessary capital can be raised in France and elsewhere. IN THE HEART OF A CONTINENT.', HE small size of this record of ten years’ travel is in keeping with the character of the author, as revealed in his pages. It is rare to meet a man so simple, brave, and kind-hearted as Captain Younghusband, and rarer still to find a book of travel so straightforward, con- cise, and modest as this. Many volumes have been written by travellers who have spent fewer months than Captain Younghusband has spent years in Central Asia, and without them it would perhaps have been difficult for us to estimate the magnitude of the difficulties, the over- coming of which the author so quietly relates. But this book differs from those by an entire absence of “ pad- ding,” of hearsay statements, and of rash speculation. There are chapters indeed which are not purely descrip- tive, dealing in fact with the opinions formed and the thoughts suggested by ten years largely spent in the most remote and desolate regions of the earth. These thoughts and opinions are perhaps the most striking part of the book, showing in a remarkable manner the power of travel and the contemplation (rather than the study) of nature in educating an appreciative mind. To read the following extract from the five chapters of “ Impressions of Travel,” one would hardly suspect the author of being a young soldier :— “No one, indeed, who has been alone with nature in her purest aspects, and seen her in so many different forms, can help pondering over her meanings, and though, in the strain and stress of travel, her deepest messages may not have reached my ear, now, in the after-calm, when I have all the varied scenes as vividly before me as on the day I saw them, and have, moreover, leisure to appreciate them and feel their fullest influence, I can realise something of her grandeur, the mighty scale on which she works, and the infinite beauty of all she does. These impressions, as I stand now at the close of my narrative, with the many scenes which the writing of it has brought back to my mind full before my eyes, crowd upon me, and I long to be able to record them as clearly as I feel them, for the benefit of those who have not had the leisure or the opportunity to visit the jealously- guarded regions of the earth, where nature reveals herself most clearly.” It is rare now-a-days to have the magnitude of the earth, the vastness of distances intervening between places, the month-long silence of desert and mountain forcibly brought before one, and it is startling to reflect how little the resources of modern applied science have done to facilitate journeys in really remote regions. Ex- cept for some articles of food and the means of defence, men must travel in Central Asia now just as they travelled in the days of Marco Polo, or even of Alexander. A sketch of those journeys which have won for Captain Younghusband the gold medal of the Royal Geographical 1‘* The Heart of a Continent.” A narrative of travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert through the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Chitral, 1984-1894. By Captain Frank E. Younghusband, C.I.E. (London : John | Murray, 1896.) June 11, 1896} NATURE pga Society, will prepare the reader for considering the opinions he was led to form on some important questions regarding men and things. In 1884, at the age of twenty- one, Younghusband was invited by Mr. James to accom- pany him into Manchuria. Never was invitation more eagerly accepted, and once released of his military duties in India, he threw his whole being into travel. Starting from Newchwang on the Yellow Sea, they pushed north- ward, visiting the Ever-white Mountain, and describing for the first time the wonderful crater lake on its summit, 8000 feet above the sea, whence flows the river Sungari. Thence the journey continued down the Sungari to Kirin, and north-westward into Mongolia, eastward again, and southward through thriving colonies of strong, self- reliant, diligent Chinamen, to the Russian fort of Nova- Kievsk, south of Vladivostok. Thence they went back to Newchwang and Peking, experiencing all the severity of a Siberian winter, and observing amongst many objects of interest the curious phenomenon of a frozen mist, the hereseas ASS rear | hot lower air. Thence the route lay along the edge of the Tian-Shan Mountains to Kashgar, where the glory of the vegetation and the comforts of the Oriental city-life were fully appreciated after the weary crossing of the desert. From Kashgar he proceeded to Yarkand, and thence, with Balti guides, plunged into the sea of mountains with the object of reaching India by a new route. Few enterprises in modern mountaineering have been more daring or more successful than Younghusband’s rediscovery and crossing of the Mustagh Pass, inexperienced as he was in the ice-craft of alpine climbers, and solely dependent on native guides, who had themselves never passed that way before. To an experienced and well-equipped alpinist the danger would perhaps be inconsiderable, but the high specialist's point of view is not that from which to judge the work of a traveller, unused to mountains, arriving worn from the desert with no mountaineering outfit. The next journey recorded is one of remarkable interest, bearing as it does on the political condition of the Indian Fic. 1.—Kashgar. particles of ice being so small that the whole air glittered in the sunlight. At Peking, Captain Younghusband was fortunate enough to get permission to return to India over- land ; and in the spring of 1887 he set out alone with a small party of Chinamen to find his way across the Gobi Desert to Kashgar (Fig. 1), and thence over the Karakoram Mountains into India by a route never previously taken by Europeans. The journey was full of incident, if not of adventure, as far as Hami, 2000 miles from Peking, which was reached in three months, at the end of July. The scenery of the Gobi Desert is powerfully described, and the singular character of the gravel-covered valleys, the cliffs, and the sand-dunes very clearly explained. It is a region of «olian formations where erosion by the alter- nation of heat and cold and the furious blasts of the pre- vailing winds has its full course unchecked and unassisted by water or ice. Several instances are recorded of heavy showers of rain, not one drop of which reached the parched ground, so rapidly did evaporation proceed in the NO. 1389, VOL. 54] frontier. It was a reconnaissance of the passes across the great mountain barrier from the north, and a visit to the almost-unknown valley of Hunza in 1889. On this occasion Captain Younghusband was accompanied by a small detachment of Gurkhas, the native Indian troops, whose praises as mountaineers and good companions have been sounded by every European who has had occasion to do difficult work in their company. The de- scription of the primitive little State is so attractive, that the reader feels relieved when he is assured that since its subjection to the Indian Government local autonomy has been maintained, and only the raids of the mountaineers on their lowland neighbours have been checked. In 1890 commenced a longer and more important journey, which led Captain Younghusband back to Yarkand and Kashgar, where he spent a winter studying the curious cosmopolitan population of the capital of Chinese Turkestan, and doubtless collecting information which, not concerning the general public, is not 132 NATURE [JUNE 11, 1896 referred to in the volume. An interesting contrast is noted between the dreamy philosophical indifference of the Chinese to all questions of geography and natural science, their absolute and voluntary ignorance of other countries, and the quick intelligence of the Turki and Indian merchants who travel far, observe keenly, and hold surprisingly clear views on the difficult political questions which the convergence of the domains of the three dominating powers of Asia brings to a focus in Kashgar. At length Captain Younghusband was ordered back to India, making an exploring expedition through the Pamirs on the way, and it isalmost amusing to notice how little he speaks of the sport of that famous region ; indeed, the killing of Ovzs fold seemed to interest him less than the observation of the wolves which weed the herds of the old rams when the weight of years and horns makes their removal a benefit to their species. On the Pamirs there were great political problems in course of development, and such information as the reader gleans of Captain Younghusband’s intercourse with Russian officers, only whets his desire for the full history of all that went on. At one time the officers of both nations were drinking the health of their sovereigns, and impart- ing useful hints as to dealing with exacting natives ; the next day the Englishman was informed by his Russian friend that he must quit the Pamirs instantly for Tur- kestan, and sign an undertaking not to cross into India by any known pass. This was done; but instead of return- ing to the northern plain, Captain Younghusband set to work to discover an unknown pass, and so fulfilled his mission without breaking his word. The remaining journeys were of less value as explora- tion, being carried out in the course of military and political duty in Hunza and Chitral, duty which gave to Captain Younghusband a unique knowledge of the in- trepid mountaineers whose misguided rulers precipitated the recent war with the Indian Government. For the details of that war we are referred to the special book in which the author narrates his experience as corre- spondent of the 7zmes. Captain Younghusband gives in his preface one of the most powerful reasons for the inclusion of natural science in ordinary education. He says: “It has been a cease- less cause of regret to me that I had never undergone a scientific training before undertaking my journeys. During the last year or two I have done what I can by myself to supply this deficiency; but amongst the Himalaya Mountains, in the desert of Gobi, and amid the forests of Manchuria, how much would I not have given to be able to exchange that smattering of Greek and Latin, which I had drilled into me at school, for a little knowledge of the great forces of nature which I saw at work around me.” With one more quotation we must close this notice. Captain Younghusband has been considering the univer- sality of the law of evolution, and proceeds to apply it to the human species with somewhat remarkable results. “The traveller,” he says, “frequently associates with men who are little more than beasts of burden, and on his return he meets with statesmen, men of science, and men of letters of the first rank in the most civilised | countries of the world. He sees every step of the ladder of human progress. And, so far as I have been able to make use of my opportunities of observation, I have not been impressed with any great mental superiority of the most highly-developed races of Europe over lower races with whom I have been brought in contact. In mere brain-power and intellectual capacity there seems no great difference between the civilised European and, say, the rough hill tribesmen of the Himalayas; and, in regard to the Chinaman, I should even say that the advantage lay on his side.” It is to the moral superiority of the European races that Captain Younghusband attributes their power over all NO. 1389, VOL. 54] the races of the East. The illustrations are comparatively few but good and well-chosen, as the specimen on p. 131 shows, while the maps are sufficient as regards number and scale, and show the routes very clearly. HUGH ROBERT MILL. PROFESSOR DAUBREE. Q)XE of the brightest lights in the geological depart- ment of French science has been extinguished by the death of Prof. Daubrée, who has passed away at the ripe old age of eight-two years. Born at Metz on June 25, 1814, he early devoted himself to minerals and rocks, and from the Ecole Polytechnique passed in 1834 into the Corps des Mines. In these early years he paid visits to the mining districts of different parts of Europe, and communicated papers on his observations to the Geological Society of France, the Annales des Mines, and the Comptes rendus of the Academy of Sciences. Healready began to display that breath of view and width of sym- pathy which distinguished his career, for, while studying minutely the mineral districts of Scandinavia, he devoted much time and thought to the erratic formations then beginning to attract attention, and published his views regarding them. Gradually his attention was more and more directed to the experimental side of his favourite science. He studied the artificial production of various minerals, and entered upon a course of profound investigation in which he became the great leader, and did more than any other observer to advance that department of the science. With a deep admiration for Sir James Hall, the true founder of experimental research in geological inquiry, he threw himself with especial ardour into the investiga- tion of the influence of water-vapour on minerals and rocks when exposed to high temperatures and under great pressure. The difficult problems of metamorphism hada peculiar fascination for him, and he devoted himself with admirable patience to the task of trying to solve some of them by actual experiment. Every geologist who has studied these questions will feel that by the death of Daubrée, the great pioneer who first lighted up for us some of the darkest pathways of the subject has passed away. The various researches collected in his “ Etudes Synthétiques de Géologie Expérimentale” have taken their place among the classics of modern science. Nor were his investigations confined to the earth. He took special interest in meteorites, and besides diligently gathering specimens, studied their composition and structure, and carried on a series of experiments in order to reproduce their characters artificially, and thus to throw light on the chemistry of extra-terrestrial space. His last important volumes discussed in ample detail the phenomena of underground water, and traced the various solutions and changes which water is now producing and has formerly effected within the crust of the earth. M. Daubrée spent the greater part of his scientific life in Paris, where he occupied official posts in the Ecole des Mines and Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. He retired from office two or three years ago, but continued to interest himself actively in scientific re- search. He was an indefatigable worker, and, like most busy men, found time for more than his own pro- fessional duties. He was one of the most regular attendants of the Académie des Sciences, and one of the most influential members of that distinguished body, serving on many of its Committees, and taking an active part in all its concerns. At its meeting last week, the Academy, after some eulogistic words from the President, at once rose in token of its respect. Daubrée was like- wise a member of the Council of the Legion of Honour until the whole body resigned some time ago. June 11, 1896] The death of his wife last year was a blow to him, from which he never seemed quite to recover. Yet at the Centenary of the Institute of France, last October, he took his part in the various functions, save those that required evening attendance. He accompanied the excursionists to Chantilly, and was welcomed there by the Duc d’Aumale as an old colleague and personal friend. He began to be somewhat ailing before Easter, and though for a time he appeared to rally, and hopes were entertained that his life might still be prolonged, he died peacefully on May 29, at his house in the Boulevard St. Germain. A courteous and polished gentleman of the old school, M. Daubrée was everywhere a favourite. There was a certain gentle timidity of manner which gave him a peculiar charm. To those privileged with his friendship he was a warm-hearted kindly benefactor who never spared himself trouble to do a kind act, and to give proofs of the depth of his affectionate nature. A. G. NOTES. AT the annual meeting of the Royal Society for the election of Fellows, held on Thursday last, in the Society’s rooms in Burlington House, the following gentlemen were elected into the Society :—Lieut.-Colonel Sir George Sydenham Clarke, R.E., Dr. J. Norman Collie, Dr. Arthur Matthew Weld Down- ing, Dr. Francis Elgar, Prof. Andrew Gray, Dr. George Jennings Hinde, Prof. Henry Alexander Miers, Dr. Frederick Walker Mott, Dr. John Murray, Prof. Karl Pearson, Rev. Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing, Prof. Charles Stewart, Mr. William E. Wilson, Mr. Horace Bolingbroke Woodward, and Dr. William Palmer Wynne. The investigations made by each of the new Fellows are set forth in the certificates printed in our issue of May 7. A DISTINGUISHED philosopher, a wonderful orator, and a mind that was always on the side of advancement in science, art and literature, has been lost to France by the death of M,. Jules Simon. He was a great educational reformer, and his voice and pen were always ready to support those things which make for the peace and progress of the world. At the celebration of the Centenary of the Institute of France, last October, he delivered a remarkable discourse, which was printed in full in these columns. His concluding words reflect the broadness of his mind so well, that they may be appropriately repeated now. ‘‘Associés et correspondants de l'Institut de France, vous n’emporterez pas seulement d'ici le souvenir des chaleureuses sympathies qui vous ont accueillis. Nous em- porterons tous, de cette reunion fraternelle, un redoublement d'amour pour la paix, pour les sciences qui la fécondent et pour les arts qui l’embellissent ; et ‘nous travaillerons, chacun dans notre coin préféré de l’atelier universel, a la prospérité de la maison, c’est-A-dire au bonheur de l’humanité.” The French Chamber has shown its appreciation of Jules Simon’s services in the interests of humanity by voting ten thousand francs for a public funeral, and this has been unanimously agreed to by the Senate. Dr. Roux has been elected an associate of the Academy of Medicine, in the room of the late M. Pasteur. S1r GEORGE STOKES and Dr. Carl L. Griesbach, Director of the Geological Survey of India, have been elected honorary members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. THE annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical Engineers will be held in the Galleries of the Royal Institute of NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE 133 Painters in Water Colours, Piccadilly, on the evening of Thurs- day, June 25. AN agricultural bacteriological laboratory will shortly be opened at St. Petersburg, under the Ministry of Agriculture and State’s Domains. Its chief purpose will be the study of the micro-organisms which are harmful to agriculture, and the pursuit of scientific studies in bacteriology. The laboratory is endowed with a yearly grant of 10,000 roubles (41000) from the Treasury of the State. THE members of M. Andrée’s balloon expedition to the North Pole left Gothenburg on Sunday, June 7, on board the steamer Vzrg0, bound for Spitzbergen. OWING to some difficulty in connection with the prepara- tions for his new expedition to Greenland, Lieutenant Peary will be unable to come to England as he intended. The meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Tuesday, June 16, at which he was to read a paper, will, therefore, not be held. THE steam yacht Wendward left St. Katharine’s Docks on Tuesday with a very large supply of provisions, a number of sledges, and two additional members for the Franz-Josef Land party of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition. It is hoped that she will communicate with the explorers at Cape Flora, Franz-Josef Land, on or about July 20. As soon as the /V/zzd- ward has discharged her cargo, she will leave Franz-Josef Land with news of the doings of the explorers, and she may be ex- pected in England by the end of September. About this time next year, if allhas gone well, the ship will leave London again to bring the explorers home. WE regret to record the death of Sir George Johnson, F.R.S., at the age of seventy-eight. He obtained his medical education in King’s College Medical School, with which institution his life’s work is intimately associated; for at different times he there filled the posts of medical tutor, professor of materia medica and therapeutics, professor of the principles and practice of medicine, and professor of clinical medicine. He was the author of numerous works and papers on medical subjects, the best- remembered of which will probably be those on cholera, epidemic diarrhoea, and Bright’s disease. A melancholy interest is attached to the fact that his last work, on ‘‘ The Pathology of the Contracted Granular Kidney,”’ was published the day before his death. He was elected a Fellow of the University of London in 1862, and was admitted into the Royal Society ten years later. Towarbs the end of a long and highly appreciative notice of the life and works of the late Sir J. Russell Reynolds, whose death we briefly recorded last week, the 4&rztésh Medical Journal thus refers to the scholarly address which he delivered as president of the successful meeting of the British Medical Association held in 1895 :—‘‘ His presidential address, as the last important public utterance of a distinguished man, has now a double interest. As we reperuse it we seem to read the departing words of a veteran to whom the sunset of life had already given mystical lore, and whose admonitions to those who shortly will reign in his room have assumed oracular force. At the end of a span of years greater than is usually allotted to men of our calling, he looks with calm survey over a period the most pregnant with scientific progress the world has ever yet known. Ina series of terse, closely reasoned passages he points out the vast changes that have occurred in the entire theory and method of physic since he first set foot in a hospital ward, rejoicing in the advances made, warning his successors against the errors and defects that those very advances may beget. Science is great, wisdom is greater; the ampler the armament 134 of knowledge, the more need to strengthen and train the mind by which it must be carried, the judgment by which it must be exercised ; such is the constant moral of Sir Russell Reynolds's final utterance to the medical world. Was it in a spirit of prophecy that he warned the subject-ridden student of to-day of the danger of becoming entangled in the net of an ill-considered and misunderstood technical phraseology, and of juggling with words when he ought to be dealing with concrete things? It was at least the warning of a man, rarer among us as the generations proceed, who had seen both sides of the intellectual shield ; who was at once a scholar and a scientific physician.” THE Royal Medals and other awards made by the Royal Geographical Society for the encouragment of geographical science and discovery have, reports the Geographical Magazine, been assigned as follows :—The founder’s medal, to Sir William Macgregor, for his long-continued services to geography in British New Guinea, in exploring and mapping both the interior and the coast-line, and in giving information on the natives ; the patron’s medal, to Mr. St. George R. Littledale, for his three important journeys in the Pamirs and Central Asia; the Murchison grant, to Yusuf Sharif Khan Bahadur, Native Indian Surveyor, for his work in Persian Baluchistan and elsewhere ; the Gill memorial, to Mr, A. P. Low (of the Canadian Survey), for his five explorations in Labrador; the Back grant, to Mr. J. Burr Tyrrell (of the Canadian Survey), for his two expeditions in the Barren Ground of North-East Canada; and the Cuth- bert Peek grant, to Mr. Alfred Sharpe, for his journeys during several years in Central Africa. The following geographers have been elected honorary corresponding members of the Society : M. P. de Semenoff, Vice-President of the Russian Geographical Society; Prof. Dr. Karl von den Steinen, President of the Berlin Geographical Society; Prof. Dr. G. Neumayer, Director of the Naval Observatory, Hamburg ; Prof. A. de Lapparent, late President of Council of the Paris Geographical Society; Dr. Albrecht Penck, Professor of Geography in Vienna University ; Prof. Dr. Otto Petterson, of Stockholm, the distinguished oceanographer; Prof. Dr. Kan, President of the Dutch Geo- graphical Society; Sr. D, Ernesto do Canto, of Sao Miguel, Azores, who has edited a series of the Archives of the Azores ; Prof. H. Pittier, Director of the National Physico-Geographical Institute of Costa Rica. THE preliminary announcement of the Local Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for the forty-fifth meeting, being the fourth Buffalo meeting, has just been issued. The meeting of the Association itself will be held August 24-28, and affiliated societies will begin their meetings on August 20, and will continue till September 1. On Monday morning, August 24, the retiring President, Prof. Edward W. Morley, will introduce the President-elect, Prof. Edward D, Cope. On Monday afternoon the several Vice-Presidents will deliver their annual addresses as follows:—Carl Leo Mees, before the section of physics, on ‘‘ Electrolysis and some outstand- ing Problems in Molecular Dynamics” ; Alice C. Fletcher, before the section of anthropology, on ‘‘ Emblematic Use of the Tree in the Dakotan Group”; Ben. K. Emerson, before the geological section, on ‘* Geological Myths” ; Wm. E. Story, before the section of mathematics and astronomy, on ‘‘ Intuitive Methods in Mathematics”; William R. Lazenby, before the section of social and economic science, on ‘* Horticulture and Health” ; Theodore N. Gill, before the section of zoology, on ** Animals as Chronometers for Geology”’ ; Wm. A. Noyes, before the section of chemistry, on ‘* The Achievements of Physical Chemistry” ; Nathaniel L. Britton, before the botanical section, on ‘‘ Botanical Gardens” ; Frank O. Marvin, before the section of mechanical science and engineering, on ‘‘ The Artistic Element in Engineer- ing.” Prof. F. W. Putman is Permanent Secretary of the NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE [JUNE 11, 1896 Association, and Eben P. Dorr, of Buffalo, is the Local Secretary for this meeting. THE Geological Society of America will have a series o1 ex- cursions before the meeting of the American Association, and will hold a business meeting on Saturday evening, August 22, at which papers will be presented by title, which are to be read and discussed in the geological section in the following week. This is a departure from the custom of previous years, when papers read before this Society detracted from the material presented to the geological section.- Prof. Joseph Le Conte is President. Other affiliated societies, which meet two or three days before the General Association, are the American Chemical Society (Dr, Charles B, Dudley, President), Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science (Prof. Wm, R. Lazenby, President), Association of Economic E ntomologists (Prof. C. H. Fernald, President), Botanical Society of America (Prof. Charles E. Bessey, President), Society for the Promotion of Engineer- ing Education (Prof. Mansfield Merriman, President). A meet- ing of the American Mathematical Society will be held after the close of the Association meeting. From a circular recently distributed we learn that Mr. W. Garstang, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, will again conduct a vacation course of study in marine biology at the Plymouth laboratory during the ensuing summer, from July 23 to August 22, inclusive. Students who may desire to join the class should apply to Mr. Garstang before the end of the current month. IN a contribution to the current number of the Azo/agzsches Centralblatt, Dr. Imhof records some observations upon the effects of introducing eels into certain Alpine lakes which seem to him to discredit the generally received opinion that the fresh- water eel spawns only in the sea. The reproduction of the eel is a mystery which has hitherto baffled all attempts at solution ; and naturalists may perhaps find some clue to the successful elucidation of the problem in Dr. Imhof’s communication. It appears that eels were first introduced into three small Alpine lakes in canton Graubiinden in the year 1882. In two of the ponds the fish apparently died; but in the Caumasee they flourished. Extensive additions were made to the stock in the lake in 1887. The eels still thrive well there and attain a length of 1*3 metres. No additions have been made to the stock since 1887, so that all the original eels must be at least eight or nine years old at the present time. Nevertheless, it was discovered last year that young eels were present in the lake ; and the knowledge that both sexes are represented there, combined with this discovery, has led Dr. Imhof to the conclusion that the eels introduced into the Caumasee have multiplied in the lake itself. It should be mentioned that the Caumasee is 1000 metres above sea-level, has no apparent outlet, and is fed almost exclusively by subterranean springs. It seems improbable that the presence of the young eels can be due to natural immigration. Ar the recent annual meeting of the Selborne Society, Sir William Flower delivered an interesting address, which is printed in the June number of Mature Notes. In the course of his remarks he traced the rise and fall of local museums, and pointed a moral which cannot be too widely known. He said :—‘‘ A museum is started or established in some country town, a building is appropriated, various things are brought together, and the people who have done this think they have done a great thing towards cultivating a love for natural history. But in twenty or thirty years when you go again to that place, you will see the building and most of the specimens, but in such a condition that you might well think that the inscription ‘Rubbish may be shot here’ should be over the doorway. There are a few exceptions here and there, of course, but the June 11, 1896] NATURE 135 a principal reason is that when people start a museum they forget one thing. If you were starting a school the first thing you would think of would be the schoolmaster. A church is of no use without a minister; a garden is of no good without a gardener. None of these things are expected to take care of themselves, yet that is what zs expected of nearly all the museums in the country. They are set up and the exhibits are arranged, but the last thing anybody seems to think anything about is the curator. A curator is the heart and soul of a museum, and yet we have museums going to decay because nobody thought of the expense that is needful to keep a curator and his staff going. If the thousands, aye, tens of thousands, which have been spent on so-called technical education had only been spent in founding really good local museums—places where any one wishing to know about any bird, or stone, or plant, might go and see for themselves—for I maintain that a museum in its proper sense should be a place of instruction, not merely showing things stuffed and dried like miserable mummies, but giving instruction as to its nature and habit, and any other we might wish to know—what an immense store of useful intorma- tion would have been gained.” PITHECANTHROPUS is still to the fore. Early this year the Royal Dublin Society published the paper Dr. Dubois read before that Society (cf NaTuRE, No. 1362, vol. liii., 1895, p- 115), and now he has published a further communication in the Anatom. Anzeiger (vol. xii. p. 1), with several illustrations, in which he reiterates his conclusions. A table is given of nineteen anatomists who are classed according to whether they believe Pithecanthropus to be a simian, human, or transitional form ; but we imagine that some may object to be tabulated in this form. It is a pity that the ideal reconstruction of the cranium on p. 15, should require to be corrected in two points. Dr. R. Martin has also published a small pamphlet on “ further remarks on the Pithecanthropus question,” in which he quotes the opinion of a large number of writers on the subject, and particularly lays himself out to attack Virchow ; he believes that it is ‘‘a low variety of the species Aomo.”’ M. L. Manouvrier concludes in the current number of the Bull. Soc. d Anthrop. Parts (vi. 4° sér. fasc. 6) his erudite ‘‘ Deuxieme étude sur le Pithecanthropus erectus comme précurseur présumé de l'homme.” This is the most searching scrutiny to which the remains have been subjected, and it forms the most important contribution to the general discussion. It will be remembered that the Javan femur is very human in its characters, the only non-typical differences (putting aside the pathological bony outgrowth) being in the popliteal region. M. Manouvrier has thoroughly dis- cussed this point after having examined several hundred femora, and he finds that the femur of Pithecanthropus fits in a series with normal human femora, and it is not more simian than human ; the peculiar variation of the Javan femur is associated with a weak musculature, and the latter may possibly be partly due to the pathological condition already noted ; when another femur is discovered, it may be yet more human than this one. In his discussion on the skull, M. Manouvrier gives three alternative ideal restorations and several other comparative diagrams, and he comes to the conclusion that ‘‘ the Trinil race has arisen from a race of species of very short stature.” This is very important from a theoretical point of view ; and, with the evidence now to hand, there seem to be grounds for believing that in the evolution of man the femur assumed its human characters in advance of the skull. M. Manouvrier denies that this is a case of microcephaly, and believes that the ‘‘ missing link” has been found. REPRODUCTIONS of the decorative artistic efforts of primitive folk are always of great value provided they are perfectly accurately copied. Mr. R. L. Jack, the Government Geologist NO. 1389, VOL. 54] of Queensland, has recently published a plate or reproductions of aboriginal cave-drawings from the Palmer Gold Field (Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland, xi.), and though we welcome all signs of interest taken in native matters, we cannot but feel some suspicion in the present instance, as there are discrepancies between the figures and the text in certain details. Reproduc- tions of aboriginal drawings lose almost the whole of their value unless the strictest accuracy is preserved. We hope that our colonial scientific societies will publish as many exact tran- scriptions of native art as they can obtain from travellers, before it is too late. Pror. R. SEMON, of Jena, whose brilliant investigations on the development of Ceratodus and the Monotremes has already been referred to in these pages, hasalso turned his attention to the Anthropology of Australia. We cull from our contemporary Die Natur (1896, No. 20) the conclusions to which Dr. Semon has arrived respecting the vexed question of the origin of this people. As to culture grade the Australians are ranked above the Veddas, and slightly below the African Pigmies and the Bushmen ; the Fuegans are of about the same grade, but the natives of Brazil and the Eskimo are higher. The Australians and Dravidians of India belong to one of the main stems of humanity. The Veddas of Ceylon, judging from the investiga- tions of the Sarasins, belong to a small Pre-Dravidian branch ; these arose at a low-culture grade, and have not made any progress since. Other early branches of the primitive Dravido- Australian stem seem to be the curious Ainus of Japan, and the Khmers and Chams of Cambodja. The White Race (‘‘Cau- casian”) probably came from the Dravidian branch, and thus we Europeans are related to the low savages of Australia ; very distantly, it is true, but these are nearer to us than are the Negroes, Malays, or Mongols. It may be noted that these conclusions of Prof. Semon’s agree pretty closely with opinions expressed by several English anthropologists. Dr. WESLEY MILLS, Professor of Physiology in McGill University, Montreal, has recently published in the Zyazsac- tions of the Royal Society of Canada (second series, section iv. vol. i. pp. 191-252) a series of papers on the psychic develop- ment of young animals. A year earlier, Dr. Mills published the first paper of the series dealing with the psychic development of the dog (St. Bernard and Bridlington terrier). This is now supplemented by observations on the cat, mongrel dog, rabbit, and guinea-pig, and, among birds, the pigeon and the chick. The records are in the form of diaries, from which comparisons and conclusions are then drawn. There is so little systematic record of observations on the instincts and habits of young mammals, that Dr. Wesley Mills’ papers are especially welcome. Dr. Mills has also contributed to a discussion on instinct in the correspondence columns of Sczewce during the last few weeks, in which Prof. Mark Baldwin also took part. Prof. Baldwin’s letters (March 20 and April 10) and Dr. Mills’ criticism (May 22) should be read by those interested in the interpretation of the phenomena of instinct in the light of modern theories of heredity. DURING the last six or seven years, the observation of the pulsations from distant earthquakes has been facilitated by the invention of delicate instruments, such as the horizontal and bifilar pendulums and the long vertical pendulums used in Italy. The investigation of these interesting phenomena suffers, how- ever, from two or three serious disadvantages, which can hardly be removed except by some form of combined action. The in- struments employed are of several different types, and they are very unequally scattered over the earth’s surface. Many pulsa- tions, again, are recorded which, though of the usual seismic character, cannot be traced to any known earthquake, there 136 NATURE [June 11, 1896 being many countries where nosregular organisation exists for the study of these disturbances. We are therefore glad to draw attention toa circular issued by Prof. Gerland, of Strassburg, and signed by nearly all the leading seismologists. Starting from Japan, which possesses the most complete organisation for the study of earthquakes, they suggest a number of stations at which it is desirable that observations should be made. These stations are distributed as uniformly as possible over the earth’s surface, and the following places are indicated as especially suitable :—Shanghai, Hongkong, Calcutta, Sydney, Rome, Tacubaya (Mexico), Port Natal, Cape of Good Hope, Santiago (Chili), and Rio de Janeiro, The horizontal pendulum of von Rebeur-Paschwitz is, in the first place, recommended for adoption, As a necessary supplement, it is proposed to form a centre for the collection and publication of reports on the earth- quakes of the whole world. These are to be issued as supple- ments to Gerland’s ‘* Beitrage zur Geophysik.” They will con- tain accounts of all earthquakes strong enough to damage well- built houses, and will give in each case the most exact details that can be obtained with reference to the position of the epicentre and the time-records at places adjoining it. Lists are also to be published of all earthquake pulsations registered by the horizontal and other pendulums. The scheme, for which we are chiefly indebted to the late Dr. E. von Rebeur-Paschwitz, can hardly fail to add greatly to our knowledge of earth- quakes and their nature, even if it should have to be carried out ona scale less extensive than that now planned. AN interesting series of experiments on the transparency of liquids is described by M. W. Spring in the Bud//etén of the Royal Academy of Belgium, The first of M. Spring’s papers deals with the colours of the alcohols as compared with water. None of the alcohols observed were colourless when the thick- ness of fluid was 26 metres ; methyl alcohol appeared greenish blue, ethyl alcohol the same, but of a less warm colour, and amyl alcohol greenish yellow. The pure blue colour observed in water becomes thus modified by the admixture of more and more yellow as we pass from one term of the homologous series of compounds to the next. The absorbing powers of the various liquids for ordinary light were also observed, and it was found that these formed a descending series, the simplest substance, water, offering the greatest resistance to the passage of light seen by the eye. In a second contribution, the same writer discusses the temperature at which the connection currents begin to produce opacity in a column of water of givenlength. Where the length is 26 metres the smallest difference of temperature that will suffice is about 0°°57, and is comparable with that which doubtless exists in lakes and seas. The author concludes that we have here an explanation of the varied colours so often seen on water. These result from the differences of temperature caused by sunshine, on the one hand, and by the cooling action of wind blowing on the surface, on the other. In NaTuRE of June 4, reference was made to a report from Missouri bearing on the question, ‘‘ Do R6ntgen rays exercise any influence on bacteria?” This question forms the title of a paper by Prof. G. Sormani (Rendicont? del Reale Istituto Lombardo), in which are described experiments made on sixteen different species of bacteria, both in cultures and when inoculated into living animals. As a result of these experiments, the author has to admit that Rontgen rays do not exercise any sensible action on the cultural and pathogenic properties of the bacteria on which he has experimented. M. Gaspar ScuHMItz (Bulletin de Académie Royale de Bélgigue) describes, with diagrams, a fine group of thirty-two upright tree trunks which were discovered in November last on the top of the coal-bearing strata in the Liege basin. There are two theories to account for the existence of these trunks NO. 1389, VOL. 54] viz. growth on the spot, or transportation from a distance ; and from the evidence derived from careful examination of the surroundings, M. Schmitz appears, however, to incline to the latter theory. THE Deutsche Seewarte has issued the tenth yearly series of Daily Synoptic Weather Charts for the North Atlantic Ocean, prepared in conjunction with the Danish Meteorological Insti- tute. The charts are drawn for each morning from December 1, 1890, to November 30, 1891, and embrace a large portion of the adjoining continents of Europe and America. The explanatory text, issued in separate quarterly parts, shows (1) the paths of all barometric minima, or areas of low pressure, with indications ot the intensity of the depressions; (2) the positions and the changes of locality of the barometric maxima, or areas of high pressure; (3) the mean position of the isobar of 765 mm. (30° inches) for certain definite periods. We have before: expressed our opinion that the value of this and similar laborious. undertakings for the purpose of investigating the laws whicl» underlie our weather changes, most of which reach us from the Atlantic, can hardly be over-estimated. THE IIydrographic Office of the United States continues the publication and wide distribution of its monthly Pilot Charts for the North Pacific Ocean, These charts contain much informa- tion of especial value to seamen, and show the mean average conditions of atmospheric pressure, winds and storms, the posi- tions of areas of high and low barometer, and the principak sailing routes over that ocean. The chart for May last contains the track and log of the American schooner Azda, which recently made the passage from Shanghai to Port Townsend, Washing- ton State, in the remarkably short period of twenty-seven days. This passage is an excellent example of what may be accom- plished by a captain who takes advantage of existing meteor- ological conditions and of the information afforded by the Pilot Charts. In the case in point the conditions were certainly favourable, but not exceptionally so. Limits of space prevent us from reviewing, or €ven enum- erating, the whole of the articles in several bulky volumes. recently received ; all we can do is to direct attention to their publication. The annual of the Bergen Museum—‘‘ Bergen’s Museums Aarbog”’—for 1894-95 contains numerous papers on: physical and natural science, archzeology and history, printed in Norsk, German, and French. Among the subjects of the papers are:—Results of cross-fertilisation of fishes, the systematic ennumeration of the marine polyzoa of Norway, the geology of the glacier of Hardanger, the geology and archeology of the plateau of Hardanger, ichthyological notices, foraminifera collected near Bergen during 1894, the decomposition of albu- minoids in the human organism, echinoderm fauna in the western fiords, mosses of the Sandefiord region, a certain differential equation, and algze of the western coast of Norway- The volume also contains reports of the collections and work of the Museum during 1894 and 1895. The ‘‘Sitz. der konigl. bohmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften at Prague,” for 1895, comes to us in two volumes, each filled with papers of scientific value, and many well illustrated. There are altogether fifty-three papers and forty-five plates. Unfortunately for scientific readers having only a limited acquaintance with foreign languages, many of the papers are printed in Chech. Among the subjects dealt with are the Arachnida of Bohemia and Moravia, by Prof. A. Nosek; the chalk formation in the neighbourhood of Ripu, by Prof. V. Zahalka ; the paleontology of the older palzozoic formations in Central Bohemia, by Dr. F. Katzer ; new descriptions of Tubellaria, by Prof. F. Vejdovski ; anemo- meter observations at Prague, by Dr. J. Frejlach ; a contribu- tion to the electromagnetic theory of light, by Prof. F. Kolaéek ; monograph of the fossil flora of Rossitz, Moravia, by June 11, 1896] NATURE BS Dr. F. Katzer; some curious geological effects produced by wind-borne sand, by Prof. J. N. Woldrich; the anatomy and development of the brain of vertebrates, by F. K. Studnicka ; the development of Stylomatophora, by J. F, Babor ; determina- tion of the altitude of the celestial pole by means of photography, by. Prof. V. Laska; on Baculus elongatus (Lubbock) and Lernea branchialis, a contribution to the anatomy of Lernzeadz, by A. Mrazek; studies of isopoda, by B. Némec ; on electro- lytic superoxide of silver, by Dr. O. Sule ; studies of the Coecidze, by K. Sule (this paper is summarised in English) ; the histology and histogenesis of the spinal cord, by Dr. F. K. Studniéka ; and new vertebrates from the Permian formation of Bohemia, by Prof. A. Fritsch. THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Rhesus Monkey (J/acacus rhesus, 9) from India, presented by Mrs. Bouveri ; two Slow Lorises (Wyctécebzs tardigradus), a Toad (Bufo asfer) from Penang, a Roseate Cockatoo (Cacatua rosetcapilla) from Australia, a Lesser Sulphur- crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) from Moluccas, two Spinose Land Emys (Geomyda spinosa), a Black-spotted Toad (Bufo melanostictus) from Singapore, presented by Mr. Stanley S. Flower ; two Hairy Armadillos (Dasypus villosus) from Uruguay, presented by Messrs. FitzHerbert, Bros. ; a Coati (Nasua rufa) from South America, presented by Mr. Ernest Brocklehurst; two Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus), two Black-headed Gulls (Larus rédthundus) British, presented by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild; a Javan Porcupine (Aystrzx javanica, white var.) from Java, a Leopard Tortoise (Zestudo pardalis),a Natal Python (Python sebe, var. natalensts) from South Africa, a Cunningham's Skink (Zgernza cunninghamz) from Australia, deposited ; a Japanese Deer (Cervus stka, $),a Red Deer (Cervus elaphus, 2 ), two Thars (Capra jemlazca, 2 2 ), a Huanaco (Lama huanacos, 8), born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. OCCULTATION OF JUPITER.—On the evening of June 14 there will be an occultation of Jupiter and his satellites. The planet will disappear at 9h. 52m. G.M.T. at an angle of 113° from the north point towards the east, and reappear at 10h. 43m. at the position angle 293°. The moon will be about three and a half days old, but as it will set at roh. 56m. the reappearance will occur under unfavourable conditions of observation. The sun will pass below the horizon of Greenwich at 8h. 16m. on the 14th. Comer Swirr.—The following elements for comet Swift, 1896, have been derived by F. Bidschof (Ast. Mach., No. 3356). : T=1896 April 17°68237 (Berlin M.T.) w= 1 43 55'3| B=178 15 28°1 / £59035 42° | log 7 =9°753076 The following is a short ephemeris, the unit of brightness being that on April 19 :— R.A Decl. Bright- h. m. s f A ness. JUNE Tees eeat 7 ry +72 43 0°05 WG) Baus an GoraT 72 21 0°05 16) Mier 20/05 71 46 0°04 23% Peel 5 7) 20 7O 57 0°03 27) eee AT 20 69 ‘57s... - 0°03 July 1 20 29 38 +68 45ee... 0703 The last published observation is that of Dr. Engelhardt on i 11 (Ast. Nach., No. 3353), when the comet was reported “* faint. Spots AND MARKINGS ON JurireER.—During the past seventeen years Prof. Hough, of the Dearborn Observatory, has made an almost unbroken series of observations of the mark- NO. 1389, VOL. 54] ings of Jupiter, with the special aim of studying the phenomena by means of micrometrical measures of size and position, rather than by sketches. He considers that for the proper interpre- tation of the changes taking place, such measurements, extend- ing over a long period of time, are absolutely necessary, while the study of latitude variations is likely to lead to results as important as those of rotation period (ds¢. Wach., No. 3354). Photographs have been regarded as capable of giving results as accurate as micrometric measures in the telescope, but long ex- perience has led Prof. Hough to doubt this conclusion. Not- withstanding its varying visibility, the size and shape of the great red spot have changed very little since 1879, though during recent years it was possibly 1” shorter than when it was most conspicuous. The very slight change in the latitude of the spot during the last seventeen years seems to indicate that this object is the most stable of any of the markings. The average length of the spot, reduced to mean distance, has been 11°61 or 37°°2._ Measures of the equatorial belt and of several spots are also given, and it is worth noting that there are many advantages in Prof. Hough’s method of expressing latitudes in direct measures of angular distance. A very suggestive ob- servation was made on February 13, 1895. The third satellite was then observed in transit, at first as a black spot, but after- wards as a white disc ; ‘‘after emersion, when the distance from the limb of the planet was 0”*4, the outline was sharply defined, and there was an absence of glow around the disc as though the satellite was immersed ia a medium which absorbed some of its light.” CoME’ PERRINE-LAMpP (1896 I.), which attracted consider- able attention in the early part of the year, has probably now passed out of reach of even the largest telescopes. M. Schulhof has computed hyperbolic elements for this comet ; but while the hyperbolic character of the orbit is still uncertain, it is established that the comet is not one of short period. THE RELATIVE LENGTHS OF POST-GLACIAL TIME IN THE TWO HEMISPHERES. SOME interesting observations on underground temperature have recently been made at Cremorne, near Port Jackson, in New South Wales.1_ The bore is 2939 feet deep, the mean temperature at the surface is 63° F., and the temperature at the depth of 2733 feet was found to be 97° F. The observations having been made with great care, the resulting gradient of 1° F. per So feet would appear to be ‘‘a good approximation to the truth.” The rocks of the district down to a depth of about 3000 feet consist of sandstones, shales and conglomerates, and therefore, so far as conductivity is concerned, seem to be not unlike the rocks penetrated by the shafts of coal-mines in the north of England, or those in which Forbes’ rock-thermometers were sunk in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. The estimates of the relative lengths of post-Glacial time in the two hemispheres, given on p. 138, are based on the following assumptions, the first three of which, it is needless to say, are only rough approximations to the truth. It is supposed (1) that in each hemisphere the gradient beneath the ice-sheet at the close of the Glacial period was the same*; (2) that the gradient at the surface may now be taken as equal to the average gradient over the whole boring ; (3) that when the ice-sheet disappeared, the mean temperature of the district rose swddendy to its present value ; and (4) that, previously to its disappearance, the tem- perature of the ground at the base of the ice-sheet was that of the freezing-point of water due to the pressure of the ice above, say 30°°5 F.° ; The change in the gradient near the surface after a lapse of ¢ years, due to a rise of 6 degrees in mean surface temperature, is 6/ \/(mkt), where « is the conductivity of rock expressed in terms of its own capacity for heat.4 Now, the mean temperature over England averages 49°'5 F., so that 6 is here 19°, and the tem- perature gradient in the north of England is 1° per 4g feet.® Hence, I I (7k (2 = 1 Report of B. A. Underground Temperature Committee, 1895. 2 This implies that the Glacial period was of the same—or, if not, of very great—length in each hemisphere. 3 See a paper ‘“‘On the Effect of the Glacial Period in changing the Underground Temperature Gradient" (Geo. Mag., vol. ii., 1895, pp. 356-360). 4 Rev. O. Fisher, PAi. Mag., vol. xxxiv., 1892, p. 339. 5 Sir J. Prestwich, ‘‘ Controverted Questions of Geology,” p. 203. 138 NATURE [JUNE 11, 1896 where 1° per « feet is the unknown gradient at the end of the Glacial period. At Port Jackson, 4 is 32°°5, and the gradient 1° per 80 feet. If / be the corresponding value of /, we have 325 = J/(mr) G a 5) Barbie TOPS Uy REY Jia ste ea iz 35) Lord Kelvin, making use of Forbes’ observations, finds « to be 400, so that the last equation reduces to 65 s65 NE ie This is satisfied if ¢ and / are both 2325 years, but so small a length of post-Glacial time is of course inadmissible. But, if ¢ be increased beyond this value by any amount, it may be shown that ¢/ is increased by a smaller amount; that is to say, the length of post-Glacial time must be greater in the north of England than at Port Jackson. The following table contains some numerical estimates of the relative lengths of post-Glacial time in these districts, calculated from the last equation :— North of England. and therefore = 0°56. Port Jackson. Years. Years. 10,000 ee, ae a ah ss. 4,800 20,000 6,100 30,000 6,900 40,000 7,500 50,000 7,900 100,000 9,100 Too much stress should not of course be laid on these figures. The second and third, especially, of the assumptions on which they are based, must certainly be far from true. But, at any rate, it seems clear that the ice must have left the neighbourhood of Port Jackson much more recently than it left the north of England. Whether this conclusion points to an alternation of the Glacial periods in the two hemispheres, and so furnishes an argu- ment in favour of Croll’s theory, is perhaps doubtful. But it shows, I think, how important it is, from a geological point of view, that further temperature observations should be made in the coal-mines and other borings of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. C. Davison. PLANT-BREEDING. WE are most of us now-a-days so much accustomed to see our gardens or our houses bedecked with flowers, and our tables supplied with vegetables and fruit, that we take these things for granted, and do not trouble to inquire whence they come or how they are produced. But if we look back even a few years, we shall see how much larger a share plants have now in our lives than they had then. We shall see, moreover, that while there has been enormous numerical increase, there has also been in many cases continued progression in form and other attributes. We are not concerned here with the introductions from foreign countries, important though they are; our business for the moment lies with the changes resulting from the natural processes of variation as con- trolled by the art of the gardener. The garden roses of to-day, for instance, are not the roses of a dozen years ago, and as to the sorts that were grown by our fathers and grandfathers, they have, with some few exceptions, utterly gone. It is the same with peas and potatoes, and with most other plants that are grown on a large scale. True, there are some exceptions; there are some ‘good old sorts,” which seem to show by their persistence that they are the fittest to survive under existing conditions. The black Hambro’ grape is an illustration, the old double white Camellia is another; but these plants are not reproduced by seed, and therefore do not invalidate the rule, that each succeeding generation of plants differs in some degree from its predecessor. At first the differences are slight, and it may be imperceptible to all but the trained expert ; but they become more accentuated as time goes on, till at length they eventuate in forms so different from that from which they sprang, that they would undoubtedly be considered of specific, if not of generic, rank, were not their history known. The NO. 1389, VOL. 54] Jackman Clematis and its near allies may be cited as cases in point, and still more remarkable are the tuberous Begonias, which, like the Clematis just mentioned, have been created, so to speak, within the last quarter of a century, and which are so different from anything previously known amongst Begonias, that they have actually been raised to the dignity of a genus by M. Fournier, a French botanist. Pansies and Auriculas— garden productions both—are now, morphologically speaking, as good species as are most of the groups of individuals to which this rank is assigned by naturalists. Of their seedlings a large proportion comes true—that is, the parental characteristics are so far reproduced that there is no greater amount of variation among the offspring of many of these artificially-made species than there is in the progeny of natural species. If, as is the case in some Auriculas and the gold-laced Polyanthus, we find little change has occurred during the last few years, may not this relative invariability be the result of the gradual assumption of a degree of stability which we usually associate with the idea of a species? Again, it often happens that these high-bred, close- fertilised plants become sterile, so that their continuance can only be ensured by cuttings, or some means of vegetative pro- pagation. Is not this analogous to the retrogression and ultimate extinction which occur in natural species? It is not necessary here to cite more illustrations ; our concern lies rather with the way in which these changes are brought about. This leads us to what is called the improvement of plants, or plant-breeding. There seems to be a growing tendency to make use of the latter term ; but if it is to be adopted, it must be taken in a broad sense, and not limited to the results of sexual propagation. The two methods, made use of by gardeners and plant-raisers for the improvement of plants, are selection and cross-breeding —the latter, as far as results are concerned, only a modification of selection. The natural capacity for variation of the plant furnishes the basis on which the breeder has to work, and this capacity varies greatly in degree in different plants, so that some are much more amenable and pliant than others. The trial-grounds of our great seedsmen furnish object- lessons of this kind on a vast scale. Very large areas are devoted to the cultivation of particular sorts of cabbage, of turnips, of peas, of wheat, or whatever it may be. The object is two-fold—primarily to secure a ‘‘pure stock,” and secondarily to pick out and to perpetuate any apparently desirable variation that may make itself manifest. The two processes are antagonistic—on the one hand, every care is taken to ‘*preserve the breed,” and to neutralise variation as far as possible, so that the seed may ‘*come true’’; on the other hand, when the variation does occur, the observation of the grower marks the change, and he either rejects the plant manifesting it as a ‘‘ rogue,” if the change is undesirable, or takes care of it for further trial, if the variation holds out promise of novelty or improvement. It is remarkable to note how keen the growers are to observe the slightest change in the appearance of the plants, and to eliminate those which do not come up to the required standard, or which are not ‘* true.” Where the flowers lend themselves freely to cross-fertilisation by means of insects, as is the case with the species and varieties of Brassica, it is essential, in order to maintain the purity of the offspring, to grow the several varieties at a very wide distance apart. In passing along the rows or ‘‘ quarters,” the plant- breeder not only eliminates the ‘‘ rogues,” and retains what he thinks may be desirable variations, as we have said, but he specially marks those plants which most conspicuously show the characteristic features of the particular variety he desires to increase, and he takes care to obtain seed from the plants so marked. The variety thus becomes “ fixed,” but it is obvious that that word is only used relatively ; really, there is a constant change, which may be either in a retrograde direction, or which may be looked on as an amelioration. Thus, in the seedsmen’s advertisements we see announcements of this character : ‘* So-and- so’s Zmproved Superlative Cucumber” or whatever it may be. This ‘‘ improvement,” when it exists, is the result of the careful scrutiny, elimination, and selection exercised by the raiser. These are repeated season after season, till a degree of fixity is attained and a good ‘‘strain” is produced. Fierce competition and trade rivalry forbid the growers to relax their efforts, and thus it happens that the pea or the potato of to-day is not the same, even though it may be called by the same name as its predecessors. To the untrained eye, the primordial differences noted are often very slight; even the botanist, unless his attention be specially directed to the matter JuNE 11, 1896] fails to see minute differences which are perceptible enough to the raiser or his workmen. Nor must it be thought that these variations, difficult as they are to recognise in the beginning, are unimportant. On the contrary, they are interesting, physiologic- ally, as the potential origin of new species, and very often they are commercially valuable also. These apparently trifling morphological differences are often associated with physiological variations which render some varieties, say of wheat, much better enabled to resist mildew and disease generally than others. Some, again, prove to be better adapted for certain soils or for some climates than others ; some are less liable to injury from predatory birds than others, and so on. These co-relations, then, are matters of the greatest importance to the biologist intent upon the study of progressive modification, and to the merchant and the cultivator for practical reasons. So far we have been alluding to variations in the plant as grown from seed, but similar changes are observable in the ordinary buds, and gardeners are not slow to take advantage of these variations. The buds taken from the base of a plant not unfrequently differ from those which are developed higher up, and these differences are perpetuated by propagation by means of cuttings or grafts. An interesting illustration of the variability in flower-buds is furnished by the gigantic Chrysanthemums which attract so much attention in late autumn. Without entering into technical details, it may be briefly stated that the cultivator selects certain buds, or one bud occupying a special position, and pinches off and rejects most or all the others. The result is not only a flower- head of large size, such as we might expect under the circum- stances, but also, in very many cases, one which presents different characteristics to those which are manifested by the other buds when allowed to develop themselves. ‘‘ As like as two peas in a pod” is, therefore, a motto which has not the significance it had before we had observed that the peas are mostly different, sometimes very much so, and the same thing happens, as has been shown, in the ordinary leaf- and flower- buds ; doubtless each cell has its peculiarity, which only awaits a Rontgen ray or some other means to become visible. Before we leave the subject of buds, some mention may be made of that form of bud-variation which the gardeners speak of as ‘* sporting.” Sports are bud-variations which occur suddenly, without assignable cause, and often simultaneously in different regions widely separate. Thus we get peaches and nectarines on the same bough, black and white grapes on the same shoot, or even in the same bunch, finely-cut leaves on a branch that normally produces broad or entire leaves, and so on. The gardener who is on the alert takes care to remove such buds, and to propagate them by cuttings or grafts, IPfyraised from cuttings or layers, the duration of the sport is indefinite ; if pro- pagated by grafting, their duration is naturally conditioned by the life of the stock. The problems afforded by sports are of great interest, and are by no means fully solved. Many of them may arise from atavism, or a reversion to an ancestral condition ; but of this there is no proof, neither can we appreciate the reason why such reversion should take place. Some may be the result of the dissociation of previously mixed characteristics. Of this we frequently see unmistakable evidence. Thus hybrid berberries frequently show on the same plant an un-mixing or separation of the characters belonging to the two parent-forms. This brings us to the subject of cross-breeding as a means of obtaining new or improved varieties. Cross-breeding may occur in all degrees from the case where the pollen of one flower is transferred, by insect or other agency, to the stigma of another on the same branch, to that in which the pollen is transferred to the flower on a plant of a different species. Watch a bee travelling over the great disc of a sun-flower, and it will become obvious that (always provided the stigmas be in a receptive pay cross-fertilisation of neighbouring flowers must take place. There are endless adaptations which ensure cross-fertilisation, and on the other hand there are very numerousstructural arrange- ments which necessitate close fertilisation, or the fertilisation of a flower’s ovules by pollen produced in the same blossom. In view of the copious literature on this matter, it is not necessary here to enter into further detail. It is enough to say that some of the most astonishing results of the gardener’s art are due to this practice of repeated cross-fertilisation. When the cross is effected between plants of two different species the term “* hybridisation ” is made use of, but it is obvious that there is only a difference of degree between the fertilisation of different .NO. 1389, VOL. 54] NATURE 139 flowers on the same plant and that of flowers belonging to different species, or even genera. The tuberous Begonias, before alluded to, are the results of the successive intercrossing or hybridisation of several species, and the result is the production, within little more than a quarter of a century, of a race or garden-group, not to be matched in nature, and so distinct as to have been thought worthy not merely of specific but of generic rank. Many recognised genera, we might even say most, are not so sharply differentiated as are these Begonias from others of the same family. These extreme crosses apparently are not effected under natural conditions, and some botanists even hesitate to admit the occurrence of hybrids in nature except under very exceptional circumstances. The gardeners and cultivators, however, have long considered certain forms to be of hybrid origin, and one of the most interesting things in this connection of late years is the positive evidence which cultivators have been able to bring forward as to the existence and the parentage of natural hybrids. Certain orchids, now rather numerous, were, from the appearances they pre- sented, assumed to be ‘‘natural hybrids” between certain species. That such assumptions were correct has now been proved by the production in our orchid houses of forms indis- tinguishable from those met with in a wild condition, as the direct consequence of the designed fertilisation of one flower by the pollen of another. Fairchild, a nurseryman at Hoxton, and the founder of the Flower-sermon, was the first on record to raise a hybrid Pink. Indeed, this is the first artificial hybrid of any kind on record, and it dates from 1719. From that time to this gardeners have gone on selecting, cross-breeding, hybridising. At one time some good folk looked askance at such operations as an interference with the laws of Pro- vidence. So much was this the case, that one eminent firm of nurserymen in the early part of the century led their customers to believe that certain heaths (Ericas), which they had for sale, were imported direct from the Cape of Good Hope, | instead of having been raised by cross-fertilisation in their own nurseries at Tooting ! Gardeners for the most part: pursue their experiments with no scientific aim. The names of Philip Miller, Thomas Andrew Knight, and of Dean Herbert, amongst others, suffice to show that some gardeners appreciate the deep scientific value of these every-day procedures. From the labours of these men and their successors it is made obvious that the cultivator, by availing himself of natural tendencies and natural agencies, and by his power of eliminating conflicting or unpropitious elements, does actually bring about, ina relatively very short period, the same results that occur under natural conditions only after the lapse of a prolonged. period. Do not these facts show the desirability for our own biologists to study carefully the results obtained by the gardener, and better still to enter, as their great leader Darwin did, the field themselves as experimenters. There can be few departments in which greater promise of important results can be held out. MAXWELL T. MASTeERs, THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICAZ. N Saturday last, the Astronomer Royal presented his annual report to the Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Following the usual custom, a number of astro- nomers and other men of science were invited to inspect the buildings and instruments of the observatory. The subjoined ex- tracts from the report give a general idea of progress made in some departments since the middle of May last year. Work with Equatorials. The new equatorial with photographic telescope of 26 inches, presented by Sir Henry Thompson, is now nearly finished and ready for inspection at Sir Howard Grubb’s works. Sir Henry Thompson has completed his valuable gift by the addition of a Cassegrain reflecting telescope of 30 inches aperture, to be carried in place of the counterpoise at the other end of the de- clination axis. The 28-inch refractor has been in constant use for micrometric observations during the year, and for spectroscopic observations till November last year. The measures of the dimensions o. Saturn and his rings, 140 begun last year, were continued on nine nights, and the results communicated to the Royal Astronomical Society in November. The diameters of Jupiter were measured on nineteen nights with the filar micrometer and, for comparison, with the double-image micrometer ; the results were communicated to the Royal Astronomical Society in May. The weather during the opposition of Jupiter and Neptune made it impossible for any systematic search to be made for Jupiter’s fifth satellite, and the position of Neptune’s satellite was only observed on one night. The Photographic Chart and Catalogue. With the Astrographic Equatorial 502 plates, with a total of 1224 exposures, have been taken on 123 nights in the year end- ing May 10, 1895. Of these, 135 have been rejected for various reasons. The following statement shows the progress made with the photographic mapping of the heavens between May 11, 1895, and May Io, 1896 :-— For the Chart For the Catalogue (Exposure (Exposures 6 m., go m.). 3 m., and 20s.) Number of photographstaken 118 353 3 successful _ plates 89 247 + fields photo- graphed success- fully ... ws TAS}! Ps amen eer) Total number of fields photo- graphed successfully since the commencement of the work 490 732 The question of the utilisation of the photographs taken for the Astrographic Chart, and the formation of a catalogue of stars down to the eleventh magnitude by means of photography, has occupied much attention during the past year, and a satisfactory working scheme for the measurement of the photographic plates and determination of the positions of the stars on them has been brought into operation. It is estimated that if no unfore- seen difficulties arise the measures and calculations for the Greenwich Seite. we Professorial Qualifications. “Student” ine So Pome lee Leap-Years and their Occasional Omission. By W.T. Lynn .. Aan oie Lemte peneE The Niggtaaia Canal (Illustrated) ue 127 In the Heart of a Continent. (itustrated:) By Dr. Hugh Robert Mill@eeeee :). - f (ae te JSS Professor Daubree. bye. Gs... ee 132 Notes .. lak of 5) Solte ty) Ab Mmm Our Astronomical Column:— Occultation of Jupiiemeae 8-9. 62). hos ee emena mana Comet Swift «1. oe 137 Spots and Markings on Jupiter Fe Wc Comet Perrine-Lamp (1896 I.) . mie 137 The Relative Lengths of Post- Glacial Time in the Two Hemispheres. By Dr. C. Davison . 137 Plant-Breeding. By Dr.Maxwell T. Masters, F. R.S. 138 The Royal Observatory, Greenwich. . . . san tst) The Royal Society of Canada. . I4l The Circulationjof Organic Matter. By Dr. G.V.Poore I4I University and Educational Intelligence . .... 142 Scientific Serials.) Fae «+ 6 se A Societies and Academies®., 0). <).. 0). 3 ‘statute miles./ Square miles. | cubic feet waters in | | per second. miles, | Mississippi 26161 (1,285,300°, 675,000 35,000 La Plata 2400 994,900" 700,000? 20,000 St. Lawrence 2200 565,200 ° 1,000,0007 ? 2,536 Nile * 3370 }1,293,050°| 61,500 3,000 3 Volga ... 2325 592,300°| 384,0007 14,600 Danube 1735 320, 300 © | 205,900 1,600 ® Rhine “S72; .:. 810 32,600 ° | 550% Thames cdo 210°) | 6,010 2,2204 200 3 Amazon .. | 2730° |2,229,900 * 2,400,000 50,000 (x) To source of Missouri 4300 miles. (2) At Saratoff. (3) Exclusive of tributaries. (4) At Teddington. (5) To source of Apurimac 3415 miles. (6) According to Dr. John Murray. (7) According to Darby, the American hydrographer. According to Encyc. Britt. Area of Great Britain and Ireland ... 120,626 + British India .., a 283 1,560, 160 9 Brazil sp an mae ore 3,219,000 0 Europe ... er bea oA Sc a +» 3,790,000 If the greatest distance from the mouth is to decide the ques- tion, then the source of the Apurimac, an affluent of the Ucayale, can lay claim to being the origin of the Amagon, rising in Peru in 16° S. lat., and 72° W. long. . Along the whole course of the Amazon, commencing at the foot of the Andes, a network of islands and canals is formed on both sides of the river, as the whole country is almost level, and is consequently inundated during the rainy season for hundreds of miles by the rivers flowing through it The most notable excep- tion to this general state of things occurs at Obidos, where the whole volume of water is compressed into one channel a little over a mile wide, and said to be about forty fathoms in average depth A sounding taken opposite Obidos, about a third of the distance across the river, showed a depth of fifty-eight fathoms, measured by a steel wire and Lord Kelvin’s sounding- machine. As the current of the river averages three knots in the main channel, it is not easy to take soundings by an ordinary lead line ; and even with the steel wire an extra heavy weight (33 lb.) has to be employed, or the results are not trustworthy. Besides the wire sounding-machine a submarine sentinel was used on the preliminary voyage, wherever serious doubts existed about a channel through which the cable was to be laid. This apparatus consists of a small winch from which a wire leads into the water and drags at a short distance behind a piece of wood, shaped like an angle-iron, in a nearly upright position. The wire is not attached directly to the piece of wood, but to a string kite-fashion, and the wood is fitted with an iron foot which, on coming in contact with the bottom of the water, releases one end of the kite-string, so that the wood remains attached to the winch wire with one end only. The consequence is that the strain on the wire is suddenly reduced to a very small amount, and the NO. 1390, VOL. 54] NATURE 163 piece of wood appears on the surface of the river. It depends on the quantity of wire paid out how deep the kite or the sentinel floats, and its action is quite trustworthy, so thatit is unnecessary to take soundings by the line or by wire while the sentinel is being dragged by the ship. Usually the sentinel was set at five fathoms, and when it struck a bar the ship was stopped, and a series of soundings taken to ascertain the exact depth of water, and the extent of the shallow place. A further difficulty in sounding originated from the soft nature of the soil, which for the greater part of the Amazon valley is alluvial clay, and allows the lead to sink into it for several feet. In the narrows there appears, however, a bank of hard clay (called Tabainga) which, unfortunately, blocks nearly all the branches of the narrows, and creates bars all along the course of the Tajipuru, the main westerly waterway connecting to the Gurupa branch of the main river. Occasionally the same hard clay forms shallows inthe main river, but as a rule the section of all the channels resembles the capital letter U, z.e. the sides are very steep and the bottom flat. In this respect, as in many others, the Amazon differs entirely from the Indian rivers, which build up their beds above the surrounding country, occasionally breaking through their natural banks and seeking a new bed. The Amazon, on the other hand, carries with it only the light clay sediment which forms the soil of the whole valley ; and the inducement for the main stream to alter its course is therefore very small, and long straight reaches are the result. Under these circumstances the largest vessels can ascend the river nearly to the foot of the Andes, but the con- stantly-changing sandbanks at the mouth of the Amazon proper make this approach of the river dangerous, and the State of Para is, for obvious reasons, not over-anxious to have the deep channels properly buoyed and surveyed. This forces all the shipping to enter the Para River, and to pass the narrows if the Amazon is the goal of the journey. In doing the latter, the choice for large ships lies between one of the channels (called Furos) with a bar, where it joins the Tajipuru, and a furo (the Macajubim) which has plenty of water, but which winds about in such a serpentine fashion that only ships with twin screws can pass it unassisted. These difficulties are, however, much diminished during the rainy season, when the river rises to such an extent as to drive all the inhabitants of its banks into the towns, which have been built wherever a natural eminence secured the inhabitants against the flood. Near the mouth the difference is naturally not so great as higher up, where the influence of the tide is felt less ; but at Manaos the difference in level between low river and high river exceeds forty feet. With all rivers carrying sediment the Amazon shares the peculiarity that its immediate banks are higher than the country lying behind them, and thus we have in the rainy season the spectacle of the main river flowing between two banks covered with dense forest, and immense lakes stretching out on either side of these banks. These do not entirely dry up during the remainder of the year, so that the whole of the Amazon valley really forms a huge swamp covered with a most luxuriant forest, which below Manaos narrows to a broad belt close to the main river with prairies, called Campos, at the back of the forest stretching out to the hills, where the forest recommences. In such a country no land communication of any sort can be attempted, as the tropical vegetation and the annual inundations of the rivers destroy everything that man places in the way of the natural forces. By water, on the other hand, the intercourse between all habitable parts of the country is easy and expedi- tious since steamers were introduced in the year 1853. Belem, the capital of the State of Para, lies on a branch of the Para River, called Guajara, which unfortunately does not share the characteristic shape of the Amazon and the furos, but forms a rather shallow basin in front of the town. The first station on the main cable is Breves, the centre of the rubber trade of the islands of the lower Amazon, situate in the centre of ‘‘ the narrows.” In Gurupa, the second station of the main line, the inhabitants expressed their joy at being put in communication with the rest of the world by actively helping in the landing of the first shore end. During an enforced sojourn near the mouth of the Boinasu, in the midst of the most wonderful combination of islands and rivers, the two naturalists, which the British Museum authorities had kindly sent with the expedition, took full advantage of the opportunity to explore the locality in all directions. NALORE [JunE 18, 1896 a In the rubber-gathering industry, which is at once the wealth and bane of this part of the world, the implements in use are of the most primitive kind, but the average earnings can easily be three pounds per day during the dry season, and the facility of earning so much money with little exertion makes the in- habitants unwilling to engage in more arduous labour. A narrow path leads from the hut on the water’s edge into the forest from one rubber-tree to another, the path eventually returning to the hut. The trees are cut on the morning round, and the rubber is gathered in the afternoon. As soon as it arrives at the hut a fire of oily palm-nuts (A¢¢alea excelsa) is lighted, and the thin sap thickened in the smoke For this purpose a paddle is used, on to which the sap is poured with a small earthenware or tin vessel. The smoke soon thickens it, and a new layer is poured on until the well-known flat cakes of india-rubber have been formed, Owing to the rise of the river during the rainy season most of the huts have to be abandoned, and it can easily be imagined how comfortless they are. Nearly all of them are built on piles, and most of them are thatched with palm-leaves. There is hardly any attempt made to cultivate the soil, such as it is, but every- thing is imported. The s.s. Camedense, in which the surveying party went out, was laden with cabbages, onions, and potatoes, part of which went as far as Iquitos in Peru. Chiefly owing to this want of provisions, and to the generally careless mode of life, the mortality among india-rubber gatherers is very great. Everything Bates and Wallace have said of this region remains as true as it was forty years ago, and hardly anything new can be added to their description of the general features of the Amazon valley ; but the town of Manaos has completely changed its character since it was made the capital of that region in 1853. A town quite Muropean in its features has arisen in the midst of the forest, and to the benefits of rapid transport, to which it has owed so much, there is now added the characteristic lever of modern progress, the annihilator of space and time—electrical communication, NOTES ON CLOUDS? “THERE are two points connected with clouds on which I wish to make a few remarks. The first is on the classification of clouds, and the second on the manner in which certain forms of clouds are produced. It may be as well to remark at the out- set that the observations are those of an ‘‘ outsider,” being in a department of meteorology to which I have given but little attention, and they have been written with a view of call- ing the attention of specialists, and getting their opinion on the subject. It appears to me that in classifying clouds they ought first of all to be divided into two great classes. In the one class should be placed all clouds in the process of formation, and in the other those in the process of decay. The two classes might be called Clouds in Formation and Clouds in Decay. We may take Cumulus clouds as an example of the former, and Nimbus of the latter. My observations made on the clouds themselves have shown that there is a difference in the structure of these two classes of clouds. In clouds in formation the water particles are much smaller and far more numerous than in clouds in decay ; and while the particles in clouds in decay are large enough to be seen with the unaided eye when they fall on a properly lighted micrometer, they are so small in clouds in formation that, if the condensation is taking place rapidly, the particles cannot be seen without the aid of a lens of considerable magnifying power. In the former case the number of particles falling per square milli- metre is small, while in the latter they are so numerous that it is impossible to count them. It appears that one good end might be served by adopting this classification. It would direct the attention of observers more to looking on the processes going on in decay for an explanation of many of the forms observed in clouds. In most books on clouds, when describing the different shapes of clouds, it is almost always assumed that they are in process of formation, and the whole explanation of the shapes taken by the clouds is founded on this supposition. Now, it is very evident that very many clouds are in the process of decay, and their forms can only be explained by the processes going on under these conditions. This brings me to the second point in this communication, 1 Paper read by John Aitken, F.R.S., to the Roy. Soc. of Edin. on May 4. NO. 1390, VOL. 54] namely, the manner in which ripple-marked cirrus clouds are produced. The explanation which has generally been accepted of the formation of this form of cloud is, that the ripple mark- ings are due to the general movements of the air giving rise to a series of eddies, the axes of the eddies being horizontal, and roughly parallel to each other. It is very evident that the air revolving round these horizontal axes, that is, in a vertical plane, will at the lower part of its path be subjected to com- pression, and at the upper part to expansion. The result of this will evidently be, supposing the air to be nearly saturated with moisture, a tendency for cloudy condensation to take place in the air at the upper part of its path, and it is this cloudy condensation in the upper part of the eddies that is supposed to produce the ripple-like cirrus ; each ripple mark indicating the upper part of an eddy. One objection I have always felt to this explanation is, that it is difficult to imagine that the small amount of eleva- tion and consequent expansion and cooling could give rise to so dense an amount of clouding as is generally observed. Any clouding produced in this way one would expect to be extremely thin and filmy. I have for the last few years made frequent observations of these clouds, and I have to admit I have never once seen them in the process of formation, or seen one appear in aclear sky. In all cases that have come under my observa- tion, these ripple clouds have been clouds in decay. They are generally formed out of some strato-cirrus or similar cloud. When we observe these strato-cirrus clouds in fine weather, it will be found that they frequently change to ripple-marked cirrus clouds before vanishing. The process of their formation would seem to be: the strato-cirrus gradually thins away till it attains such a depth, that if there are any eddies at its level, the eddies break the stratus cloud up into parallel or nearly parallel masses, the clear air being drawn in between the eddies. It will be observed that this explanation requires the eddies, but not to produce the clouding, only to explain the breaking up of the uniform cirrus cloud into ripple cirrus. One thing which supports this explanation is, that lenticular- cirrus clouds are frequently observed with ripple markings on one or more sides of them just where the cloud is thin enough to be broken through by the eddies. If we watch these lenticular- formed clouds under these conditions, we frequently see the ripple markings getting nearer and nearer the centre as the cloud decays ; and at last, when nearly dissolved, the ripple markings will be seen extending quite across thecloud. It seems probable that ‘‘mackerel’’ and other cloud forms may be produced in the same way. The shapes which these ripple cirrus clouds assume are much more varied than is generally supposed. I lately observed a most interesting form in the south of France while the mistral was blowing strongly. There were a few cirrus clouds in the sky at the time, and one of these was rapidly being broken up into irregular ripple forms, but at one point there was formed a most perfectly cylindrical-shaped piece, its length being about twenty times its diameter. The whirling effect of the eddy was very evident by the circular streaking of the clouding. Further, this cloud was evidently hollow, that is, the interior was filled with clear air as the cloud was thinnest along the axis, and it had all the appearance of a revolving tube of cloudy air. It is not contended here that ripple clouds are never produced in the manner which has generally been accepted, only that so far as my observations go they have never been observed forming in the manner supposed. It is hoped that others will put the explanation here offered to the test of observation, and it is principally with a view of getting others to repeat the observations that this has been written. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—In the Mathematical Tripos List published on June 16, Mr. W. G. Fraser, of Queens’, is Senior Wrangler, Messrs. Barnes, Carson, and Wilkinson, all of Trinity, are bracketed for the second place, and four members of St. John’s, Messrs. Edwardes, Houston, Cook, and Turner, follow in two brackets, fifth and seventh. Miss Longbottom, of Girton, has the twelfth place. In Part II. seven names appear in the first division of the first class, beginning with Mr. Bromwich, of St. John’s, the Senior Wrangler of last year. Mr. A. C. Dixon, of Trinity College, has been approved for the degree of Doctor of Science, in consideration of his mathe- June 18, 1896] NATURE 165 matical works. Mr. Dixon was Senior Wrangler in 1886, and is Professor of Mathematics at Galway. A lectureship in Hausa is about to be founded, in virtue of a benefaction by the Hausa Association. The language ranks with Arabic and Suaheli as one of the most important West African tongues used within the British sphere of influence. The General Board propose that a Professorship of Mental Philosophy and Logic, with a stipend of £700 a year, should be forthwith established. Prof. Sidgwick has generously offered to accept a diminished stipend of £500 a year for the next six years in order that funds may be available for this purpose. The Tyson Medal for Astronomy has been awarded to Mr. E. T. Whitaker, of Trinity. Mr. W. Mather has received the thanks of the University for a valuable gift to the Engineering Laboratory of an experimental steam-engine and dynamo. A Latin letter of congratulation to Lord Kelvin on the jubilee of his Professorship at Glasgow was approved at the Congrega- tion on June 11, and was ordered to be sealed with the Common Seal of the University and presented to him by the University delegates to Glasgow. The Syndicate on Women’s degrees was appointed without opposition, and have already held their first meeting. Their report will not be issued until next Term. THE following appointments have been made in_ the Northern Polytechnic Institute, Holloway:—Mr. Hubert A. Garratt, Senior Lecturer in Engineering, University College, Bristol, to be Head of the Engineering Department ; Mr. V. A. Mundella, Assistant Lecturer in Physics and Electrical Engineering, Durham College of Science, Newcastle, to be Head of the Physics and Electrical Engineering Depart- ment; Dr. Thomas Ewan, Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, the Yorkshire College, Leeds, to be Chief Assistant in the Chemical Department. Other recent appointments are :—Dr. G. Frege to be Professor of Mathematics at Jena; Dr. Lickfett to be Director of the Hygienic-bacteriological Institute at Danzig ; Dr. Scholl to be Extraordinary Professor of Chemistry in the Technical High School at Karlsruhe. Mr. E. A. Gardner, formerly Director of the British School at Athens, to be Yates Professor of Archzology in University College, London; Dr. Paul Eisler to be Extraordinary Professor of Anatomy at Halle ; Dr. L. Joubin to be Professor of Zoology, and Dr. H. Prous to be Extraordinary Professor in Lille University ; Dr. Theobald Smith to be Professor of Comparative Pathology in Harvard University. Tue Technical Instruction Committee of the North Riding County Council some time ago substituted a system of individual instruction in cheese and butter making at the farm-house of any farmer who desired it, for the more commonly adopted travelling dairy school. Inaddition to this method of instruction they have agreed to a scheme whereby a permanent dairy school will be opened at Helmsley in the course of the present month. The school is being built by the Earl of Feversham, and is to be placed at the Committee’s disposal, who are making themselves responsible for the proper fittings and apparatus. It is con- fidently anticipated that the school, which will be styled the *“Ryedale Dairy School,” will be much used and greatly appreciated. : On Thursday evening last it was resolved by 332 votes to 83, that boroughs of not less than 20,000 population should form separate educational authorities. This will mean, as the Vice- President of the Council pointed out in his speech on_ this amendment, that in addition to the 128 authorities which there would have beenas the Bill originally stood, we are to have 241 more authorities added, that is, provided the amendment passes the House of Lords. Further, since there is no doubt populous urban districts will claim to be treated like municipal boroughs, and it seems only reasonable to suppose that such will be granted similar powers, forty-nine more authorities will be brought in, making a total of 418 separate centres for the Education Depart- ment to deal with. In some cases the result will be extraordinary ; for example, in Lancashire there will be some forty-two different educational authorities. The extent to which the work of the County Councils would suffer should this concession of the Government become law, can only be appreciated by those who know the spirit in which small local authorities approach any matters pertaining to secondary education. NO. 1390, VOL. 54] SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Physical Society, June 12.—Captain Abney, F.R.S., Presi- dent, in the chair.—Mr. Campbell read a paper on the measure- ment of very large and of very small alternating currents. The author advocates the use of air-coil transformers for measuring voltages and currents which are either above or below the range of the instruments available. If an attempt is made to measure the current in the primary of an air-coil transformer by observing the voltage on an open circuit secondary, it is found that the readings depend on the frequency. In order to overcome this difficulty the author uses a closed secondary with a very high inductance. In this case the primary current is proportional to the secondary current, which latter may be measured by an ammeter. The author has also investigated the case of transformers with iron cores, and ot which the inductance of the secondary is large. In the case of a ring transformer with a closed magnetic circuit, if the load on the secondary consisted solely of a Kelvin roo-ampere balance of very low resistance, the ratio between the primary and secondary currents is practically constant. With an open magnetic circuit transformer, however, this is not found to be so, as the ratio between the primary and secondary current varies considerably with the frequency. Mr. Blakesley said that the author’s arrangement could only be used for measuring the cvrrent in the primary. He (Mr. Blakesley), had shown how to measure alternating currents by means of dynamometers, and without the necessity for any special apparatus. Mr. Griffiths exhibited and described his improved form of resistance box. This resistance box has many novel features: (1) It permits of all the coils being compared with one another, without the use of standard coils, and with great ease and rapidity. Hence it is sufficient at any time to compare any one of the coils with a standard to obtain the correction to be applied to all the coils. (2) The bridge wire can be calibrated by means of the box itself. (3) The temperature of the coils can be accurately determined, since they consist of bare platinum-silver wire wound on mica and immersed in an oil bath, which bath is kept stirred. (4) The resistance of the leads from the box to the object being tested is eliminated, as well as any error due to a change in this resistance with temperature. (5) The coils are arranged according to a binary scale, and the author claims that it is possible to measure resistances up to 105 ohms, to within o’o0o0001 ohm. (6) All the coils, after being adjusted, have been heated to redness and allowed to cool slowly, so that all strain has been removed from the wire. (7) By having a separate pair of blocks for each plug, it is impossible for the insertion of one plug to affect the fit of a neighbouring plug. The plugs themselves are so made that no part of the plug is wider than the top of the hole, and so it is impossible to wear a ‘‘ shoulder” on the plug. Prof. A. Gray said that Mr. Griffiths had discovered and remedied all the weak points of the ordinary form of bridge. Lord Kelvin had ordered the paraffin to be melted off the coils of one of his resistance boxes, and it was found that the resistance of the coils altered considerably, owing, no doubt, to the strain to~ which the wire had been subjected, when imbedded in the solic. parafin. Lord Kelvin had made coils without paraffin, and was specially in favour of the use of the binary scale. Profi S. P. Thompson said he considered the binary scale the weak point of the author’s arrangement, since it did not permit of ratios other than I to 1 being employed. Mr. Campbell asked what current could safely be passed through the coils. The author in his reply said that he believed it to be a great mistake to employ any ratio for the arms other than I to f, —Prof. S. P. Thompson read a communication on Réntgen rays. The author, after describing the various forms of tubes he had made with a view of discovering the best form for the production of Réntgen rays, gave an account of the experiments he had made to try and obtain some indication of polarisation. In this connection a large number of crystals have been tested, but the experiments have all given negative results. The author exhibited an electroscope with aluminium leaves and enclosed in a wire-gauze screen, to protect it from the influence of outside electric changes, by means of which he was able to show the discharge of a positively or negatively electrified body by means of the X-rays. A method of obtaining dust figures by the discharge of an electrified body by the X-rays 166 NATURE [JuNE 18, 1896 was shown, and some of the results which have been obtained were exhibited. All attempts to obtain true reflection have failed, although it appears as if most bodies, including air, are capable of giving diffuse reflection.—Dr. Shettle, who was announced to give a paper on Réntgen rays, explained that he had just discovered that the effects he had intended to describe were due to red light which had penetrated his dark room. —Prof. du Bois said that Galitzine had found that Rontgen rays were polarised by tourmaline, a special form of developer being employed. The behaviour of tourmaline to light waves presents some curious features, for if the wave-length is increased a point is at length reached where the ordinary and extraordinary rays are equally absorbed. For greater wave-lengths the ordinary con- ditions are reversed. If the Réntgen rays are not homogeneous, the contradictory results obtained by different observers might be due to the fact that they were working with rays which were differently absorbed by tourmaline.—Mr. Swinton said he had tried the effect of heating the kathode, and had obtained results which were similar to those obtained by the author. Mr. Swinton further said that he had found that the blue lumin- escence sometimes observed depended on the size of the kathode. With tubes in which the kathode was almost a complete hemi- sphere it was impossible to eliminate this blue luminescence. — Mr. Appleyard suggested the performance of the experiments under the surface of a dielectric.—Prof. Gray said he had obtained some indication of regular reflection, but nothing definite. The author in his reply said that it had been found that if the Réntgen rays are reflected from a surface of sodium in vacuo the amount reflected isa minimum for normal incidence, and increases at oblique incidence. Comparing this behaviour with that of ultra-violet light, it supports the idea that the Réntgen rays consist of transverse vibrations. The Society then adjourned till June 26. Geological Society, May 27.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President announced that a por- trait in oils of the late Prof. Huxley had been presented to the Society by Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S.—On the Pliocene deposits of Holland, and their relation to the English and Bel- gian crags, with a suggestion for the establishment of a new zone ‘* Amstelien,” and some remarks on the geographical con- ditions of the Pliocene epoch in Northern Europe, by F. W. Harmer. The author drew attention to some papers by Dr. J. Lorié, of Utrecht, describing the strata met with in some deep borings in Holland, which showed that the Newer Pliocene is in that country nearly 500 feet thick, and that it had been depressed more than 1000 feet below its original position. He inquired whether this subsidence could be connected with the elevation of the Older Pliocene in Belgium and Kent, and how far these earth-movements could be traced in East Anglia and influenced the deposition of the English crag. He gave particulars of the alterations in level which have taken place during and since the Crag period in England and on the continent, showing that the two movements of upheaval and subsidence have much in common, and especially that they regularly increase in degree to the north and south respectively.—The Lzmguw/a-flags and igneous rocks of the neighbourhood of Dolgelly, by Philip Lake and S. H. Reynolds.—The Kildare inlier, by S. H. Reynolds and C. I. Gardiner. The area described in this paper is occupied by four prominent hills composed of lower palzeozoic rocks rising as an inlier from beneath carboniferous beds. The authors gave the following succession of rocks in descending order. (6) Green and grey micaceous grits and shales of Dunmurry. (5) Red and black shales. Gap: no exposure seen. (4) Limestones of the chair of Kildare. (3) Contemporaneous igneous rocks. (2) Fossiliferous ash of Grange Hill House. (1) Green gritty shales (unfossiliferous). CAMBRIDGE. Philosophical Society, May 25.—(a) On the spectroscope used in connection with the 25-inch refractor ; (4) on a sugges- tion for a form of spectroheliograph, by Mr. H. F. Newall. On the period of the earth’s free Eulerian precession, by Mr. J. Larmor. The following general proposition is easily estab- lished ; it has been suggested by the recent memoirs of Prof. Newcomb and Mr. Hough. Consider any solid body, for example the earth, in rotation about its axis of greatest moment of inertia: when the body is not absolutely rigid, the period of the small free precessional motions of the axis of rotation will depend in part on its elastic yielding to the centrifugal force ; but in all such cases, whether the body is homogeneous or not, whether the elasticity is perfect or imperfect, this precessional NO. 1390, VOL. 54] motion will be the same as that of a body absolutely rigid, with its materials distributed in the configuration which the actual body would assume, on the supposition that it remains perfectly elastic, were it relieved of the centrifugal force of rotation. Taking the case of the earth, in which the equatorial moments of inertia are all equal to 4, while the axial one is C, the ordinary forced astronomical precessions give the value of (C-—A)/C ; while knowledge of the variation of terrestrial gravity gives C-A; so that C and 4 are separately known. The period of the free Eulerian precession gives (C’ — 4')/4’, where C’ and A’ are the moments of inertia which the earth would have were the strain corresponding to centrifugal force removed. In so far then as this free period can be reliably disentanyled from the actual observations of changes of latitude, which are also affected by unknown irregular variations due to meteor- ological causes, and so more or less of an annual character, we derive from it a knowledge of C’— 4’; thereby obtaining an additional datum for discussions relating to the constitution of the earth’s interior. This is on the supposition that the earth is wholly solid. The influence of the surface waters can, how- ever, be estimated by the same principle, as they are in the main deep enough to make an equilibrium theory applicable. It appears that, if the actual earth were absolutely rigid, and wholly covered by an ocean, the mobility of this ocean would lengthen the period of free precession by about 14 per cent. But this superior limit is reduced both by the limited extent of the ocean and by the yielding of the solid earth; so that, on an outside estimate, not more than 6 or 8 of the actual 40 per cent. of lengthening of the period can be due to mobility of the surface waters. On this equilibrium theory, an amplitude of a third of a second of arc in the Eulerian precession would produce a tidal component, of the same period, whose ampli- tude would in middle latitudes be about half an inch ; which is just the kind of result that has been derived from examination of the tidal observations in Holland and on the east and west coasts of North America, The influence of pos- sible fluidity of a portion of the interior has been fully developed by Mr. Hough, the results agreeing with indications virtually given by Lord Kelvin so long ago as 1876, and published in the British Association Report for that year. The conclusion drawn by Mr. Hough from the Chandler period, that, for the small stresses involved, the interior of the earth is in the main per- fectly elastic and about as rigid as steel, is in accord with the recent observations by seismologists of what is probably the time of propagation of earthquake disturbances from Japan to Europe in a direct line across the earth’s interior.—Note on a point in theoretical dynamics, by Sir Robert Ball. Let a be a screw about which a free rigid body is made to twist in con- sequence of an impulsive wrench administered on some other screw 7. Except in the case where @ and 7 are reciprocal it will always be possible (in many different ways) to design and place a rigid body so that two arbitrarily chosen screws a and 7 will possess the required relation. Let now 8 and ¢ be two other screws (not reciprocal) ; we may consider the question as to whether a rigid body can be designed and placed so that a shall be the instantaneous screw corresponding to 7 as an im- pulsive screw, while 6 bears the same relation to ¢. It is easy to see that it will not generally be possible for a, B, 7, ¢ to stand in the required relations; they must in some way be restricted. It isthe object of the author’s note to show that the restrictions are two in number, and to set down what they are. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, June 1.—Prof. Copeland in the chair.— Prof. Tait read a paper on the linear and vector function. We speak of fluid motion as being ‘‘ differentially irrotational” when there is a velocity potential, and as ‘ rotational ’’ when there is a vortex. Im the first case, the strain involved is pure, 2.e. there are three rows of particles, at right angles to one another, whose directions are momentarily unchanged. In the second case, one such row of particles alone exists. But there is, when we look at the matter from the point of view of the roots of the strain-cubic, a third case—where there are three rows of particles, not generally at right angles to one another. Prof. Tait showed that such a strain is, in general, the result of the superposition of two successively applied, but different, pure strains. Thus, comparing the non-vortex states of a small element of a fluid at three successive instants, a portion, cubical at the instant A, may be found, such as to be brick-shaped, without change of direction of its edges, at B. Similarly from B toC. But to June 18, 1896] compare A with C, we have a definite parallelepiped whose edges remain unchanged in direction.—Mr. R. C. Mossman gave the first part of a communication on the meteorology of Edinburgh, in which he dealt with the mean values of the climatic elements for each day of the year, basing his inquiry on over a million observations. The non-instrumental records extended over 125 years, and the daily sunshine means over 30, the average of the nineteen classes of observation being about So years. . As regards pressure, the maximum was from April 7 to July 3, and the minimum on November 26. For temperature the maximum was an average of 59°°3 on August 8, while January 8 was the coldest, the mean temper- ature being 36°0. The curve of rainfall showed that the seven days ending April 18 were the wettest days in the year, thus confirming the popular belief in the Lammas floods. Mr. Mossman described in detail the climatic features of each month, and showed how these reacted on each other. An interesting result was the recurrence of similar types of weather at the same time each year.—Mr. Malcolm Laurie read a paper on the nutrition of the embryo in scorpions. The variation in the modes of development in different genera of scorpions is very large. The primitive form seems to bea large egg with much food yolk, and is found in Zuscorpius and the Buthide. This egg develops in the ovarian tube. In other /wrzde the egg is yolkless, though appearing to be a considerable size owing to the surrounding embryonic membranes. In the Scorpionide the egg is entirely without yolk, and develops in a diverticulum of the ovarian tube. Various contrivances exist for the better nourishment of the embryo during the later stages of development. Nourishment, secreted by the cells of the diverticulum and by a solid cord of cells (appendix) in which it terminates, is always taken in through the mouth, which is early developed. In addition to this, in /schnurus, the chelicerz grow into long root-like processes which lie among the cells of the appendix, and seem to absorb nourishment from them. In Hormurus a siroilar function is performed by the chelz, while in the Scorfzontnz the chelicerze grasp a cord of cells coming from the centre of the appendix, and masticate it. In these last forms there are also present dorso-lateral out-growths of the segments of the body, which appear to act as surfaces for absorbing nourishment directly from the surrounding maternal tissues. This arrangement is carried still further in Opzsthoph- thalmus, where there are two long processes, one from the prostomium, and the other from the back of the carapace, which run out among the maternal tissues. DUBLIN. Royal Irish Academy, June $.—Dr. J. Kells Ingram, Vice-President, in the chair.—Mr. Charles J. Joly read a paper on quaternion invariants of linear vector functions and quaternion determinants. This was a supplement to a paper read before the Academy in December 1895, and published in their Transactions (vol. xxx. part 18). From given linear vector functions others are derived by repeated multiplication in any order. The Hamiltonian and other quaternion invariants of these new functions are expressed as the quotients of two deter- minants with vector constituents. Their scalar parts having been considered in the previous paper, their vector parts are now reduced to the results of operation on the spin-vectors of the given functions, and of one function of each of certain cyclical groups of the derived functions, Examples and interpretations are also given of determinants with quaternion constituents in the expansion of which the order of the rows is preserved.— Mr. Henry Dixon read a paper on the osmotic pressures in the cells of leaves. The method adopted for estimating the osmotic pressures existing in the cells of leaves, consisted in enclosing a branch bearing a number of leaves in a strong glass cylinder, capable of resisting high gas pressures (¢.”. 50-100 atmospheres). The ends of this cylinder consist of stout brass castings, drawn together on the cylinder by means of bolts and nuts. The upper end is furnished with suitable couplings for connection with an air compression pump or an iron bottle containing liquid CO,. The lower end is perforated and admits of the branch, to be experimented with, being sealed into it, The cut end of the branch dips into a vessel containing a weighed amount of water, which is placed below the glass cylinder. When the pressure in the cylinder is raised, it is found, that at a certain pressure, the leaves begin to collapse and lose their turgescence, and that water is forced down from them into the vessel beneath, By a series of experiments on each branch, a certain critical pressure NO. 1390, VOL. 54] NATURE 167 is found which just balances the osmotic pressure of the cells, but which neither causes their collapse nor permits of their drawing up water from below. . PARIS, Academy of Sciences, June 8.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—Theory of the flow of water in conduits, by M. J. Boussinesq.-—On the effect produced by the ring in iron in dynamo-electric machines. Reply to the note of M. Potier, by M. Marcel-Deprez.—Study of melted vanadium and its carbide, by M. H. Moissan. Vanadium pentoxide, reduced by carbon in the electric furnace, yields an ingot of metal which always contains an appreciable amount of carbon. If the time of heat- ing is as short as possible, a metal containing only 5 per cent. 0. carbon can be obtained ; by prolonging the time of heating the percentage of carbon increased to 185 per cent., indicating the formation of the carbide VC. The carbide is not attacked by water at the ordinary temperature. Vanadium forms alloys with iron, copper, and aluminium, but not with silver.—On a new method of preparing alloys, by M. H. Moissan. Alloys of refractory metals can be prepared by projecting a mixture of the oxide with powdered aluminium into a bath of liquid aluminium. The heat set free by the oxidation of the aluminium is sufficient to carry on the reaction. Alloys of aluminium with nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, uranium and titanium have been obtained in this way.—On the nature of the chemical processes involved in muscular action, by M. A. Chauveau. Summing up the results of a series of experimental researches on the relation between the energy given out as muscular work and the energy absorbed as food.—On the value as food of bread made from screened flours, by M. A. Girard. Analyses of flours of various qualities, from which the conclusion is drawn that the ideas generally held concerning the inferior nutritive power of fine white bread as compared with brown bread, are fallacious ; both kinds of bread containing practically identical amounts of gluten and of phosphates.—On the theory of gases, a letter from M. Boltzmann to M. Bertrand, continuing the discussion concerning the validity of Maxwell’s formula for the distribution of the velocities of the molecules at a given instant.—Reply to the preceding by M. Bertrand, by whom Maxwell’s theorem is held to be obviously inaccurate.—The influence of the tempera- ture of the freezing mixture upon cryoscopic measurements, by M. F. M. Raoult. Starting from simple considerations an expression is obtained giving a correction for super-cooling in cryoscopic measurements. This formula is identical with, that given by MM. Nernst and Abegg, but the practical application of it given by the latter, is open to criticism. A very simple and accurate method is given by M. Raoult, who shows that the temperature of the bath is without practical effect upon the laws previously published. In the few cases where the correction is necessary, it is easily measured and applied.—On differential equations of the first order, by M. P. Painlevé.—On the regula- tion of motors, by M. L. Lecornu.—Observations on the errors due to variations of temperature in geodesic instruments, by H. F. A. Aimo. A discussion of the effect of temperature upon the size and shape of the air-bubble in levelling instruments.— On the spectra of metalloids in fused salts, by M. A. de Gramont. Measurements of the lines due to sulphur in metallic sulphides, —Contributions to the study of absorption by porous bodies, by M. Lachaud. An experimental study of the amounts of quinine, methyl-violet, salicylic acid, tannin, dextrine, and gelatine remaining in solution after treatment with animal black.—On the estimation of potassium, by M. Charles Fabre. The platinochloride is reduced in warm aqueous solution by magnesium powder, and the resulting chloride titrated with standard silver solution.—On the heat of vaporisation of formic acid, by Miss D. Marshall. By comparison with benzene as a standard substance, the value for the latent heat of vaporisation of formic acid was found to be 120°4, a number practically identical with that (120°9) calculated from M. Raoult’s formula containing the rate of variation of vapour pressure with tempera- ture, the absolute boiling point, and the molecular lowering of the vapour pressure as the experimental data.—Combinations of antipyrin with oxybenzoic acids and their derivatives, by MM. G. Patein and E, Dufau.—On lighting by acetylene, by M. G. Trouvé. A description of the methods used for the practical preparation of acetylene for lighting purposes from calcium carbide.—On the composition of the red pigment of Amzanzta muscaria, by M, A. B. Griffiths. —On the larval metamorphoses of the Phoronts sabatzer?, by M. Louis Roule.—Description o. a new genus of simple Ascidia, Gamaster Dakarenis, by M. A. 168 Pizon. This genus resembles generally the Zugyra, from which however it is clearly differentiated by the structure and position of the genital organs.—On the existence and development of the eggs of the sardine in the waters of Concarneau, by MM. Fabre-Domergue and Biétrix.—The latent life of grain, by M. V. Jodin.—Remarks on the preceding communication, by M. Armand Gautier.—Analysis of one of the meteoric stones that fell at Madrid, February 10, 1896, by M. S. B. Mirat. The meteorite consisted practically of the silicate of magnesium and iron, containing also estimable quantities of aluminium, nickel, and calcium,—Artificial reproduction of malachite by a new method, by M. A. de Schulten.—On the liassic domes of the Zaghouan and of Bou-Kournin, by MM. E. Ficheur and E. Hang.—The part played by the hind limbs in the motion of the horse, by M. Le Hello.—On a relation between muscular energy and sensibility, and on the laws of variation of this energy with respect to time, by M. C. Henry.—Photographs by the X-rays of a bullet in the brain, by MM. E. Brissaud and Londe. New SourH WALES. Linnean Society, April 29.—Mr. Henry Deane, President, in the chair.—Theoretical explanations of the distribution of southern faunas, by Captain F. W. Hutton, F.R.S. After reviewing the various theories which have been offered to explain the difficult and intricate problem of the distribution of southern faunas, the author pointed out that the supposition that the ancestors of certain groups migrated from the northern into the southern hemisphere by the present continents, and have since then become extinct in the north, explained a good deal, but failed to give a full and satisfactory explanation cf the -whole of the facts. Moreover the members of the fauna un- accounted for are old forms, and consequently the means of communication which served them must long ago have been destroyed. Yo the author a fatal objection to the theory of migration by way of an Antarctic continent is offered by the following consideration. _Aplacental mammals—both Multi- tuberculata and Polyprotodontia—existed in Europe and North America in the Triassic and Jurassic periods, and these Poly- protodontia were, no doubt, the ancestors of the living Polypro- todontia of Australia. In the Eocene strata of Patagonia remains of a large number of Polyprotodontia have been found which are far more closely related to the Polyprotodontia of Australia than to the Mesozoic forms of Europe and North America ; consequently a direct land communication must have existed between these two southern countries. Now there is strong geological and palxontological evidence that no land ridge existed between North and South America during the Mesozoic and early Cainozoic eras; consequently it must be assumed that the southern forms migrated through the Malay Archipelago ; and, if they went to Patagonia by means of an Antarctic continent, they must have passed through Australia. But mingled with the Eocene marsupials of Patagonia there are a number of Eutheria of typically South American character without any northern forms of Artéodactyla, Carnivora, or Jnsectivora ; and it is hardly possible that these should have passed through Australia without leaving any record behind. The theory of the former existence of a South Pacific Mesozoic continent, first suggested by Huxley, seemed to be the only theory left. It not only explains the origin of the Australian and South American marsupials, but also the almost simul- taneous appearance of different Eutherian mammals in North and South America. It must be supposed that this continent threw off first New Zealand, then Australia, then Chili, and finally disappeared under the waves. At a later date, New Zealand must have formed part of a large island joined to New Caledonia, but not to Australia. The objections to this theory are geological rather than biological, involving the doctrine of the persistence of continental and oceanic areas upon which geologists are not agreed; and such objections are equally applicable to the theory of an Antarctic continent.—Report on a Bone Breccia deposit near the Wombeyan Caves, New South Wales: with descriptions of some new species of marsupials, by Dr. R. Broom, —_{ the line of birds a series of waves. Our large hornbills, Becevos Sicornis, behave in the same way. I believe that when we look up and see a crowd of very minute specks some 5000 to 8000 feet above us (binoculars often needed), we see birds which have gone up there for cool- ness, and to go to s/ees—to doze, at any rate. There is an entire absence of the mental and physical alertness and agility, which would be covstantly needed if they depended on inequalities of wind pressure, and equally sudden, and invisible, 2p gzsts, to save themselves from falling. Wierr Lilienthal is probably on the right trail. I see he desires to turn and meet the breeze ; but in this movement, I fancy the upper central aéroplane—so high above the centre of gravity—will turn him over in a strong wind. In the bird’s case (when turning) there is very obviously strong centripetal counter | pressure, and great speed, quite sixty miles an hour I should suppose, at end of the leeward lap. , I notice that ‘‘ W. J. S. L.” (second paragraph, p. 301, January 30) assumes that the speed at times would be s/ower than the wind. This could only be when stopping. In the bird’s case, the lifting is mainly done when it turns and meets the wind, and speed is slowed down, and the overturning is prevented, when the wings are thus, —~ «—<« to the wind, by the great /afeva/ expanse. There is none of this latter, in the centrally superposed plane machine; the bird’s great lateral steadiness is structurally absent. Soaring machines may be of two types: A, those condazning their own power; and B, those deriving it from the surroundings only. There is no screw in the stern of the ‘‘Bov Tokla,” as he wheels round and round close over me, as I sit hidden in a tuft of grass on the wide plain. Rising to windward, he circles over me at 200 feet or so, and with binoculars, or even without, I can see each feather, and hear the loud noise they make ; there is never a move, except a little in the tail, yet lap by lap the bird steadily rises, and as steadily, if slowly, gets a drift to leeward. NO. 1397, VOL. 54] NATURE [Aucust 6, 1896 | Ido not suppose the bird can soar without expenditure of energy ; all I desire to point out is, that upward air currents do not lift and sustain it, also that the lifting is seen to be applied to the primary wing feathers almost entirely, and in a way which shows the liftis due to lateral translation. Tie a primary at the end of a long light stick, and on whirling it the effect is obvious. S. E. PEAL, Sibsagar, Asam, June 21. The Position of Science at Oxford. Iv is notoriously difficult to express one’s whole meaning in a condensed article. In so far as the article on the position of science at Oxford referred to the teaching of science at public schools, I see from Mr. C. I. Gardiner’s letter that I have failed to express my meaning, and I must hasten to remove the im- pression that I intended to cast any reproach on the science masters of our public schools. I find it, indeed, difficult to understand how any one could have mistaken my meaning as much as Mr. Gardiner has done, seeing that I wrote that in every public school there are one or more science masters of tried capacity ; a statement, I submit, which is entirely at variance with Mr. Gardiner’s interpretation of my remarks. He makes me say that there is an absence of efficient teachers in scientific subjects ; a statement which I never made, and could not make, for it would be manifestly untrue. I must admit, however, that a single sentence, ‘‘taken on the whole the science teaching at our public schools is bad,” was unfortunate : I should have said that the value attached to science teaching at our public schools is altogether insufficient. Let me assure Mr. Gardiner that the last thing in the world that I should wish is that anything should be said or done to depreciate the attainments or the authority of science masters. Perhaps I may be allowed to explain, The efficiency of a machine depends firstly upon its excellence, secondly on the conditions under which it works. I do not dispute the excellence of science masters, but, speaking generally, I deplore the conditions under which they work in public schools. I stated that in public schools the inducements to learning science are very few (not nil, as Mr. Gardiner misquotes me); secondly, that it is openly discouraged ; thirdly, that boys are apt to neglect studies which may safely be neglected. I adhere to each and all of these propositions. Boys, pace Mr. Gardiner, are as much impelled by emulation as by interest and fear (heaven forbid that fear uf the cane should ever be associated with scientific teaching). Mr. Latter, in his valuable letter, throws the weight of his experience in favour of my state- ment : ‘* A promising boy cannot make up by his science for de- ficiency in classics or mathematics . . . whereas the acute classic, however obtuse in science, is in no way hindered on his path to sixth form.” No more need be said : the great inducement of emu- lation is wanting. Ifa boy neglects classics and mathematics he fails to rise in the school, is superannuated and sent away. If he neglects science, whilst working respectably at classics, he may incur formal reproof, he scarcely incurs reproach; at any rate he is in no danger of superannuation. Is it not safe, then, to neglect science? How Mr. Gardiner could have construed a harmless sentence into an attack on science teachers, I am at a loss to conceive. His conclusion is certainly not contained in the premisses, and I may be allowed to remind him that jumping to conclusions is hardly a scientific proceeding. As to the discouragement of science being no longer in existence, I can only say that Mr. Gardiner’s experience is happier than mine. I trust his experience will soon become universal. ; Boys do come to Oxford and to Cambridge destitute of scientific ideas. I have ample experience in Oxford, and my Cambridge friends make the same complaint. There are, of course, some few who have made science a speciality, and are well grounded, but the majority are absolutely ignorant of the alphabet of science. It is a well-known fact, and may be proved in the following way. Let it be proposed that a paper in rudimentary physics be compulsory in the ‘ Little Go” at Cambridge, and in “Smalls” at Oxford. The proposal will be rejected by both Universities, because, it will be alleged, this minimal knowledge of science would be an insuperable barrier to the classical scholar. Moreover, it is the universal experience of those who are engaged in science teaching in the two Universities, that much of their energy is wasted in teaching the alphabet of science to those who propose to take honours in that subject. That alphabet might have been learned at school. I make no Aucust 6, 1896] NATURE 319 — reflection on the science masters. If the genius of the schools were something more than classical, if boys could get the same promotion for science that they do for classics, the opportunities of the science master would be increased a hundred-fold, and scientific knowledge would become the rule instead of the exception. Throughout the article on the position of science at Oxford, I referred to public schools, only once to science masters, and that once in a complimentary sense. It should have been sufficiently clear, in spite of my unguarded sentence, that it was the spirit, the general scheme of education of our public schools, that I was attacking. Mr. Latter’s letter justifies my attack. There are points in his letter which I would willingly discuss, but space forbids my entering into them now. As to the questions of Greek and the precedence of chemistry and physics over biology, there is much to be said on both sides. I will only say this: Mr. Latter is an accomplished zoologist, and his love of his subject perhaps leads him to under-estimate the intense interest which many young boys take in chemical and physical problems. After watching carefully a group of very small boys with whom I have familiar relations, I am convinced that they go after butterflies and fishes, not by preference, but because they have this opportunity of satisfying their thirst for natural knowledge, and have not the same opportunities for cultivating chemistry and physics. At any rate, if I offer to make hydrogen, or to exhibit an air-pump or an electric battery, the insects are deserted at once. Being a biologist myself, I write without prejudice in favour of the more exact sciences. THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE. The Salaries of Science Demonstrators. I FANCY the incident referred to in the fable quoted by «©, J. L.” (p. 271) must have happened some time ago, possibly when ‘‘O. J. L.” wasa tadpole himself. Iam sure he would not think so lightly of our grievances if he fully realised the state of affairs in this pond of late years. At one time every tadpole who did good work had a reasonable prospect of developing into a frog on attaining a suitable age. | Now there are scores of tadpoles, some of them grey-haired, who attend meetings, and croak to the best of their ability, and read papers bearing the name of some frog as joint author, but who seem fated to end their days in the tadpole stage because they cannot get sufficient food to enable them to develop into frogs. This state of affairs is, I take it, largely attributable to the following cause. As all naturalists are aware, our ponds at certain seasons of the year are choked with frog-spawn. Under the old xégzme this spawn had to take its chance; some got dried up in the sun, and some got washed away by rain, so that only one occasional ov here or there hatched. This process of survival of the fittest led to the production of a race of frogs eminently adapted to hold their own in the struggle for existence, and many of these have now acquired world-wide reputations. But Mother Carey, fearing lest any of the eggs that perished might contain the latent germs of some remarkable genius, has carefully tended this frog-spawn and hatched it in a laboratory fitted up with all the most modern incubators and other appliances, and has sometimes even nurtured it with County Council and other scholarships. So far so good. But as soon as the tadpoles are hatched, Mother Carey turns them adrift into our pond to fish for themselves, and takes no more notice of them. The result is that, where we had one tadpole formerly, there are now hundreds, struggling and starving each other out. Every morsel of food dropped into our pond (even if it be only a matter of £60 a year) leads to a terrible scramble, in which the best of us do not always come off first. I consider that we have a genuine grievance against Mother Carey on the ground that, after having devoted so much energy to hatching large numbers of tadpoles annually, she gives so little thought about finding us proper food at the time when we most needit. If we cannot all live on dry land, let us, at any rate, have a fair chance of developing our power of swimming like frogs in the water. ‘*AN AGGRIEVED TADPOLE.” The Date of the Glacial Period. Mr. Davison has laid geologists under many obligations to him for his mathematical investigations of vexed or obscure questions. His suggestion in the Geolog?cal Magazine, that the glacial period would probably have left a long-enduring mark NO. 1397, VOL. 54[ upon the iso-geotherms, seemed to me, as I dare say it did to other students of glacial geology, a promising one; and though a comparison, which I made of the gradients in thirty-seven cases within the glaciated area of Britain with sixteen in the un- glaciated portion, failed to reveal any significant difference, stilh I have been disposed to ascribe the failure rather to the imper- fection of the data than to any fault in the method. When, however, Mr. Davison (NATURE, June II, p. 137) extends the application of his formula to a comparison of two hemispheres, the insufficiency of the data is such as to entirely vitiate any results. In the northern hemisphere there were available in 1885, when Prestwich wrote his memoir published by the Royal Society, 231 series of observations on the temperature of mines, tunnels and bore-holes, and it was only by what appeared to be the rather arbitrary elimination of an immense number of the records, that anything like an agreement could be obtained What, however, is the body of evidence employed in the determination of the temperature-gradient in the southern hemi- sphere? One bore-hole in New South Wales! Whatever confidence we may feel in the care exercised by the observers, F cannot think that any general conclusions should be based upon this single series of observations. There are several well-known bore-holes in the northern hemisphere in which the gradient is as far from the average given by Mr. Davison as is that of the Australian one, and, though various explanations were suggested, none was regarded as satisfactory. If Mr. Davison had referred to the Wheelton bore-hole in the 19th and 20th reports of the British Associa- tion Committee on underground temperatures, he would have found there a series of observations, made by a practised physicist, and repeated after an interval of a year under varied conditions, with practically identical results ; yet here the increase of temperature was only 7° /. per 70 feet. The St. Louis bore- hole, again, gave an average gradient of 88 feet ; and though the result was regarded as erroneous, it was acknowledged that every care had been exercised, and no specific source of error could be suggested. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, I think it will be generally conceded that, interesting as this Australian record may be, it throws no light whatever upon the vexed question of alternate glacial periods in the two hemispheres. Percy F. KENDALL, Yorkshire College, Leeds, July 16. TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING} HAT taxidermy has been almost an entirely neglected art is obvious to the least scientific visitor to even the best of our museums, when he regards the “ deformed, distorted, and disproportioned” effigies that represent our commonest species. Every means, therefore, be it by example or precept, which will have the effect of impress- ing on the taxidermist the importance of his share in the exposition of natural history, and which will tend to raise what is at present little better than the knack of distend- ing, more or less cleverly, the skins of animals with wool or shavings, to the science and art of where and why to “stuff” and reproduce, and how to pose, will be welcomed by all those who are responsible for instructing, by forms made up to simulate life, those desirous of becoming ac- quainted with the likeness and gait of animals which they have few or no opportunities of observing in a state of nature ; and by those who turn aside to our museums to refresh their spirits with the sight of species which they have learned to love in the fields or in the sea. The title of the work which heads this article is from the pen of Mr. Montagu Browne, the Curator of the Leicester Museum. That institution has obtained a con- siderable and deserved reputation for the excellence of many of its mounted groups, birds especially, as examples of the taxidermist’s art, prepared by the skilled hands, 1 ** Artistic and Scientific Taxidermy and-Modelling : a Manual of Instruc- tion inthe Methods of Preserving and Reproducing the Correct Form of all Natural Objects, including a chapter on the Modelling of Foliage.” By Montagu Browne, F.G.S., F.Z.S., &c., Curator of the Leicester Corpora- tion Museum and Art Gallery; author of “‘ Practical Taxidermy,” &c. With 22 full-page illustrations, and 11 in text. Pp. xii + 463. (London : Adam and Charles Black, 1896.) 320 we believe, of the curator himself. A work, therefore, on the subject in which he is an expert deserves attention. Taken as a whole. we may at once say, that its careful perusal will well repay the practical taxidermist and modeller, for he will find the book to be a very detailed guide to the more important methods of reproducing animals and plants for exhibition purposes. Curators of museums, even though they are neither taxidermists nor modellers, will derive many excellent suggestions from its pages. The object of the work, the author informs us, is to pave the way for the “happy combination” of qualities which he thinks the taxidermist should possess. “ The future and hope of taxidermy will be,” he says, “the welding of the educated artist, designer, modeller, sculptor, biologist and naturalist ; and the two last are by no means synonymous terms, as some might suppose. When this happens—and there is no reason why all these NATURE | Aucust 6, 1896 various attitudes, and whichever of these he desires to reproduce he will have noted in his preliminary study of his subject. He has but to copy faithfully—neither to | create, nor to use the painter’s “ poetic inspirations.” Following a short account of the origin and progress of taxidermy, the succeeding seven chapters (some 290 pages) deal with the skinning and setting up of verte- brates, and the preserving of inv ertebrates, by various and also their reproduction by casting and modelling in paper, glue, &c. On these subjects Mr. Browne writes with undoubted authority and wide ex- perience, and his instructions and descriptions are, there- fore, of the greatest value. Besides the processes and | methods long known and widely practised, the author claims to describe “‘ methods of taxidermy and modelling | not yet published, most of which are indeed absolutely | novel, and at present confined to the Leicester Museum” ; specially noteworthy among them is the mounting of the Fic. 1.—Model in Paper of the Headless Body of a Tiger. attributes should not be combined in one individual— taxidermy will become an exact science relieved as paint- ing is at present by poetic inspirations.” In this opinion Mr, Browne but supports what Dr. Shufeldt, whom he quotes, has written on the subject of the taxidermist’s training. Such aconcatenation of qualities in one person will, we fear, remain a dream of the future. Life is not long enough for one individual to master a series of pro- fessions each arduous enough in itself for most men. Indeed, we hardly desire such a “professor” of many callings. Knowledge is never useless, but in our opinion it appears unnecessary to insist that the taxidermist of the future shall possess a scientific training in biology, or should know more anatomy and osteology than may be gained in his apprentic eship, and by very careful observa- tion of the bodies of the animals he has to deal with; for he has to reproduce only the external surfaces as affected by NO. 1397, VOL. 54] in paper, a process which, though tedious and demanding much labour and care, will probably prove to be a great improvement on that involving a “ mannikin.” An illus- tration of a model in paper of a headless tiger, on which the skin is to be fitted, is, through the courtesy of the publishers, reproduced here (Fig. 1). We are surprised to observe that Mr. Browne strongly decries the use of “arsenical and mercurial [corrosive sub- limate] soap,” as being very inefficient and too dangerous for use, and recommends in its place “a non-poisonous preservative soap” (of chalk, lime-chloride and musk) of his own devising. Notwithstanding this, we read on page 35, “the most perfect preservatives are probably those which contain [which the author's preservative does not] with alcohol a certain percentage of bichloride of mercury,” and on other pages several formula so com- “ skin, which is fully described, upon a model of the body Avcust 6, 1896} NATURE oir pounded are recommended for use for skins infested with insects, for it prevents insect pests and mildew “ever appearing afterwards.” Great care is always necessary in the use of poisons ; but as there is no greater danger in using arsenical soap containing bichloride of mercury than an alcoholic solution of the salt, we are at loss to understand his strong denunciation of the evidently more efficient medium. The present writer has found no pre- servative equal to it, and has used it for thousands of skins, bird and mammal, in various regions of the globe, and cannot recollect to have lost one by moth, mite, or der- mestes—except when the soap was insufficiently applied. Many of them also, after lying for years as dry skins, have been relaxed, and have proved all that could be desired. The alcoholic solution of corrosive sublimate applied to a tender skin renders it very brittle, a result entirely obviated when the salt is incorporated in the soap. Several formule, of which Mr. Browne claims the to the study of botany, which even the best prepared herbarium can scarcely be said to do. How naturally such plants can be modelled may be seen from the second plate (Fig. 2), which we are kindly permitted to reproduce. The volume, which is dedicated to the doyen of museum reformers, Sir William Flower, is so beautifully printed, illustrated and bound, that we feel we cannot close our commendation of the author’s part without a word of appreciation of the publishers’ share in its production. PROGRESS IN STEREOCHEMISTRY. Ane the stronger minds among men of science, exer- cised in abstract conception, and independent of such aids to the imagination as are embodied in draw- ings of atomic arrangements, models of molecules and even formulz of atomic groupings, there is no doubt something almost repulsive in the representation of the Fic. 2.— Models, in Fabric, of Sea-Aster and Flowering Rush. authorship, are given for the preservation of cartilage ; but we miss any reference, either in the book itself or in the bibliography at the end, to Prof. Jeffery Parker’s methods. He was one of the first, if not the first, to preserve cartilaginous fishes as “dry” specimens in museums, by very similar, if not essentially the same, processes as Mr. Browne. Not the least valuable section of the book is the ninth chapter, describing “casting and modelling from natural foliage, flowers, fruits, alga, fungi, &c., and their reproduction in practically indestructible materials,”— the Mintorn Art Fabric. This is quite a recent branch of the taxidermist’s art—if it really belong to it—-which is as important, and demands equal care an ability as the mounting of the specimen which it is to enhance. The reproduction in this material of the species of the British flora in our museums would prove a very great incentive NO. 1397, VOL. 54] molecule as a machine, a combination of mechanical powers. It is nearly forty years since the screw was suggested (by Pasteur) as a symbol of the atomic arrange- ment in tartaric acid, and now we find the lever intro- duced in such phrases as “the moment of a chain of atoms varying with its length.” The wheel-and-axle has not yet been pressed into the service to explain atomic vagaries ; and of the philosopher who shall venture to take this further step, the abstract thinkers of to-day will surely say, as Kolbe said of the chemist who was destined to succeed him in his professorial chair at Leipzig: “Hereby he declares that he has left the ranks of men of science, and has gone over to the camp of those philosophers of ill-omen, who are separated from the spiritualists by only a very thin medium /” Yet as surely as Kolbe was succeeded by the stereo- chemist whose doctrines he denounced, so surely will the bo dln Ne Ocf NATURE [Aucust 6, 1896 vague atomic groupings of to-day be succeeded by definite systems, in which each atom will have its orbit mapped out with ever-increasing minuteness ; for as long as the atomic theory endures, so long will it become more and more of a mechanical theory; and indeed it would be absolutely inconsistent, when we are perpetually striving to arrange the atoms of a molecule into groups, to give up all attempt to determine the relative positions and motions of the groups and of the atoms within them. It is as true to-day as it was when Kekulé published the state- ment in his “Aims and Achievements of Scientific Chemistry,” that as the great present aim of physics is the elaboration of a system of molecular mechanics, so the great present aim of chemistry is the elaboration of a system of atomic mechanics, in which every reaction will be accounted for by the mass and motion of the reacting atoms. This may be deplorable; but those who think it most so, most keenly realise that it is true. For instance, quite recently, in his plea for “ Emanci- pation from Scientific Materialism,”! Prof. Ostwald wrote :— “We read and hear with countless repetition the statement that the only intelligent explanation of the physical world is to be found in a ‘Mechanics of the Atoms’; matter and motion appear as the final prin- ciples to which natural phenomena in all their variety must be referred.” With regard to physics, a similar acknowledgment is contained in the words of Duhem, uttered in 1894 :— “When the science of motion ceases to be the first in logical order of the physical sciences, and becomes only a special case of a much more general science, which embraces in its formule all the changes of bodies, the temptation will be less to try to reduce to the study of , motion the study of all physical phenomena; it will be better understood that change of position in space is a problem no simpler than change of temperature or of any other physical property. Then we shall more easily avoid the most dangerous reef of theoretical physics —a mechanical explanation of the universe.” (/our. de Mathématiques, x. 207.) Such statements as these are valuable, in that they , remind us that even the most necessary of our present | theories is a temporary makeshift—a crutch which in- , dicates the weakness that it helps, and which we may hope to be able to discard. This might be said, however, of most things that are useful; and it must be remembered that the same theory is not the best forevery one. For each man that theory is the best which is the most stimulating, which best spurs him on to useful work, which urges and guides him forward into the unknown. Another theory may have more facts in its favour, but if these facts do not specially interest the worker in question, it will be of less value to him than a theory, otherwise inferior, which enables him vividly to realise, and aptly to utilise, those facts which do interest him. Moreover, even if we admit that the atomic theory may be near the end of its existence, and that it may, and should, shortly be superseded by a more widely useful theory, it must yet be maintained that the way to hasten this consummation is to push the theory with all rapidity, and in every direction, to its extreme con- sequences, in the full assurance that, so far as it is incomplete, this will be the quickest way to demonstrate its deficiencies. Now, among the consequences of the atomic theory, the consideration of the space relations of the atoms occupies the first place; it is not an extreme, but an immediate and a necessary consequence. For this reason alone, if stereochemistry did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it. But to find a vatson détre, 1 Science Progress, February 1896. 397, VOL. 54] NO. stereochemistry needs no such arguments. fied its existence by its achievements. The stereochemical explanation of the existence and properties of the two different substances formed when a carbon atom unites with four dissimilar groups of atoms, has long been generally admitted. As to the exact three-dimensional formule by which we should represent these two substances, both of which correspond It has justi- to the ordinary formula CR'R*R*R%, differences of opinion ° exist ; but it is certain that the formulae must resemble those given in the figures (1 and 2), in so far as these represent three-dimensional arrangements, each unsym- metrical, but such that the two together form a sym- metrical whole ; in other words, each being the mirrored image of the other. And space-formula, in these re- Fic. 2. Fic. 1. spects similar, must be admitted for the two compounds formed by the union of a nitrogen atom with five different groups. It is true that, beyond this, the services of stereo- chemistry are questioned by some chemists. Yet it can- not be denied that the tetrahedral grouping of the atoms combined with carbon forms a connecting link between whole groups of facts, in the most varied branches of organic chemistry, which, without it, would have been left in comparative isolation. But without entering into the necessarily complicated discussion of these develop- ments, it may be shown, by the consideration of a single instance, that the simple original conception of the three- dimensional asymmetric grouping of dissimilar atoms about the carbon-atom to which they are attached, enables stereochemistry not merely to follow in the steps of structural chemistry, and to explain many anomalies which the latter leaves unaccounted for, but to push its investigations in advance, and to declare the space- relations prevailing in the molecules of substances as yet never analysed, and even never isolated. The action on polarised light of a substance in solution is a test for the asymmetric grouping of the atoms in its molecules. Just as when we find a substance crystallising in two forms, such as Figs. 3 and 4, having the relation of the right and left hands, we know that these crystals will have the power of rotating the plane of polarised hight to the right and to the left respectively ; so when we find that a dissolved substance exerts a one-sided action on the light, we know that it possesses a one-sided molecule capable of existing in the right- and left-handed forms (Figs. 1 and 2) ; which, it will be observed, bear the same relation to each other as the crystal forms 3 and 4. Further, it is known that although the two members of a pair of substances like those shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, through the identity of their atoms and the equality of the distances dividing them, show no difference in their behaviour towards any ordinary sub- stance, yet they differ entirely in their behaviour towards molecules which are themselves asymmetric. To go back to Pasteur’s simile, they resemble equal screws with their threads turned in opposite directions. Both will fit the same hole equally well if it is an ordinary hole ; but if it is a hollow screw, then everything will depend upon whether the thread of the hollow screw is right- or left-handed. Conversely, if towards any substance the right- and Aucust 6, 1896] left-handed molecules, CR!R?R*R', act differently, we may conclude that this substance contains molecules which are themselves asymmetric. So that when we find, for example, a certain species of microscopic organism fermenting and destroying a “right-handed” sugar, but not attacking a “left-handed” sugar otherwise identical with the first, we may conclude that those molecules of the ferment which are concerned in the attack are themselves, all or some of them, of a decidedly right- or left-handed character. The line joining their atoms would itself be a spiral, the thread of a screw. And in fact we find living organisms to be largely com- posed of asymmetric molecules, albuminoids, which themselves exert a one-sided action on light. It is evident, then, that there is a relation between a ferment and the substance it ferments, as between a solid screw and a hollow screw with threads which enable one to turn in the other. And the recent researches of Fischer and Thierfelder show the relation between every turn of the two threads to be most intimate. In these experiments, twelve different species of yeast were obtained pure and free from other organisms, and fourteen different sugars were tested with each species of yeast. After eight days it was found that some of the sugars were completely fermented, some only partially, some not at all. And it was observed that the same ferment would attack sugars of widely varying composition, a sugar containing only three carbon atoms, ¢.g., as readily as one with nine carbon atoms in its molecule. But directly it became a question of the geometrical structure of the sugar mole- cule the ferments showed the nicest particularity. In the case of sugars containing six carbon atoms and of exactly the same chemical composition, some would ferment readily, and others not at all. For example, there were tested : Dextro-glucose. -mannose. -galactose. on at aS axa Ney Di fa PN | | | | HCOH HOCH HCOH HOCH | | | | HOCH HOCH HOCH HOCH | | | | HCOH HCOH HOCH HOCH | | | | HCOH IHCOH HCOH HCOH | | | | HCOHW HCOH HCOH HCOH Hi H H H I. Il. Ill. Iv. In each of these four molecules the atoms are the same in kind and in number. The only difference is that whereas in I. there is on one side of the molecule—say on the left, as in the formula given—only one OH group, in II. there are two OH groups on the left, in III. also two, but not the same two, and in IV. there are three. Now it is found that, with the same yeast-species, III. ferments with more difficulty than either I. or II., and the slight further change in the space-relations suffices to deprive IV. altogether of the power of fermenting. This is but one example of the way in which the yeast- cells pick and choose their food. Here, as Fischer observes, we have not simply to do with two similar substances of opposite activity—represented by screws having threads opposed throughout—but we find that | of a great number of geometrical forms only a few satisfy the requirements of the yeast-cells; and these few forms are represented by screws in which the threads differ only as regards the direction of one or two of their turns. This may be illustrated by the figures below ; for although it is impossible to give an exact representa- tion of the geometrical forms of the molecules of the | NATURE es) their forms must correspond to the relations between the figures given, which are formed by a line starting from the COH group (a), joining C, OH, and H, always in the order named, and ending at the group CH,OH (B). If the zigzag thus obtained be considered as the thread of a screw, it will be seen that in I. (Fig. 5) the thread is reversed at C* and again at C*. In II. (Fig. 6), which also ferments readily, there is reversal at C% only, in a a HO<=—C >>> OH Sst Herz ie a HO~H Hom Lee Sa Say on Son He--7 ac Fic. 7. Fic. 8. III. (Fig. 7), which ferments with difficulty, at C? and C4, and in IV. (Fig. 8), which ferments not at all, at C! only. These relations are shown yet more clearly in the following figures, in which the side of the OH group is represented by a broad curve, while the sharp angle is retained for the H side. ey a B IB Fic. 9 Fic. 10, t =a = ae ee Jt a — = e = ae 1B Fic. 113 Fic. 12. In the fermentation of all the sugars, the chief agent is, according to Fischer, proteid matter, a substance which is itself asymmetric, and which, being formed from the carbohydrates of plants, probably possesses a geo- metrical structure similar to that of the natural six-carbon sugars. Hence it can attack and ferment substances sugars in question, it is certain that the relations between | geometrically not far removed from these, z.e. from grape NO. 1397, VOL. 54] 324 NATURE [Aucusr 6, 1896 sugar. The question arises, Why do not all yeasts fer- ment the same sugars? Ifthe origin of the fermenting molecules is in all. cases the same, has a change of en- vironment power to alter them, provided many genera- tions of yeast-cells are exposed to the same conditions ? In order to answer this question, Fischer and Thierfelder attempted to breed a yeast which should ferment a sugar its ancestors were incapable of attacking. Starting with a yeast which could attack only dextro-glucose, they mixed this sugar with its own weight of a left-handed sugar (l-mannose), and gradually increased the propor- tion of the latter during three months—a time sufficient for many generations of yeast-cells to succeed one another. When the proportion of glucose was reduced to one-half per cent. the fermentation still went on, but, on reducing it to nothing, fermentation ceased altogether. So far, then, this attempt has been a failure. In another direction, however, the research was developed with more success. complicated by the presence of an unknown factor—the life of the fermenting organisms. Analogous experiments were therefore made with lifeless ferments, or enzymes, such as invertin, and emulsion, by allowing them to attack molecules differing only in the space-relations of their atoms. It was found that their power of discrimina- tion was no less exact than that of the living cell. The difference between a glucose- and a galactose-grouping (I. and III. p. 323), which is merely a matter of H and OH changing places, is for them a difference absolutely vital. In the one case they attack the molecule, in the other they will have nothing to do with it. The explana- tion is similar to that given in the case of the sugars. Invertin and emulsin much resemble proteids, and no doubt possess asymmetric molecules. Their limited action on the glucosides is therefore to be accounted for by the supposition that the approximation of the mole- cules necessary for chemical action is possible only for molecules of similar geometrical build. To use Fischer's simile, ferment and fermented substance must fit like lock and key. For stereochemistry this image is the more valuable now that the observations have been re moved from the biological to the purely chemical field of the lifeless ferments. And indeed for physiological chemistry, also, this last step is no less important, since very many of the processes which go on in the organism are effected by lifeless ferments, and must be largely influenced by the geometry of the molecule. Nevertheless, those who already deplore the use of materialistic aids to the scientific imagination will find, in this image of the lock and key, but another count in their indictment of stereochemistry. ARNOLD EILOART, NOTES. A REUTER telegram reports that the English tourist steamer Garonne arrived at Vadso on August 2, and landed some of the members of the British expedition to observe the forthcoming eclipse of the sun, They proceeded at once to the south of the Varanger Fjord, where Her Majesty’s cruiser Vo/age had already landed the astronomical instruments required for the obser- vations. The steamship Morse Azng also arrived at Vadso on Sunday with a large party of astronomers to observe the eclipse. THE prospects of astronomers who have gone to Norway to observe the forthcoming total eclipse of the sun, are decidedly good, 6 15 These figures may be exceeded under more favourable cir- cumstances. The best angle of the groove on the pulley was found to be 45°, and the best speed of rope 3300 feet per minute. Illustrations and descriptions were given of many very ingenious forms of rope driving, by which power was conveyed from a driver to a single driven pulley under conditions that would have been impossible with belts, or in any case unless complicated trains of wheel gearing had been employed. In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, a good deal of light for the uninitiated was thrown on rope driving practice. The importance of splicing was brought to the fore, and on this depends to a large extent the durability of ropes used for conveying power. A short splice will not do at all, and even the “‘long splice” ordinarily made by the mariner is insufficient, For 3-inch ropes the splice has to be 12 feet long ; the strands being cut and divided, so as to avoid producing what sailors call a ‘‘ gouty” length ; that is, one where there is an increased diameter. Three patterns of rope are used ; the three strand, four strand, and the served rope. The former is far the easier to splice, the latter the most difficult. A served rope, however, has the greatest flexibility ; a very prominent virtue in a driving rope, as it leads to longevity, and enables smaller pulleys to be used without ill effect. In regard to material, cotton appears to be the favourite. It is almost universally used _in England; naturally so in the Lancashire district, where rope-driving practice is so largely followed. In Ireland manilla appears to be most often used. There was one speaker, who came from India, and who said that he had used coir rope with great success; this is made from the fibrous material of the husk of the cocoanut. We should have thought this substance would have been altogether too elastic for the purpose. Another speaker, Mr. McLaren, had used rope-driving for ploughing purposes, but had gone far beyond the proportions advised by the author in his table. For instance, he had used a -inch rope to transmit 40 horse-power, whilst his pulleys were no more than 20 inches in diameter. This rope we understood him to say was a manilla one, but the proportions seem altogether extra- ordinary. We should have thought a wire rope would have been more likely to answer the purpose. The speaker, however, drew the moral that too high a factor of safety was demanded by engineers in rope driving. Later on Prof. Goodman stated that he had calculated the average factor of safety in rope driving at about go per cent. One of the excursions during the meeting was made from Belfast to Larne Harbour, to visit the alumina factory there situated. A description of this factory formed the basis of Mr. Sutherland’s paper. Although, as is universally known, alu- minium is one of the most abundant metals found in the earth, there are not many of the compounds containing it which render themselves readily to the extraction of the metal. Bauxite is the one generally used for its production, and large deposits of this have been found in County Antrim. The analysis is as follows :—Alumina is 56 per cent., corresponding to aluminium 29°9 per cent., peroxide of iron 3 per cent., silica 12 per cent., titanic acid 3 per cent., water 26 per cent. iron, silica, and titanic acid have to be separated out before the extraction of the metal from the alumina is attempted ; and it is the function of the Larne works to carry on these operations ; the smelting of the ore being done by electrical methods ac Foyers. within the scope of the paper now before us, but may form the subject later on of another contribution in the transactions of the inst.tution. NO. 1397, VOL. 54] ” ” ” ” ” ” ce) i) ” 29 The peroxide of | That, however, is an operation which does not come | It is the Bayer process which is used at Larne. The bauxite, as received from the mines, is first ground and sifted, after which it is taken to a calciner in order to remove the organic matter present, which would prevent the subsequent separation of the alumina from the caustic soda. The calciner is an iron tube lined with fire-brick, and caused to revolve on rollers. It is inclined at a necessary angle, the heat from the furnace pass- ing up through the tube. As the tube inclines, the bauxite travels to the lower end, and falls out into a receptacle. The alumina is extracted from the ground bauxite by treating it with a strong solution of caustic soda under pressure. This operation is carried out in Kiers. A soluble compound of alumina and soda (aluminate of soda) is thereby formed, while the peroxide of iron, silica, and titanic acid remain as an insoluble compound. The Kiers are steam-jacketed, and haye paddles mechanically ‘actuated to agitate the mixture. The steam pressure in the jacket is carried up to 70 or 80 pounds, and the mixture is subjected to the heat corresponding to the pressure for two or three hours until decomposition is complete. The liquid product of the Kiers is then passed through filter presses, the impurities being insoluble are retained, while the liquid aluminate runs into tanks. The residue, or cakes of im- purities, are afterwards washed to extract as much of the aluminate of soda as possible ; and the washings are used for diluting the product of the Kiers. Centrifugal pumps are em- ployed for this purpose. At present the red mud forming the residue is useless, and there is an opportunity for any chemist to suggest a means by which it could be utilised. Experiments are being conducted in this direction by the Company. The lyes from the presses contained in the filter tank are afterwards subjected to another filtering process, being passed through cel- lulose, consisting of paper-makers’ pulp. About fifty pounds of cellulose is boiled with water toa thin pulp, and is run upon sieves ; it soon settles down, and is then ready to receive the lyes, arresting all finely divided, insoluble particles that have escaped from the filter presses. Finally, there is another filtering process. It is now necessary to separate the alumina from the soda. This is brought about by the addition of excess of more hydrate of alumina to the hydrate of alumina itself, and in this way about 70 per cent. of the alumina in combination with the soda separates out in thirty-six hours. The hydrate of alumina is then pumped out of the decomposing cylinders, in which the latter process has taken place, sufficient however being allowed to remain behind in the cylinder for beginning the decomposi- tion of the next charge of liquor admitted. The hydrate of alumina pumped out is filtered through filter-presses, and the last traces of soda are removed by washing. The hydrate of alumina is then taken to the calcining furnace, where the water of hydration is driven off at a low temperature, leaving the alumina perfectly anhydrous. It will, however, take up water again readily, and to prevent this it is heated to about 2000° F,, when it becomes crystalline, and not so liable to absorb moisture. The weak soda liquors which are obtained are concentrated by a triple-effect evaporator. On the afternoon of Wednesday he members and their friends were shown these processes in operation at Larne. The last paper read was that by Mr. Stelfox. It was not discussed, the time for the conclusion of the meeting having arrived, The Belfast meeting was a complete success, the whole arrangements being carried out most satisfactorily, A large number of the works of Belfast were visited by members, manufacturers being most liberal in opening their establishments to members, and generally showing that hospitality for which Ireland is renowned. The summer meeting of next year is to be held in Birmingham, the city in which the Institution of Mechanical Engineers had its origin fifty years ago next year. OLD WORLD METEOROLOGY. [N the year 1508 a book was published in Germany under the title of the ‘* Bauern-Pracktik.” This book had a wide cir- culation. It taught the farmer, the sailor, the merchant—all, indeed, who were interested in the weather—what would be its 1 “Die Bauern Praktick. Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten iiber Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus.” Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. G. Hellmann. (Berlin: A. Asher and Co., 1806.) 330 NATURE [AucustT 6, 1896 character, not only for the coming year, but in all future years. This book, with its many editions and translations, has now become very scarce, and a facsimile copy of the original has been reproduced by Prof. Hellmann, who, with the affection of the ardent bibliographer, has traced it with infinite difficulty through many libraries and into many unexpected places. To this little book, which consists ot only eight or nine pages, the editor has added an introduction of some seventy, bearing the same relation to the original work that Falstaff’s sack did to his bread. And just as Falstaff found his bread an unwelcome addition, so these Jast few pages are a hard nut to those who have not made a critical study of the German of the fifteenth century. But Prof. Hellmann’s introduction gives great assist- ance, and by the help of it we have made out some of the rules and predictions, which appear quite as trustworthy as the pro- gnostications that our modern weather prophets circulate, and in which no doubt they find their account. The proper title of the book appears to be ‘* In disem biech- Jein wirt gefunden der Bauren Pracktick unnd regel darauff sy das ganz iar ain auffmercken haben unnd halten.” Under this title is a woodcut of a figure contemplating a crucifix, the whole surrounded by a scroll-work not badly executed. The text can he conveniently divided into three parts. The first shows how the weather, the harvest, the crops, and so forth, can be pre- dicted from observations of the weather at Christmastide. If the weather is fair and clear on Christmas night, then there will be plenty of wine and fruit. If the weather be contrary, so will the matter fall out contrary. Then the wind is of importance. We understand the author, whoever he may be, to say that if the wind gets up at sunrise the year will be dear; but if the wind gets up at sunset, the king and the great lords will die. Like our modern prophets, the author is not afraid to indicate the course of political events. A fruitful year is foreshadowed by a west wind at midnight, but a southerly wind at midday betokens that there will be daily thunder. The author’s word is “‘ Krackhair,” but whether we are justified in tracing it to *‘Krachen” must be decided by the student of old German. One can only regret that, with so simple a rule for his guide, one should be hindered from getting the full benefit, by his ignorance of the language in which it is written. Then the author goes on to tell us what will happen when Christmas day falls on a Monday, Tuesday, and so on to Saturday ; a very simple cycle, a little disturbed by the intro- duction of leap years, but nevertheless of great value to simple folk. With Christmas day on Sunday, among other things we are told that the summer will be hot and dry and fine, the autumn damp and wintry. There will be plenty of corn and wine and much honey, and if the text be correctly construed it says that ‘‘ old people will die willingly’; but this seems sucha contradiction to known facts, that the German must speak for itself to those who can understand it. ‘* Die alten leiit sterben geren.”” This is the kind of information that we get for each of the days of the week, and it is curious to notice the important part that honey plays in the predictions. He kills his king and his princes and his young men and his old women, but through all disasters he evidently remembers his honey, and in his partiality ranks it of equivalent importance to corn and wine. In the next section we are told what will happen by the condition of the weather during twelve days, presumably between Christmas and Epiphany. The rules are very short, and are given without ambiguity or hedging. If the sun shines through- out Christmas day it indicates a peaceful year ; if on the next day, however, money vanishes and corn becomes dear. But the third day presages something so awful that one must hope his translation is at fault. ‘‘ So kriegen die bischof uii die prelaten gern /ui wirt irrung und den pfaffen.” The spectacle of bishops, priests and deacons quarrelling is so opposed to our knowledge of their character, that some mistake has evidently glided in here, or the words do not convey the meaning which they apparently do to one only acquainted with modern German. The book concludes with remarks of similar value on each month more or less depending upon Church festivals, and thus connecting Church observance with meteorological phenomena. This strikes one as an ingenious method of ensuring observance of the Church’s calendar. If the sun shines on St. Vincent’s day, we are told there will be much wine; if on St. Paul’s day, a fruitful year. This last prediction recalls another of probably still older date. ‘*Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotat anni.” When the book passed over into a French translation a lighter NO. 1397, VOL. 54] note seems to have been struck, judging from the jingling rhymes by which it is recommended to the reader. BS Prognostication nouvelle Des anciens laboureurs m appelle Je fus de Dieu transmise aux vieulx Qui m ont approuvee en tous lieux Kt comme je diray motz a motz Les anciens ne font pas sotz Achepte moy quand m auras veu Car tu ne seras point deceu Je te donray une doctrine Qui te vauldra d’or une mine Et hardiment sur moy te fonde , Car je dure autant que le monde Et si te veulz bien advertir Que je ne te veulx point mentir. The contents appear, however, to be but a translation of the older German work, and the subject is regarded as too sacred and important to allow any license to the playfulness of French wit, to enliven the sobriety and heaviness of the German original. In our own country, under the title of the ‘* Husbandman’s Practice,” the book seems to have enjoyed a wide popularity. No divine authority was, however, invoked, but the predictions were fathered upon the astronomers, forsooth, and this too about the time that Newton published the ‘‘ Principia,” and Flamsteed was at work at Greenwich. The preface runs : ‘‘ The wise and cunning masters in astronomy have found, that man may see and mark the weather of the holy Christmas night, how the whole year after shall be on his working and doing, and they shall speak on this wise.” ““When on the Christmas night and evening it is very fair and clear weather and is without wind and without rain, then it is token that this year will be -plenty of wine and fruit.” And without much alteration or addition the rigmarole is translated from the German. From a remark of Prof. Hellmann, it is to be gathered that the legend of St. Swithin as a guide to the July weather did not appear in the early German editions. It first made its appearance in the English version some time before 1668. We find it somewhat difficult to take the work of Prof. Hellmann seriously, the predictions are so crude and ludicrous ; but it is impossible to read his preface without acknowledging the care and thoroughness with which he has done his work, and the labour he has bestowed upon the subject. The book itself may not be worth a second thought, but Prof. Hellmann has made it serve the purpose of developing two lines of investigation of great interest and importance, into which, how- ever, we cannot adequately enter. In the first place, how are we to account for the widespread hold upon the public mind that such a book had, and for so long maintained as a popular treatise ?, Whence comes the deep-seated love of the marvellous and superstitious, which manifested itself in many ways, and in particular is connected with the twelve days about the time of the winter solstice, when the days are at their shortest. Prof. Hellmann endeavours with some success to trace evidences in the remote past of the tendency to predict the weather from observations made on these twelve days, each day corresponding to a month in the forthcoming year. That these days have become connected with a Christian festival is to a certain extent an accident of later date. This observation of the weather about the time of Christmas is brought out more clearly in the second inquiry, when the question of the origin of the book itself is raised, or rather on the authority on which these wise saws rest. Discarding such modern authorship as Heiny von Uri or Thomas von Filtzbach can claim, the editor shows that the book, or at least the contents of it, circulated in a traditional or MS. form long before it took its printed shape. With difficulty he has traced and compared ten MSS., dating back from 1478, all possessing common features indicating a common origin, and pointing out with some degree of plausibility to the pages of the Venerable Bede as the oldest known source. But this wish to penetrate the future, and the formation of rules for general guidance are older than this remote date, and traces of ancient customs and old predictions are to be found in all parts of the globe, wherever written records have been preserved. But there is the curious fact to be re- marked, that the older MSS. show a tendency to refer the grounds for prognostication to the Calends of January rather than to the Christmas festival, and in the case of a fifteenth cen- tury MS. both are mentioned. Christmas is quite a late innova- tion, and the growth in importance of the great Christian festival can be traced by its gradual displacement of the older Calendar in these meteorological superstitions. AvcustT 6, 1896] NATURE 33! PRIZES OFFERED BY THE SOCIETE D’ENCOURAGEMENT THE Bulletin of the Société d’ Encouragement pour I’Industrie Nationale contains a list of the medals and prizes to be awarded in 1897 and 1898. Amongst these, the following prizes are proposed for 1897. In the Mechanical Arts: for improved methods in milling of grain (2000 francs) ; for a motor weighing Jess than 50 kilogrammes per horse-power developed for use in aérial navigation (2000 francs) ; for a study of the coefficients necessary for the calculations of an aérial machine (2000 francs) ; for a small motor suitable for domestic use (2000 francs) ; for improvements in machine tools (2000 francs). In the Chemical Arts: for the utilisation of waste products (1000 francs) ; for a new method of preparing fuming sulphuric acid or sulphur trioxide, which shall be more economical than those at present in use (2000 francs) ; for a liquid which shall replace sulphuric acid in dyeing, especially of silk, without exer- cising the same destructive action on the fibre (1000 francs) ; for a scientific study of the physical and mechanical properties of glass (2000 francs) ; for the preparation on the large scale of a new alloy of iron possessing specially useful properties (2000 francs). In the Economic Arts: prizes are offered for the construction of a hydro-extractor that can be worked continuously (2000 francs), and for important improvements in the manufacture of permanent magnets, with especial reference to their stability (3000 francs). In Agriculture : for a study of alcoholic ferments (3000 francs) ; for the best study of the diseases of cider and the means of arresting their development (2000 francs) ; for the best practical means of destroying one of the insect enemies of the vine (1000 francs). There will also be awarded in 1897 a prize of 2000 francs for an economic study of an industrial centre in France, and of 1500 francs for a study of insurance against involuntary want of employment. The more important prizes offered for 1898 include the Marquis d’Argenteuil prize of 12,000 francs for the discovery of the greatest service in developing French industry ; fora publication of service to chemical or metallurgical industry (2000 francs) ; for an experimental study of the physical or mechanical proper- ties of some metal or alloy in common use (2000 franes) ; for the invention of new methods of utilising petroleum (08 k. or higher) advantageously and without danger, for either manufac- turing or domestic purposes (2000 francs) ; for the best varieties of barley for brewing (1500 francs); for the reconstitution of vineyards upon chalky soils (3000 francs) ; and for the best study in vine culture in France (2000 francs). SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. LACIALISTS making arrangements for their summer migration to Switzerland, and other geologists interested in ice-work, should read what Dr. A. R. Wallace has to say in the Fortnightly on ‘The Gorge of the Aar and its Teachings,” before they set out, and they will then be able to judge for them- selves the weight of the conclusions drawn. Dr. Wallace thinks the phenomena presented by the valley of the Aar afford ‘a fresh and very powerful argument in support of the power of the ancient glaciers both to deepen valleys and to grind out lake- basins,” and his article is written to prove the correctness of this view. In the enclosed valley with its two small rock- basins in which the Hospice in the Grimsel Pass is situated, Dr. Wallace sees an example of the effects of a kind of eddy in old ice-streams flowing in nearly opposite directions. The celebrated Aarschlucht, one of the most remarkable gorges in Europe, is from 200 to 300 feet deep, and only about six feet in width. This is held to represent ‘‘ the result of the action of sub-glacial torrents acting throughout the whole period during which the area was buriedin ice. Thus only are we able to explain the fact of the almost uniform narrowness of the gorge from bottom to top, since during the process of its formation the rock walls would be preserved from ordinary denuding agencies, and be kept at a nearly uniform temperature.” This view of the origin of the gorge is held by Prof. Bonney and by other geologists who have considered the subject, though the conclusions to which it leads differ. A number of other gorges in Switzerland NO. 1397, VOL: 54 | are similarly explained. Accepting this interpretation, it is evident that gorges of this character ought only to be found in regions which have been recently glaciated. ‘‘In our own country,” says Dr. Wallace, “‘we have many small gorges of this character, in Wales, the Lake District, and Scotland, that of Dungeon Gill, in Westmoreland, being an example; but more are to be found in decidedly non-glaciated areas, such as’ Devonshire, though narrow ravines are common enough. So in the Northern United States there are many such gorges, the Ausible Chasm in the Adirondacks, and Watkin Glen, near Seneca Lake, are well-known tourist resorts; but in the Southern States, beyond the glaciated area, there are no similar gorges, although the southern Alleghenies are loftier than farther north, and contain much grand and picturesque mountain scenery and many waterfalls and deep ravines, but these are all of the rugged and weathered type.” In the mountainous region of Brazil, where there has certainly been no recent glaciation, Prof. Branner testifies that none of the characteristic sub-glacial stream channels occur. Finally, the gorges of the Aar, and others of like nature, are shown to afford evidence in favour of the theory of the glacial origin of the Swiss valley lakes. The abrupt Kirchet Hill, which extends across the valley of the Aar, is adduced by Prof. Bonney as an argument against this theory. ‘© This would be a valid objection,” says Dr. Wallace, ‘‘if the Aar glacier had continued in a straight, or nearly straight, line to Meiringen ; but the influx of a large glacier stream from the north-east must have so diverted that of the Aar, that the re- sultant flow would have been across the lower valley, and almost along the steep face of Kirchet instead of directly across it. This would have been the case, because the glacier stream from the north-east was not only equal in size to that of the Aar valley, but had a more rapid descent, and, therefore, a’ quicker flow. In the last five miles the Aar valley has a fall of about 1500 feet, while the two north-eastern valleys have an average fall of about 2000 feet ; and they are also much wider, which would still further facilitate rapidity of outflow.” Dr. C. M. Aikman gives in the Contemporary an account of the inoculation of agricultural land with pure cultures of bacteria, in the form of Nitragin, for the purpose of promoting plant- growth. A note on this advance in the science of agriculture will be found on page 326. To the same review Mr. Andrew Lang contributes a budget of records of the rite of ‘‘ Passing through the Fire,” beginning with the earliest accounts of this or some analogous ceremony, and concluding with the most recent authenticated contemporary examples. The rite is very widely diffused, and there is a considerable amount of evidence that the fire-walking is actually practised without apparent injury. Ina few villages in Turkey, on the Bulgarian frontier, a festival is held in May, and certain persons still go through the performance of treading and dancing on the red-hot embers of a pile of wood, apparently without sustaining injury. Mr. Lang appeals to men of science to take up the subject, both on account of the widely-diffused religious character of the cere- mony, and in order to discover how, granting the facts, the feat is performed. A scientific observer who would go to Bulgaria on May 21 next year, and thoroughly investigate the rite there, noting the state of the fire, the condition of the feet of the ministrants before and after the performance, and photographing the scene, would obtain some definite and valuable information. A brief mention must suffice for the remaining articles on scientific topics in the magazines received by us. The second part of an historical study, by Mr. J. F. Hewitt, entitled “* How the first Priests, the long-haired Shamans, and their successors, the tonsured Barber-surgeons, measured Time,” appears in the Westmznster Review. The article contains many facts of interest as to the origin of the year in the northern and southern hemispheres. The Cev¢ury publishes some glimpses of life in Africa, from the journals of the late Mr. E. J. Glave, who completed his remarkable journey across Africa from east to west in May 1895, and died while waiting for the departure of the homeward steamer. The Strand Magazine has a detailed account of the balloon, accessories, and plan of Mr. Andrée, for his aérial polar expedition. There is also a liberally illus- trated account of the methods and results of Rontgen photo- graphy, by Mr. Alfred W. Porter, in the same magazine. An instructive article on ‘‘ Atmospheric Pressure” is contributed to Longmans Magazine by Mr. H. Harries. Articles of a like character appear in Chambers’s Journal on ‘*‘ The Glastonbury Lake-Dwellers,” and ‘‘ Work in Compressed Air.” J5- NATURE [Aucust 6, 1896 THE REPRODUCTION OF DIFFRACTION GRA TINGS.' i HAVE first to apologise for the very informal character of the communication which I am about to make to the club; I have not been able to put anything down upon paper, but I ‘thought it might be interesting to some to hear an account of experiments that have now been carried on at intervals for a considerable series of years in the reproduction—mainly the photographic reproduction—of diffraction gratings. Probably most of you know that these consist of straight lines ruled very closely, very accurately, and parallel to one another, upon a piece of glass or speculum metal. Usually they are ruled with a diamond by the aid of a dividing machine ; and in late years, particularly in the hands of Rutherfurd and Rowland, an extra- ordinary degree of perfection has been attained. It was many years ago—nearly twenty-five, I am afraid—that I first. began experiments upon the photographic reproduction of these divided yratings, each in itself the work of great time and trouble, and costing a good deal of money. At that time the only gratings available were made by Nobert, in Germany, of which I had two, each containing about a square inch of ruled surface, one of about 3000 lines to the inch, and the other of about 6000. It happened, accidentally, that the grating with 3000 lines was the better of the two, in that it was more accurately ruled, and gave much finer definition upon the solar spectrum ; the 6000-line grating was brighter, but its definition was decidedly inferior ; so that both had certain advantages, according to the particular object in view. If it comes to the question of how to make a grating by photography, probably the first idea to occur to one would be that it might be a comparatively simple matter to make a grating upon a large scale, and then reduce it by photography ; but if one goes into the figures, the project is not found so promising. Take, for instance, a grating with 10,000 lines to the inch ; if you magnified that, say, 100 times, your lines would then be 100 to the inch; if you magnified it 1000 times, they would still be 10 to the inch, and that would be a convenient size, so far as interval between the lines was concerned ; but think what would be the area required to hold a grating magni- fied to that extent. By the time you have magnified the inch by 100 or 1000, you would want a wall of a house or of a cathedral to hold the grating. If the problem were proposed of ruling a grating with 6000 lines to the inch, with a high degree of accuracy, it would be easier to do it on a microscopic scale than upon a large scale, leaving out of consideration the difficulty of reproducing it. And those difficulties would be insuperable, because, although with a good microscopic object-glass it would be easy to photograph lines which would be much closer together than 3000 or 6000 to the inch, yet that could only be achieved over a very small area of surface—nothing like a square inch ; and if it were required to cover a square inch with lines 6000 to the inch, it would be beyond the power, not only, I believe, of any microscope, but of any lens that was ever made. So that that line of investigation does not fulfil the promise which at first it might appear to give; and, in fact, there is nothing simpler or better than to copy the original ruled by a dividing engine, by the simple process of contact printing. For this purpose some precautions are required. You must use very flat glass, by preference it should be optically worked, although very good results may be obtained on selected pieces of ordinary plate. Of course, no one would think of making such a print by diffused daylight ; but the sun itself, or a point of light from any suitable source, according to the nature of the photographic process which is adopted, permits quite well of the reproduction of any grating of a moderate degree of fine- ness. I have used almost all varieties of photographic processes in my time. In the days when I first worked, the various dry collodion processes were better understood than they are now ; the old albumen process was extremely suitable for such work as this, on account of the almost complete absence of structure in the film, and the very convenient hardness of the surface, which made the finished result comparatively little liable to in- jury. Iused with success the dry collodion processes, the tannin process among others, and also some of the direct printing methods, such as the collodio-chloride. The latter method, worked upon glass, gave excellent results, particularly if the finished print was treated with mercury in the way commonly 1 An address delivered by Lord Rayleigh at the eighth annual conference of the Camera Club NO. 1397, VOL. 54] used for intensification, except that, in the treatment of a grating with mercury, it is desirable to stop at the mercury, and not to go on to the blackening process used in the intensification of negatives. From the visual point of view, the grating, after in- tensification—if one may use the term—with mercury, looks much less intense than before, but, nevertheless, the spectra seen when a point or slit of light is looked at through the grating become very much more brilliant. I used another process at that time, more than twenty years ago, which gave excellent results, but had not the degree of cer- tainty that I aimed at, namely, a bichromated gelatine process, similar to carbon printing, except that no pigment was employed. A glass plate was simply coated with bichromated gelatine of a suitable thickness—and a good deal depended upon hitting that off correctly ; if the coating was too thin the grating showed a deficiency of brightness, whereas, if it was too thick, there might be a difficulty in getting it sufficiently uniform and smooth on the surface. the two well-known sodium or D lines in the solar spectrum, when suitably examined. The collodio-chloride process was comparatively slow, and bichromated gelatine required two or three minutes’ exposure to sunlight to produce a proper effect ; but for the more sensitive developed negative processes a very much less powerful light or a reduced exposure was needed. The performance of the copies was quite good, and, except where there was some obvious defect, I never could see that they were worse than the originals ; in fact, in respect of bright- ness it not unfrequently happened that the copies were far superior to the originals, so that in many cases they would be more useful. I do not mean by that, however, that I would rather have a copy than an original if any one wanted to make me a present. There seems to be some falling off in copies ; so that they cannot well be copied again, and if you want to work upon spectra of an extremely high order, dispersed to a great extent laterally from the direct line, a copy would not be satisfactory, The reproduction of gratings 6n bichromated gelatine is easily and quickly accomplished ; there is only the coating of the glass. over-night, rapid drying to avoid crystallisation in the film, exposure, washing, and drying. In order to get the best effect it is usually desirable to treat the bichromated copies wath hot water. It is a little difficult to understand what precisely happens. All photographers know that the action of light upon bichromated gelatine is to produce a comparative insolubility of the gelatine. In the carbon process, and many others in which gelatine is used, the gelatine which remains soluble, not having been sufficiently exposed to light, is fairly washed away in the subsequent treatment with warm water ; but for that effect it is generally necessary to get at the back of the gelatine film, because on its face there is usually a layer which is so insoluble as not to allow of the washing away of any of the gelatine to be found behind. But in the present case there is no question of transferring the film, which remains fixed to the glass, and therefore it is difficult to see how any gelatine could be dissolved out, However, under the action of water, the less exposed gelatine no doubt swells more than that which has received more exposure and has thus lost its affinity for water ; and while the gelatine is wet it is reasonable that a rib-like structure should ensue, which is what would be required in order to make a grating, but when the gelatine dries, one would suppose that all would again become flat, and indeed that happens to a certain extent. The gratings lose a great deal of intensity in drying, but, if properly treated with warm water, the reduction does not go too far, and a considerable degree of intensity is left when the photograph is dry. Although it belongs to another branch of the subject, a word may not be out of ‘place as to the accuracy with which the gratings must be made, It seems a wonderful thing, at first sight, to rule 6000 lines to an inch at all, if you think of the smallest interval that you can readily see with the eye, perhaps one-hundredth of an inch, and remember that in these gratings there are sixty lines in a space of one-hundredth of an inch, and all disposed at rigorously equal intervals. Those familiar with optics will understand the importance of extreme accuracy if I give an illustration. Take the case of the two sodium lines in the spectrum, the D lines; they differ in wave-length by about a thousandth part ; the dispersion—the extent to which the light is separated from the direct line—is in proportion to the wave-length of the light, and inversely as the interval between the consecutive lines on the grating ; so that, if we had a grating However, I obtained excellent gratings by that. process, most of them capable of showing the nickel line between, Aucust 6, 1896] NATURE SIS in which the first half was ruled at the rate of 1000 to the inch, and the second half at the rate of 1001 to the inch, the one half would evidently do the same thing for one soda line as the other half of the grating was doing for the other soda line, and the two lines would be mixed together and confused. In order, there- fore, to do anything like good work, it is necessary, not only to have a very great number of lines, but to have them spaced with most extraordinary precision ; and it is wonderful what success has been reached by the beautiful dividing machines of Ruther- furd and Rowland. I have seen Rowland’s machine at Baltimore, and have heard him speak of the great precautions required to get good results. The whole operation of the machine is auto- matic ; the ruling goes on continuously day and night, and it is necessary to pay the most careful regard to uniformity of temperature, for the slightest expansion or contraction due to change of temperature of the different parts of the machine would bring utter confusion into the grating and its resulting spectrum. In printing, the contact has to be pretty close. and the finer the grating the closer must the contact be. I experimented upon that point by preparing a photographic film upon a slightly convex surface, and using that for the print; then, where the contact was closest, the original of course was very well impressed, and round that, one got different degrees of increasingly imperfect contact, and one could trace in the result what the effect of imperfect contact is. I found that, both with gratings of 3000 and 6000 lines to the inch, good enough contact was obtained with ordinary flat glass ; but when youcome to gratings of 17,000 or 20,000 lines to the inch the contact requires to be extremely close, and in order to get a good copy of a grating with 20,000 lines per inch it is necessary that there should nowhere be one ten-thousandth of an inch between the original and the printing surface—a degree of closeness not easily secured over the entire area. It is rather singular that though I published full accounts of this work a long time ago, and distributed a large number of copies, the process of reproducing gratings by photography did not become universally known, and was re-discovered in France, by Isarn, only two or three years since. One reason why photographic reproduction is not practised to a very great extent is, that the modern gratings—such as Rowland’s—are ruled almost universally upon speculum metal. A grating upon speculum metal is very excellent for use, but does not well lend itself to the process of photographic copying, although I have succeeded to a certain extent in copying a grating ruled upon speculum metal. For this purpose the light had to pass first through the photographic film, then be reflected from the speculum metal, and so pass back again through the film. Gratings such as could easily be made by copying from a glass original are not readily produced from one on speculum metal, and I think that is the reason why the process has not come into more regular use. Glass is much more trying than speculum metal to the diamond, and that accounts for the latter being generally preferred for gratings ; indeed, the principal difficulty consists in getting a good diamond point, and maintaining it in a shape suitable for making the very fine cut which is required. I may now allude to another method of photographic repro- duction which I tried only last summer. It happened that I then went with Prof. Meldola over Waterlow’s large photo- mechanical printing establishment, and I was very much interested, among many other very interesting things, in the use of the old bitumen process—the first photographic process known. It is used for the reproduction of cuts in black and white. A carefully cleansed zinc plate is coated with varnish of bitumen dissolved in benzole, and exposed to sunlight for about two hours under a negative, giving great contrast. Where the light penetrates the negative the bitumen becomes comparatively insoluble, and where it has been protected from the action of light it retains its original degree of solubility. When the ex- posed plate is treated with a solvent, turpentine or some solvent milder than benzole, the protected parts are dissolved away, leaving the bare metal ; whereas the parts that have received the sunlight, being rendered insoluble, remain upon the metal and protect it in the subsequent etching process. I did not propose to etch metal, and, therefore, I simply used the bitumen varnish spread upon glass plates, and exposed the plates so pre- pared to sunshine for about two hours in contact with the grating. They are then developed, if one may use the phrase, with turpen- tine; and thisis the part of the process which is the most difficult NO. 1397, VOL. 54] to manage. If you stop development early you get a grating which gives fair spectra, but it may be deficient in intensity and -brightness ; if you push development, the brightness increases up toa point at which the film disintegrates altogether. In this way one is tempted to pursue the process to the very last point, and, although one may succeed so far.as to have a film which is quite intact so long as the turpentine is upon it, I have not succeeded in finding any method of getting rid of the turpentine without leading to the disintegration of the film. In the commercial application of the process the bitumen is treated somewhat brutally—the turpentine is rinsed off with a jet of water; I have tried that, and many of my results have been very good. Ihave also tried to sling off the turpentine by putting the plate into a kind of centrifugal machine ; but by either plan the film in which the development has been too far pushed, is liable not to survive the treatment required for getting rid of the turpentine. If the solvent is allowed to remain we are in another difficulty, because then the developing action is continued and the result is lost. But if the process is properly managed, and development stopped at the right point, and if the film be of the right degree of thick- ness, you get an.excellent copy. I have one here, 6000 lines to the inch, which I think is about the very best copy I have ever made. The method gives results somewhat superior to the best that can be got with gelatine ; but I would not recom- mend it in preference to the latter, because it is very much more difficult to work unless some one can hit upon an improved manipulation, I will not enlarge upon the importance of gratings; those acquainted with optics know how very important is. the part played by diffraction gratings in optical research, and how the most delicate work upon spectra, requiring the highest degree of optical power, is made by means of gratings, ruled on speculum metal by Rowland. I suppose the reason why no professional photographer has taken up the production of photo- graphic gratings, is the difficulty of getting the glass originals ; they are very expensive, and I do not know where they are now to be obtained. It seems a pity that photographic copies should not be more generally available. I have given a great many away myself; but educational establishments are increasing all over the country, and for the purpose of instructing students it is desirable that reasonably good gratings should be placed in their hands, to make them familiar with the measurements by which the wave-length of light is determined. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Mr. STANLEY DUNKERLEY has been appointed to the Uni- versity Demonstratorship of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics at Cambridge, made vacant by the election of Mr. Dalby to the Professorship of Mechanical Engineering at Finsbury College. AMONG the recipients of honorary degrees, conferred at the close of the summer session of the University of Edinburgh on Saturday, were Prof. Francis A. Walker. President of the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, and Sir Dietrich Brandis, K.C.I.E., F.R.S., late Inspector-General of Forests in India. Dr. J. D. Porter, of Columbia College, New York, has been appointed to the newly-founded Macdonald chair of Mining and Metallurgy in the M‘Gill University, Montreal. Mr. Herbert W. Umney, of Bath, has been appointed Assistant- Professor of Civil Engineering. THE Council of the Hartley Institution, Southampton, have just made the following appointments :—Lecturer in Mathe- matics, Dr. Cuthbert E. Cullis, Assistant Lecturer to Prof. Karl Pearson, University College, London. Lecturer in Chemistry, Dr. D. R. Boyd, Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, Mason College, Birmingham. Lecturer in Biology and Geology, Mr. E. T. Mellor, Assistant Demonstrator in Biology, Owens College, Manchester. Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 185r have made the following appointments to Science Research Scholarships, for the year 1896, on the recommendation of the authorities of the respective Universities and Colleges. The scholarships are of the value of £150 a year, and are ordinarily tenable for two years (subject to a satisfactory report at the end of the first year) in any University at home and abroad, or in some other institution approved of by the Commissioners. The 334 scholars are to devote themselves exclusively to study and research in some branch of science, the extension of which is important to the industries of the country. The nominating institutions and the scholars are as follows :—University of Glasgow, W. C. Henderson ; University of Aberdeen, A. Ogg ; Mason College, Birmingham, T. S. Price ; University College, Bristol, E. C. Fortey ; Yorkshire College, Leeds, H. M. Daw- son; University College, Liverpool, H. E. Annett ; University College, London, J. E. Petavel ; Owens College, Manchester, J. L. Heinke ; Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, J. A. Smythe ; University College, Nottingham, G. B. Bryan ; University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, S. W. Richardson ; University College of North Wales, Bangor, D. Williams (con- ditional appointment) ; Queen’s College, Galway, J. Henry ; University of Toronto, A. M. Scott; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, D. McIntosh ; University of New Zea- land, J. A. Erskine. The following scholarships granted in 1895 have beén con-— tinued for a second year on receipt of a satisfactory report of work done during the first year :— Places of study. Nominating institution. Scholar. | University of Glasgow. W. Stewart. Universities of Glasgow and Berlin. University of St.Andrews.| H. C. Williamson.| Marine Laboratories, Naples and Kiel. Uesecoiey College, Dun-| J. Henderson. Polytechnicum, Munich. e, ee. University College,Liver-| J. T. Farmer. MacDonald Engineering La- pool. boratories, Montreal. University College, Lon-| E. Aston. University College, London, and University of Geneva. MacDonald Engineering La- boratories, Montreal, and Durham College of Sci- ence. Polytechnicum, Ziirich. on. Durham College of Sci- ence, Newcastle-upon- Tyne. A. L, Mellanby. University College, Not-| M. E. Feilmann. tingham gham. Queen's College, Belfast. W. Hanna. | Laboratory of Royal College of Physicians and Sur- geons, London, and Bacter- i t iological Institute, Prague. McGill University, Mont-| R. O. King. MacDonald Engineering La- real. boratories, Montreal. (Tu . change for second year.) Queen's University, King-) T. L. Walker. University of Leipzig. ston, Canada. University of Sydney. J. A. Watt. Koyal College of Science, South Kensington. Cavendish Laboratory, Uni- versity of Cambridge. caesi of New Zea-| E. Rutherford. | d and, A limited number of the scholarships are renewed for a third year when it appears that the renewal is likely to result directly in work of scientific importance. The following scholarships granted in 1894 have been renewed for a third year :— Nomina g institution. | Scholar. | Places of study. Universi of Edinburgh. J. C. Beattie, | W. B. Davidson | Universities of Vienna and | _ Berlin. | Universities of Wirzburg and Leipzig. University of Leipzig and Botanical Institute, Java. University of Leipzig. University of Aberdeen. University College, Liver-| Dr. A. J. Ewart pool. University of Toronto. Dr. F. B. Kenrick. | | GENEROUS gifts to educational institutions in America have often been noted in these columns. The New York Cyr##éc has collected some valuable information concerning the total amounts of such gifts and legacies received from various benefactors. Perhaps the following summary of these encouragements will create a spirit of emulation in the wealthy men of the British Isles before whom it may come. George Peabody, various, 41,035,000. Stephen Girard, Girard College, present value about £3,000,000. John D. Rockefeller, University of Chicago, 41,485,200; Vassar College, £20,000; Barnard College, £5000. Miss Helen Culver, University of Chicago, £205,000. Leland Stanford, Leland Stanford Junior University, from £3,000,000 to £4,000,000. Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University, over £600,000, John C. Green, Princeton College and Lawrenceville School, £600,000, Anthony J. Drexel, Drexel Institute, £600,000. Asa Packer, Lehigh University, 115 acres of land and £500,000. Charles Pratt, Pratt Institute, NO. 1397, VOL. 54 | NATURE [AucustT 6, 1806 £540,000; Charles M. Pratt, £8000. Leonard Case, Case School of Applied Science, £400,000. Henry W. Sage, Cornell University, £234,000. Cornelius Vanderbilt (deceased), Vanderbilt University, £200,000; William H. Vanderbilt, £92,000; Cornelius Vanderbilt, £8000. Peter Cooper and his family, Cooper Union, £330,189. Paul Tulane, Tulane University, £210,000. Seth Low, Columbia University, 4200,000; Barnard College, £2000. Washington C. De Pauw, De Pauw University, £200,000. James Lick, Uni- versity of California, £150,000, Isaac Rich, Boston University, £140,000. Ezra Cornell, Cornell University, £134,000. J. Pierpont Morgan, New York Trade School, £100,000. Colonel and Mrs. Richard T. Auchmuty, New York Trade School, £82,000. The total of this list, which is probably not complete, amounts to £15,080, 389. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. Symons’ s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, July. —The ‘‘Inter- national Cloud Atlas.” Mr. Symons takes the opportunity offered by the publication of this work (of which only a very few copies have yet been distributed) to make a brief reference to the principal works on clouds which have recently preceded the present one, including M. Weilbach’s ‘‘ Nordeuropas Sky- former” (Copenhagen, 1881), the ‘* Wolken-Atlas” of MM. Hildebrandsson, Koppen, and Neumayer (Hamburg, 1890), M. Singer’s ‘‘ Wolkentafeln” (Munich, 1892), ‘‘ Classificazione delle nubi” by the Specola Vaticana, containing some excellent reproductions of M. Mannucci’s photographs (Rome, 1893), and the Rev. W. Clement Ley’s ‘‘Cloudland” (London, 1894). The *‘ International Cloud Atlas” (Paris, 1896) has been prepared under the superintendence of the International Meteorological Committee, and contains twenty-eight coloured reproductions of clouds. Although none of them is from an English photograph, Mr. Symons thinks our countrymen may be well content to see how largely the international system of 1896 is based upon the work of Luke Howard, and that the classification adopted is practically that of the joint work of Dr. Hildebrandsson and the Hon. Ralph Abercromby.—The spring drought of 1896. Mr. Symons selected twenty-eight stations distributed over the United Kingdom ; these show that the rainfall for the first half of the year at eight out of sixteen English and Welsh stations, the total fell below two- thirds of the average, the lowest values being 48 per cent. at Haverfordwest ; while for the Scotch and Irish stations the average was 83 per cent. and 80 per cent. respectively, The results for April and May show that at three stations the rain- fall was less than 20 per cent. of the average, the total in London being 19 per cent. In 1893 the drought was more severe in parts of England and Wales, but the 1896 drought in the south of Ireland appears to be unprecedented ; at Cork it lasted for sixty-four days. THE numbers of the Budletino della Soctéta Botanica Italiana for May-July contain, in addition to papers of more local interest, one by Prof. G. Arcangeli on the elongation of the organs of aquatic plants (chiefly Vymzpheacee), in which he expresses the opinion that the stress due to the weight of the superposed liquid is the chief stimulus for their adaptation to the depth of the water in which they live. The same author has a note on the sleep of plants, and the benefits which they derive from the varying positions of the leaves by night and by day. THE contents of the Move Giornale Botanico Italiano for July comprise four papers, of which the titles only can be given :—The conclusion of Sig. L. Nicotra’s exhaustive essay on the statistics of the Flora of Sicily; Sig. A. Lenticchia on morphological variations in wild and cultivated plants; Sig. F. Tasci on the mycology of the Province of Sienna; Sig. U. Martelli on a new species of Cenfazrea (C. ferulacea), SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES, LONDON. Royal Society, June 18.—‘‘ The Determination of the Freezing-point of Mercurial Thermometers.” By Dr. J. A. Harker. The method adopted is to cool distilled water in a suitable vessel to a temperature below 0°, to insert the thermometer, Aucust 6, 1896] and then bring about the freezing of the water by dropping in a crystal of ice. The thermometer then rises, and finally attains a steady temperature, differing only very slightly from the true zero. The apparatus employed consists of two portions, the thermostat and the cooler. The former is a copper vessel, filled with either refined petroleum or a strong solution of common salt. This vessel communicates with the cooler, through which the liquid can be pumped by a rotary stirrer ; and by this means it can be cooled and maintained for some time at about -2°. The distilled water to be frozen is contained in a glass tube of about 300 c.c. capacity. ‘his is first placed directly into the circulating liquid, and cooled quickly to —o°5° or —o'7. It is then transferred to a cylinder lined with polished metal, placed in the centre of the thermostat. The thermometer whose zero is to be taken is then quickly fixed in position, the bulb and a considerable length of the stem above the zero being immersed in the water. A crystal of ice is dropped in, and the temperature quickly rises to the freezing yoint. ; Experiments made with good mercurial thermometers showed that if ice be present in sufficient quantity, the final temperature attained by the mixture of ice and water is not influenced perceptibly by variation of the temperature of the circulating liquid within fairly wide limits. As, however, it seemed desirable to control this result by some other means, a platinum thermometer and bridge were designed, capable of indicating with certainty a change of o’0001,, and a description of the whole arrangement employed to attain this degree of accuracy forms the second half of the paper. The resistances in the bridge were of manganin, and the thermometers were provided with the compensating leads, devised by Mr. Callendar. The maximum current which can be used in accurate measurements with these thermometers is about 0’02 ampere, and therefore the galvanometer employed required to be extremely sensitive. The instrument selected was a low resistance astatic one with vertical needle system, and gives at the greatest working sensibility one scale division for 1 x 10 ! ampere. With this arrangement the influence of various conditions on the final temperature attained by the mixture of ice and water was studied, The results were found to be in close agreement with the theoretical deductions of Nernst, and it was quite easy to keep the temperature in the freezing vessel constant to within one or two ten-thousandths of a degree for an hour at a time. The conclusion drawn from the previous experiments made with mercurial thermometers as to the small influence of changes in the external temperature, and in the temperature of the circulating liquid on that of the freezing vessel, was also confirmed, and it was found that a change of two or three degrees in the temperature of the circulating liquid only caused the temperature of the mixture in the tube to alter by three or four ten-thousandths. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, July 20.—The Hon. Lord M‘Laren in the chair.—Prof. Tait gave a brief description of a paper by Lord Kelvin on the different configurations possible with the same law of force according to Boscovich. In previous papers the author had confined himself to a treatment of the nature of con- figuration. This paper was a daring application of principle towards a rational explanation of crystalline form, having regard to the mutual forces involved. —Prof. Ludwig Boltzmann’s com- munication, read by Prof. Tait, on the importance of Clerk- Maxwell’s contributions to the kinetic theory of gases, consisted of a few sentences setting forth the writer's high respect for Clerk-Maxwell, and defining his relations with M. Bertrand. The paper in full was promised later.—Dr. Halm read an abstract of his paper on theoretical researches on the daily change of the temperature of the air. The fundamental differential equations of the problem, so far as they concern the curve of temperature during night, were first propounded by A, Weilen- mann, in his essay, *‘ Ueber den taeglichen Gang der Temperatur zu Bern” (Schwetsertsche Meteorol., Beobachtungen ix., 1872), which may be considered as the first successful attempt at in- vestigating the question from a theoretical point of view. But the physical explanation of his mathematical terms being in- sufficient, the author undertakes to show that these equations are in perfect agreement with the fundamental laws of radiation and conduction of heat, as given by Fourier and many others. The general question, by what means does the lowest layer of the NO. 1397, VOL. 54 | NATURE ae atmosphere, the temperature of which is recorded by our thermometric instruments, receive or lose heat, may be answered by this result. Every change of temperature is caused by continuous radiation between the soil and an un- known part of the atmosphere—for which, however, there can be substituted, under all circumstances, two masses of air with the same coefficient of radiation, one of these having the variable temperature of the observed lowest layer; the other, a constant temperature. The next part of the paper consisted in proving that Weilenmann’s equations, by a proper application of the sun’s radiating power at every moment during the day, can be used for deriving an integral which gives expression to the change of the temperature during the time from sunrise to sun- set. This integral consists of two different parts, one of which contains two arbitrary constants, naturally involved by the pro- cess of integration ; the others are functions of time introduced by the law of solar radiation on a horizontal surface. But it can easily be proved that both the arbitrary constants have to dis- appear in every case, so that the change of temperature appears to be regulated simply by functions directly depending on the radiating power of the sun. Considering the fact that the con- ditions of radiation must be importantly influenced by various systematical disturbances, such as convection currents, the con- tinuous change of the quantity and quality of atmospheric moisture, the state of cloudiness and the physical conditions of the soil, great importance has to be laid on the question how these may be given expression to in the fundamental equations of the problem. As far as the convection currents are con- cerned, their influence is shown to be in perfect agreement with observations, the range of temperature being diminished, and the time of maximum being brought nearer to the culmination of the sun when the direction of the current is from a cold quarter ; the opposite being the case when from a warm one. The effect of sea-breezes is an example of the former condition ; that of currents flowing from a mountain to the valley during daytime, an example of the latter. The very considerable effect of the daily change in the amount of atmospheric moisture, which has been deduced from direct observation of clouds and the absolute humidity of the air, complicates the theoretical equation by add- ing a new term. the parameters of which can be shown to be in full agreement with these observations. The most important branch of the subject treated in the paper was the determination of the solar constant from the daz/y temperature observations, which, after the influence of the state of cloudiness and the change of the physical conditions of the soil therefrom resulting, have been investigated, show values sufficiently accurate to admit of examining the question of the periodicity of solar radia- tion by a method the advantages of which seem obvious com- pared with the commonly used method founded on study of mean avzwa/ temperatures. From a large number of stations in Austria and Hungary, whose observations, extending over the years 1876-93, have been used, the author shows a close correspondence between the inverted curve of sun-spots and that of solar radiation. A much fuller investigation, however, extending over a longer series of years, and embracing a greater extent of territory, is required to finally establish the results deduced. —Prof. J. M. Dixon, of St. Louis, described in an in- teresting and popular manner the tornado which recently visited that city, and of which he was an eye-witness. The report already given in NATURE (vol. liv. p. 104) he characterised as correct.—Mr. Robert Kidston read a paper describing some cones of Szg¢//artz, in which the structure of the sporangia was shown. The sporangia appeared to be immersed in the bracts in a somewhat similar manner to that which occurs in /soefes showing that the affinities of Szg¢//arz¢ are with /soefes, as con- jectured by Goldenberg. Two new species of Sigillarian cones (Stgzdlartostrobus) were described, and a new species of Szg¢//aria. —Prof. Charteris read a short paper on the physiological action of éucaine. Heclaimed for this new antiseptic, which he described merely as a compound synthetically prepared, that it was not so toxic as cocaine, while the anesthesia it produced was as complete. It did not contract the pupil when applied to the eye, and a solution in water did not decompose.—The Chairman, in a few words, reviewed the work of the past session, and held out hopes of further prosperity and usefulness in the future. Paris Academy of Sciences, July 27.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—On the water-spout of July 26, at the Museum of Natural History, by M. Milne-Edwards. An account 336 NATURE [Aucust 6, 1896 of the disastrous effects upon the Museum produced by this water-spout.—On some new experiments relating to the preparation of the diamond, by M. H. Moissan.—Study of the black diamond, by the same. Black diamond, reduced to a very fine state of division, and heated ina stream of oxygen to a temperature about 200° C. below the temperature of combustion of the diamond, gives off a very small amount of carbon di- oxide, and the diamond remaining is transparent. —A Spanish truffle and three new truffles from Marocco, by M. Ad. Chatin. The new specimens are described as Zerfezia Mellerionis, of Laroche, Zerfesta Leonis (var. heterospora), of Laroche, and Terfezia Boudieri, of Mazogan.—On the homogeneity of argon and helium, by Prof. W. Ramsay and J. Norman Collie. By frac- tional diffusion through porous tubes, argon yields two portions, of which the lighter has a density of 19°93, the heavier of 20°01. Similar experiments with helium gave densities of 1°874 and 2°133 for the two extreme portions, results which were confirmed by measurements of the refractive indices by Lord Rayleigh. Both specimens gave spectra which were absolutely identical, and hence the possibility is suggested of there being here a true separation of light molecules from heavy molecules of the same substance. —On the mononitrile of camphoric acid, its anhydride and anilide, by MM. A. Haller and Minguin.—On a method for giving the exact direction of a sound signal, by M. E. Hardy. Two methods are given for effecting this at sea.—Note accom- panying two memoirs on thermochemistry, by M. Langlois.— On the error of refraction in geometric levelling, by M. Ch. Lallemand. It is shown that the effect of the refraction of the air, which can generally be neglected or eliminated in triangula- tion, becomes quite appreciable in levelling, and a formula is developed for introducing the necessary correction.—On the distribution of the displacements in metals subjected to stresses, by M. G. Charpy. The suggestion of M. Hartmann that metals, in spite of their known heterogeneous structure, behave as homogeneous bodies, has been submitted to further experi- ments, with the result that the displacements vary from point to point, and correspond in all respects with the structure shown micrographically.—On the density and mean specific heat between 0° and 100° of the alloys of iron and antimony, by M. J. Laborde. The numbers found for the specific heats are all greater than those calculated from the assumption of simple mixture.—On the determination of the ratio of the specific heats of gases, by MM. G. Maneuvrier and J. Fournier. The final results are: for air 1°392, for carbon di- oxide 1299, for hydrogen 1°384.—Researches on the re- lations existing between the radiation of a body and the nature of the surrounding medium, by M. Smoluchowski de Smolan. An experimental study of the formula of Clausius, according to which the emission should be proportional to the square of the refractive index of the medium. The general result is to confirm the law of Clausius.—Cranial endography by means of the Rontgen rays, by MM. Remy and Contre- moulins.—Study of the nitrogren and argon of fire-damp, by M. Th. Schlcesing, jun. Specimens of fire-damp collected with suitable precautions from many sources all contained nitrogen, showing a notable amount of argon; the ratio of argon to nitrogen was, within the limits of experimental error, about the same as in air.—On the preparation of selenic acid, by M. R. Metzner. This acid is readily obtained by oxidising dilute solutions of selenious acid with free permanganic acid.—On a new cobaltite, by M. E. Dufau. By heating magnesia and cobalt sesquioxide in the electric furnace a crystallised mag- nesium cobaltite, MgCoO, is obtained.—On the solutions of trichloracetic acid, by M. Paul Rivals. A thermochemical study of the dissociation of trichloracetic acid in solution. — On Vinyl-trimethylene and ethylidene-trimethylene, by M. G. Gustavson.—On the constitution of pinacoline, by M. Maurice Delacre.—Crystallographic properties of some alkyl-camphors of the aromatic series, by M. J. Minguin. —Formation and etherification of crotonylic alcohol, by M. E. Charon.—On the electrolysis of the fatty acids, by M. J. Hamonet.—On several modes of preparation of the blue nitrosodisulphonic acid and its salts, by M. Paul Sabatier. —New observations on Clythra quadripunctata, by M. A. Lécaillon. —Influence of the reaction of the medium upon the activity of the oxidising ferment of mushrooms, by M. E. Bourquelot.— On a cellulose filter, by M. Henri Pottevin. A description of a cellulose filter capable of taking the place of the biscuit porce- lain filter. Owing to the cheapness of material, instead of the cleaning process necessary for porcelain, a new disc can be used, NO. 1397, VOL. 54| —The mechanism of the extension of the blastoderm, and its relation to the eye of the fish, by M. E. Bataillon,—On the presence in the superior laryngeal nerve of secretory and vasculo- motor fibres for the mucous membrane of the larynx, by M. E. Hédon.—On the physiological significance of direct cellular division, by MM. E. G. Balbiani and F. Henneguy.—Study of the gizzard in some Blattide and Gryllide, by M. Bordas.— The constitution of the phosphates of lime from Tunis, by M. L. Cayeux. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—The Student's Handbook of British Mosses : H. N. Dixon and H. G. Jameson (Eastbourne, Sumfield).—The G. E. R. Co.’s Tourist Guide to the Continent (London).—A Text-Book of Physical Exercises : Dr. A. H. Carter and S. Bott (Macmillan),—La Distillation des Bois: E. Barillot (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Monthly Current Charts of the Indian Ocean London).—Catalogue of the Described Diptera from South Asia: F. van der Wulp (Nijhoff, Hague). PamPHLets.—Peabody Institute 29th Annual Report (Baltimore). Sym- balan oe American Art: F. W. Putnam and C. C. Willoughby (Salem, Serracs.—Astronomical Observations and Researches made at Dunsink, 7th Part (Dublin, Hodges).—Longman’s Magazine, August (Longmans).— Chambers’s Journal, August (Chambers).—Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Williams).—Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathe- matical Society, Vol. xiv.(Williams).—L' Anthropologie, tome vii. No.3 (Paris, Masson).— Good Words, August (Isbister).—Sunday Magazine, August (Isbister).—Humanitarian, August (Hutchinson).—Contemporary Review, August (Isbister).—National Review, August (Arnold).—Physical Review, Vol. 4, No. 1. (Macmillan).—Bulletin de l’Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, 1896, No. 6 (Bruxelles).—Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (Spon).—Journal of the Chemical Society, (Gurney).—Century, August (Macmillan).—Scribner's Magazine, August (Low).—Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. xviii. No. x (Leyden, Brill).— Fortnightly Review, August (Chapman and Hall).—Westminster Review, August (Warne).— Ornithologist, August (Bale).—Gazetta Chimica Italiana (Rome),—Revue Générale des Sciences, July (Paris).—Memoire della Spettroscopisti Italiani, July (Rome).—Bulletin de la Société d’Encouragement, July (Paris). CONTENTS. PAGE Travels in Eastern Africa. By Dr. J. W.Gregory . 313 Apollonius of Perga. ByG.B.M. ....... +. 314 The Hare, from the Field to the Table. By R.L. . 315 Our Book Shelf :— Dannemann : ‘‘ Grundriss einer Geschichte der Natur- Wissenschaften anmeeirennte falls <6. ssi teucs 316 Hertwig : ‘‘ The Biological Problem of To-day” 316 Thorntons ““sRHeexeRayseauneis cs) sl 5). is ume Letters to the Editor :— Sun-spots and Facule. 316 (With Diagram.)—James Renton... = ae Beate 6 es Se ne Sailing Flight. (With Diagrams.)—S. E. Peal . . 317 The Position of Science at Oxford.—The Writer of the Article geese Ge) es oo The Salaries of Science Demonstrators.—‘* An Aggrieved Tadpole” 2. 2... + 6» oe ono The Date of the Glacial Period.—Percy F. Kendall 319 Taxidermy and Modelling. (Lé/ustrated.). . . aes tie) Progress in Stereochemistry. (Vth Diagrams.) By Dr..Arnold Exloantige cues. =: = «+ 6.) . ceneemegem Notes . és See es Our Astronomical Column:— The Planet/Sattioniemmeies cs © 5 « + + + «) nine New Nebulosity in the Pleiades. . ...... . 327 New Variable in Hercules ..... . «) =. ett Ltt aoe The Institution of Mechanical Engineers .... . 327 Old World Meteorology ......... +++ + 329 Prizes offered by the Société d’Encouragement . . 331 Science in the Magazimesicias . . «s+ Sse CeoSe The Reproduction of Diffraction Gratings. By Lord Rayleigbiihaismouse- 5.) ss) See 332 University and Educational Intelligence ... . 333 Scientific SerialSiaeses ie = « 334 Societies and Academies .......+.++.++-.s 334 Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received .... . 336 NATURE 337 THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1896. TABLES FOR NAVIGATORS. Azimuth Tables for the Higher Declinations (limits of declination 24° to 30°, both inclusive) between the parallels of latitude 0° and 60°, with Examples in the use of the Tables in English and French. By H. B. Goodwin, Naval Instructor, Royal Navy. Pp. xii + 74. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) LEADING feature of present-day methods of navigation is the use of tables. There is scarcely any method in use in navigation for which one, and probably many, tables, of more or less practical utility, are not provided ; and it would almost appear in some cases as though new methods had been proposed because tables could be prepared to use in connection with them, rather than because they were of real practical use. Some tables, such as those for “reduction to the meridian,” may almost be regarded as luxuries, as they really save but little time and labour ; though, on account of the easy adaptation of the formulz to different forms of tabular computation, the number of them is large. On the other hand, there are tables which are really indispensable. Of this latter class azimuth tables are a prominent type. The object of the first of these azimuth tables, by Burdwood, published about a quarter of a century ago, was, to judge from the preface, merely to facilitate the calculation of compass error. Its publication, however, and that of its extension by Davis, may be said to have effected a revolution in the art of navigation, as Sumner’s method, now so extensively used, was thereby rendered practically useful. This method, of which the principle had been before recognised, was proposed by Captain Thomas Sumner, of Boston, in the year 1837. It enabled the navigator to determine éo// his latitude and longitude at amy time, instead of being restricted to observations of the heavenly bodies, when near the prime vertical, for longitude ; and when on or near the meridian, for latitude ; observations for determining the latitude, in other cases, depending on a long process known as the “double altitude.” The principle of this method, as to which Lord Kelvin has remarked that every other method of navigation might be abolished so long as it was retained, is, that when the altitude of a heavenly body is observed, the observer must be situated somewhere on that small circle on the earth’s surface which has the heavenly body as its pole. Another observation of the same body, when its azimuth has sufficiently changed, or of another body, at the same time, with an azimuth differing considerably from that of the first, places the observer, similarly, on another small circle. His actual position must therefore be at one of the two points of intersection of these circles ; and, as these points are usually a long distance apart, his | position, known approximately, will decide the question. These circles, when transferred to a Mercator’s chart, form regular curves, and the chords joining any two points on these curves within a few miles of each other, or the tangents to the curves through any points on them, NO. 1398, VOL. 54] such chords or tangents practically coinciding with the arcs, are called “lines of position.” The intersection of two such “lines of position” fixes the position of the ship on the chart. For the chord method the calculation of four longitudes would be necessary, 7.2. two longitudes obtained from each of the altitudes with two assumed latitudes in the neighbourhood of the latitude by account; or else two longitudes and two latitudes when the heavenly body was near the meridian at the second observation. For the tangent method would be required two longitudes, or a longitude and a latitude, and two azimuths, as from the conditions of the problem, the tangent “line of position” must be at right angles to the heavenly body’s azimuth. Thus Sumner’ method, though useful, was long and tedious, Captain Sumner himself remarking that the calculations would be much shortened and simplified it some ready means could be found of obtaining the azimuth of the body observed. This ready means is provided by Burdwood and Davis’ tables. The longitude is calculated with the latitude by account ; the azimuth taken from the tables, and the “position line” drawn through the position obtained. A second line is similarly drawn, the latitude being calculated, by reduction to the meridian, with the longitude by account, when the body observed is near the meridian, and the intersection of these two lines fixes the position of the ship. Thus the cumbrous chord method is done away with, the tangent method is shortened and simplified. “Summer,” therefore, almost deserves the character given to it by Lord Kelvin, especially as it is very usefu in high latitudes, in the winter months, during which the sun, when it does appear, is never very near the prime vertical, and the longitude obtained from observation ot it is not so trustworthy. Burdwood and Davis’ azimuth tables give the true bearing or azimuth of any heavenly body whose declina- tion lies between o° and 23° north or south, for limits of latitude o° to 60° north or south, for every four minutes of apparent time (in the case of the sun) or of hour angle (in the case of any other body). They are, therefore, most useful for obtaining the azimuth of any such body for compass error or line of position. But the great increase in the speed of modern steam- ships necessitates more frequent observations in order to obtain the position of the ship. The correct position at noon each day was almost all that was required in the days of sailing ships and ships of low steam power. But now that ships may run 200 miles between noon and sunset on a summer’s day, and considerably more between sunset and sunrise on a winter’s night, it is necessary to know the position as often as possible, and strict orders are issued to the officer of the watch in Atlantic liners to omit 70 observation by which the ship’s position may be determined. Hence observations of the moon, the planets, and the stars are becoming of more frequent occurrence. One great advantage of observations of the moon is that it is frequently to be seen after sunrise or before sunset, and the position can be, therefore, readily fixed by simul- taneous observations of the sun and moon (Sumner). Observations of the planets and stars can be made with very great accuracy in the twilight, and afford most satis- Q 338 NATURE [Aucust 13, 1896 factory results. There is, however, in the minds of many mariners an ill-defined idea that any problem not de- pending on the sun is too difficult to be meddled with. But so great a practical authority as Captain Lecky, in “Wrinkles on Navigation,” says : “For four or five months of the year navigation in our own latitudes is a much less ticklish affair when the stars are brought into action. In most cases they can be selected on or nearly on the prime vertical during twilight, -and will therefore give a very reliable longitude.” The object of the present tables is to render Sumner’s method applicable to the moon and planets in aé// ‘cases, and to such bright stars as lie up to 30° of de- clination. The stars tabulated on page vii. of the pre- face are practically all available for longitude, and nearly all for latitude also. The moon for about two-thirds of each month lies within the limits of Burdwood and Davis,” but for the remaining third it lies outside; and, as an example of a planet, Mars in 1896 has a higher northern declination than 23° from October 3 onwards. When it is considered that the simultaneous observa- tion of the sun and moon, already referred to, is admitted to be of great practical use even by those who are sceptical as to the general utility of observations of the moon, tables which permit Sumner’s method to be ap- plied to the moon at a// times, at once establish their practical utility; and further, referring to the above- quoted opinion of Captain Lecky, it is to be remarked— “That it is the very stars between 23° and 30° of de- clination (same name as latitude) which are particularly suitable for observation on the prime vertical, for the reason that in our latitudes such bodies have at the time a convenient altitude, whereas those of lower declination are too near the horizon when they have a bearing due east or west.” In this case again the practical value of the tables is obvious. A somewhat interesting illustration of the value of observations of the stars is given in an article in the Nautical Magazine (June 1896). The article treats of the cross-currents said to be experienced in the Red Sea. Their existence was inferred from the discrepancy often noticed in the position of a ship as obtained from a.m. or p.m. observations of the sun. Recently, however, it has been considered that the discrepancy arises from the abnormal refraction experienced in the Red Sea, by means of which the position of the horizon is altered sufficiently to account for large errors in longitude. In order to endeavour to settle the question numerous observations have been made, and the results tabulated. Ina report on the subject by the Hydrographer of the United States, giving a detailed account of what has been done, the following paragraph occurs. “The good agreement obtained between the results of the observation of dawn and twilight stars shows that excessive refraction is less frequent at those hours than at other hours of the day.” = Tables, therefore, which tend to promote and simplify observations of the stars, when a ship is traversing a sea so full of dangers to navigation as the Red Sea has shown itself to be, should prove to be a boon. In “ Burdwood and Davis” the arguments are latitude, declination, and time. In the present tables “altitude” NO. 1398, VOL. 54] | tinual development. takes the place of “time” in the principal table. Table B is of use in the case of observations made when the altitude is greater than 55°, or is within 2° of the meridian altitude, the change in altitude being then so slow in comparison with the change of azimuth that it can no longer be regarded as a suitable argument. Table B is also of use in Sumners method when an observation is made near the meridian, and the latitude calculated with an assumed longitude. The use of altitude as an argument gives somewhat less minute results than the four-minute intervals, but there are great compensating advantages. The hour angle of the sun (or ship apparent time) is very readily found ; but to find the hour angle of the moon, a planet, or a star, is a much more complicated matter. It in- volves a knowledge of ship time, right ascension of the sun, and right ascension of the body, presenting in addition a somewhat puzzling variety of cases. But the altitude of a star, &c., can be accurately observed in a few moments in the twilight when latitude or longitude is required, and can be observed with quite sufficient accuracy at any time, when visible, for the purpose of obtaining the azimuth or true bearing. And this leads on to the second reason for the publica- tion of these tables. The process of observing the compass bearing of a bright star has been of late years very much facilitated by the introduction of Lord Kelvin’s compass, so that the mariner has now the means of obtaining the error of his compass and of checking his deviation table at any time of the day or night when any of the heavenly bodies are visible. Here again we may quote Captain Lecky, who says: “It is perfectly wonderful how few men avail themselves of the stars on a fine night to see how their compasses are behaving.” These tables, with the simple argument of a fairly correct altitude in place of a com- plicated hour angle, should render the practice of star observations for compass error as frequent as they are simple. Such observation would appear to be most useful to the navigating officer of a ship of high speed, who may find that the variation has altered several degrees be- tween sunset and sunrise. For example, in a ship steaming in the direction of New York, from latitude 45° N., longitude 60° W., it would be found that the variation had altered about 8° in a run of 300 miles, a distance that might very easily be traversed between such times as the sun was available for observation. It must therefore be of great assistance to the navigator that he should have a certain means of checking his compass error, not by the sun only, but by any heavenly body, of suitable and easily ascertained altitude, that may be visible. Example iii. shows very clearly the value of the pro- cess (Examples i. and ii. showing the use of the tables as an aid to Sumner’s method in the case of the stars and moon). The methods for determining compass error show con- Formerly it was found by amplitude only, ze. by the azimuth of the sun when its centre is on the horizon. But, on account of refraction, the sun’s centre appears | to be about a diameter above the horizon when it is Avcust 13, 1896] NATURE 339 really on it, and the correct position has to be guessed at. This never could be very satisfactory, and, in high lati- tudes with sun’s declination of the same name, it is absolutely useless, as, owing to the small angle made by the path of the rising or setting sun with the horizon (cos—1sin latitude . sec declination}), the sun’s azimuth may change several degrees while the altitude changes half a degree, so that it is practically impossible to estimate with any approximation to accuracy the correct amplitude; and when the sun’s declination is greater than the co-latitude, the sun does not set at all. Amplitude tables appear in all collections ; but they might very well be dispensed with now that the compass €rror can be obtained with accuracy at any time of the day and night with the aid of “ Burdwood and Davis,” and the present extension to higher declinations. In conclusion, a word of praise may be given to Messrs. Longmans for the clear and distinct manner in which the tables are printed. F. C. STEBBING. CAVERNS AND THEIR INHABITANTS. Les Cavernes et leurs Habitants. Par Julien Fraipont. Fcap. 8vo, pp. vill + 334. (Paris: Bailliére et Fils, 1896.) HE exploration of caverns during the twenty years which have passed since the publication of “‘ Cave Hunting,” has been carried on with an ever-increasing interest in various parts of the world. In France M. Martel has proved, by his adventurous descents into the abysses of these great laboratories of nature, that there is a charm in exploring them, similar to that which attracts the traveller to the highest summits of the mountains. Ifany one doubts this, let him read ‘‘ Les Abimes,” where he will find a tale of descents into the principal European caverns that will remind him of the A/pz7e Journal turned upside down. In Central America the “ Hill Caves of Yucatan” have allured Mr. Mercer to an expedition, the results of which have been recently published with admirable photographs. Here, as generally if not uni- yersally in the American caves, we look in vain for any traces of man older than the ancestors of the Indian tribes. Inthe book before us Prof. Fraipont, who had already made his mark as one of the discoverers of the human remains in the cave of Spy, deals with the general questions shortly and popularly, and with ample illustrations. Our author treats, in the first place, the physical history of caverns, and divides them into those that have been formed by water and those which are of volcanic eruptive origin. In the first of these groups the caverns formed by the mechanical action of subterranean waters, com- bined with the chemical action of the carbonic acid in the water itself, are rightly separated from those formed by the erosive attack of the sea. The second group consists of those formed by the flow of liquid lava froma lava stream, after the upper parts and sides haye cooled into the solid rocky condition. Caves of this sort are found in most volcanic areas, and notably in the island of Réunion and in Southern Italy. Prof. Fraipont classes with these the basaltic cave of Staffa, obviously the result of the attack of the waves on a line of weakness in NO. 1398, VOL. 54] the prismatic basalt. It is a seacave pure and simple, and has no place in this group. Prof. Fraipont, as might naturally be expected, passes by the present fauna of the caverns with a brief notice : the blind insects, the blind fish (Amélyopsis) of Kentucky and (Lucifuga) of Cuba, the blind Proteus of Carniola, and the large-eyed rat (eofoma) of Kentucky that sees indistinctly. All these, so important from the light which they throw on the effect of the environment on their organisation, have no special interest in a work mainly given to the story of man in the Pleistocene caverns. To this we shall devote the rest of this review. The Pleistocene caverns are treated from the usual standpoint of the French archzeologist, and are divided into three groups, according to the alleged differences in the fauna and the occurrence of certain types of implements. (1) Those of the period of Zlephas antiguus and Rhi- noceros merckit, or the Chelles period ; (2) those of the period of the mammoth and AAznoceros tichorrhinus, or that of Moustier ; and (3) those of the reindeer period. This classification is founded on the assumption that these mammalia and implements are characteristic of each division. Some animals preponderate in some caverns, and others in others, according to their habitat, and also according to the selection made by the hunters, who could kill, say, the reindeer more easily than the mammoth. Asa matter of fact the study of the Pleistocene strata in France, as well as in Germany, Belgium and Britain, proves that all the above animals belong to one fauna in Pleistocene Europe. All have been found side by side in the gravel beds, for instance, on the banks of the Ouse at Bedford. The fact that the reindeer folk hunted the mammoth, as well as the rhinoceros, in France, is proved by the incised figures left behind as memorials of the chase. The differences in the implements, with the ex- ception of the first, are probably local and due to tribal isolation, or to the scarcity or abundance of the materials for implement-making. The only two clearly-marked divisions, applicable to the whole of Europe, are (1) the Chelles period or that of the river-drift, and (2) that of the two latter of Mortillet (if Solutré be included, three) or that known to English archeology as that of the cave-men. Human implements have been repeatedly met with in various caverns in France and Britain, and in the lower strata of Spy, in Belgium, which belong to the River-drift time ; but with the exception of a solitary molar, found in one of the caves in the valley of the Elwy, no human remains have been discovered. It has been the good fortune of Profs. Fraipont and Lohest to find, in the cave of Spy, the first human skeletons, which belong beyond doubt to the cave-men, and are sufficiently perfect to allow of our arriving at a conclusion as to their physique. They are small with short arms and legs, and with a prognathous skull with low forehead, and enormous orbits overhung by strong superciliary ridges, with broad, strong cheek-bones, and with a long vault, similar to that of the skull of Neanderthal. They had small canines, and thigh-bones round in section, and without trace of platyenemism. Without accepting our author's view that they represent a “race humaine 4 caractéres ethniques le plus inférieures que nous connaissons,” we may conclude that they represent a family group of a 340 low type, which may be proved by future discovery to be a well-defined race, spread widely on the continent. We agree with him that the cave-men used fire-sticks, but we wait for further evidence before we can accept the conclusion that they were acquainted with the art of pottery-making. The cups, with round bottoms, found in the caves of Engis and Modave, are of the types met with in the lake-dwellings of Switzerland, such as Moringen and Concise, and are probably of Prehistoric and not of Pleistocene age. Nor can we accept his identification of the Felis spelea with the tiger. It has been clearly shown in the Palzeontographical Society’s Memoirs, some twenty years ago, that it is a lion, differing from the tiger both in the shape of its skull and of its lower jaw, In treating of the range of this animal, our author has been unfortunate. In page 123 he tells us that “the great tiger of the caverns had disappeared in the Rein- deer age,” and, four pages later, that it was then alive. He speaks of it in one place as a tiger, in another as intermediate between a lion and a tiger, and in a third as an “extinct” type. His inclusion of the Bos /ong7- Jrons, the goat, and the rabbit among the Pleistocene mammalia of France and Germany, is also open to doubt, the two first being probably introduced in the Neolithic age as domesticated animals, and the last ‘having found its way northwards from Spain at a later time. Although the Mammalia and, it may be added, the spelling of the names of places, people, and animals, are weak spots, the book may be summed up as an interest- ing addition to the literature of a complex and difficult subject, to which it forms a hand-book with valuable references. W. Boyd DAWKINS. THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF HISTOLOGICAL EVIDENCE. Atlas of Nerve-cells. By M. Allen Starr, with the co- operation of Oliver S. Strong and Edward Leaming. Pp. x + 78. 53 plates. (Published for the Columbia University Press by Macmillan and Co., New York and London, 1896.) - my CAREFUL drawing by a trained observer gives a better idea of appearances seen under the microscope than the best reproduction by photography can at present achieve.” This statement was called forth by the consideration of a book similar in idea to the pre- sent, and apparently one of the same series, the “ Atlas of Fertilisation and Karyokinesis of the Ovum,” and was made a short time ago by Prof. Weldon in a notice of that book in NATURE. It is forcibly recalled by the present book, the authors of which have been at the pains to present photographic representations of preparations showing nerve-cells, mostly prepared by the method of Golgi, any and all of which representations might with the greatest advantage, so far as clearness and facility of comprehension is concerned, have been replaced by a careful drawing of the cells which it was designed to illustrate. The first idea that is evoked on looking at such plates as are here given, is that they are beautiful photographs | NO. 1398, VOL. 54] NATURE [Aucust 13, 1896 of equally beautiful preparations. But the question cuz dono ? immediately forces itself upon one’s mind. Are they intended to exhibit to other investigators the results of the author's investigations? This can hardly be the case, for it is not claimed that they show anything new, and every investigator can more or less readily make such preparations for himself. Are they intended for the student? This equally cannot be, since they are given in an expensive form, and are for the most part lacking in clearness ; not from any fault in the preparations, but because the camera cannot be got to see more than one plane at a time. It is the hand which is constantly on the fine adjustment of the microscope that enables the shape of the body of a nerve-cell and the course of all its branches to be followed accurately, and it is only accidentally and imperfectly that these can be shown in a photograph. The authors have themselves furnished the best possible illustration of the comparative value for teaching purposes of accurate drawings from good preparations, and of the best possible photographs from the same preparations, in giving (on p. 72, Fig. 10) a diagram of the cells of the cerebral cortex, “the cells being reproduced from the plates” (it would probably be more correct to say from the preparations). This diagram shows the cells with all their processes in relation to one another in the clear manner which we are accustomed to associate with representations of Golgi-preparations, and presents a marked contrast to the difficulty with which we make ‘out some of the points which are stated to be shown in many of the photographs. Moreover, as an account of the structure of the nervous system, which appears in some measure to be aimed at in this book, although not indicated in the title, the text which accompanies the plates is of no great value, since more complete and accurate accounts are within the reach of every student. It is indeed remarkable, con- sidering that Dr. Allen Starr is the principal author, that quite serious errors, both of omission and of commission, should have found their way into the text. Thus, to take a single part of the nervous system, in a special enumeration of the connections of the cerebellum, the passage of the tract of Gowers into it by way of the superior peduncle—a fact indicated by Lowenthal and conclusively demonstrated by Mott—is ignored. On the other hand, the extensive descending degenerations described by Marchi, which have since been shown to have been produced in all probability by injuries to the bulb, accidentally made on removing the cerebellum, are still put forward as indicating an important centrifugal connection of the cerebellum with the spinal cord. It may, further, be remarked that the present authors, like many others who have lately treated of the structure of the nervous system, have altogether failed to appreciate the importance of adopting for the nerve-cell a 'termin- ology which shall bring it into a line with all other cells in the body. Instead of speaking of the body of the cell together with all its processes as a “cell,” they restrict the term cell to the body or nucleated part alone, and adopt the misleading term “neuron” to designate what is in fact the whole nerve-cell, ignoring the fact that vevpov literally means a sinew or fibre, and if applied Aucust 13, 1896] NATURE 341 at all in this connection, should be restricted to the nerve-fibre process of the cell, for which they prefer the longer term weuraxon/ Of course, as every one knows, our authors, in taking this course, are merely following the lead of a certain eminent German anatomist, it being a fashion with American scientific writers (except a few who prefer a sort of scientific Volapiik) to follow pretty blindly all German scientific leads in the matter of nomenclature, and this even to the extent of bodily adopting actual German words into a language which can already find two or three synonyms for almost any word it may be desired to translate. No doubt many English authors are also to blame in this respect, but the fact is none the less to be deplored. And how can the average student be expected to understand the homologies of the nerve- cell if he is taught that he is not to call this particular unit a cell, like all the other units in the body, but is to restrict the term to a part of it only, for no other reason than the fact that when we were more steeped in ignor- ance of the structure of the nervous system than we are at present, that particular part of the nerve-cell was sup- posed to represent the whole ! Nevertheless, it may be freely admitted, in spite of the above criticisms, that many of the reproductions are extremely well done, and may with advantage be care- fully studied by those who have not the opportunity of preparing for themselves specimens of like nature to those depicted. E. A. SCHAFER. OUR BOOK SHELF. Flora der Ostfriestschen Inseln (einschliesslich der Insel Wangeroog). Von Prof. Dr. F. Buchenau. Dritte umgearbeitete Auflage. Small 8vo, pp. 205. (Leipzig : Wilhelm Engelmann, 1896.) DR. BUCHENAU is well-known as a botanical author for the simplicity and lucidity of his style, and the thorough- ness with which he treats his subjects; and this little book is no exception to his usual work. Indeed, it is a model of what a local “Zora should be, in striking con- trast to the bulky barrenness of some of our English county F/oras. It will easily go into the breast-pocket of a coat, and, as it contains descriptions and other in- formation, it may be used, and be useful, in the field. The flora of the Frisian Islands is, on account of their situation, of great interest; and Dr. Buchenau has worked out its features, composition and peculiarities, with a full appreciation of its interest. An introductory chapter of some twenty-eight pages is a summary of the author’s observations on various points; observations which have been published in full elsewhere, to which references are given. The paragraph on sand-binding plants is valuable. With regard to the flora as a whole, two principal points come under consideration, namely, its composition and origin. Taking into account the area, but more especially the slight elevation, the absence of trees, and almost so of shrubs, the flora is a comparatively rich one, and includes a number of species we should hardly expect to find. Dr. Buchenau says that the commonly accepted idea that the most interesting plants of the islands are relatively recent immigrants from the mainland of North-west Germany, will not bear investi- gation. “ The most striking plants of the islands—Lzfaris Leselit, Gymnadenia conopsea, Epipactis latifolia, Parnassia palustris, &c., are either wanting or ex- ceedingly rare in East Friesland. They are only met NO. 1398, VOL. 54] with, by degrees, much further south. It is, therefore, inconceivable that they have migrated from the mainland in recent times, and assembled in these islands. The more probable explanation is that these plants are the remains of the old diluvial flora which from various causes have survived in the islands, though they have disappeared from the nearest mainland.” I may add that Dr. Buchenau has made a special point of drawing up his descriptions, which are short and clear, from local forms. W. BoTTiING HEMSLEY. A Text-book of Physical Exercises adapted for the Use of Elementary Schools. By Dr. A. H. Carter and Samuel Bott. Pp. x + 168. (Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) THIS book calls for notice in NATURE because the exer- cises in it are founded upon a physiological basis. Ina lucid introduction, Dr. Carter deals with “The Physiology of Exercise,” and what he says should be read and digested by every teacher who has to do with the physical training of children. A knowledge of the struc- ture and functions of muscular tissue is essential in order to fully appreciate the value of different exercises. For to know the physiological effects of exercise, the cause of fatigue, breathlessness, the nature of muscular stiffness, the reason why rest is necessary for the renewal of reserve force and the relief of muscular pains, is to pos- sess the ability to judge the suitability of this or that exercise for the purpose of physical development. Physical exercises have been carried out in the schools of the Birmingham School Board for the last ten years, and Mr. Bott, who organised and directs them, has, there- fore, had ample opportunity of knowing the practical conditions of the exercises he describes. It is difficult to give clear and practicable instructions for the successful performance of such exercises as those with which the book deals, but, by means of concise text and numerous ‘illustrations, this has been satisfactorily done. These instructions, and Dr. Carter’s admirable lesson in physiology, will equip teachers with all they need know in order to carry out a sensible and syste- matic course of physical training for children. Der Lichtsinn augenloser Tiere. By Dr. Wilibald A. Nagel. Pp. 120. (Jena: G. Fischer, 1896.) HALF of this interesting study is taken up by a paper on “Seeing without Eyes,” in which the author considers the general question of sensitiveness to light, with illus- trations from his own researches. In the second half these researches are described, and some special questions more fully discussed. The authors own observations were made chiefly on lamellibranchs and gasteropods, and showed a high degree of sensitiveness to light in the absence of anything like a visual organ. He found that some molluscs reacted especially to diminution, others to increase of light, and that this difference was correlated with other characters ; those molluscs with soft shells, which bury themselves in the sand, reacted strongly to light, while those with hard shells responded more to shade. He found the highest degree of sensitiveness to light in Psammodia; and it is interesting to note, in relation to the common view as to the connection between sensitiveness to light. and pigment, that the impregnated siphons of this mollusc were highly sensitive. Another interesting point investigated was the influence of repetition of a light stimulus. An oyster or mussel which has reacted to a shadow will react much less strongly, or not at all, to a second stimulus, even if much more intense, and does not recover its previous degree of excitability till more than an hour has elapsed. The book concludes with a full bibliography. NATURE [AucusT 13. 1896 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 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. | The Utility of Specific Characters. Pror. LANKESTER (p. 245) has alluded to the dark pigment in the skin of tropical man as ‘‘conceivably . . . not in itself a useful, that is, a life-preserving or progeny-ensuring character, but merely the accompaniment of a power of resisting malarial germs. . .” residing in the leucocytes. This hypothetical case, used by Prof. Lankester for illustrating his argument, has been seriously entered upon by Mr. Thiselton-Dyer (p. 293), with the conclusion that ‘‘it does not follow that epidermal pigment is useless because one explanation of it seems to fail.” I beg permission to call attention to a paper in NATURE, vol. xxx. p. 401, by Surgeon:Major N. Alcock, ‘* Why tropical man is black,” which paper has seemed to me of great importance from the time I read it. Ingenuous considerations, together with quotations from various authorities, led Mr. Alcock to the opinion, that the dark pigment of tropical man’s skin does serve as a protection against the rays of /éght. Whereas ‘‘. . . pig- ment placed behind a transparent nerve will exalt its vibrations to the highest pitch ”—viz. in the eye—‘‘. . . the pigment in front of the endangered nerve reduces its vibrations by so much as the interrupted light would have excited, a quantity which . . . would, when multiplied by the whole area of body-surface, represent a total of nervous action that if continued would soon exhaust the individual and degrade the species.” In this way, the blackness of the negro which, as regards heat alone, must appear far from protective, will act asa screen against ‘‘ the twin stimulant of life,” light. ‘*‘ May it not, there- fore, be claimed that there is much foundation for the suggestion that the black skin of the negro is but the smoked glass through which alone his wide-spread sentient nerve-endings could be enabled to regard the sun ?” There is no lack of evidence in support of this view. I will confine myself to mentioning a letter by Mr. Flinders Petrie (NATURE, vol. xxxiv. p. 76). Perhaps I may remind the leaders in the old strife about the utility of specific characters, of the remarkable statements in “* Descent of Man” (second edition, p. 61), commenting on the important concessions which, in the fifth edition of the ‘‘ Origin of Species,” Darwin has made to the views of Nageli and others, concerning ‘. . . the existence of structures, which, as far as we can at present judge, are neither beneficial nor injurious...” Davip WETTERHAN. Freiburg, Badenia, August 1. The Position of Science at Oxford, IN the correspondence which your recent interesting article on this subject has evoked, the writers have mainly applied their criticism to particular aspects of the general argument raised. This is natural, for they have, scarcely without exception, been professionally interested in the teaching and progress of science, and their letters seem to show that an impression exists that there is a cause for blame in the matter, but that there is an uncertainty at whose door this blame should be laid. May I briefly examine the complaints which your original anonymous correspondent brought against the University authorities, and the present system in vogue at Oxford. The first complaint has reference to the allotment of college scholarships to science. The argument may be admitted that strict justice demands that fifty-five scientific scholarships should be given ; that only forty-four science scholars were last year in residence is incorrect. There were at least half-a-dozen men, receiving the emoluments of a nominally mathematical scholar- | ship, who were preparing to take physics as a second school. Then, again, Christ Church annually gives an exhibition of the value of £85. If this be reckoned as equivalent to a scholar- ship, asin common fairness it should be reckoned, it is perfectly evident that it is not desirable to offer more scholarships in natural science until the school becomes larger, or the com- petition more severe than is at present the case. It is not un- important to point out that an examination of the Natural Science Class Lists would show that somé of the holders of these emoluments have not justified their selection. The second part of the indictment against the college autho- NO. 1398, VOL. 54] rities is concerned with the appointment (or non-appointment) of science tutors. And in this matter your article is calculated to give a wrong impression, for it should be clearly understood that the college can exercise no compulsory power in choosing a course of study for any commoner. That commoner only can be influenced in this way, who starts his university career with no preference for a particular school, and it is inconceivable that such an one can ever really adorn any branch of study. But the man who knows what he wants to do, will find that he can get all the assistance he requires from his college lecturer, and that he is in no way worse off because the latter is not on the tutorial staff. Your article contains a comparison between the conditions which obtain at Oxford and Cambridge respectively, much to the disadvantage of the former, and three reasons are given for the fact. First, at Cambridge scholarships are given to men of one year’s standing ; but if a man has failed to win a scholarship before his second term, it is not easy to see how he will qualify for one after a year’s work. The fact that there is no lack of candidates of sufficient merit at Cambridge, is beyond a doubt largely accounted for by the fact that the scholarships are in many cases of smaller monetary value, and a lower standard is consequently expected. Secondly, a greater prestige attaches to the science school at Cambridge; and this is probably the greatest hindrance to an increase in the science school at Oxford. Time alone, by removing this ignorance and pre- judice, can overcome the popular idea that science teaching is better, and, it might be added, cheaper in one university than in the other. At any rate, it cannot be said that Oxford col- lectively has not done her best to remove any inferiority she may have had in the past. The third argument is that the ranks of Oxford undergraduates are mainly recruited from the public schools, that science teaching in public schools is bad, and that the university is responsible. In fact, the essential argument of the article, and the only one that can possibly stand the test of criticism, is that the examination known as ‘* responsions ” urgently needs alteration, both in the direction of excluding the compulsory Greek test, and including an examination in the elements of natural science. Such an alteration, it is contended, would improve the science teaching, and it is the duty of the university to effect this reform. The question of the Greek test is not new, and it cannot be denied that it has been considered and discussed with the utmost deliberation by those who have decided in favour of its reten- tion. It is idle, in the face of facts, to throw a doubt on the sincerity of the University’s good will towards science: it is equally impossible to deny, and it is admitted in your article, that the university is perfectly right to demand of its alumni a preliminary ‘‘ fair general education”; at the same time, it would be difficult to name a body better qualified to decide what is a good general education than Convocation itself. The writer of your article appears to think that the dons— especially the younger dons—are foolish, childish, narrow- minded persons, absolutely ignorant of science and modern languages. This is, fortunately, far from true, and their deliberately expressed opinion, on a point of the greatest im- portance in public education, is assuredly entitled to some re- spect. Your correspondent complains that the knowledge of Greek demanded is too small to serve any useful purpose, and some of us may wish that the standard should be raised ; but this complaint applies far more aptly to Cambridge than to Oxford. After all, a knowledge of Greek is insisted on because it is the most beautiful, the most expressive language ever written, and it contains the finest literature. A boy may forget how to conjugate a Greek verb (the sneer is rather hackneyed), but the reading of a Greek play, perhaps the most perfect form of literature the artist could use, will still have left a permanent effect on the mind of any one who is capable of culture. Besides, since a proper equivalent for Greek, even if a sub- stitute be possible, will require as much time and as much application in its preparation, it is difficult to see in what way this alternative subject—be it German or any other—will prove more suitable, more convenient, or more congenial. The question remains of making a knowledge of the elements of natural science compulsory in responsions, for compulsory it must be, if it is to change the existing state of things. The occasion for making this proposal is certainly unfortunate, for it evidently appears to be made not so much as an abstract sug- gestion for the improvement of education in general, as a scheme for the express purpose of improving the scientific teaching in schools. That it would have even this latter effect is open to AUGUST 13, 1806] WET RORE 343 doubt, for mathematical teaching is almost as bad as scientific, although mathematics is compulsory in responsions. But it is clear enough that the proposal can only be defended on the former ground, for it would be preposterous to impose a useless burden on ninety-five per cent. of undergraduates, in order to raise the standard of a particular five per cent. Now, inde- pendently of the fact that the ‘‘ elements of natural science” is a phrase very vague and difficult to define, it may be fairly urged that these ‘‘ elements” consist of a series of interesting and important facts, of which, however, the connection and inter- action is by no means apparent without a fairly comprehensive knowledge. It would be perfectly useless to have a knowledge of natural laws, when the idea of ‘‘law” is, in itself, entirely imperfect, as Helmholtz has held it to be in the unmathematical mind. A knowledge of science may be desirable, but equally so is a knowledge of history, or of English law. But if it be ex- pedient to enlarge the scope of responsions in any way, it is abundantly clear that deeper, instead of wider, knowledge should be required: for example, the standard of mathematics might with good reason, perhaps, be raised. One more remark seems needed in reply to your article. In attributing to the Greeks a true scientific spirit, your corre- spondent shows a strange and radical misconception of the tendency of Greek philosophic thought. The Hellenic spirit always inclined to speculative and metaphysical, as opposed to experimental philosophy, and Aristotle probably did more to retard our knowledge of natural science than any ten men have ever done to advance it. The science school at Oxford may, and it is to be hoped will gradually improve, both in size and in quality; especially is there room for hope in the case of the medical school, though it is sadly handicapped by the absence of those opportunities for practical teaching which only a great hospital, situated in a crowded city, can afford. But it is useless to hope that the whole natural science school will ever become very large, so long as the tendency towards devolution and decentralisation in university (which ought to mean the highest) education continues. The principle of centralisation of educational forces, the enor- mous importance of which seems nowadays to be so lamentably lost sight of, possesses an especial validity in the case of scientific education. If this principle be neglected, it is our own fault if we find, on the one hand, a teaching staff of the highest order without pupils to instruct, and admirably equipped museums and laboratories standing practically idle and in abeyance ; and, on the other hand, the best teachers so scattered up and down the country as to hinder the receptive student from gaining the advantages he would otherwise reap from their combined and systematised tuition. WE. P. Liverpool, August 3. The Mandrake. In an anonymous work in Chinese, ‘‘ Tiau-sieh-lui-pien” (1), nine plants are named as frequently to assume the human or animal figures, viz. cypress, Nan-tree,! turnip, mustard, citron, Pachyma cocos, Lyctum chinense, Phytolacca actnosa, and Panax Ginseng.” Of these nine, doubtless the Ginseng is the plant most cele- brated for its medicinal virtues imaginarily connected with its anthropomorphous root (2); but as far as the muitiplicity is in question of the legends talked of analogous to the mandrake- stories, certainly the Shang-luh (Phytolacca actnosa) is the most notorious one. Under the heading at the beginning of this letter, I wrote to NATURE (vol. li. p. 608, April 25, 1895) a note on the analogies between the mandrake- and the Shang-Iuh-lores, pointing out the two instances, viz. : (1) The roots of the two plants are said to have human shape. (2) Both plants are said to have the power of shrieking. Continuing in the research from that point, I have found further the additional points of analogy, that are as follows :— 1 Some Japanese botanists (e.¢. Matsumura, ‘‘ Nippon Shokubutsu Meii,” Toky6, 1884. p. 64) identify the Chinese ‘‘ Nan” with the Euphorbiaceous plant, Daphniphyllum macropodium ; whether the identity is a sound one, 1 do not know. 2 Most plants here enlisted, seem to have the alleged figures in their sub- terraneous members; only the citron might produce the fruits of such a configuration. As to the named trees, the cypress of Kien-ling was anciently valued for its wood, the veins of which represented naturally angels, clouds, men and animals (** Yuen-kien-lui-han,” of. c7t., tom. cecexiii. art. “ Peh,” 1); whereas the alleged human figure of the “* Nan” was apparently formed by its stem and branches (cf H. Ransdell, *‘ Through Siberia,” 1882, vel. i. p. 158). NO. 1398, VOL. 54] (3) The Shang-luh is said to grow upon the ground beneath which dead man lies; and the mandrake is recorded to thrive under the gallows (3). (4) When the Shang-luh is about to acquire the power of speech, 7gves fatuz, it is said, crowd about it (4). About the mandrake Richard Folkard remarks: ‘‘In an Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the tenth or eleventh century the mandrake is said to shine in the night like a candle. The Arabs call it the Devil's. Candle because of this nocturnal shining appear- SOSA A (5) Chang Urh-Ki, a Chinese literatus of the seventeenth century, writes: ‘*‘ A sorcerer carves the root of Shang-luh into a human effigy, which he makes through his spells capable of telling the fortunes” (6). This forcibly brings to mind the old European belief in the diminutive prophetic images made out of mandrake-root ! (7). (6) The mandrake had a reputation that it makes men insane and the reason prisoner (8) ; correspondingly the red variety of Shang-luh ? is described by Su Kung (c. 656) to be so poisonous as to cause men to see the demons (7.e. to make men de- lirious) (9). (7) In *‘ Pan-tsau-king,” the oldest Chinese authority on materia medica, attributed to the mythical emperor, Shin-Nung, the Shang-luh is mentioned to kill the demoniacal beings ; and, later, Teau Hung-King (452-536) speaks of its influence on the ** Malignant Worms,” which it drives out of the possessed (10), this efficiency being no doubt the principal reason for the Tauist usage of the white Phytolacca under the pseudonym of ‘* Luh- fu” (or ** Dried Venison”) (11). Still later it is reputed by Ta-Ming (c. 968) to purge the ‘‘ Poison of the Aw”* (12). Quite conformable to these is the ancient Jewish belief in the exorcising power the herb Baaras (or the mandrake) was re- nowned to possess (13). (8) A recipe quoted by Chang Urh-ki from a ‘‘ Book of Divine Physic” (14) seems to imply the old Chinese usage of the Shang-luh as philtre as much as the mandrake was highly esteemed therefor (15). (9) *‘ From the remotest antiquity the mandrake was reputed in the East to possess the property of removing sterility ; hence Rachel’s desire to obtain the plant that Reuben had found. . . .” (16). Now we read in a Chinese herbal that the black, ripe fruit of the Shang-luh is highly valued by rustic women, for it favours their fertility (17). (10) Of the medicinal properties these plants are known to possess, some are common to both. Matthioli, referring to Galen, speaks as a cooling stuff of the mandrake (18), Li Shi- Chin assigning the same character to the Shang-luh (19). Both herbs were famed for their purgative functions, and both were applied to indolent and scrofulous tumours, and to swellings of the glands (20). 1 From their traditions, the Chinese appear to have had about the Fung (Liguidamber Maximowicsit) two points of analogy to the mandrake-lore. First, Jin Fang's ‘* Shuh-i-ki” (written sixth century, a.p., ed. Wang, tom. ii. fol. 10, 4) contains the following passage: ‘‘ In Nan-Chung there Is the *Liquidamber-Elf’ (Fung-sze-kwei), which is the old tree of the named species transformed to man inits shape. Second, other authorities say a tumour develops upon the old Liquidamber ; after a thunderstorm it elong- ates to three or five feet in length. Now the sorcerer carves this tumour to a human effigy to play black art thereby in a similar manner to the practice with the Shang-luh. However, in case a proper formula is not observed while gathering it, the tumour flies away and never serves the purpose (cf Ki Ngan, ‘‘ Nan-fang-tsau-muh-chwang,” fourth century, A-D., Brit. Mus. copy, 15255, @. 5, tom. ii. fol. 1, a2; Wu Ki-Siun, of. cz#., tom. xxxv. fol. 2 a; Sie Tsai-Kang, of. c7t., tom. x. fol. 4). Whether related to the latter belief or not, 1 remember some old men in Japan ever extolling the merits of images of Daikoku, the god of riches, artificially formed out of tumours on Gingko biloba. 2 That is, the variety with its calyx coloured pale rufous. Kan-Pau- Shing, a herbalist of the tenth century, observes of the Shang-luh : ‘‘ The red flower accompanies the red root and the white flower the white root” (See Iinuma, ‘*Sé6moku Dzusetsu,” new ed., 1874, vol. vii. fol. 89, 6; Li Shi-Chin, Zoc. cit.) 8 “* The district of Kiang-Nan is much infested by the Aw. On the fifth day of the fifth moon, the future keeper of the A~ puts together in a vessel a hundred different sorts of animals, varying in size from serpent to louse, which are left therein to mutually devour till but one remains the strongest. This he keeps and feeds in his house as the Aw. Whomsoever the keeper wishes to destroy the A’ infests in the viscera ; consequently the man dies, his treasures passing over to the A™w-keeper's house,” &c. (‘* Sui-shu,” written seventh century, A.D., quoted in Tsiau Hwang, “ Tsiau-shi-pih- shing,” Brit. Mus. copy, 15316, @, fasc. ii. tom. v. fol. 24, @; Ching Tsiau, op. cit., tom. xxxiii. fol. 11, 4; cf Morrison, ** Dictionary of the Chinese Language,’’ London and Macao, 1823, vol. ili. part i. p. 288.) Among the stories pertaining to the A’ several incidents occur parallel to those about the mandrake (cf. Folkard, Zoc. cét. ; Li Shi-Chin, sub. ‘‘ Kin-tsan"'; Kita- mura, Kiy(i Shéran, new ed., Toky6, 1882, tom. viii. fol. 22). Just as are the cases with the mandrake and the Shang-luh, a herb called Lang-tang (Scofolia sp.?) is reputed to make men insane, yet withal to cure demoniacal possession (cf. Wu Ki-Siun, of. cit., tom. xxiv. fol. 77, 4.; Josephus, éoc. cft.). 344 NATORE [AucusT 13, 1836 So far the many analogies between the mandrake- and the Phytolacca-stories appear to militate against the probability of the independent growths, if not origins, of the folk-lores connected with the two plants. Further, it may be worthy of notice that, while the ancient Europeans possessed a hazy knowledge of the anthropomorphous Ginseng (21), the Chinese of middle ages had an equally circuitous acquaintance with the mandrake. The fact is well evinced in the following passage of Chau Mih (1232-1308) (22): ‘* Several thousand miles west of the Region of Moslem, the land produces one substance extremely poisonous, which is shaped like man as our Ginsengis. It is called ‘ Yah-puh-lii,’ and grows under the ground several chang deep [1 chang = 10 Chinese feet]. Should a man bruise its skin, its poison would adhere to and kill him. The only method of gathering it is this: dig around the said substance a hollow deep enough for a man’s management therein ; with one end of a thong tie up the sub- stance lightly, and with other end bind round a big dog’s leg. Now flog the dog ; he will, striving to avoid the danger, pluck the substance from the ground, but he will die instantly. The stuff thus procured is buried under other ground, whence it is taken out a year after; then it is dried and prepared with another medicine. When man takes internally a bit of this mixed with wine, it makes him soon fall down unconscious even of cuts and chops; still there is a certain drug which, if used within three days, can recover the man. It is very likely that the celebrated Hwa To [a surgeon who flourished in the third century, A.D.] barely resorted to this drug when, as is tradition- ally said, he cut open his patients’ bellies to cleanse viscela with- out harm. Presently we learn our Imperial Hospital possesses two pieces of this drug.” The readers of the above passage scarcely need my annotations that the story is obviously composed of what Josephus and Dioscorides record (23), and also that the name ‘* Yah-puh-lii” is nothing but ‘‘ Ybruh,” the Arabic word for the mandrake (24). References.—(1) In ‘‘ Hai-shan-sien-kwan-tsung-shu,” tom. xlvi. (published 1847), pt. i., fol. 76, 6; the Imperial Cyclopzedia, ** Yuen-kien-lui-han,” 1701, passe. (2) ‘‘ Encyclopedia Britan- nica,” 9th ed., vol. x p. 605. (3) Cf Folkard, ‘‘ Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics,” 1884, p. 427 ; also my letter in NATURE, oj. cet. (4) Sie Tsai-Kang, ‘‘ Wu-tsah-tsu,” c. 1610, Jap. ed., tom. x., fol. 41, 4, quoted in my letter, #42 supra. (5) Folkard, Zc. (6) *‘ Wau-ngan-hien-hwa,” Brit. Mus. copy, 15316, a, tom. i., fol. 4, 4. (7) Same as (5) and (8). (8) ‘ Encye. Brit.”, vol. xv. p. 476. (9) and (10) Li Shi-Chin, ‘‘ Pan- tsau-kang-muh,” art. ‘‘Shang-luh.” (11) Ching Tsiau, “*Tung-chi,” Brit. Mus, copy, 15281, a—d, tom. Ixv., fol. 28, a. (12) Same as (9). (13) Josephus, ‘‘ Jewish War,” trans, Traill, 1851, book vii. p. 230. (14) Same as (6). (15) and (16) Folkard, of. cé¢. (17) Wu Ki-Siun, ‘‘ Shih- woh-ming-shih-tu-kau,” completed c. 1848, ed. Ono, Tdkyé, 1884, tom. xxiv., fol. 16. (18) ‘‘I Discorsi, &c.,” Venetia, 1568, p. 1136. (19) Same as (9). (20) Cf W. Rhind, ‘* History of the Vegetable Kingdom,” 1874, p. 552; same as (8)and (9). (21) e.g. Cruden, ‘‘ A Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testament,” 20th ed., p. 436. (22) ‘* Chi-ya-tung-tsah-chau,” Brit. Mus. copy, 15316, a, tom. i. fol. 41-42. (23) Josephus, 7 c.; Mart Mathée, ‘‘Les six Livres de Pedacion Dioscoride,” Lyon, 1559, 1. iv., ch. Ixv. p- 274. (24) Pickering, ‘‘ Chronological History of Plants,” Boston, 1879, p. 247. KUMAGUSU MINAKATA. 15 Blithfield Street, Kensington, W., July 16. P.S.—In writing the present letter, I have not consulted the late Prof. Veth’s exhaustive account of the mandrake-stories referred to in NATURE (vol. li. p. 573.) To my great regret it is written in Dutch, a language which is beyond the reach of my understanding. K. M. 1 In another work by same author, ‘‘ Kwei-sin-tsah-shih,” quoted by Li Shi-Chin, of. cft., sub. ‘‘ Yah-puh-lii,” this herb is said to grow in the “Region of Moslem, north of the Desert,” and there it is indicated that the degraded officers of an extreme ignominy used this drug [to feign self- murder}. The Imperial ‘ Yuen-kien-lui-han.” of. cit., tom. cccexi., gives a provers *‘Eat the herb by name Yah-pub-lii; you die, still you are not dead.”" 2 Fang I-Chi, the most erudite Chinese of Christian faith, referring toa work of the thirteenth (?) century, ‘f Fang-yu-shing-loh,” gives the habitat of the narcotic ‘‘ Yah-puh-lii-yoh ” in the country of Medina (** Tung-ya,” 1643, tom. xli., fol. 8, 6). Conventionally the latter name might be inter- preted as the ‘Drug named Yah-pub-lii,’’ but I am rather inclined to trace it to the name ‘‘ Yabrochak”’ (Pickering, /oc. cét.) NO. 1398, VOL. 54 | used in Palestine for the mandrake THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. IF it be true that science advances through failures, the clouds which prevented the observation of the total eclipse of the sun last Sunday may be a blessing in disguise. During the past quarter of a century, several astronomers have taken up the problem of discovering a means of photographing the corona in broad daylight, but the results have not been very encouraging. In the photography of solar prominences, Prof. Hale and Dr. Deslandres have obtained distinctly valuable pictures, and, were it possible to delineate the corona with the same success on any day when the sun is shining, our know- ledge of the nature of that solar appendage would increase much more rapidly than it can at present, when the only opportunities for studying it are afforded by the brief moments of totality of a solar eclipse. Perhaps last Sunday’s experience will induce solar physicists to give further attention to the artificial reproduction of eclipse conditions. It is, of course, not suggested that every-day observations will make eclipse expeditions un- necessary—there will be work for astronomers during solar eclipses for a long time to come—but if it were possible to carry out systematic researches on the structure and constitution of the solar surroundings, instead of depending entirely upon the rare intervals when the photosphere is obscured, several moot points might be settled before the end of this century. Observations of the total eclipse of Sunday last were made impossible by clouds. From all along the line of observers, the same report of foiled intentions has been received. At Vads6, and in the neighbourhood, the sun was entirely obscured during totality, and no observations of scientific importance were obtained. The party of Russian astronomers who stationed themselves at the village of Orloffskoe, on the Amur, were equally unsuc- cessful in making observations. The eclipse was visible as a partial eclipse at Tokio, but at Akeshi, in the island of Yezo, where the Japanese, American, and British observers had set up their instruments, the weather was wet and the sky cloudy, and it is reported that the preparations made ended ina fiasco. It is not definitely known what happened at Esashi, where Prof. Todd and Dr. Deslandres were stationed, but little hope of success is entertained. A telegram received at Copenhagen from Bodé, Norway, states that a photographer from Flensburg has taken eleven photographs of the eclipse at Bredvik, on the Skjerstad Fiord, but more details are needed before an opinion can be expressed as to their value. News has yet to be received from the British observing party at Nova Zembla, and from the expeditions of the Russian Astronomical Society stationed at Enontekis (Finland), the mouth of the Obi, and Olekminsk, on the Lena. Mr. Norman Lockyer has sent us the following telegram from Ki6 Island, where he established a station to observe the eclipse: “Although the sun was clouded during totality, the sight was most impressive. The darkness was so great that lamps were needed. The party from H.M.S. Volage consisted of seventy-seven observers all trained to make notes or drawings of particular characteristics of eclipse phenomena, such as coronal structure, extent of the corona, and the colours of sky, cloud, and land and water surfaces, and to take the times of contact. The party was also provided with spectroscopes for analysing the lights of the corona and prominences, prismatic cameras for photographing the spectra of these objects, and polariscopes.” With such an army of organised observers, an immense amount of valuable information would have been accumulated had the eclipse been visible. The exceptional opportunities for accurate observation offered by the presence of the Training Squadron gives astronomers reason for keen disappointment at the failure of the eclipse as an observ- able event; but students of science are used to the AucustT 13, 1896] destruction of their hopes, and the next total solar eclipse will be as eagerly looked forward ,to as the one just hidden from them. An interesting description of the scene in the neigh- bourhood of Vadsé appeared in Tuesday’s Zimes, and the following is an abridgement of it. On Sunday morning the Varanger Fiord in the north-east of Norway presented a scene which has probably never before been equalled in a latitude of 70°. The anchorage at the port of Vads6 was crowded with men-of-war, yachts, and passenger steamers, brought together by reason of the total solar eclipse. For several days the numerous astronomers on these ships have been engaged in landing their delicate and elaborate instru- ments, and transporting them to the beautiful sites which here abound, By last night the laborious preparations of the different observing parties had been completed, and they awaited with what composure they might the momentous events of the morrow. In any circumstances an Arctic summer night, where broad daylight reigns throughout, is very different from a night in a temperate region. But on this occasion there were so many interruptions, partly by the arrival of friends in the various ships, that rest was but little thought of, and indeed from two to five and even earlier a succession of boats brought hundreds of passengers from the ships to the shore. The fence which marked out the ground occupied by the observers was guarded by bluejackets, charged with the duty of keeping at a suitable distance the groups of picturesquely-clad Finns and Lapps, who gazed with astonishment on the strangers who had travelled so far, and on the wonderful appliances they had brought with them. Many of these Arctic inhabitants were, however, sufficiently sophisticated to be provided with the traditional pieces of smoked glass with which to make their own observations. The sun could not be seen at the moment when the moon first made contact, though almost immediately afterwards it was visible with a slight encroachment on the brilliant edge, showing that the eclipse had commenced. For nearly an hour hope and fear then alternated. Everything, of course, depended on the condition of the sky at the moment of totality, and it was hoped that some of the characteristic phenomena of a total eclipse might be presented. This hope was strengthened as the crescent sun waned thinner and thinner and still remained visible. As the supreme moment of totality approached, the broad landscape sensibly darkened, and the fiord became more gloomy. It was as if some mighty thunder-shower was about to descend ; but, alas ! the clouds again thickened, and the observation of the moment of actual totality, if effective at all, could only be made by glimpses witha telescope through a very dense medium. Some observers were, of course, constrained to limit their attention to their instruments, and to the sole discharge of the duties which had been entrusted to them. But many were in the position of being able to look at the sun until the crescent of light was about to disappear, and then face round to the opposite point of the horizon. The object of this manceuvre was to permit the observer to see the impressive spectacle of the advance of the lunar shadow over the earth. The situation at Vads6 lent itself admirably to the observation of this magnificent phenomenon. As the shadow advanced across the fiord, it enveloped the training squadron as it lay at anchor, the details of the ships’ rigging disappeared from view, and their lights gleamed forth brilliantly. Still the shadow pressed on with its majestic speed of a mile in every couple of seconds. It moved as swiftly as a cannon-ball until it reached the observers at Vadso, and then announced to them in the most impressive manner that the supreme moment of their visit had arrived, and that totality was complete. The darkness that then buried Vads6 and its numerous ob- servers lasted fora minute and forty seconds. The unwonted spectacle hushed every one to silence. A few startled birds hurried past the camp, and amid the canopy of cloud which covered the heavens at least one observer descried a star. But, though all the visitors felt that the magnificent phenomena were worthy of being remembered as a life-long experience, yet it is none the less true that, from a scientific point of view, the result of all the labours at Vads6 was hardly anything. The object of the astronomers, who erected at such vast pains great photographic instruments, was to depict the corona and to NO. 1398, VOL. 54] NATURE 345 analyse with spectroscopes the light which it dispenses. It is true that during the time of totality they exposed their plates in accordance with the careful drill and organisation which were indispensable if full advantage was to be taken of the brief period. But, unfortunately, during the time of totality the clouds were obdurate, and nothing could beseen. The innumer- able telescopes directed to the sun showed no more than the same instruments would have done if they remained stilb covered. The 100 seconds fled, marked only by the mechanical pre- cision of the officer who counted them aloud. The astronomers might safely spare glances to the interesting view over land and sea. The light around them was not greater than that during a full moon, but in the distance mountain-tops could be descried which were not in the shadow and were shining brilliantly. At last the darkness lifted, and the manner in which the light returned was almost startling in its suddenness, It was not that the sun became visible—this, indeed, did not at first happen— but when the moon had passed by, and when totality was over, the sun illumined the clouds, and this gave again the usual light of cloudy day when the orb itself is invisible. A few seconds later a glimpse was afforded of the crescent form of the sun, and then the clouds closed in once more, and did not with- draw until long after the moon had passed away from the disc. THE PHYSICAL LABORATORY AT LEIDEN (HOLLAND). Wise a few years ago it appeared advisable to Prof Kamerlingh Onnes, the Director of the Physical Laboratory at the University of Leiden, to start the issue of a periodical paper which would contain a regular account of the research work that was going on in his laboratory, he decided upon the English language as being for various reasons the most suitable for the purpose. The “Communications from the Physical Laboratory at the University of Leiden” consist, as a rule, of more or less happy translations of contributions by Prof. Onnes and his pupils to the Proceedings of the “ Koninklijke Akademie” of Amsterdam. ‘They give short accounts of the researches that are carried out, and contain theoretical | notes, asa rule, in direct connection with the experimental work. The full accounts of the investigations are mostly to be found elsewhere in various French, German or English periodicals.‘ No. 23 of the series appeared lately, and the whole set, containing everything that has been done in the laboratory since 1885, is now complete. The most important characteristic which distinguishes the Leiden laboratory from most of its contemporaries is its installation for high-pressure and low temperature work. There are probably only one or two more places where an installation of this kind is permanently joined to a well-provided physical laboratory. Nos. 14 and 23 (especially the former) give a general idea of its gradual development and present arrangement. Ever since 1883 Prof. Onnes has been working at this department. His object was in the first place to develop and improve the methods introduced by Cailletet, Pictet, Wroblewski, Olszewski, and to prepare larger quantities of liquid oxygen than before, so as to be able to decant it and use it as a cooling agent for experiments, especially on the liquefaction of hydrogen. The same object was, during the same years, striven after by Pictet, Olszewski and, in this country, by Dewar. Owing to want of sufficient funds and personal assistance, the work progressed very slowly, and it was not till June 1892, that a small quantity of liquid oxygen was decanted, while in December 1893 half a litre was obtained. It is interesting to notice how entirely independent the Leiden work is from the others. In the first place, Prof. Onnes uses Pictet’s cycle method, while Olszewski developed the method used by Wroblewski in conjunction with himself. Instead of sulphurous acid, used by Pictet, he introduced methylchloride in the first cycle (a suggestion of Cailletet’s), while ethylene remained 1 Archives Néerlandaises, Wiedemann's Annalen, Beiblitter, Zett- schrift fiir Physikalische Chemie, Philosophical Magazine. 346 NA Tes [AuGusT 13, 1896 the second substance. Both substances are in continual circulation in metallic, self-contained cycles, which are worked by two Pictet conjugated pumps. While Olszewski introduced a steel cyclinder in which to liquefy oxygen, Prof. Onnes devised an “ ethylene boiling flask” in which oxygen (or air) is condensed in a copper spiral. The glass apparatus into which the oxygen is poured is of original construction, and especially adapted for experi- mental work in oxygen (or air) baths of 4 to 4 litre. Sometimes instead of the methylchloride cycle solid carbonic acid is used. Experiments on the insertion of a methane cycle between the ethylene and oxygen, with the ultimate object of condensing hydrogen, are still being carried on. Oxygen and air are taken from high-pressure cylinders, into which they are compressed either by a Brotherhood compressor (as used in launching torpedos) | into a kind of model “cryogenic laboratory,” as Prof. Onnes calls his creation, with emphasis on both cryo- genic and laboratory. Occasional comparisons with other cryogenic installations illustrate this vividly. Dewar works with quantities of ethylene up to “a hundredweight” (40 kg.), while Prof. Onnes requires 1°5 kg., by aid of which ; to $ litre of oxygen is kept liquid. Pictet estimates the power required for experiments with liquid air at from 30 to 40 h.p., while in the Leiden laboratory only six or eight are required, even in exceptional cases. Olszewski gives his power as 1-3 h.p., but it must not be forgotten that his system is not a continuous one, and that the largest quantity which his apparatus in its enlarged form yields is 200 cc., only } of which gets into his boiling-glass. His experiments require a corre- spondingly smaller quantity of ethylene (1 kg.). _ — View of the cryogenic department in 1887, showing the compressors destined for the chlormethyl, ethylene, and oxygen cycle. At the right the chlormethyl condenser. or by a much less powerful, but in other respects highly superior Cailletet compressor. This compressor as modi- fied, almost re-designed by Prof. Onnes, is a most desir- able laboratory apparatus where high-pressure work with pure gases is being done. ‘The chief modification is that the mercury column works in a steel U-tube, so that the piston with its lubricant (glycerine) is on one side above it, and the valves, &c., on the other. This compressor may be fully depended upon ; the gases remain just as pure as they were, and may be compressed to 100 atmo- spheres without loss. (A full description of this compressor may shortly be expected. ) It is worth noticing that the greatest possible care is taken (and had to be taken) in the way of safety and of economy; these circumstances make the department No. 1398, VOL. 54] It need hardly be said that these low figures have only been arrived at by a slow process of trial and gradual im- provement, and one cannot but admire the perseverance and skill which the development of this system reveals. Now that the cryogenic department is so far com- pleted that baths of liquid oxygen and air may be readily prepared, no doubt the co-operation with the rest of the laboratory will become more regular and fruitful. Even now, in reading through the “ Communications,” we come repeatedly across instances in which the high-pressure and low temperature appliances have given invaluable help. ; At one time, for instance, pure oxygen was required for experiments on the magnetic rotation in gases at high pressure (Nos. 7, 15). Commercial oxygen being too AucusT 13, 1894} NATURE 347 impure for the purpose, the preparation of a cubic metre of oxygen was undertaken. The gas was prepared by electrolysis, conducted through purifying apparatus, and compressed into a steel cyclinder of 1o litres capacity, at a pressure of 100 atmospheres by the mercury com- pressor. The gas in the cylinder appeared to contain nearly 99 per cent. of oxygen. How many laboratories exist in which such a thing could be performed ? As to low temperatures, in No. 6 we notice the measure- ment of the capillary elevation of ether at — 102° in boiling ethylene ; in No. 18, of the same magnitude for carbonic acid and nitrous oxide at — 24° in boiling methylchloride. Nos. 4, 16, 18 contain the description of a method for purifying gases by condensation and fractional distillation at low temperature, in a bath of ethylene or in solid carbonic acid, the gases purified being carbonic acid, methylchloride, nitrous oxide, and ethane. Finally, we may note the measurement of the viscosity of methyl- chloride at — 30° in cooled alcohol. The different investigations hitherto carried out may be arranged under the following headings. I. Cryogenic department : condensation of methane, iso- thermals of hydrogen at low temperatures, &c. (Nos.14, 23.) II. Investigations regarding critical points and con- densation of mixtures*and of pure substances. (Dr. Kuenen. Nos. 4, 7, 8, 11, 13,:16, 17.) lil. Measurements on the capillarity of ether, carbonic acid, nitrous oxide, &c. (Drs. de Vries and Verschaffelt. Nos. 6, 18.) IV. Measurements on the viscosity of methylchloride in connection with the laws of corresponding states of matter. (Drs. Stoel and de Haas. Nos. 2, 12.) V. Series of experiments on Kerr's magneto-optical phenomenon, &c. (Drs. Sissingh, Wind and Zeeman. Nos. 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20.) VI. Some experiments regarding Hall’s phenomenon in bismuth. (Dr. Lebret. Nos. 15, 19.) VII. On Hertz-waves in water and in electrolytes. (Dr. Zeeman, partly in conjunction with Prof. Cohn, Strass- burg. Nos. 21, 22.) VIII. Observations on the dispersion of magnetic rotation in gases. (Dr. Siertsema. Nos. 7, 15.) The scope of this article does not allow of a further description or discussion of any of the above investiga- tions. One instance will show the scale on which the experiments are carried on, if deemed necessary. For the observations mentioned under VIII., two coils were constructed, each of 1 metre length and with 3600 turns of 6 mm. wire, the joint resistance of the coils in series being 1 ohm, and the current carried 70 amperes. taneously at two or three investigations for which strong currents and electric lamps are required. In short, the place is rich in apparatus of all kinds, and possesses numerous appliances ; so much so, that one would rank it amongst the best provided (and, one may add, most pro- ductive) research laboratories. It is worth observing, that in Holland private munificence is hardly ever directed towards scientific work, and that the whole of this laboratory, as of all the others in the three Government Universities—Leiden, Utrecht, Groningen— are kept up from the public purse. It is only recently that, under the strain of the competition between the Univer- | sities, private societies have been founded to promote University work, where the Government shows itself unwilling or unable to provide the necessary means. Those to whom these “ Communications” are unknown, and who are desirous of becoming more intimately acquainted with their contents, have only to apply for copies to receive them. Prof. Onnes will, moreover, be very glad if physicists, touring in Holland, would alight at the famous University town, and in their programme include a visit to his laboratory. NO. 1398, VOL. 54 | THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY. T is but rarely that a narrative of travel, however interesting it may be, and however exciting the adventures of the author may have proved, has as much attraction for naturalists and geologists as the present volume possesses. Dr. Gregory has shown himself a thoroughly competent explorer, for he succeeded in reach- ing the glaciers close to the summit of Mount Kenya, the highest peak of British East Africa, a task in which several previous travellers had failed; and he also examined a considerable length of the extraordinary tract that gives its name to the book before us. This, too, was accomplished with a much smaller caravan than was regarded by experienced men as necessary for safety ; in face of difficulties, due to the proclivities of the natives and to scarcity of food, that would have daunted many men ; in spite of the utter failure of the expedition to which the author was originally attached ; and, above all, despite severe attacks of malarial fever and dysentery. “The Great Rift Valley,” apart from its scientific interest, gives a very interesting account of an adventurous exploit, carried out with courage and firmness, and, at the same time, with kindly treatment of the natives employed and encountered. It is, however, not as a record of exploration alone that this book needs notice. Explorers equal to Dr. Gregory in courage and tact, and perhaps superior to him in the power of resisting malarial influences, have made their way through many of the forests and deserts of Africa, and have told some of the secrets of the Dark Continent to an appreciative audience ; but very few of those who returned to tell the tale of their adventures possessed the scientific training that gives an especial value to Dr. Gregory’s account of his travels. In this respect the author of the present work is singularly qualified. In the era of specialisation in science that we have now entered upon, it is becoming rare to find a geologist who knows anything of zoology or botany, or a zoologist or botanist who can tell schist from shale or sandstone from granite ; whilst it appears to be rapidly becoming a point almost of honour with the geologists, zoologists, and botanists of the British Islands to regard paleontology as an inferior science. It is therefore noteworthy that Dr. Gregory, who is a paleontologist, should have brought back from Eastern Africa a mass of observations that could not have been accumulated by a geologist ignorant of biology, nor by a zoologist or botanist unacquainted with geology. : Briefly the history of the journey described is this. Besides a dynamo there are two or three sets of | In November 1892, Dr. Gregory received leave of absence accumulators, which make it possible to work simul- | from the Trustees of the British Museum to enable him to join an expedition to Lake Rudolf. From various. causes this expedition was a failure. After the dispersal of its members, Dr. Gregory went on to Mombasa, where he engaged a small party of porters, and in March 1893. started sfor Lake Baringo and Mount Kenya, and suc- ceeded in reaching both. The journey occupied five months, and the. expedition returned to Mombasa in August. ‘ ? : The arrangement of the present work is the following. After an introduction, giving a general account of pre- vious exploration, and of the geology of the area as known before the author’s visit, the first three chapters relate his experience with the abortive expedition which started from Lamu to explore Lake Rudolf and the regions between that lake and the Red Sea, but never got beyond the lower reaches of the Tana River ; then eight chapters contain a description of the journey to Baringo and Kenya; and the third part of the book, comprising 1 “The Great Rift Valley: being the Narrative of a Journey to Mount Kenya and Lake Baringo, with some Account of the Geology, Natural History, Anthropology, and Future Prospects of British East Africa.” By W. Gregory, D.Sc., F.G.S.. F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., of the British Museum (Natural History). (London: John Murray, 1896.) 348 seven chapters and three appendices, affords a general summary of the scientific results. The “Great Rift Valley,” of which the characters were first indicated by Suess, is a fissure in the earth’s surface into which, or into portions of which, a strip of the surface itself has been let down by parallel faults. The cliffs formed by the faults have not been removed by denuda- tion, and the necessary inference is that the dislocation— partially, at all events—is of small geological antiquity. The great fissure itseif is regarded as similar in character to certain lines, resembling cracks, that have been ob- served on the moon’s surface; it has been traced at intervals from the valley of the Zambesi to Lake Rudolf, and it is supposed to be connected through the trough of the Red Sea with the depression containing the Jordan Valley and the Dead Seain Palestine. From Lake Rudolf a branch rift appears to diverge to the west, and to lead NA TORE [Aucusr 13, 1896 of the valley examined by him—fifty to seventy. miles on’ each side of the equator, or about 120 miles in all—is actually let down by faults on each side. He has also shown that great changes in elevation must have occurred throughout the area in comparatively recent geological times, and that one of these led to the formation of a large lake, of which traces are left in the form of terraces on some of the scarps that bound the Rift Valley. To the ancient lake Dr. Gregory applies the name of Lake Suess ; and, if a name is required, no more appropriate one could be devised. ; The discoveries on Kenya were even more important than those in the Rift Valley, for not only did Dr. Gregory find glaciers, but he met with clear evidence that these glaciers formerly descended more than 5000 feet lower down the mountain than they now do. Reasons are given—one of the most important being the absence of Fic, 1.—The Eastern Wall of the Rift Valley, with the Terraces of Lake Suess. through Lakes Albert and Albert Edward to Tanganyika ; whilst south of Lake Rudolf the eastern branch, our knowledge of which has been materially increased by Dr. Gregory’s examination, contains several smaller lakes— Baringo and Naivasha, amongst others—and probably terminates to the southward in Lake Nyassa. Altogether this wonderful north and south trough is regarded as having a length of 4ooo miles, and is said to contain thirty lakes, of which only one has an outlet to the sea. Evidently only the eastern branch of the rift is referred to, fo ithree large lakes in the western branch—the Lakes Albert, Albert Edward, and Tanganyika are drained by the Nile or the Congo. The principal additions to our knowledge of the “ Great Rift Valley” are two in number, Dr. Gregory has shown, apparently beyond any chance of error, that the portion NO. 1398, VOL. 54] any similar evidence on Kilimanjaro—for doubting whether the former extension of glacial action on Kenya was due to a general refrigeration of the earth’s surface in the glacial epoch, and it is inferred that Kenya and the surrounding area have undergone depression since the period of maximum glaciation on the mountain. This may be the case, but it leaves the great difficulty of the whole question unexplained ; we have still to account for the isolated occurrence of temperate plants, both of northern and southern types, on ‘all the Central African mountains, A considerable mass of interesting details on the geology of the country lying between the coast and the Rift Valley is given, and incidentally, with reference to the great lava plains traversed, their origin is discussed and a theory put forward to account for the phenomena. Auvcust 13, 1896] NA LOR E 3 49 It may, however, be doubted whether this theory, which its author terms that of plateau eruption, is really different from the explanation of the so-called fissure eruptions given in Sir A. Geikie’s text-book. i It is when we pass from the purely geological chapters to those portions of the work that refer to the East African fauna and flora, and to the descriptions of the various tribes who inhabit the country, that we come to what will probably prove to many readers the most attractive portion of Dr. Gregory’s work. The pages relating to the present and past distribution of life teem with original suggestions, and many of the observations made on the journey are highly novel and interesting. Amongst these are some curious’ cases of mimicry, especially that represented in the frontispiece to the volume, in which a group of hemipterous insects, red and green, presents’ an astonishing similarity to a’ flower-spike. Remarkable ex- amples are given of the disappear- ance ‘of wild animals, such as buftfa- loes and giraffes, throughout a very large tract of country, in consequence of disease ; whilst observed instances of the destruction of great numbers by drought, and the accumulation of their skeletons around isolated water- holes, are suggested as perhaps ac- counting for some of the enormous masses of mammalian bones that are found imbedded in particular strata. It is not necessary to agree with suggestions of this kind in order to recognise their value ; and unques- tionably under the conditions pointed out, if the bones are, soon after the death of the animal, enclosed in silt or gravel, they may be preserved. Bones exposed on the surface, how- ever, especially in the tropics, decay and break up with great rapidity, and the accumulations of fossil bones occasionally found are more probably due to carcases, carried down by a river flood, having collected in a backwater or on a sandbank. One example of a suggestion of the author’s, peculiarly illustrative of his double range of investigation, as geologist and as biologist, may here be noticed. It has long been known —we are indebted to Dr. Giinther for the original facts—that the fresh water fish-fauna of the Jordan and Sea of Galilee resembles in certain peculiarities, such as the presence of the genus Hemichromis, that of the Central African lakes more than that of Northern Africa and of the lower Nile basin. Dr. Gregory shows the possibility of the Red Sea depression having once been the valley of a river flowing into the Indian Ocean, and receiving near its mouth a tributary from the large lakes that formerly existed in the Rift Valley, and that may have occupied a considerable portion of what is now the upper Nile basin. This is of course, as is fully admitted, hypothesis, but it is supported by a very curious mass of data, and it explains the difficulties better than any other suggestion hitherto put forward. One characteristic of Dr. Gregory is a taste for naming NO. 1398, VOL. 54] various things, past and present. In many cases this is useful, as when he maps and names the ridges and valleys of Mount Kenya. It may also be of service to have a name, like Lake Suess, for an ancient sheet of water of which evident traces remain ; but it is somewhat question- able whether there is any advantage in calling the hypothetical stream, that may at some past time have traversed the Red Sea, the Erythrean river. In one case the author of the “Great Rift Valley” appears, in JSwanryre Fic. 2.—Two Wa-pokomo of the Tana, the application ot names, to have departed from the usual practice. Geologists have generally given local names to rock-systems and their divisions, and have referred them, so far as they were able, to the geological periods, or divisions of geological time, recognised in Europe. To judge by the table at p. 235, certain names—Naivashan, Laikipian, &c. —are given to divisions of geological time rather than to rock-masses, and it is fairly open to grave §50 NATURE [AucusT 13, 1896 doubt whethcr this is an improvement on the usual practice. The chapters on the flora of East Africa, and those on the Zanzibari and other natives of the country, contain a large amount of information, and are thoroughly read- able. The same may be said of the concluding chapter on the national movements and future prospects of British East Africa. The whole book is clearly and well written and liberally illustrated, and the author, who quotes —and quotes appositely—not only Shakespeare, Byron and Géethe, but also Carlyle, Buckle, and Rudyard Kipling, has evidently gleaned widely in literary as well as in scientific fields. W. T. BLANFORD. THE MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE, CARTE DU CIEL. Ae the fourth meeting of the International Committee of the Carte du Ciel, which took place at the Paris Observatory in May, under the presidency of M. Tisserand, the following members were present: MM. Anguiano, Bailland, Bakhuyzen, Christie, Donner, Duner, Gill, Henry (Paul), Henry (Prosper), Loewy, Rayet, Ricco, Trépied, Turner, Viniegra. There were also present at the invitation of the Permanent Committee, MM. Abney, Backlund, Bouguet de la Grye, Callandreau, Common, Cornu, Downing, Fabre, Faye, Gautier (P.), Jacoby, Knobel, Lais, Laussedat, Newcomb, Perrotin, Scheiner, Stephan, Wolf. Of the eighteen observatories associated for the pro- duction of the Carte du Ciel, thirteen were represented. The directors of the five other observatories, MM. Russell (Sydney), Baracchi (Melbourne), Obrecht (Santiago), Cruls (Rio Janeiro), Beuf (La Plata), were prevented from attending by great distance or by professional duties. The following officers were elected: President, M. Tisserand ; Vice-Presidents, MM. Bakhuyzen and Gill; Secretaries, MM. Donner and Trépied. The following resolutions were adopted :— I.—Photographic Catalogue. 1. The Committee is of opinion that the probable error of the value of the rectilinear coordinates measured on the plates should be reduced to the smallest possible limits, and that the measurements must be directed in such a way that this probable error shall never exceed 020. 2. (a) The Committee thinks it necessary to publish the rectilinear coordinates of the photographed stars as soon as possible. (6) It is desirable that this publication should include the necessary information for the conversion of the results into equatorial coordinates. (c) The Committee desires that a provisional catalogue of right ascensions and declinations should be published by those observatories which have sufficient funds at their disposal. 3. Each observatory will be at liberty to choose the positions of the comparison stars in the catalogues which seem to them most suitable. For the calculation of the constants of a plate, a minimum of ten comparison stars should be adopted if possible. The ‘adopted positions of these comparison stars will be published. 4. The question of determining whether, for the reduc- tion of the stars to 1900, it would be advisable to adopt a uniform system of constants for the observatories, will be | the subject of a subsequent discussion. 5. The Committee recommends the adoption of a uniform size of publication for all the observatories ; the size should be that of the volumes of the Catalogue of the | Paris Observatory. 1 Abridged from the Bulletin Astronomique, July 1895. NO. 1398, VOL. 54] | | 6. The observatories will be at liberty to determine the photographic magnitudes, either by measurements or by estimation. The only condition which the Committee thinks it necessary to impose, is that the system of photo- graphic magnitudes on which the measures or estimations depend, should allow of a precise definition, so that the different scales used in the different observatories can be reduced to a common system. I.—The Photographic Chart. 7. Every observatory will be provided with a scale of density, which will be printed on the plates at the same time as the 7¢seaw, and which will permit the determina- tion of the sensibility of each plate for luminous sources of different intensities. Captain Abney is charged by the Committee with the construction of the scales. 8. For the construction of the chart, the second series of negatives (that is to say, those of which the centres have odd numbers for their declinations) will be made in three exposures, each lasting thirty minutes. This time of exposure may, of course, be reduced if an increase of the sensibility of the photographic plates be secured. 9g. The Committee allows photogravure on copper as a means of reproducing the chart. The negatives to be exposed three times, and enlarged to twice the original size. 10. The observatories will make two positives on glass by contact, one of which will be placed in the Pavillon de Breteuil, the headquarters of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. 11. The Committee defers till the next meeting the examination of the measures which it may be necessary to take with the object of assisting those observatories which may anticipate a difficulty in completing their programme. The meetings of the Committee were marked with the greatest cordiality, and with the desire to carry to the end the great work undertaken in common; the decisions, prepared by special sub-Committees, were passed unanimously by the members present. The Conference was followed by a soirée on Saturday, May 16, and-by a dinner given the next day (Sunday, May 17), in the large gallery of the Observatory, at which the following were present: MM. Rambaud, Minister of Public Instruction ; Bertrand and Berthelot, Permanent Secretaries of the Academy of Sciences ; Cornu and Chatin, President and Vice-President of the Academy ; the members of the Committee, and numerous visitors belonging to the Academy, the Bureau des Longitudes, the Council of the Observatory, and the personnel of the establishment. Prof. Backlund, Dr. Downing, and Prof. Newcomb, members of the Conference on fundamental stars, were also present. NOTES. LIEUTENANT DE GERLACHE announces that the Belgian Antarctic Expedition he has been organising for some time past will not be sufficiently advanced to start before next year. M. EuGkNE TIssERAND will shortly retire from the post of Director-General of Agriculture in France, after forty-six years of public service. EXTREMELY hot weather is reported from North America. In New York, on Tuesday, the shade temperature reached 97° F. As many as 226 deaths are recorded as being directly due to this abnormally high temperature. In Chicago there were fifty-one deaths on Monday, and twenty-five on Tuesday. Hundreds of dead horses are said to be lying in the streets. The thermometer registered 96° F. at Ottawa. Aucust 13, 1896] NATURE 352 THE deaths are announced of Dr. Kanitz, Professor of Botany in Klausenberg University, and Dr. Simony, formerly Professor of Physiography at Vienna. OwiInG to a doubt having arisen as to whether the publication of Climate and Health was authorised by the Act appropriating to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the grant for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, that valuable repertory of statistical and other information relating to climatology and its connection with hygiene, has had to be discontinued. The special papers intended for it will be published in separate bulletins. THE opticians of Pennsylvania are endeavouring to form a State organisation, having for its objects, first, the elevation and advancement of the profession and the mutual intercourse and benefit of its members ; second, to encourage opticians to perfect themselves in the study of optics and the scientific adaptation of lenses in correcting errors of refraction ; and, third, to discourage the haphazard and indiscriminate sale of Spectacles by irresponsible and ignorant persons. British opticians might with advantage follow the lead of their Trans- atlantic brethren. Tue fifteenth Congress of the Sanitary Institute will be held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, from September 2 to September 9. An inaugural address will be delivered by Earl Percy, and lectures will be given by Dr. A. Wynter Blyth and Sir Charles A. Cameron. The Sections and their Presidents are: (1) Sanitary Science and Preventive Medicine ; President, Prof. W. H. Corfield. (2) Engineering and Architecture; President, Sir Andrew Noble. (3) Chemistry, Meteorology, and Geology ; President, W. H. Dines. There will be conferences of port sanitary authorities, medical officers of health, municipal and county engineers, sanitary inspectors, and on domestic hygiene. Excursions and visits to places of interest will be made during the Congress, and particulars with reference to them will shortly be made known. The Health Exhibition, held in connection with the Congress, will be opened by the Duke of Cambridge. THE summer meeting of the Institution of Junior Engineers will be opened on Saturday at Edinburgh. After visiting the Forth Bridge and a number of industrial works, the members will leave on Tuesday next for Glasgow, where many places of engineering interest await their inspection. In the afternoon of the same day the members will be received in the Municipal Buildings by the Lord Provost and the Corporation, after- wards being entertained to an excursion to visit one of the new reservoirs of the Glasgow Corporation Water Works. On Wednesday there will be an excursion to Dumbarton, and a reception by the Provost and Town Council. An excursion will take place on Thursday; and on Friday various works will be open for visiting, the selection being left with the members. In the evening of Friday, the Institution’s summer dinner will be held at the Alexandra Hotel, Glasgow, the President, Mr. Archibald Denny, in the chair, and Lord Kelvin the guest of the evening. IN the 4uéletin of the University of Wisconsin (Engineering Series, vol. i. No. 9), Mr. G, A. Gerdtzen discusses in a very complete manner the relative advantages of gas, steam, and electricity for the supply of heat, light, and power for domestic purposes. Electricity gives a perfect solution of the problem considered apart from expense, but practically it is out of the question for heating purposes. Although most of the European work on the subject is mentioned and discussed, the chief interest of the paper lies in the details of American practice. Stress is laid by the author on the altered conditions due to the extensive introduction of incandescent gas-burners. Tue following are among the exhibitions at present open, or which will be opened in various parts of the world before the NO. 1398, VOL. 54 | end of the century, 1896: Odessa, Industrial and Fine Arts ; Prague, International Pharmaceutical; Cannes, International ; Rouen, National and Colonial; Geneva, National; Berlin, Industrial; Kiel, Maritime and Fisheries; Mexico, Inter- national; Exhibition at Para; Exhibition at Johannesburg ; New York, Electric; Barcelona, Industrial Arts; Denver (Colorado), International Mining and Industrial ; Vienna, Agri- cultural Machinery; Nijni-Novgorod, National; Innsbruck, Hygienic; Lyons, Exhibition of Natural Hygiene; London, Motors and Automatic Carriages. 1897: Brussels, Inter- national ; Hamburg, International Horticultural; Rio Janeiro Exhibition; Guatemala, Central American; Exhibition at Brisbane ; Exhibition at Stockholm; Montreal, International ; Nashville (Tennessee), International Industrial and Fine Arts. 1898: Amsterdam, Universal; Exhibition at St. Paul, Brazil ; Exhibition at Turin. 1899: Exhibition at Adelaide. 1900: Universal Exhibition at Paris. By the death of Mr. H. J. Slack, at the advanced age of seventy-eight, science has lost one of its most keen journa- listic champions. In years when headway had to be made against prejudice and even antagonism, his enthusiasm inspired many younger workers, and he saw in the spread of science one of the great factors of social progress, For many years he edited the Zitellectual Observer, which passed later into the Student, a journal which to him was largely a labour of love, and which, by its attractive form, had a wide educational value. His own researches were mostly in microscopy, and he was successively Secretary and President of the Royal Microscopical Society. Forty-six papers are ascribed to his name in the Royal Society’s Scientific Catalogue; and his work entitled ‘‘ The Marvels of Pond Life,” passed through three editions between 1861 and 1878. In 1879, as President of the National Sunday League, Mr. Slack organised popular lectures for Sunday evenings in London, and did much to inaugurate that movement in further- ance of a rational Sunday, which has now gone so far as to receive parliamentary recognition. He was one of those who combined devotion to science with a broad sense of public needs ; for him, science had its duties as well as its rights ; and few can have come in contact with him without being the better for his cheerful and unflagging zeal in the causes which he had at heart. He was born on October 23, 1818, and died in his house at Forest Row, Sussex, on June 16, 1896. A BILL to legalise the use 0. weights and measures of the metric system in this country was read for the first time in the House of Commons on July 30. The Bill is as follows :— ‘7. (1) Notwithstanding anything in the Weights and Measures Act, 1878, the use of a weight or measure of the metric system in trade shall be lawful, and nothing in section nineteen of that Act shall make void any contract, bargain, sale, or dealing by reason only of its being made or had according to weights or measures of the metric system. (2) A person using or having in his possession a weight or measure of the metric system shall not by reason thereof be liable to any fine. (3) For the Third Schedule to the Weights and Measures Act, 1878, shall be substituted the Schedule to this Act. II. Section thirty-eight of the Weights and Measures Act, 1878, is hereby repealed, and the Board of Trade shall verify copies of metric standards in the same manner as if they were copies of Board of Trade standards, and the provisions of that Act relating to the verification of local standards shall apply accordingly. III. In section forty of the Weights and Measures Act, 1878, the expression ‘local standards of weights and measures’ shall include local metric standards and the provisions of that Act relating to local standards shall apply accordingly.” The Schedule to the Bill gives a series of equivalents of metric and imperial weights and measures. The Bill will not be proceeded with this Session. Bie A RETURN has been presented to Parliament showing the number of licensed experiments performed on living animals during the year 1895. The total number of persons holding licences was 213, but of these 65 performed no experiments. Tables are given which afford evidence (1) that the licences and certificates have been granted and allowed only upon the recom- mendations of persons of high scientific standing ; (2) that the licensees are persons who, by their training and education, are fitted to undertake experimental work and to profit by it; and (3) that all experimental work has been conducted in suitable places. The total number of experiments performed in 1895 was 4679. In 1560 of the experiments performed. the animal suffered no pain, because complete anesthesia was maintained from before the commencement of the experiment until the animal was killed ; 2358 of the experiments were practically always of the nature of hypodermic injections or inoculations. In 761 experiments the animal was anesthetised during the operation, but was allowed to recover. These operations, in order to insure success, are necessarily done with as much care as are similar operations upon the human subject, and, the wounds being dressed antiseptically, no pain results during the healing process. The large number of inoculation experiments is, to a great extent, attributable to investigations connected with the production of diphtheria-antitoxins and analogous bodies. More than half of the experiments under Certificate B have been inoculations made (under anzsthetics upon rodents) with the object of diagnosing rabies, the public having largely acted upon the advice printed upon the back of dog licences, which is to the following effect : ‘‘If a dog suspected of being rabid is killed after it has bitten any person or animal, a veterinary surgeon should be requested to forward the spinal cord to the Brown Institution, Wandsworth-road (or some other licensed institution) in order that it may be ascertained with certainty whether the animal was suffering from rabies.” Pror. JOHN MILNE, writing from his observing station in the Isle of Wight in reference to the long series of earth disturb- ances commencing on June 29 in Cyprus (see NATURE, August 6, p. 325), says that he also has recorded a long series of move- ments commencing on that date. Two alarming and severe shocks in Cyprus, in G.M.T., commenced on June 29 at about Sh. 48m. os., and July 2 at aéowt 18h. 13m. os. The Isle of Wight records commence on the above dates at gh. 02m. 26s. and 18h. 51m. 29s. Pror. Dr. A. GERLAND, in the Zedtschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde 2u Berlin, gives an account of the earthquake in South-western Germany on January 22, 1896. The disturb- ance was in many ways remarkable, extending as it did over an area of about 40,000 square kilometres ; and it seems to have had its origin at a considerable depth below the surface, as the recorded times of its occurrence are nearly identical over the whole region affected. The disturbance lasted on an average about five seconds, and was apparently of the nature of a sudden shock in an east to west or west to east direction, although in Strassburg and Stuttgart it seems to have been vertical; afford- ing an excellent illustration of the fact, pointed out by Prof. Schmidt, that the direction of displacement is not necessarily connected with the direction of propagation of the disturbance. A remarkable feature of the disturbed region is the occurrence of isolated areas which remained unaffected ; this is especially the case in the Jura, Le Locle and La Chaux le Fonds being the only stations reporting even a slight shock. THE Bollettino della Societd Geografica Staliana contains a note on some observations recently made by Dr. S. Angelini on the colour and transparency of the waters of the lagoon at Venice and of the Gulf of Gaeta. NO. The depths at which white, green, 398, VOL. 54] NATURE [AucusT 13, 1896 red and blue discs, each 50 cm. in diameter, ceased to be visible from the surface, were measured with the following results :— White. — Green. Red. _—_— Blue. Lagoon Metres 1°98 1°85 1°80 1°50 Gulf of Gaeta “B 8:50 7°80 7°00 6°00 The ratios of these numbers indicate a somewhat greater relative transparency in the waters of the lagoon for red and blue rays than for white or red. Dr. A. LINDENKOHL contributes to Sczence an abstract of a report on the work of American surveying vessels in the Gulf of Mexico and the region of the Gulf Stream during the last twenty years. The full memoir is to be published in the annual “Report of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey” for 1895, and, amongst other important matter, includes a discussion of the sources from which the Gulf Stream derives its waters. It appears that the Gulf of Mexico supplies only a very small part of the whole, the currents entering and leaving it being incon- siderable both in volume and velocity. HERR FRIEDRICH BENESCH contributes to the A/z/thezlungere der KK. Geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien a short descrip- tion of Pauliny’s new method of drawing relief maps, which he says is a great advance on any method now in use, both in respect of accuracy and of ease in execution. The map is in effect a closely-contoured map, printed on silver-grey paper, the contour lines being white where illuminated by a source of light supposed to be 45° above the western horizon, and black else- where. Level plateaus and slightly sloping areas are thus represented by the natural grey colour of the paper; steep declivities towards the west are lightened by the closely drawn white lines, and towards the east correspondingly darkened by the black lines, the departure from the normal grey being greater the closer the lines, z.e. the steeper the slope. The method has the merit of giving a clear idea of steepness derived from the contour lines themselves ; and while it does not demand the high standard of skill necessary in Lehmann’s method of hachuring, the confusion produced by the shadows in some modern maps, where the illumination is supposed to come from the horizon, is avoided. Maps illustrating Herr Pauliny’s method are to be published in Vienna in the course of the summer. In the Alt det Lincei, Dr. Vittorio 487 Comet Bracks’ 4%: eae (ee Eee 487 Comet Giacobini 343 "ots 487 New Feature on Mars. .-....+.--. 487 University and Educational Intelligence . 487 Scientific Serial. 5 = sis = - ° se 488 Societies and Academies .......+.++-+¢-s . 488 WalOURE 489 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1896. BABYLONIAN MAGIC AND SORCERY. Babylonian Magic and Sorcery. By L. W. King, M.A. Pp. xxx +199. (London : Luzac and Co., 1896.) T is clear from the seventy-five plates of cuneiform texts with which Mr. King has furnished his book, that he addresses himself mainly to the little group of cuneiform scholars who in England, America, and Ger- many are pushing on their science with strenuous en- deavours ; but those who take the trouble to read his translations of these texts, and his remarks upon the same, will at once see that he is in reality speaking to a much larger audience—namely, to all those who take an interest in the science of the ancient religions of the world, and to those who spend their time in tracing the development of the sister subjects of magic and sorcery from the earliest ages to the present day. The founda- tion of all real study in comparative religion must, after all, be the documents which the priests wrote, and the copies of them which the scribes attached to the temples made for their use; no student of anthropology can afford to neglect the evidence obtained from these sources, and the student of comparative religion who ignores them imperils both his credibility and reputation. Further, all schemes of the religions of ancient nations which are drawn up without due consideration of every available document must be defective, and are, probably, useless, and no man should theorise without his sheaf of facts, that is to say his ancient texts, at his elbow. It is now some sixty years since Rawlinson and Lassen found the key which unlocked our storehouse of native Babylonian and Assyrian information on this subject ; and-yet until within the last five years we possessed very little exact information concerning the religious beliefs of the Babylonians and of the people of the more northerly country of Assyria. We had translations of hymns and of documents which were clearly of a re- ligious nature, but they afforded us no real insight into the system of religion which existed in Mesopotamia in the earliest times; moreover, both texts and translations were generally fragmentary and disconnected, and in cases where they were not so the reader was puzzled, and could not guess their true significance. Little by little, however, as students devoted themselves to the subject, it was found that the text on a tablet was not necessarily complete in itself, and soon it was recognised that many tablets were needed for copying a religious work, or, as we might say, “service.” Next it was found that certain parts of the texts consisted of rubrical directions, and then it was known that we had become the fortunate possessors of copies of the “ service-books ” which were probably in use in Babylonia several thousands of years before Christ. Most of these copies were made by the order of the great King Assur-bani-pal (Asnapper), for use in his Royal Library at Nineveh in the seventh century B.C.; and, as a large number of words, names, and phrases in them were in the agglutinative language of the non-Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia, it was pretty clear that the king had had these compositions trans- NO. 1404, VOL. 54 | lated from it into his own Semitic speech. We now know that the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia possessed a series of legends concerning the Creation of the heavens and of the earth and of all that is therein; a series of legends of the deeds of the mythical hero Gilgamish ; and a series of mythological stories. They had formed in their imagination an abode for the gods, and an under- world wherein the souls of the dead had their place together with the infernal gods. They had, at an early date, formulated a great trinity of Anu, Ea and Bel, and they gave to one of their gods, at least, the attribute of mediator and intercessor between men and their god. They believed in the efficacy of prayer when accompanied by certain ceremonies, and in brief they held many re- ligious ideas and beliefs in common with their cousins the Hebrews. Whether they ever succeeded in estab- lishing a personal relation with their god or gods, is open to doubt ; but the texts which Mr. King has published lead us to think that a development in this direction was going on when the Assyrian Empire was overthrown. The group of compositions which Mr. King has edited belongs to a class of texts which are known to scholars as the “Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand,’ and all of them were written for the use of individuals, the name of the suppliant at times being given. Many prayers to be efficacious must be accompanied by an offering of some object to the god, and it was necessary that the rubrical directions should be strictly adhered to ; certain prayers were, however, only potent at certain times—as, for example, on a lucky day, or at night, or during a certain phase of the moon. It is probable, too, that, as in ancient Egypt, the correct recital of a prayer was deemed of the first importance, and that any prayer offered without the burning of incense was in vain. The use of fire in the accompanying ceremonies was common and of the utmost importance, and its purifying properties were well understood ; and as the flame consumed the object which the suppliant, or the priest on his behalf, cast into it, so the disease, or calamity, or trouble vanished straightway. The part played by fire in certain religious ceremonies was so prominent that two series of inscribed Assyrian tablets were called Shurpu and Makli respec- tively ; both these names mean “burning.” Asaspecimen ofa petition, we quote the following lines from an address to Ishtar : — “Have mercy on me, O Ishtar! Command abundance. “Truly pity me and take away my sighing... . ““T have borne thy yoke: do thou give consolation... . ‘““T have sought thy light: let thy brightness shine. “T have turned towards thy power: let there be life and peace.... ““ Speak, and let the word be heard. “Let the word I speak, when I speak, be propitious. “Let health of body and joy of heart be my daily portion. “My days prolong, life bestow: let me live, let me be perfect, let me behold thy divinity. “When I plan, let me attain (my purpose): Heaven be thy joy, may the Abyss hail thee.” When these words had been said an offering of incense and a drink-offering were set before Ishtar, and the suppliant raised his hand three times. Our space will not admit of further quotation from this interesting work, and we have only to add, for the in- y NATORE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 490 formation of the general reader, that it should be studied in connection with the recent works of Tallqvist and Zimmern on the AZakii@ and Shurpu series of tablets in the British Museum. A word of praise is justly due to Mr. King for his honest work, and although the intro- duction might have been fuller with advantage to the reader, the translations, and transliterations, and vocab- ulary will help to make the texts at the end of the book understood by every careful reader. MICRO-ORGANISMS AND DISEASE. Micro-organisms and Disease; an Introduction to the Study of Specific Micro-organisms. By Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S. New edition. Pp. xii + 595. (London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1896.) HE rapid strides which have been made in bacterio- logical science during the last few years render the frequent revision of the text-books on the subject a necessity. It is a noteworthy fact that although bacteri- ology is one of the newest of the sciences, it is rapidly becoming so large a subject that specialisation in one branch or other of it is almost essential. Dr. Klein’s book treats mainly of that particular branch of bacteriology which deals with ‘“ pathogenic” micro- organisms, including only a very small number out of the total known species. Other branches of bacteriology have also their specialised handbooks—e.g. the micro- organisms in water are sufficiently numerous and well- known to require a text-book to themselves, whilst it would be easy to mention other branches of the subject which will soon require similar treatment. In this new (third) edition of Dr. Klein’s work we find the subject brought practically up to date. The present edition is enlarged to 595 pages, as against 267 pages in the previous one. There are 80 additional illustrations, as compared with the last edition, making 201 in all. Amongst them are inserted, for the first time, a number of well-reproduced photographs of cultures and of ex- cellent stained preparations of bacteria, taken by the well-known photomicrographers Messrs. Pringle and Bousfield. These are almost uniformly good, but photo- graphs, such as Fig. 634A, mar an otherwise fine series. The introductory chapters deal with bacteriological technique, such as the preparation of culture media, stained microscopic preparations, methods of inoculation and cultivation, bacteriological examination of water, air and soil. Then follows a full discussion of the general characters of bacteria—more especially of the pathogenic organisms—in which their mode of growth, spore forma- tion, means of motility, &c., are discussed. The chapter on ‘* The Chemistry of Bacteria,” confined as it is to a dozen pages, merely serves to show how meagre is the bacteriologist’s knowledge of this part of the subject. It is a chapter, however, which might easily be amplified with advantage. For example, in writing on the liquefaction of gelatine, no mention is made of the fact that such liquefaction is due to an enzyme, and that it can be brought about by the agency of sterile filtered cultures of liquefying bacteria, apart from the bacteria themselves. Similarly, no reference is made to other enzymes, such, for instance, as those which bring about the hydrolysis of starch, &c. NO. 1404, VOL. 54] A brief glance at the succeeding chapters will show how extensive is the list of diseases which are associated with specific micro-organisms. To mention only a few of the best known, we find considered in this book—often very exhaustively—typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, tetanus, diphtheria, mfluenza, erysipelas, pneumonia, gonorrhcea, anthrax, glanders, relapsing fever, fowl cholera, grouse disease, Oriental plague, &c. In the concluding chapters we find an epitome of the latest results of the labours of many workers in the field ‘of serum theraputics, a subject which is just now attract- ing so much attention from medical men and bacteri- ologists, and the experimental results of which are of the most far-reaching importance. The newest methods of research are clearly set forth, and the results obtained by recent workers are fully discussed. Dr. Klein’s views on the proper interpretation of the results of researches in various branches of his subject are frequently at variance with those of other authorities, yet it is refreshing to find—in these days of the premature publication of incomplete work—an author who is ready to stand out for a logical proof of the correctness of conclusions which are often drawn from meagre and in- complete evidence. There is no one in this country whose views on various controversial matters, coming within the scope of the book, are more entitled to careful consideration than are those of Dr. Klein. The latest methods of protective inoculation by anti- toxic blood serum, more particularly in diphtheria and tetanus, are noticed and discussed. In this connection one regrets that more space is not devoted to the closely related subject of snake-poison and its antidote. The methods pursued are so similar, and the results already achieved are so important, that the subject might easily be brought within the scope of the book, especially as such diseases as cancer are included, although a disease which is most probably not associated with micro- organisms. Under the heading of “Protozoa causing disease” is found a valuable discussion of the vexed question of the parasitic or non-parasitic nature of cancer. Dr. Klein shows very clearly the kind of fallacy into which the “yarasitologists ” and discoverers of “ cancer organisms ” have easily fallen. Bacteriology has, during the last few years, become more and more complex. Where a single organism was previously recognised, it is now becoming certain that there are very many modifications and sub-varieties of each, which can only be differentiated and distinguished from each other by difficult methods. Nowhere is this more obvious than in reading the chapters containing descriptions of Bacillus coli communis and of the typhoid and cholera organisms. The book is beautifully printed, and, with a few exceptions, the illustrations merit great praise. There seem to be very few misprints. On p. 89, how- ever, a reference is made to the work of Downes and Lunt ; this should, of course, be Downes and Blunt. Also, on pp. 588 and 595, Vehring is inserted for Behring. The author is to be congratulated on the completion of this revised and much enlarged edition of his valuable book, which ought to be in the hands of every medical man. JOSEPH LUNT. SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 491 OUR BOOK SHELF. Text-book of Zoology. By Dr. J. E. V. Boas. Trans- lated by J. W. Kirkaldy and E. C. Pollard. Pp. xviii + 558; with 427 figures. (London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., Ltd., 1896.) THE “ Text-book of Zoology,” by Dr. Boas, which is now presented to English students in this country in the form of a translation by Miss Kirkaldy and Miss Pollard, has this advantage over many similar books at present in use, that itis complete in one volume. The translators have done their work well in keeping closely to the German text, and in forming clear and concise English sentences made up of English words. Regarded simply as a translation of a German book, it is far better than most of its predecessors, and the translators may be con- gratulated upon their share of the work. But the book is not one which English teachers will be able to recom- mend to the “beginners in the study of zoology ” who attend their classes, notwithstanding many excellent features which may be found in several chapters. It would be difficult for them to heartily recommend to their students, as a guide to their studies, a book which classifies Limulus with the Entomostraca, and Peripatus with the Annelida; nor can they consider it to be com- plete, even for elementary work, in the absence of any account of such important forms as Balanoglossus, Rhabdopleura and Phoronis. Apart from these blemishes of primary importance, there are many others which detract very considerably from its value as a text-book for students. The descrip- tion of Amphioxus, for example, is so short, and the figures so poor and inaccurate, that no beginner could possibly recognise the importance and interest of the group to which it belongs. The same may be said of the group Tunicata, which is described in four pages at the end of the Vertebrata, and illustrated by only four very poor figures. The book, moreover, is disfigured by many strange blunders and inaccuracies, of which a few may be given. The rich animal fauna of the deep sea does of “ resemble the cave fauna.” Alcyonium is ever dimorphic ; there is vo chitinous perisare in Millepora, which is calcified ; FHlivudo medicinalis is not indigenous in England. Nor is the book thoroughly up to date in many particulars. The account given of the gills of Lamellibranchiata might have been written fifteen years ago. The results of Leche’s important work upon the succession of mam- malian teeth are not even briefly mentioned. Nor can the account of the epidermal structures of Vertebrata be said to be complete when no reference is made to Prof. Weber's extremely important observations on the scales of Manis. It is possible, however, that some teachers in this country may find the book useful for occasional reference. Some of the diagrammatic figures are new and fairly accurate. The introductory chapters on cells and tissues and on embryology are excellent, and some of the chapters on vertebrate animals are better than in any modern text-book of zoology with which we are acquainted, The Antichrist Legend: a Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folk-lore. Ynglished from the German of W. Bousset, with a Prologue on the Babylonian Dragon Myth. By A. H. Keane. Crown 8vo. Pp. xxxi + 307. (London: Hutchinson and Co., 1896.) AT various intervals certain well-meaning individuals, with enthusiasm inversely proportional to their know- ledge, attempt expositions of such extremely difficult texts as the Books of Daniel and Revelation, and they glibly profess to explain the Antichrist, and are im- pressive on the Beast. They little realise that, as Bousset says, “to understand Revelation we need a fulness of NO. 1404, VOL. 54] eschatological and mythological knowledge.” One has only to glance through Bousset’s erudite work to be convinced that it is only by the most patient and learned research that such problems can be solved, and so we welcome Mr. Keane’s translation of this valuable study, and hope (probably in vain) that the latter-day prophets will cease to yield to the temptation of giving free play to their fancy, and will investigate the historical growth of legendary beings, and thus eventually become students of folk-lore. It is evident, from the researches of Bousset and Gunkel, that Belial, the Antichrist, and the numerous other variants of Christian and pre- Christian authors, are adaptations of the ancient Baby- lonian Dragon myth. Mr. Keane goes a step further back, and attempts to account for the origin of this myth. He suggests that it refers to the first settlements on the low-lying plains of Chaldaea, when man had to contend against the periodicial freshets of the Euphrates and Tigris, caused by the melting of the snows of the water- sheds, and against huge crocodiles which infested the estuaries. ‘There could be no peace or progress until the waters were quelled (confined within their banks, and diverted into irrigation canals), and until their pre- siding genius (the reptile or dragon, “lord of chaos”) was overthrown.... Then the foremost champions engaged in these contests acquired their apotheosis in the minds of a grateful posterity, while the vanquished enemy assumed more and more the form of unearthly monsters and demons hostile to man. Such memories easily passed on from generation to generation until they acquired consistency and permanency in the written records of the cultured Babylonian peoples.” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. (The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice zs taken of anonymous communications. } The Utility of Specific Characters. I rrust you will give me space—not to continue this dis- cussion—but to correct an error in Mr. Dyer’s last letter to you. Mr. Dyer states that I consider that Prof. Weldon’s investiga- tion of the crab’s carapace ‘‘does not satisfy the canons of scientific inquiry.” I have made no statement to that effect, and am surprised that Mr. Dyer should put such a phrase into my mouth. I am, I believe, almost as fully acquainted with the details of Prof. Weldon’s work, and the laborious measurements carried out by him in the laboratory at Plymouth and in University College, as is Mr. Dyer. I have never spoken of nor regarded the actual results obtained by Prof. Weldon as otherwise than interesting and valuable. My difference with Prof. Weldon is, as I explained (I thought with sufficient clearness) in my first letter to NATURE on this subject, one as to the interpretation put by him on these results. I do not consider that he is warranted in declaring that a particular frontal proportion of the carapace is effective in securing the survival of those crabs possessing it. Moreover, I do not agree with him in holding it to be ‘‘abso- lutely illogical ” (as he expressed himself at the Linnean Society) to entertain the hypothesis that one or more structures ina SS surviving’ or ‘‘naturally-selected”’ organic form may be effective in bringing about that survival or selection whilst other structures may vary y concomitantly with these and be inoperative in effecting the survival. E. Ray LANKESTER. Utrecht, September 18. The Position of Science at Oxford. ON my return to Oxford my attention has been called to an article which appeared in your issue of July 9 last, bearing the above title. (By science is meant, of course, natural science. ) I do not wish to discuss the whole of the article. It is for the most part temperately written, and contains some useful criticism by which we in Oxford may profit. 492 One of its main contentions, however, is this—that hardly any of the colleges at Oxford do much, and that none do more than they are obliged, to encourage natural science by means of their endowments. I think that if I may be allowed briefly to state what the college which I know best, and the only one for which I have a right to speak, is doing in this matter, it will enable your readers to see that this contention is not universally applicable, and that there are at least some exceptions with regard to which the writer seems very imperfectly informed. Magdalen College is spending at this moment in_ the direct endowment of natural science through professorships, fellowships, scholarships, and exhibitions, over £3500 a year, besides maintaining a laboratory of its own, and subsidising in other ways the teaching of natural science both in the University and within its own walls. We support four professors of natural science. It may be said that we are obliged by statute todo so. That is true, but we were not bound to establish these professorships as rapidly as we have done, and we have been obliged at times to suspend fellowships in order to do so. We have, besides our four pro- fessor-fellows, three other fellows on our Governing Body voluntarily elected by the college for natural science. The wniter of the article complains that so few colleges have even a single tutor in natural science. More than twenty-five years ago we started a tutor, and for the last dozen years we have had a lecturer as well in natural science upon our regular staff. We are not absolutely bound to offer any scholarships for natural science. We have always offered one a year ever since our demyships were thrown open, and we have frequently elected two and sometimes three demies in natural science in the same year, and often exhibitioners as well. Of the two senior demies, which are all we can at present afford ourselves, one was elected for natural science. I believe that several other colleges at Oxford could point to facts analogously ignored or underrated by the writer of the article. What I have stated will at any rate, I think, show that my college, which was barely alluded to by him, has not been backward to recognise the claims or encourage by endowment the study of the natural sciences at Oxford. . T. HERBERT WARREN, Magdalen College Oxford, September 17. A Remarkable Lightning Flash. ONE of the flashes of lightning during the heavy storm of September 8-9 at Oxford, was of so unusual a form that I venture to send a sketch of it to NATURE. Although a good many of the discharges struck downwards to earth, a considerable number passed horizontally from cloud to cloud, and most of these were very evidently branched at both ends. There had been some six or seven of this character in rapid succession in a cloud opposite the window at which I was sitting, and after a Lightning Flash at Oxford, at about 12.45 a.m. September 9, pause of two or three minutes I saw the appearance I have tried to represent. From the red glare by which it was surrounded, it was evidently within the cloud, but it was so dazzlingly bright that the after-image remained visible long enough for me to trace the conyolutions and sketch them from memory. The main body of the flash made one complete loop, and the two ends, which were much branched, nearly completed a second turn. It appeared almost due north, about 35° above the horizon, and NO. 1404, VOL. 54] NATURE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 might have been comprised within a circle of about 5° in diameter. Evidently the path of the flash was an irregular spiral, and, with the exception of the branched ends, it looked exactly like the discharge of a large induction coil, seen end on. I much regretted not being provided with a camera. GEORGE J. BURCH. 21 Norham Road, Oxford, September 9. A Peculiarity in Perch. I VENTURE to bring the following observation before the readers of NATURE, because I believe it to be uncommon, and that it will be a matter of interest to naturalists. My brother, whilst fishing in a pond in East Lancashire, caught twelve perch, the smallest weighing 3 ozs. and the largest 10 ozs., and eight of them exhibited a very marked peculiarity. On the left side of the fish the cover of the gill was very small, being only less than half the natural size, and as’ a consequence a large portion of the gill was exposed. The largest fish pre- sented this appearance. The remaining four had covers to their gills, perfectly normal and similar on both sides. The peculiarities about this malformation are that it ap- parently is confined to the gill-cover on the left side of the head, the one on the right side being perfectly normal ; and is only to be found in certain of the fish in the pond. It may possibly be the result of a disease ; but if this is the case, the fact of it affecting always the same gill-cover appears somewhat remarkable, and to my mind is more than a coincidence. Besides every part of the fish, including the gill-cover itself, appears to be perfectly healthy. The water has no predominant feature, and gives on analysis results similar to any common spring-water. I have known at rare intervals water containing iron to be discharged into the pond, but this has been almost immediately noticed and pre- vented. As I have been unable to find an account of any disease ex- hibiting such a characteristic as above described, I have come to the conclusion that it is a very peculiar malformation of the cover of the gill. I should be glad to have some further in- formation respecting this phenomenon if any reader of NATURE isin a position to give it. R. J. FLINTOFF. The Siemens Gas and Coke Fire. I HAVE had a Siemens gas and coke fire in my study for fifteen years. There was much trouble in getting it put in pro- perly, and Sir W. Siemens kindly advised me about it. It burns very little gas, and the coke is cheap. The gas is only used to kindle or liven up the coke. Everybody admires the beautiful fire it makes, and there is no smell and no smoke. The coke requires to be broken to the size of a small apple, and it is needful to clear out the bottom of the fire. Ido this with an iron shovel, and thus remove the ash which, without this removal, would choke the fire. It is the neglect of this essential process which makes the Siemens fire sometimes a failure. | Mine is, in all respects, a brilliant success. P. W. CLAYDEN. 13 Tavistock Square, September 18. P.S.—I read of the grate in NATURE in 1880, saw it at the Smoke Abatement Exhibition in 1881, and adopted it at once. THE LIVERPOOL MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. V. LIVERPOOL, Wednesday. HE dominant note throughout this meeting has been “Tisterism”—the germ theory, the application of biology to medicine. ‘The reception given to the Presi- dent by the people of Liverpool, especially by the medical profession, has been splendid and enthusiastic. The Philharmonic Hall was crowded to the doors by an attentive and appreciative audience on the occasion of the Presidential Address ; and the vote of thanks was most appropriately and happily proposed by the Lord Mayor (Lord Derby), and seconded by Sir William Turner, an early friend and colleague of the President. SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE A J 49 This is a large meeting, the total number will probably nearly reach 3200, and this will place it as one of the few largest meetings of the Association; it has certainly been one of the busiest and liveliest. The hospitality of Lord Derby, both at the Town Hall and at Knowsley, and the banquets given by the Medical Institution and the American Chamber of Commerce, have been much appreciated. Notwithstanding the unsettled weather, the garden parties have been largely attended, and have constituted a most agreeable and welcome method of meeting the members of other Sections. St. George’s Hall has been much admired as an un- equalled reception-room ; and with its new decoration, its beautiful tiled pavement, the electric light, the grand organ, and the crowd of people constantly passing to and fro, has presented a gay and lively scene. At the Sectional meetings, although there has been nothing sensational, there is much evidence of solid work, and many interesting discussions, such as that on the Réntgen rays, in Section A, where Lenard is a notable figure, and the joint discussions of Sections D and I, on the origin of Vertebrates, following Prof. Gaskell’s interesting address. Among some of the other more interesting events in the Sections which seem to be attracting public attention were Prof. Ramsay on Helium and Argon, Prof. Dewar’s account of liquid air, in Section B, the series of arctic papers, including Sir Martin Conway’s lecture on Spitz- bergen, and Mr. Scott Keltie’s account of Nansen, in the Geographical Section, and the discussion, in Section H, on the Mediterranean race and the origin of Myczenean culture. Other attractive items before the Anthropological .Section were the question of the age of the Dolmens, opinion being divided as to whether they belong to the Bronze or the Neolithic period, and the discussion on the femur of Pithecanthropus,a comparison of this celebrated bone with the femora of savage races showing that all its special characters are already known in human femora. The Section celebrated in an interesting manner the centenary of the Swede, Retzius the elder, the originator of modern methods of craniology. One characteristic of the Sectional meetings has cer- tainly been the extreme fulness of the programme, the result being that some Sections have had to meet early and continue sitting late ; most of them held meetings on the Saturday, and several will have to continue their work well into the Wednesday forenoon. Mention need not be made of the other scientific com- munications, as the usual special account of the work of the Sections will appear in future issues of NATURE. The two conversaziones were brilliant functions, and the impression amongst the visitors seemed to be that the public rooms in Liverpool were very fine in dimensions and decoration. At the first soirée—that given by the Lord Mayor—there were no adventitious attractions beyond the stately reception and the pleasant meeting of friends. At the local committee’s soirée in the Museum Library and Art Galleries, where ample accommodation is available, there were short lectures, demonstrations, and various exhibits which attracted much interest. Perhaps one of the finest exhibits was the great collection of models of ships lent by the Cunard, White Star, and other great ocean lines. Between forty and fifty foreigners have been present, amongst the more notable figures being the botanists, Chodat, Pfitzer and Magnus ; the physicists, Lenard and Kohlrausch; the archzologist, Montelius; and the zoologists, Hjort, Delage, and Minot. We have also had de Candolle, Le Conte, Dupuy, Walther, and Count Pfeil. The Loan Collection in the new Museum of Zoology at University College seems to have been much appreciated. The exhibits in the collection chiefly illustrate papers read NO. 1404, VOL. 54] before Sections C, D, and H, and several of the Sections have adjourned in the afternoons to the Museum for special demonstrations. On Saturday, notwithstanding the unsettled weather, all the excursions arranged were successfully carried out, including the dredging expedition in the Lancashire Sea Fisheries steamer, in which a number of the foreigners took part. The applications for the Thursday excursions are sufficiently numerous. The Isle of Man seems to be the favourite one, and as this is to be an expedition of considerable scientific interest, with a carefully-arranged programme, including nearly all the objects worthy of special attention in the island, a further report on the results of the excursion will be given in a future number of NATURE. On Association Sunday, the usual arrangements were made, and several selected preachers dealt with the inter-relations of religion and science and other subjects which were supposed to be appropriate to the occasion. Amongst those who preached were Dean Farrar, Mr. Lund, Canon Diggle, Dr. Klein, and Prof. Ryle, of Cambridge. Many of the members of the Association seemed to prefer short trips in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, or to take advantage of the pleasant hospitality that was offered by some of the owners of large houses and gardens in the afternoon and evening. At the meetings of the General Committee, several important matters have been decided. The date of the commencement of the meeting at Toronto next year has been fixed for August 18. The President-elect is Sir John Evans, K.C.B. The list of vice-Presidents and the local officers have also been fixed upon. The Secretary of the Toronto Committee made a preliminary statement as to the facilities offered by the great steam ship companies in crossing the Atlantic, and the Committee have already distributed to members of the Association a most attractive pre- liminary programme in the form of a richly-illustrated pamphlet of seventy pages. Further details in regard to the arrangements for crossing the Atlantic, and also for travelling to America, are promised shortly. With regard to the meeting in 1898, it seemed likely at one time that there would be competition between Glasgow and Bristol. A distinguished deputation from each City Council attended this meeting ; but at the last moment the Lord Provost of Glasgow gracefully with- drew his claim in favour of Bristol, which had already made considerable preparations, and had been first in the field ; consequently Bristol, on the motion of Sir. F. Bramwell, seconded by Prof. Ramsay, was unanimously fixed upon as the place of meeting for 1898. It was further resolved that the meeting in 1899 be held at Dover, in conjunction with the meeting of the French Association at Boulogne, on the other side of the Channel. At the meetings of the Committee of Recommendations, the following Committees of the Association with grants of money were reappointed :— Synopsis of Grants of Money appropriated to Scientific Purposes by the General Committee at the Liverpool Meeting, September, 1896. The names of the Members entitled to call on the General Treasurer for the respective Grants are prefixed. Mathematics and Physics. *Foster, Prof. Carey.—Electrical Standards (and un- expended balance) ase Sco oe tod) | see eS *Symons, Mr. G. J.—Photographs of Meteorological Phenomena coe aes es ce : SOF | io *Rayleigh, Lord.—Mathematical Tables 1 hee 2 *Symons, Mr. G. J.—Seismological Observations 100 *Atkinson, Dr. E.—Abstracts of Physical Papers ie BE LOO: *Harley, Rev. R.—Calculation of certain Integrals (partly renewed) Pr mae ae “ae A Bree ea) *Stokes, Sir G. G.—Solar Radiation ‘fe as EO *Shaw, Mr. W. N.—Electrolysis and Electro-Chemistry... 50 494 Chemistry. * Roscoe, Sir H. E.—Wave-length Tables of the Spectra or the Elements e ee ey 5 ee IO *Reynolds, Prof. J. Emerson.—Electrolytic Quantitative Analysis... ae Rae ae a ate ae 10 *Bell, Sir J. Lowthian.—Chemical Constituents of Coal... 10 *Tilden, Prof. W. A.—Isomeric Naphthaline Deriva- tives Ss me oe Ee = Ae BS Geology. *Hull, Prof. E.—Erratic Blocks ... ads Stas Pe tic) "Bonney, Prof. T. G.—Investigation of a Coral Reef by Boring and Sounding (renewed)... a re ane *Seeley, Prof. H. G.—Examination of Locality where the Cetiosaurus in the Oxford Museum was found (un- expended balance in hand) Es? doe 209 “ms Flower, Sir W. H.—Fauna of Singapore Caves (un- expended balance) Se : 40 the Isle of Man... os + cae aa on as *Marr, Mr. J. E.—Life Zones in British Carboniferous Rocks * care on ax oooh uy Zoology. *“Herdman, Prof.—Table at the Zoological Station, Naples 100 “Bourne, Mr. G. C.—Table at the Biological Laboratory, Plymouth ... ahs 54 590 Ay me Ao: (e) Flower, Sir W. H.—Zoological Bibliography and Pub- lication... et oe a aa ee ree 4 Tlower, Sir W. H.—Index Generum et Specierum --+ OG Sclater, Dr. P. L.—Zoology and Botany of the West India Islands : =e a ma ie Pe 12): Newton, Prof.—To Work out Details of Observations on the Migration of Birds 40, Geography. *Ravenstein, Mr. E. G.—Climatology of Tropical Africa 20 Economic Science and Statistics. : State Monopolies in other Countries ... 2 as Price, Mr. L. L.—Future Dealings in Raw Produce... 10 ; Mechanical Sczence. “Preece, Mr. W. H.—Small Screw Gauge Ase =: oo Anthropology. *Tylor, Prof. E. B.—North-Western Tribes of Canada’... 75 *Munro, Dr. R.—Lake Village of Glastonbury ... ie) ee *Brabrook, Mr. E. W.—Ethnographical Survey (renewed) fo) “Galton, Sir Douglas. —Mental and Physical Condition of . Children... ss ee a bse Bae we EO “Hartland, Mr. E. S.—Linguistic and Anthropological ‘4 Characteristics of the North Dravidians ise 28 5 Evans, Mr. A. J.—Silchester Excavation . oD Physiology. Gaskell, Dr.—Investigations of Changes in Active Nerve Cells and their Peripheral Extensions ... vn re %2}0) “McKendrick, Prof. J. G.—Physiological Applications of the Phonograph... Be, Bhs “ aa8 +5) ay *Herdman, Prof. W. A.—Oysters under normal and ab- normal environments ee a te oe au 390 Schafer, Prof.—Physiological Effects of Peptone and its Precursors ... 45 os 3: | Botany. Farmer, Prof. J. B.—Fertilisation in Phaeophycea 2 Corresponding Societies. *Meldola, Prof. R.—Preparation of Report... ae ie £1355 * Re-appointed. At the final meeting, held on Wednesday, the usual votes of thanks and concluding speeches were made, and the general impression was expressed that the success of the meeting was characterised by the magnificence of the meeting-rooms, the hospitality of the people of Liver- pool, and the general liveliness of the proceedings. The British Association certainly seems, from the evidence at this, its latest meeting, to be very full of life and vigour. W. A. HERDMAN. NO. £404, VOL. 54] NATURE eo [SerremBer 24, 1896 SECTION C. GEOLOGY. OPENING AppRESS By J. E. MarR, M.A., F.R.S., Sec. G.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. Tue feelings of one who, being but little versed in the economic applications of his science, is called upon to address a meeting of the Association held in a large industrial centre, might, under ordinary circumstances, be of no very pleasant character ; but I take courage when I remember that those connected with my native county, in which we are now gathered, have taken prominent part in advancing branches of our science which are not directly concerned with industrial affairs. I am reminded, for instance, that one amongst you, himself a busy professional man, has in his book on ‘‘The Origin of Mountain Ranges” given to the world a theoretical work of the highest value ; that, on the opposite side of the county, those who are responsible for the formation and management of that excellent educational institution, the Ancoats Museum, have wisely recognised the value of some knowledge of geology as a means of quickening our appreciation of the beauties of nature ; and that one who has done solid service to geology by his teachings, who has kept before us the relationship of our science to that which is beautiful —I refer to the distinguished author of ‘‘ Modern Painters °— has chosen the northern part of the county for his home, and has illustrated his teaching afresh by reference to the rocks of the lovely district around him. Nor can I help referring to one who has recently passed away—the late Sir Joseph Prestwich —-the last link between the pioneers of our science and the geologists of the present day, who, though born in London, was of Lancashire family, and whom we may surely therefore claim as one of Lancashire’s worthies. With these evidences of the catholicity of taste on the part of geologists connected with the county, I feel free to choose my own subject for this address, and, my time being occupied to a large extent with academic work, I may be pardoned for treating that subject in academic fashion. As I have paid considerable attention to the branch of the science which bears the somewhat uncouth designation of stratigraphical geology, I propose to take the present state of our knowledge of this branch as my theme. Of the four great divisions of geology, petrology may be claimed as being largely of German origin, the great impetus to its study having been given by Werner and his teachings. Paleontology may be as justly claimed by the French nation, Cuvier having been to so great an extent responsible for placing it upon a scientific basis. Physical geology we may partly re- gard as our own, the principles laid down by Hutton and sup- ported by Playfair having received illustration from a host of British writers, amongst whom may be mentioned Jukes. Ramsay, and the brothers Geikie; but the grand principles of physical geology have been so largely illustrated by the magni- ficent and simple features displayed on the other side of the Atlantic, that we may well refer to our American brethren as leaders in this branch of study. The fourth branch, strati- graphical geology, is essentially British as regards origin, and, as every one is aware, its scientific principles were established by William Smith, who was not only the father of English geology, but of stratigraphical geology in general. Few will deny that stratigraphical geology is the highest branch of the science, for, as has been well said, it ‘‘ gathers up the sum of all that is made known by the other departments of the science, and makes it subservient to the interpretation of the geological history of the earth.” The object of the strati- graphical geologist is to obtain information concerning all physical, climatic, and biological events which have occurred during each period of the past, and to arrange them in chrono- logical order, so as to write a connected history of the earth. If all of this information were at our disposal, we could write a complete earth-history, and the task of the geologist would be ended. As it is, we have barely crossed the threshold of dis- covery, and the ‘‘imperfection of the geological record,” like the ‘‘ glorious uncertainty ” of our national game, gives geology one of its great charms. Before passing on to consider more particularly the present state of the subject of our study, a few remarks upon this imperfection of the geological record may not be out of place, seeing that the term has been used by so many modern writers, and its exact signification occasionally mis- understood. The imperfection of the paleontological record is usually understood by the term when used, and it will be con- sidered here as an illustration of the incompleteness of our SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 495 knowledge of earth-history ; but it must be remembered that the imperfection of the physical record is equally striking, as will be insisted on more fully in the sequel. Specially prominent amongst the points upon which we are ignorant stands the nature of the Precambrian faunas. The extraordinary complexity of the earliest known Cambrian fauna has long been a matter for surprise, and the recent discoveries in connection with the O/eve//us fauna do not diminish the feel- ing.1_ After commenting upon the varied nature of the earliest known fauna, the late Prof. Iluxley, in his Address to the Geological Society in 1862, stated that ‘‘ any admissible hypo- thesis of progressive modification must be compatible with rsistence without progression, through indefinite periods. . . . hould such an hypothesis eventually be proved to be true,. . . the conclusion will inevitably present itself, that the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cainozoic faunze and flor, taken together, bear somewhat the same proportion to the whole series of living beings which have occupied this globe, as the existing fauna and flora do to them.” Whether or not this estimate is correct, all geologists will agree that a vast period of time must have elapsed before the Cambrian period, and yet our ignorance of faunas existing prior to the time when the O/ened/us fauna occupied the Cambrian seas is almost complete. True, many Precambrian fossils have been described at various times, but, in the opinion of many competent judges, the organic nature of each one of these requires confirmation. I need not, however, enlarge upon this matter, for I am glad to say we have amongst us a geologist who will at a later stage read a paper before this Section upon the subject of Precambrian fossils, and there is no one better able, owing to his intimate acquaintance with the actual relics, to present fairly and impartially the arguments which have been advanced in favour of the organic origin of the objects which have been appealed to as evidences of organisms of Precambrian age than our revered co-worker from Canada, Sir J. William Dawson. We may look forward with confidence to the future discovery of many faunas older than those of which we now possess certain knowledge, but until these are discovered, the palzonto- logical record must be admitted to be ina remarkably incomplete condition. In the meantime, a study of the recent advance of our knowledge of early life is significant of the mode in which still earlier faunas will probably be brought to light. In 1845, Dr. E. Emmons described a fossil, now known to be an O/enedlus, though at that time the earliest fauna was supposed to be one containing a much later group of organisms, and it was not until Nathorst and Brogger established the position of the O/e- nellus zone that the existence of a fauna earlier than that of which Paradoxides was a member was admitted ; and, indeed, the Paradoxides fauna itself was proved to be earlier than that containing Ol/enus, long after these two genera had been made familiar to palzontologists, the Swedish paleontologist, Augelin, having referred the Paradoxides fauna to a period earlier than that of the one with O/enus. It is quite possible, therefore, that fossils are actually preserved in our museums at the present moment, which have been extracted from rocks deposited before the period of formation of the O/ene//us beds, though their age has not been determined. The O/ened/us horizon now furnishes us with a datum-line from which we can work backwards, and it is quite possible that the Meodo/us beds of the Salt Range,” which underlie beds holding O/eed/us, really do contain, as has been maintained, a fauna of date anterior to the formation of the O/enellus beds ; and the same may be the case with the beds containing the Profofenus fauna in Canada,* for this fauna is very different from any known in the O/ene//us beds, or at a higher horizon, though Mr. G. F. Matthew, to whom geologists owe a great debt for his admirable descriptions of the early fossils of the Canadian rocks, speaks very cautiously of the age of the beds containing Profo/enus and its associates. Not- withstanding our ignorance of Precambrian faunas, valuable work has recently been done in proving the existence of im- portant groups of stratified rocks deposited previously to the formation of the beds containing the earliest known Cambrian 1 Dr. C. D. Walcott, in his monograph on “ The Fauna of the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone" (Washington 1890), records the following great groups as represented in the Olenellus beds of America :—Spongiz, Hydrozoa, Actinozoa, Echinodermata, Annelida? (trails, burrows, and tracks), Brachiopoda, Lamellibranchiata, Gasteropoda, Pteropoda, Crus- tacea, and Trilobita. Others are known as occurring in beds of the same age in the Old World. 2See F. Noetling, ‘On the Cambrian Formation of the Eastern Salt Range.” Records Geol. Survey, India, vol. xxvii. p. 71. 3G. F. Matthew, “The Protolenus Fauna.” Tvans. New York Acad. of Science, 1895, vol. xiv. p. 101. NO. 1404, VOL. 54 | fossils ; I may refer especially to the proofs of the Precambrian» age of the Torridon sandstone of north-west Scotland, lately furnished by the officers of the Geological Survey, and their discovery that the maximum thickness of these strata is over 10,000 feet. Amongst the sediments of this important system, more than one fauna may be discovered, even if most of the strata were accumulated with rapidity, and all geologists must hope that the officers of the Survey—who, following Nicol, Lap- worth, and others, have done so much to elucidate the geological structure of the Scottish Highlands—may obtain the legitimate reward of their labours, and definitely prove the occurrence of ~ rich faunas of Precambrian age in the rocks of that region. But, although we may look forward hopefully to the time when we may lessen the imperfection of the records of early life upon the globe, even the most hopeful cannot expect that record to be rendered perfect, or that it will make any near approach to per- fection. The posterior segments of the remarkable trilobite Mesonacts vermontana are of a much more delicate character than the anterior ones, and the resemblance of the spine on the fifteenth ‘‘ body-segment” of this species to the terminal spine of Olenellus proper, suggests that in the latter sub-genus pos- terior segments of a purely membranous character may have existed, devoid of hard parts. If this be so, the entire outer covering of the trilobites, at a period not very remote from the end of Precambrian times, may have been membranous, and the same thing may have occurred with the structures analogous to the hard parts of organisms of other groups. Indeed, with our present views as to development, we can scarcely suppose that organisms acquired hard parts at a very early period of their exist- ence, and fauna after fauna may have occupied the globe, and disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence, in which case we are not likely ever to obtain definite knowledge of the char- acters of our earliest faunas, and the biologist must not look to the geologist for direct information concerning the dawn of life upon the earth. Proceeding now to a consideration of the faunas of the rocks formed after Precambrian times, a rough test of the imperfection of the record may be made by examining the gaps which occur in the vertical distribution of forms of life. If our knowledge of ancient faunas were very incomplete, we ought to meet with many cases of recurrence of forms after their apparent disappear- ance from intervening strata of considerable thickness, and many such cases have actually been described by that eminent paleeon- tologist, M. Barrande, amongst the Paleozoic rocks of Bohemia, though even these are gradually being reduced in number owing to recent discoveries ; indeed, in the case of the marine faunas, marked cases of recurrence are comparatively rare, and the occurrence of each form is generally fairly unbroken from its first appearance to its final extinction, thus showing that the im- perfection of the record is by no means so marked as might be supposed. Fresh-water and terrestrial forms naturally furnish a large percentage of cases of recurrence, owing to the comparative rarity with which deposits containing such organisms are pre- served amongst the strata. A brief consideration of the main reasons for the present im- perfection of our knowledge of the faunas of rocks formed sub- sequently to Precambrian times may be useful, and suggestive of lines along which future work may be carried out. That detailed work in tracts of country which are yet unexplored, or have been but imperfectly examined by the geologist, will add largely to our stock of information, needs only to be mentioned; the probable importance of work of this kind in the future may be inferred from a consideration of the great increase of our know- ledge of the Permo-Carboniferous faunas, as the result of recent labours in remote regions. It is specially desirable that the ancient faunas and floras of tropical regions should be more fully made known, as a study of these will probably throw consider- able light upon the influence of climate upon the geographical ” distribution of organisms in past times. The old floras and faunas of Arctic regions are becoming fairly well known, thanks to the zeal with which the Arctic regions have been explored. But, confining our attention to the geology of our own country, much remains to be done even here, and local observers especially have opportunities of adding largely to our stock of knowledge, a task they have performed so well in the past. To give examples of the value of such work, our knowledge of the fauna of the Cambrian rocks of Britain is largely due to the present President of the Geological Society, when resident at St. David’s, whilst 1Sir A. Geikie, ‘‘Annual Report. of the Geological Survey [United Kingdom] . . . for the year ending December 31, 1893.” (London, 1894.) 496 the magnificent fauna of the Wenlock limestone would have been far less perfectly known than it is, if it were not for the collections of men like the late Colonel Fletcher and the late Dr. Grindrod. Again, the existence of the rich fauna of the Cam- bridge Greensand would have been unsuspected had not the bed known by that name been worked for the phosphatic nodules which it contains. It is very desirable that large collections of varieties of species should be made, for in this matter the record is very imperfect. - There has been, and, I fear, is still, a tendency to reject speci- mens when their characters do not conform with those given in specific descriptions, and thus much valuable material is lost. Local observers should be specially careful to search for varieties, which may be very abundant in places where the conditions were favourable for their production, though rare or unknown elsewhere. Thus, I find the late Mr. W. Keeping remarking that ‘‘it is noteworthy that at Upware, and indeed all other places known to me, the species of Brachzopoda[of the Neocomian beds] maintain much more distinctness and isolation from one another than at Brickhill.” The latter place appears to be one where conditions were exceptionally favourable in Meocoméan times for the production of intermediate forms. A mere knowledge of varieties is, however, of no great use to the collector without a general acquaintance with the mor- phology of the organisms whose remains he extracts from the earth’s strata, and one who has this can do signal service to the science. It is specially important that local observers should be willing to devote themselves to the study of particular groups of organisms, and to collect large suites of specimens of the group they have chosen for study. With a group like the graptolites, for instance, the specimens which are apparently best preserved are often of little value from a morphological point of view, and fragments frequently furnish more information than more complete specimens. These fragments seldom find their way to our museums, and accordingly we may examine a large suite of graptolites in those museums without finding any examples showing particular structures of importance, such as the sac-like bodies carried by many of these creatures. As an illustration of the value of work done by one who has made a special study of a particular group of organisms, I may refer to the remarkable success achieved by the late Mr. Norman Glass in developing the calcareous supports of the brachial processes of Brachiopods. Work of this character will greatly reduce the imperfection of the record from the biologists’ point of view. The importance of detailed work leads one to comment upon the general methods of research which have been largely adopted in the case of the stratified rocks. The principle that strata are identifiable by their included organisms is the basis of modern work, as it was of that which was achieved by the father of English Geology, and the identification of strata in this manner has of recent years been carried out in very great detail, notwithstanding the attempt on the part of some well-known writers to show that correlation of strata in great detail is impossible. The objection to this detailed work is mainly founded upon the fact that it must take time for an organism or group of organisms to migrate from one area to another, and therefore it was stated that they cannot have lived contemporaneously in two remote areas. But the force of this objection is practically done away with if it can be shown that the time taken for migration is exceedingly short as compared with the time of duration of an organism or group of organisms upon the earth, and this has been shown in the only possible way—namely, by accumulating a very great amount of evidence as the result of observation. The eminent writers referred to above, who were not trained geologists, never properly grasped the vast periods of time which must have elapsed during the - occurrence of the events which it is the geologist’s province to study. An historian would speak of events which began at noon on a certain day and ended at midnight at the close of that day as contemporaneous with events which commenced and ended five minutes later, and this is quite on a par with what the geologist does when correlating strata. Nevertheless, there are many people who still view the task of correlating minute subdivisions of stratified systems with one another, with a certain amount of suspicion, if not with positive antipathy ; but the work must be done forall that. Brilliant generalisations are attractive as well as valuable, but the steady accumulation 1W. Keeping, Sedgwick Essay: ‘‘The Fossils and Palzontological aes Neocomian Deposits of Upware and Brickhill.” (Cam- bridge, 1883. NO. 1404, VOL. 54] NATURE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 of facts is as necessary for the advancement of the science as it was in the days when the Geological Society was founded, and its members applied themselves ‘‘to multiply and record observations, and patiently to await the result at some future period.” I have already suggested a resemblance between geology and cricket, and I may be permitted to point out that just as in the game the free-hitter wins the applause, though the patient ‘‘stone-waller” often wins the match, so, in the science, the man apt at brilliant generalisations gains the approval of the general public, but the patient recorder of apparently insigni- ficant details adds matter of permanent value to the stores of our knowledge. In the case of stratigraphical geology, if we were compelled to be content with correlation of systems only, and were unable to ascertain which of the smaller series and stages were contemporaneous, but could only speak of these as “homotaxial,” we should be in much the same position as the would-be antiquary who was content to consider objects fashioned by the Romans as contemporaneous with those ot medizeval times. Under such circumstances geology would indeed be an uncertain science, and we should labour in the field, knowing that a satisfactory earth-history would never be written. Let us hope that a brighter future is in store for us, and let me urge my countrymen to continue to study the minute subdivisions of the strata, lest they be left behind by the geologists of other countries, to whom the necessity for this kind of study is apparent, and who are carrying it on with great success. The value of detailed work on the part of the stratigraphical geologist is best grasped if we consider the recent advance that has been made in our science owing to the more or less exhaustive survey of the strata of various areas, and the applica- tion of the results obtained to the elucidation of earth’s history. A review of this nature will enable us not only to see what has been done, but also to detect lines of inquiry which it will be useful to pursue in the future ; but it is obvious that the subject is so wide that little more can be attempted than to touch lightly upon some of the more prominent questions. A work might well be written treating of the matters which I propose to notice. We have all read our ‘‘ Principles of Geology,” or *“The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants con- sidered as illustrative of Geology,” to quote the alternative title ; some day we may have a book written about the ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants considered as illustrative of geography. Commencing with a glance at the light thrown on inorganic changes by a detailed examination of the strata, I may briefly allude to advances which have recently been made in the study of denudation. The, minor faults, which can only be detected when the small subdivisions of rock-groups are followed out carefully on the ground, have been shown to be of great importance in defining the direction in which the agents of denudation have operated, as demonstrated by Prof. W. C. Brogger, for instance, in the case of the Christiania Fjord (Nyt. Mag. for Naturvidensk., vol. xxx. (1886), p. 79); and I have recently endeavoured to prove that certain valleys in the English Lake District have been determined by shattered belts of country, the existence of which is shown by following thin bands of strata along their outcrop. The importance of the study of the strata in connection with the genesis and subsequent changes of river-systems is admirably brought out in Prof. W. M. Davis’s paper on ‘‘ The Development of certain English Rivers (Geograph. Journ., vol. v. (1895) p. 127), a paper which should be read by all physical geologists; it is, indeed, a starting-point of kindred work which remains especially for local observers to accomplish. Study of this kind not only adds to our knowledge of the work of geological agencies, but helps to diminish the imperfection of the record, for the nature of river-systems, when rightly understood, enables us to detect the former presence of deposits over areas from which they have long since been removed by denudation. An intimate acquaintance with the lithological characters of the strata of a district affords valuable information in connection with the subject of glacial denudation. The direction of glacial transport over the British Isles has been largely inferred from a study of the distribution of boulders of igneous rock, whilst those of sedimentary rock have been less carefully observed. The importance of the latter is well shown by the work which has been done in Northern Europe in tracing the Scandinavian boulders to their sources, a task which could not have been performed successfully if the Scandinavian strata had not been SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] studied in great detail.’ I shall presently have more to say with regard to work connected with the lithological characters of the sediments. Whilst mentioning glacial denudation, let me allude to a piece of work which should be done in great detail, though it is not, strictly speaking, connected with stratigraphy, namely, the mapping of the rocks around asserted “*rock-basins.” I can find no actual proof of the occurrence of such basins in Britain, and it is very desirable that the solid rocks and the drift should be carefully inserted on large-scale maps, not only all around the shores of several lakes, but also between the lakes and the sea, in order to ascertain whether the lakes are really held in rock-basins. Until this work is done, however probable the occurrence of rock-basins in Britain may be considered to be, their actual existence cannot be expected to be proved. When referring to the subject of denudation, mention was made a moment ago of the study of the lithological character of the sediments. Admirable work in this direction was carried out years ago by one who may be said to have largely changed the direction of advance of geology in this country owing to his researches ‘‘ On the Microscopical Structure of Crystals, indicat- ing the Origin of Minerals and Rocks.” I refer, of course, to Dr. H. C. Sorby. But since our attention has been so largely directed to petrology, the study of the igneous and metamorphic rocks has been most zealously pursued, whilst that of the sedi- ments has been singularly little heeded, with few exceptions, prominent amongst which is the work of Mr. Maynard Hutch- ings, the results of which have been recently published in the Geological Magazine, though we must all hope that the details which have hitherto been supplied to us, valuable as they are, are onlya foretaste of what is to follow from the pen of this able observer. Descriptions of the lithological changes which occur in a vertical series of sediments, as well as of those which are observed when any particular band is traced laterally, will no doubt throw light upon a number of interesting questions. Careful work amongst the ancient sediments, especially those which are of organic origin, has strikingly illustrated the general identity of characters, and therefore of methods of formation, of deposits laid down on the sea-floors of past times and those which are at present in course of construction. Globigerine-oozes have been detected at various horizons and in many countries. Prof. Ii. Alleyne Nicholson (Nicholson and Lydekker, ‘‘ Manual of Paleontology,” chap. ii.) has described a pteropod-ooze of Devonian age in the Hamilton Limestone of Canada, which is largely composed of the tests of Sty/zo/a ; and to Dr. G. J. Hinde we owe the discovery of a large number of radiolarian cherts of Palzeozoic and Neozoic ages in various parts of the globe. The extreme thinness of many argillaceous deposits, which are re- presented elsewhere by hundreds of feet of strata, suggests that some of them, at any rate, may be analogous to the deep-sea clays of modern oceans, though in the case of deposits of this nature we must depend to a large extent upon negative evidence. The uniformity of character of thin marine deposits over wide areas is in itself evidence of their formation at some distance from the land; but although the proofs of origin of ancient sediments far from coast-lines may be looked upon as per- manently established, the evidence for their deposition at great depths below the ocean’s surface might be advantageously increased in the case of manyof them. The fairly modern sedi- ments, containing genera which are still in existence, are more likely to furnish satisfactory proofs of a deep-sea origin than are more ancient deposits. Thus the existence of Archeopneustes and Cysfechinus in the oceanic series of Barbadoes, as described by Dr. Gregory, furnishes strong proofs of the deep-sea character of the deposits, whilst the only actual argument in favour of the deep-sea character of certain Palaeozoic sediments has been put forward by Prof. Suess, who notes the similarity of certain structures of creatures in ancient rocks to those possessed by modern deep-sea crustacea, especially the co-exist- ence of trilobites which are blind with those which have enormously developed eyes. A question which has been very prominently brought to the fore in recent years is that of the mode of formation of certain coral-reefs. The theory of Charles Darwin, lately so widely accepted as an explanation of the mode of formation of barrier- reefs and atolls, has been, as is well known, criticised by Dr. 1 It is desirable that the boulders of sedimentary rock imbedded in the drifts of East Anglia should be carefully examined and fossils collected from them. The calcareous strata associated with the Alum Shales of Scandinavia and the strata of the Orthoceras-Limestone of that region may be expected to be represented amongst the boulders, NO. 1404, VOL. 54 | NATURE 497 Murray, with the result that a large number of valuable observ- ations have been recently made on modern reefs, especially by biologists, as a contribution to the study of reef formation, Nor have geologists been inactive. Dr. E. Mojsisovics and Prof. Dupont, to mention two prominent observers, have described knoll-like masses of limestone more or less analogous, as regards. structure, to modern coral-reefs. They consider that these have been formed by corals, and indeed Dupont maintains that the atoll-shape is still recognisable in ancient Devonian coral-reefs in Belgium.! I would observe that all cases of ‘‘ knoll-reefs ” of this character have been described in districts which furnish proofs of having been subjected to considerable orogenic dis- turbance, subsequent to the formation of the rocks composing the knoll-shaped masses, whilst in areas which have not been affected by violent earth-foldings, the reef-building corals, so far as I have been able to ascertain, give rise to sheet-like masses, such as should be produced according to Dr. Murray’s theory. I would mention especially the reefs of the Corallian Rocks of England, and also some admirable examples seen amongst the Carboniferous Limestone strata of the great western escarpment of the Pennine chain which faces the Eden valley in the neigh- bourhood of Melmerby in Cumberland. Considering the number of dissected coral-reefs which exist amongst the strata of the earth’s crust, and the striking way in which their structure is often displayed, it is rather remarkable that comparatively little attention has been paid to them by geologists in general, when the subject has been so prominently brought before the scientific world, for we must surely admit that we are much more likely to gain important information, shedding light upon the methods. of reef-formation, by a study of such dissected reefs, than by making a few bore-holes on some special coral island. I would specially recommend geologists to make a detailed study of the British coral-reefs of Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Jurassic ages. Turning now to organic deposits of vegetable origin, we must, as the result of detailed work, be prepared to admit the in- applicability of any one theory of the formation of coal seams. The ‘‘growth-in-place” theory may be considered fairly well established for some coals, such as the spore-coals, whilst the “drift” theory furnishes an equally satisfactory explanation of the formation of cannel-coal. It is now clear that the applica- tion of the general term coa/ to a number of materials of diverse nature, and probably of diverse origin, was largely responsible for the dragging-out of a controversy, in which the champions of either side endeavoured to explain the origin of all coal in one particular way. The stratigraphical geologist, attempting to restore the physicab geography of former periods, naturally pays much attention to the positions of ancient coast-lines ; indeed, all teachers find it impossible to give an intelligible account of the stratified rocks. without some reference to the distribution of land and sea at the time of their formation. The general position of land-masses at various times has been ascertained in several parts of the world, but much more information must be gathered together before our restorations of ancient sea-margins approximate to the truth. The carboniferous rocks of Britain have been specially studied with reference to the distribution of land and water during the period of their accumulation, and yet we find that owing to the erroneous identification of certain rocks of Devon- shire as grits or sandstones, which Dr. Hinde has shown to be radiolarian cherts, land was supposed to lie at no great distance south of this region in Lower Carboniferous times, whereas the probabilities are in favour of the existence of an open ocean at a considerable distance from any land in that direction. This case furnishes us with an excellent warning against generalisation upon insufficient data. 2 As a result of detailed study of the strata, the effects of earth- movements have been largely made known to us, especially of those comparatively local disturbances spoken of as orogenic which are mainly connected with mountain-building, whilst information concerning the more widely spread epeirogenic movements is also furnished by a study of the stratified rocks. The structure of the Alps, of the North-West Highlands of Scotland, and of the uplifted tracts of North America is now familiar to geologists, whilst the study of comparatively recent sediments has proved the existence of widespread and extensive movements in times which are geologically modern ; for instance, 1 Similar knoll-like masses have been described in this country by Mr- R. H. Tiddeman, as occurring in the Craven district of Yorkshire, but he does not attribute their formation to coral growth to any great extent. 498 ‘the deep-water deposits of late Tertiary age found in the West Indies indicate the occurrence of considerable uplift in that region. Buta great amount of work yet remains to be done in this connection, especially concerning horizontal distortion of masses of the earth’s crust, owing to more rapid horizontal advance of one portion than of another, during periods of move- ment. Not until we gather together a large amount of informa- tion derived from actual inspection of the rocks shall we be able to frame satisfactory theories of earth-movement, and in the meantime we are largely dependent upon the speculations of the physicist, often founded upon very imperfect data, on which is built an imposing superstructure of mathematical reasoning. We have been told that our continents and ocean-basins have been toa great extent permanent as regards position through long geological ages; we now reply by pointing to deep-sea sediments of nearly all geological periods, which have been up- lifted from the ocean-abysses to form portions of our continents ; and as the result of study of the distribution of fossil organisms, we can point almost as confidently to the sites of old continents now sunk down into the ocean depths. It seems clear that our knowledge of the causes of earth-movements is still in its infancy, and that we must be content to wait awhile, until we have further information at our disposal. Recent work has proved the intimate connection betwixt earth-movement and the emissionand intrusion of igneous rocks, and the study of igneous rocks has advanced beyond the petro- graphical stage ; the rocks are now made to contribute their share towards the history of different geological periods. The part which volcanic action has played in the actual formation of the earth’s crust is well exemplified in Sir Archibald Geikie’s Presi- dential Addresses to the Geological Society, wherein he treats of the former volcanic history of the British Isles. (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vols. xlvii. and xlviii.) The way in which extruded material contributes to the formation’ of sedimentary masses has, perhaps, not been fully grasped by many writers, who frequently seem to assume that deposition is a measure of denudation, and ace versd, whereas deposition is only a measure of denudation, and of the material which has been ejected in a fragmental condition from the earth’s interior, which in some places forms a very considerable percentage of the total amount of sediment. The intruded rocks also throw much light on past earth- history, and I cannot give a better illustration of the valuable information which they may furnish to the stratigraphical geologist when rightly studied, than by referring to the excellent and suggestive work by my colleague, Mr. Alfred Harker, on the Bala Volcanic Rocks of Carnarvonshire. (Sedgwick Essay for 1888: Camb. Univ. Press, 1889.) Perhaps the most striking instance of the effect which detailed stratigraphical work has produced on geological thought is sup- plied by the study of the crystalline schists. Our knowledge of the great bulk of the rocks which enter into the formation of a schistose complex is not very great, but the mode of produc- tion of many of them is now well known, and the crude specu- lations of some of the early geologists are now making way for theories founded on careful and minute observations in the field as well asin the laboratory. Recent work amongst the crystal- line schists shows, furthermore, how careful we should be not to assume that because we have got at the truth, we have therefore ascertained the whole truth. We all remember how potent a factor dynamic metamorphism was supposed to be, owing to discoveries made in the greatly disturbed rocks of Scotland and Switzerland; and the action of heat was almost ignored by some writers, except as a minor factor, in the production of metamorphic change. The latest studies amongst the foliated rocks tend to show that heat does play a most important part in the manufacture of schists. The detailed work of Mr. George Barrow, in North-East Forfarshire (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xlix. (1893) p. 330) has already thrown a flood of light upon the origin of certain schists, and their connection with igneous rocks, and geologists will look forward with eagerness to further studies of the puzzling Highland rocks by this keen observer. The subject of former climatic conditions is one in which the geologist has very largely depended upon followers of other branches of science for light, and yet it is one peculiarly within the domain of the stratigraphical geologist ; and information which has already been furnished concerning former climatic conditions, as the result of careful study of the strata, is probably only an earnest of what is to follow when the specialist in climatology pays attention to the records of the rocks, and avoids the theories elaborated in the student’s sanctum. The NO. 1404, VOL. 54] NATURE ( = [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 recognition of an Ice Age in Pleistocene times at once proved the fallacy of the supposition that there has been a gradual fall in temperature throughout geological ages without any subse- uent rise, and accordingly most theories which have been put forward to account for former climatic change have been advanced with special reference to the Glacial period or periods, although there are many other interesting matters connected with climate with which the geologist has to deal. Neverthe- less, the occurrence of glacial periods is a matter of very great interest, and one which has deservedly received much attention, though the extremely plausible hypothesis of Croll, and the clear manner in which it has been presented to general readers, tended to throw other views into the shade, until quite recently, when this hypothesis has been controverted from the point of view of the physicist. In the meantime considerable advance has been made in our actual knowledge, and this year, probably for the first time, and as the result of the masterly 7észsdé of Prof. Edgworth David (‘* Evidences of Glacial Action in Australia in Permo-Carboniferous Time,” Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. lii. p. 289), the bulk of British geologists are prepared to admit that there has been more than one glacial period, and that the evi- dence of glacial conditions in the southern hemisphere in Permo-Carboniferous times is established. Croll’s hypothesis ot course requires the recurrence of glacial periods, but leaving out of account arguments not of a geological character, which have been advanced against this hypothesis, the objection raised by Messrs. Gray and Kendall (‘* The Cause of an Ice Age,” Brit. Assoc. Rep. (1892), p. 708), that in the case of the Pleistocene Ice Age ‘‘ the cold conditions came on with extreme slowness, the refrigerations being progressive from the Eocene period to the climax,” seems tome to bea fatal one. At the same time, rather than asking with the above writers ‘‘the aid ot astronomers and physicists in the solution of” this problem, I would direct the attention of stratigraphical geologists to it, believing that, by steady accumulation of facts, they are more likely than any one else to furnish the true clue to the solution of the glacial problem. I have elsewhere called attention to marked changes in the faunas of the sedimentary rocks when passing from lower to higher levels, without the evidence of any apparent physical break, or any apparent change in the physical conditions, so far as can be judged from the lithological characters of the strata, and have suggested that such sudden faunistic variations may be due to climate. I refer to the matter as one which may well occupy the attention of local observers. One of the most interesting points connected with climatic conditions is that of the former general lateral distribution of organisms, and its dependence upon the distribution of climatic zones. The well-known work of the late Dr. Neumayr (‘* Ueber klimatische Zonen wihrend der Jura-und Kreidezeit,” Denkschr. der math,-naturwissen. Classe der k. k. Akad. der Wassen- schaften, vol. xlvii. Vienna, 1883) has, in the opinion of many geologists, established the existence of climatic zones whose boundaries ran practically parallel with the equator in Jurassic and Cretaceous times, and the possible existence of similar climatic zones in Paleeozoic times has been elsewhere suggested ; but it is very desirable that much more work should be done upon this subject, and it can only be carried out by paying close attention to the vertical and lateral distribution of organisms in the stratified rocks. So far we have chiefly considered the importance of strati- graphical geology in connection with the inorganic side of nature. We now come to the bearing of detailed stratigraphical work upon questions concerning the life of the globe, and here the evidence furnished by the geologist particularly appeals to the general educated public as well as to students of other sciences. Attention has just been directed to the probable importance of former climatic changes in determining the distribution of organisms, but the whole subject of the geographical distribution of organisms during former geological periods, though it has already received a considerable amount of attention, will doubt- less have much further light thrown upon it as the result of careful observations carried out amongst the stratified rocks. So long ago as 1853, Pictet laid it down as a_ paleontological law that ‘‘ the geographical distribution of species found in the strata was more extended than the range of species of existing faunas.’” One would naturally expect that at a time when the diversity of animal organisation was not so great as it now is, the species, having fewer enemies with which to cope, and on the whole not too complex organisations to be affected by out- ee SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 499 ward circumstances, would spread further laterally than they now do; but as we know that in earliest Cambrian times the diversity of organisation was very considerable, it is doubtful whether any appreciable difference would be exerted upon lateral distripotion then and now, owing to this cause. At the time at which Pictet wrote, the rich fauna of the deeper parts of the oceans, with its many widely distributed forms of life, was unknown, and the range in space of early organisms must have then struck every one who thought upon the subject as being greater than that of the shallow-water organisms of existing seas, which were alone known. It is by no means clear, however, with our present knowledge, that Pictet’s supposed law holds ‘ood, and it will require a considerable amount of work before it can be shown to be even apparently true. Our lists of the fossils of different areas are not sufficiently complete to allow us to generalise with safety, but a comparison of the faunas of Australia and Britain indicates a larger percentage of forms common to the two areas, as we examine higher groups of the geological column. If this indication be fully borne out by further work, it will not prove the actual truth of the law, for the apparent wider distribution of ancient forms of life might be due to the greater probability of elevation of ancient deep-sea sediments than of more modern ones which have not been subjected to so many elevatory movements. Still, if the law be apparently true, it is a matter of some importance to geologists ; and I have touched upon the matter here in order once again to emphasise the possibility of correlating comparatively small thicknesses of strata in distant regions by their included organisms. Mention of Pictet’s laws, one of which states that fossil animals were constructed upon the same plan as existing ones, leads me to remark upon the frequent assumption that certain fossils are closely related to living groups, when the resemblances between the hard parts of the living and extinct forms are only of the most general character. There is a natural tendency to compare a fossil with its nearest living ally, but the comparison has probably been often pushed too far, with the result that biologists have frequently been led to look for the ancestors of one living group exclusively amongst forms of life which are closely related to those of another living group. The result of detailed work is to bring out more and more prominently the very important differences between some ancient forms and any living creature, and to throw doubts on certain comparisons ; thus I find several of the well-known fossils of the Old Red Sandstone, formerly referred without hesitation to the fishes, are now doubtfully placed in that class. : The importance of detailed observation in the field is becoming every day more apparent, and the specialist who remains in his museum examining the collections amassed by the labours of others, and never notes the mode of occurrence of fossils in the strata, will perhaps soon be extinct, himself an illustration of the principle of the survival of the fittest. In the first place, such a worker can never grasp the true significance of the changes wrought on fossil relics after they have become entombed in the strata, especially amongst those rocks which have been subjected to profound earth-movements ; and it is to be feared that many **species”’ are still retained in our fossil lists, whose supposed specific characters are due to distortion by pressure. But a point of greater importance is, that one who confines his atten- tion to museums, cannot, unless the information supplied to him be very full, distinguish the differences between fossils which are variations from a contemporaneous dominant form, such as “‘sports,” and those which have been termed ‘ mutations,” which existed at a later period than the forms which they resemble. The value of the latter to those who are attempting to work out phylogenies is obvious, and their nature can only be determined as the result of very laborious and accurate field- work ; but such labour in such a cause is well worth performing. The student of phylogeny has had sufficient warning of the dangers which beset his path, from an inspection of the various phylogenetic trees, constructed mainly after study of existing beings only, so “|. . like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place,” but recent researches amongst various groups of fossil organisms have further illustrated the danger of theorising upon insufficient data, especially suggestive being the discovery of closely similar forms which were formerly considered to be much more nearly related than now proves to be the case; thus Dr. Mojsisovics (Abhandl, der k. k. geol. Reichsanst., vol. vi., 1893) has shown NO. 1404, VOL. 54] that Ammonites once referred to the same species are specifically distinct, though their hard parts have acquired similar structures, sometimes contemporaneously, sometimes at different times, and Mr. S. S. Buckman (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. li. p. 456; 1895) has observed the same thing, which he speaks of as ““heterogenetic homceomorphy” in the case of certain brachiopods, whilst Prof. H. A. Nicholson and I (Geo/. Mag., December 4, 1895, vol. ii. p. 531) have given reasons for supposing that such heterogenetic homceomorphy, in the case of the graptolites, has sometimes caused the inclusion in one genus of forms which have arisen from two distinct genera. As the result of careful work, dangers of the nature here suggested will be avoided, and our chances of indicating lines of descent correctly will be much increased. It must be remembered that however plausible the lines of descent indicated by students of recent forms may be, the actual links in the chains can only be discovered by examination of the rocks, and it is greatly to be desired that more of our geologists, who have had a thorough training in the field, should receive in addition one as thorough in the zoological laboratory. Shall I be forgiven if I venture on the opinion that a certain suspicion which some of my zoological fellow countrymen have of geological methods, is due to their comparative ignorance of paleontology, and that it is as important for them to obtain some knowledge of the principles of geology as it is for the stratigraphical paleeontologist to study the soft parts of creatures whose relatives he finds in the stratified rocks ? The main lines along which the organisms of some of the larger groups have been developed, have already been indicated by several palzeontologists, and detailed work has been carried out in several cases. As examples, let me allude to the trilo- bites, of which a satisfactory natural classification was outlined by the great Barrande in those volumes of his monumental work which deal with the fossils of this order, whilst further indica- tion of their natural inter-relationships has been furnished by Messrs. C. D. Walcott, G. F. Matthew, and others; to the graptolites, whose relationships have been largely worked out by Prof. C. Lapworth, facéle princeps amongst students of the Graptolitoidea, to whom we look for a full account of the phylogeny of the group; to the brachiopods, which have been so ably treated by Dr. C. E. Beecher (‘‘ Development of the Brachiopoda,” Amer. Journ. Scz., ser. iii. vol. xli. (1891) p- 343, and vol. xliv. (1892) p. 133), largely from a study of recent forms, but also after careful study of those preserved in the fossil state; and to the echinids and lamellibranchs, whose history is being extensively elucidated by Dr. R. T. Jackson (‘* Phylogeny of the Pelecypoda,” em. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. iv. (1890) p. 277; and ‘‘ Studies of Palazechinoidea,” Az//. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. vii. (1896) p. 171), by methods some- what similar to those pursued by Dr. Beecher. I might give other instances,! but have chosen some striking ones, four of which especially illustrate the great advances which are being made in the study of the paleontology of the invertebrates by our American brethren. I have occupied the main part of my address with reasons for the need of conducting stratigraphical work with minute accuracy. Many of you may suppose that the necessity for working in this way is so obvious that it is a work of supere- rogation to insist upon it at great length ; but experience has taught me that many geologists consider that close attention to details is apt to deter workers from arriving at important generalisations, in the present state of our science. A review of the past history of the science shows that William Smith, and those who followed after him, obtained their most important results by steady application to details, and subsequent generali- sation, whilst the work of those who theorise on insufficient data is apt to be of little avail, though often demanding atten- tion on account of its very daring, and because of the power of some writers to place erroneous views in an attractive light, just as «| |. the sun can fling Colours as bright on exhalations bred By weedy pool or pestilential swamp, As on the rivulet, sparkling where it runs, Or the pellucid lake.” 1 £.g. The following papers treating of the Cephalopoda :—A. Hyatt, “Genesis of the Arietidz,” Smithsonian Contributions, vol. xxvi. (1889) ; M. Neumayr, Jura-Studien I., ‘‘ Ueber Phylloceraten,” Jahrb. der k. k. Geol. Reichsanst., vol. xxi. (1871) p. 297; L. Wiirtenberger, “* Studien tibe die Stammesgeschichte der Ammoniten,”” Leipzig, 1880 ; 5S. S. Buckman, ‘4 Monograph of the Inferior Oolite Ammonites of the British Islands, 1887 (Monogr. Paleontographical Si 0c). 500 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 Nor is there any reason to suppose that it will be otherwise in the future, and I am not one of those who consider that the brilliant discoveries were the exclusive reward of the pioneers in our science, and that labourers of the present day must be contented with the gleanings of their harvest; on the contrary, the dis- coveries which await the geologist will probably be as striking as are those which he has made in the past. The onward march of science is a rhythmic movement, with now a period of steady labour, anon a more rapid advance in our knowledge. It would perhaps be going too far to say that, so far as our science is concerned, we are living in a period vather of the former than of the latter character, though no great geological discovery has recently affected human thought in the way in which it was affected by the proofs of the antiquity of man, and by the publication of ‘‘ The Origin of Species.’’ If, however, we are to some extent gathering materials, rather than drawing far-reaching conclusions from them, I believe this is largely due to the great expansion which our science has under- gone in recent years. It has been said that geology is ‘‘ not so much one science, as the application of all the physical sciences to the examination and description of the structure of the earth, the investigation of the agencies concerned in the production of that structure, and the history of their action”; and the application of other sciences to the elucidation of the history of our globe has been so greatly extended of recent years, that we are apt to lose sight of the fact that geology is in itself a science, and that it is the special province of the geologist to get his facts at first hand from examination of the earth. The spectroscope and the telescope tell the geologist much ; but his proper instrument is the hammer, and the motto of every geologist should be that which has been adopted for the Geological Congress, JZente et malleo. At the risk of being compared to a child playing with edged tools, I cannot help referring to the bearing of modern strati- graphical research on the suggested replacement of a school of uniformitarianism by one of evolution. The distinguished advocate of Evolutionism, who addressed the Geological Society in 1869 upon the modern schools of geological thought, spoke of the school of evolution as though it were midway between those of uniformitarianism and catastrophism, as indeed it is logically, though, considering the tenets of the up- holders of catastrophism, as opposed to those of uniformi- tarianism, at the time of that address, there is no doubt that evolutionism was rather a modification of the uniformitarianism of the period than intermediate between it and catastrophism, which was then practically extinct, at any rate in Britain. One of my predecessors in this chair, speaking upon this subject, says that ‘‘the good old British ship ‘ Uniformity,’ built by Hutton and refitted by Lyell, has won so many glorious victories in the past, and appears still to be in such excellent fighting trim, that I see no reason why she should haul down her colours, either to ‘catastrophe’ or ‘ evolution.’?” It may be so ; but I doubt the expediency of nailing those colours to the mast. That Lyell, in his great work, proved that the agents now in operation, working with the same activity as that which they exhibit at the present day, mzght produce the phenomena exhibited by the stratified rocks, seems to be generally admitted, but that is not the same thing as proving that they dd so pro- duce them. Such proof can only be acquired by that detailed examination of the strata which I have advocated in this address, and at the time that the last edition of the ‘‘ Principles” appeared, our knowledge of the strata was far less complete than it has subsequently become. It appears to me that we should keep our eyes open to the possibility of many phenomena presented by rocks, even newer than the Archean rocks, having been produced under different conditions from those now preva- lent. The depths and salinity of the oceans, the heights and extent of continents, the conditions of volcanic action, and many other things may have been markedly different from what they are at present, and it is surely unphilosophical to assume condi- tions to have been generally similar to those of the present day, on the slender data at our disposal. Lastly, uniformitarianism, in its strictest sense, is opposed to rhythmic recurrence of events. ‘‘Rhythm is the rule with nature; she abhors uni- formity more than she does a vacuum,” wrote Prof. Tyndall, many years ago, and the remark is worth noting by geologists. Why have we no undoubted signs of glacial epochs amongst the strata from early Cambrian times to the Great Ice Period, except in Permo-Carboniferous times? Is there not an apparent if not a real absence of manifestation of volcanic NO. 1404, VOL. 54] activity over wide areas of the earth in Mesozoic times? Were not Devonian, Permo-Triassic, and Miocene times periods of mountain-building over exceptionally wide areas, whilst the intervening periods were rather marked by quiet depression and sedimentation? A study of the evidence available in connection with questions like these suggests rhythmic recurrence. Without any desire to advocate hasty departure from our present methods of research, I think it should be clearly recognised that evolution may have been an important factor in changing the conditions even of those times of which the geologist has more direct knowledge. In this, as in many other questions, it is best to preserve an open mind ; indeed, I think that geologists will do well to rest satisfied without an explanation to many problems, amongst them the one just referred to; and that working hypotheses, though useful, are better retained in the manuscript notebooks of the workers than published in the TZyansactions of Learned Societies, whence they filter out into popular works, to the great delight of a sceptical public should they happen to be overthrown. May I trespass upon your patience for one moment longer ? As a teacher of geology, with many years’ experience in and out of a large University, I have come to the conclusion that geology is becoming more generally recognised as a valu- able instrument of education. The memory, the reasoning faculties, and the ‘powers of observation are alike quickened. The work in the open air, which is inseparable from a right understanding of the science, keeps the body in healthy condition. But over and above these benefits, the communing with nature, often in her most impressive moods, and the insignificance of events in a man’s lifetime, as compared with the ceaseless changes through the long zeons which have gone before, so influence man’s moral nature, that they drive out his meaner thoughts and make him “ live in charity with all men.” SECTION D. ZOOLOGY. ADDRESS BY PrRoF. E. B. PouLTon, PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. A very brief study of the proceedings of this Section in byegone years will show that Presidents have exercised a very wide choice in the selection of subjects. At the last meeting of the Association in this city in 1870 the Biological Section had as its President the late Prof. Rolleston, a man whose remarkable personality made a deep impression upon all who came under his influence, as I have the strongest reason for remembering, inasmuch as he was my first teacher in zoology, and I attended his lectures when but little over seventeen. His address was most characteristic, glancing over a great variety of subjects, literary as well as scientific, and abounding in quotations from several languages, living and dead. A very different style of address was that delivered by the distinguished zoologist who presided over the meeting. Prof. Huxley took as his subject “*The History of the Rise and Progress of a Single Biological Doctrine.” OPENING Pik. Se Of these two types I selected the latter as my example, and especially desired to attempt the discussion, however inadequate, of some difficulty which confronts the zoologist at the very out- set, when he begins to reason from the facts around him—a difficulty which is equally obvious and of equal moment to the highly-trained investigator and the man who is keenly interested in the results obtained by others, but cannot himself lay claim to the position and authority of a skilled observer—to the naturalist and to one who follows some other branch of knowledge, but is interested in the progress of a sister science. Two such difficulties were alluded to by Lord Salisbury in his interesting presidential address to the British Association at Oxford in 1894, when he spoke of ‘two of the strongest objections to the Darwinian explanation ” of evolution—viz. the theory of natural selection—as appearing ‘“‘still to retain all their force.” The first of these objections was the insufficiency of the time during which the earth has been in a habitable state, as calculated by Lord Kelvin and Prof. Tait, 100 million years being conceded by the former, but only 10 million by the latter. Lord Salisbury quite rightly stated that for the evolution of the organic world as we know it by the slow process of natural selection at least many hundred million years are required ; SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] whereas, ‘‘if the mathematicians are right, the biologists cannot have what they demand. . . . The jelly-fish would have been dissipated in steam long before he had had a chance of display- ing the advantageous variation which was to make him the ancestor of the human race.” The second objection was that ‘“‘ we cannot demonstrate the process of natural selection in detail; we cannot even, with more or less ease, imagine it.” “ In natural selection who is to supply the breeder's place?” ‘‘ There would be nothing but mere chance to secure that the advantageously varied bridegroom at one end of the wood should meet the bride, who by a happy contingency had been advantageously varied in the same direction at the same time at the other end of the wood. It would be a mere chance if they ever knew of each other’s existence—a still more unlikely chance that they should resist on both sides all temptations to a less advantageous alliance. But unless they did so the new breed would never even begin, let alone the question of its perpetuation after it had begun.” Prof. Huxley, in seconding the vote of thanks to the President, said that he could imagine that certain parts of the address might raise a very good discussion in one of the Sections, and I have little doubt that he referred to these criticisms and to this Section. When I had to face the duty of preparing this address, I could find no subjects better than those provided by Lord Salisbury. At first the second objection seemed to offer the more attrac- tive subject. It was clear that the theory of natural selection as held by Darwin was misconceived by the speaker, and that the criticism was ill-aimed. Darwin and Wallace, from the very first, considered that the minute differences which separate individuals were of far more importance than the large single variations which occasionally arise—Lord Salisbury’s advan- tageously varied bride and bridegroom at opposite ends of the wood. In fact, after Fleeming Jenkins’s criticisms in the North British Review for June 1867, Darwin abandoned these large single variations altogether. Thus he wrote in a letter to Wallace (February 2, 1869): ‘‘I always thought individual differences more important ; but I was blind, and thought single variations might be preserved much oftener than I now see is possible or probable. I mentioned this in my former note merely because I believed that you had come toa similar con- clusion, and I like much to be in accord with you.” (‘* Life and Letters,” vol. iii.) Hence we may infer that the other great discoverer of natural selection had come to the same con- clusion at an even earlier date. But this fact removes the whole point from the criticism I have just quoted. According to the Darwin-Wallace theory of natural selection, individuals sufficiently advantageously varied to become the material for a fresh advance when an advance became necessary, and at other times sufficient to maintain the ground previously gained—such individuals existed not only at the opposite ends of the wood, but were common enough in every colony within its confines. The mere fact that an individual had been able to reach the con- dition of a possible bride or bridegroom would count for much. Few will dispute that such individuals ‘‘ have already success- fully run the gauntlet of by far the greatest dangers which beset the higher animals[and, it may be added, the lower animals also] —the dangers of youth. Natural selection has already pro- nounced a satisfactory verdict upon the vast majority of animals which have reached maturity.” (Poulton, ‘*Colours of Animals,” p. 308.) But the criticism retains much force when applied to another theory of evolution by the selection of large and conspicuous variations, a theory which certain writers have all along sought to add to or substitute for that of Darwin. Thus Huxley from the very first considered that Darwin had burdened himself unnecessarily in rejecting fer sa/¢éwm evolution so unreservedly. (See his letter to Darwin, November 23, 1859; “‘ Life and Letters,” vol. ii.) And recently this view has been revived by Bateson’s work on variation and by the writings of Francis Galton. I had at first intended to attempt a discussion of this view, together with Lord Salisbury’s and other objections which may be urged against it ; but the more the two were considered, the more pressing became the claims of the criticism alluded to at first—the argument that the history of our planet does not allow sufficient time for a process which all its advocates admit to be extremely slow in its operation. I select this subject because of its transcendent importance in relation to organic evolution, and because I hope to show that the naturalist has something of weight to contribute to the controversy which NO. 1404, VOL. 54 | NATURE 501 has been waged intermittently ever since Lord Kelvin’s paper ‘‘On Geological Time”?! appeared in 1868. It has been urged by the great worker and teacher who occupied the Presidential Chair of this Association when it last met in this city that biologists have no right to take part in this discussion. In his Anniversary Address to the Geological Society in 1869 Huxley said: ‘* Biology takes her time from geology. . . . If the geological clock is wrong, all the naturalist will have to do is to modify his notions of the rapidity of change accordingly.” This contention is obviously true as regards the time which has elapsed since the earliest fossiliferous rocks were laid down. For the duration of the three great periods we must look to the geologist ; but the question as to whether the whole of organic evolution is comprised within these limits, or, if not, what pro- portion of it is so contained, is a question for the naturalist. The naturalist alone can tell the geologist whether his estimate is sufficient, or whether it must be multiplied by a small or by some unknown but certainly high figure, in order to account for the evolution of the earliest forms of life known in the rocks. This, I submit, is a most important contribution to the dis- cussion. Before proceeding further it is right to point out that obviously these arguments will have no weight with those who do not believe that evolution is a reality. But although the causes of evolution are greatly debated, it may be assumed that there is no perceptible difference of opinion as to evolution itself, and this common ground will bear the weight of all the zoological argu- ments we shall consider to-day. It will be of interest to consider first how the matter pre- sented itself to naturalists before the beginning of this controversy on the age of the habitable earth. I will content myself with quotations from three great writers on biological problems—men of extremely different types of mind, who yet agreed in their conclusions on this subject. In the original edition of the ‘‘ Origin of Species” (1859), Darwin, arguing from the presence of trilobites, Nautilus, Lingula, &c., in the earliest fossiliferous rocks, comes to the following conclusion (pages 306, 307): ‘‘Consequently, if my theory be true, it is indisputable that before the lowest Silurian stratum was deposited long periods elapsed, as long as, or pro- bably far longer than, the whole interval from the Silurian age to the present day; and that during these vast yet quite unknown periods of time the world swarmed with living creatures.” ; The depth of his conviction in the validity of this conclusion is seen in the fact that the passage remains substantially the same in later editions, in which, however, Cambrian is substituted for Silurian, while the words ‘‘ yet quite unknown ” are omitted, as a concession, no doubt, to Lord Kelvin’s calculations, which he then proceeds to discuss, admitting as possible a more rapid change in organic life, induced by more violent physical changes. (Sixth ed., 1872, p. 286.) We know, however, that such concessions troubled him much, and that he was really giving up what his judgment still approved. Thus he wrote to Wallace on April 14, 1869: “*Thomson’s views of the recent age of the world have been for some time one of my sorest troubles. . . .” And again, on July 12, 1871, alluding to Mivart’s criticisms, he says: ‘‘ I can say nothing more about missing links than what I have said. I should rely much on pre-Silurian times ; but then comes Sir W. Thomson, like an odious spectre.” Huxley’s demands for time in order to account for pre- Cambrian evolution, as he conceived it, were far more extensive. Although in 1869 he bade the naturalist stand aside and take no part in the controversy, he had nevertheless spoken as a natur- alist in 1862, when, at the close of another Anniversary Address to the same Society, he argued from the prevalence of persistent types ‘‘that any admissible hypothesis of progressive modification must be compatible with persistence without progression through indefinite periods” ; and then maintained that ‘‘ should such an hypothesis eventually be proved to be true . . . the conclusion will inevitably present itself that the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cainozoic faunze and florz, taken together, bear somewhat the same proportion to the whole series of living beings which have occupied this globe as the existing fauna and flora do to them.” 1 Trans. Geol. Soc., Glasgow, vol. iii. See also ‘‘On the Age of the Sun's Heat,” Macmillan," March 1862: reprinted as Appendix to Thomson and Tait, ‘‘ Natural Philosophy,” vol. i. part 2, second edition; and ‘‘ On the Secular Cooling of the Earth,” Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1862. 502 NATORE | SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 Herbert Spencer, in his article on ‘‘ Illogical Geology” in the Universal Review for July 1859 (reprinted in his ‘‘ Essays,” 1868, vol. i., pp. 324-376), uses these words: ‘‘ Only the last chapter of the earth’s history has come down to us. The many previous chapters, stretching back to a time immeasurably remote, have been burnt, and with them all the records of life we may presume they contained.” Indeed, so brief and un- important does Herbert Spencer consider this last chapter to have been that he is puzzled to account for ‘‘such evidences of pro- gression as exist”; and finally concludes that they are of no significance in relation to the doctrine of evolution,-but probably represent the succession of forms by which a newly upheaved land would be peopled. He argues that the earliest immigrants would be the lower forms of animal and vegetable life, and that these would be followed by an irregular succession of higher and higher forms, which ‘‘ would thus simulate the succession pre- sented by our own sedimentary series.” We see, then, what these three great writers on evolution thought on this subject : they were all convinced that the time during which the geologists concluded that the fossiliferous rocks had been formed was utterly insufficient to account for organic evolution. 5 Our object to-day is first to consider the objections raised by physicists against the time demanded by the geologist, and still more against its multiplication by the student of organic evolu- tion ; secondly, to inquire whether the present state of palzeonto- logical and zoological knowledge increases or diminishes the weight of the threefold opinion quoted above—an opinion formed on far more slender evidence than that which is now available. And if we find this opinion sustained, it must be considered to have a very important bearing upon the controversy. The arguments of the physicists are three :— First, the argument from the observed secular change in the length of the day the most important element of which is due to tidal retardation. It has been known for a very long time that the tides are slowly increasing the length of our day. Huxley explains the reason with his usual lucidity: ‘‘ That this must be so is obvious, if one considers, roughly, that the tides result from the pull which the sun and the moon exert upon the sea, causing it to act as a sort of break upon the solid earth.”’ (Anniv. Address to Geol. Soc., 1869.) A liquid earth takes a shape which follows from its rate of revolution, and from which, therefore, its rate of revolution can be calculated. The liquid earth consolidated in the form it last assumed, and this shape has persisted until now, and informs us of the rate of revolution at the time of consolidation. Comparing this with the present rate, and knowing the amount of lengthening in a given time due to tidal friction, we can calculate the date of consolidation as certainly less than 1000 million years ago. This argument is fallacious, as many mathematicians haveshown. The present shape tells us nothing of the length of the day at the date of consolidation ; for the earth, even when solid, will alter its form when exposed for a long time to the action of great forces. As Prof. Perry said in a letter to Prof. Tait (NATURE, January 3, 1895): ‘‘I know that solid rock is not like cobbler’s wax, but 1000 million years is a very long time, and the forces are great.” Furthermore, we know that the earth is always altering its shape, and that whole coast-lines are slowly rising or falling, and that this has been true, at any rate, during the formation of the stratified rocks. This argument is dead and gone. We are, indeed, tempted to wonder that the physicist, who was looking about for argu- ments by which to revise what he conceived to be the hasty conclusions of the geologist as to the age of the earth, should have exposed himself to such an obvious retort in basing his own conclusions as to its age on the assumption that the earth, which we know to be always changing in shape, has been unable to alter its equatorial radius by a few miles under the action of tremendous forces constantly tending to alter it, and having 1000 million years in which to do the work. With this flaw in the case it is hardly necessary to insist on our great uncertainty as to the rate at which the tides are lengthening the day. The spectacle presented by the geologist and biologist, deeply shocked at Lord Kelvin’s extreme uniformitarianism in the domain of astronomy and cosmic physics, is altogether too com- forting to be passed by without remark ; but in thus indulging NO. 1404, VOL. 54] in a friendly ¢ze guogue, Iam quite sure that I am speaking for every member of this Section in saying that we are in no way behind the members of Section A in our pride and admiration at the noble work which he has done for science, and we are glad to take this opportunity of congratulating him on the half-cen- tury of work and teaching—both equally fruitful—which has reached its completion in the present year. The second argument is based upon the cooling of the earth, and this is the one brought forward and explained by Lord Salisbury in his Presidential Address. It has been the argument on which perhaps the chief reliance has been placed, and of which the data—so it was believed—were the least open to doubt. On the Sunday during the meeting of the British Association at Leeds (1890), I went for a walk with Prof. Perry, and asked him to explain the physical reasons for limiting the age of the earth to a period which the students of other sciences considered to be very inadequate. He gave me an account of the data on which Lord Kelvin relied in constructing this second argument, and expressed the strong opinion that they were perfectly sound, while, as for the mathematics, it might be taken for granted, he said, that they were entirely correct. He did not attach much weight to the other arguments, which he regarded as merely offer- ing support to the second. This little piece of personal history is of interest, inasmuch as Prof. Perry has now provided us with a satisfactory answer to the line of reasoning which so fully satisfied him in 1890. And he was led to a critical examination of the subject by the attitude taken up by Lord Salisbury in 1894. Prof. Perry was not present at the meeting, but when he read the President’s address, and saw how other conclusions were ruled out of court, how the only theory of evolution which commands anything approaching universal assent was set on one side because of certain assump- tions as to the way in which the earth was believed to have cooled, he was seized with a desire to sift these assumptions, and to inquire whether they would bear the weight of such far-reaching conclusions. Before giving the results of his examination, it is necessary to give a brief account of the argument on which so much has been built. Lord Kelvin assumed that the earth is a homogeneous mass of rock similar to that with which we are familiar on the surface. Assuming, further, that the temperature increases, on the average 1’ F.for every 50 feet of depth near the surface everywhere, he con- cluded that the earth would have occupied not less than twenty, nor more than four hundred, million years in reaching its present condition from the time when it first began to consolidate and possessed a uniform temperature of 7000° F. If, in the statement of the argument, we substitute for the assumption of a homogeneous earth an earth which conducts heat better internally than it does towards the surface, Prof. Perry, whose calculations have been verified by Mr. O. Heaviside, finds that the time of cooling has to be lengthened to an extent which depends upon the value assigned to the internal conduct- ing power. If, for instance, we assume that the deeper part of the earth conducts ten times as well as the outer part, Lord: Kelvin’s age would require to be multiplied by fifty-six. Even if the conductivity be the same throughout, the increase of den- sity in the deeper part, by augmenting the capacity for heat of unit volume, implies a longer age than that conceded by Lord Kelvin. If the interior of the earth be fluid or contain fluid in a honeycomb structure, the rate at which heat can travel would be immensely increased by convection currents, and the age would have to be correspondingly lengthened. If, furthermore, such conditions, although not obtaining now, did obtain in past times, they will have operated in the same direction. Prof. Tait, in his letter to Prof. Perry (published in NATURE of January 3, 1895), takes the entirely indefensible position that the latter is bound to prove the higher internal conductivity. The obligation is all on the other side, and rests with those who have pressed their conclusions hard and carried them far. These conclusions have been, as Darwin found them, one of our ‘‘sorest troubles” ; but when it is admitted that there is just as much to be said for another set of assumptions leading to entirely different conclusions, our troubles are at an end, and we cease to be terrified by an array of symbols, however un- intelligible tous. It would seem that Prof. Tait, without, as far as I can learn, publishing any independent calculations of the age of the earth, has lent the weight of his authority to a period of ten million years, or half of Lord Kelvin’s minimum. But SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] Re Kal: 593 SSS ee eEEnnnnY Gamnneemenmeee seer in making this suggestion he apparently feels neither interest nor responsibility in establishing the data of the calculations which he borrowed to obtain therefrom a very different result from that obtained by their author. ’ Prof. Perry’s object was not to substitute a more correct age for that obtained by Lord Kelvin, but rather to show that the data from which the true age could be calculated are not really available. We obtain different results by making different assumptions, and there is no sufficient evidence for accepting one assumption rather than another. Nevertheless, there is some evidence which indicates that the interior of the earth in all probability conducts better than the surface. Its far higher density is consistent with the belief that it is rich in metals, free or combined. Prof, Schuster concludes that the internal electric conductivity must be considerably greater than the external. Geologists have argued from the amount of folding to which the crust has been subjected that cooling must have taken place to a greater depth than 120 miles, as assumed in Lord Kelvin’s argument. Prof. Perry’s assumption would involve cooling to a much greater depth. Prof. Perry’s conclusion that the age of the habitable earth is lengthened by increased conductivity is the very reverse of that to which we should be led by a superficial examination of the case. Prof. Tait, indeed, in the letter to which I have already alluded, has said: ‘‘ Why, then, drag in mathematics at all, since it is absolutely obvious that the better conductor the interior in comparison with the skin, the longer ago must it have been when the whole was at 7000° F., the state of the skin being as at present?” Prof. Perry, in reply, pointed out that one mathe- matician who had refuted the tidal retardation argument (Rev. M. H. Close, in R. Dublin Soc., February 1878), had assumed that the conditions described by Prof. Tait would have involved a shorter period of time. And it is probable that Lord Kelvin thought the same ; for he had assumed conditions which would give the result—so he believed at the time—most acceptable to the geologist and biologist. Prof. Perry’s conclusion is very far from obvious, and without the mathematical reasoning would not be arrived at by the vast majority of thinking men. The “natural man” without mathematics would say, so far from this being ‘‘ absolutely obvious,” it is quite clear that increased conductivity, favouring escape of heat, wouid lead to more rapid cooling, and would make Lord Kelvin’s age even shorter. The argument can, however, be put clearly without mathe- matics, and, with Prof. Perry’s help, I am able to state it in a few words. Lord Kelvin’s assumption of an earth resembling the surface rock in its relations to heat leads to the present condition of things, namely, a surface gradient of 1° F. for every 50 feet, in 100,000,000 years, more or less. Deeper than 150 miles he imagines that there has been almost no cooling. If, however, we take one of the cases put by Prof. Perry, and assume that below a depth of four miles there is ten times the conductivity, we find that after a period of 10,000,000,000 years the gradient at the surface is still 1° F. for every 50 feet ; but that we have to descend to a depth of 1500 miles before we find the initial temperature of 7000° F. undiminished by cooling. In fact the earth, as a whole, has cooled far more quickly than under Lord Kelvin’s conditions, the greater conductivity enabling a far larger amount of the internal heat to escape ; but in escaping it has kept up the temperature gradient at the surface. Lord Kelvin, replying to Prof. Perry’s criticisms, quite admits that the age at which he had arrived by the use of this argu- ment may be insufficient. Thus, he says, in his letter (NATURE, January 3, 1895): ‘‘I thought my range from 20 millions to 400 millions was probably wide enough, but it is quite possible that I should have put the superior limit a good deal higher, perhaps 4000 instead of 400.” The third argument was suggested by Helmholtz, and depends on the life of the sun. If the energy of the sun is due only to the mutual gravitation of its parts, and if the sun is now of uniform density, ‘‘the amount of heat generated by his con- traction to his present volume would have been sufficient to last 1§ million years at his present rate of radiation.” (Newcomb’s “Popular Astronomy,” p. 523). Lord Kelvin rejects the assumption of uniform density, and is, in consequence of this change, able to offer a much higher upward limit of 500 million years This argument also implies the strictest uniformitarianism as regards the sun. We know that other suns may suddenly gain NO. 1404, VOL. 54] a great accession of energy, so that their radiation is immensely increased. We only detect such changes when they are large and sudden, but they prepare us to believe that smaller acces- sions may be much more frequent, and perhaps a normal occurrence in the evolution of a sun. Such accessions may have followed from the convergence of a stream of meteors. Again, it is possible that the radiation of the sun may have been diminished and his energy conserved by a solar atmo- sphere. Newcomb has objected to these two possible modes by which the life of the sun may have been greatly lengthened, that a lessening of the sun’s heat by under a quarter would cause all the water on the earth to freeze, while an increase of much over half would probably boil it all away. But such changes in the amount of radiation received would follow from a greater distance from the sun of 15% per cent., and a greater proximity to him of 184 per cent., respectively. Venus is inside the latter limit, and Mars outside the former, and yet it would be a very large assumption to conclude that all the water in the former is steam, and all in the latter ice. Indeed, the existence of water and the melting of snow on Mars are considered to be thoroughly well authenticated. It is further possible that in a time of lessened solar radiation the earth may have possessed an atmosphere which would retain a larger proportion of the sun’s heat ; and the internal heat of the earth itself, great lakes of lava under a canopy of cloud for example, may have played an important part in supplying warmth. Again we have a greater age if there was more energy avail- able than in Helmholtz’s hypothesis. Lord Kelvin maintains that this is improbable because of the slow rotation of the sun, but Perry has given reasons for an opposite conclusion. The collapse of the first argument of tidal retardation, and ot the second of the cooling of the earth, warn us to beware of a conclusion founded on the assumption that the sun’s energy depends, and has ever depended, ona single source of which we know the beginning and the end. It may be safely main- tained that such a conclusion has not that degree of certainty which justifies the followers of one science in assuming that the conclusion of other sciences must be wrong, and in disregarding the evidence brought forward by workers in other lines of research. We must freely admit that this third argument has not yet fully shared the fate of the two other lines of reasoning. Indeed, Prof. George Darwin, although attacking these latter, agrees with Lord Kelvin in regarding 500 million years as the maximum life of the sun. (Srztish Association Reports, 1886, pp. 514- 518.) We may observe, too, that 500 million years is by no means to be despised: a great deal may happen in such a period of time. Although I should be very sorry to say that it is suffi- cient, it 1s a very different offer from Prof. Tait’s 10 million. In drawing up this account of the physical arguments, I owe almost everything to Prof. Perry for his articles in NATURE (January 3 and April 18, 1895), and his kindness in explaining any difficulties that arose. I have thought it right to enter into these arguments in some detail, and to consume a considerable proportion of our time in their discussion. This was impera- tively necessary, because they claimed to stand as _ barriers across our path, and, so long as they were admitted to be impassable, any further progress was out of the question. What I hope has been an unbiassed examination has shown that, as barriers, they are more imposing than effective; and we are free to proceed, and to look for the conclusions warranted by our own evidence. In this matter we are at one with the geologists ; for, as has already been pointed out, we rely on them for an estimate of the time occupied by the deposition of the stratified rocks, while they rely on us for a conclusion as to how far this period is sufficient for the whole of organic evolution. First, then, we must briefly consider the geological argument, and I cannot do better than take the case as put by Sir Archi- bald Geikie in his Presidential Address to this Association at Edinburgh in 1892. : Arguing from the amount of material removed from the land by denuding agencies, and carried down to the sea by rivers, he showed that the time required to reduce the height of the land by one foot, varies, according to the activity of the agencies at work, from 730 years to 6800 years. But this also supplies a 504 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 measure of the rate of deposition of rock ; for the same material is laid down elsewhere, and would of course add the same height of one foot to some other area equal in size to that from which it was removed. The next datum to be obtained is the total thickness of the stratified rocks from the Cambrian system to the present day. “On a reasonable computation these stratified masses, where most fully developed, attain a united thickness of not less than 100,000 feet. If they were all laid down at the most rapid recorded rate of denudation, they would require a period of seventy-three millions of years for their completion. If they were laid down at the slowest rate, they would demand a period of not less than 680 millions.” The argument that geological agencies acted much more vigorously in past times he entirely refuted by pointing to the character of the deposits of which the stratified series is com- posed. ‘‘ We can see no proof whatever, nor even any evidence which suggests that on the whole the rate cf waste and sedi- mentation was more rapid during Mesozoic and Paleozoic time than it is to-day. Had there been any marked difference in this rate from ancient to modern times, it would be incredible that no clear proof of it should have been recorded in the crust of the earth.” It may therefore he inferred that the rate of depesition was no nearer the more rapid than the slower of the rates recorded above, and, if so, the stratified rocks would have been laid down in about 400 million years. There are other arguments favouring the uniformity of con- ditions throughout the time during which the stratified rocks were laid down, in addition to those which are purely geological and depend upon the character of the rocks themselves. Although more biological than geological, these arguments are best considered here. The geological agency to which attention is chiefly directed by those who desire to hurry up the phenomena of rock forma- tion is that of the tides. But it seems certain that the tides were not sufficiently higher in Silurian times to prevent the deposition of certain beds of great thickness under conditions as tranquil as any of which we have evidence in the case of a formation extending over a large area. From the character of the organic remains it is known that these beds were laid down in the sea, and there are the strongest grounds for believing that they were accumulated along shores and in fairly shallow water. The remains of extremely delicate organisms are found in immense numbers, and over a very large area. The recent discovery, in the Silurian system of America, of trilobites, with their long delicate antennz perfectly preserved, proves that in one locality (Rome, New York State) the tranquillity of deposition was quite as profound as in any locality yet discovered on this side of the Atlantic. There are, then, among the older Palaozoic rocks a set of deposits than which we can imagine none better calculated to test the force of the tides; and we find that they supply evidence for exceptional tranquillity of conditions over a long period of time. There is other evidence of the permanence, throughout the time during which the stratified rocks were deposited, of con- ditions not very dissimilar from those which obtain to-day. Thusthe attachments of marine organisms, which are permanently rooted to the bottom or on the shores, did not differ in strength from those which we now find- an indication that the strains due to the movements of the sea did not greatly differ in the past. We have evidence of a somewhat similar kind to prove uniformity in the movements of the air. The expanse of the wings of flying organisms certainly does not differ in a direction which indicates any greater violence in the atmospheric con- ditions. Before the birds had become dominant among the larger flying organisms, their place was taken by the flying reptiles, the pterodactyls, and before the appearance of these we know that, in Palzeozoic times, the insects were of immense size, a dragon-fly from the Carboniferous rocks of France being upwards of two feet in the expanse of its wings. As one group after another of widely dissimilar organisms gained control of the air, each was in turn enabled to increase to the size which was best suited to such an environment, but we find that the limits which obtain to-day were not widely different in the past. And this is evidence for the uniformity in the strains due to wind and storm no less than to those due to gravity. Furthermore, the condition of the earth’s surface at present shows us how ex- tremely sensitive the flying organism is to an increase in the NO. 1404, VOL. 54] former of these strains, when it occurs in proximity to the sea. Thus it is well known that an unusually large proportion of _ the Madeiran beetles are wingless, while those which require the power of flight possess it in a stronger degree than on continental areas. This evolution in two directions is readily . explained by the destruction by drowning of the winged individuals of the species which can manage to live without the power of flight, and of the less strongly winged individuals of those which need it. Species of the latter kind cannot live at all in the far more stormy Kerguelen Land, and the whole of the insect fauna is wingless. The size and strength of the trunks of fossil trees afford, as Prof. George Darwin has pointed out, evidence of uniformity in the strains due to the condition of the atmosphere. We can trace the prints of raindrops at various geological horizons, and in some cases found in this country it is even said that the eastern side of the depressions is the more deeply pitted, proving that the rain drove from the west, as the great majority of our storms do to-day. When, therefore, we are accused of uniformitarianism, as if it were an entirely unproved assumption, we can at any rate point to a large body of positive evidence which supports our con- tention, and the absence of any evidence against it. Further- more, the data on which we rely are likely to increase largely, as the result of future work. After this interpolation, chiefly of biological argument in support of the geologist, I cannot do better than bring the geological evidence to a close in the words which conclude Sir Archibald Geikie’s address: ‘* After careful reflection on the subject, I affirm that the geological record furnishes a mass of evidence which no arguments drawn from other departments of nature can explain away, and which, it seems to me, cannot be satisfactorily interpreted save with an allowance of time much beyond the narrow limits which recent physical speculation would concede.” In his letter to Prof. Perry (NATURE, January 3, 1895), Lord Kelvin says :— ““So far as underground heat alone is concerned, you are quite right that my estimate was 100 million, and please remark (P. L. and A., vol. ii. p. 87) that that is all Geikie wants ; but I should be exceedingly frightened to meet him now with only 20 million in my mouth.” We have seen, however, that Geikie considered the rate of sedimentation to be, on the whole, uniform with that which now obtains, and this would demand a period of nearly 400 million years. He points out furthermore that the time must be greatly increased on account of the breaks and interruptions which occur in the series, so that we shall probably get as near an estimate as is+possible from the data which are available by taking 450 million as the time during which the stratified rocks were formed. Before leaving this part of the subject, I cannot refrain from suggesting a line of enquiry which may very possibly furnish important data for checking the estimates at present formed by geologists, and which, if the mechanical difficulties can be over- come, is certain to lead to results of the greatest interest and importance. Ever since the epoch-making voyage of the Challenger, it has been known that the floor of the deep oceans outside the yellow shelf which fringes the continental areas is covered by a peculiar deposit formed entirely of meteoric and volcanic dust, the waste of floating pumice, and the hard parts of animals living in the ocean. Of these latter only the most resistant can escape the powerful solvent agencies. Many observations prove that the accumulation of this deposit is extremely slow. One indication of this is especially convincing : the teeth of sharks and the most resistant part of the skeleton— the ear-bones—of whales are so thickly spread over the surface that they are continually brought up in the dredge, while some- times a single haul will yield a large number of them, Imagine the countless generations of sharks and whales which must have succeeded each other in order that these insignificant portions of them should be so thickly spread over that vast area which forms the ocean floor. We have no reason to suppose that sharks and whales die more frequently in the deep ocean than in the shallow fringing seas ; in fact, many observations point in the opposite direction, for wounded and dying whales often enter shallow creeks and inlets, and not uncommonly become stranded. And yet these remains of sharks and whales, although well known in the stratified rocks which were laid down in SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 595 comparatively shallow water and near coasts, are only found in certain beds, and then in far less abundance than in the oceanic deposit. We can only explain this difference by supposing that the latter accumulate with such almost infinite slowness as compared with the continental deposits that these remains form an important and conspicuous constituent of the one, while they are merely found here and there when looked for embedded in the other. The rate of accumulation of all other constituents is so slow as to leave a layer of teeth and ear-bones uncovered, or covered by so thin a deposit that the dredge can collect them freely. Dr. John Murray calculates that only a few inches of this deposit have accumulated since the Tertiary Period. These most interesting facts prove furthermore that the great ocean basins and continental areas have occupied the same relative positions since the formation of the first stratified rocks ; for no oceanic deposits are found anywhere in the latter. We know the sources of the oceanic deposit, and it might be possible to form an estimate, within wide limits, of its rate of accumu- lation. If it were possible to ascertain its thickness by means of a boring, some conclusions as to the time which has elapsed during the lifetime of certain species—perhaps even the lifetime of the oceans themselves—might be arrived at. Lower down the remains of earlier species would probably be found. The depth of this deposit and its character at deeper levels are. questions of overwhelming interest ; and perhaps even:more so is the question as to what lies beneath. Long before the Challenger had proved the persistence of oceanic and continental areas, Darwin, with extraordinary foresight, and opposed by all other naturalists and geologists, including his revered teacher, Lyell, had come to the same conclusion. His reasoning on the subject is so convincing that it is remarkable that he made so few converts, and this is all the more surprising since the argu- ments were published in the ‘‘ Origin of Species,” which in other respects produced so profound an effect. In speculating as to the rocks in which the remains of the ancestors of the earliest known fossils may still exist, he suggested that, although the existing relationship between the positions of our present oceans and continental areas is of immense antiquity, there is no reason for the belief that it has persisted for an indefinite period, but that at some time long antecedent to the earliest known fossil- iferous rocks ‘‘continents may have existed where oceans are now spread out; and clear and open oceans may have existed where our continents now stand.” Not the least interesting result would be the test of this hypothesis, which would probably be forthcoming as the result of boring into the floor of a deep ocean ; for although, as Darwin pointed out, it is likely enough that such rocks would be highly metamorphosed, yet it might still be possible to ascertain whether they had at any time formed part of a continental deposit, and perhaps to discover much more than this. Such an undertaking might be carried out in conjunction with other investigations of the highest interest, such as the attempt to obtain a record of the swing of a pendulum at the bottom of the ocean. We now come to the strictly biological part of our subject— to the inquiry as to how much of the whole scheme of organic evolution has been worked out in the time during which the fossiliferous rocks were formed, and how far, therefore, the time required by the geologist is sufficient. It is first necessary to consider Lord Kelvin’s attempt to rescue us from the dilemma in which we were placed by the in- sufficiency of time for evolution—the suggestion that life may have reached the earth on a meteorite. According to this view, the evolution which took place elsewhere may have been merely completed, in a comparatively brief space of time, on our earth. We know nothing of the origin of life here or elsewhere, and our only attitude towards this or any other hypothesis on the subject is that of the anxious inquirer for some particle of evi- dence. But a few brief considerations will show that no escape from the demands for time can be gained in this way. Our argument does not deal with the time required for the origin of life, or for the development of the lowest beings with which we are acquainted from the first formed beings, of which we know nothing. Both these processes may have required an immensity of time; but as we know nothing whatever about them, and have as yet no prospect of acquiring any information, we are compelled to confine ourselves to as much of the process of evolution as we can infer from the structure of living and fossil forms—that is, as regards animals, to the development of NO. 1404, VOL. 54] the simplest into the most complex Protozoa, the evolution of the Metazoa from the Protozoa, and the branching of the former into its numerous Phyla, with all their Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, and Species. But we shall find that this is quite enough to necessitate a very large increase in the time estimated by the geologist. The Protozoa, simple and complex, still exist upon the earth in countless species, together with the Metazoan Phyla. De- scendants of forms which in their day constituted the beginning of that scheme of evolution which I have defined above, de- scendants, furthermore, of a large proportion of those forms which, age after age, constituted the shifting phases of its on- ward progress, still exist, and in a sufficiently unmodified con- dition to enable us to reconstruct, at any rate in mere outline, the history of the past. Innumerable details and many phases of supreme importance are still hidden from us, some of them perhaps neyer to be recovered. But this frank admission, and the eager and premature attempts to expound too much, to go further than the evidence permits, must not be allowed to throw an undeserved suspicion upon conclusions which are sound and well supported, upon the firm conviction of every zoologist that the general trend of evolution has been, as I have stated it, that each of the Metazoan Phyla originated, directly or indirectly, in the Protozoa. The meteorite theory would, however, require that the process of evolution went backward on a scale as vast as that on which it went forward, that certain descendants of some central type, coming to the earth on a meteorite, gradually lost their Metazoan complexity and developed backward into the Protozoa, throwing off the lower Metazoan Phyla on the way, while certain other descendants evolved all the higher Metazoan groups. Such a process would shorten the period of evolution by half, but it need hardly be said that all available evidence is entirely against it. The only other assumption by means of which the meteorite hypothesis would serve to shorten the time is even more wild and improbable. Thus it might be supposed that the evolution which we believe to have taken place on this earth, really took place elsewhere—at any rate as regards all its main lines—and that samples of all the various phases, including the earliest and simplest, reached us bya regular meteoric service, which was established at some time after the completion of the scheme of organic evolution. Hence the evidences which we study would point to an evolution which occurred in some unknown world with an age which even Prof. Tait has no desire to limit. If these wild assumptions be rejected, there remains the sup- position that, if life was brought by a meteorite, it was life no higher than that of the simplest Protozoon—a supposition which leaves our argument intact. The alternative supposition, that one or more of the Metazoan Phyla were introduced in this way while the others were evolved from the terrestrial Protozoa, is hardly worth consideration. In the first place, some evidence of a part inacommon scheme of evolution is to be found in every Phylum. In the second place, the gain would be small ; the arbitrary assumption would only affect the evidence of the time required for evolution derived from the particular Phylum or Phyla of supposed meteoric origin. The meteoric hypothesis, then, can only affect our argument by making the most improbable assumptions, for which, more- over, not a particle of evidence can be brought forward. We are therefore free to follow the biological evidence fear- lessly. It is necessary, in the first place, to expand somewhat the brief outline of the past history of the animal kingdom, which has already been given. Since the appearance of the ‘* Origin of Species,” the zoologist, in making his classifications, has attempted as far as possible to set forth a genealogical arrangement. Our purpose will be served by an account of the main outlines of a recent classification, which has been framed with a due consideration for all sides of zoological research, new and old, and which has met with general approval. Prof. Lankester divides the animal kingdom into two grades, the higher of which, the Enterozoa (Metazoa), were derived from the lower, the Plastidozoa (Protozoa). Each of these grades js again divided into two sub-grades, and each of these 1s again divided into Phyla, corresponding more or less to the older Sub-Kingdoms. Beginning from below, the most primitive animals in existence are found in the seven Phyla of the lower Protozoan sub-grade, the Gymnomyxa. Of these unfortunately only two, the Reticularia (Foraminifera) and Radiolaria, possess a structure which renders possible their preservation in the NATURE - | [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 the starting-point éf that scheme of organic evolution which we are considering tg-day. The higher order of Protozoan life, the sub-grade Cortigata, contains three Phyla, no one of which is available in the fossil state. They are, however, of great interest and importange to us as showing that the Protozoan type assumes a far higher organisation on its way to evolve the more advanced grade of animal life. The first-formed of these latter are con- tained in the two Phyla of the sub-grade Ccelentera, the Porifera or Sponges, and the Nematophora or Corals, Sea-Anemones, Hydrozoa and allied groups. Both of these Phyla are plentifully represented in the fossil state. It is considered certain that the latter of these, the Nematophora, gave rise to the higher sub- grade, the Coelomata, or animals with a ccelom or body-cavity surrounding the digestive tract. This latter includes all the remaining species of animals in nine Phyla, five of which are found fossii—the Echinoderma, Gephyrea, Mollusca, Appen- diculata, and Vertebrata. Before proceeding further, I wish to lay emphasis on the immense evolutionary history which must have been passed through before the ancestor of one of the higher of these nine Phyla came into being. Let us consider one or two examples, since the establishment of this position is of the utmost import- ance for our argument. First, consider the past history of the Vertebrata—of the common ancestor of our Balanoglossus, Tunicates, Amphioxus, Lampreys, Fishes, Dipnoi, Amphibia, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals. Although zoologists differ very widely in their opinions as to the affinities of this ancestral form, they all agree in maintaining that it did not arise direct from the Nematophora in the lower sub-grade of Metazoa, but that it was the product of a long history within the Ccoelomate sub- grade. The question as to which of the other Ccelomate Phyla it was associated with will form the subject of one of our dis- cussions at this meeting ; and I will therefore say no more upon this period of its evolution, except to point out that the very question itself, ‘‘the ancestry of Vertebrates,” only means a relatively small part of the evolutionary history of the Vertebrate ancestor within the Ccelomate group. For when we have decided the question of the other Coelomate Phylum or Phyla to which the ancestral Vertebrate belonged, there remains of course the history of that Phylum or those Phyla earlier than the point at which the Vertebrate diverged, right back to the origin of the Ccelomata ; while, beyond and below, the wide gulf between this and the Ccelentera had to be crossed, and then, probably after a long history as a Ccelenterate, the widest and most significant of all the morphological intervals—that between the lowest Metazoon and the highest Protozoon—was traversed. But this was by no means all. There remains the history within the higher Protozoan sub-grade, in the interval from this to the lower, and within the lower sub-grade itself, until we finally retrace our steps to the lowest and simplest forms. It is im- possible to suppose that all this history of change can have been otherwise than immensely prolonged ; for it will be shown below that all the available evidence warrants the belief that the changes during these earlier phases were at least as slow as those which occurred later. i If we take the history of another of the higher Phyla, the Appendiculata, we find that the evidence points in the same direction. The common ancestor of our Rotifera, earthworms, leeches, Peripatus, centipedes, insects, Crustacea, spiders and scorpions, and forms allied to all these, is generally admitted to have been Cheetopod-like, and probably arose in relation to the beginnings of certain other Ccelomata Phyla, such as the Gephyrea and perhaps Mollusca. At the origin of the Ccelo- mate sub-grade, the common ancestor of all Ccelomate Phyla is reached, and its evolution has been already traced in the case of the Vertebrata. What is likely to be the relation between the time required for the evolution of the ancestor of a Coelomate Phylum and that required for the evolution, which subsequently occurred, within the Phylum itself? The answer to this question depends mainly upon the rate of evolution in the lower parts of the animal kingdom as compared with that in the higher. Contrary, perhaps, to anticipation, we find that all the evidences of rapid evolution are confined to the most advanced of the smaller groups within the highest Phyla, and especially to the higher classes of the Vertebrata. Such evidence as we have strongly indicates the most remarkable persistence of the lower animal types. Thus in the class Imperforata of the Reticularia (Foraminifera) one of our existing genera (Saccamzna) occurs in NO. 1404, VOL. 54 | rocks. The cing and simplest of these Gymnomyxa represent the Carboniferous strata, another (Zyochamnzna) in the Permian, while a single new genus (eceptacu/ites) occurs in the Silurian and Devonian. The evidence from the class Perforata is much stronger, the existing genera Modosaria, Dentalina, Textularia, Grammostomum, Valoulina, and Nummulina all occurring in the Carboniferous, together with the new genera Archedéscus (?) and Fusulina. } I omit reference to the much-disputed Eozoon from the Laurentian rocks far below the horizon, which for the purpose of this address I am considering as the lowest fossiliferous stratum. We are looking forward to the new light which will be thrown upon this form in the communication of its veteran defender, Sir William Dawson, whom we are all glad to welcome. Passing the Radiolaria, with delicate skeletons less suited for fossilisation, and largely pelagic and therefore less likely to reach the strata laid down along the fringes of the continental areas, the next Phylum which is found in a fossil state is that of the Porifera, including the sponges, and divided into two classes, the Calcispongize and Silicospongiz. Although the fossilisation of sponges is in many cases very incomplete, distinctly recog- nisable traces can be made out in a large number of strata, From these we know that representatives of all the groups of both classes (except the Halisarcidee, which have no hard parts) occurred in the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous systems. The whole Phylum is an example of long persistence with extremely little change. And the same is true of the Nema- tophora: new groups indeed come in, sometimes extremely rich in species, such as the Paleozoic Rugose corals and Graptolites ; but they existed side by side with representatives of existing groups, and they are not in themselves primitive or ancestral. A study of the immensely numerous fossil corals reveals no advance in organisation, while researches into the structure of existing Alcyonaria and Hydrocorallina have led to the inter- | pretation of certain Paleozoic forms which were previously obscure, and the conclusion that they find their place close beside the living species. All available evidence points to the extreme slowness of pro- gressive evolutionary changes in the Ceelenterate Phyla, although the Protozoa, if we may judge by the Reticularia (Foraminifera), are even more conservative. When we consider later on the five Coelomate Phyla which occur fossil, we shall find that the progressive changes were slower and indeed hardly appreciable in the two lower and less complex Phyla, viz. the Echinoderma and Gephyrea, as compared with the Mollusca, Appendiculata, and Vertebrata. Within these latter Phyla we have evidence for the evolution of higher groups presenting a more or less marked advance in organisation. And not only is the rate of development more rapid in the highest Phyla of the animal kingdom, but it appears to be most rapid when dealing with the highest animal tissue, the central nervous system. The chief, and doubtless the most significant, difference between the early Tertiary mammals and those which succeeded them, between the Secondary and Tertiary reptiles, between man and the mammals most nearly allied to him, is a difference in the size of the brain. In all these cases an enormous increase in this, the dominant tissue of the body, has taken place in a time which, geologically speaking, is very brief. When speaking later on upon the evolution which has taken place within the Phyla, further details upon this subject will be given, although in this as in other cases, the time at our dis- posal demands that the exposition of evidence must largely yield to an exposition of the conclusions which follow from its study. And undoubtedly a study of all the available evidence points very strongly to the conclusion that in the lower grade, sub- grades, and Phyla of the animal kingdom, evolution has been extremely slow as compared with that in the higher. We do not know the reason. It may be that this remarkable per- sistence through the stratified series of deposits is due to an innate fixity of constitution which has rigidly limited the power of variation ; or, more probably perhaps, that the lower members of the animal kingdom were, as they are now, more closely confined to particular environments, with particular sets of con- ditions, with which they had to cope, and, this being successfully accomplished, natural selection has done little more than keep up a standard of organisation which was sufficient for their needs; while the higher and more aggressive forms ranging over many environments, and always prone to encounter new sets of con- ditions, were compelled to undergo responsive changes or to succumb. But whatever be the cause, the fact remains, and is of the highest importance for our argument. When the ancestor SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] in NATURE 507 of one of-the higher Phyla was associated with the lower Phyla of the Ccelomate sub-grade, when further back it passed through a Ceelenterate, a higher Protozoan, and finally a lower Protozoan phase, we must believe that its evolution was probably very slow as compared with the rate which it subsequently attained. But this conclusion is of the utmost importance ; for the history con- tained in the stratified rocks nowhere reveals to us the origin of a Phylum. And this is not mere negative evidence, but positive evidence of the most unmistakable character. All the five Ceelomate Phyla which occur fossil appear low down in the Palaeozoic rocks, in the Silurian or Cambrian strata, and they are represented by forms which are very far from being primitive, or, if primitive, are persistent types, such as Chiton, which are now living. Thus Vertebrata are represented by fishes, both sharks and ganoids ; the Appendiculata by cockroaches, scorpions, Limulids, Trilobites, and many Crustacea; the Mollusca by Nautilus and numerous allied genera, by Dentalium, Chiton, Pteropods, and many Gastropods and Lamellibranchs; the Gephyrea by very numerous Brachiopods, and many Polyzoa ; the Echinoderma by Crinoids, Cystoids, Blastoids, Asteroids, Ophiu- roids, and Echinoids. It is just conceivable, although, as I believe, most improbable, that the Vertebrate Phylum originated at the time when the earliest known fossiliferous rocks were laid down. It must be remembered, however, that an enormous morphological interval separates the fishes which appear in the Silurian strata from the lower branches, grades, and classes of the Phylum in which Balanoglossus, the Ascidians, Amphioxus, and the Lampreys are placed. The earliest Vertebrates to appear are, in fact, very advanced members of the Phylum, and, from the point of view of anatomy, much nearer to man than to Amphioxus. If, however, we grant the improbable contention that so highly organised an animal as a shark could be evolved from the ancestral vertebrate in the period which intervened between the earliest Cambrian strata and the Upper Silurian, it is quite impossible to urge the same with regard to the other Phyla. It has been shown above that when these appear in the Cambrian and Silurian, they are flourishing in full force, while their numerous specialised forms are a positive proof of a long antecedent history within the limits of the Phylum. If, however, we assume for a moment that the Phyla began in the Cambrian, the geologist’s estimate must still be increased considerably, and perhaps doubled, in order to account for the evolution of the higher Phyla from forms as low as many which are now known upon the earth ; unless, indeed, it is supposed, against the whole weight of all such evidence as is available, that the evolutionary history in these early times was comparatively rapid. To recapitulate, if we represent the history of animal evolution by the form of a tree, we find that the following growth took place in some age antecedent to the earliest fossil records, before the establishment of the higher Phyla of the Animal Kingdom. The main trunk, representing the lower Protozoa divided, originating the higher Protozoa ; the latter portion again divided, probably in a threefold manner, originating the two lowest Metazoan Phyla, constituting the Ccelentera. The branch repre- senting the higher of these Phyla, the Nematophora, divided, originating the lower Ccelomate Phyla, which again branched and originated the higher Phyla. And, as has been shown above, the relatively ancestral line, at every stage of this complex history, after originating some higher line, itself continued down to the present day, throughout the whole series of fossiliferous rocks, with but little change in its general characters, and prac- tically nothing in the way of progressive evolution. Evidences of marked advance are to be found alone in the most advanced groups of the latest highest products—the Phyla formed by the last of these divisions. It may be asked how is it possible for the zoologist to feel so confident as to the past history of the various animal groups? I have already explained that he does not feel this confidence as regards the details of the histoyr, but as to its general lines. The evidence which leads to this conviction is based upon the fact that animal structure and mode of development can be, and have been, handed down from generation to generation from a period far more remote than that which is represented by the earliest fossils ; that fundamental facts in structure and development may remain changeless amid endless changes of a more general character ; that especially favourable conditions have preserved ancestral forms comparatively unchanged. Working upon this material, comparative anatomy and embryology can reconstruct for us the general aspects of a history which took place long NO. 1404, VOL. 54] before the Cambrian rocks were deposited. This line of reason- ing may appear very speculative and unsound, and it may easily become so when pressed too far. But applied with due caution and reserve, it may be trusted to supply us with an immense amount of valuable information which cannot be obtained in any other way. Furthermore, it is capable of standing the very true and searching test supplied by the verification of predictions made on its authority. Many facts taken together lead the zoologist to believe that A was descended from C through B; but if this be true, B should possess certain characters which are not known to belong to it. Under the inspiration of hypothesis a more searching investigation is made, and the characters are found. Again, that relatively small amount of the whole scheme of animal evolution which is contained in the fossiliferous rocks has furnished abundant confirmation of the validity of the zoo- logist’s method. The comparative anatomy of the higher Verte- brate Classes leads the zoologist to believe that the toothless beak and the fused caudal vertebrae of a bird were not ancestral characters, but were at some time derived froma condition more comfortable to the general plan of vertebrate construction, and especially to that of reptiles. Numerous secondary fossils prove to us that the birds of that time possessed teeth and separate caudal vertebrz, culminating in the long lizard-like tail of Archzeopteryx. Prediction and confirmation of this kind, both zoological and palzontological, have been going on ever since the historic point of view was adopted by the naturalist as the outcome of Darwin’s teaching, and the zoologist may safely claim that his method, con- firmed by palzontology so far as evidence is available, may be extended beyond the period in which such evidence is to be found. And now our last endeavour must be to obtain some conception of the amount of evolution which has taken place within the higher Phyla of the Animal Kingdom during the period in which the fossiliferous rocks were deposited. The evidence must necessarily be considered very briefly, and we shall be compelled to omit the Vertebrata altogether. The Phylum Appendiculata is divided by Lankester into three branches, the first containing the Rotifera, the second the Cheetopoda, the third the Arthropoda. Of these the second is the oldest, and gave rise to the other two, or, at any rate, to the Arthropoda, with which we are alone concerned, inasmuch as the fossil records of the others are insufficient. The Arthropoda contain seven Classes, divided into two grades, according to the presence or absence of antennze—the Ceratophora, containing the Peripatoidea, the Myriapoda, and the Hexapoda (or insects) 5 the Acerata, containing the Crustacea, Arichnida, and two other classes (the Pantopoda and Tardigrada) which we need not con- sider. The first Class of the antenna-bearing group contains the single genus Peripatus—one of the most interesting and ancestral of animals, as proved by its structure and development, and by its immense geographical range. Ever since the researches of Moseley and Balfour, extended more recently by those of Sedgwick, it has been recognised as one of the most beautiful of the connecting links to be found amongst animals, uniting the antenna-bearing Arthropods, of which it is the oldest member, with the Cheetopods. Peripatus is a magnificent example of the far-reaching conclusions of zoology, and of its superiority to paleontology as a guide in unravelling the tangled history of animal evolution. Peripatus is alive to-day, and can be studied in all the details of its structure and development ; it is infinitely more ancestral, and tells of a far more remote past than any fossil Arthropod, although such fossils are well known in all the older of the Paleozoic rocks. And yet Peripatus is not known as a fossil. Peripatus has come down, with but little change, from a time, on a moderate estimate, at least twice as remote as the earliest known Cambrian fossil. The agencies which, it is believed, have crushed and heated the Archzean rocks so as to obliterate the traces of life which they contained were powerless to efface this ancient type, for, although the passing generations may have escaped record, the likeness of each was stamped on that which succeeded it, and has continued down to the present day. It is, of course, a perfectly trite and obvious conclusion, but not the less one to be wondered at, that the force of heredity should thus far outlast the ebb and flow of terrestrial change throughout the vast period over which the geologist is our guide. If, however, the older Palaeozoic rocks tell us nothing of the origin of the antennz-bearing Arthropods, what do they tell us of the history of the Myriapod and Hexapod Classes? The Myriapods are well represented in Paleozoic strata, two species being found in the Devonian and no less than thirty-two 508 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 in the Carboniferous. Although placed in an Order (Archipoly- poda) separate from those of living Myriapods, these species are by no means primitive, and do not supply any information as to the steps by which the Class arose. The imperfection of the record is well seen in the traces of this Class ; for between the Carboniferous rocks and the Oligocene there are no remains of undoubted Myriapods. We now come to the consideration of insects, of which an adequate discussion would occupy a great deal too much of your time. An immense number of species are found in the Palaeozoic rocks, and these are considered by Scudder, the great authority on fossil insects, to form an Order, the Palodictyoptera, dis- tinct from any of the existing Orders. The latter, he believes, were evolved from the former in Mesozoic times. These views do not appear to derive support from the wonderful discoveries of M. Brongniart! in the Upper Carboniferous of Commentry in the Department of Allier in Central France. Concerning this marvellous assemblage of species, arranged by their dis- coverer into 46 genera and 101 species, Scudder truly says : “Our knowledge of Paleozoic insects will have been in- creased three or fourfold at a single stroke. No former contribution in this field can in any way compare with it, nor even all former contributions taken together.” (S. H. Scudder, Am. Journ. Scz., vol. xlvii., February 1894, Art. viii.) When we remember that the group of fossil insects, of which so much can be affirmed by so great an authority as Scudder, lived at one time and in a single locality, we cannot escape the conclusion that the insect fauna of the habitable earth during the whole Paleozoic period was of immense importance and variety. Our knowledge of this single group of species is largely due to the accident that coal-mining in Commentry is carried on in the open air. Now, these abundant remains of insects, so far from upholding the view that the existing orders had not been developed in Palzeo- zoic times, are all arranged by Brongniart in four out of the nine orders into which insects are usually divided, viz. the Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Thysanoptera, and Homoptera. The importance of the discovery is well seen in the Neuroptera, the whole known Paleozoic fauna of this order being divided into 45 genera and 99 species, of which 33 and 72 respectively have been found at Commentry. Although the Carboniferous insects of Commentry are placed in new families, some of them come wonderfully near those into which existing insects are classified, and obviously form the pre- cursors of these. This is true of the Blattida, Phasmide, Acridiidee, and Locustida among the Orthoptera, the Perlidz among the Neuroptera, and the Fulgoride among the Hom- optera. The differences which separate these existing families from their Carboniferous ancestors are most interesting and in- structive. Thus the Carboniferous cockroaches possessed ovi- positors, and probably laid their eggs one at a time, while ours are either viviparous or lay their eggs ina capsule. The Proto- phasmidee resemble living species in the form of the head, antennee, legs, and body ; but while our species are either wing- less or, with the exception of the female Phyllide, have the anterior pair reduced to tegmina, useless for flight, those of Paleozoic times possessed four well-developed wings. The forms representing locusts and grasshoppers (Palzeacrididze) pos- sessed long slender antennz like the green grasshoppers (Locustididse), from which the Acridiidee are now distinguished by their short antenne. The divergence and_ specialisation which is thus shown is amazingly small in amount. In the vast period between the Upper Carboniferous rocks and the present day the cockroaches have gained a rather different wing vena- tion, and have succeeded in laying their eggs in a manner rather more specialised than that of insects in general ; the stick insects and leaf insects have lost or reduced their wings, the grass- hoppers have shortened their antenne. These, however, are the insects which most closely resemble the existing species ; let us turn to the forms which exhibit the greatest differences. Many species have retained in the adult state characters which are now confined to the larval stage of existence, such as the presence of tracheal gills on the sides of the abdomen. In some the two membranes of the wing were not firmly fixed together, so that the blood could circulate freely between them. On the other hand, they are not very firmly fixed together in existing insects. Another important point was the condition of the three 1 Charles Brongniart —‘‘ Recherches pour servir A I’ Histoire des Insectes fossiles des temps primaires, précédées d'une Etude sur la nervation des ailes des Insectes."" 1894. NO. 1404, VOL. 54] thoracic segments, which were quite distinct and- separate, instead of being fused as they are now in the imago stage. This external difference probably also extended to the nervous system, so that the thoracic ganglia were separate instead of concen- trated. The most interesting distinction, however, was the possession by many species of a pair of prothoracic appendages much resembling miniature wings, and which especially suggest the appearance assumed by the anterior pair (tegmina) in exist- ing Phasmidee. There is some evidence in favour of the view that they were articulated, and they exhibit what appears to be a trace of venation. Brongniart concludes that in still earlier strata, insects with six wings will be discovered, or rather insects with six of the tracheal gills sufficiently developed to serve as parachutes. Of these, the two posterior pair developed into the wings as we know them, while the anterior pair degenerated, some of the Carboniferous insects presenting us with a stage in which degeneration had taken place, but was not complete. One very important character was, as I have already pointed out, the enormous size reached by insects in this distant period. This was true of the whole known fauna as compared with exist- ing species, but it was especially the case with the Protodonata, some of these giant dragon-flies measuring over two feet in the expanse of the wings. As regards the habits of life and metamorphoses, Brongniart concludes that some species of Protoephemeridze, Protoperlidz, &c., obtained their food in an aquatic larval stage, and did not require it when mature. He concludes that the Protodonata fed on other animals, like our dragon-flies ; that the Paleeacridida were herbivorous like our locusts and grasshoppers, the Proto- locustidze herbivorous and animal feeders like our green grass- hoppers, the Paloblattidae omnivorous like our cockroaches, The Homoptera, too, had elongated sucking mouth-parts like the existing species. It is known that in Carboniferous times there was a lake with rivers entering it, at Commentry. From their great resemblance to living forms of known habits, it is probable that the majority of these insects lived near the water and their larvee in it. When we look at this most important piece of research as a whole, we cannot fail to be struck with the small advance in insect structure which has taken place since Carboniferous times. All the great questions of metamorphosis, and of the structures peculiar to insects, appear to have been very much in the posi- tion in which they are to-day. It is indeed probable enough that the orders which zoologists have always recognised as com- paratively modern and specialised, such as the Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera, had not come into existence. But as regards the emergence of the Class from a single primitive group, as regards its approximation towards the Myriapods, which lived at the same time, and of both towards their ancestor Peripatus, we learn absolutely nothing. All we can say is that there is evidence for the evolution of the most modern and specialised members of the Class, and some slight evolution in the rest. Such evolution is of importance as giving us some vague conception of the rate at which the process travels in this division of the Arthropoda. If we look vpon development as a series of paths which, by successively uniting, at length meet in a common point, then some conception of the position of that distant centre may be gained by measuring the angle of diverg- ence and finding the number of unions which occur in a given length. In this case, the amount of approximation and union shown in the interval between the Carboniferous period and the present day is relatively so small that it would require to be multiplied many times before we could expect the lines to meet in the common point, the ancestor of insects, to say nothing of the far more distant past in which the Tracheate Arthropods met in an ancestor presenting many resemblances to Peripatus. But it must not be forgotten that all this vast undefined period is required for the history of one of the two grades of one of the three branches of the whole Phylum. Turning now to the brief consideration of the second grade of Arthropods, distinguished from the first grade by the absence of antenne, the Trilobites are probably the nearest approach to an ancestral form met with in the fossil state. Now that the possession of true antennz is certain, it is reasonable to sup- pose that the Trilobites represent an early Class of the Aceratous branch which had not yet become Aceratous. They are thus of the deepest interest in helping us to understand the origin of the antennaless branch, not by the ancestral absence, but by the loss of true antennz which formerly existed in the group. But the Trilobites did not themselves originate the other Classes, at any SEPTEMBER 24, 1896] rate during Paleozoic times. They represent a large and dom- inant Class, presenting more of the characters of the common ancestor than the other Classes ; but the latter had diverged and had become distinct long before the earliest fossiliferous rocks ; for we find well-marked representatives of the Crustacea in Cambrian, and of the Arachnida in Silurian strata. The Trilo- bites, moreover, appear in the Cambrian with many distinct and very different forms, contained in upwards of forty genera, so that we are clearly very far from the origin of the group. Of the lower group of Crustacea, the Entomostraca, the Cirri- pedes are represented by two genera in the Silurian, the Ostra- codes by four genera in the Cambrian and over twenty in the Silurian; of these latter two genera, Cythere and Bairdia, continue right through the fossiliferous series and exist at the a a day. Remains of Phyllopods are more scanty, but can traced in the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks. The early appearance of the Cirripedes is of especial interest, inasmuch as the fixed condition of these forms in the mature state is certainly not primitive, and yet, nevertheless, appears in the earliest representatives. The higher group, the Malacostraca, are represented by many genera of Phyllocarida in the Silurian and Devonian, and two in the Cambrian. These also afford a good example of the im- perfection of the record, inasmuch as no traces of the group are to be found between the Carboniferous and our existing fauna in which it is represented by the genus Nebalia. The Phyllocarida are recognised as the ancestors of the higher Malacostraca, and yet these latter already existed—in small numbers, it is true— side by side with the Phyllocarida in the Devonian. The evolu- tion of the one into the other must have been much earlier. Here, as in the Arthropoda, we have evidence of progressive evolution among the highest groups of the Class, as we see in the comparatively late development of the Brachyura as com- pared with the Macrura. We find no trace of the origin of the Class, or of the larger groups into which it is divided, or, indeed, of the older among the small groupings into families and genera.! Of the Arachnida, although some of the most wonderful examples of persistent types are to be found in this class, but little can be said. Merely to state the bare fact that three kinds of scorpion are found in the Silurian, two Pedipalpi, eight scorpions, and two spiders in the Carboniferous, is sufficient to show that the period computed by geologists must be im- mensely extended to account for the development of this Class alone, inasmuch as it existed in a highly specialised condition almost at the beginning of the fossiliferous series; while, as regards so extraordinarily complex an animal as a scorpion, nothing apparent in the way of progressive development has happened since. Prof. Lankester has, however, pointed out to me that the Silurian scorpions possessed heavier limbs than those of existing species, and this is a point in favour of their having been aquatic, like their near relation, Limulus. If so, it is probable that they possessed external gills, not yet inverted to form the lung-book. The Merostomata are of course a Palzeozoic group, and reach their highest known development at their first appearance in the Silurian ; since then they have done nothing but disappear gradually, leaving the single genus Limulus, un- modified since its first appearance in the Trias, to represent them. It is impossible to find clearer evidence of the decline rather than the rise of a group. No progressive development, but a gradual or rapid extinction, and consequent reduction in the number of genera and species, is a summary of the record of the fossiliferous rocks as regards this group and many others, such as the Trilobites, the Brachiopods, and the Nautilida. All ihese groups begin with many forms in the oldest fossiliferous rocks, and three of them have left genera practically unchanged from their first appearance to the present day. What must have been the time required to carry through the vast amount of structural change implied in the origin of these persistent types and the groups to which they belong—a period so extended that the interval between the oldest Paleozoic rocks and the present day supplies no measurable unit ? But I am digressing from the Appendiculate Phylum. We have seen that the fossil record is unusually complete as regards two Classes in each grade of the Arthropod branch, but that these Classes were well developed and flourishing in Palzeozoic times. The only evidence of progressive evolution is in the 1 For an account of the evolution of the Crustacea, see the Presidential Addresses to the Geological Society in 1895 and 1896 by Dr. Henry Woodward. NO. 1404, VOL. 54] NATURE 599 development of the highest orders and families of the Classes. Of the origin of the Classes nothing is told, and we can hardly escape the conclusion that for the development of the Arthropod branches from a common Cheetopod-like ancestor, and for the further development of the Classes of each branch, a period many times the length of the fossiliferous series is required, judging from the insignificant amount of development which has taken place during the formation of this series. It is impossible to consider the other Ccelomate Phyla as I have done the Appendiculata. I can only briefly state the conclusions to which we are led. As regards the Molluscan Phylum, the evidence is perhaps even stronger than in the Appendiculata. Representatives of the whole of the Classes are, it is believed, found in the Cambrian or Lower Silurian. The Pteropods are generally admitted to be a recent modification of the Gastropods, and yet, if the fossils described in the genera Conularia, Hyolithes, Pterotheca, &c., are true Pteropods, as they are supposed to be, they occur in the Cambrian and Silurian strata, while the group of Gastropods from which they almost certainly arose, the Bullidz, are not known before the Trias. Furthermore, the forms which are clearly the oldest of the Pteropods—Limacina and Spiriales— are not known before the beginning of the Tertiary Period. Either there is a mistake in the identification of the Palaozoic fossils as Pteropods, or the record is even more incomplete than usual, and the most specialised of all Molluscan groups had been formed before the date of the earliest fossiliferous rocks. If this should hereafter be disproved, there can be no doubt about the early appearance of the Molluscan Classes, and that it is the irony of an incomplete record which places the Cephalopods and Gastropods in the Cambrian and the far more ancestral Chiton no lower than the Silurian. Throughout the fossiliferous series the older families of Gastropods and Lamellibranchs are followed by numerous other families, which were doubtless derived from them ; new and higher groups of Cephalopods were developed, and, with the older groups, either persisted until the present time or became extinct. But in all this splitting up of the Classes into groups of not widely different morphological value, there is very little progressive modification, and, taking such changes in such a period as our unit for the determination of the time which was necessary for the origin of the Classes from a form like Chiton, we are led to the same conclusion as that which followed from the consideration of the Appendiculata, viz. that the fossiliferous series would have to be multiplied several times in order to provide it. Of the Phylum Gephyrea, I will only mention the Brachiopods, which are found in immense profusion in the early Palaeozoic rocks and which have occupied the subsequent time in becoming less dominant andimportant. So far from helping us to clear up the mystery which surrounds the origin of the Class, the earliest forms are quite as specialised as those living now, and, some of them (Lingula Discina) even generically identical. The demand for time to originate the group is quite as grasping as that of the others we have been considering. All the Classes of Echinoderma, except the Holothurians, which do not possess a structure favourable for fossilisation, are found early in the Palzozoic rocks, and many of them in the Cambrian. Although these early forms are very different from those which succeeded them in the later geological periods, they do not possess a structure which can be recognised as in any way primitive or ancestral. The Echinoderma are the most distinct and separate of all the Ccelomate Phyla, and they were ap- parently equally distinct and separate at the beginning of the fossiliferous series. In concluding this imperfect attempt to deal with a very vast subject in a very short time, I will remind you that we were led to conclude that the evolution of the ancestor of each of the higher animal Phyla, probably occupied a very long period, per- haps as long as that required for the evolution which subse- quently occurred within the Phylum. But the consideration of the higher Phyla which occur fossil, except the Vertebrata, leads to the irresistible conclusion that the whole period in which the fossiliferous rocks were laid down must be multiplied several times for this later history alone. The period thus obtained requires to be again increased, and perhaps doubled, for the earlier history. In the preparation of the latter part of this address I have largely consulted Zittel’s great work. I wish also to express my thanks to my friend Prof. Lankester, whom I have consulted on many of the details, as well as the general plan which has been adopted. NATURE [SEPTEMBER 24, 1896 _ SECTION G. MECHANICAL SCIENCE. OPENING ADDRESS BY SIR DouGLAS Fox, VICE-PRESIDENT INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. Ir is rather over a quarter of a century since the British Association last held its meeting in the hospitable city of Liver- pool. The intervening period has been one of unparalleled progress, both generally and locally, in the many branches of knowledge and of practical application covered by Civil and Mechanical Engineering, and therefore rightly coming within the limits for discussion in the important Section of the Association in which we are specially interested. During these twenty-five years the railway system of the British Isles, which saw one of its earliest developments in this neighbourhood, has extended from 15,376 miles, at a capital cost of 552,680,000/7., to 21,174 miles, at a capital cost of 1,001,000,000/7. The railway system. of the United States has more than trebled in the same period, and now represents a total mileage of 181,082, with a capital cost of 11,565,000,000 dollars. The Forth and Brooklyn, amongst bridges, the Severn and St. Gothard, amongst tunnels, the gigantic works for the water- supply of towns, are some of the larger triumphs of the civil engineer ; the substitution of steel for iron for so many purposes, the perfecting of the locomotive, of the marine engine, of hydraulic machinery, of gas and electric plant, those of the mechanical branch of the profession. The city of Liverpool and its sister town of Birkenhead have witnessed wonderful changes during the period under review. Great and successful efforts have been made to improve the water-gate to the noble estuary, which forms the key to the city’s greatness and prosperity ; constant additions have been made to the docks, which are by far the finest and most extensive in the world. The docks on the two sides of the river have been amalgamated into one great trust. In order properly to serve the vast and growing passenger and goods traffic of the port, the great railway companies have expended vast sums on the con- nections with the dock lines and on the provision of station accommodation, and there have been introduced, in order to facilitate intercommunication, the Mersey Railway, crossing under the river, and carrying annually nearly 10 millions of passengers, and the Liverpool Overhead Railway, traversing for six miles the whole line of docks, and already showing a traffic of 74 millions of passengers per annum. ; ee A Remarkable Lightning Flash. (///ustrated.)— George]. Burch eae eX - < aera Ge, A Peculiarity in Perch.—R., J. Flintoff... .. . 492 The Siemens Gas and Coke Fire. —P. W. Clayden . 492 The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. V. By Prof. W. A. Herdman, FR.S.. . ecmeeaoe Section C—Geology.—Opening Address by J. E. Marr, F.R.S., President of the Section . oR EY AOL Section D—Zoology.—Opening Address by Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., President of the Section 500 Section G—Mechanical Science —Opening Address by Sir Douglas Fox, President of the Section . 510 The Iron and Steel Institute 514 Notes o) ai ore Vea 517 Our Astronomical Column:— The Recent Solar Eclipse 519 Comet Giacobini Pees os 10) a ee University and Educational Intelligence ..... 520 Societies and Academies 7. .°.. 9. ©... 6 « « 520 NATURE 521 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1896. CHEMISTRY IN DAILY LIFE. Chemistry in Daily Life: Popular Lectures. By Dr. Lassar-Cohn. Translated by M. M. Pattison Muir. Pp. x + 324. (London: Grevel and Co., 1896.) A BOOK which professes to instruct the public, un- initiated into technical language or methods, con- cerning the results of the application of scientific principles to the purposes of daily life, must possess a combination of qualities not easily associated together. It ought to be true—that is, the positive statements it contains ought to be facts, and yet, though its pages should present the truth and nothing but the truth, it is impossible that it should give the whole truth in regard to many subjects it must pretend to discuss. Here is the grand opportunity for the exercise of judgment on the part of the writer, without which and a large pro- portion of sympathy with his readers the book will be both unintelligible and uninteresting. There must be— and there are—many subjects which, from their nature, are incommunicable to the mind not already prepared with a knowledge of fundamental ideas and some familiarity with the technical language or symbols by which these ideas are expressed. Such subjects as many divisions of pure mathematics and, we will venture to add, of modern chemistry belong to this category. However, acting upon the view that the best test of the suitability of such a book for the general reader is not merely the opinion of the chemical expert on the subject-matter and the degree of accuracy of the notions introduced, the writer of this notice has placed this little volume in the hands of an educated but not technically instructed friend, with a request to read it carefully, appealing for help or explanation if necessary. This is the kind of thing that follows :—- “ Please tell me the meaning of this : ‘ The green parts of the leaves are called chlorophyll-grains,’ also ‘silica is the chemical name for pure sand’; and, pray, what is humus ?” (pp. 38-40). A little later the reader says : “ Listen ; ‘A cannon exhibited by Krupp at the Chicago Exhibition, when charged with 115 kilos of this powder, propelled a shot weighing 215 kilos to a distance of 20,226 metres ; the flight of the shot occupied 70 seconds, and the highest point attained was 6540 metres above the earth, while the height of Chimborazo is only 6421 metres.’ What does all that mean, and what has the highest point got to do with it?” These are sufficient examples of the, perhaps, not very serious difficulties encountered by the general reader, who at the end remarked, “Oh, yes; I found it interesting.” Now let the chemist take a look at the volume. As already hinted, the impossibility of stating some things without resort to technical language leads to a great deal of extremely loose and objectionable phraseology. Take the following passage (p. 46) for example :— ““ Most of the phosphoric acid in the materials we have mentioned is combined with lime in the proportion of three molecules of lime to one molecule of the acid. Sulphuric acid is a stronger acid than phosphoric; but one molecule of sulphuric acid combines with only one NO 1405, VOL. 54] molecule of lime. If then two molecules of sulphuric acid are caused to react with burnt bones or mineral phosphorite, a new compound is obtained, in which one molecule of phosphoric acid is combined with one mole- cule of lime, and, at the same time, two molecules of sulphate of lime or gyfswm, as it is commonly called, are formed. The following scheme makes the process more evident. “Lime — Sulphuric Acid | Here we have a series of statements all more or less open to criticism, the culminating misrepresentation being embodied in the scheme, which asserts that sulphuric acid withdraws lime from the phosphate without leaving anything in the place of it. This, however, is just the kind of thing which it is well-nigh impossible to express correctly in popular language. The worst of it is that the same erroneous idea crops up in so many other places. The worst case we have encountered occurs on p. 51, where ammonia is said to be “an alkali or a base, for these names have to-day the same meaning.” And a few lines further on it is announced that “ bases and acids may be gases, liquids, or solids. Ammonia, for instance, isa basic gas, carbonic acid is an acid gas, sulphuric acid is a liquid, and silicic acid is a solid.” After such a descent towards the popular level, it is difficult to believe that anything can be gained by the introduction of chemical formule, especially such as occupy the last ten pages, where an attempt is made to explain the constitution of alkaloids and other complex carbon compounds. All this kind of thing was managed much more suc- cessfully in “The New Chemistry” of the late Prof. Josiah P. Cooke, which, though published twenty years ago, is still trustworthy and, in point of literary quality, incomparably superior to such a jumble of information not always to be depended upon for accuracy, and some- times descending to the almost ludicrous. One cannot but wonder whether the author was serious or cynical when he wrote that phosphoric pig-iron “is only fitted for making the coarsest sorts of cast-iron ware, such as railings for graves and the like, 7% which no great durability is looked for.” The italics are ours. The author does not often exhibit emotion, but bimetallism is too much for him, and he lets his pen run. The whole story is too long to quote, but one passage affords such a remarkable example of style, unspoiled by a conscientious translator, that it is worth reproducing. “There is one thing which the bimetallists would certainly achieve, as long as they do not get rid of the fluctuations in the price of silver, were they to induce the civilised States to inaugurate an international bimetallism in that Utopia which they depict to any one who will hearken to them as the approaching economical rejuvenescence of the nations—for none of them has brought forward a decisive argument in favour of their assertions because no such argument exists, for if there were such an argument it would certainly be easy to induce the most influential nations to adopt bimetallism again—and this one thing which they would undoubtedly do would be to enable the proprietors of American and Australian silver mines, one of whom is already the richest man in the world, to make yet much greater Zz 522 Ne TORE [OcToner 1, 1896 profits from their mines, in which profits Europeans have as yet no great interests,” &c. After this it is not surprising, as the translator informs us in the preface, that the publication of the book “caused quite a stir in German circles.” OUR BOOK SHELF. Crystallography for Beginners, with an Appendix on the use of the Blowpipe and the Determination of Common Minerals (after the method of Dr. Albin Weisbach). By C. Woodward, B.Sc. Pp. 164. (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., Ltd., 1896.) IN a preliminary chapter of this book the student is taught how to prepare for himself, with due regard to economy of purse, a set of models to be used in con- nection with the various lessons. In the course of the following 72 pages the constancy of the angles of crystals, symmetry, notation, drawing of crystal forms and spherical projection, are in turn explained. The physical properties of crystals are then briefly touched upon, and in a last lesson mero-symmetry is discussed. The appendix (55 pages) deals with a subject entirely different from Crystallography, namely Determinative Mineralogy, and is made up almost wholly of tables drawn up after the manner of those of Dr. Weisbach. The book contains numerous woodcuts in the text, and is furnished with four plates, two of them consisting of diagrams to be pasted on cardboard and used in the construction of the aforementioned models. To each lesson is appended a set of useful questions relating to the subject which has been discussed. Some of the statements are wanting in accuracy: for instance, on page 55 the student is told that “the symbols of all planes in a zone have two of their indices always ina constant ratio,’ which is untrue; and at times the language is wanting in neatness and precision: still, if the student is in the hands of a careful teacher, he will be able to get much help from the book, and is not likely to be led astray. By the Deep Sea; a Popular Introduction to the Wild Life of the British Shores. By Edward Step. Pp. 322. (London : Jarrold, 1896.) THE author of this little volume is already favourably known by his popular books on wild flowers, &c., and the present work will add to his reputation as a writer for the non-scientific reader. The author's endeavour has been to introduce to the seaside visitor a large number of the interesting creatures to be found on the rocks, the sands and the shingle, and he claims to have written the whole of the work in close contact with the objects he describes—not only of cabinet specimens, but of the living creatures under natural conditions. In his own words : *‘ There is not a line in the whole volume that has not been written within a few yards of, and in full view of the rocks.” The twenty chapters into which the book is divided are devoted to the sea and its shores, low forms of life, sponges, zoophytes, jelly-fishes, sea-anemones, sea- stars and sea-urchins, sea-worms, crabs and lobsters, shrimps and prawns,some minor crustaceans, barnacles and acorn-shells, “shell-fish,’ sea-snails and sea-slugs, cuttles, sea-squirts, shore fishes, birds of the seashore, sea- weeds, flowers of the shore and cliffs. The style of writing is easy and attractive, and the text is further elucidated by the insertion of a number of well-chosen, if somewhat rough, illustrations from the works of P. H. Gosse, and others which appear to have been specially drawn for the work. Many a seaside holiday will be more fully and permanently enjoyed by the study of this tastefully got- up little book, the usefulness of which is increased by a general and a classified index. NO. 1405, VOL. 54] 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 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.) The Utility of Specific Characters. I HOPED that I might have held my peace on this subject. Prof. Lankester, however, complains, and not for the first time, that I have misrepresented, or at any rate misunderstood him, I do not doubt his acquaintance with Prof. Weldon’s work, though he has allowed a long time to elapse before criticising it. I am glad that he regards it as ‘‘interesting and valuable.” But this is what he said about it in Navrure for July 16 last :— “‘Such methods of attempting to penetrate the obscurity which veils the interactions of the immensely complex bundle of phenomena which we call a crab and its environment, appear to me not merely inadequate, but in so far as they involve per- version of the meaning of accepted terms and a deliberate rejection of the method of inquiry by hypothesis and verifica- tion, injurious to the progress of knowledge.” It is quite true that Prof. Lankester has not said in so many words that ‘‘ Prof. Weldon’s investigation of the crab’s carapace ‘does not satisfy the canons of scientific inquiry.’” But it appears to me that this is a very mild way of putting what he did say. I expressed the opinion that Prof. Weldon’s investigation did rest on an hypothesis, and that this was subjected to verification. Whether the hypothesis was reasonable and the verification adequate is a matter on which Prof. Karl Pearson and others are entitled to form their own judgment. Kew, September 28. W. T. THISELTON-DYER. I FEEL grateful to Prof. Karl Pearson for his lucid and rational contribution to this discussion, in which it has sometimes seemed to me that the main question was in danger of being obscured by more or less irrelevant arguments. I pointed out in a letter to NATURE, soon after the publication of Prof. Weldon’s report last year, that he had not, and had not claimed to have, proved that there was a differential or selective death-rate in shore crabs, with respect to variations of their frontal breadth. He showed that the curve of variation in larger (and therefore presumably older) crabs was different from that in smaller crabs. The departures from the mean were less. He concluded, that if this difference were not due to growth-changes it must be due to the death of crabs with extreme variations. But on the other hand it had to be proved that the difference was not due to growth-changes. Changes in the proportions of parts are so common during growth in so many animals, that it seemed to me much more likely that the difference discovered by Prof. Weldon was due to such changes than to a differential death-rate. I understand that he has since been investigating what he calls the law of growth in these crabs, but so far as I know he has not published any further results. I am glad to find that Prof. Karl Pearson’s opinion concerning the conclusions to be drawn from the evidence published by Prof. Weldon, entirely agrees with mine. It would be very interesting to learn now whether Prof. Weldon is able to settle the question of the changes occurring in the growth of shore crabs, and either to confirm or withdraw his suggested conclusion that the difference he described was due to selective death-rate. It would take a good deal of evidence to convince me that shore crabs in which the frontal breadth differed slightly from the mean, died in greater numbers than those in which it was nearer the mean. But if the evidence is forthcoming, I am ready to accept it. It seems to me that Mr. Thiselton-Dyer is inclined to accept the conclusion before the evidence is forthcoming. He seems to have overlooked the other possible explanation of the result, namely changes in the same crabs during growth. I also maintained in my letter last year, as Profs. Lankester and Karl Pearson maintain now, that if a differential death-rate were demonstrated, it would still be necessary to discover how that death-rate was caused, what was the relation between the character in question and the conditions of life which caused individuals with certain variations of the character to die off. I do not profess to be a specialist in logic, but it seems to me that the fallacy into which Prof. Weldon has fallen is that of confounding the categories. He maintains that if a certain OcToseER I, 1896} NATURE o23 variation is correlated with a certain death-rate, it must be the cause of it, and that it is not possible to distinguish between variations which are directly useful, and those which are only physiologically correlated with the useful. But it seems to me that this is like talking of hitting a nominative case with a stick. The variation is a magnitude in an organism, survival or death is a relation between the organism and its environment. It is the relation of the variation to life which alone can be said to be the cause of death or survival. The relation to the conditions of life is advantage, disadvantage, or neutrality in the struggle for existence. If I have stated the logic of the matter correctly, I venture to think that the apprehension of this principle is a necessary preliminary to any attempt to demonstrate empirically the occurrence of natural selection. Prof. Weldon’s chief contention was that by the statistical method, when the law of growth of the characters examined was known, a measure of the rate and direction of the evolution of an organism could be obtained. Such a measure would be afforded by the selective death-rate. But he has not yet demonstrated a selective death-rate in a single instance. And further, a measure of the rate and direction of evolution has nothing to do with the cause of the selective deatn-rate. If characters of no apparent utility are proved to be subject to selection, there still remains the question how the selection is brought about. Measures of the rate and direction of the wind do not tell us the cause of the wind. They may help us to discover the cause, and I have no doubt that Prof. Weldon’s investigations are a valuable contribution to the investigation of evolution. But it is only when it has been shown that the degree of utility of a variation, or its correlation with useful variations determines its survival, that the occurrence of natural selection has been demonstrated. J. T. CUNNINGHAM. September 19. Fossil Tridacnids in the Solomon Islands. SoME months ago, on the voyage between New Guinea and Sydney, the small trading steamer on which I travelled called at a number of islands in the British Solomons, the first station at which we called being Rubiana, in the little-known island- complex of New Georgia. Here I became acquainted with the heavy arm-rings worn by the natives, and obviously made from the shell of 7yédacna or Hippopus. What was very surprising, however, was the information which I obtained from all quarters and from different localities, from blacks as well as from whites, that these arm-rings are not made from recent shells found on the reef, but from shells obtained far away in the interior, or, as they say, in the bush. At first sight, the arm-rings, above referred to, strongly remind one of those made from the recent Tridacna by the natives of the Sir-Charles Hardy Island, which lies to the north of the Solomon Group ; but while the former are solid rings more than half an inch in thickness, the latter are deeply grooved on the outer border. This difference is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, which represent cross-sections through the arm-rings of the Solomon and Sir Fic. 1. Fic, 2. Charles Hardy islanders, respectively. But there are other differences, not so much of artistic as of economic importance. The grooved rings are much more readily obtained from the natives who make and wear them, than are the solid rings. The latter have a great value among the natives themselves, and when they are shot with a vein of reddish or reddish-yellow colour (derived no doubt from the hinge-line, which also gives their beauty to the nose-pieces of the New Guinea natives), they can only be mentioned with bated breath. The reason why the Solomon Islanders prefer the ancient to the recent shells, lies possibly in the fact that, as a general rule, among the natives of the larger islands of the Pacific, the artists and artificers (apart from the making of canoes) are to be NO. 1405, VOL. 54| found among the bush-natives, rather than among those who live in proximity to the sea. The latter are traders) far excel/ence— men of the world who do their business in great waters. The former live in primitive innocence, are possessed of uncouth manners, and produce poets, magicians, medical men, and pro- fessional dancers, together with workers in wood and stone. To- the last-mentioned members of the community, therefore, the Tridacnid shells, when they occur in the bush through elevation of a former coral reef, are ready conveniently to hand. I have thought it worth while to draw the attention of naturalists to the above indication of the existence of upraised coral reefs in the Solomon Islands, which would be well worth an attentive examination, and, while in Sydney, Mr. R. Etheridge, jun., informed me that he knew of other instances in the Pacific of coral reefs having been raised to an elevation of over a thousand feet. ARTHUR WILLEY. Nouméa, New Caledonia, July 16. Visual Aid in the Oral Teaching of Deaf Mutes. PROBABLY every one is acquainted with Keenig’s manometric capsules and revolving mirrors, and it occurred to me that I might help a deaf mute to learn inflection in speaking by his imitating the curves produced by my voice in the mirrors. For this purpose I arranged two capsules with oblique membranes. and small diameter side by side, one being higher than the other, so that two bands of flame half inch wide, and half inch apart, appeared in the revolving mirrors. The capsules were tuned alike, and furnished with tubes and conical mouthpieces : through one of these I made the sound of a note, vowel, or syllable in various pitches, and my friend endeavoured to imitate through the other tube the curve in the flame band produced by my voice. As an experiment the results were quite satisfactory,, for before an hour was over he could imitate a range of nearly an octave, and would tell me correctly, through watching the curves of flame, when the note he uttered was like mine. I am not interested in the oral teaching of the deaf, but having fre- quently to use Kcenig’s invention, I think the principle might be made useful to oral teachers. My friend, upon whom I experi- mented, is said to have been well taught, his age about twenty years, but his voice (?)isa hoarse monotone. T. HAWKSLEY. 11 Primrose Hill. Road, N.W. INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CONFERENCE AT PARIS. HIS Conference was held at the rooms of the Société d@Encouragement, in the Rue de Rennes, from September 17 to 23. About forty members were present- M. Mascart was elected President, MM. de Bezold and Tacchini Vice-Presidents, and MM. Angot, Erk, and Scott Secretaries. The complete report of proceedings has not yet been printed. It was decided that Committees should be appointed to continue the investigation of several subjects, viz. : I. Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity ;. Prof. Riicker (President). II. Clouds ; Prof. Hildebrandsson (President). III. Radiation and Insolation ; M. Violle (President). IV. Aerostatics and Balloon Work; Prof. Hergesell (President). On the motion of Mr. Symons, the International Meteorological Committee was reappointed with a few changes, rendered necessary by the respective resigna- tions of Prof. Wild, Prof. Harrington, and Mr. Ellery. The President is Prof. Mascart, and the Secretary Mr- R. H. Scott. ARMAND HIPPOLYTE LOUIS FIZEAU. BY the death of M. Fizeau physical science has lost one who will rank high among those who have contributed to the scientific distinction of the nineteenth century. Every student of optics knows M. Fizeau’s beautiful experimental method of determining the velocity of light ; but not so many are aware of the other re- 524 markable researches by which he has partially answered some of the most difficult questions as to the relation of matter to ether, which are perplexing the best physical investigators of the time. Born in 1819, Fizeau was only thirty years of age when his paper, “Sur une expérience relative & la vitesse de propagation de la lumiére,” appeared in the Comptes vendus. In this he put forward his plan of rotating a wheel having round its rim alternate teeth and spaces of equal width, so that these teeth and spaces should alternately intercept and allow to pass a beam of light from a source, and so adjusting the speed of rotation that the time occupied by the light in travelling from the wheel to a mirror and back again, should be equal to the time taken by the rim of the wheel to advance through a space equal to an integral number of times the width of a tooth or space. Curiously enough, the other experimental method of finding the velocity of light was described by Foucault in the very next volume of the Comptes rendus. In some respects the latter method —that of the revolving mirror—was even more striking than that of Fizeau. It allowed the velocity of light to be determined within an ordinary room, and, besides, enabled the question as to whether light travelled more or less quickly through a more refractive medium to be decided by direct experiment. Another experiment of capital importance with which the name of Fizeau will ever be honourably associated is that by which he determined the amount of drift of light-waves in a transparent medium in motion. Accord- iag to a theory given by Fresnel, the velocity of drift of ether-waves in a medium moving with velocity z is (1—1/p?)z,: where p» is the index of refraction of the medium. This conclusion of Fresnel was verified more lately by the experiments of Airy and Hoek, which proved, in opposition to the statement of Klinkerfues, that no change in the constant of aberration is observed when the tube of the observing telescope is filled with water. But it was tested directly by Fizeau in the most simple and beautiful manner. Two tubes were arranged side by side, and water was forced at a considerable speed (as much as seven metres per second) along one tube and back by the other, while a beam of light was split into two parts, which were sent round the tubes, one with the stream, the other against the stream, and then brought together again and tested for interference produced by the virtual difference of path traversed, arising from the motion of the water. The result gave exactly the formula quoted above, and has been con- firmed by very careful experiments made comparatively recently by Michelson and Morley. Fizeau made some notable observations on the number of interference bands observable with approximately homogeneous light, and, in conjunction with Foucault, carried out a most important series of observations on the light in different parts of the field of illumination in interference experiments. The method consisted in applying the spectroscope to examine the light taken from a narrow part of the field parallel to the bands, and proved zz/er alia that there is really interference in that region of the field which seems to be uniformly illuminated in consequence of overlapping produced by want of perfect homogeneity of the light. One very important recent result of such observations has been to‘show that the detection of interference is limited only by the resolving power of the spectroscope employed, and that the usual inference as to the regu- larity of the vibrations in a source of light is unjustifiable. Like Joule in this country, Fizeau carried on scientific research largely from his own private resources ; and by a long series of most valuable papers published in the Memonrs of the French Academy and elsewhere, he has earned the gratitude of his countrymen and the world. But his most enduring memorial will doubtless be his NO. 1405, VOL. 54| NATCRE [OcroseR 1, 1896 determination by simple laboratory apparatus of the velocity of light (a velocity sufficient to enable the earth’s path round the sun to be traversed in about twenty-six minutes !), and with his great colleague Foucault he will be held in honoured remembrance so long as men study the science of optics. Fizeau was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1875, and he received the Rumford Medal of the Society in recognition of his scientific work. A. GRAY. NOTES. THE monument to Lobachevsky, erected at Kazan, in a square which bears the name of the great geometer, was unveiled on September 13, in the presence of the Bishop of Kazan, the Governor of the province, the University, the local Physical and Mathematical Society, and a great number of sympathisers. The Mayor of Kazan made a statement as to the funds raised for the erection of the monument. Prof. Suvoroff referred to the scientific work of Lobachevsky in mathematics and physics, and Prof. Vasilieff spoke of the great geometer as one whose life was worthy of emulation, and as an energetic worker for spreading scientific knowledge. In the evening the Physical and Mathematical Society held a special commemoration meet- ing before a distinguished gathering of visitors of both sexes. A SERIES of fétes have been celebrated at Alais, in the centre of the great mulberry and silkworm district of France, in com- memoration of the services rendered by Pasteur to sericulture. A statue of Pasteur was unveiled during the celebrations ; and, on Saturday last, a solemn service was celebrated in the cathedral jn commemoration of the first anniversary of his death, which occurred on September 28, 1895. THE Harveian oration is to be delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, on October 19, by Dr. J. Frank Payne. It is proposed to establish an International Botanical Station at Palermo, under the superintendence of Prof. Borzi, who desires the co-operation of botanists of all countries. Dr. A. ZIMMERMANN has been appointed botanist to the section of the Botanic Garden, Buitenzorg, Java, devoted to the cultivation of coffee. Tue Graefe gold medal, which is awarded by the German Ophthalmological Society every ten years, has this year been awarded to Prof. Theodore Leber, of Heidelberg, in recognition of his work on inflammation. Prof. von Helmholtz was the first to receive the medal, the award being made for his dis- covery of the ophthalmoscope, and his treatise on physiological optics. A GAS exposition, beginning on January 25, 1897, is to be held for two weeks in the Madison Square Garden, New York. The object of the exposition, according to the prospectus, is to bring together a collection of gas apparatus and appliances of every description, for the purpose of affording the general public and the gas engineer an opportunity to study the develop- ments that have taken place in the gas industry during recent years. Tue French Medical Press Association is organising a memorial festival in honour of the jubilee of the discovery ot anzesthesia, The festival will take place in Paris, on October 18 and following days. The programme includes a ceremonial meeting at the Sorbonne, a banquet, and a special performance at one of the theatres. A suitable commemoration of the event is being arranged in Boston (Mass.), where the first OcroseR 1, 1895| surgical operation under ether was performed on October 16, 1846. The Society of Anzesthetists, of London, is also taking steps to celebrate the occasion in a fitting manner. THE Peary expedition has returned to Sydney, Cape Breton, from Greenland, but without the great meteorite which it hoped to bring back. This enormous block of metal, which Lieut. Peary set out to fetch, weighs about forty tons, and is situated on an island twenty miles inside Cape York. The jackscrews designed to lift the mass upon shipboard proved not to be strong enough, so another journey will have to be undertaken to secure it. Meanwhile we trust that the Esquimaux, who have used the meteorite as a source of workable iron for many years, will not greatly reduce the mass before another attempt is made toremoveit. In spite of this disappointment, the members of the expedition have not returned empty-handed ; for their collections and observations appear to be valuable and varied. THE meeting of the American Public Health Association was held at Buffalo, September 15-18, the President, Dr. Eduardo Licéaga, of Mexico, in the chair. Delegates, thirty-five in all, were present from nearly every State in Mexico, from most of the United States, and from Canada. The work of sanita- tion thus received an impetus throughout the American con- tinent ; and such diseases as yellow fever, small-pox, diphtheria, &c., are waning under the vigilant efforts of the combined army of health officers. Diligent attention to business, and rigid enforcement of time limits, enabled the Association to complete a long and valuable programme of reports and papers, besides adopting several important resolutions. As to the place of meeting next year, the advisory council recommended Toronto. Motions were made to substitute Nashville and Philadelphia, and the final vote favoured the latter, which will accordingly be the place of the next (being the twenty-fifth) meeting of the Association. The officers elected are :—President, Dr. H. B. Hornbeck, of Charleston, S.C. ; first Vice-President, Dr. Peter H. Bryce, of Toronto, Canada; second Vice-President, Dr. Ernest Wende, of Buffalo, N.Y.; Treasurer, Dr. Henry H. Holton, of Brattleboro’, Vt. WE regret to record the death of Sir John Erichsen, the dis- tinguished surgeon, at the age of seventy-eight. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876, and since 1887 had been President of University College, London. Sir GeorGE M. Humpury, F.R.S., Professor of Surgery in the University of Cambridge, died on Thursday last, and by his death the University is deprived of one through whose exertions the medical school has been brought to the present high position. He became Professor of Anatomy in the University in 1866, and Professor of Surgery in 1883. His life affords an instance of the manner in which the development of a subject is dependent upon the bearing of University authorities towards it. When he was appointed to thechair in the University, he set to work, in con- junction with the late Sir George Paget, with the object of plac- ing the study of medicine and surgery in a more prominent and satisfactory position. To quote the Z7mes:; ‘It was a task of great difficulty, for, although as far back as 1851 the Natural- Science Tripos had been in existence, yet it attracted but a handful of students for the first twenty years. petus given to the work was when some of the colleges recog- nised the Natural-Science Tripos as one avenue to a fellowship. The standard of the examinations, both for the Tripos and for medical degrees, was raised, examiners not connected with the University were appointed, and open scholarships for Natural Science were offered. The result is that at the present time the Natural-Science Tripos attracts more students than any other of the honour examinations in the University, the medical school is NO. 1405, VOL. 54 | NATURE The first real im- | B25 one of the largest in the country, and the medical degrees of the University are held in the highest estimation by the profession. He has left behind him an array of excellent professors and teachers, and has placed the study of medicine and surgery in the front rank at the University. His exertions entitle him to be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors to the University in modern times.” His chief scientific work was in comparative anatomy, to which branch of knowledge he made some im- portant contributions. Among his best-known works are ‘‘ A Treatise on the Human Skeleton,” 1858 ; ‘‘ On Myology,” 1872 ; “Old Age, and Changes incidental to it,” 1889. WiTH reference to the recent disastrous gales and torrential rainfall over the British Islands, the Weekly Weather Report of September 26 shows that the changes brought about in barometric pressure were very great, amounting to considerably over an inch in twenty-four hours at many places. The rainfall was much in excess in all districts, especially in the western parts of the country ; falls exceeding an inch in twenty-four hours have been reported on several days. The total rainfall since the beginning of the year is still below the average, except in the north of Scotland and the north of Ireland. The greatest deficiency is in the south-west of England, where it amounts to nearly seven inches. A LUNAR bow, in which the various prismatic colours could be distinguished without difficulty, was observed at Portmadoc, North Wales, last Sunday evening, by Mr. Walter Williams, who has sent us a description of the phenomenon. The time at which the bow was seen was 9.40 p.m. The colours appeared on the western edge of a dark rain-cloud, which was moving rapidly towards the east. This cloud was apparently very much in advance of another thin cloud, of pearly whiteness, surround- ing the moon’s disc ; nevertheless the two clouds seemed continuous, and the soft silky whiteness of the one formed a sharp contrast to the coloured bow on the edge of the other. There were no more clouds in the immediate vicinity of the The bow was visible for a length about twelve times Violet was the moon. greater than the moon’s apparent diameter. | innermost colour, and there was a sharp contrast between it and the white cloudiness. The whole phenomenon only lasted four minutes. In a valuable memoir recently published in the Azzalz of the Central Meteorological Office of Rome, Prof. Arcidiacono describes the Syracuse earthquake of April 13, 1895, which dis- turbed the whole of the south-east corner of Sicily. The centre of the epicentral area is at the village of Vizzini, and its longer axis lies along a line joining this place with Cape Passero. It is interesting to notice that this line coincides nearly with the axis of the ridge of Monte Lauro, and also joins the two principal volcanic centres (now extinct) of the Val di Noto, At the epi- centre the intensity was 9, according to the Rossi-Forel scale ; in other words, the shock was sufficiently strong to damage buildings, but not to destroy them entirely. On the map which | illustrates his paper, Prof. Arcidiacono shows the course of eight isoseismal lines, and, using the method of Dutton and Hayden, estimates the depth of the seismic focus to be about 7°4 km. In the Revue Sczentefigue (No. 11) will be found the com- munication made by M. Stokvis to the International Colonial Institute on the question of colonisation in tropical regions. The author speaks strongly in favour of successful colonisation by Europeans in low latitudes, and brings evidence together showing that with due regard to hygiene the European is practically as well off as the native. The conclusions which he eventually arrives at are: (1) That the establishment and prosperity of European colonies, whether they be for purposes of ‘‘exploitation” or agriculture, are perfectly possible in both 526 NATURE [OcToBER 1, 1896 high and low tropical regions. (2) In the question of colonisa- tion, tropical temperatures and the race of the colonist play only secondary réles. (3) Colonisation on a large scale—that is colonisation of the masses—ought to be stopped. A NEW volume of the late Baron Uslar’s great work on the languages of the Caucasian mountaineers has just been issued at Tiflis, by the Department of Education. It is devoted to the Kyurin language. The Kyurins are a small stem, inhabiting the banks of the Samur river, in the north of the Daghestan plateau. For a long time they were under the rule of the khans of Derbent, Kuba, or Kazikumukh; but in the second half of the last century a separate Kyurin khanate came into existence, and maintained itself up to 1866, when it was con- quered by the Russians. The Kyurin language, which has many sub-branches, must be considered as an independent linguistic unit, while its pronunciation varies with nearly every separate village. The first part of Baron Uslar’s work contains a description of the leading features of the language and its grammar ; while the second part is a dictionary of Kyurin words. The current number of the Zoo/ogzst contains an interesting article, by Mr. A. Holte Macpherson, on ‘‘ Some Observations on the Note of the Cuckoo.” During the spring and early summer of the present year the author took every available oppor- tunity of listening to the cuckoo, and enlisted in his service many friends to do the same, his purpose being to determine, if pos- sible, the pitch of the bird’s voice, and the duration of the in- terval between the notes of its call. An analysis of the reports in his hands shows that when the bird is in full song the in- terval is usually greater than the minor third, and is to all intents and purposes a full major third. Not infrequently the bird utters three notes. At Haileybury, on June 7, it was heard to sing E flat, D C two or three times, then it omitted the middle note, singing a minor third. Two other birds are reported to have sung F F C and F, D flat, and C, respectively. As regards the pitch, out of hundreds of recorded calls during the period when the bird was in good voice, the upper note in nineteen cases out of twenty was from F to E flat, and the lower note from D to B. The author comes to the conclusion that the average call is E and C in the middle of the piano. WITH its current issue, our contemporary, Sczexce Progress, enters upon a new phase of its existence. It has been enlarged, and will in future appear quarterly, instead of monthly, at a slightly increased price. Bulletin No. 57 of the Experiment Station of the Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, is occupied by a descrip- tive list of ** Kansas Weeds,” accompanied by upwards of twenty plates of drawings of the leaves or other characteristic organs. Timehrt (June), the journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, contains the following scientific contributions: ‘Multiple Evaporation,” by W. P. Abell; ‘‘ Queer Homes” (an account of nests built in peculiar places), by C. A. Lloyd; ‘‘ Note on Berbice Bats,” by Dr. C. G. Young ; ‘‘India-Rubber Collection at Para,” by J. A. Coelho. In addition to the foregoing, there are a number of articles of commercial interest. Mr. BERNARD QUARITCH has sent us his catalogue, dated September, containing a great many works relating to mathe- matics, microscopy, mountaineering, naval sciences, ornithology, paleontology, travels and zoology. Among the books men- tioned we notice a complete set of the ‘‘ Philosophical Trans- actions of the Royal Society,” with general indexes; a set of the ‘* Transactions of the Linnean Society,” from 1791 to 1891 ; the ‘‘ Proceedings and Journal of the Linnean Society,” from 1838 to 1895; and the ‘* Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” from 1830 to 1894. NO. 1405, VOL. 54 | A CATALOGUE of meteorites in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, by Mr. E. O. Hovey, has been received. The collection consists of fifty-five slabs fragments and complete objects, representing twenty-six falls and finds. The source of each specimen, also the dates of dis- covery, and the individual weights in grams, is given in the catalogue, which should be of interest and service to many visitors to the museums and others. WE have received the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, for July. Among the ‘*Natural History Notes” is a very interesting account of the life-history of the parasol ants, Atta cephalotes and octospinosa, with drawings of the various forms—the male, queen, soldier, worker major, worker minor, nurse, and gardener, Mr. J. H. Hart, the Superintendent, confirms the statement of Belt that these ants carry vegetable matter into their nests, not as food, but as a material on which to grow the fungi on which they feed. The destruction caused by various species of parasol ant in the Western Tropics is a matter of very serious importance to the agricultural industries. WE have received the Bulletin Meteorologigue et Setsmique de [Observatoire Imperial de Constantinople for February of this year. In this is given a list of the earthquakes observed during this month in the East, and more especially those occurring in the Ottoman Empire. The number seems to be considerable, no less than twenty-nine being described. The meteorological observations for this month are also given, the Director of the Observatory, Salib Feky, adding a résumé and his usual monthly vevae climatologigue. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Bonnet Monkeys (AZacacus senicus, 2 2 ) from India, presented by Mrs. Strutt; a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus, 2) from India, presented by Mr. J. Laverock ; a Ring-tailed Coati (Maswa rufa) from South America, presented by Miss M. E. Clarke; a Squirrel (Scéurus sp. ?) from Monravia, West Africa, presented by Mr. Ellis Edwards; an Orange-cheeked Amazon (Chrysotés autumnalis) from Honduras, presented by Mr. Baratti; a Common Heron (Ardea cznerea), British, presented by Mr. E. J. Poyser ; four Montague’s Harriers (Czrcus céneraceus), British, presented by Mr. W. J. Laidlay ; three Pin-tailed Sand Grouse (Pterocles alchata) from Spain, presented by Mr. G. P. Torrens ; six Rough Terrapins (Clemmys punctularia) from Para, pre- sented by Dr. E. A. Goeldi; a short-tailed Wallaby (Hadma- tous brachyurus) from Australia, deposited; two Ruffs (Machetes pugnax), British, purchased ; an African Lepidosiren (Lepodosiven annectans) from West Africa, received in exchange. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Tue Sorar Roratron.—In the August number of the Astrophysical Journal there is a brief summary of the work being done at John Hopkins University by Mr. Lewis Jewell. These researches dealt with the question of the solar rotation, and Mr. Jewell’s recent work in measuring a large number of lines in photographs of the solar spectrum has brought out, as is stated, a new and remarkable peculiarity in the law of the solar rotation. The following isa brief extract of the note in question. ‘It is found that there is a difference of several days in the rotation periods of the outer and inner portions of the sun’s atmosphere, the period increasing as the photosphere is approached, The measures also show the equatorial accelera- tion to be much the greatest for the outer portions of the atmosphere. At the lower levels the acceleration is small, there being little difference in the periods for different latitudes. It is further found that the carbon (cyanogen) lines and the shaded portions of H and K take their rise very low down in the solar atmosphere. Mr. Jewell is at present engaged upon the reduc- tion of the measures.” rr OcrToseER I, 1896] NATURE 927 A New Specrroscoric Binary.—Prof. E. C. Pickering, in Circular (No. 11) of the Harvard College Observatory, dated August 31, informs us that Prof. Solon I. Bailey has found u! Scorpii to be a spectroscopic binary. This star is — 37°°11033=S.M.P. 5794 ; its approximate position for 1900 is R.A. 16h. 451m. Decl. — 37° 53’, its photometric magnitude being 3°26. A neighbouring star 4? Scorpii follows about 28s., is 1'°7 north, with a photometric magnitude of 3°74. As these two stars were close alongside on the photographie plate, a com- parison was easy. The spectrum of the first-named is described as of the first type, with the additional lines characteristic of the Orion stars. In some of the spectra they are scarcely dis- tinguishable, while in others the lines of the first are broad and hazy, some, more faint, being distinctly double. Mrs. Fleming, who examined these plates in 1894, recorded these lines as being double, but the plates were put away for further examination, and subsequently overlooked. An examination of the three plates sent to Cambridge showed that the lines in the spectrum of p' were single on October 2, 1892, wide and hazy on July 20, 1894, and double on July 31, 1894. A more minute examination has shown that the changes are very rapid, a period of 35 hours and a nearly circular orbit having been deduced by Prof. Bailey from a discussion of fifty-two photographs. An independent discussion at Harvard gives the average period of 34h. 42°5m., with an error of less than 6s. Ten observed times, when the lines were single, are represented with an average deviation of 38 minutes each; the maximum deviation is less than an hour. Other stars of this class, only two of which are already known, are ¢ Ursee Majoris and B Aurigze. The former was discovered by Prof. Pickering in 1889 ; it has a period of 52 days, and is irregular. The latter we owe to Miss A. C. Maury; the period of this is regular, and is of nearly four days in length. THE VARIABLE STaR Z HeERcuLis.—A point of great im- portance, but not sufficiently attended to by those who compute variable star observations, is referred to by Mr. Paul S. Yendell in Astronomical Journal, No. 20. It is well known that out- standing observations—that is, those which seem apparently to be incorrect—are generally discarded, as leading to erroneous results in the final reduction. This is often done, for instance, when a curve is drawn through the points, representing the observations, and finally smoothed to include, as near as possible, all the data. This smoothing is carried, in some cases, to a considerable extent; in fact so far that a slight hump in the curve is looked upon as evidently due to errors of observation, and consequently smoothed over, and therefore lost so far as the results are concerned. Mr. Yendell refers to a similar **smoothing *’ by the rejection of observations which do not bear out the hypothesis of the calculated orbit. In the note in question, he takes the case of the four observations, made by Miiller and Kempf, of the variable star Z Herculis, for the Potsdam Photometric Durchmusterung. The first and last observations satisfy the elements of Hartwig, but these latter are not in accord with observations made by Yendell in 1895. Duner’s elements, on the other hand, are found to satisfy the observations of 1894 and 1895, but not those made at an earlier date at Potsdam. Mr. Yendell thus concludes that the star’s period must evidently be variable, though, as he says, the character and yalue of the variation cannot at present be deter- mined. He objects, however, strongly to Prof. Duner’s allusion to one of his (Yendell’s) observations as ‘‘ evidently erroneous.” This observation, as Yendell remarks, ‘‘ happens to be one of the best defined and best observed of the entire series, and en- tirely free from any suspicion of prepossession, as is indicated by the weight attached to it.” The value ofan apparently outstanding observation is further instanced by Yendell in the case of the star U Pegasi, observed by him in 1894, which he had been inclined to pass over lightly as ‘‘ hopelessly discordant,” but which proved in reality to have **contained the key to the whole enigma of the star’s period.” Other instances might be given of similar cases ; but sufficient has been said to draw attention to the fact that the light of variable stars is of a more variable nature than is at present supposed. Recent observations and reductions have shown that the curves representing variability of some stars is not a simple rise to maximum and fall to minimum, but the cur- vature varies both on the upward and downward side of the light curve to no slight extent. Cases of this kind seem to point to the suggestion that more than two bodies are involved. NO. 1405, VOL. 54] THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. SECTION H. ANTHROPOLOGY. OPENING ADDRESS BY ARTHUR J. EVANS, PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. “* The Eastern Question” in Anthropology. TRAVELLERS have ceased to seek for the ‘Terrestrial Paradise,” but, in a broader sense, the area in which lay the cradle of civilised mankind is becoming generally recognised. The plateaus of Central Asia have receded from our view. Anthropological researches may be said to have established the fact that the white race, in the widest acceptation of the term, including, that is, the darker-complexioned section of the South and West, is the true product of the region in which the earliest historic records find it concentrated. Its ‘* Area of Character- isation” is conterminous, in fact, with certain vast physical barriers due to the distribution of sea and land in the latest geological period. The continent in which it rose, shut in between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, between the Libyan Desert, and what is now Sahara, and an icier Baltic stretching its vast arms to the Ponto-Caspian basin, embraced, together with a part of anterior Asia, the greater part of Europe, and the whole of Northern Africa, The Mediterranean itself— divided into smaller separate basins, with land bridges at the Straits of Gibraltar, and from Sicily and Malta to. Tunis—did not seriously break the continuity of the whole. The English Channel, as we know, did not exist, and the old sea-coast of what are now the British Islands, stretching far to the west, is, as Prof. Boyd Dawkins has shown, approximately represented by the hundred-fathom line. To this great continent Dr. Brinton, who has so ably illustrated the predominant part played by it in isolating the white from the African black and the yellow races of mankind, has proposed to give the useful and appropriate name of ‘‘Eurafrica.” In ‘‘ Eurafrica,” in its widest sense, we find the birthplace of the highest civilisations that the world has yet produced, and the mother country of its cominant peoples. It is true that later geological changes have made this continental division no longer applicable. The vast land area has been opened to the east, as if to invite the Mongolian nomads of the Steppes and Tundras to mingle with the European popula- tion ; the Mediterranean bridges, on the other hand, have been swept away. Asia has advanced, Africa has receded. Yet the old underlying connection of the peoples to the north and south of the Mediterranean basin seems never to have been entirely broken. Their inter-relations affect many of the most interest- ing phenomena of archzeology and ancient history, and the old geographical unity of ‘‘ Eurafrica” was throughout a great extent of its area revived in the great political system which still forms the basis of civilised society, the Roman Empire. The Mediterranean was a Roman lake. A single fact brings home to- us the extent to which the earlier continuity of Europe and North Africa asserted itself in the imperial economy. At one time, what is now Morocco and what is now Northumberland, with all that lay between them on both sides of the Pyrenees, found their administrative centre on the Mosel. It is not for me to dwell on the many important questions affecting the physiological sides of ethnography that are bound up with these old geographical relations. I will, however, at least call attention to the interesting, and in many ways original, theory put forward by Prof. Sergi in his recent work on the ‘* Mediterranean Race.” Prof. Sergi is not content with the ordinary use of the term *“White Race.” He distinguishes a distinct ‘‘ brown” or ‘“ brunette” branch, whose swarthier complexion, however, and dark hair bear no negroid affinities, and are not due to any intermixture on that side. This race, with dolichocephalic skulls, amongst which certain defined types constantly repeat themselves, he traces throughout the Mediterranean basin, from Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, through a large part of Southern Europe, including Greece, Italy, and the Iberic peninsula, to: the British islands. It is distributed along the whole of North Africa, and, according to the theory propounded, finds its original centre of diffusion somewhere in the parts of Somali- land. It may be said at once that this grouping together into a consistent system of ethnic factors spread over this vast yet inter-related area—the heart of ‘‘ Eurafrica”—presents many 528 NATURE [OcroBER 1, 1896 attractive aspects. The ancient Greek might not have accepted kinship even with ‘the blameless Ethiopian,” but those of us who may happen to~ combine a British origin with a Mediterranean complexion may derive a certain ancestral pride from remote consanguinity with Pharaoh. They may even be willing to admit that ‘‘the Ethiopian” in the course of his migrations has done much to ‘change his skin.” In part, at least, the new theory is little more than a re-state- ment of an ethnographic grouping that commands a general consensus of opinion. From Thurnam’s time onwards we have been accustomed to regard the dolichocephalic type found in the early Long Barrows, and what seem to have been the later survivals of the same stock in our islands, as fitting on to the Iberian element in South-western Europe. The extensive new materials accumulated by Dr. Garson have only served to corroborate these views, while further researches have shown that the characteristic features of the skeletons found in the Ligurian caves, at Cro Magnon and elsewhere in France, are common to those of a large part of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, and extend not only to the Iberic group, but to the Guanche interments of the Canary Islands. The newly correlated data unquestionably extend the field of comparison; but the theories as to the original home of this ‘Mediterranean Race” and the course of its diffusion may be thought to be still somewhat lacking in documentary evidence. They remind us rather too closely of the old ‘‘ Aryan” hypothesis, in which we were almost instructed as to the halting places of the different detachments as they passed on their way from their Central Asian cradle to rearrange themselves with military precision, and exactly in the order of their relationship, in their distant European homes. The existing geological conditions are made the basis of this migratory expansion from Ethiopia to Ireland; parallel streams move through North Africa and from Anatolia to Southern Europe. One cardinal fact has certainly not received attention, and that is, that the existing evidence of this Mediterranean type dates much further back on European soil than even in ancient Egypt. Prof. Sergi himself has recognised the extraordinary continuity of the cranial type of the Ligurian caves among the modern population of that coast. But this continuity involves an extreme antiquity for the settlement of the ‘‘ Mediterranean Race” in North-western Italy and Southern France. The cave interments, such as those of the Finalese, carry back the type well into Neolithic times. But the skeletons of the Baoussé Roussé caves, between Mentone and Ventimiglia, which reproduce the same character- istic forms, take us back far behind any stage of culture to which the name of Neolithic can be properly applied. The importance of this series of interments is so unique, and the fulness of the evidence so far surpasses any other records immediately associated with the earliest remains of man, that even in this brief survey they seem to demand more than a passing notice. So much, at least, must be admitted on all hands: an earlier stage of culture is exhibited in these deposits than that which has hitherto been regarded as the minimum equipment of the men of the later Stone Age. The complete absence of pottery, of polished implements, of domesticated animals—all the more striking from the absolute contrast presented by the rich Neolithic cave burials a little further up the same coast—how is it to be explained? The long flint knives, the bone and shell ornaments, might, indeed, find partial parallels among Neolithic remains ; but does not, after all, the balance of com- parison incline to that more ancient group belonging to the “* Reindeer Period” in the South of France, as illustrated by the caves of La Madeleine, Les Eyzies and Solutré ? It is true that, in an account of the interments found in 1892 in the Barma Grande Cave, given by me to the Anthropological Institute, I was myself so prepossessed by the still dominant doctrine that the usage of burial was unknown to Palzeolithic man, and so overpowered by the vision of the yawning hiatus between him and his Neolithic successor, that I failed to realise the full import of the evidence. On that occasion I took refuge in the suggestion that we had here to deal with an earlier Neolithic stratum than any hitherto recorded. ‘‘ Neolithic,” that is, without the Neolithic. But the accumulation of fresh data, and especially the critical observations of M. d’Acy and Prof. Issel, have convinced me that this intermediate position is untenable. From the great depth below the original surface, of what in all cases seem to NO. 1405, VOL. 54] have been homogeneous quaternary deposits, at which the human remains were found, it is necessary to suppose, if the interments took place at a later period, that pits in many cases from 30 to 40 feet deep must have been excavated in the cave earth. But nothing of the kind has been detected, nor any intrusion of extraneous materials. On the other hand, the gnawed or defective condition of the extremities in several cases points clearly to superficial and imperfect interment of the body ; and in one case parts of the same core from which flints found with the skeleton had been chipped were found some metres distant on the same floor level. Are we, then, to imagine that another pit was expressly dug to bury these ? In the case of a more recently discovered and as yet unpub- lished interment, at the excavation of which I was so fortunate as to assist, the superficial character of the deposit struck the eye. The skeleton, with flint knife and ochre near, decked out with the usual shell and deer’s tooth ornaments, lay as if in the attitude of sleep, somewhat on the left side. The middle of the body was covered with a large flat stone, with two smaller ones lying by it, while another large stone was laid over the feet. The left arm was bent under the head as if to pillow it, but the extremities of the right arm and the toes were suggestively deficient : the surface covering of big stones had not sufficiently protected them. The stones themselves seem in turn to have served as a kind of hearth, for a stratum of charred and burned bones about 45 cm. thick lay about them. Is it reasonable to suppose that a deposit of this kind took place at the bottom of a pit over 20 feet deep, left open an indefinite time for the convenience of roasting venison at the bottom ? A rational survey of the evidence in this as in the other cases leads to the conclusion that we have to deal with surface burial, or, if that word seems too strong, with simple ‘‘ seposition”—the imperfect covering with handy stones of the dead bodies as they lay in the attitude of sleep on the then floor of the cavern. In other words, they are zz sz¢z in a late quatenary deposit, for which Prof. Issel has proposed the name of ‘‘ Meiolithic.” But if this conclusion is to hold good, we have here on the northern coast of the Mediterranean evidence of the existence of a late Paleolithic race, the essential features of which, in the opinion of most competent osteological inquirers, reappear in the Neolithic skeletons of the same Ligurian coast, and still remain characteristic of the historical Ligurian type. In other words, the ‘‘ Mediterranean Race” finds its first record in the West ; and its diffusion, so far from having necessarily followed the lines of later geographical divisions, may well have begun at a time when the land bridges of ‘‘ Eurafrica” were still unbroken. There is nothing, indeed, in all this to exclude the hypothesis that the original expansion took place from the East African side. That the earliest homes of primeval man lay in a warm region can hardly be doubted, and the abundant discovery by Mr. Seton Karr in Somaliland of Palzolithic implements repro- ducing many of the most characteristic forms of those of the grottoes of the Dordogne affords a new link of connection between the Red Sea and the Atlantic littoral. When we recall the spontaneous artistic qualities of the ancient race which has left its records in the carvings on bone and ivory in the caves of the ‘*‘ Reindeer Period,” this evidence of at least partial continuity on the northern shores of the Mediterranean suggests speculations of the deepest interest. Overlaid with new elements, swamped in the dull, though materially higher, Neolithic civilisation, may not the old esthetic faculties which made Europe the earliest-known home of anything that can be called human art, as opposed to mere tools and mechanical con- trivances, have finally emancipated themselves once more in the Southern regions, where the old stock most survived? In the extraordinary manifestations of artistic genius to which, at widely remote periods, and under the most diverse political conditions, the later populations of Greece and Italy have given birth, may we not be allowed to trace the re-emergence, as it were, after long underground meanderings, of streams whose upper waters had seen the daylight of that earlier world ? But the vast gulf of time beyond which it is necessary to carry back our gaze in order to establish such connections will hardly permit us to arrive at more than vague probabilities. The practical problems that concern the later culture of Europe from Neolithic times onwards connect themselves rather with its relation to that of the older civilisations on the southern and eastern Mediterranean shores. Anthropology, too, has its ‘* Eternal Eastern Question.” Till OcrTosER 1, 1896] NATURE 529 within quite recent years, the glamour of the Orient pervaded all inquiries as to the genesis of European civilisation. The Biblical training of the northern nations prepared the ground.. The imperfect realisation of the antiquity of European art; on the other hand, the imposing chronology of Egypt and Babylonia ; the abiding force of classical tradition, which found in the Pheenician a deus ex machind for exotic importations ; finally, the ‘‘ Aryan Hypothesis,” which brought in the dominant European races as immigrant wanderers from Central Asia, with a ready-made stock of culture in their wallets—these and other causes combined to create an exaggerated estimate of the part played by the East as the illuminator of the benighted West. More recent investigations have resulted in a natural reaction. The primitive ‘* Aryan” can be no longer invoked as a kind of patriarchal missionary of Central Asian culture. From d’Halloy and Latham onwards to Penka and Schrader an array of eminent names has assigned to him an European origin. The means by which a kindred tongue diffused itself among the most hetero- geneous ethnic factors still remain obscure; but the stricter application of phonetic laws and the increased detection of loan- words has cut down the original ‘‘ Aryan” stock of culture to very narrow limits, and entirely stripped the members of this linguistic family of any trace of a common Pantheon. Whatever the character of the original ‘‘ Aryan” stage, we may be very sure that it lies far back in the mists of the European Stone Age. The supposed common names for metals prove to be either a vanishing quantity or strikingly irrelevant. It may be interesting to learn on unimpeachable authority that the Celtic words for ‘‘ gold” are due to comparatively recent borrowing from the Latin ; but nothing is more certain than that gold was one of the earliest metals known to the Celtic races, its know- ledge going back to the limits of the pure Stone Age. We are told that the Latin ‘‘ensis,” ‘‘a sword,” is identical with the Sanskrit ‘* asi” and Iranian ‘‘ahi,” but the gradual evolution of the sword from the dagger, only completed at a late period of the Bronze Age, is a commonplace of prehistoric archzeology. If ‘‘ensis,” then, in historical times an iron sword, originally meant a bronze dagger, may not the bronze dagger in its turn resolve itself into a flint knife ? The truth is that the attempts to father on a common Aryan stock the beginnings of metallurgy argue an astonishing inability to realise the vast antiquity of languages and their groups. Yet we know that, as far back as we have any written records, the leading branches of the Aryan family of speech stood almost as far apart as they do to-day, and the example of the Egyptian and Semitic groups, which Maspero and others consider to have been originally connected, leads to still more striking results. From the earliest Egyptian stela to the latest Coptic liturgy we find the main outlines of what is substantially the same language preserved for a period of some six thousand years. The Semitic languages in their characteristic shape show a continuous history almost as extensive. For the date of the diverging point of the two groups we must have recourse to a chronology more familiar to the geologist than the antiquary. As importer of exotic arts into primitive Europe the Pheenician has met the fate of the immigrants from the Central Asian “* Arya.” The days are gone past when it could be seriously maintained that the Phcenician merchant landed on the coast of Cornwall, or built the dolmens of the North and West. A truer view of primitive trade as passing on by inter-tribal barter has superseded the idea of a direct commerce between remote localities. The science of prehistoric archzeology, following the lead of the Scandinavian School, has established the existence in every province of local centres of early metal- lurgy, and it is no longer believed that the implements and utensils of the European Bronze Age were imported wholesale by Semites or ‘‘ Etruscans.” It is, however, the less necessary for me to trace in detail the course of this reaction against the exaggerated claims of Eastern influence that the case for the independent position of primitive Europe has been recently summed up with fresh arguments, and in his usual brilliant and incisive style, by M. Salomon Reinach, in his ‘* Mirage Orientale.” For many ancient prejudices as to the early relations of East and West it is the trumpet sound before the walls of Jericho. It may, indeed, be doubted whether, in the impetuousness of his attack, M. Reinach, though he has rapidly brought up his reserves in his more recent work on primitive European sculpture, has not been tempted to occupy outlying positions in the enemy’s country which will hardly be NO. 1405, VOL. 54] found tenable in the long run. I cannot myself, for instance, be brought to believe that the rude marble “idols” of the primitive AZgean population were copied on Chaldean cylinders. I may have occasion to point out that the oriental elements in the typical higher cultures of primitive Europe, such as those of Mycenz, of Hallstatt, and La Tene, are more deeply rooted than M. Reinach willadmit. But the very considerable extent to which the early European civilisation was of independent evolution has been nowhere so skilfully focussed into light as in these comprehensive essays of M. Reinach. It is always a great gain to have the extreme European claims so clearly formulated, but we must still remember that the ‘‘ Sick Man” is not dead. The proofs of a highly developed metallurgic industry of home growth accumulated by prehistoric students parz pass over the greater part of Europe, and the considerable cultural equipment of its early population—illustrated, for example, in the Swiss Lake settlements—had already prepared the way for the more startling revelations as to the prehistoric civilisation of the A2gean world which have resulted from Dr. Schliemann’s diggings at Troy, Tiryns, and Mycenz, so admirably followed up by Dr. Tsountas. This later civilisation, to which the general name of ‘‘ AZgean ” has been given, shows several stages, marked in succession by typical groups of finds, such as those from the Second City of Troy, from the cist-graves of Amorgos, from beneath the vol- canic stratum of Thera, from the shaft-graves of Mycenze, and again from the tombs of the lower town. Roughly, it falls into two divisions, for the earlier of which the culture illustrated by the remains of Amorgos may be taken as the culminating point, while the later is inseparably connected with the name of Mycene. The early ‘‘ Aigean” culture rises in the midst of a vast province extending from Switzerland and Northern Italy through the Danubian basin and the Balkan peninsula, and continued through a large part of Anatolia, till it finally reaches Cyprus. It should never be left out of sight that, so far as the earliest historical tradition and geographical nomenclature reach back, a great tract of Asia Minor is found in the occupation of men of European race, of whom the Phrygians and their kin—closely allied to the Thracians on the other side of the Bosphorus—stand forth as the leading representatives. On the other hand, the great antiquity of the Armenoid type in Lycia and other easterly parts of Asia Minor, and its priority to the Semites in these regions, has been demonstrated by the craniological researches of Dr. von Luschan. This ethnographic connection with the European stock, the antiquity of which is carried back by Egyptian records to the second millennium before our era, is fully borne out by the archaeological evidence. Very similar examples of ceramic manufactures recur over the whole of this vast region. The resemblances extend even to minutiz of ornament, as is well shown by the examples compared by Dr. Much from the Mondsee, in Upper Austria, from the earliest stratum of Hissarlik, and from Cyprus. It is in the same Anatolo Danubian area—as M. Reinach has well pointed out— that we find the original centre of diffusion of the ‘‘ Svastika” motive in the Old World. Copper implements, and weapons, too, of primitive types, some reproducing Neolithic forms, are also a common characteristic, though it must always be remem- bered that the mere fact that an implement is of copper does not of itself necessitate its belonging to the earliest metal age, and that the freedom from alloy was often simply due to a tem- porary deficiency of tin. Cyprus, the land of copper, played, no doubt, a leading part in the dissemination of this early metallurgy, and certain typical pins and other objects found in the Alpine and Danubian regions have been traced back by Dr. Naue and others to Cypriote prototypes. The same parallelism throughout this vast area comes out again in the appearance of a class of primitive ‘‘idols” of clay, marble, and other materials, extending from Cyprus to the Troad and the /Egean islands, and thence to the pile settlements of the Alps and the Danubian basin, while kindred forms can be traced beyond the Carpathians to a vast northern Neolithic province that stretches to the shores of Lake Ladoga. It is from the centre of this old Anatolo-Danubian area of primitive culture, in which Asia Minor appears as a part of Europe, that the new ®gean civilisation rises from the sea. “* Life was stirring in the waters.” The notion that the maritime enterprise of the Eastern Mediterranean began on the exposed and comparatively harbourless coast of Syria and Palestine can poe no longer be maintained, The island world of the Aigean was the natural home of primitive navigation. The early sea-trade of the inhabitants gave them a start over their neighbours, and produced a higher form of culture, which was destined to react on that of a vast European zone—nay, even upon that of the older civilisations of Egypt and Asia. The earlier stage of this Aigean culture culminates in what may conveniently be called the Period of Amorgos from the abundant tombs explored by Dr. Diimmler and others in that island. Here ‘we already see the proofs of a widespread com- merce. The ivory ornaments point to the South ; the abundance of silver may even suggest an intercourse along the Libyan coast with the rich silver-producing region of South-eastern Spain, the very ancient exploitation of which has been so splendidly illustrated by the researches of the brothers Siret. Additional weight is lent to this presumption by the recurrence in these Spanish deposits of pots with rude indications of eyes and eye- brows, recalling Schliemann’s owl-faced urns ; of stone ‘‘idols,” practically identical with those of Troy and the /®gean islands, here too associated with marble cups of the same simple forms ; of triangular daggers of copper and bronze, and of bronze swords which seem to stand in a filial relation toan ‘‘ Amorgan” type of dagger. In a former communication to this Section I ventured to see in the so-called ‘* Cabiri” of Malta—very far removed from any Pheenician sculpture—an intermediate link between the Iberian group and that of the A®gean, and to trace on the fern-like ornaments of the altar-stone a comparison with the naturalistic motives of proto-Mycenzan art, as seen, for instance, on the early vases of Thera and Therasia. A Chaldzan influence cannot certainly be excluded from this early Aigean art. It reveals itself, for instance, in indigenous imitations of Babylonian cylinders. My own conclusion that the small marble figures of the 2gean deposits, though of indigenous European lineage, were in their more developed types influenced by Istar models from the East, has since been independently arrived at by the Danish archeologist, Dr. Blinkenburg, in his study on prae-Mycenzean art. More especially the returning-spiral decoration, which in the *“Amorgan Period” appears upon seals, rings, bowls, and caskets of steatite, leads us toa very interesting field of com- parison. This motive, destined to play such an important part in the history of European ornament, is absent from the earlier products of the great Anatolo-Danubian province. As a European design it is first found on these insular fabrics, and it is important to observe that it first shows itself in the form of reliefs on stone. The generally accepted idea, put forward by Dr. Milchhofer, that it originated here from applied spirals on metal work is thus seen to be bereft of historical justification. At a somewhat later date we find this spiraliform motive communicating itself to the ceramic products of the Danubian region, though from the bold relief in which it sometimes appears, a reminiscence of the earlier steatite reliefs seems still traceable. In the late Neolithic pile-station of Butmir, in Bosnia, this spiral decoration appears in great perfection on the pottery, and is here associated with clay images of very advanced fabric. At Lengyel, in Hungary, and elsewhere, we see it applied to primitive painted pottery. Finally, in the later Hungarian Bronze Age it is transferred to metal work. But this connection—every link of which can be made out—of the lower Danubian Bronze Age decoration with the /igean spiral system—itself much earlier in origin—has a very important bearing on the history of ornament in the North and West. The close relation of the Bronze Age culture of Scandinavia and North-western Germany with that of Hungary is clearly established, and of the many valuable contributions made by Dr. Montelius to prehistoric archzeology, none is more brilliant than his demonstration that this parallelism of culture between the North-west and South-east owes its origin to the most ancient course of the amber trade from the North Sea shores of Jutland by the valley of the Elbe and Moldau to the Danubian Basin. As Dr. Montelius has also shown, there was, besides, a western extension of this trade to our own islands. If Scandi- navia and its borderlands were the source of amber, Ireland was the land of gold. The wealth of the precious metal there is illustrated by the fact that, even as late as 1796, the gold washings of County Wicklow amounted to 10,000/. Old Gsophagus Serrated Edge Oncrcalks Ciliated Groove rst Branchial IX and Branchial }f xl 3rd Branchial x2 4th Branchial 4 x3 sth Branchial x4 6th Branchial xo Somatic Muscle =" Splanchnic Muscle s — || [>] Cartilage HEART : 1 8] Muco-cartilage Fic. 3.—Head Region of Ammoceetes, split longitudinally into a ventral and dorsal half. (Dorsal Half.) 7th Branchial x6 brate with similar parts in the arthropod, then it ceases to be an hypothesis, but rises to the dignity of the most probable theory of the origin of vertebrates. Origin of Segmental Cranial Nerves. 1. The phylogenetic test.—It follows from the close resem- blance of the brain region of the central nervous systems in the two groups of animals that the cranial nerves of the vertebrate must be homologous with the foremost nerves of such an animal as Limulus, and must therefore supply homologous organs. Leaving out of consideration for the present the nerves of special sense, it follows that the segmental cranial nerves must be divisible into two groups corresponding to two sets of segmental muscles, viz. a group supplying structures homologous to the appendages of Limulus and its allies, and a group supplying the somatic or body muscles ; in other words, we must find precisely 556 what is the most marked characteristic of the vertebrate cranial nerves, viz. that they are divisible into two sets corresponding to a double segmentation in the head region. The one set, consisting of the Vth, VIIth, IXth, and Xth nerves, supply the muscles of the branchial or visceral segments; the other set, consisting of the IIIrd, 1Vth, VIth, and XIIth nerves, the muscles of the somatic segments. Further, we see that the Chilaria (m) Flabellum Branchial Cartilages Entapophysial cartilaginous Ligaments. Fic. 4.—Limulus. Nerves of Appendages and Cartilages. nerves supplying the branchial segments, like the nerves supply- ing the appendages in Limulus, are mixed motor and sensory, while the nerves supplying the somatic segments are all purely motor, the corresponding sensory nerves running separately as the ascending root of the fifth nerve; so also in Limulus, the nerves supplying the powerful body muscles arise separately NATURE Fic. 5-—Eurypterus. from those supplying the appendages, and also are quite | separate from the purely sensory or epimeral (Milne Edwards, “* Recherches sur Anatomie des Limulus,” Azz. des Sc. Nat., 5th ser.) nerves which supply the surfaces of the carapace in the prosomatic and mesosomatic regions. Finally, the researches of Hardy (PhAz/. Trans. Roy. Soc., 1894) have shown that the NO. 1406, VOL. 54] [Ocroner 8, 1896 motor portion of these appendage nerves, just like the nerves ot the branchial segmentation in vertebrates, 7.e. the motor part of the trigeminal, of the facial, of the glosso-pharyngeal, and of the vagus, arise from nerve centres or nuclei quite separate from those which give origin to the motor nerves of the somatic muscles. The phylogenetic history, then, of the cranial nerves points directly to the conclusion that the Vth, VIIth, IXth, and Xth nerves originally innervated structures of the nature of arthropod appendages. We can, however, go further than this, for we find, as we trace downwards throughout the vertebrate kingdom the structures supplied by these nerves, that they are divisible into two well-marked groups, especially well seen in Ammoccetes, viz. :— (1) A posterior group, viz. the VIIth, IXth, and Xth nerves, which arise from the medulla oblongata and supply all the structures within a branchial chamber. (2) An anterior group, viz. the Vth nerves, which arise from the hind brain and supply all the structures within an oral chamber. Prosoma Mesosoma Branchial Cartilages Subchordal Carti- laginous Ligaments Nerves of visceral segments and cartilages. In all three Figures vj-v; = Prosomatic appendages and nerve: y11 = 1st mesosomatic appendage or opercular appendage and nerves ; IX, Xj .- .= remaining mesosomatic appendages and nerves ; M=Chilaria in Limulus, metastoma in Eurypterus. Fic. 6.—Ammoccetes. The reason for this grouping is seen when we turn to Limulus and its allies, for we find that the body is always divided into a prosoma and mesosoma, and that the appendage nerves are | divisible into two corresponding well-marked groups, viz. :— (1) A posterior or niesosomatic group, which arise from the mesosomatic ganglia and supply the operculum and branchial appendages. (2) An anterior or prosomatic group, which arise from the | prosomatic ganglia and supply the oral or locomotor appendages. | Comparison of the Branchial Appendages of Limulus, Eurypterus, &c., with the Branchial Appendages of Ammocates. Meaning of the 1Xth and Xth Nerves. We will first consider the posterior group—the VIIth, IXth, and Xth nerves—and of these I will take the IXth and Xth nerves together, and discuss the VIIth separately. These nerves are always described as supplying in the fishes the muscles and other tissues in the walls of a series of gill-pouches, so that the respiratory chamber is considered to consist of a series of pouches, which open on the one hand into the alimentary canal, and on the other to the exterior. Such a Ocroper 8, 1896] description is possible even as low down as Petromyzon, but when we pass to the Ammoceetes we find the arrangement of the branchial chamber has become so different that it is no longer possible to describe it in terms of gill-pouches. The nature of the branchial chamber is seen in Fig. 3, which demonstrates clearly that the IXth and Xth nerves supply a series of separate gill-bearing structures or appendages, which hang freely into a common respiratory chamber ; each one of these appendages is moved by its own separate group of branchial muscles, and possesses an external branchial bar of cartilage, which, by its union with its fellows, contributes to form the extra-branchial basket-work so characteristic of this primitive respiratory chamber. The segmental branchial unit is clearly in this case, as Rathke originally pointed out, each one of these suspended gills, or rather gill-bearing appendages; it is absolutely unnatural, as Nestler (4Aschew f. Naturgeschich., 56, vol. i.) attempts to do, to take a portion of the space between two consecutive gills and call that a gill-pouch. It is, to my mind, one of the most extraordinary and confusing conceptions of the current morphology to describe an animal in terms of the spaces between organs, rather than in terms of the organs by which those spaces are formed. We might as well speak of a net asa number of h les tied together with string. Another most striking advantage is obtained by considering the segmental unit to be represented by each of these separate branchial appendages—viz. that we can continue the series in the most natural manner (as seen in Fig. 3) in front of the limits of the IXth and Xth nerves, and so find a series of appendages in the oral chamber serially homologous with the branchial appendages. The uppermost of the respiratory appendages is the hyo-branchial, supplied by the VIIth nerve, then, passing into the oral chamber, we find a series of non-branchial appendages, viz. the velar and tentacular appendages, supplied by branches of the Vth nerve. In fact, by simply considering the tissue between the so-called gill-pouches as the segmental unit, we no longer get lost in a maze of hypothetical gill pouches in front of the branchial region, but find that the resemblances between the oral and branchial regions, which have led to the endless search for gill-slits and gill-pouches, really mean that the oral chamber contains appendages just as the branchial chamber, but that the former were not gill-bearing The study of Ammoceetes, then, leads directly to the con- clusion that the ancestor of the vertebrate possessed an oral or prosomatic chamber, which contained a series of non-branchial, tactile and masticatory appendages, which were innervated from the fused prosomatic ganglia or hind brain, and a branchial or mesosomatic chamber, which contained a series of branchial appendages which were innervated from the fused mesosomatic ganglia or medulla oblongata. These two chambers did not originally communicate with each other, for the embryological evidence shows that they are separated at first by the septum of the stomatodum, and also that the oral chamber is formed by the forward growth of the lower lip. The phylogenetic test on the side of Limulus and its congeners agrees in a remarkable manner with the conclusions derived from the study of Ammoccetes, for we see that the variation which has occurred in the formation of Eurypterus from Limulus is exactly of the kind necessary to form the oral and branchial chambers of the Ammoccetes, Thus, we find with respect to the mesosomatic appendages that the free, many- jointed appendages of the crustacean become converted into the plate-like appendages of Limulus, in which the separate joints are still visible, but insignificant in comparison with the large branchiz-bearing lamella ; then comes the in-sinking of these appendages, as described by Macleod (Archiv de Biologie, vol. v., 1884) to form the branchial lamellz:, or so-called lung-books of Thelyphonus, and the branchize of Eurypterus, in which all semblance of jointed and free appendages disappears and the branchize project intoa series of chambers or gill-pouches, each pair of which in Thelyphonus open freely into communication. In this way we see already the commencement of the formation of a branchial chamber similar to that of Ammoccetes. So also with the innervation of these mesosomatic appendages, originally a series of separate mesosomatic ganglia, each of which inneryates a separate appendage; then a process of cephalisation takes place, in consequence of which, in the first place, a single ganglion, the opercular ganglion, fuses with the already fused prosomatic ganglia, as is seen in the stage of Limulus ; then, as pointed out by Lankester, in the different groups of scorpions more and more of the mesosomatic ganglia NO. 1406, VOL. 54] NATURE 557 fuse together, and so we find the upward variation in this group is distinctly in the direction of the formation of the medulla oblongata coincidently with the formation of a_ branchial chamber. In a precisely similar way, we find the variation which has occurred in the prosomatic appendages leads directly to the formation of the oral chamber and oral appendages of Ammoceetes ; for the original chelate and locomotor append- ages of Limulus become converted into the tactile non-chelate appendages of Eurypterus (cf Figs. 4 and 5), and the small chilaria (M) of Limulus, according to Lankester, fuse in the middle line and grow forward to form the metastoma ot Eurypterus, thus forming an oral chamber, into which the short tactile appendages could be withdrawn, closely similar in its formation to the oral chamber of Ammoccetes. The prosomatic ganglia supplying these oral appendages have already, in Limulus (see Fig. 4), been fused together to form the infra-cesophageal ganglia or hind brain. The phylogenetic test, then, both on the side of the vertebrate and of the invertebrate, points direct to the conclusion that the peculiarities of the trigeminal and vagus groups of nerves are due’to their origin from nerves supplying prosomatic and mesosomatic appendages respectively. 2. The anatomical test confirms and emphasises this con- clusion in a most striking manner, for we find not only coin- cidence of topographical arrangement, as already mentioned, but also similarity of structure ; thus we see that the blood in the gill lamellz and velar appendages of Ammoccetes does not cir- culate in distinct capillaries, but, as in the arthropod appendages, in lacunar spaces, which by the subdivision of the surface of the appendage to form gill lamellae become narrow channels ; that also certain of the branchial muscles and of the muscles of the velar appendages are of the invertebrate type of so-called tubular muscles. These invertebrate muscles are not found in higher vertebrates, but only in Ammoccetes, and moreover disappear entirely at transformation. Origin of the Vertebrate Cartilaginous Skeleton. Perhaps, however, the most startling evidence in favour of the homology between the branchial segments of Ammoccetes and the branchial appendages of Limulus is found in the fact that a cartilaginous bar external to the branchize exists in each one of the branchial appendages of Limulus, to which some of the branchial muscles are attached in precisely the same way as in Ammoceetes. The branchial cartilages of Limulus (see Fig. 4) spring from the entapophyses and form strong cartilag- inous bars, which are extra-branchial in position, just as in Ammoceetes ; in addition to each branchial bar, a cartilaginous ligament passes from one entapophysis to another, so as to form a longitudinal or entapophysial ligament, more or less cartilag- inous, which extends on each side along the length of the mesosoma. In precisely the same way the branchial bars of Ammoceetes are joined together along each side of the notochord by a ligamentous band of more or less continuous cartilaginous tissue, forming a subchordal or parachordal carti- laginous ligament. Further, we see that this cartilage of Limulus is of a very striking structure, quite different from that of vertebrate cartilage, and that it is formed in a fibro-massive tissue which, like the matrix of the cartilage, gives a deep purple stain with thionin, thus showing the presence of some form of chondro- mucoid. This fibro-massive tissue is closely connected with the chitinogenous cells of the entapophyses. Startling is it to find that the branchial cartilages of Ammo- ccetes possess identically the same structure as the cartilages of Limulus; that the branchial cartilages are formed in a fibro- massive tissue which, like the matrix of the cartilage, gives a deep purple stain with thionin, and that this fibro-massive tissue, to which Schneider (‘‘ Beitrage z. Anat. u. Entwicklungsgesch. der Wirbelthiere,” Berlin, 1879) gives the name of muco- cartilage, or Vorknorpel, entirely disappears at transformation. Further, according to Shipley (Quart. Journ. of Micr. Sci., 1887), the cartilaginous skeleton of the Ammoccetes when first formed consists simply of a series of straight branchial bars, springing from a series of cartilaginous pieces arranged bilaterally along the notochord. The formation of the trabeculz, of the auditory capsules, of the crossbars to form the branchial basket-work, all occur subsequently, so that exactly those parts which alone exist in Limulus are those parts which alone exist at an early stage in NA ORE [OcroseEr 8, 1806 Ammoccetes. Another distinction is manifest between these branchial cartilages and those of the trabeculee and auditory capsules, in that the latter do not stain in the same manner ; whereas the matrix of the branchial cartilages stains red with picro-carmine, that of the trabeculze and auditory capsules stains deep yellow, so that the junction between the trabecule and the first branchial bar is well marked by the transition from the one to the other kind of staining. The difference corresponds to Parker’s (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 1883) soft and hard cartilage. The new cartilages which are formed at transformation, either in places where muco-cartilage exists before or by the invasion of the fibrous tissue of the brain-case by chondroblasts, are all of the hard cartilage variety. The phylogenetic, anatomical, and ontogenetic history of the formation of the vertebrate skeleton all show how the bony skeleton is formed from the cartilaginous, and how the cartilag- inous skeleton can be traced back to that found in Petromyzon, and so to the still simpler form found in Ammoccetes ; from this, again, we can pass directly to the cartilaginous skeleton of Limulus, and so finally trace back the cranial skeleton of the vertebrate to its commencement in the modified chitinous ingrowths connected with the entapophyses of Limulus. A similar explanation of the origin of cartilage from modifica- tions of the chitinous ingrowths of Limulus was suggested by Gegenbauer (‘‘ Anat. Untersuch. eines Limulus,” Adhandl. der Naturf. Gesellsch. in Halle) so long ago as 1858, in considera- tion of the near chemical resemblances between the chitin and mucin groups of substances. Comparison of the Thyroid and Hyo-branchial Appendage of Ammocates with the Opercular Appendage of Eurypterus, Thelyphonus, &c. Meaning of the VIIth Nerve. Seeing, then, how easily the IXth and Xth nerves in Am- moccetes correspond to the mesosomatic nerves to the branchial appendages in Limulus, and therefore to the corresponding nerves in such an animal as Eurypterus, we may with confidence proceed to the consideration of the VIIth nerve, and anticipate that it will be found to innervate a mesosomatic appendage in front of the branchial appendages, and yet belonging to the branchial group; in other words, if the VIIth nerve is to fit into the scheme, it ought to innervate a structure or structures corresponding to the operculum of Limulus or of Thelyphonus, &c. Now we see in Figs. 5 and 8 the nature of the operculum in Eurypterus and in Thelyphonus, Phrynus, &c. It is in reality composed of two parts, a median and anterior portion which bears on its under surface the external genital organs, and a posterior part which bears branchize; so that the oper- culum of these animals may be considered as a genital operculum fused to a branchial appendage, and therefore double. It is absolutely startling to find that the branchial segment imme- diately in front of the glosso-pharyngeal segment in Ammoccetes (Fig. 3) consists of two parts, of which the posterior, the hyo-branchial, is gill-bearing, while the anterior carries on its under surface the pseudo-branchial groove of Dohrn, which continues as a ciliated groove up to the opening of the thyroid gland. Again, the comparison of the ventral surfaces of Eurypterus and Ammoccetes (cf Fig. 8) brings to light a complete coincidence of position between the median tongue of the operculum in the one animal and the median plate of muco- cartilage in the other animal, which separates in so remarkable a manner the cartilaginous basket-work of each side, and bears on its under surface the thyroid gland. Finally, Miss Alcock has shown that not only the hyo-branchial, but also the thyroid part of this segment, is innervated by the VIIth nerve; so that every argument which has forced us to the conclusion that the glosso-pharyngeal and vagus nerves are the nerves which originally supplied branchial appendages equally points to the conclusion that the facial nerve originally supplied the opercular appendage—an appendage which closed the branchial chamber in front, which consisted of two parts, a branchial and a genital, probably indicating the fusion of two segments; and that the thyroid gland belonged to the genital operculum, just as the branchiee belonged to the branchial operculum. This inter- pretation of the parts supplied by the facial nerve immediately explains why Dohrn is so anxious to make a thyroid segment in front of the branchial segments, and why a controversy is still going on as to whether the facial supplies two segments or one. NO. 1406, VOL. 54] What, then, is the thyroid gland? Of all the organs found in the vertebrate, with perhaps the single exception of the pineal eye, there is no one which so clearly is a relic of the invertebrate ancestor as the thyroid gland. This gland, im- portant as it is known to be in the higher vertebrates, remains of much the same type of structure down to the fishes, and even to Petromyzon; suddenly, when we pass to the Am- moccetes, to that larval condition so pregnant with invertebrate surprises, we find that the thyroid has become a large and important organ, totally different in structure from the thyroid of all other vertebrates, though resembling the endostyl of the Tunicates. The thyroid of Ammocoetes may be described as a long tube, curled up at its posterior end, which contains in its wall, along the whole of its length, a peculiar glandular structure, confined to a small portion of its wall. A section through this tube is given in Fig. 7, and shows how this glandular structure possesses no alveoli, no ducts, but con- sists of a column of elongated cells arranged in a wedge-shaped manner, the apex of the wedge being in the lumen of the tube ; Branchial Muco- cartilage. cartilage. Thyroid (Ammoccetes). Operculum Thyroid (Scorpion). Fic. 7. each cell contains a spherical nucleus, situated at the very extreme end of the cell, farthest away from the lumen of the tube. Such a structure is different from that of any other vertebrate gland. Its secretion is not in any way evident. It certainly does not secrete mucus or take part in digestion, and for a long time I was unable to find any structure which resembled it in the least degree, apart, of course, from the endostyl of the Tunicates. Guided, however, by the considerations already put forward, and feeling therefore convinced that in Eurypterus there must have been a structure resembling the thyroid gland underneath the median projection of the operculum, I proceeded to investi- gate the nature of the terminal genital apparatus underlying the operculum in the different members of the scorpion family, and reproduce here (Fig. 8) the figures given by Blanchard (** L’Organisation du Régne Animal”) of the appearance of the terminal male genital organs in Phrynus and Thelyphonus. Emboldened by the striking appearance of these figures, I pro- ceeded to cut sections through the operculum of the European scorpion, and found that that part of the genital duct which underlies the operculum, and that part only, contains within its OcrToBER 8, 1896] Eurypterus. Ammoceetes. Thelyphonus. Fic. 8.—Comparison of the ventral surface of the branchial region. In all figures the opercular appendage is marked out by its dotted appearance NO. 1406, VOL. 54| NATURE 59 | numbers of small round holes. walls a glandular structure which resembles the thyroid gland ot Ammoceetes in a remarkable degree. A section is represented in Fig. 7, and we see that under the operculum in the middle line is situated a tube, the walls of which in one part on each side are thickened by the formation of a gland with long cells ot the same kind as those of the thyroid ; the nucleus is spherical, and situated at the farther end of the cell, and the cells are arranged in wedges, so that the extremities of each group ot cells come to a point on the surface of the inner lining of the tube. This point is marked by a small round opening in the in- ternal chitinous lining of the tube. These cells form a column along the whole length of the tube, just as in the thyroid gland, so that the chitinous lining along that column is perforated by This glandular structure is not _ confined to the male scorpion, but is found also in the female, though not so well developed. So characteristic is the structure, so different from anything else, that I have no hesitation in saying that the thyroid ot Ammoceetes is the same structurally as the thyroid of the scorpion, and that, therefore, in all probability the median projection of the operculum in the old forms of scorpions, such as Eurypterus, Pterygotus, Slimonia, &c., covered a glandular tube of the same nature as the thyroid of Ammoccetes. We see, then, that the structures innervated by the VIIth, IXth, and Xth nerves are absolutely concordant with the view | that the primitive vertebrate respiratory chamber was formed from the mesosomatic appendages of such a form as Limulus by a slight modification of the method by which the respiratory apparatus of Thelyphonus and other Arachnids has been formed, according to Macleod. The anterior limit of this chamber was | formed by the operculum, the basal part of which formed a | septum which originally separated the branchial from the oral chamber. Comparison of the Oral Chamber of Ammocales with that of Euryplterus. Meaning of the Vth Nerve. Passing now to the oral chamber—z.e. to the visceral struc- tures innervated by the Vth nerve—we find, as already suggested, distinct evidence in Ammoccetes of the presence of the modified prosomatic appendages of the original Eurypterus- like form. The large velar appendage is the least modified, | possessing as it does the arthropod tubular muscles, a blood system of lacunar blood-spaces, and a surface covered with a regular scale-like pattern, formed by cuticular nodosites, similar to that found on the surface of Eurypterus and other scorpions. The velar appendages show, further, that they are serially | homologous with the respiratory appendages, in that they have been utilised to assist in respiration, their movements being synchronous with the respiratory movements. The separate part of the Vth nerve which supplies the velar appendage passes within it from the dorsal to the ventral part of the animal, and then, as Miss Alcock has shown, turns abruptly forward to supply the large median tentacle. This extraordinary course leads directly to the conclusion that this median tentacle, which is in reality double, constitutes, with the velum of each side, the true velar appendages. Again, on each side of the middle line there are in Ammo- | coetes four large tentacles, each of which possesses a system of | muscles, muco-cartilage, and blood-spaces, precisely similar to the median ventral tentacle already mentioned. Each of these is supplied, as Miss Alcock has shown, by a separate branch of the motor part of the Vth nerve (see Fig. 6), and each branch is comparable with the branch supplying the large velar appendage. ; - That such tentacles are not mere sensory papillae surrounding the mouth, but have a distinct and important morphological meaning, is shown by the fact that they are transformed in the adult Petromyzon into the remarkable tongue and_ suctorial apparatus: a modification of oral appendages into a suctorial apparatus which is abundantly common among Arthropods. Finally, the Vth nerve innervates the visceral muscles of the lower and upper lips of Ammoccetes. In order, then, for the story to be complete, the homologues of the lower and upper lips must also be found in the system of prosomatic appendages of forms like Limulus and Eurypterus. The lower lip, like the opercular or thyroid appendage, possesses a plate of muco- cartilage, and, as already mentioned, falls into its natural place as the metastoma of the old Eurypterus-like form, by the | enlargement and forward growth of which the oral chamber ot _ | Ammoceetes was formed. The meaning of the upper lip will [Octorer 8, 1896 be considered with the consideration or the old mouthttube, The comparison of the metastoma of Eurypterus with the lower lip of Ammoccetes demonstrates the close resemblance between the oral chambers of Eurypterus and Ammoccetes. In order to obtain the condition of affairs in Ammoccetes from that in Eurypterus, it is only necessary that the metastoma should increase in size, and that the last oral appendage, the large oar-appendage, should follow the example of the other oral appendages, and be withdrawn into the oral cavity, and so form the velar appendage. ‘ Thus we see that, just as the mesosomatic appendages of Limulus can be traced into the branchial and thyroid appendages of Ammoccetes through the intermediate stage of forms similar to Eurypterus, so also the prosomatic appendages and chilaria of Limulus can be traced into the velar and tentacular append- ages and lower lip of Ammoccetes through the intermediate stage of forms similar to Eurypterus. ; 3. Lastly comes the ontogenetic test. The concordant inter- pretation of the origin of the motor part of the Vth, of the VIlth, IXth, and Xth nerves given by the anatomical and phylogenetic tests must explain and be illustrated by the facts of the development of Ammoccetes. We'sce:— (1) The oral chamber of Ammoccetes is known in its early stage by the name of the stomatodwum, and we find, as might be anticipated, that it is completely separated at first from the branchial chamber by the septum of the stomatodzeum, (2) This septum is the embryological representative of the basal part of the operculum, and demonstrates that originally the operculum separated the oral and branchial chambers. ; (3) Subsequently these two chambers are put into communi- cation by the breaking through of this septum, illustrating the communication between the two chambers by the separation of the median basal parts of the operculum. (4) The velar appendages, the tentacular appendages, the lower lip, all form as out-buddings, just as the homologous locomotor appendages are formed in arthropods. _ ; (5) The branchial bars are not formed by a series of inpouch- ings in a tube of uniform thickness, but, as Shipley (doc. cz?.) has pointed out, by a series of ingrowths at regular intervals; in other words, the embryological history represents a series of buddings—¢.e. appendages within the branchial chamber similar to the buddings within the oral chamber—and does not indicate the formation of gill-pouches by the thinning of an original thick tube at definite intervals. (6) The communication of the branchial chamber with the exterior by the formation of the gill-slits represents a stage in the ancestral history which is conceivable, but cannot at present be explained with the same certainty as most of the embryological facts of vertebrate development. I can only say that Striibel (Zool. Anzeiger, vol. xv., 1892) has pointed out, and I can con- firm him, that after the young Thelyphonus has left the egg, and is on its mother’s back, before the moult which gives it the same form as the adult, the gills and gill-pouches are fully formed, but do not as yet communicate with the exterior. (7) The branchial cartilages in the Ammoccetes are formed distinctly before the auditory capsules and trabeculz, illustrative of the fact that they alone are formed in Limulus. Comparison of the Auditory Apparatus of Ammocates with the Flabellum of Limulus. Meaning of the VIIIth Nerve. The correctness of a theory is tested in two ways: (1) It must explain all known facts ; and (2) it ought to bring to light what is as yet unknown, and the more it leads to the discovery of new facts, the more certain is it that the theory is true. So far, we see that the prosomatic and mesosomatic regions of the body in Limulus and the scorpions are comparable with the corresponding regions of Ammoccetes as far as their locomotor and branchial appendages are concerned, and that, therefore, a satisfactory explanation is given of the peculiarities of the Vth, VIIth, IXth, and Xth nerves. In all vertebrates. however, there is invariably found a special nerve, the VIIIth nerve, entirely confined to the innervation of the special sense-organs of the auditory apparatus. It follows, therefore, that if my theory is true the VIIIth nerves must be found in such forms as Limulus and its allies, and that, therefore, a special sense-organ, probably auditory in nature, must exist between the prosomatic and meso- somatic appendages, at the very base of the last prosomatic appendage. At present we know nothing about the nature or locality of the hearing apparatus of Limulus. It is, therefore, NO. 1406, VOL. 54] all the more interesting to find that in the very position de- manded by the theory, at the base of the last prosomatic ap- pendage, is found a large hemispherical organ, to which a mov- able spatula-like process is attached, known by the name of the Aabellum. This organ is confined to the base of this limb ; it is undoubtedly a special sense-organ, being composed mainly of nerves, in connection with an elaborate arrangement of cellsand innumerable fine hairs, which are thickly imbedded in the chitin of the upper surface of the spatula. The arrangement of these cells and hairs is somewhat similar to that of various sense- organs described by Gaubert (Azz. d. Sc’. Nat., Zool., 7th ser., tome 13, 1892), and supposed to be auditory. When the animal is at rest this sensory surface projects upwards and backwards into the crack between the prosomatic and mesosomatic carapaces, so that while the eyes only permit a look-out forwards and side- wards, and the whole animal is lying half buried in the sand, any vibrations in the water around can still pass through this open crevice, and so reach the sensory surface of this organ. Finally, the most striking and complete evidence that this sense-organ of Limulus is homologous with the auditory capsule of Ammoccetes is found in the fact that in each case the nerve is accompanied into the capsule by a diverticulum of, the liver and generative organs. (See dotted substance in Figs. 4 and 6). In Limulus the liver and generative organs, which surround the cen- tral nervous system from one end of the body to the other, do not penetrate into any of the appendages, with the single excep- tion of the flabel/um. In Ammoccetes the peculiar glandular and pigmented tissue which surrounds the brain and spinal cord, and has already been recognised as the remains of the liver and generat‘ve organs, does not penetrate into the velar or other appendages, but is found only in the auditory capsule, where it enters with and partly surrounds the auditory nerve. The coincidence is so startling and unexpected as to bring conviction to my mind that in the flabe//um of Limulus we are observing the origin of the vertebrate auditory apparatus ; and it is, to say the least of it, suggestive that in Galeodes the last locomotor appendage should carry the extraordinary racquet- shaped organs which Gaubert has shown to be sense-organs of a special character, and that in the scorpion a large special sense- organ of a corresponding character, viz. the pecten, should be found which, from its innervation, as given by Patten (Quar‘?. Journ. of Micr. Scz., vol. xxxi., 1890), appears to belong to the segment immediately anterior to the operculum, rather than to that immediately posterior to it. Comparison of the Olfactory Organ of Ammocates with the Camerostome of Thelyphonus. Meaning of the Ist Nerve. Also comparison of the Hypophysis with the Mouth-tube of Theliphonus. In precisely the same way as the theory has led to the dis- covery of a special sense-organ in Limulus and its allies which may well be auditory, so also it must lead to the discovery ot the olfactory apparatus of the same group, for here also, just as in the case of the auditory apparatus, we are at present entirely in the dark. The olfactory organ in such an animal as Thelyphonus ought to be innervated from the supra-cesophageal ganglia, and ought to be situated in the middle line in front of the mouth. The mouth is at the anterior end in these animals, the lower lip or hypostoma (see Fig. 9) being formed by the median projecting flanges of the basal joints of the two pedipalpi; above, in the middle line, is a peculiar median appendage called the camer- ostome. Still more dorsal we find in the median line the rostrum, with the median eyes near its extremity, and laterally on each side of the camerostome, and dorsal to it, are situated the powerful chelicerze, which are considered by some authorities to represent antenne. Of these parts the camerostome is certainly innervated from the supra-cesophageal ganglia, and upon cutting sagittal transverse sections in a very young Thelyphonus we find that the surface is remarkably covered with very fine sense-hairs, arranged with great regularity and connected with a conspicuous mass of large cells. Upon making transverse sections through this region we see that the camerostome projects into the orifice of the mouth, and that its sense-epithelium forms, together with a similar epithelium on the lower lip, a closed cavity surrounded by a thick edge of fine hairs. Here, then, in the camerostome of Thelyphonus is a special sense-organ which, from its position and its innervation, may well be olfactory in function, or at all events subserve the function of taste. Octoner 8, 1896] NATURE 561 Upon comparing this organ with the olfactory organ of Ammo- coetes we see a most striking resemblance in general arrangement and structure. Just as the mouth tube of Thelyphonus is formed of two parts, the pedipalp and camerostome, so, according to Kuppfer, the nasal tube of Ammoccetes is composed of two parts, the upper lip and the olfactory protuberance. Of these two parts we see that the upper lip, or hood, like the pedipalp, is inner- vated by the Vth nerve, or nerve of the prosomatic appendages, while the olfactory protuberance, like the camerostome, is inner- vated by the Ist nerve. Kuppfer’s investigations show us further (Fig. 9) how the olfactory protuberance is at first free, is directed ventralwards, and lies at the opening of the hypophysial tube ; how afterwards, by the forward and upward growth of the upper lip to form the hood, the nasal tube is formed with the result that the nasal opening lies on the dorsal surface just in Fic. 9.—a, median sagittal section through head of young Thelyphonus ; n, ditto, young Ammoceete (after Kuppfer); c, ditto, full-grown Ammoceete (after Kuppfer). front of the pineal eye. Kuppfer, like Dohrn and Beard, looks upon thishypophysial tube as indicating the palzeostoma, or original mouth of the vertebrate, a view which harmonises absolutely with my theory, and receives the simplest of explanations from it, for, as you see on the screen, sections through the mouth tube of Thelyphonus correspond absolutely with sections through the nasal tube of Ammoccetes ; here in the one section is the projecting camerostome, there is the corresponding projection of the olfactory protuberance, here is the sense-epithelium of the lower lip or hypostoma, there is the sense-epithelium of the upper lip or hood. Here, as Fig. 9 shows, the mouth tube passes in the ventral middle line to where it turns dorsalwards into the middle of the conjoined nervous mass of the supra- and infra-cesophageal ganglia. There the nasal tube ends blindly at the spot where the infundibular tube lies on the surface of the brain. Further, the topography of corresponding parts is absolutely NO 1406, VOL. 54] the same in the two animals: in the dorsal middle line the rostrum, with the two median eyes near its extremity; in the corresponding position the two pineal eyes ; below this, in the middle line, the camerostome ; corresponding to it in the Am- moccetes the olfactory protuberance ; then the modification of the median projections of the foremost ventral appendages—the pedipalpi—to form the hypostoma. in the corresponding position the upper lip or hood of Ammoccetes, which forms the hypo- stoma as far as the hypophysial tube or palzeostoma is concerned, but an upper lip as far as the new mouth is concerned. The muscles of this upper lip belong all to the splanchnic and not to the somatic group, and are innervated by the appropriate nerve of the prosomatic appendages, viz. the motor part of the Vth. Ventral to the pedipalpi in Thelyphonus there is nothing, ventral to the corresponding lip in the Ammoccetes is the lower lip, and we have seen that, although such a structure is absent in the:land scorpions of the present day, it was present in the sea scorpions of old time, was known as the metastoma, and is supposed to be a forward growth which started at the junction of the prosoma with the mesosoma. Precisely corresponding to this we see from Kuppfer that the lower lip of Ammoccetes is a forward growth from the junction of the stomatodeum with the respiratory chamber. We see then, so far, that the comparison of the vertebrate nervous system with the conjoined central nervous system and alimentary canal of the arthropod has led to a perfectly con- sistent explanation of almost all the peculiarities of the head region of Ammoccetes. We have solved the segmentation of the skull and the mysteries of the cranial nerves, for we have found that the cranial segmentation of the vertebrate can be reduced to the segmentation of the prosomatic and mesosomatic regions of the Limulus, that the cranial skeleton arose from the modified internal chitinous skeleton of the Limulus, that the new mouth was formed by the forward growth of the metastoma, leading to the formation of an oral chamber, while the old mouth remained as the hypophysial tube, guarded by its olfac- tory and taste organs. Search as we may in the prososomatic and mesosmatic regions of scorpion-like animals, there are but few points left for elucida- tion ; among these the most important are: (1) the fate of the ccelomie cavities and coxal gland ; (2) the fate of the heart ; (3) the fate of the external chitinous covering. Comparison of the Head Cavities of the Vertebrate with the Prosom itic and Mesosomatic Cvlomic Spaces of Limulus. A recent paper by Kishinouye (Journ. of Coll. of Sci. Tokio, vol. v., 1891) on the development of Limulus enables us to com- pare the ccelomic cavities in the head region of a vertebrate with those of the prosomatic and mesosomatic segments of Limulus, and we see that the comparison is wonderfully close; for whereas each mesosomatic segment possesses a ccelomic cavity, just as each of the segments of the branchial chamber supplied by the vagus, glossopharyngeal, and facial nerves possesses a ccelomic cavity, this is not the case with the prosomatic seg- ments. In these latter the first coelomic cavity is a large preeoral one, common to the segment of the first appendage and all the segments in front of it ; the segments belonging to the second, third, and fourth appendages have no ccelomic cavities formed in them, the second ccelomic cavity belongs to the segment of the fifth appendage, Similarly in the vertebrate in the region corresponding to the prosoma there are only two head cavities recognised, viz. the 1st preeoral head cavity of Balfour and V. Wijhe ; and 2nd or mandibular head cavity, associated especially with the Vth nerve. According to my view the motor part of the Vth nerve represents the locomotor prosomatic appendages of Limulus, and we see that already in Limulus the three fore- most of these appendages do not form coelomic cavities. In fact, the agreement in the formation and position of the ccelomic cavities in the head region of the vertebrate and in the prosomatic and mesosomatic regions of Limulus could not well be more exact; further, these cavities agree in this, that in neither case are they permanent; both in the vertebrate and in the arthropod they are supplanted by vascular spaces. Comparison of the Pituitary Gland with the Coxal Gland of Limulus. In connection with the second ccelomic cavity in Limulus is found an ancient gland, partially degenerated according to some views, which was probably excretory in function, and has been 562 considered as homologous to the crustacean green glands. In a precisely corresponding position, and presenting a_ structure fairly similar to that of the coxal gland of Limulus, we find in Ammoceetes and in other vertebrates the pituitary gland. How far this gland tissue is developed in connection with the man- dibular head cavity I do not know, but I venture to suggest that the complete evidence of its homology with the coxal gland will be found in its developmental connection with the walls of the 2nd or mandibular head cavity. Comparison of the Vertebrate Heart and Ventral Aorta with the Ventral Longitudinal Branchial Sinuses of Limulus and its Allies. The heart of the vertebrate presents two striking peculiarities, which make it different from all invertebrate hearts ; first, its developmental history is different; and, secondly, it is at first essentially a branchial rather than a systemic heart. The re- searches of Paul Mayer (JZ%/th. a. d. Zool. St. zu Neapel, vol. vii.) have shown that the subintestinal vein, from which in the fishes the heart and ventral aorta arise, is in its origin double, so that in all vertebrates the heart and ventral aorta arise from two long veins which are originally situated on each side of the middle line. By the formation of the head fold these come together ventrally, coalesce into a single tube to form the sub- intestinal vein and heart, stili remaining double as the two ventral aortee with their branchial branches into each gill, as is well shown in the case of Ammoccetes. It is a striking coincidence that in Limulus and the Scorpions two large venous collecting sinuses are found situated in the same ventral position, for the same purpose of sending blood to the branchiz, as already described for the vertebrate ; still more striking is it to find, according to the researches of Milne Edwards and Blanchard, that these longitudinal sinuses have already begun to function as branchial hearts, for they are con- nected with the pericardium by a system of transparent muscles, described by Milne Edwards and named by Lankester veno- pericardiac muscles. These muscles are hollow, both near the vein and near the pericardium, so that the blood in each case fills the cavity, and, as they contract with the heart, that part of them in connection with the venous collecting sinus already functions, as pointed out by Milne Edwards and Blanchard, as a branchial heart. By this theory, then, even the formation of the vertebrate heart is prevised in Limulus, and I venture to think that in Ammoccetes we see the remnant of the old dorsal single heart of the arthropod in the form of that peculiar elongated organ composed of fattily degenerated tissue which lies between the spinal cord and the dorsal median skin. Comparison of the Cuticular and Laminated Layers of the Skin of Ammocates with Chitinous Layers. The external cpithelial cells of Ammoccetes possess a remark- ably thick cuticular layer. The striated appearance of this layer is due to a number of pores through which the glandular contents of the cells are poured when the surface is made to secrete. That this striated appearance is due to true porous canals, just as in chitin, and not to a series of rods, is easily seen by the inspection of sections, and also by watching the secretion through them of rose-coloured granules when the living cell is stained with methylene blue. The surface layer of this cuticular layer, according to Wolff (Je. Zeztschy., vol. xxiii.) resists reagents in the same manner as chitin. Internal to the epithelial cells of the skin of Ammoccetes is a remarkable layer of tissue, generally called connective tissue. It resembles, however, histologically, in the Ammoccetes, a sec- tion through chitin most closely ; the layers are perfectly regular and parallel ; cells are found in it with great sparseness, and it is not until after transformation, when it is altered and invaded by new cell elements, that it can be looked upon as at all re- sembling connective tissue. It resembles chitin in its reaction to hypochlorite of soda. In order to completely dissect off this laminated layer from an Ammoccetes, all that is necessary is to place the animal in a weak solution of hypochlorite of soda, and in a short time it entirely disappears, bringing to view the muscles, branchial cartilages, pigment, front dorsal part of the central nervous system, &c., in a most striking manner. At present I am puzzled that so manifest a chitinous covering should lie internal to the epithelial cells of the surface ; such a position is not, however, unknown among invertebrates, and may be accounted for in various ways. NO. 1406, VOL. 54] NATURE [OcToser 8, 1896 For the sake of clearness I will sum up before you in the form of a table the corresponding parts in Ammoccetes and in Limulus and its allies, as far as I have discussed them up to the present, from which you will see that there is not a single organ which is present in the prosomatic and mesosomatic regions of Limulus and its allies which is not found in the corresponding situation and of corresponding structure in Ammoccetes. Table of Coincidences between Limulus and its Allies, and between Ammocetes and Vertebrates. LIMULUS AND ITS ALLIES. Central Nervous System, Supra-cesophageal ganglia Optic part fia (eames Olfactory part... (Esophageal commissures Infra-cesophageal ganglia Prosomatic ganglia Mesosomatic ganglia ... Ventral chain. Metasomatic ganglia .., Alimentary Canal. Cephalic stomach ... ... Straight intestine ... Terminal part (Esophagus Mouth tube iver... ... sie gree Appendages and Appendage Nerves. Prosomatic or locomotor appendages Foremost appendages... Last appendages... Metastoma, ...) ase Nerves of prosomatic ap- pendages ... ns Mesosomatic or branchial appendages... ... Opercular appendage: Genital part Branch. part Basal: part...) 1870'0 z= 99 20 459 log 7 = 0°259288 Dr. Anton Schobloch has, however, undertaken the investiga- tion of determining more thoroughly the elements of this comet. In this calculation he has included 311 observations, made at various observatories. The main figures in the computation will be found in Astronomésche Nachrichten (No. 3383), together with the list of the observations and comparison stars used. The result shows, however, that there is no reason to depart from the assumption of a parabolic orbit. The final elements, as given below, differ only slightly from those obtained by Gerst. They are, as the following figures show : Mean Equinox, 1870’0, Osculation, September 135, Berlin Mean Time. T = 1870 September 2'2318232 Berlin Mean Time. w= 7 53 ee & = 12 56 18°78 ; Ecliptic 2 = 99 21 3°90 log g = 0°2592768. Comer GIAcoBINI.—This comet is not a very bright object in the heavens, but as Prof. Kreutz appeals for more observations to enable an accurate determination of its period possible, we give the following ephemeris. The elements on which this is based are those obtained by Messrs. Perrotin and Giacobini from observations made on September 4, 12, and 27, A glance at the ephemeris, given in str. Nach. (No. 3384), shows that the southern declination of the comet commences, about November 3, to decrease. Ephemers for 12h. Berlin Mean Time. R.A. app. Decl. app. 1896, hi) ones eel > log ». log A Br. Oct. 29 19 36 26 ~—13 43°5 O'1616 O'1177 0°97 30s. 39 42 44°6 Rat. 3h oe 42 58 45°4 INOW. I) os. 46 15 40'0 2 49 32 46°3 0°1620 0°1243 0°94 3 52 50 46°4 EG 56 8 462 5 19 59 27. —13 4577 OcTOBER 29, 1896] PLANETARY Nores.—In the current number of As/ronomische Nachrichten (No. 3384), the following information. which was telegraphed by Mr. Percival Lowell to Mr. J. Ritchie, jun., in Boston, is given :— Oct. 4 Phison and Euphrates, Martian canals are double. Oct. 5 Mercury and Venus rotate once on their axes in a re- volution round the sun. Venus is not cloud covered but veiled in an atmosphere. Mercury is not. Thus Mr. Lowell favours the view held by Schiaparelli and Perrotin regarding the length of the period of rotation of Venus. It may be remembered that this latter observer made a series of observations only last year to corroborate his previous work. He took up his position on a mountain (Monnier) 2741 metres high, where the atmosphere seemed all that could be desired for his observations. The result of his study was the same as that which he had formerly obtained. The appearance of the planet’s terminator at different times saffered no variation, and the western limb, which could be well seen, resembled exactly the eastern as it was observed in 1890. Further, by watching care- fully the dark markings at the different periods of time, the phenomenon of libration was noticed, a fact which considerably strengthens the hypothesis of a longer time of rotation than that favoured by several other observers, namely, about twenty-four hours. At present the weight of evidence seems to favour the hypothesis of the long period, but it cannot be said as yet that the question is finally settled, for opinion is still divided. PHYSIOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. THE formation of an independent section for Physiology and Experimental Pathology has been fully justified by the success of its second meeting at Liverpool. In scientific im- portance the communications compared favourably with those of Oxford, whilst the number of papers was so large that the business of the Section was with difficulty got through, although the sittings were extended to six days. The proceedings opened on Thursday with a communication by Prof. MeKendrick, on the application of the phonograph to the analysis of sounds. A new method of transcribing the phonographic records was demonstrated ; the essential feature of this method consisted in an aluminium lever connected at one end with a special form of syphon recorder, and having the other shaped so as to accurately fit the grooves cut on the phonographie cylinder. A further feature of the transcribing apparatus was obtained by causing the phonographic cylinder to rotate with extreme slowness: by this means the vibrations of the syphon recorder could be transcribed on a continuous slip of paper, such as is employed in telegraphy, travelling at such speed that the phonogram events of 1” were spread out over a distance of 10 feet on the record. An ingenious arrangement caused the continuous slip of paper to vibrate so as to obviate the necessity of the syphon recorder coming in contact with the paper, and thus diminishing to a minimum any error due to the friction of the writing pen. The transcribed tracings, magnified by the lever, represented the actual cylinder phonograms mag- nified 500 to 1000 times in amplitude. The tracings showed (1) that many musical instruments give a transcribed form which is absolutely characteristic ; (2) that such characteristic form may be detected in very complicated phonograms—for instance, that caused by a band of instruments, including that which, when alone, gives the special form ; (3) that when numerous sounds of different pitch follow one another in rapid succession. the ear recognises relative pitch when the transcribed curve shows that the special vibration for this has been repeated only ten times, z.e¢. when the sound has lasted a mere fraction of a second, presumably ;3,’’. By means of a resonator comprising a microphone contact, the phonographic cylinder was made to produce oscillations which enabled the record to be transformed into variations of current intensity ; the apparatus being much the same as that used by Hurthlé for obtaining electrical changes in correspond- ence with the sounds of the heart. The cylinder was arranged so that when driven slowly it communicated the record of its grooved inscription to a suitable tambour, and thus to the microphonic circuit. The variations in current intensity are, with suitable battery power, easily appreciated when conducted through the moistened hands, and give rise to specific series of NO. 1409, VOL. 54] NATURE 633 sensations which can be appreciated by the deaf; it is thus possible that the rhythm, magnitude, and possibly the specific character of a phonogram may be rendered capable of being understood, apart from the sense of hearing. Mr. R. J. Lloyd read a critical paper on the production of vowel sounds, and discussed the value of the phonographic evidence at present available for the analysis of such sounds. Prof. Macallum, of Toronto, gave a short communication on a means of detecting the difference between organic and inorganic salts of iron. An absolutely pure solution of hzema- toxylin is turned bluish-black in the presence of inorganic salts of iron, but is not so affected by organic compounds. If the organic compounds of iron present in any tissue—spleen, liver, &c. —are changed by suitable treatment with acid, so as to produce inorganic iron salts, then the tissue stains very darkly with the heematoxylin, and is quite different in appearance to that which is produced by the same dye when no such inorganic salt is present. The views advanced by Bunge as to the introduction of iron into the system by means of organic, in preference to inorganic iron compounds, have resulted in the production of a very large number of so-called organic iron remedial agents. Prof. Macallum showed that a considerable number of these con- tained large quantities of the inorganic iron salts, which would be detected by the above method. The importance of possess- ing an easy and effectual means for differentiating between the two sets of iron compounds is by no means confined to the analysis of such remedial agents; a large number of physio- logical processes are intimately bound up with the transfer or the presence of iron, and the method of determining such an essential character of its chemical relations may be employed in many physiological investigations. Dr. Marcet read a paper on types of human respiration. After a short introduction describing the graphic method em- ployed in the investigation, the following different types were contrasted : (1) normal automatic breathing ; (2) forced breath- ing; (3) breathing during exercise ; (4) breathing whilst under the influence of a strong volitional effort. Forced breathing is characterised by a large increase in the volume of air taken in at each inspiration, its cessation being followed by the well- known pause, z.c. apnoea. Breathing during exercise gives tracings which are to be interpreted as indicating a similar increased amplitude in each inspiration; but on cessation of exercise there is no pause, the increased inspiratory effect being maintained, and only slowly returning to the normal. Breathing is influenced by any pronounced volitional effort, even when this effort is not carried out by obvious muscular activity. Thus a strong volitional effort towards a form of movement will cause an increase in the volume of inspired air. This increase may be seen superadded to that caused by actual exercise when both the exercise and the volitional effort are contemporaneous. On Friday, Profs. Lorrain Smith and Westbrook gave an ac- count of the febrile reaction produced in mice by inoculation with cultures of Bactllus pyocyaneus, B. anthacts, muriseplicus, &c. Although these animals react to the inoculation, the febrile con- dition presents several remarkable characteristics as regards metabolism ; thus the variations in respiratory interchange were not so marked as those due to food, or to alterations in the temperature of the surroundings in the normal animal. Similarly the elimination of nitrogen was not increased to the extent to which it was by food, although in mice the normal nitrogenous balance is one in which the diurnal intake and output is for the body weight extremely large. The febrile reaction in these animals appears not to be associated with a large increase in general metabolism; and this fact demonstrates the necessity for careful study of the conditions under which it occurs in separate groups of animals. Prof. Thompson (Belfast) followed with a paper on the physiological effects of peptone when injected into the venous system. The injection of Witte’s peptone dissolved in_phy- siological sodium chloride solution produces well-known effects, the most prominent being the alteration in the coagulability of the blood anda vascular dilatation, causing a fall of blood pressure. The present investigation brought out some further points as to the production of these phenomena, which may be summarised as follows. (1) In doses over two centigrammes per kilo of body weight the peptone retards the susceptibility of blood to coagulation, but in weaker doses it actually favours such sus- ceptibility ; (2) even very small doses of ten milligrammes per kilo, if rapidly injected, can cause a fall of blood pressure ; (3) the fall of blood pressure is due to the peripheral effect of the 634 NATURE [OcToBER 29, 1896 substance upon the blood-vessels, and not to any interference with the central nervous system; (4) the vascular dilatation producing the fall is not confined to the splanchnic area; (5) the dilatation is brought about by lowering the excitability of the peripheral neuro-muscular mechanism of the arterioles ; (6) this diminished excitability is in all probability chiefly limited to the nervous part of the above mechanism. The experiments from which the above conclusions were deduced were carried out in the Sorbonne Laboratory, Paris, and consisted of observations of blood pressure under various conditions, such as section of the spinal cord, excitation of the cord after section, section of the splanchnic nerves, and excitation of the peripheral ends of these, and of the cord after their section. Facsimile photographic reproductions of the tracings were exhibited in support of the above statements. A paper was read, by Dr. J. L. Bunch, on the nerves of the intestine, and the effects upon these of small doses of nicotine. The method of study was one in which a small portion of the intestine was suitably exposed and connected so as to record its movements. The following facts were brought out and illus- trated by photographs of the tracings. (1) The stimulation of the peripheral end of the cut vagus nerve causes no motor effect as regards the portions of small intestine investigated. This is so not only with small doses of atropine to eliminate cardiac inhibition, but when the nerve is excited low down in the absence of atropine. (2) The excitation of the peripheral end of the cut splanchnic nerves may cause either contraction or dilatation of the portion of intestine, but does not produce simple inhibition of its movements. These two facts thus seem to show, in opposition to the views previously held, that the vagus fibres play no part in the pro- duction of intestinal movements, and that the splanchnics contain augmentor and depressor fibres for the intestinal neuro-mus- cular mechanism. Further researches as to the splanchnic fibres showed (a) that the nerve roots, the stimulation of which produce the splanchnic effects, are pre-eminently those between the eighth and thirteenth post-cervical nerves ; (4) that the intravenous injection of small doses of nicotine can abolish the excitatory effects evoked by stimulation of the nerve roots, although effects may still be produced by excitation of the trunk of the splanchnic nerves; hence the nerve-cell station appears to be in the sympathetic ganglia. Dr. Griinbaum followed with a communication on the effect of peritonitis on peristalsis. The peritonitis was produced by the injection of turpentine or other substances into the peritoneal cavity. The peristalsis was observed through the shaved ab- dominal wall, and in the opened cavity immersed in physio- logical salt solution at the body temperature. The peristalsis of both large and small intestine was increased for ‘twenty-four hours after the injection ; it then gradually diminished, and in four days resulted in complete paralysis, the large intestine being paralysed before the small intestine. Dr. Pavy gave a communication on the glucoside constitution of proteid. He drew attention to the universal recognition of the importance of the glucoside in the vegetable kingdom, and to the fact that such bodies as salicin and amygdalin were known to admit of cleavage into nitrogenous and glucoside moieties. In the animal kingdom the mucin-like substance of bile admitted of a similar cleavage. In 1894 the author published a method for demonstrating a similar cleavage of proteid. This consisted in dissolving a tissue in potash, precipitating by alcohol, and treating the precipitate with sulphuric acid. The glucose produced, varied in amount according to the duration of the previous treatment with potash and the strength of the reagent, hence it could not be due to the conversion of the glycogen of the tissue by the acid ; thus the action of potash is to split off from the proteid an amylose carbohydrate corresponding with the animal gum of Landwehr, which is converted by sulphuric acid into glucose. Dr. Pavy further stated his belief that a similar proteid cleavage may occur in the animal body resulting in the formation of glycogen, and thus of glucose, and that it is the excess of this disintegration which is the essential feature of diabetes ; whilst if in the process of digestion a cleavage of similar character occurs, this fact must be one of extreme therapeutic importance in connection with the views held as to the dietetic treatment of diabetes. Prof. Gotch communicated the results of experiments carried out by Mr. Burch and himself, which determined the time relations of the activity of a single nerve cell. The response NO. 1409, VOL. 54] of the electrical organ o1 Aalaplerurus electricus was shown to be the excitatory change in the nerve endings of the single axis cylinder which supplies it; the reflex response thus gives deductions as to the discharge of the single nerve cell from which this springs. The minimal central delay was found to be ‘008” to ‘o1”, of which time ‘006 must be considered as delayed propagation in the central fine dendrites of both afferent fibre and efferent cell. The central rhythm is one which is very varied, but the extreme limit of frequency was shown to be twelve per second, and the average rate four per second ; in all cases this rate was maintained for an extremely short period, each group of discharges comprising only from two to six members. The contrast between the reflex discharge in Malapterurus with its one nerve cell was contrasted with that of Torpedo, in which the very large number of cells is associated. with a rapid central rhythm of from 30 to 100 per second. On Saturday Prof. Minot (Harvard) showed a new form of microtome, prefacing the demonstration by remarks on the principles of microtome construction. The new microtome could be adapted to cut either paraffin or celloidin sections, and its construction ensured precision by avoiding the following sources of error; (@) the bending of the knife, which is very heavy, of the chisel type, and securely clamped at both ends ; (4) the yielding of the object to be cut, which is fixed on a wide supporting carrier ; (c) the jumping of the sliding gear of the carrier; to effect this, the knife being immovable, the carrier gear is rendered as perfect as possible, and allows of displacement only in the direction of its slide, and the object secured upon the carriage by very rigid fastenings. Additional advantages are secured by a simple accurate method of raising the object, a known amount, at each slide, and by a device for removing the alcohol moistening the knife and object so that it shall not fall upon the working gear. The microtome has been placed on the market by Messrs. Bausch and Lamb of Rochester, New York ; its probable cost being from twelve to fifteen pounds. Prof. Waller gave a communication, illustrated by a large number of facsimile photographs, as to the conditions which modify the electrical response of an isolated nerve to stimulation.. The method of investigation was described: it consisted in stimulating the isolated nerve by a rapid series of induced currents for a very brief period, this stimulation being repeated at regular intervals; the electrical response thus evoked was indicated by means of a galvanometer suitably connected with the nerve, and arranged so that the deflections of the galvano- meter needle should be photographed on a slowly moving plate. The nerve is practically submitted to a question-and- answer at regular short intervals, the question being constant, and the answer varying with the state of the nerve. Various chemical reagents alter the character of the response ; and nerve records were exhibited showing (1) that chloroform is more toxic than ether ; (2) that carbon dioxide is typically anzesthetic ; (3) that nitrous oxide is inert ; (4) that the basic is more effective than the acid moiety .of such neutral salts as KBr, NaBr, and KCl; (5) that the response is modified by the action of various alkaloids, such as morphine, atropine, aconitine, veratrine, curarine, and digitaline. Dr. Mann exhibited wax models of nerve-cells magnified one thousand times. and made from serial sections taken through the cell in different planes. The models showed the following points, in connection with the structure of the special cells thus portrayed. (1) The unipolar cells of spinal ganglia and multipolar cells of sympathetic ganglia are spherical or oval in the central parts of the ganglion, and flattened parallel to the surface at the periphery of the ganglion. (2) The distal process of the bipolar cells from the spinal ganglion of the guinea-pig is thinner than the proximal process. (3) The cells from Clarke's Column are frequently essentially bipolar, z.e. one axis cylinder passes upwards and another downwards, while the dendritic processes are comparatively very few and insignificant. (4) The motor cells in the spinal cord have wing-like processes. (5) In Malapterurus the cell body appears much broken up, because of the great development of the dendritic processes. Fritsch’s idea of a ‘* Bodenplatte,” from which the axis cylinder is supposed to spring, is erroneous. Dr. Buchanan exhibited a number of microphotographs illus- trating cell granulations under normal and abnormal conditions. The evidence afforded by their study appeared to show that the granules of leucocytes are of definite formation, and are in no way analogous to secretion granules, and that whilst leucocytes, OcTosER 29, 1896] under normal conditions, may be classified by the micro-chemical reaction of their granules into oxyphile and basophile groups, the distinction breaks down under abnormal conditions, since many leucocytes are then found exhibiting both oxyphile and basophile granulations at the same time. Prof. Paul gave a demonstration of microphotographs illus- trating some points in dental histology. The chief interest of the work was in regard to the formation of enamel. Whereas the dentine is regarded as a calcification of the intercellular matrix, the enamel is to be regarded as a calcification of cells, and thus tubular enamel is a negative picture of tubular dentine. Nasmyth’s membrane was shown to be epithelial in structure, a fact admitting of easy demonstration after rapid decalcification by the phloro-glucin and nitric acid method; it was a remnant of the external layer of enamel epithelium. Dr. E. Stevensor read a paper on the effect produced upon the eye movements by the destruction of the ear. The experi- ments were carried out in the dog, an interval elapsing between the lesion of the two sides. The destruction of the right ear caused impairment in the right eye movements, that of both a similar but more marked impairment of both eyes. The effect was great external strabismus, and the movements carried out by the muscles supplied by the third nerve showed a loss of power in these amounting to 75 per cent. On Monday the President, Dr. Gaskell, gave his address on the origin of Vertebrates, the Section meeting in conjunction with that of Biology. At the President’s request the address formed the basis for a discussion, in which several prominent biologists took part. On Tuesday Prof. Haycraft gave an account of an investiga- tion into photometry by means of the flicker method. The essential feature of this consists of a rotating disc with black and coloured segments, and the disappearance of flickering at any given speed of rotation is taken as the measurable point of luminosity. He also discussed Purkinjé’s phenomenon, and showed experiments which proved that one essential factor in its production had been disregarded in previous work upon the subject, this being the persistent psycho-retinal effect of light surroundings ; by placing the observer in a dark surrounding, the production of the phenomena is profoundly modified. Prof. Allen read a paper on the physical basis of life, in which he advanced the following views. The vital phenomena are essentially related to change in the N atoms of nitrogenous compounds; they are accompanied by transfer of O, but this transfer is only brought about by the nitrogen ; the nitrogen in the living molecule may be regarded as centrally situated, and in the pentad state ; on death it is peripherally situated, and in the triad state. Dr. Lazarus Barlow described the recent extension of his work upon osmosis, and particularly upon the rate at which this begins and is developed. The resultant initial osmotic pressure was shown to be one which, as produced by different substances, does not run parallel with the final osmotic pressures. Since in physiological processes such final osmotic pressures are out of the question, the initial effects are those which must be taken into account in the determination of such questions as the passage of substances through the living cells. A number of experiments, in which the thoracic outflow of lymph was determined before and after a rapid lowering of the specific gravity of the blood through bleeding, &c., showed no initial check in the rate of flow. The discrepancy between the initial effects produced by osmosis and those observed in the body, appeared to lead to the conclusion that osmosis plays but a small part in either the absorption of substances into the blood, or their outflow from this into the lymph channels. Dr. Kanthack read a paper on the bacteria in food, in which he criticised the method of bacteriotogical analysis as applied to the determination of suspected food. The number of micro- organisms present in food obtained from very different sources was found to be practically the same, hence the quantitative method is valueless. As regards the qualitative method, the presence of Bacterium coli and of Proteus forms cannot be con- sidered as conclusive evidence of fozcal or sewage contamination, since these two forms are apparently ubiquitous, and may be found in almost all food. NATURE Dr. Sims Woodhead called attention to the desirability | of the organisation of bacteriological research in connec- tion with public health. We referred to the results obtained by the co-operation of public bodies with those directly concerned in the creation and management of scientific NO. 1409, VOL. 54] | | of glycerine upon the growth of bacteria. 635 institutions. In London, the Metropolitan Asylums Board has approached the Laboratories of the Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians ; in Manchester and Liverpool, the Public Health Committees have made arrangements with the Pathological Departments of Owens and of University College. The results have been of great utility to both sides, and these are examples of what can be achieved by spasmodic efforts. Could this co-opera- tion be systematised and extended, the possibilities of benefit to the community would be enormous. The rapid investigation of matters immediately affecting public health would be the gain of the public, whilst the better equipment, and, above all, adequate maintenance of skilled scientific investigators, through the financial help of public bodies, would be the gain of science. On Wednesday Dr. Hill, Master of Downing College, read a paper on the minute structure of the cerebellum, in which, among other points of interest, he brought forward evidence in favour of the view that the processes of the Purkinjé nerve cells could be traced into direct continuity with the peripheral arbor- isations of nerve fibres entering the grey substance from below. Prof. Fokker read a paper on the basis of the bacteriological theory founded upon observations upon the fermentation of milk. Dr. Copeman gave an account of experiments as to the action In this important communication the results of further experiments on the bac- teriology of small-pox and vaccinia were brought forward, and thus the question of the purification and preservation of vaccine lymph was discussed. It was shown that whereas ordinary lymph is apt to contain numerous micro-organisms, no visible development of these takes place in lymph treated with 30 per cent. of glycerine. Whena mixture of peptone broth and glycerine is inoculated with such organisms as Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus pyogenes, aureus, and albus, Bacillus pyocyaneus, subtilis, Colt communis, diphtherte, and teuberculosts, the microbes are all killed in less than a month by 30 to 40 per cent. of glycerine with the exception of &. coli communzs and subtilis. Bacillus cold communis, unlike B. typhosus, resists the action of even 50 per cent. of glycerine for a considerable time in the cold, and this property may serve to differentiate between these varieties. Dr. Copeman’s discovery that the monkey is susceptible to vaccination, has enabled him to ascer- tain that small-pox and vaccine material retain their efficacy when completely sterilised for extraneous microbes by the action of 40 per cent. glycerine. He has succeeded in obtaining cultures from such sterilised vaccine, and considers that the single small bacillus present in these may not improbably be the micro- organism of vaccinia. Dr. Copeman was heartily congratulated by Sir Joseph Lister and Prof. Burdon-Sanderson on the important contribution he had made to preventive medicine. Dr. Durham read a paper on some points in the mechanism of the reaction to peritoneal infections. He first referred to the work done by himself in conjunction with Prof. Griiber of Vienna, in relation to the alleged paucity of the hyaline and coarsely granular oxyphil leucocytes in the peritoneal liquid, the so-called leucopenia of Lowit. This paucity has been attributed to their destruction due, according to Metschnikoff, to the in- creased bactericidal power of the peritoneal fluid. The re- searches carried out at Vienna, and now described, showed that a large deposit of hyaline and the oxyphil cells is found deposited on the omentum, probably through the exceptionally active peristalsis which accompanies the early stages of peritonitis : with these are mixed the bacteria which were used for the local infection ; and when these are of low virulence, they are ingested by the hyaline cells quite independent of any previous action of oxyphil cells. The passing away of the state of leucopenia is associated with the presence, in abnormal amount, of a poly- nuclear leucocyte or finely granular oxyphil cell. The above is not the sole factor in the production of leucopenia ; a second one of great importance was shown to be the flow of lymph along the lymphatics in connection with the peritoneal cavity. Both bacteria and cells are carried in great numbers along these channels. The coarsely granular or megoxyphil cells are thus never abundant in the peritoneal cavity as free cells; on the other hand, the finely granular or microxyphil cells rapidly increase in number, especially during recovery from local infection, and synchronously with their presence the peritoneal liquid increases in bactericidal power. ; Prof. Boyce brought forward the combined report of Prof, 636 Herdman and himself as to the bacteriology of the oyster. The research dealt with the following points :-— (1) The identification and differentiation of Bacz/dus typhosus and &. colé communis. This was determined by the difference (a) in fermentation ; (4) indol production; (c) milk changes ; (@) character of growth in potassic iodide potato gelatine ; (e) behaviour in gelatine ; (/°) motility. (2) The action of sea-water upon the growth of B. dyphosus. There is no evidence of their multiplication, but the microbe can be detected under laboratory conditions for fourteen days after infection of the water. (3) The bacteria present in the alimentary canal of the oyster. In cultures kept at 37° C. the microbes were almost entirely B. coli, and varieties of Proteus; but the deduction that the presence of these indicates sewage contamination could not, in the opinion of the authors, be made without special further research. The fresh oyster contains comparatively few bacteria and a small percentage of A, cole. (4) The infection of the oyster with Bacz//us typhosus. The research showed that this organism did not multiply in the oyster tissues even when these were thus infected; it further showed that on subjecting such infected oysters to a running stream of pure, clean sea-water, there was a complete disappear- ance of A. typhosus in from one to seven days. Dr. Kohn added a chemical report upon the presence of iron and copper in the white and green varieties of oyster. It has been stated that the green colour of the gills of Marennes oysters is associated with an excess of iron in these. The author used an electrolytic method of analysis which, by decom- posing the organic material, enables the minute quantities of metal present to be determined with considerable accuracy. The results showed that there was no excess of iron in the gills of green as compared with white oysters. Copper was found to be present in both the green and white varieties, but the slight excess in the gills of the former variety appears to be insufficient to account for their colour; a conclusion which is confirmed by Prof. Herdman’s experiments as to the production of the green colour in oysters grown in very dilute saline solutions of iron salts. Dr. Abram and Mr. Marsden read a paper on the detection of lead in organic fluids. The method employed consisted in a modification of that of von Jaksch. The fluid is mixed with ammonium oxalate in the proportion of 1 grm, to 150 cc. of fluid, and a strip of magnesium free from lead is immersed for twenty-four hours. The magnesium strip is discoloured if lead is present, and the following confirmatory tests may be applied : (a) warm strip with crystal of I, forming iodide of lead ; (6) dissolve with HCl, and treat solution with sulphuretted hydrogen. The method is at bottom an electrolytic one, and gives results when lead is present in either water or urine in the proportion of 1 in 50,000. It is simple, and is applicable to all forms of organic fluid in which lead is suspected to exist. CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF THE CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. HE first meeting of the Conference took place on September 17; Dr. Garson was in the chair. The proceedings began with the reading of a short paper by Mr. George Abbott, general secretary of the South- Eastern Union of Scientific Societies. In this paper Mr. Abbott remarked that while local Natural History Societies had done much good work, yet that in many cases their efforts had been weak, irregular and desultory, the chief cause of failure having been, in his opinion, want of organisation. He thought that a step in the mght direction had been taken by the Unions of Scientific Societies already existing, such as those of Yorkshire and the East of Scotland, but considered that the British As- sociation did not sufficiently foster such unions, and that some plan was necessary to organise the local societies under the guidance of the Association, which should, through an organis- ing secretary, help to bring these unions into being. He sub- mitted the following plan for consideration :— Districts. —The United Kingdom should be divided into fifteen or twenty districts, in each of which all Natural History Societies should be affiliated for mutual aid, counsel, and work. Existing unions should perhaps be imitated, at any rate not dis- urbed, NO. 1409, VOL. 54 | NATURE [OcToBER 29, 1896 Geographical lines should decide their size, which might vary in extent and be dependent, in some measure, on railway facilities. From time to time these areas might be subject to. review, and necessary changes made. Congress. —Vach of such unions would have its annual con- gress attended by delegates and members from its affiliated societies. This would be held in a fresh town every year, with a new president, somewhat after the manner of the British Association itself. The congresses would probably take place in spring, but two should never be held on the same day. These unions would render important help to local societies, would bring isolated workers together, assist schools, colleges, and technical institutes and museums, start new societies, and. revive waning ones. Through these annual meetings local and. petty jealousies would lessen or turn to friendly rivalries—each society trying to excel in real work, activity, and good science teaching. Further, economy of labour would be accomplished by a precise demarcation of area for each local society. This would be understood as its sphere of work and influence ; in this portion of country it would have a certain amount of responsibility in such matters as observation, research, and vigilance against encroachments on footpaths, commons, and wayside wastes. These unions might also, through their Central Committees, bring about desirable improvements in publication, but it would perhaps not be desirable, in all cases, to go in for joint publication. In this, as in other matters connected with the unions, co-oferation and not uniforméty must be our aim. Onion Committees.—Kach union would need a general secretary and a committee, all of whom should be intimately acquainted with methods of work and the best ambitions of local societies, Corresponding Members.—This is another necessary develop- ment. Each local society should appoint in every village in its district a corresponding member with some distinctive title, and certain privileges and advantages. The work asked of him would be to : (1) Forward surplus natural history Society's museum. (2) Supply prompt information on the following subjects :— (a) New geological sections. (4) Details of wells, borings, springs, &c. (c) Finds of geological and antiquarian interest. (3) Answer such questions as the British Association or the local society may require. (4) Keep an eye on historic buildings. (5) Assist the Selborne Society in carrying out its objects. In return he should be offered (1) Assistance in naming specimens, and with the formation of schoo] museums. (2) Free admission to lectures and excursions. (3) Copies of Transactions. (4) Free use of the Society’s library. Mr. Abbott concluded with some remarks on the cost of these Unions. They would be maintained by means of small contributions from the affiliated societies. He did not attempt to estimate the expense of an organising secretary, but thought that, whatever it might be, the British Association would soon find itself amply repaid in the greatly increased efficiency of the local societies. The Chairman (Dr. Garson) having invited discussion— The Rey. E. P. Knubley gave the results of his experience of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union during the twenty years of its existence. It was, he believed, the largest in the country, having 500 members and 2500 associates. It had thirty-six affiliated associations. Their work came under five sections, those of geology, botany, zoology, conchology and entomology. In addition they had research committees ; such as a Boulder Committee, a Sea Coast Erosion Committee, and others. An annual meeting was held in one of the Yerkshire towns. Every effort was made to get each member to do some special work. Mr. M. H. Mills then gave some: account of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers. Each of the societies com- posing it did its work independently, as before the existence of the Federation. The one difference was that there was now a single publication instead of many. Mr. Montagu Browne described the constitution of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society. As to payments. for printing, each section was usually self-supporting ; but in specimens to their OcToBER 29, 1896] NATURE 637 a the case of unusually expensive papers, the parent society made a special grant, if necessary. Mr. De Rance approved of Mr. Abbott’s plan, and felt that without an organising secretary nothing in the way of federation would ever be accomplished. Mr. W. T. Hindmarsh said, that while the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club had a large field of work, there was no other naturalists’ club in it with which they could unite, though their boundaries included not only Berwickshire, but Northumberland outside Newcastle. Prof. Merivale thought that it would be an excellent thing if the Naturalists’ Societies could unite as the societies composing the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers had done. Prof. Johnson said that they had a good example of a Union in Ireland. It comprised four clubs, one in Dublin, another in Belfast, a third in Cork, and a fourth in Limerick. These had one publication, which was common property, Zhe Jrish Naturalist. Mr. Eli Sowerbutts felt that, while federation must generally commend itself to all, there were many delicate questions in- volved in it which made it difficult to come to a decision at that meeting. After some discussion, it was decided that Mr. Montagu Browne, Prof. Johnson, the Rev. E. P. Knubley, Mr. Hind- marsh, Mr. W. W. Watts, Mr. O. W. Jeffs, the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, and Mr. G. Abbott should form a sub-committee to consider Mr. Abbott's propositions, and report to the Cor- responding Societies Committee. MEETING OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE. A meeting of the Sub-committee was held on Monday, Sep- tember 21; the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing in the chair, The following resolutions were agreed to :— (1) That Mr. G. Abbott’s paper on District Unions of Natural History Societies be distributed by the Committee of Delegates of the Corresponding Societies amongst a// the Natural History Societies in the United Kingdom, with the request that their opinion on the feasibility of the plan advocated in the paper be communicated as early as possible to the Corresponding Societies Committee for its report to the next conference of delegates. (2) That the formation of District Unions of Natural History Societies is highly desirable, and would be of general advantage. (3) That the Committee of Delegates of Corresponding Societies be requested to take steps to encourage the formation of District Unions of Natural History Societies. (4) That it should be distinctly understood that the formation of Unions would not in any way prevent the affiliation of individual Societies of such Unions to the British Association as at present. The second Conference took place on September 22; Dr. ‘Garson in the chair. After some discussion, the report of the Sub-committee for the further consideration of Mr. Abbott's paper was received and adopted.! The Chairman then called upon Prof. Flinders Petrie to read a short paper ‘*On a Federal Staff for Local Museums.” The suggestions only affect a distribution of labour, and will rather economise than require extra expenditure. In all local museums the main difficulty of the management is that there is neither money nor work enough for a highly trained and competent man. It is in any case impossible to get a universal genius who can deal with every class of object equally well, and hardly any local museum can afford to pay for a first- class curator on any one subject. These difficulties are entirely the result of a want of co-operation. According to the report of the Committee in 1887, there are fifty-six first class, fifty-five second class, sixty-three third class, and thirty fourth class museums in the kingdom. Setting aside the last two classes as mostly too poor to pay except for mere care- taking, there are 111 in the other classes; and deducting a few of the first class museums as being fully provided, there are 100 museums, all of which endeavour to keep up to the mark by spending, perhaps, 30/. to 200/. a year on a curator. The practical course would seem to be their union, in provid- ing a federal staff, to circulate for all purposes requiring skilled 1 In connection with this subject, it may be useful to remind the reader of Prof. Meldola’s paper on ‘‘The Work of Local Societies” (NATURE, vol. liv. p. 114, June 4, 1806). NO. £409, VOL. 54] knowledge ; leaving the permanent attention to each place to devolve on a mere caretaker. If half of these first and second class museums combined in paying 30/. a year each, there would be enough to pay three first-rate men 500/. a year apiece, and each museum would have a week of attention in the year from a geologist, and the same from a zoologist and an archeologist. The duties of such a staff would be to arrange and label the new specimens acquired in the past year, taking sometimes a day, or perhaps a fortnight, at one place ; to advise on altera- tions and improvements ; to recommend purchases required to fill up gaps ; to note duplicates and promote exchanges between museums ; and to deliver a lecture on the principal novelties of their own subject in the past year. Such visitants, if well selected, would probably be welcome guests at the houses of some of those interested in the museum in each place. The effect at the country museums would be that three times in the year a visitant would arrive for one of the three sections, would work everything up to date, stir the local interests by advice and a lecture, stimulate the caretaker, and arrange routine work that could be carried out before the next year’s visit, and yet would not cost more than having down three lecturers for the local institution or society, apart from this work. To many, perhaps most, museums 30/. for skilled work, and 307. or 402. for a caretaker, would be an economy on their present expenditure, while they would get far better attention. Such a system could not be suddenly started ; but if there were an official base for it, curators could interchange work according to their specialities, and as each museum post fell vacant it might be placed in commission among the best curators in that district, until by gradual selection the most competent men were attached to forty or fifty museums to be served in rotation. It is not impossible that the highest class of the local museums might be glad to subscribe, so as to get special attention on subjects outside of the studies of the present curators. The Chairman having thanked Prof. Petrie and invited dis- cussion— Mr. W. E. Hoyle hoped that no action would be taken in this matter in such a way as to prevent co-operation with the Museums Association. Prof. Petrie’s scheme seemed to him a most simple and practical one, and he hoped that those interested would confer with the officials of the Museums Association with regard to it. He thought the chief difficulty in carrying it out was the almost incredible inertia of Museum Committees. Mr. M. H. Mills testified to the thoroughness with which such questions were discussed at meetings of the Museums Association, Mr. G. Abbott supported Prof. Petrie’s suggestions ; and Mr. Richardson approved them, but thought the Committee of the Dorset County Museum was hardly in a position to incur the expense. Prof. Johnson thought it would be a good thing if the Museums Association could become a Corresponding Society of the British Association, so that one or more of its chief officials could always be present at discussions of this kind. He would protest strongly against the suggestion that the curators of our museums should be converted into mere caretakers, as he thought the tendency should be of an opposite kind. He thought it would be better that our local societies should make a specialist of some kind their curator, and give him a chance of rising above the position he held at first. Prof. Carr regretted that Prof. Petrie’s paper had not been read before the Museums Association. Some time ago a sub- committee had been appointed by that Association to report upon a scheme resembling that of Prof. Petrie, but no definite result had been attained. Possibly if Prof. Petrie were now to bring this paper before the Museums Association, more im- portant effects would be produced. Prof. Petrie, in reply, said that this was toa great extent a money question. He did not, however, think that his sugges- tions necessarily involved additional expense. He thought that it was better that the money should be divided between the mere caretakers and the specialists, rather than that an attempt should be made to combine them by employing a man who could not be a specialist on all points. Indeed the curators, who were more than mere caretakers, would, through his plan, receive more than before, as they would be able to render service at a number of places, instead of being confined to one. A vote of thanks to Prof. Petrie having been passed, the Chairman invited remarks from the representatives of the various Sections. 6358 NALORE [OcToBER 29, 1896 | Section C. Mr. W. Watts invited the co-operation of the Corresponding Societies in the work of the Geological Photographs Committee and the Erratic Blocks Committee, Mr. De Rance remarked that though the labours of the Underground Waters Committee had come to an end, he hoped the local societies would record carefully in their districts every- thing bearing upon that subject. Section H. Mr. Sidney Hartland asked for the co-operation of the Cor- responding Societies in the work of the Ethnographical Survey Committee. Considerable progress had been made in the past year. There were no departments in which it was so important to have speedy information as those of dialect and folk-lore, as education, facilities for railway travelling, and industrial migra- tions were rapidly destroying local customs, dialects and tradi- tions. Still, in some parts there had been little change, and if physical measurements were made and physical characteristics noted, in stationary districts, of persons belonging to the old families of the locality, much light might be thrown on the various races of the British Isles. He would be glad to furnish any delegates interested in the subject with copies of the Ethnographical Committee’s schedules, or with any other help in his power. Mr. John Gray (Buchan Field Club) described the work done in his district in noting the physical characteristics both of adults and of school children. The Chairman remarked that Mr. Gray’s society was doing very good work, and giving an illustration of what was required. As the information asked for by the Ethnographic Committee was of so many different kinds, he thought the local societies would be wise to form sub-committees, one dealing with physical measurements and characteristics, another with folk-lore, and so on. Then photographers were needed to illustrate both people and ancient monuments. Investigations of this kind would at once enrich the Zyansactzonrs of a local society, and help the work of the British Association, UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—The Walsingham Gold Medal for an essay or monograph on a botanical, geological, or zoological subject will be awarded next year. Competitors must be under the standing of M.A., and must send their essays to Prof. Newton, F.R.S., not later than October 9, 1897. The General Board proposes to fix the stipend of the vacant Professorship of Surgery at £300, but hopes that after 1898 the state of the University finances may make it possible to raise this sum to £500 a year, tenable with a fellowship. About 135 of the freshmen admitted this term propose to study natural science and medicine with a view to the B.A. and M.B. degrees. Dr. Allbutt, F.R.S., is appointed an Elector to the chair of Pathology, and Dr. Hill to the chair of Anatomy, in the room of the late Sir G. M. Humphry. The Examiners for the Natural Sciences Tripos 1897 are— W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., R. Meldola, F.R.S., Dr. A. Scott, A. Hutchinson, H. Woods, J. J. I]. Teale, F.R.S., Dr. H. M. Ward, F:R.S., H. Wager, S. F. Harmer, F. Jeffrey Bell, F.R.S., A. C. Seward, J. J. Lister, Prof. A. M. Paterson, Dr. A. Hill, Dr. L. E. Shore, and Prof. W. D. Halliburton. Av the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Princeton University, on October 22, the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Lord Kelvin and Prof. J. J. Thomson. Iv is announced in Scéenzce that a laboratory built for the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, at a cost of over £4000, will soon be ready for use. The building includes well-fitted laboratories of chemistry, bacteriology and histology. It is hoped that an additional sum of £20,000 will be collected for an endowment. Dr. THos. Ewan, Chief Assistant in the Chemical Depart- ment of the Northern Polytechnic Institute, has been appointed Research Chemist to the British Aluminium Company in their works at Oldbury. He is succeeded at the Northern Polytechnic by Mr. H. Charles L, Bloxam, at present Chief Assistant in the Chemical Department of the Goldsmiths’ Institute, New Cross. NU. 1409, VOL. 54] Tue following Scholarships have been awarded in connection with the present session (1896-7) of the Central Technical, College :—Clothworkers’ Scholarship, £460 a year with free education for two years, L. P. Wilson; Mitchell Scholarship, £40 a year with free education for two years, R. S. Potter ; Clothworkers’ Technical Scholarship, £30 a year with free education for two years, E. W. Cook; David Salomons. Scholarship, 450, E. W. Marchant ; John Samuel Scholarship, 430, H. W. Hanbury ; Institute’s Scholarships, free education for three years, F. S. Miller, J. I. Hunter, F. W. Fawdry. A GENERAL meeting of the members of the Convocation of the University of London was held on Tuesday. After a long discussion it was resolved :—‘*That this House earnestly desires the early establishment, in accordance with the expressed intentions of the founders of this University, of University professorships and lectureships in science and literature, together with such institutions as may tend to the encouragement of original study and research on the part of members of the University.” It was further decided, on the motion of Mr. W. T. Lynn—*‘ That itis desirable to make application to the Government for the provision of funds to establish a students’ observatory in the neighbourhood of London for the instruction, primarily, of members of the University in practical astronomy, with the ultimate view of taking part in the progress of astronomical investigation.” So much money is being frittered away by Technical Educa- tion Committees as grants for instruction in such subjects as basket-making and hedging, that no apology is needed for again calling attention to the courses of science lectures which the Councils of University and King’s Colleges, London, have arranged in conjunction with the Technical Education Board, | to be held in the evenings and on Saturday mornings. These lectures are of a university type, being of the same standard as those which are given in the day-time. They are intended for those students who, being occupied in the day, are unable to obtain university instruction except in the evening; and they are given at considerably reduced fees. Among these courses may be mentioned: (1) An evening course on Advanced Chemistry, at University College, by Mr. C. F. Cross. The course will consist of fifteen lectures, given on Friday evenings, commencing on Friday, November 6; and the subject of the course is ‘‘ Cellulose, the chemistry of vegetable fibres, and of their industrial preparations and uses.” The fee for the whole course is £1 Is., which, in the case of those who earn weekly wages, may be paid in two instalments. (2) A Saturday morn- ing course for teachers, at University College, by Prof. Karl Pearson, on ‘‘ Graphic Methods.” The course deals mainly with the use of the drawing-board in elementary, geometrical, and mechanical teaching. The admission to this course is free for teachers. The following lectures have also been arranged by the Professors at the two colleges. In the evenings, Prof. Hudson Beare and Prof. Fleming are giving courses at Univer- sity College on Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engin- eering respectively ; while at King’s College, Prof. Robinson is holding a course on Civil Engineering, Prof. Banister Fletcher on Architecture, Prof. Adamson Experimental and Practical Physics, and Prof. Hudson on Pure Mathematics. The fee for each of these courses is £1 1s. On Saturday mornings Prof. Capper is holding a course, at King’s College, on the Strength of Materials, to be followed in January by a course on the Theory of Machines. In January Prof. Fleming will also commence a course, at University College, on Electricity and Magnetism. The Saturday morning courses are free for teachers. We are glad to make these courses known, because we feel that their success would induce provincial Technical Education Committees to pay more attention to the higher branches of scientific instruction than most of them do at present. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. Amerian Journal of Science, October.—On the rate of con- densation in the steam-jet, by A. de Forest Palmer, Photo- graphs of a vertical steam-jet were obtained with the aid of sunlight. The invisible portion has the general shape of the inner mantle of a Bunsen flame, and its outline depends upon the pressure of the jet and the velocity with which the conden- sation travels towards the nozzle. The author finds that the separation surface of the invisible portion is sharply marked, and that it oscillates up and down. The demarcation is OcTOBER 29, 1896] probably due to the fact that the instantaneous heat of conden- sation is able to superheat the supersaturated steam as it arrives at the surface. The velocity of condensation increases markedly with the pressure ; and since the initial velocity of the jet and “the rate of decrease of its velocity in ascending also increase with the pressure, the amplitude of the oscillations decreases with it.—Abnormal hickery nuts, by F, H. Herrick. The author describes two hickory nuts of ordinary external appear- ance, but containing an endocarp strongly resembling an acorn, and supposed to be cases of hybridism between the oak and the hickory. The minute anatomy of their structure gives no direct evidence of hybridism, but the variation undoubtedly arose at the time of fertilisation, and is at present unexplained. —Separation and identification of potassium and sodium, by D. A. Kreider and J. E. Breckenridge. These metals may be effectively and delicately separated by converting their salts into perchlorates and precipitating the potassium with 97 per cent. alcohol. The sodium is then precipitated by blowing gaseous hydrochloric acid into the alcoholic filtrate.—A new method for reading deflections of galvanometers, by C. B. Rice. The method is based upon Gauss’s mirror and scale method, but the telescope is replaced by a lens at a short distance from the mirror. The latter is perforated in the centre, and through the hole is seen a black arrow on a white ground placed at an equal distance beyond the mirror, which, being in the same plane as the reflected scale, serves as a pointer, and obviates the necessity of a telescope.—The action of ferric chloride on metallic gold, by P. C. MclIlhiney. Ferric chloride by itself, or hydrochloric acid in presence of air, have no action on gold. But a mixed solution of hydrochloric acid and ferrié chloride dissolves gold when oxygen is present, the ferric chloride acting as a carrier. American Journal of Mathematics, vol. xwili. No. 4, October: —Mr. E. H. Moore concludes his tactical memoranda i.-iii- with several more ‘‘ whist-tournament arrangements,” and gives a short list of the published literature of the subject.—In the Etude de Géométrie Cinématique réglée, M. René de Saussure proposes to establish a purely synthetical correspond- ence entre les points de la surface imaginaire et les droites de Vespace, de maniére 4 obtenir une géometrie de l’espace réglé basée sur la géométrie supposée connue, de Ja surface. He discusses first the principles of the synthetic geometry of such a space, and then the kinematic geometry of the same space. He next gives applications of his theory. In this theory la ligne droite est prise comme élément d’espace, non-seulement au point de vue géomeétrique, mais aussi au point de vue mécanique ; cette maniére devoir conduit a la conception d’une cinématique réglée. La raison d’étre de cette branche de la cinématique provient du fait que le déplacement le plus général d'un corps solide est une torsion et l’effort le plus général exercé sur un solide est ce que Pliicker appelle un dyname et Ball un torseur (wrench) ; car l’effort que développe un dyname ou un torseur s’exerce sur une droite de méme gquwune force s’exerce sur wn point, puisque le vectangle est a la droite ce que le vecteur est au point.—The volume closes with a paper by Goursat, entitled ‘* Sur les equations linéaires et la méthode de Laplace.” In it the author develops, at some length, a recent note which he presented to the Academy of Sciences (Covp/es rendus, t. Cxxii., January 27, 1896). SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Paris. Academy of Sciences, October 19.—M. A. Chatin in the chair.—The President announced the death of M. Trécul, Mem- ber of the Botanical Section, on October 15.—New researches relating to the decomposition of sugars, under the influence of acids, and especially with the production of carbonic acid, by MM. Berthelot and G. André. The experiments were partly conducted in sealed tubes at 100°, partly in open flasks, at the boiling point. Estimations were made of carbonic acid, carbon monoxide, formic acid, levulic acid, humic acid, and unattacked glucose. Besides glucose, experiments were carried out with levulose, galactose, and maltose. The principal reaction appears to be the formation of humic acid ; carbonic acid is also formed in not inconsiderable quantity. —Determination of the magnetic elements at sea. Applications of the observations made by M. Schwerer on the Dudbourdiew, by M. E. Guyon. Since the formule developed by Archibald Smith and by Borgen for NO. 1409, VOL. 54] NATURE 639 correcting the readings made at sea, were worked out for ships into the construction of which comparatively little iron entered, it became necessary to make a fresh study of the corrections to be applied to readings taken upon warships as built at present. In the method here indicated all the constants neces- sary for the corrections for each kind of observation (declination, inclination, and total force) are deduced exclusively from observations of the same nature.—On the work carried out at the Observatory of Mount Blanc in 1896, by M. J. Janssen. The work has been considerably impeded by the bad weather prevailing, the actinometric observations being especially inter- fered with. The large telescope (33 cm. diameter) has been successfully mounted, and the observations on the values of the acceleration due to gravity at different points on the mountain have been continued.—Study of the digestibility of cocoa- butter and ordinary butter, by MM. Bourot and F. Jean. Comparative experiments carried out with the same person showed that 95°8 per cent. of ordinary butter is digested, and 98 per cent. of cocoa-butter. An abnormally large quantity of fat in the food causes less disturbance if the fat is cocoa-butter than if it is present as ordinary butter.—Some colour reactions of brucine: detection of nitrous acid in presence of sulphites, by M. P. Pichard. The red colouration produced in an acid solution of brucine by a nitrite is capable of showing one part of nitrous acid in 640,000 parts of water, and is more sensitive in the presence of sulphites and hyposulphites than the tests proposed by Griess, Tromsdorff, and Piccini.— General principles relating to the physics of space, by M. J. Poulin.—Tempests and cyclones, by M. A. de Langrée.—Note on aérial navigation, by M. Caravanier.—On some peculiarities of solubility curves, by M. H. Le Chatelier. Some experiments on the melting points of some double salts and alloys, showed that in the neighbourhood of the composition corresponding to a definite combination (SnCuj, SbCuy, Al,Cu, &c.), the curve showed a maximum temperature in the form of an angular point, which did not necessarily correspond exactly to the point of definite composition. The theoretical discussion elucidates the reason for this peculiarity.—Influence of pressure-in the changes of state of a body, by M. A. Ponsot.—On the property of discharging electrified conductors, produced in gases by the X-rays and by electric sparks, by M. E. Villari, It is shown that a gas confined in a tube, and exposed to the X-rays, acquires rapidly the power of discharging an electrified disc, and keeps this property for some time. The passage of a series of sparks from a coil strengthened by a condenser, confers the same property upon a gas.—On the action of the silent discharge upon the property of gases of discharging electrified conductors, by M. E. Villari. Gases subjected to the action of a series of sparks acquire an increased conductivity for heat. The silent discharge is not able to put the gas into the condition in which it can dis- charge an electrified body, but if a gas which has been subjected to X-rays, and which therefore is in this condition, is subjected to the silent discharge, it is no longer able to affect a charged gold- leaf electroscope.—Succession of the atomic weights of the ele- ments, by M. Delauney. An attempt to classify the elements according as their atomic weights are expressed by: 47, 42 + 3, 42 + 2, or 42 + 1.—Phosphopalladic ethers. Am- moniacal derivatives of phosphopalladous and phosphopalladic ethers, by M. Finck.—Law of the establishment and persistence of the luminous sensation, deduced from new experiments upon rotating discs, by M. Charles Henry.—On the jaws in insects, by M. Joannes Chatin.—On the habits of Zvanta Desjardinsic, by M. E. Bordage.—New observations on the bacteria of the potato, by M. E. Roze.—Some remarks on the kerosine shale of New South Wales, by M. C. E. Bertrand.—On the micro- granulites of the Ferret valley, by MM. L. Dupare and F. Pearce.—On the mode of formation of the Pyrenees, by M. P. W. Stuart-Menteath.—Contribution to the theory of the move- ments of storms, by M. J. Vinot. AMSTERDAMs Royal Academy of Sciences, September 26.—Prof. Stokvis in the chair.—Prof. Korteweg, who, as delegate of the Dutch Government, attended the Royal Society conference on the desirability of preparing a catalogue of scientific works, spoke of this conference, and entered into some details concerning its purpose, the nature of the resolutions passed, the task of the national bureaux, and the arrangement of the subject-index. Prof. Haga exhibited two negatives which prove the existence of different kinds of X-rays, a conclusion also arrived at by 640 other investigators. At a high degree of rarefaction in the vacuum-tubes the penetrating power of the rays through flesh and bone is very different, so that the outlines of the bones are very distinct, whilst, when the rarefaction is less great, these two bodies transmit the rays in about the same degree.—Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes made, on behalf of Dr. L. H. Siertsema, a communication on measurements of magnetic rotations, carried out in the Leyden Physical Laboratory. With the apparatus described in former communications determinations have been made of the absolute rotation constant of water, with the object of controlling the reduction-factor, with which the rotation determination has been reduced to an absolute measure. The result found is 0'01302’ at 13°4°, which corresponds very well with the constants found by Arons and by Rodger and Watson. A second communication again gave the results for gases, as they have undergone a slight alteration, owing to a necessary correc- tion in the manometer readings.—Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes also communicated Dr. Zeeman’s measurements on the variation of the absorption of electrical waves with the wave-length and the concentration of the electrolyte. The results, which hold good between limits given in detail in the paper, are: the coefficient of absorption changes as the square root of the conductivity of the solution, and it does not change, if conductivity and wave- length vary in the same ratio, —Prof. Engelmann communicated the results of an investigation into reflexes of the auricle of the heart, made by Mr. J. J. L. Muskens in the Utrecht Physiological Laboratory, by experimenting upon frogs’ hearts. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. FRIDAY, Ocroner 30. PuysicaL Society, at 5.—Special Meeting, after which, at an Ordinary Meeting—A Satisfactory Method of measuring Electrolytic Conductivity by means of Continuous Currents : Prof. W. Stroud and J. B. Henderson. —A Telemetrical Spherometer and Focometer: Prof. W. Stroud.—An Experimental Exhibition ; R. Appleyard. SATURDAY, OcrToser 31. Essex Freip Cuup, at 6.30 (at Chingford) — Short Report, by the Curator, on the first year’s work at the Epping Forest Museum.—Our Forest Trees, and How they should be represented in the Museum: Prof. G S Boulger.—Notes on the Conference of Delegates of the Corresponding Societies of the British Association, Liverpool, 1896: T. V. Holmes. MONDAY, November 2. Society oF Cuemicat Inpusrry, at 8,—The Production of Tnoculating Materials for Use in Agriculture (Nitragin): Dr. J. A. Voelcker.—The Smelting and Refining of Cyanide Bullion: Arthur Caldecott. TUESDAY, NoveMteEr 3. Institution oF Civi, ENGINEERS, at 8.—Address by J. Wolfe Barry, C.B., F.R.S., the President. WEDNESDAY, November 4. Geovocicat Society, at 8.—Additional Note on the Sections near the Summit of the Furka Pass (Switzerland): T. G. Bonney, F.R.5.—Geo- logical and_ Petrographical Studies of the Sudbury Nickel District (Canada): T. L. Walker (communicated by J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S ).— On the Distribution in Space of the Accessory Shocks of the Great Japanese Earthquake of 189r. a ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8. INsTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, at 7.30.—Research Committee on the Value of the Steam Jacket ; Experiment 9n a Locomotive Engine: Prof. T. Hudson Beare and Bryan Donkin —Transmission of Heat from Surface Condensation through Metal Cylinders: Lieut.-Colonel English and Bryan Donkin. j Society or Pusiic ANatysts, at 8.—Note on Ginger : Thos. B. Blunt.— The Determination of S:earic Acid in Fats: Otto Hehner and C. A. Mitchell.—Further Note on Lead in Canadian Cheese: F. Wallis Stoddart. dt ee THURSDAY, November 5. CuEmicaL Sociery, at §.—The Constitution of Nitrogen Iodide: Dr. F. D. Chattaway.—Note on the Solution and Diffusion of certain Metals in Mercury: Prof. Roberts-Austen, C.B., F.R.S.—Compounds of Metallic Hydroxides with Iodine: J. Rettie—The Feonomical Preparation of Hydroxylamine Sulphate ; The Reduction of Nitrosulphates ; and Amido- sulphonic Ac'd: Dr. E. Divers, F.R.S., and Dr. T. Haga.—The Molecular Conductivity of Amidosulphonic Acid: Joji Sakurai —Physiological Action of Amidosulphonic Acid; Dr. Oscar Loew.—Imidosulphonates, Part II. Dr. E. Divers, F.R.S., and Dr. T. Haga.—How Mercurous and Mercuric Salts change into each ovher: Seihachi Hada.—The Effect of Heat on Aqueous Solutions of Chrome Alum: Margaret D. Dougal.— [he Saponification of Ethylic Dicarboxyl Glutaconate: Dr. H. W. Bolam.—The Periodic Law: R. M. Deeley.—The Colouring Matters occurring in British Plants: A. G. Perkin.—Carbohydrates of Cereal Straws: C, F. Cross, E. J. Bevan, and Claude Smith. LINNEAN Society, at 8.—Mediterranean Bryozoa: A. W. Waters.—On seme New Sp-cies of Crassula from South Africa: Dr. S. Schénland.— Holothurians of New Zealand: A. H. Dendy. INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, at 7.30.—Breakdowns of Sta- honary Steam-Nngines : Michael Longridge. 2 FRIDAY, Novemper 6. GEoLocists’ A Specimens NO. 1409, VOL. 54] OCIATION, at 8.—Conversazione and Exhibition of NATURE [OcroseRr 29, 1896 BOOKS, PAMPHLET, and SERIALS RECEIVED, Booxs.—General Report on the Operations of the Survey of India De- partment, 1894-95 (Calcutta).—Practical Work in Physics; W. G. Wool- combe. Part 3. Light and Sound (Oxford, Clarendon Press).—Firth Col- lege, Sheffield, Sheffield School of Medicine, Calendar, 1896-97 (Sheffield). — Elements of Mechanics: Dr. T. W. Wright (Spon).—A History of Garden ingin England : Hon. Alicia Amherst, 2nd edition (Quaritch).—Les Galets Coloriés du Mas d'Azil: Ed. Piette (Paris, Masson).—The Method of Darwin : F. Cramer (Chicago, McClurg). —Les Accumulateurs Flectriques = F. Loppé (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).-—Annalen der Kaiserlichen Universitats- Sternwarte in Strassburg, i. Band (Karlsruhe).—Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, edited by Sir J. D. Hooker (Macmillan).—Index Operum Leonardi Euleri: J. G. Hagen (Berolini, Dames).—Experience : Rev. W. Richmond (Sonnenschein).—A New Course of Experimental Chemistry, revised edition (Murby).—The Life and Letters of George John Romanes, new edition (Longmans).—Report on the Geodetic Survey of South Africa, executed by Lieut.-Colonel Morris in 1883-1892 (Cape Town, Richards).— Model Drawing and Sharing from Casts: T. C. Barfield (Chapman).— Cheese and Cheese-making, &c.: J. Long and J. Benson (Chapman).—An Introduction to Human Physiology : Dr. D. J. Waller, third edition (Long- mans).—Die Mineralogie des Harzes, and Atlas: Dr, O. Luedecke (Berlin, Gebriider Borntraeger). PamMpuLer.—Sociedad Cientifica Argentina. Semillas y Frutos: Prof. A. Gallardo (Buenos Aires). Sertacs.—Journal of the Chemical Society, October (Gurney).—Record of Technical and Secondary Education, October (Macmillan).—Quarterly Review, October (Murray).—Psychologische Arbeiten, i. Band, 4 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—L’Anthropologie, tome vii. No. 4 (Paris, Masson).— American Naturalist, October (Philadelphia).—Journal of the Franklin Institute, October (Philadelphia),—Zeitschrift fiir Physikalische Chemie, xxi. Band, 1 Heft (Leipzig).—The Bachelor of Arts, October (New York).— Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, October (Griffin) —Astrophysical Journal, October (Chicago).—Brain, Parts 74 and 75 (Macmillan).—Royal Natural History, Part 36 (Warne).—Bibliotheca Geographica, Band 2, Jahrg. 1893 (Berlin, Kuhl).—Proceedings of the Royal Society, Edinburgh, Session 1895-96, Vol xxi. No.2, Pp. 65 to 160 (Edinburgh).—Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. Ixy. Part 2, No. 2 (Calcutta).—Sunday Magazine, November (Isbister)—Good Words, November (Isbister).— Himmel und Erde, November (Berlin, Paetel).—American Journal of Psychology, Vol. viii. No. 1 (Worcester, Mass.). CONTENTS. PAGE Scientific Bibliography. By Dr. Henry E..Arm- strong, F.R.S. : oro Fe . 2 “6E7 Palzontology and Evolution ........... 619 Gattermann’s Practical Organic Chemistry. By Sete. se =) ole 2 SG To) Our Book Shelf:— Clowes and Redwood : ‘** The Detection and Measure- ment of Inflammable Gas and Vapour in the Air” 620 lodge’: ‘* Menstiration7aegiemenel. «| -8 sees Letters to the Editor :— " Measurements of Crabs.—J. T. Cunningham . . . 621 Some Effects of the X-Rays on the Hands.—S. J. R. 621 Habits of Chameleons.—A. Alex. Blakiston . . . 621 Chameleons at the Zoological Society’s Gardens.— Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. a. 3 Ee The Organisation of Technical Literature.—M. Walton Brown. . fees...) . Oo A Mechanical Problem.—‘*Cromerite”’; J. P. . . 622 Extension of the Visible Spectrum —Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., and Benjamin Davies. . . 622 On the Communication of Electricity from Electri- fied Steam to Air. By Lord Kelvin, G.C.V.O., F.R.S., Dr. Magnus Maclean, and Alexander Galt. 622 The November Meteors. By W.F. Denning .. . 623 The International Meteorological Conference in Paris. By Robert H. Scott; RR:S: . =. . 3) 624 Mars as seen at the Opposition in 1894. (///ustrated.) By Dr. William J. S. Lockyer . . a see Oa The Scientific Department of the Imperial Insti- tute te So ee SEY Francois Felix Tisserand. By W. E. P. ee Ole Dr. Henry Trimen. By W. Botting Hemsley, 13) SRI coo, Sol CERMORN ye oe ote Mores). . wt. fe eee 0. te 5 Ge ern Our Astronomical Column:— Gomet 1870 Ll We. =, yen 632 Gomet Giacobini -. \) SMa ramets)... 4 5 eee ielemetary INOtGS ..) yee CSRs. eos Physiology at the British Association .... .. Conference of Delegates of the Corresponding Societies . ..'t ence... (Ce University and Educational Intelligence ..... Scientific Serials A iS Rc. Societies and Academie8), 45 -.- . = ©» 039 Diary of Societies |.” nies - Books, Pamphlet, and Serials Received . 0D A WEEKLY ILEUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ‘*To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—\WWORDSWORTH. No. 1384, VOL. 54.] THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office] [All Rights are Reserved. X-RAY “FOCUS” TUBES. The ‘‘ Focus” Tubes made by Newron & Co., in accordance with the experiments conducted in the Chemical Laboratory at King’s College, are still unequalled for rapidity and definition. Price 35s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving 2” spark and over. Special *‘ Focus” Tubes, 42s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving from 7” to 10” sparks. “ The definition given by your focus tubes is excellent.”—Prof. OLIvER J. Lopce, University College, Liverpool. “Your focusing tube has worked very well, and as soon as you have another similar one that you can spare me I ‘shall be glad to have it."”— Prof. A. SCHUSTER, The Owens College, Manchester. “We have got excellent results with the focus tubes.”—Prof. W. Heaton, University College, Nottingham. **The focus tube you sent gives remarkably sharp shadows.”—Prof. A. S. Butter, The University, St. Andrews, N.B. “I have tried avery large number of vacuum tubes sold by different makers for the purpose of giving the X-rays, and find your ‘ focus tubes’ to be far and away superior to anything as yet in the market.”—Prof. W. F. Barrett, Royal College of Science, Dublin. “Les résultats sont merveilleux."—Dr. HEnr1 van Heurck, Jardin Botanique d'Anvers. SoLe MAKERS: NEWBTON & CO. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. Helium and Argon Spectrum Tubes Now Ready, ios. 6d. each. The Frena Camera PESOS SSOSSSOOOOOOOD PARTICULARS of this unigue HAND-CAMERA may be had FREE on application to Lad., 68 CORNHILL, \S. A UP-Jo-DATS KoBeDAI5it R. & J. BECK, LONDON, E.C. BROWNING’S SPECTROSCOPES. The Student's Spectroscope has a prism of extremely dense glass, of very superior workmanship ; the circle is divided, and reads with, a yvernier to single minutes; the slit is furnished with a reflecting prism, by means of which two spectra can be shown in the field of view at the same time. The instrument will divide the D line in the Solar Spectrum, or the yellow Sodium lines distinctly. With a slight alteration of the adjustments, the instrument can be used for taking the refractive and dispersive powers of solids or liquids. The Student’s Spectroscope is the best instrument for the Labora- tory and for all general work in Spectrum Analysis. PRICE, COMPLETE IN CABINET, £6 10s. Od. Lilustrated COUAS of CES, post free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 ‘7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CORNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED ) DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583 Telegraphic Address, ‘‘ Negretti, London.” il NATURE | May 7, 1896 NOTE Proof Copies, printed on India paper, of the Photogravure Portrait of Sir JOSEPH LISTER, P.R.S. (ordinary copies of which are issued with to-day’s “Nature”), can be obtained of MACMILLAN & CO,, Ltd. Price 5s. each. “NATURE” OFFICE, 29 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. “EDINBURGH SUMMER MEETING. TENTH SESSION, AUGUST 3-29. Philosophy and Social Science, History, Psychology, Education and Physiology, Hygiene, Biology, Geography and Geology, Fine Art, Music. Professors Geddes, Wenley, and Rein, Messrs. Paul Desjardins, Elisée Reclus, Thomson, Scott-Elliot, Goodchild, Miss Wedgwood, Mrs. Boole, and others. Detailed Programme (Post-free 5@.) and all information to be obtained from the Secretary, T. R. Marr, Outlook Tower, University Hall, Edin- burgh, PEOPLE’S PALACE. EAST LONDON TECHNICAL COLLEGE. The Governors are about to appoint a PROFESSOR for the Department of PHYSICS, comprising Classes with Laboratory Work in Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Sound and Light. The Professor will be required to attend on two afternoons and four evenings a week during the Session, Salary 4150 per annum, with a Capitation Fee on Students in the Advanced Classes. Applications, with Copy Testimonials, to be sent, by May 31, to the TREASURER, People’s Palace, London, E. The BOARD of GOVERNORS of Dal- housie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, will receive applications for the position of PROFESSOR of CHEMISTRY in that University until JUNE 15 next. The Salary offered is 2000.00 dollars. Lectures begin October 1. Further information can be obtained from the undersigned, who will also receive applications.—Hecror McInnes, Halifax, Nova Scotia. TELE-PHOTOGRAPHY.— Wanted, for the Perfecting of a New Invention, the Co-operation of an Expert who thoroughly and practically understands the Properties of Lenses, Calcu- lation of Formula, &c. Partnership in Patent would be arranged.— Letters to ‘‘ Lens,” care of W. H. Harvey, 17 Old Queen Street, West- minster, S.W. BOROUGH OF PLYMOUTH. The Technical Instruction Committee of the Borough of Plymouth invite applications for the appointment of Master in the Department of Physics at their Technical Schools. Candidates must be highly qualified. Particulars can be obtained on application to April 1896. pe __T. W. BYFIELD, Secretary. Y, BaeaV, ER IO N ( CrOne LE iGIne HIGH-CLASS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. For Prospectus, Fees, and Referees, apply to the Principal, Miss HEATH, Yelverton, S. Devon. ASSOCIATE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE (1st Class); experienced Teacher and Laboratory Assistant, desires temporary employment; highest references.—F. C. H., 52 Claremont Road, Handsworth, Birmingham. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THESUN, AUGUST 4g, 1806. The ORIENT STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY, Ltd., propose to send one of their Steamships of about 4000 tons gross register and 3000 H.P. to Vadsé in the Varanger Fiord, Lapland (about 30° E. Long.), to enable observation to be made of the above Eclipse; and the Steamer will also proceed to Spitzbergen. Itinerary :—Leave London July 22, Cuzhayen July 24, visit Odde Bergen, Gudvangen, Beian, North Cape ; arrive Vadsé August 2, visit Spitzbergen ; return Vadsé August ro, visit Hammerfest, Trondhjem, and arrive London August 18. Passage money, 50 Guineas. ‘ Head Offices _{F. GREEN & CO. D Managers { ANDERSON, ANDERSON, & CO. pee London. For further Particulars apply to the latter Firm, 5 Fenchurch Avenue, E.C., or to the West-End Branch Office, 16 Cockspur Street, S.W. THE ALBION S.S. COMPANY (LIMITED). FORTNIGHTLY CRUISES from NEW- CASTLE-ON-TYNE to NORWAY. The Finest YACHTING STEAMER afloat. No Upper Berths. “MIDNIGHT SUN;” 3178 Tons, 3500 H.-P. Capt. CABORNE, R.N.R., F.R.G.S. Sailings :—June 6, 20; July 4, 18; August 1 and 15. Fares from 12 Guineas, including first-class Table. For Itinerary, &c., apply to ‘MIDNIGHT SUN” PASSENGER SUPERINTENDENT, 4 Lombard Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne. MINERALS, FOSSILS, ROCKS, NEWLY PUBLISHED CATALOGUES. No. 5a.—Collection of 396 Crystal Models in Wood, in 32 Classes, according to Professor Grotu’s Lehrbuch der Phystkalischen Krystalio- graphie, 3rd Edition. No. 11.—Collection of 280 Crystal Models in Paste-board, according to Professor Ursa, Prague. No. r2.—Collection of 102 Crystal Models in Table Glass, in 30 Classes, according to Professor RAUMHAUER, Friburg, Switzerland. Collection of 32 Models for Tectonical Geology, according to Professor Katkowsky, Dresden. My other Catalogues: I. Mineralogy (Minerals, Meteorites, Mineral Preparations for Exhibiting Optical Phenomena, Mineralogical Apparatus and Utensils). II. Palzontology and General Geology (Illustrated). IV. Rocks, Thin Sections of Rocks, Petrographical Apparatus and Utensils. Will be supplied Gratis on Application. Dr. (FF, aeeevA. N T 2B Rhenish Mineral Office, Bonn on the Rhine. ESTABLISHED 1833. Represented by Messrs. HARRINGTON Bros., Cork, Ireland, and Oliver’s Yard, 53A City Road, London.) AMERICAN 3 MINERALS. WELL CRYSTALLIZED. - The Largest and most varied Stock in the World. We solicit the Patronage of Museums, CoLLeEGEs, SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, and those desiring carefully selected and accurately labelled Mineralogical material. /l/7ite for Catalogue and Circulars, mailed free. Crystallized Diaspore, Endlichite, Leadhillite, Lawsonite, Northupite, and many other recent discoveries are offered at moderate prices. DR. A. BE. FOOTE (Warren M. Foore, Manager), 1224-26-28 NORTH FORTY-FIRST STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA., U.S.A. (Established 1876.) NEW, RARE, BEAUTIFUL COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS, ROCKS, OR FOSSILS, For the Use of Students, Science Teachers, Prospectors, &c., and to Illustrate the leading Text-books, in Boxes, with Trays. 50 Specimens, 10s. 6d.; 100 do., 2ls.; 200 do., 42s. New Price List of Minerals, Rocks, and Stratigraphical Series of Fossils, Post Free. ROCK SECTIONS for the MICROSCOPE, from 1s. 6d. each, Post Free, CATALOGUES GRATIS. CABINETS, GLASS-CAPPED BOXES, TRAYS, HAMMERS, &c., always in stock. THOMAS Di RUSSE LE 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. "To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WORDSWORTH. No. 1385, VOL. 54.] Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office. | X-RAY “FOCUS” TUBES. The ‘‘ Focus” Tubes made by Newton & Co., in accordance with the experiments conducted. in the Chemical Laboratory at King’s College, are still unequalled for rapidity and definition. Price 35s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving 2” spark and over. Special ‘‘ Focus" Tubes, 42s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving from 7” to 10" sparks. “ The definition given by your focus tubes is excellent.”—Prof. OLIveER |. Lope, University College, Liverpool. “Your focusing tube has worked very well, and as soon as you have nother similar one that you can spare me I ‘shall be glad to have it.”— Prof. A. ScuusTer, The Owens College, Manchester. “We have got excellent results with the focus tubes.”—Prof. W. HEATON, University College, Nottingham. ’ The focus tube you sent gives remarkably sharp shadows.”’—Prof. A. 5. Burier, The Untwersity, St. Andrews, N.B. **I have tried a very large number of vacuum tubes sold by different nakers for the purpose of giving the X-rays, and find your ‘ focus tubes‘ to ye far and away superior to anything as yet in the market."—Prof. W. F. BARRETT, Royal College of Science, Dublin. “Les résultats sont’ merveilleux.’—Dr. HENRI VAN Heurck, Jardin Botanique d'Anvers. SoLE MAKERS: NEWBTETON & CO. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. Helium and raf Spectrum Tubes Now Ready, 10s. 6d. each. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, -- 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. X-RAY TUBES, **FOCUS” Pattern, 27/6 each. Mr. A. A. C. SW INTON, April x8, April 18, 1896.—‘‘ The Special Vacuum Tube rou recently supplied to me has been tested in my laboratory with very atisfactory results.” Pror. CHATTOCK, University College, Bristol. Is was an excellent one—we have not had a better. oon as you are able.” INDUCTION COILS, zin., £9; gin, £12; 5-in., £15; 6in, £18. Our own Manufacture, as supplied to ‘The Lancet,” Shelford Bidwell, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., and others. Mr. ARNOLD H. ULLYETT, F.R.G.S., &c.—‘‘ The Coil gives exceed- ngly good results, and with its use I have taken some splendid, well-defined hadow photographs.” Mr. G. WATMOUGH WEBSTER, F.C.S., F.R.P.S.—*‘ The Coil is an xcellent one, well made, and giving fully the reputed size of spark.” — ‘The tube you sent Please send another as THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. [All Rights are Reserved. NALDER BROS. & CO., tonoon. D’ARSONVAL GALVANOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. Write for CATALOGUES. D'ARSONVAL CALVANOMETER (As illustrated). VERY PORTABLE. ENSITIVE. N STOCK. £5 00 NO AGENTS IN U.S.A. NEG RETTI & ZAM BRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 88 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CoRNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telegraphic Address, ‘‘ Negretti, London.” Telephone No. 6583. x NATURE CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years. The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Exhibition Road, S.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 21 to 24, and the new Session will commence on October rst. r Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.1.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. FE. Ayrton, F.R.S. (Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY _ (Leonard Street, City Road, £.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under 14 years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Industries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, and the new Session will commence on October 6. ¥ Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), J. Perry, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Mechanical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE tor the ADVANCEMENT of TECHNICAL EDUCATION. The Committee of the Institute are prepared to appoint a PROFESSOR of MECHANICAL ENGINEERING and APPLIED MATHEMATICS at the Technical College, Finsbury. The Professor, besides giving Lectures and holding Day and Evening Classes on the Subjects of his Professorship, will be required to superintend the Workshops and to give Instruction in Machine Designing and Drawing. The Professor will be expected to deyote to the work of the Institute the whole of his time available for teaching, and shall not undertake any other educational work; but he will be per- mitted to undertake consulting professional work which will not interfere with the full discharge of his Professorial duties, subject to such regula- tions as shall be approved by the Committee. The Salary offered is £690 per Annum, The Appointment will date from September 29. 1896. Applications for the Appointment, with Testimonials or References, ad- dressed to the HonorARY SECRETARY, City and Guilds of London Insti- tute, Gresham College, E.C., to be sent in not later than June 8. ~ COUNTY BOROUGH OF SALFORD. MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE. The following Appointments are about to be made, viz. .— CHIEF LECTURER in CHEMISTRY, Salary £200 aS 4 DYEING, » 150 ART MASTER oo ee a earner ae) Forms of Application and Particulars of Duties may be obtained upon application to the SECRETARY, at the Institute, Peel Park, Salford. 3y Order, Town Hall, Salford, May 6, 1896. SAML. BROWN, Town Clerk. PEOPLE’S PALACE. EAST LONDON TECHNICAL COLLEGE. The Governors are about to appoint a PROFESSOR for the Department of PHYSICS, comprising Classes with Laboratory Work in Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Sound and Light. The Professor will be required to attend on two afternoons and four evenings a week during the Session. Salary £150 per annum, with a Capitation Fee on Students in the Advanced Classes. Applications, with Copy Testimonials, to be sent, by May 31, to the TREASURER, People’s Palace, London, E. NORTHERN POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. The GOVERNORS invite Applications for the following Appoint- ments :-— HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of ENGINEERING ; commencing Salary, 4250 per Annum. HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of PHYSICS ELECTRICAL and ENGINEERING ; commencing Salary, 4250 per Annum. CHIEF ASSISTANT in the DEPARTMENT of CHEMISTRY; commencing Salary, 4180 per Annum. The Appointments will date from September 29, 1896, but the Candidates appointed will be expected in the meantime to consult with the Principal as to the Equipment and Organisation of their Department. Conditions of Appointment and Forms of Application may be obtained from the SECRETARY, at the Institute, Holloway Road, London, N. Applications, accompanied by Copies of recent Testimonials and the 1ames of Three Referees, to be sent in to the Principat, not later than June 1, 1806. Kk. GRIFFITHS, Secretary. The BOARD of GOVERNORS of Dal- housie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, will receive applications for the position of PROFESSOR of CHEMISTRY in that University until JUNE 15 next. The Salary offered 1s 2000.00 dollars. Lectures begin October 1. Further information can be obtained from the undersigned, who will also receive applications. -Hecror McInnes, Halifax, Nova Scotia. [May 14, 1896 BEDFORD COLLEGE (LONDON) FOR WOMEN, 8 and 9 YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. EASTER TERM, 1806. The Half Term begins on Thursday, May 21. ENTRANCE SCHOLARSHIPS. One Arnott Scholarship in Science, Annual Value, £48, and one Reid Scholarship in Arts, Annual Value Thirty Guineas, each tenable for Three Years, will be awarded on the result of the Examination to be held at the College on June 23 and 24. Names to be sent in to the PRINCIPAL, not later than June 15. LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principac—G, W, pe TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E E. Senior-INstructor—C, CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. YELVERDON COLUE@ ae. HIGH-CLASS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. For Prospectus, Fees, and Referees, apply to the Principal, Miss HEATH, Yelverton, S. Devon. B.Sc, PRACTICAL PHYSIOLOGY CLASS (instruments, Tracings, &c.), to commence 22nd inst.—Particulars J. S. BripGes, 20 Brownlow Road, Dalston, N.E. Mathematical Instrument Manufacturer to H. M. Government, Council of India, Science and Art Department, Admiralty, &c. Mathematical, Drawing, and Surveying Instruments of every description Of the Highest Quality and Finish, at most Moderate Prices. Illustrated Price List Post Free. W. F. S. obtained the only Medal in the Great Exhibition of 1862 for Excellence of Construction of Mathematical Instruments, and the only GoLp MepaAt in the International Inventions Exhibition 1885 for Mathematical Work. Silver Medal, Architects’ Exhibition. 1886. Address :—GREAT TURNSTILE, HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. TO SCIENCE LECTURERS. See Mr. HUGHES'S PATENT COMBINATION OPTICAL LANTERN, used by late W. LAnT CarrenTER, Esq., Prof. Forses, &c Miniature Triple Lantern constructed for B. J. coer a reat | success. New Oxyhydrogen Microscope. Science Lanterns for Class Demonstration. Magnificent Results. Docwra Triple, Prize Medal, Highest Award. Supplied to the Royal Polytechnic Institution, Dr. H. GraTTAN GuiNNEss, Madame ADELINA Parti, &c. Patent Pamphengos Science Lanterns. The Universa! Lantern 4-inch Condensors, 4-wick Lamp, Portrait Combination front Lenses, £1 5s. 6¢., marvellous value. Science Lecture Sets. Novelties. The Lantern Kaleidoscope. Cheapest Lantern Outfits in the World. Grandly Illustrated Catalogue, over 180 choice En- gravings, 6d.; Postage, 3d. List of 300 Lecture Sets, Science Subjects, Views, &c., 6¢.; Postage, 2d. Pamphlets Free.—W. C. HUGHES, SPECIALIST, Brewster House, 82 Mortimer Road, Kingsland, N. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BROS.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1386, VOL. 54.] THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office. | X-RAY “FOCUS” TUBES. The ‘‘ Focus” Tubes made by Newton & Co., in accordance with the experiments conducted in the Chemical Laboratory at King’s College, are still unequalled for rapidity and definition. Price 30s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving 2” spark and over. Special ‘‘ Focus’’ Tubes, 42s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving from 7” to 10” sparks. ** The definition given by your focus tubes is excellent.’—Prof. OLIVER J. Lovce, University College, Liverpool. “Your focusing tube has worked very well, and as soon as you have another similar one that you can spare me I shall be glad to have it.”— Prof. A. Scuuster, The Owens College, Manchester. “We have got excellent results with the focus tubes.”—Prof. W. Heaton, University College, Nottingham. “The focus tube you sent gives remarkably sharp shadows."—Prof. A. S. Buter, The University, St. Andrews, N.B. “A dave tried avery large number of vacuum tubes sold by different makers for the purpose of giving the X-rays, and find your ‘ focus tubes’ to be far and away superior to anything as yet in the market.’'"—Prof. W. F. Barrett, Royal College of Science, Dublin. “Les résultats sont merveilleux.”—Dr. Henri van Heurck, Jardin Botanique d'Anvers. SoLE MAKERS: NEWB ToOnN s& CO. 3° FLEET STREET, LONDON. Helium and Argon Spectrum Tubes Now Ready, ios. 6d. each. | | | superior workmanship ; the circle is divided, and reads with a vernier to | [All Rights are Reserved. BROWNING’S SPECTROSCOPES. The Student's Spectroscope has a prism of extremely dense glass, of very single minutes; the slit is furnished with a reflecting prism, by means of which two spectra can be shown in the field of view at the same time. The instrument will divide the D line in the Solar Spectrum, or the yellow Sodium lines distinctly. With a slight alteration of the adjustments, the instrument can be used for taking the refractive and dispersive powers of solids or liquids. The Student's Spectroscope is the best instrument for the Labora- tory and for all general work in Spectrum Analysis. PRICE, COMPLETE IN CABINET, £6 10s. Od. Illustrated Catalogue of Spectroscopes, post free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C. No Scientific Man should be without a FRENA CAMERA. Full particulars free on application. ~~ R.& J. BECK, Ltd., 68 Cornhill, London, E.C. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. *Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. = Branches—45 CorNuHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telegraphic Address, ‘‘ Negretti, London.” muti aN iti Telephone No. 6583. wee XVII11 NATURE [May 21, 1896 ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. Tuesday next (May 26), at Three o'clock, Professor T. G. Bonney, D.Se., LL.D., FL.R.S.—First of Two Lectures on ‘‘ The Building and Sculpture of Western Europe.” (The Tyndall Lectures.) Half-a-Guinea the Geuree! Thursday (May 28), at Three o'clock, Roperr Munro, Esq., M.D., M.A.—First of Two Lectures on ‘ Lake Dwellings.” Half-a-Guinea. Saturday (May 30), at Three o'clock, Dr. E. A. Wattis Bunce, M.A., Litt.D., F.S.A., Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum.—First of Two Lectures on ‘The Moral and Religious Literature of Ancient Egypt.” Half-a-Guinea. CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1806-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years. The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE {Exhibition Road, S.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 21 to 24, and the new Session will commence on October tst. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.1.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. (Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY (Leonard Street, City Road, E.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under 14 years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Industries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, Session will commence on October 6. Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), J. Perry, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Mechanical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE tor the ADVANCEMENT of TECHNICAL EDUCATION. The Committee of the Institute are prepared to appoint a PROFESSOR of MECHANICAL ENGINEERING and APPLIED MATHEMATICS at the Technical College, Finsbury. The Professor, besides giving Lectures and holding Day and Evening Classes on the Subjects of his Professorship, will be required to superintend the Workshops and to give Instruction in Machine Designing and Drawing. The Professor will be expected to devote to the work of the Institute the whole of his time available for teaching, and shall not undertake any other educational work; but he will be per- mitted to undertake consulting professional work which will not interfere with the full discharge of his Professorial duties, subject to such regula- tions as shall be approved by the Committee. The Salary offered is £600 per Annum. The Appointment will date from September 29, 1896. Applications for the Appointment, with Testimonials or References, ad- dressed to the Honorary SECRETARY, City and Guilds of London Insti- tute, Gresham College, E.C., to be sent in not later than June 8. UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. ANDERSON LECTURESHIP IN COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY (Orv. No. 105). The University Court will proceed early in July to the Election of a LECTURER on COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY. The Lecturer will be required to deliver an Honours Course of not fewer than so Lectures, extending over not more than Six Months. The Lectureship will be tenable for Five Years, and the Lecturer will be eligible for re-election. He will be expected to enter on his duties next October. The Lecturer will receive the free income of Dr. William Anderson’s Bequest, amounting at present to about 4350 per annum. Applications, with such Testimonials as the Candidate may desire to offer, must be lodged, on or before July 4, ensuing, with RoperT WALKER, Esq., M.A., Secretary of the Court. University of Aberdeen, May 14, 1896. FIRTH COLLEGE, SHEFFIELD. The Council of Firth College intends to appoint a DEMONSTRATOR and ASSISTANT LECTURER in BIOLOGY, specially qualified in Botan Stipend, £120. Candidates must send in their Applications before June ro. Further Particulars can be obtained from Ensor Drury, Registrar. and the new NORT HE RN, PIODY TECHNIC INSTITUTE. The GOVERNORS invite Applications for the following Appoint- ments :— HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of ENGINEERING ; commencing Salary, £250 per Annum. HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of PHYSICS and ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ; commencing Salary, £250 per Annum. CHIEF ASSISTANT in the DEPARTMENT of CHEMISTRY:; commencing Salary, £180 per Annum. The Appointments will date from September 29, 1896, but the Candidates appointed will be expected in the meantime to consult with the Principal as to the Equipment and Organisation of their Department. Conditions of Appointment and Forms of Application may be obtained from the SECRETARY, at the Institute, Holloway Road, London, N. Applications, accompanied by Copies of recent Testimonials and the names of Three Referees, to be sent into the PrincipaL, not later than June 1, 1896. E. GRIFFITHS, Secretary. COUNTY BOROUGH OF SALFORD. MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE. The following Appointments are about to be made, viz. :— CHIEF LECTURER in CHEMISTRY, Salary £200 ~ ss DYEING, rae ART MASTER ee a rs gas) iss Forms of Application and Particulars of Duties may be obtained upon application to the SECRETARY, at the Institute, Peel Park, Salford. By Order, Town Hall, Salford, May 6, 1896. SAML. BROWN, Town Clerk. The HEAD MASTER of the INTER- MEDIATE SCHOOL, BUILTH, will receive applications for position of MISTRESS, to commence duties July 1. Music, vocal and instrumental, essential. Salary, £100. Applications, stating age, qualifications, and experience, to be sent in, not later than May 20, to Heap Master, Intermediate School, Builth. YELVER TONG CO L LEIGH HIGH-CLASS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. For Prospectus, Fees, and Referees, apply to the Principal, Miss HEATH, Yelverton, S. Devon. FOR SALE. Complete Set of the Publications of the Palzontographical Society—so Volumes in good condition, numerous Plates, mostly uncut, Price £25, or offers. Also Complete Set of Publications of Egypt Exploration Fund—z2 Large Books with Plates, perfect condition ; also Papyri and 4 Reports, Price £10, or offers. Also Complete Set of the Publications of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Plates, Maps, Quarterly Statements, and about 20 Books. What offers? Also Complete Set of Publications of the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal—33 Vols. bound, remainder unbound. What offers? Further Particulars will be furnished if required.—Apply BEwLEy & GossaGE, Solicitors, 9c, Queen Insurance Buildings, Dale Street, Liver- pool. CHEAP SETS OF IMPORTANT JOURNALS. In good condition, and sent Carriage Free in Great Britain. NATURE. Comp.ere Ser, from the commencement in 1869 to 1893, 48 vols., orig. cloth, uniform. Fine set. Scarce. 12. TRANSACTIONS OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY of Edinburgh. ComPLeteE SET to 1889, 17 vols. in 14, 8vo, half calf. Scarce. £7 7s. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY of Edinburgh. Com- PLETE SET from vol. i. 1798 to 1890, 36 vols. 4to, half-calf. RARE. £45. PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE (The). Comp_ete Ser from the com- mencement in 1798 to vol. xx., Fifth Series, 1885 (exc. x vol. 1826 and 7 Nos.), 185 vols., half-bound, &c. WERY SCARCE. £64. WILLIAM F, CLAY, 18 Teviot Place, Edinburgh. HE = Ee YY Ss. FLUORESCENT SCREENS, tos. 6d. Post-free. Most carefully pre- pared. Every Screen tested and guaranteed. The bones of the body can be easily and rapidly examined with the greatest clearness and precision through these excellent Screens. A Stereoscopic Dark Box fitted to the Screens, 6s. extra.—Address H. Lees, Castletown, Isle of Man. TOPAZ.—Wanted from 80 to 1oo Siberian Crystals, to add to our fine Collection. Perfect Crystals, standing 4 to 9 inches high, and blue blending into wine colour preferred. Address, Museum House, Caversham Road, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, YY 44 Hatton Garden, London. \ Catalogues Free. { A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ‘To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WORDSWORTH. No. 1387, VOL. 54.] THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Oifive.| [All Rights are Reserved. X-RAY “FOCUS” TUBES. The ‘‘ Focus” Tubes made by Newron & Co., in accordance with the experiments conducted in the Chemical Laboratory at King’s College, are still unequalled for rapidity and definition. Price 30s. each. ~The above are suitable for Coils giving 2” spark and over. Special “‘ Focus’’ Tubes, 42s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving from 7” to 10” sparks. ‘The definition given by your focus tubes is excellent.”—Prof. OLIvER | J. Lopce, University College, Liverpool. “Your focusing tube has worked very well, and as soon as you have another similar one that you can spare me I ‘Shall be glad to have it.”— Prof. A. Scuusrer, The Owens College, Manchester. “We have got excellent results with the focus tubes.”—Prof. W. Heaton, University College, Nottingham. “The focus tube you sent gives remarkably sharp shadows.”—Prof. A. S. Butter, The University, St. Andrews, N.B. “T have tried a very large number of vacuum tubes sold by different | makers for the purpose of giving the X-rays, and find your ‘ focus tubes’ to be far and away superior to anything as yet in the market.”—Prof. W. F. Barrett, Royal College of Science, Dublin. “Les résultats sont merveilleux."—Dr. HENRI vAN HeEurck, Jardin Botanique d' Anvers. SoLeE MAKERS: NEWBWTON & CO. *3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. Helium and @ Argon § Spec trum Ti ubes Now Ready, 10s. 6d. each. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, -° 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. X- RAYS. X-RAY TUBES, ** FOCUS” Pattern, 27/6 each. Mr. A. A. C. SWINTON, April 13, April 18, you recently supplied to me has been tested in my laboratory with very satisfactory results.” Pror. CHATTOCK, University College, Bristol. us was an excellent one—we have not had a better. soon as you are able.” INDUCTION COILS. 3-in., £9; 4-in., £12; 5-in., £15; 6-in., £18. Our own Manufacture, as supplied to ‘‘The Lancet,” Shelford Bidwell, Esq., M.A., F.R. S., and others. Mr. ARNOLD H. ULLYETT, F.R.G.S., &c.—*‘ The Coil gives exceed- ingly good results, and with its use I have taken some splendid, well-defined shadow photographs.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS. Excellent definition, any Size made to Order. Sizes in stock : 5X5 inches, 15S. ; 75 inches, 18s. each. —*The tube you sent Please send another as 1896.—‘* The Special Vacuum Tube | NALDER BROS. & CO. LONDON. N. %& S. REFLECTING GALVANOMETER. 5000 OHMS RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE £9 10 O Write for CATALOGUES. Cable Address: I SECOHM, LONDON = No Agents in U.S.A. This instrument delivered saa anywhere in U.S.A. for $60 c.O0 pi Ade Lon. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF _ JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CoRNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, “ Negretti, London.’ THOMSON XXVI CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years, The Matricu.ation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Exhibition Road, S.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 21 to 24, and the new Session will commence on October rst. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.1.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. (Physics and Electrical Engineering), H, E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY {Leonard Street, City Road, E.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under 14 years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Industries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, and the new Session will commence on October 6. Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), J. Perry, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Mechanical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. NATURE [May 28, 1896 NORTHERN POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. The GOVERNORS invite Applications for the following Appoint- ments ;— HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of ENGINEERING; commencing Salary, £250 per Annum. HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of PHYSICS and ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ; commencing Salary, 4250 per Annum. CHIEF ASSISTANT in the DEPARTMENT of CHEMISTRY; commencing Salary, 4180 per Annum. The Appointments will date from September 29, 1896, but the Candidate appointed will be expected in the meantime to consult with the Principa as to the Equipment and Organisation of their Department. Conditions of Appointment and Forms of Application may be obtained from the SECRETARY, at the Institute, Holloway Road, London, N. Applications, accompanied by Copies of recent Testimonials and the names of Three Referees, to be sent into the Principat, not later than June 1, 1896 E. GRIFFITHS Secretary. FIRTH COLLEGE, SHEFFIELD. The Council of Firth College intends to appoint a DEMONSTRATOR and ASSISTANT LECTURER in BIOLOGY, specially qualified in Botany. Stipend, £120. Candidates must send in their Applications before June 10. Further Particulars can be obtained from Ensor Drury, Registrar, WANTED, at the CAMBORNE MINING SCHOOL, an ASSISTANT TEACHER capable of teaching CHEMISTRY, and taking charge of a Laboratory. Preference will be given to one qualified to teach Metallurgy, Mineralogy, Geology ,or Mathematics. Apply immediately, SEcRETARY. CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE tor the ADVANCEMENT of TECHNICAL EDUCATION. The Committee of the Institute are prepared to appoint a PROFESSOR of MECHANICAL ENGINEERING and APPLIED MATHEMATICS at the Technical College, Finsbury. The Professor, besides giving Lectures and holding Day and Evening Classes on the Subjects of his Professorship, will be required to superintend the Workshops and to give Instruction in Machine Designing and Drawing. The Professor will be expected to devote to the work of the Institute the whole of his time available for teaching, and shall not undertake any other educational work; but he will be per- mitted to undertake consulting professional work which will not interfere with the full discharge of his Professorial duties, subject to such regula- tions as shall be approved by the Committee. The Salary offered is £600 per Annum. The Appointment will date from September 29, 1896. Applications for the Appointment, with Testimonials or References, ad- dressed to the HonoRARY SECRETARY, City and Guilds of London Insti- tute, Gresham College, E.C., to be sent in not later than June 8. INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 30 BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, LONDON, W.C. The NEXT EXAMINATIONS for the MEMBERSHIP of this INSTI- TUTE will be held on TUESDAY, July 21, 1896, and three following days. _ In consequence of the increase in the number of Candidates whose applica- tions for Examination have been accepted by the Council, it is probable that mere than the two ordinary Examinations (January and July) may be held this year. All Candidates must produce evidence of having passed a Preliminary Ex- amination in subjects of General Education, and of having taken a Systematic Course of at least three years’ study in one of the Colleges approved by the Council ; or, of having been engaged for two years in the Laboratory of a Fellow of the Institute, and for two other years in one of the approved Colleges. Council desire it to be understood that the right to use the letters and F.I.C. belongs to persons who have passed through the Course of Study and the Examinations prescribed by the Institute. A prospectus, containing full particulars of the regulations for admission to the Membership of the Institute, may be obtained from Messrs. BLUNDELL, Taytor, & Co., 173 Upper Thames Street, London, E.C., price One Shilling. —By Order of the Council, J. MILLAR THOMSON, Registrar. BEDFORD COLLEGE (LONDON) FOR WOMEN, and 9 YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. ENTRANCE SCHOLARSHIPS. Value £48, and one Reid Arts, Annual Value Thirty Guineas, each tenable for Three awarded on the result of the Examination, to be held at the 3 and 24. ent in to the Principat, not later than June 15. LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. YELVERTON COLLEGE. HIGH-CLASS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. For Prospectus, Fees, and Referees, apply to the Principal,’ Miss HEATH, Yelverton, S. Devon. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principac—G, W. pe TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. SEen1or-INstrucToR—C. CAPITO, M.1.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Worksh with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. “x-RAYS.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 6” x 8”, Ios. 6d. post free. , Pp Most carefully prepared ; each Screen tested and guaranteed. The bone of the body can be easily examined, and Photographs taken with one minute’ exposure or less through these excellent Screens, with great clearness. A Stereoscopic Dark Box, to fit the Screens, will be ready in a few days, 9s. 6a. extra, Cash with order. Address, H. LEES, CASTLETOWN, ISLE OF MAN. FOR SALE.W— Astronomical Telescope, 4h-in. Objective, Battery of Eye-pieces, Equatorially Mounted, Circles graduated on Silver; Adjustable to any Latitude, with Filar Micrometer, and Illuminating Apparatus; Driving Clock, Iron Pillar and Portable Stand, all good as new, made by Messrs. Cooke & Sons for the late G. KNowtes, Esq.—Address, ‘SJ. McL.”, 5 Lindum Terrace, Manningham, Bradford. ; —N_ MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL oy) INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. A A Catalogues Free. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WoORDSWORTH. No. 1388, VOL. 54.] Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Uitice.} THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. [All Rights are Reserved. X-RAY “FOCUS” TUBES. The ‘‘ Focus” Tubes made by Newron & Co., in accordance | with the experiments conducted in the Chemical Laboratory at | King’s College, are still unequalled for rapidity and definition. Price 30s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving 2” spark and over. S ‘ Special ** Focus’’ Tubes, 42s. each. The above are suitable for Coils giving from 7” to 10” sparks. ‘* The definition given by your focus tubes is excellent.”—Prof. OLIvER J. Lopce, University College, Liverpool. “Your focusing tube has worked very well, and as soon as you have another similar one that you can spare me I ‘shall be glad to have it.”— Prof. A. Scuuster, The Owens College, Manchester. “We have got excellent results with the focus tubes. —Prof. W. Heaton, University College, Nottingham. “The focus tube you sent gives remarkably sharp shadows.”—Prof. A. Ss. Butter, The University, St. Andrews, N.B. “| have tried avery large number of vacuum tubes sold by different makers for the purpose of giving the X-rays, and find your ‘ focus tubes’ to be far and away superior to anything as yet in the market.’"—Prof. W. F. Barrett, Foyal College of Science, Dublin. “Les résultats sont merveilleux.—Dr. HENRI VAN Heurck, Jardin Botanique d'Anvers. SoLE MAKERS: NEWB Tron s&s Co. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. Helium and Argon Spectrum Tubes Now Ready, 10s. 6d. each. ‘BECK’S MICROSCOPES. No. 25A. —THIS MODEL, with I-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces! and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, Condenser to 258 with Iris Diaphragm and_ Focussing and Swinging Adjustments, £8 15s. FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J, BECK, LTD., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, B.C. STAND No. 26. £6 1 10s. No. 258. “THIS MODEL, with 3-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Byepeees and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. No. 298.—The addition of Abbe BROWNING’S SPECTROSCOPES. The Student's Spectroscope has a prism of extremely dense glass, of very superior workmanship ; the circle is divided, and reads with a vernier to single minutes; the slit is furnished with a reflecting prism, by means of which two spectra can be shown in the field of view at the same time. The instrument will divide the D line in the Solar Spectrum, or the yellow Sodium lines distinctly. With a slight alteration of the adjustments, the instrument can be used for taking the refractive and dispersive powers of solids or liquids. The Student's Spectroscope is the best instrument for the Labora- tory and for all general work in Spectrum Analysis. Od. PRICE, COMPLETE IN CABINET, £6 10s. Iilustrated SATS Le of SEPT ICTE ess post free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 ‘%s. 6d. / Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CoRNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, “‘ Negretti, London.” XXXIV NATURE [ JUNE 4, 1896 OTIC. N N ATOR E Of THURSDAY NEXT, JUNE 11, will contain the TO VoLuME LIII. Its price will be ONE SHILLING. Advertisements intended for insertion in this Number should reach the Publishers by the morning of WEDNESDAY, JUNE Io. “ NATURE” OFFICE, 29 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, BURLINGTON HOUSE, LONDON, W. The NEXT ANNUAL MEETING of the ASSOCIATION will be held at LIVERPOOL, commencing on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. PRESIDENT-ELECT : Sir JOSEPH LISTER, Bart., D.C.L., LL.D., President of the Royal Society. G. GRIFFITH, Assistant General Secretary. McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, CANADA. The Governors of McGill University are prepared to receive Applications for the following posts :— A PROFESSORSHIP of ARCHITECTURE. A PROFESSORSHIP of MINING AND METALLURGY. AN ASSISTANT PROFESSORSHIP of CIVIL ENGINEERING. AN ASSISTANT PROFESSORSHIP of DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY and FREEHAND DRAWING. The nature of the work is fully described on pages 18 to 27 of the Uni- versity Announcement, copies of which may be obtained on application to the Editor of Narure, or the Editor of Exgineering. For further informa- tion apply to the Secretary, McGill College, Montreal. In the case of the Professorship of Mining, and of the Assistant Professor- ship of Civil Engineering, experience in Laboratory work is essential. The Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering should also have a thorough knowledge of Hydraulics. Candidates for the Assistant Professorship of Descriptive Geometry and Freehand Drawing should have a knowledge of Architectural Drawing, as the Assistant Protessor of this subject will be expected to give assistance to the Professor of Architecture. Candidates for any of the above Appointments must send their names to the undersigned, together with a statement of their age. previous career, and qualifications, with such Testimonials as they may think desirable, not later than July 14. J. W. BRAKENRIDGE, Acting Secretary, McGill College. BALLIOL COLLEGE, CHRIST CHURCH, AND TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIPS AND EXHIBITIONS. A Combined Examination for Natural Science Scholarships and Exhib- tions will be held by the above Colleges, beginning on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1806. Three Scholarships and two Exhibitions will be offered, the Scholarships being worth 480 a year. The subjects for Examination will be Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, but Candidates will not be expected to offer themselves in more than two of these, Particulars may be obtained by application to A. VERNON HARCOURT. Christ Church, Oxford. BEDFORD COLLEGE (LONDON) FOR WOMEN, 8 and9g YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. ENTRANCE SCHOLARSHIPS. _ One Arnott Scholarship in Science, Annual Value £48, and one Reid Scholarship in Arts, Annual Value Thirty Guineas, each tenable for Three Years, will be awarded on the result of the Examination, to be held at the Coll on June 23 and 24. Names to be sent in to the Princirat, not later than June 15. LUCY J. RUSSELL Honorary Secretary BEDFORD COLLEGE (LONDON) FOR WOMEN, — 8 and 9g YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. The Professorship in Hygiene at this College will be vacant at the end of this Session. Applications, together with Copies of Testimonials, must be sent in by June 16, to the Honorary Secretary at the College, from whom all information may be obtained. FIRTH COLLEGE, SHEFFIELD. The Council of Firth College intends to appoint a DEMONSTRATOR and ASSISTANT LECTURER in BIOLOGY, specially qualified in Botany. Stipend, £120. Candidates must send in their Applications before June ro. Further Particulars can be obtained from Ensor Drury, Registrar. WANTED, at the CAMBORNE MINING SCHOOL, an ASSISTANT TEACHER capable of teaching CHEMISTRY, and taking charge of a Laboratory. Preference will be given to one qualified to teach Metallurgy, Mineralogy, Geology, or Mathematics. Apply immediately, SEcRETARY. YELVERTDON COLLEGE. HIGH-CLASS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. For Prospectus, Fees, and Referees, apply to the Principal, Miss HEATH, Yelverton, S. Devon. PTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optica Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. ENV) BRADY & MARTIN'S RECD. VACUUM TUBE (Regd. No. 272103) for the ** NEW PHOTOGRAPHY,” Each 21/~ Post Free. BRADY & MARTINS NEW SCREEN FOR SHORTENING THE TIME OF EXPOSURE. With this SCREEN and B. and M.’s TUBE, good Photographs of the hand are taken in ¢zvo seconds with a five-inch Coil and proportionately with smaller Coils. Prices: for Half-Plate, 5s. ; Whole Plate, 8s. 6d., Post Free. BATTERIES, INDUCTION COILS, &c. BRADY & MARTIN, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS, NEWCASTLE ~ ON ~ TYNE. SELENIUM CELLS FOR EXPERIMENTS WITH RONTGEN RAYS (See Nature, June 4, 1896, p. 109) ARE MADE AND SOLD BY P. J. KIPP & ZONEN (J. W. CILTAY, OPVOLGER), _ DELFT, HOLLAND. “3_-RAYS.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 6” x 8", 10s. 6d. post free. Most carefully prepared; each Screen tested and guaranteed. Th bones of the body can be easily examined, and Photographs taken with one n-inute’s exposure or less through these excellent Screens, with great clearness. A Stereoscopic Dark Box, to fit the Screens, will be ready in a few days, 9s. 6d. extra, Address, H. LEES, CASTLETOWN, ISLE OF MAN. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. Prices on application THE ALBION S.S. COMPANY (LIMITED). FORTNIGHTLY CRUISES from NEW- CASTLE-ON-TYNE to NORWAY. The Finesse YACHTING STEAMER afloat. No Upper Berths “MIDNIGHT SUN,” 3178 Tons, 3500 H.P. Capt. CABORNE, R.N.R., F.R.G.S. Sailings :—June 6, 20; July 4, 18; August 1 and r5. Fares from 12 Guineas, including first-class Table. For Itinerary, &c., apply to ‘MIDNIGHT SUN” PASSENGER SUPERINTENDENT 4 Lombard Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne. INDEX NUM™MBER. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, “©T the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1389, VOL. 54.] THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1896. [PRICE ONE SHILLING. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office. | INDUCTION COILS. Messrs. NEWTON & CO., of 3 Freer Srreer, Lonpon, have made an arrangement with Mr. Apps by which the results of his unequalled experience in large Coil making have been fully placed at their disposal. As he has been unable to cope with the demand for these instruments, Apps’ Patented Coils are now manufactured con- currently by Messrs. NEwron & Co. on their own premises. These Coils have for many years been acknowledged the best and most efficient in the world, and it is hoped that the high quality of workmanship maintained in Messrs. NEWTON & Co.’s | workshops may still further increase their reputation. All the Coils up to 10-inch are tested to considerably more | than the guaranteed length of spark. Spark in air. 22 SRE # Spark in air. eS) I in. m5 OO 8 in. (with pillars) 27 10 o yas eat TO 10°10 TOU. = ego 15. .O B45 as eemoe m2: O!) 15 4; ogy OO Biz as peers £50 | 1S 5; oy aise 0 0 6 ,, (with pillars) 22 10 0 Larger sizes to order. All the above Coils are covered in ebonite, and are of the highest quality, andall are fitted with Commutator and five pairs of Terminals so that they can be used with Primary Batteries or Accumulators or direct from the main, and the Condenser can be cut out if desired. which should be done when using alternate currents. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, EL 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. X- RAYS. X-RAY TUBES, “FOCUS” Pattern, 27/6 each. Mr. A. A. C. SWINTON, April 18, 1896.—‘‘ The Special Vacuum Tube you recently supplied to me has been tested in my laboratory with very satisfactory results.” Pror. CHATTOCK, University College, Bristol —‘‘ The tube you sent | Please send another as | us was an excellent one—we have not had a better. soon as you are able.” INDUCTION COILS. 3-in., £93; 4-in., £12; 5-in., £15; 6-in., £18. Our own Manufacture, as supplied to ‘‘ The Lancet,” Shelford Bidwell, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., and others. Mr. ARNOLD H. ULLYETT, F.R.G.S., &c.—** The Coil gives exceed- ingly good results, and with its use I have taken some splendid, well-defined shadow photographs.” x FLUORESCENT SCREENS. Excellent definition, any Size made to Order. Sizes in stock: 5x5 inches, 15S. ; 75 inches, 18s.; 8x6inch es, 22s. 6d. each. {All Rights are Reserved. NALDER BROS. & 6O., tonoon. D'ARSONVAL GALVANOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. i Write for CATALOGUES. D'ARSONVAL CALVANOMETER (As illustrated). VERY PORTABLE. SENSITIVE IN STOCK. £500 NO AGENTS p IN = U.S.A. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, | = New Simplified Model,. | adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen,. 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. = Branches—45 CorNHILL,, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, ‘ Negretti, Landon.” AMBRA! LONDON) xlii ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. The ANNIVERSARY MEETING will be held (by permission of the Senate) in the Hall of the University of London, Burlington Gardens, W., on MONDAY, JUNE 15, at 2.30 p.m. Sir Clements R. MarKHAM, K.C.B., F.RS., President, in the chair During the Meeting the Council and Officers will be elected for the ensuing year, the Annual Report of the Council will be read, the President will give his Address, and the Gold Medals and other awards of the Society will be presented. The Annual Dinner of the Society will be held on the evening of the Anniversary Meeting, at the Hétel Metropole, Whitehall Rooms, Whitehall Place, at7 p.m. Dinner charge, £1 1s. Friends of Fellows are admissible to the Dinner. McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, CANADA. The Governors of McGill University are prepared to receive Applications for the following posts :— A PROFESSORSHIP of ARCHITECTURE. A PROFESSORSHIP of MINING AND METALLURGY. AN ASSISTANT PROFESSORSHIP of CIVIL ENGINEERING. AN ASSISTANT PROFESSORSHIP of DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY and FREEHAND DRAWING. The nature of the work is fully described on pages 18 to 27 of the Uni- versity Announcement, copies of which may be obtained on application to the Editor of Narure, or the Editor of Exgineering. For further informa- tion apply to the Secretary, McGill College, Montreal. In the case of the Professorship of Mining, and of the Assistant Professor- ship of Civil Engineering, experience in Laboratory work is essential. The Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering should also have a thorough knowledge of Hydraulics. Candidates for the Assistant Professorship of Descriptive Geometry and Freehand Drawing should have a knowledge of Architectural Drawing, as the Assistant Professor of this subject will be expected to give assistance to tthe Professor of Architecture. Candidates for any of the above Appointments must send their names to the undersigned, together with a statement of their age, previous career, and qualifications, with such Testimonials as they may think desirable, not later than July 14. J. W. BRAKENRIDGE, Acting Secretary, McGill College. YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT. The ENTRANCE EXAMINATION this year will be held either on July 13 or October 5. In July it may (under certain conditions) be taken at any place convenient to the Candidate; in October it will be held at the College only. Success in certain other Examinations excuses from this. All Particulars may be obtained from the ReGistraR of the Yorkshire ‘College, Leeds, who will also receive names of intending Candidates, which, for the July Examination, must be sent to him not later than June 30. BEDFORD COLLEGE (LONDON) FOR WOMEN, 8 andg YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. ENTRANCE SCHOLARSHIPS. One Arnott Scholarship in Science, Annual Value £48, and one Reid Scholarship in Arts, Annual Value Thirty Guineas, each tenable for Three Years, will be awarded on the result of the Examination, to be held at the ‘College on June 23 and 24. Names to be sent in to the Principat, not later than June 15. LUCY J. RUSSELL Honorary Secretary BEDFORD COLLEGE (LONDON) FOR WOMEN, 8 and g YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. The Professorship in Hygiene at this College will be vacant at the end of this Session. Applications, together with Copies of Testimonials, must be sent in by June 16, to the Honorary Secretary at the College, from whom all information may be obtained. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. PrincipAaL—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senror-INstRucToR—C, CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. YELVERTDONG GOR Sec. HIGH-CLASS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. For Prospectus, Fees, and Referees, apply to the Principal, Miss HEATH, Yelverton, S. Devon. Mad URE [JUNE 11, 1896 — ALFRED JORGENSEN'S LABORATORY FOR THE PHYSIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY OF FERMENTATION. COPENHAGEN, V. (Esras.isHep 1881.) STUDENTS’ SESSIONS. —Courses of Instruction in the Physio- ~ logy and Technology of Fermentation for Beginners and Ad- vanced Students, with particular regard to HANSEN’s System for the Pure Cultivation’and Analysis of Yeast and the applica- tion of selected pure Yeast types in practice. (1) Mould-fungi. (2) Forms of Transition between Mould-fungi and Saccharomyces Yeast-fungi. (3) Yeast-fungi: Culture Yeast Types, Wild Yeasts, Disease Yeast. (4) Fermentation Bacteria. (5) Preparation of absolutely pure Cultures of Yeast-fungi. (6) Preparation of Cultures ona large scale. (7) Comparative Experiments with Mass Culture, and Instruc- tion in their Use in Practice (in Breweries, Distilleries, Wine Fermentation, &c.). (8) Supervision of Fermentation Establishments. 9) Preservation of Selected Types of Yeast. (zo) Instruction in the Use of Yeast Propagating Machines. The English, French, Danish and German languages are used in the instruction. The Laboratory possesses a numerous collection of Culture-Yeast Types (for Breweries, Distilleries, Grape Wine, Fruit Wine), Wild Yeasts (Disease Yeast), and Fermentation Bacteria, all of Which are supplied for use in Laboratories and in practice. Manuals of Instruction :—Alfred Jérgensen : ‘‘ Micro-Organisms and Fer- mentation,” new edition, 1893 (published by F. W. Lyon, Eastcheap Buildings, London). French Edition (Société d'Editions Scientifiques, Paris, 1894). Third German Edition (P. Parey, Berlin, 1892). E. Chr. Hansen: ‘‘ Practical Studies in Fermentation (Contributions to the Life-history of Micro-Organisms)” (E. F. Spon, London, 1895). French Résumé in the “‘ Comptes rendus du: Laboratoire de Carlsberg” (Hagerup, Copenhagen). German Edition (R. Oldenbourg, Munich, 1890-1895)) Prospectus gratis on application. The Laboratory has upto this day been frequented by 380 Students from all countries, among them by 41 English and American Students. ASSISTANT MASTERSHIPS Vacant for next Term in Public Schools.—Science, £180; Chemistry, £120 ; Drawing, 4120; Mathematics and French, £120 respectively. For conditions under which particulars of these and other Vacancies are given, apply to the Hon. Sec., Assistant Masters’ Association, Parmiter's School, Victoria Park, N.E. SIR R. BALL’S FAILURE to account for the Earth’s Warming, since the Glacial Age, fully met. THE JESUS- HUXLEY CASE ON NOAH’S FLOOD. ITS CAUSES AND PROOFS. ad. W. REEVES, 185 Fleet Street. SELENIUM CELLS FOR EXPERIMENTS WITH RONTGEN RAYS (See Nature, June 4, 1896, p. 109) ARE MADE AND SOLD BY P. J. KIPP & ZONEN (J. W. GILTAY, OPVOLGER), DELFT, HOLLAND. “x-RAYS.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 6” x 8", 10s. 6d. post tree. Most carefully prepared; each Screen tested and guaranteed. The bones of the body can be easily examined, and Photographs taken with one n-inute’s exposure or less through these excellent Screens, with great clearness. A Stereoscopic Dark Box, to fit the Screens, will be ready in a few days, 9s. 6d. extra. Address, H. LEES, CASTLETOWN, ISLE OF MAN. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients’ own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. **7% the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for ay2.”—WoORDSWORTH. No. 1391, VOL. 54.] THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1806. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at tne Generai 1 vs. [All Rights are Reserved. ne ene NALDER BROS. & CO. coneurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. LONDON. N. C. S. TELOMSon REFLECTING GALVANOMETER. 5000 OHMS RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE £29 10 O Write for CATALOGUES. Cable Address: SECOHM, LONDON. No Agents in U.S.A. *X" RAY “FOCUS” TUBES; 30s. SPECIAL TUBES FOR FLUORESCENT SCREENS. Complete Apparatus for Rontgen ‘*X” Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. Detailed List on Appl: tcation. for $60 C.0.D This fnstemnent delivered Free anny WnONE in U.S.A. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, 2 NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. SOLE MAKERS OF y aN ; X- ____ee/_ hy, _SORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, RAYS. * : X-RAY TUBES, ‘‘ FOCUS” Pattern, 27/6 each. CHEAPER TUBE, giving excellent Photographic results, 15s. each. Mr. A. A. C. SWINTON, April 18, 1896.—‘‘ The Special Vacuum Tube you recently supplied to me has been tested in my laboratory with very New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, satisfactory results.” 5s. per 100. Pror. CHATTOCK, University College, Bristol —‘The tube you sent us was an excellent one—we have not had a better. Please send another as NEGRETTI soon as you are able.” AND INDUCTION COILS. ZAMBRA, 3-in., £9; 4-in., £12; 5-in., £15; 6-in., £18. Our own Manufacture, as supplied to ‘‘ The Lancet,” Shelford Bidwell, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., and others. Mr. ARNOLD H. ULLYETT, F.R.G.S., &c.—‘* The Coil gives exceed- | ingly good results, and with its use I have taken some splendid, well-defined | shadow photographs.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS. Excellent definition, any Size made to Order. Sizes in stock: 5x5 inches, 15S. ; 7X5 inches, 18s.; 8x6 inches, 22s. 6d. each. Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, $8 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CoRNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, ‘ Negretti, London.” Ivill BRITISH MUSEUM, BLOOMSBURY. EVENING OPENING ON WEEK DAYS. From Wednesday, July 1, to Wednesday, August 12, inclusive, the Galleries usually open from 8 to 10 p.m. on week days will be closed during those hours, and will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. instead. E. MAUNDE THOMPSON, Principal Librarian and Secretary. British Museum, June 23, 1896. CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years. The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Exhibition Road, S.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 21 to 24, and the new Session will commence on October 1st. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.I.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY (Leonard Street, City Road, E.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides ‘Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under 14 years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Andustries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, and the new Session will commence on October 6, A : Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S. (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, CANADA. The Governors of McGill University are prepared to receive Applications .or the following posts :— A PROFESSORSHIP of ARCHITECTURE. A PROFESSORSHIP of MINING AND METALLURGY. AN ASSISTANT PROFESSORSHIP of CIVIL ENGINEERING. | AN ASSISTANT PROFESSORSHIP of DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY and FREEHAND DRAWING. The nature of the work is fully described on pages 18 to 27 of the Uni- versity Announcement, copies of which may be obtained on application to the Editor of Nature, or the Editor of Augineerxing. For further informa- tion apply to the Secretary, McGill College, Montreal. In the case of the Professorship of Mining, and of the Assistant Professor- ship of Civil Engineering, experience in Laboratory work is essential. The Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering should also have a thorough knowledge of Hydraulics. Candidates for the Assistant Professorship of Descriptive Geometry and Freehand Drawing should have a knowledge of Architectural Drawing, as the Assistant Professor of this subject will be expected to give assistance to the Professor of Architecture. Candidates for any of the above Appointments must send their names to the undersigned, together with a statement of their age, previous career, and qualifications, with such Testimonials as they may think desirable, not later than July rq. J. W. BRAKENRIDGE, Acting Secretary, McGill College. HARTLEY INSTITUTION, SOUTHAMPTON. ‘The Hartley Council invite applications for the following Appointments :— Lecrurer 1n CHEMISTRY, Salary £150 per annum. LecTURER IN MATHEMATICS, Salary 4150 per annum. LecTURER IN BiloLoGy anp GEoLoGy, Salary 4150 per annum. LECTURER IN ENGLISH AND CLassics, Salary £150 per annum. LECTURER IN FRENCH AND GERMAN, Salary £150 per annum. Duties in each case will commence in September 1896. Preference will be given to candidates who are University graduates. Applications, giving particulars of training, qualifications, and experience, with copies of recent testimonials, must be received on or before Monday, JULY 183, 1806. Twenty (20) printed copies of each application (with testimonials) will be required. Further particulars relative to the duties and conditions of each appoint- ment, and the assistance available for each Lecturer, may be obtained on application to D, Kippig, Clerk to the Council. NATURE | PHYSICS will be Vacant at Michaelmas next. [JUNE 25, 1896 BOROUGH OF SWANSEA. INTERMEDIATE AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. Applications are invited for the three following positions, to be held under the Scheme for Intermediate and Technical Education in the Borough of Swansea :-— 1. LECTURER in METALLURGY and CHEMISTRY. 2. LECTURER in PHYSICS, 3. LECTURER in ENGINEERING, The Salary offered is in each case £200, rising by annual increments of 410 to £250 per Annum. Further particulars as to duties, which will commence in September next, can be obtained from the undersigned, to whom all applications must be sent not later than July 8. : One set only of copies of Testimonials is required. : G. S. TURPIN, M.A., D.Sc., Principal. HANDSWORTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL, NEAR BIRMINGHAM. The Governors are prepared to appoint a HEAD MASTER, who must be a Graduate of some University of the United Kingdom, to enter upon his duties in September next. Stipend, £150 a Year, with Capitation Fee of 42 10s. on every Boy up to 80, and £1 ros. oneach Boy beyond that number. Present number, 65. Accommodation, 150. No Boarders. Applications, with Copies of not more than three recent Testimonials, to be sent before July 6, 1896, to H. TRAvers Ence, Clerk to the Governors, 35 Waterloo Street, Birmingham. BOROUGH OF WEST BROMWICH. MUNICIPAL SCIENCE SCHOOL, The TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE invite Applica- tions for the Post of ASSISTANT LECTURER and DEMONSTRATOR in Metallurgy, Chemistry and Physics. Salary £100 per annum. The Teacher appointed must be specially qualified for teaching Metallurgy. Applications (accompanied by copies of not more than four recent Testi- monials) to be sent by June 30, to the Secretary (Mr. T. GiLbert GrirFitus), from whom further particulars may be had on application, Canvassing for the Appointment is not permitted. MASON COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM. PROFESSORSHIP OF CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, The Council invite Applications for the above Professorship. Applications, accompanied by twenty-five copies of Testimonials, should be sent to the undersigned not later than SarurpAy, JULY 11, 1896. The successful Candidate will be required to enter upon his duties on OcTroseR 1, 1896. Further particulars may be obtained from GEO. H. MORLEY, Secretary. MERCHANT VENTURERS’ TECHNICAL COLLEGE, BRISTOL. MATHEMATICAL MASTER required in September. Salary £200 a year, increasing on certain conditions to £250 a year. Candidates must send in their applications not later than Tuesday, July 7, and must state that they have read the particulars as to the post, which can be obtained from the Registrar on application. J. WERTHEIMER, Principal. HULL MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. CHEMISTRY MASTERSHIP. The Technical Instruction Committee is prepared to receive Applications for the above Appointment. Candidates must not be under 25 nor over 40 years ofage. Salary, £200 per Annum, payable monthly. Forms of Application and further particulars may be obtained from the undersigned, to whom Applications must be sent not later than Tuesday, July 14. J. T. RILEY, D.Sc. (London), Director of Studies. a7 Albion Street, Hull. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BRISTOL. The Council invite Applications for the following Posts :— LECTURER AND DEMONSTRATOR IN CHEMISTRY. 120, JUNIOk DEMONSTRATOR IN CHEMISTRY. Salary £70. Applications, with Testimonials, to be sent not later than July x. Further information may be obtained on application to JAMES RAFTER, Secretary. FIRTH COLLEGE, SHEFFIELD. DEMONSTRATOR OF PHYSICS. The Post of ASSISTANT LECTURER and DEMONSTRATOR of The Salary is £120, Salary together with certain allowances. Further information can be obtained on application to the REGISTRAR, to whom Applications for the Post should be addressed, together with Testi- monials, and the names of at least two Referees, before July 9. OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER. The Senate invite Applications for the post of JUNIOR DEMON- STRATOR in PHYSICS. Applications, with testimonials, should be sent in, under cover, to the REGISTRAR, on or before Thursday, July 9 next. A statement of duties, &c., may be obtained on application. , S. CHAFFERS, Registrar. . A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. "To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.’—WORDSWORTH. No. 1392, VOL! 54.] Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] THURSDAY, JULY 2, 18096. [PRICE SIXPENCE. [All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILS. APPS’ PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured | ’ concurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. = Mi” LONDON * “xX” RAY “FOCUS” TUBES, 30s. SPECIAL TUBES FOR FLUORESCENT SCREENS. Complete Apparatus for Rontgen ‘‘X” Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. Detaile ad List on 2 Application. > wa BtcR AY ti Rei neem 307/// should be without a CAMERA. Full particulars free on application. R. & J. BECK, Ltd., 68 Cornhill, London, E.C. No Scientific Man | ERENA BROWNING’S “STRAND” HALF-PLATE oe a call OUTFIT. Comprising }-Plate Double Ex- tension Mahogany body Camera, with Rising and Falling Front, Reversing Back and Leather Bel- lows; one Double Dark Slide ; Rapid Rectilinear Lens, Iris Dia- 1 phragm; Thornton-Pickard Shutter; Tripod Stand; Focussing Cloth, and Waterproof Case. Price complete, £4 18s. 6d. Tilustrated Catalogue of Photo- graphic Apparatus Post Free. JOHN BROWNING, Manufacturing Optician, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C, NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S Coren SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, $8 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CORNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, ‘‘ Negretti, London.” Ixvi : NATURE CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's ‘Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years. The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Exhibition Road, $.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 2r to 24, and the new Session will commence on October rst. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, &.R.S., M.1.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY (Leonard Street, City Road, E.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under r4 years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Industries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, and the new Session will commence on October 6. Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S. (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES (BANGOR). ‘SESSION 1896-97 will open on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29. DEPARTMENTS of PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, and BIOLOGY. Prof. A. Gray, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. PHYSICS .... +. 4 Assistant Lecturers and Demonstrators, T. C. \ Baivuig, M.A., B.Sc., and E. Taytor Jones, D.Sc. Prof. J. J. Doppir, M.A.. D.Sc. ‘CHEMISTRY .., ; Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator, F. MarspEN, | M.Sc., Ph.D. (Heidelberg). \ Botany—Prof. R. W. Puitiips, M.A., B.Sc. BIOLOGY { Zoology—-Prof. Pumie J. Wurre, M.B., F.R.S.E. The Classes and Laboratory Courses of this College are arranged to suit the requirements of Students of Practical Science, as well as of Students preparing for University and other Examinations. The Lectures in Chem- istry, Physics, Botany, and Zoology, are recognised by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow as qualifying for the Medical Degrees of those Universities. One Annus Medicus may be taken at this College. The extensive Laboratories (Physical, Chemical, and Biological) are fully equipped for Study and Research, and in the Physical Department special provision has been made for the Teaching of Electrical Engineering. A Special Course has been arranged in this subject. Inclusive Tuition Fee, £11 1s. LABORATORY FEES (per Term) on the scale of £1 rs. for six hours a week, in each Department. A considerable number of Scholarships and Exhibitions are open for com- |p2tition at the beginning of each Session, and several are awarded at the close of each Session on the result of the year’s work. For full information as to Science and Arts Courses, apply for Prospectus to the Secretary and Registrar, J. E. LLOYD, M.A, - HARTLEY INSTITUTION, SOUTHAMPTON. The Hartley Council invite applications for the following Appointments :— LecrurerR IN CHEMISTRY, Salary £150 per annum. LecrurerR 1N Maruemarics, Salary £150 per annum. LecruRER IN BIOLOGY AND GEOLoGy, Salary £150 per annum. LecTURER IN ENGLISH AND CLassics, Salary 150 per annum. LECTURER IN FRENCH AND GERMAN, Salary £150 per annum. Duties in each case will commence in September 1896. Preference will b2 given to candidates who are University graduates. Applications, giving particulars of training, qualifications, and experience, vith copies of recent testimonials, must be received on or before Monday, JULY 13, 1896. Twenty (20) printed copies of each application (with testimonials) will be required. Further particulars relative to the duties and conditions of each appoint- ment, and the assistance available for each Lecturer, may be obtained on application to D, Kipp.e, Clerk to the Council. MASON COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM. PROFESSORSHIP OF CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. The Council invite Applications for the above Professorship. Applications, accompanied by twenty-five copies of Testimonials, should be sent to the undersigned not later than SATURDAY, Jury rr, 1896. The successful Candidate will be required to enter upon his duties on “OCTOBER 1, 1896. Further particulars may be obtained from GEO. H. MORLEY, Secretary. BALLIOL COLLEGE, CHRIST CHURCH, AND TRINITY COLLEG OXFORD. NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIPS AND EXHIBITIONS A Combined Examination for Natural Science Scholarships and Exhil tions will be held by the above Colleges, beginning on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1896. Three Scholarships and two Exhibitions will be offered, the Scholarshi; being worth £80 a year. ; The subjects for Examination will be Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, oe Candidates will not be expected to offer themselves in more than two o} these. Particulars may be obtained by application to A. VERNON HARCOURT, Christ Church, Oxford. > NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIP. KEBLE COLLEGE, OXFORD. A SCHOLARSHIP of the annual value of £60, together with Laboratory | fees, not exceeding £20 per annum, will be awarded at this College in December 1896, The Examination commences Tuesday, December 8. Subjects : Chemistry or Biology, with Elementary Mechanics and Physics for all Candidates, and Elementary Chemistry for those who offer Biology. abe full particulars apply to W. Harcuerr Jackson, Keble College, Oxford. BOROUGH OF SWANSEA. INTERMEDIATE AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. Applications are invited for the three following positions, to be held under the Scheme for Intermediate and Technical Education in the Borough of Swansea :— 1. LECTURER in METALLURGY and CHEMISTRY. 2. LECTURER in PHYSICS. . 3. LECTURER in ENGINEERING. The Salary offered is in each case £200, rising by annual increments o 410 to £250 per Annum. Further particulars as to duties, which will commence in September next, can be obtained from the undersigned, to whom all applications must be sent not later than July 8. One set only of copies of Testimonials is required. G.S. TURPIN, M.A., D.Se., Principal. COUNTY BOROUGH OF ST. HELENS. TECHNICAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. The Committee desire the Services of a TEACHER for the Classes in CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS and METALLURGY, to devote the whole of his time to the work. Salary, 4150 and Share of Science Grant. Full Particulars can be obtained on application to the DirRECTOR oF Tecunicat Epucation, Town Hall, St. Helens, to whom Applications must be delivered, endorsed ‘‘ Science Lecturer,” by July zo next. W. J. JEEVES, Town Clerk. June 15, 1896. HULL MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. CHEMISTRY MASTERSHIP. The Technical Instruction Committee is prepared to receive Applications for the above Appointment. Candidates must not be under 25 nor over 40 years ofage. Salary, £200 per Annum, payable monthly. Forms of Application and further particulars may be obtained from the undersigned, to whom Applications must be sent not later than Tuesday, July x4. J. T. RILEY, D.Sc. (London), Director of Studies. u. Albion Street, Hull. MERCHANT VENTURERS’ TECHNICAL COLLEGE, BRISTOL. MATHEMATICAL MASTER required in September. Salary £200 a year, increasing on certain conditions to £250 a year. Candidates must send in their applications not later than Tuesday, July 7, and must state that they have read the particulars as to the post, which ean be obtained from the Registrar on application. J. WERTHEIMER, Principal. OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER. The Senate are prepared to appoint a SENIOR and a JUNIOR DEMONSTRATOR in PHYSIOLOGY. The Stipends will be £150, rising to £200, and £100, rising to: £150, respectively. Applications should be made, on or before July 13. to the ReGIsTRAR, from whom further particulars may be obtained. S. CHAFFERS, Registrar. OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER. The Senate invite Applications for the post of JUNIOR DEMON- STRATOR in PHYSICS. Applications, with testimonials, should be sent in, under cover, to the REGISTRAR, on or before Thursday, July 9 next. A statement of duties, &c., may be obtained on application. S. CHAFFERS, Registrar. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “°To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1393, VOL. 54] THURSDAY, Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.| THE BEATING OF THE HEART AND HE MOVEMENTS OF THE DIAPHRAGM an be seen by the aid of the Special ‘‘ Focus” Tubes (255. | ach) and the Fluorescent Screens (35s. each) made by -EWTON & CO., 3 FLeetT StreEer, LONpoN, if used with one of their 6-inch Induction Coils. NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON, ré now prepared to supply the well-known ‘‘ Focus ” Tubes | manufactured by them at the reduced price of 25s. each. When ordering, the length of Spark to be used, should be 1entioned. All the Tubes for 6” Spark and upwards will work right hrough the human body, showing the heart, liver, spine, ribs, 1ovements of the heart, diaphragm, &c. Customers can see these Tubes at work at 3 FLEET STREET, JONDON. IEW FLUORESCENT SCREENS, extremely brilliant, 8” x 5”, 85s. each; 10” x 8”, 63s. each. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, -: 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. CHEAPER TUBE, giving excellent Photographic results, 15s. each. Mr. A. A. C. SWINTON, April 18, 1806.—‘‘ The Special Vacuum Tube ou recently supplied to me has been tested in my laboratory with very atisfactory results.” Pror. CHATTOCK, University College, Bristol —* The tube you sent S was an excellent one—we have not had a better. Please send another as pon as you are able.” INDUCTION COILS. 3-in., £95; 4-in., £12; 5-in., £15; 6-in., £18. Our own Manufacture, as supplied to ‘‘The Lancet,” Shelford Bidwell, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., and others. Mr. ARNOLD H. ULLYETT, F.R.G.S., &c.—*‘ The Coil gives exceed- ngly good results, and with its use I have taken some splendid, well-defined hadow photographs.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS. excellent definition, any Size made to Order. Sizes in stock: 55 inches, 155. } 7%5 inches, 18s. ; 86 inches, 22s. 6d. each. MUTE Y “o,ansos: [PRICE SIXPENCE. [All Rights are Reserved. NALDER BROS. & 60., tonvon. D'ARSONVAL GALVANOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. | a di y Write for CATALOGUES. D'ARSONVAL CALVANOMETER (As illustrated). | VERY PORTABLE SENSITIVE. IN STOCK. £5 0 0 NO AGENTS IN U.S.A. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 ‘7s. 6d. oe / Sensitised Charts, / 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 88 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CorNuILt, 122 REGENT STREET, | NEcRETTI A | \ Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, ‘ Negretti, London.” CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's ‘Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years. The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Exhibition Road, S.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 2r to 24, and the new Session will commence on October 1st. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.1.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. . Ayrton, F.R.S. (Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY (Leonard Street, City Road, £.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under rq years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Industries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, and the new Session will commence on October 6. Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S. (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES (BANGOR). SESSION 1896-97 will open on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29. DEPARTMENTS of PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, and BIOLOGY. Prof. A. Gray, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. PHYSICS ........ 1 Assistant Lecturers and Demonstrators, T. C. \ Battie, M.A., B.Sc., and E. Tayior Jones, D.Sc. { Prof. J. J. Doppre, M.A . D.Sc. CHEMISTRY... ¢ Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator, F. MArspEN, \ M-Sc., Ph.D. (Heidelberg). 5 Botany—Prof. R. W. Puiitirs, M.A,, B.Sc. BIOLOGY «.-. { Zoology—-Prof. Puiuie J. WuiTe, M.B., F.R.S E. The Classes and Laboratory Courses of this College are arranged to suit the requirements of Students of Practical Science, as well as of Students preparing for University and other Examinations. The Lectures in Chem- istry, Physics, Botany, and Zoology, are recognised by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow as qualifying for the Medical Degrees of those Universities. One Annus Medicus may be taken at this College. The extensive Laboratories (Physical, Chemical, and Biological) are fully quipped for Study and Research, and in the Physical Department special provision has been made for the Teaching of Electrical Engineering. A Special Course has been arranged in this subject. Inclusive Tuition Fee, 411 1s. LABORATORY FEES (per Term) on the scale of £1 1. for six hours a week, in each Department. A considerable number of Scholarships and Exhibitions are open for com- pztition at the beginning of each Session, and several are awarded at the close of each Session on the result of the year’s work. For full information as to Science and Arts Courses, apply for Prospectus to the Secretary and Registrar, J. E. LLOYD, M.A. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES. (A CONSTITUENT COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES.) Applications are invited for the post of ASSISTANT LECTURER IN AGRICULTURE. Salary £120. Competent knowledge of Forestry desirable, but not essential. Ability to Lecture in Welsh will be considered an additional qualification. For particulars apply to the undersigned, to whom applications must be sent not later than September 1. J. E. LLOYD, M.A., Secretary and Registrar. Bangor, July 1, 1896. COUNTY BOROUGH OF SALFORD. ROYAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE. WANTED, a MATHEMATICAL LECTURER who must be qualified to assist in the Physical and Electrical Engineering Departments. £180 per annum. Also ASSISTANT LECTURER and DEMON- STRATOR in CHEMISTRY. Salary £70 per annum, & Particulars of Duties and Forms of Application may be obtained, up to the 11th instant, from the SECRETARY at the Institute. By Order. SAMUEL LROWN, Town Clerk. July 2; 1806. NATURE THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROA EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principac—G. W. pe TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Seniok-Lnstructor—C. CAPITO, M.1.E.E., M.1.M E. f Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Worksho with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, an Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem: istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training fe Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. H SCHOOLS. CHEMISTRY MASTERSHIP. The Technical Instruction Committee is prepared to receive Application for the above Appointment. Candidates must not be under 25, nor over 4 years ofage. Salary, £200 per Annum, payable monthly. Forms of Application and further particulars may be obtained from the undersigned, to whom Applications must be sent not later than Tuesday: July 14. J. T. RILEY, D.Sc. (London), Director of Studies. 7 Albion Street, Hull. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS. Applications are invited, before July 26, for the appointment of Assistan Lecturer and Demonstrator in Technical Electricity. Salary £125, wit certain fees, which amounted last year to £78. Particulars may be obtain from the SECRETARY. GORDON’S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. | WANTED, for Day and Evening Classes, SCIENCE MASTE (CHEMISTRY), to enter on duty August 24. Income not less than £2 per annum. Particulars of duties, &c., may be obtained from the HEAL Master, to whom applications are to be addressed up to July 18. WANTED, a Head Mistress for Rhy: and District Intermediate School. Salary £120. Knowledge o Welsh desirable. Applications to be sent in by July 31, 1896, to thi CLERK to the Governors. : J. ROBERTS JONES, Solicitor, Rhyl. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. | —aN Catalogues Free. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Opti Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clien own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, ALBERT EDWARD JAMRAC (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery ELLIOTT Bros.) N.W. Implements of Savage Warfare, Salary | Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. HOLLOWAY’S PILLS CURE Biliousness, Sick Headache, Indigestio and all Internal Complaints. CAN BE TAKEN BY THE MOST DELICATE Holloway’s Pills and Ointment may be obtained of all Medicine Vendors, A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WORDSWORTH. No. 1394, VOL. 54] THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post’ Office.] THE BEATING OF THE HEART AND THE MOVEMENTS OF THE DIAPHRAGM Can be seen by the aid of the Special ‘‘ Focus” Tubes (25s. each) and the Fluorescent Screens (35s. each) made by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON, if used with one of their 6-inch Induction Coils. NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON, Are now prepared to supply the well-known ‘‘ Focus” Tubes manufactured by them at the reduced price of 25s. each. *These Tubes are still unsurpassed for Rapidity, Brilliancy and Definition. “When ordering, the length of Spark to be used, should be mentioned. All the Tubes for 6” Spark and upwards will work right | through the human body, showing the heart, liver, spine, ribs, movements of the heart, diaphragm, &c. Customers can see these Tubes at work at 3 FLEET STREET, | LONDON. NEW igen SCREENS, extremely brilliant, x 5”,35s. each ; 10” x 8’, 63s. each. BECK’S MICROSCOPES. No. 254.—THIS MODEL, with 1-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed £6 10s. No. 258.—THIS MODEL, with 3-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. Condenser to 258 with Iris Diaphragm and _ | BBs: FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J, BECK, LTD., 63 CORNHILL, LONDON, E.C. STAND No. 25. in Polished Mahogany Case, | . 298. ee addition of Abbe Focussing | and Swinging Adjustments, | {All Rights are Reserved. BROWNING’S “STRAND” HALF-PLATE | ‘PHOTOGRAPHIC OUTFIT. Comprising 3-Plate Double Ex- tension Mahogany body Camera, with Rising and Falling Front, | Reversing Back and Leather Bel- lows; one Double Dark Slide; Rapid Rectilinear Lens, Iris Dia- phragm ; Thornton-Pickard Shutter; Tripod Stand ;~ Focussing Cloth, and Waterproof Case. Price complete, £4 18s. 6d. Tllustrated Catalogue of Photo- graphic Apparatus Post Free. JOHN BROWNING, Manufacturing Optician, | 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, | SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model, adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 ‘7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 CorRNHILL, 122 REGENT STREET, Lonpbon. ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telephone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address, ‘ Negretti, London." Ixxxii CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. The Courses of Instruction in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years, The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Exhibition Road, S.W.), a College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and Teachers, The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 21 to 24, and the new Session will commence on October ist. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.1I.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. (Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY (Leonard Street, City Road, £.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides Courses of Intermediate Instruction for Students not under 14 years of age, preparing to enter Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and Chemical Industries. The Entrance Examination will be held on September 22, and the new Session will commence on October 6. 4 . Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), R. Meldola, F.R.S. (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURAL DEPARTMENT. ASSISTED BY TECHNICAL EDUCATION BOARD OF LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL AND BY THE CARPENTERS’ COMPANY. SESSION 1896-7. The COURSES of INSTRUCTION in Mechanical, Civil, and Electrical Engineering and Architecture COMMENCE on OCTOBER 6. They are arranged to cover periods of two and three years. Particulars of the Courses, of Entrance Scholarships, of the Matriculation Examination, and of the Fees, may be obtained from the SECRETARY, PROFESSORS. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, T. Hupson Beare, M.I.C.E. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, J. A. FLemine, F.R.S. CIVIL ENGINEERING, L. F. VErNon Harcourt, M.I.C.E. ARCHITECTURE, T. Rocer Smiru, F.R.1.B.A. PHYSICS, G. Carey Foster, F.R.S. CHEMISTRY, W. Ramsay, F.R.S. APPLIED MATHEMATICS, K. Pearson, F.R.S. ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. MATHEMATICS, M. J. M. Hirt, F.R.S. The new wing of the College, opened by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught in May 1893, contains spacious Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Laboratories, Workshops, Drawing-Office, Museum, and Lecture Theatres. The Laboratories are fitted with all the best appliances for Practical Work and for Research Work of the most advanced character. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES, BANGOR. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. Professor ANDREW GRAY, LL.D., F.R.S., will begin, in OCTOBER next, a Systematic COURSE of INSTRUCTION in Electrical Measure- ment and Practical Electricity. The Physical Laboratory is fully equipped with a Compound Steam Engine, Dynamos, Transformer, Secondary Battery, and the most approved modern Measuring Instruments for all Branches of Electrical Engineering. Laboratory Fees at the rate of 41 15. per Term for six hours per week. Composition Fee for all College Lectures for the Session, £10. Applications for Calendar, Prospectus, and general information to be made to J. E. LLOYD, M.A., Secretary and Registrar. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS. Applications are invited, before July 26, for the appointment of Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator in Technical Electricity. Salary £125, with certain fees, which amounted last year to £78. Particulars may be obtained from the SECRETARY. GORDON’S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. WANTED, for Day and Evening Classes, SCIENCE MASTER (CHEMISTRY), to enter on duty August 24. Income not less than £250 perannum. Particulars of duties, &c., may be obtained from the HEAD MASTER, to whom applications are to be addressed up to July 18. NATURE [JuLy 16, 1896 OWENS COLLEGE, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, MANCHESTER. CHEMISTRY COURSE, Full Particulars of this Course, qualifying for the Victoria University Degrees in Chemistry and the College Technological Chemistry Certificate, will be forwarded on Application. The Session commences on October 6, S. CHAFFERS, Registrar. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION COLLEGE, READING, : The Council of the College are prepared to consider Applications for the Licensing of Farms qualified to receive Students in Agriculture. No Farm under 250 Acres can be recognised for this purpose. Forms of Application, with Particulars of Requirements, which must be returned on or before August 8, 1896, can be obtained from the ReGcisTRAR of the College. SCIENCE MISTRESS, GRADUATE in SCIENCE, required for International School in South Wales. Botany and Physical Geography. Salary £100, Non-resident.—Address, Grirritus & Co., Educational Agents, 34 Bedford Street, Strand. FLUORESCENT SCREENS for the NEW PHOTOGRAPHY. Prepared with Potassium Platinocyanide, and mounted on Zylonite. Size of fluorescent surface, 8” x 6”. Price 30s. S HILDESHEIM, rr Fell Road, Croydon. FOR SALE.—Herbarium of British Plants, over 500 Specimens in good condition. Took the Silver Medal of Pharmaceutical Society in 1876.—Apply, “‘ B.,” 8 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. | ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. LIVING SPECIMENS FOR THE MICROSCOPE. Volvox, Spirogyra, Desmids, Diatoms, Amoeba, Arcella, Actinospherium, Vorticella, Stentor, Hydra, Floscularia, Stephanoceros, Melicerta, and many other Specimens of Pond Life. Price 1s. per Tube, Post Free. Helix pomatia, Astacus, Amphioxus, Rana, Anodon, &c., for Dissection purposes, THOMAS BOLTON, 25 BALSALL HEATH ROAD, BIRMINGHAM. MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE LABORATORY, PLYMOUTH. The following animals can always be supplied, either living or preserved by the best methods :— Sycon ; Clava, Obelia, Sertularia; Actinia, Tealia, Caryophyllia, Alcy- onium ; Hormiphora (preserved) ; Leptoplana ; Lineus, Amphiporus ; Nereis, Aphrodite, Arenicola, Lanice, Terebella; Lepas, Balanus, Gammarus, Ligia, Mysis, Nebalia, Carcinus; Patella, Buccinum, Eledone, Pectens, Bugula, Crisia, Pedicellina ; Holothuria, Asterias, Echinus; Ascidia, Salpa preserved), Scyllium, Raia, &c., &c. For prices and more detailed lists apply to Biological Laboratory, Plymouth. THE DIRECTOR. wt WEEKLY IERUS@ERATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, **To the solid sround Of Nature trusts the mind which builds jor aye.” —WoRDSWoRTH. No. 1395, VOL. 54] THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office. | " [All Rights are Reserved. S eo 28 Sai Ss = a 2 airs were ALL APPARATUS Pees 3ONTGEN X-RAY WORK g0 M bes ‘ : oe sf5 0 APPS COILS (Newton's make)— =y 8-32 9 3 in., £12 12s.; 6 in, £22 10s.; = nee & 10 in., Ss. c FOCUS TUBES, 25s. each. ~Ee) Sz FLUORESCENT’ SCREENS, Sp 2 8 X 5, 35s.; 10 x 8, 63s, So = ROWLAND’S STAND (as F; = 5 g-) for d. LONDON. = PRICE LISTS FREE. » = JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, - 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.Cc. K-RAY TUBES, “Focus” PATTERN. . For Photographie Work only, 15s. each. . For Photographie and Sereen Work, 25s. each. ~ For Photographie and Sereen Work, exhausted for use with Coils giving 6-inch Spark and upwards, 35s, each. A and B are exhausted for use with 3-inch and 4-inch Spark Coils. Mr. A. A. C. SWINTON, April 18, 1896.—‘‘ The Special Vacuum Tube mu recently supplied to me has been tested in my laboratory with very tisfactory results.” Pror. CHATTOCK, University College, Bristol.—“ The tube you sent was an excellent one—we have not had a better. Please send another as on as you are able.” INDUCTION COILS. 3-in., £95 4-in., £12; 5-in., £15; 6-in., £18, Our own Manufacture, as supplied to ‘*The Lancet,” Shelford Bidwell, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., and others, Mr. ARNOLD H. ULLYETT, F.R.G.S., &c.—“' The Coil gives exceed- gly good results, and with its use I have taken some splendid, well-defined adow photographs.” FLUORESCENT SCREENS. cellent definition, any Size made to Order. Sizes in stock: 5x5 inches, 155. ; 7X5 inches, 18s. ; 8X6 inches, 225. 6d. each, £2 12s. 6d. NALDER BROS. & Go. LONDON. N. C. S, THOMSON ‘REFLECTING! GALVANOMETER. 5000 OHMS RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE L939 10 Oo Write for CATALOGUES. Cable Address : SECOHM, LONDON. = No Agents in U.S.A. This instrument delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $60 C.0.D. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SOLE MAKERS OF JORDAN'S (PATENT) SUNSHINE RECORDER, New Simplified Model,. adjustable for any latitude, and tho- roughly efficient. Price £1 7s. 6d. Sensitised Charts, 5s. per 100. NEGRETTI ZAMBRA,. Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. Branches—45 Cornuiti,, 122 REGENT STREET,. Lonpon. ILLUSTRATED Telephone No. 6583. DESCRIPTION POST FREE. Telegraphic Address, ‘‘ Negretti, London.” NATURE xc [Jury 23, 1896 CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. SESSION 1896-97. on in Engineering and Chemistry at the Institute's Colleges commence in October, and cover a period of two to three years. The Matriculation Examination of the Central Technical College will be held on September 21 to 24, and the Entrance Examination of the Day Department of the Technical College, Finsbury, on September 22. CITY AND GUILDS CENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE Exhibition Road, S.W.), 2 College for higher Technical Instruction for Students not under 16 years of age, preparing to become Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engir eers, Chemical and other Manufacturers, and ‘Teachers. The Matriculation Examination will be held on September 21 to 24, and the new Session will commence on October 1st. Professors :—O. Henrici, LL.D., F.R.S. (Mathematics), W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., M.1.C.E. (Civil and Mechanical Engineering), W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. Physics and Electrical Engineering), H. E. ‘Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Chemistry). CITY AND GUILDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FINSBURY d, £.C.). The DAY DEPARTMENT provides ion for Students not under 14 years of age, ction u rt Electrical Engineering and Chemical The Courses of Instructi (Leonard Street, City Roa Courses of Intermediate Instru preparing to enter Mechanical o! ‘Industries. The Entrance Examination will be hel Session will commence on October 6. Professors :—S. P. Thompson, D.Se., F.R.S. (Electrical Engineering), ‘R, Meldola, F.R.S. (Chemistry). JOHN WATNEY, Hon. Secretary. d on September 22, and the new ndon Institute, City and Guilds of Lo Basinghall Street, E.C. Gresham College, NORTHAMPTON INSTITUTE, © CLERKENWELL, LONDON, E.C. + the following Appoint- The Governing Body invite Applications fo ments :— HEAD of the DEPARTMENT of MECHANICAL ENGIN EERING and METAL TRADES. Salary, £250 per Annum. ’ HEAD of the ARTISTIC CRAFTS DEPARTMENT. Salary, £250 er Annum. CHIEF ASSISTANT in the DEPARTMENT of APPLIED PHYSICS (including- ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING). Salary, £180 per Annum, HEAD TEACHER in the DOMESTIC ECONOMY SCHOOL. Salary, 4100 per Annum. STANT TEACHERS in the DOMESTIC ECONOMY Two ASSI SCHOOL. Salaries, £80 per Annum each. i ts will date from Octo All the above Appointmen cessful Candidates for the four first-named Appointments wl the meantime to advise the Principal with respect to Z ! ber 1, 1896, but the suc- IL be required in e to be sent-in to the of the Appointments ar 8, 1896. Tuesday, July 2 d Forms of Application may be. ob- ssed to the undersigned at the ‘North- John Street Road, Clerkenwell, London, E.C. X WALMSLEY, D.Sc, Principal. tained by written Ap ampton Institute, St. R. MULLINEU HERIOT WATT COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. F. GRANT OGILVIE, M.A., B.Sc., F.R.S.E., Principal. DAY CLASSES—SESSION 1896-97. The Session extends from Tuesday, October 6, 1896, to Friday, June 4, extending over one or more years, d through the curriculum of Physical and Chemical, There are also Class 7 - These Classes provide courses of study suitable for Students who have previously passe a Secondary School. The principal courses are :— Mechanical Engineering and Electrical ‘Engineering. Classes in French, German, Drawing, and Practice of Commerce. Fees, from £1 1s. to 44 45- Session Fee, 410 10s. There is also a preparatory course of instructio Students. Session Fee, 45 55: An extract from the College, giving particulars of the Day Classes, and of the various Appliances, Laboratories, and Workshops available for instruction, may be had on application to the LIBRARIAN at the College, or to the TREASURER of George Heriot's Trust. DAVID LEWIS, Treasurer. 20 York Place, Edinburgh, n for Agricultural Calendar of the Treasurer’s Chambers, July 21, 1896. The DURHAM COLLEGE of SCIENCE, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. The Council invite Applications for the post of Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator in Physics. ‘ The Stipend attached to the appointment is £120 per annum. Duties will commence on October 1 next. Applications and Testimonials must be sent, on or before August 29, tothe ndersizned, from whom further particulars may be obtained. Equipmént and ; OWENS COLLEGE, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, MANCHESTER. PROSPECTUSES for the Session 1896-7 will be forwarded on applica- tion :— |._DEPARTMENT of ARTS, SCIENCE, and LAW; and DE- PARTMENT for WOMEN. IL—DEPARTMENT of MEDICINE. IIL__EVENING and POPULAR COURSES. Special Prospectuses can also be obtained of— —DEPARTMENT of ENGINEERING. f LAW. f¢ PUBLIC HEALTH. ‘Ke V.—DEPARTMENT o VI.—DEPARTMENT of VII.—DENTAL DEPARTMENT. VIIL._—PHARMACEUTICAL DEPARTMENT; and X.—A LIST of FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, EXHIBI- TIONS, and PRIZES. Apply to Mr. CorNIsH, 16 St. Ann's Square, Manchester; or at College. SYDNEY CHAFFERS, Registrar. the UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. The Session of the Faculty of Medicine will commence on October 1. Introductory Lecture, at 4 p-m., by Prof. SIDNEY Martin, M.D., F.R.S. The Examinations for the Entrance Exhibitions will commence on Sep- tember 24. . Scholarships, Exhibitions, and Prizes of the value of £800, are awarded annually. 3000 In-patients, and 35,000 Out- In University College Hospital about are treated during the year. Thirty (as House Surgeon, House Physician, Obstetric Assistant, &c.), are filled up by competition during the year, and these, as well as all Clerkships and Dresserships, are open to Students of the Hospital without extra fee. Resident officers receive free board and lodging. Prospectuses, with full information as to Classes, Prizes, obtained from University College, Gower Street, W.C. A. E. BARKER, F.R.C.S., Dean. J. M. HORSBURGH, M.A., Secretary. patients, -six Appointments, eighteen being resident &c., may be UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES, BANGOR. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. VY, LL.D.,.F.R.S., will begin, in OCTOBER f INSTRUCTION in Electrical Measure- The Physical Laboratory is fully equipped gine, Dynamos, Transformer, Secondary ‘and the most approved modern Measuring Instruments for all f Electrical Engineering. Laboratory Fees at the rate of £1 1. ‘Composition Fee for all College Lectures, Battery, Branches ©: per Term for six hours per week. for the Session, £10. ‘ Applications for Calendar, Prospectus, made to J. E. LLOYD, M.A., Secretary and Registrar. and general information to be: UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES. (A CONSTITUENT COLLEGE WA Applications are invit AGRICULTURE, | Salary L desirable, but not essential. an additional qualification. For particulars apply to the unde sent not later than September 1. J. E. LLOY rsigned, to whom applications must b D, M.A., Secretary and Registrar. Bangor, July x, 1896. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEG AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4; PENYWERN EARL’S COURT, S.W. ZELMANN, B.Sc., M.1.E.E. E.E., M.1.M.E. Engineering Workshe ROAT PrincrpaL—G. W. pE TUN Senior-INSTRUCTOR—C. CAPITO, M.I. Steam Engine, &e. for Electrical, Laboratories, Dynamo Room, with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, The College provides a Training Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. Mechanical, Civil, Physics, Che! Training 1 H. F. STOCKDALE, Secretary. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ** To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WORDSWORTH. No. 1396, VOL. 54] THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post {All Rights are Reserved. BROWNING’S PLATYSCOPIC LENS. S i) With Larger Angles, Increased Field, and Improved Definition.. — ia iS > 2? uf am ue = fo M5 ,=0 —_! = A O25 g aaa NEWTON & CO = — = 5 = “Tn manner and inmatter a noteworthy contribution t great question.” —Prof. IVERACH, in Aderdeen Free Press. ““The outcome is as exhaustive an examination, on o1 lines, . . as is probably to be found anywhere.’’—Prof. : ’ Ihe : in United Presbyterian Magazine. ‘* Pre-eminently a book for every serious student to know Lhe Speaker. ““Its new merit great subject has been for the first time handled.” $ ) . is the way the scientific aspect of }\¢ Exposiy' Times. London: MACMILLAN & CO., Lrp. Vi Nee A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, ‘* To the solid ground O/ Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. O. 1409, VOL. 54] THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. istered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] [All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILS. rs. NEWTON & CO., of 3 Freer Srreet, Lonpon, made an arrangement with Mr. Apps by which the results ; unequalled experience in large Coil making have been »laced at their disposal. he has been unable to cope with the demand for these ments, Apps’ Patented Coils are now manufactured con- itly by Messrs. NEwron & Co. on their own premises. sse Coils have for many years been acknowledged the best nost efficient in the world, and it is hoped that the high y of workmanship maintained in Messrs. NEWTON & Co.’s hops may still further increase their reputation. the Coils up to 10-inch are tested to considerably more the guaranteed length of spark. in air. 4 s. ad. \ Spark in air. L se ad ee 5 5 ©| 8 in. (with pillars) 27 10 o ‘ Bre --; to, © | Keee,, ae oo) 304050 ’ aie eo Tez) O | TR; rc ae, O31 OF 10 - es +. I5 15 0 | LC) eva 75 oO , (with pillars) 22 10 0 Larger sizes to order. the above Coils are covered in ebonite, and are of the st quality, and all are fitted with Commutator and five pairs rminals so that they can be used with Primary Batteries or nulators or direct from the main, and the Condenser can be it if desired, which should be done when using alternate its. NALDER BROS. & CO., conoon. DARSONVAL GALVANOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. Write for CATALOGUES. D'ARSONVAL CALVANOMETER (As illustrated). VERY PORTABLE SENSITIVE. IN STOCK. £5 00 NO AGENTS IN U.S.A. HN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, - ; GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. OMPLETE X-RAY APPARATUS. JS TUBES, INDUCTION COILS, BATTERIES, FLUORESCENT SCREENS, WIMSHURST HINES, and all PHOTOGRAPHIC REQUISITES. R TUBBS, all of which are well tested and guaranteed before supplied, are divided into three classes depending upon the work xd to be done, viz. :— x Photographie Work only, 10s. cach. # Photographie and Sereen Work, 25s. each. x Photographie and Sereen Work, exhausted for se with Coils giving 6-inch Spark and upwards, 35s, each. ad B are for use with 3-inch and 4-inch Spark Coils. sUCTION COILS, of excellent finish, well mounted in thorough ‘TE insulation; our own Manufacture, as supplied to Shelford Esq., M.A., F-R.S.; Zhe Lancet ; Prof. Burstall, M.A., and others. in., £9; 4-in., £125 5-in., £15; 6-in., £18. YORESCENT SCREENS, of excellent definition bY. neatly mounted in good mahogany frame with handle. —5-in. x 5-in., 10/6; 7-in. x 5-in., 12/6; 8-in. x 6-in., 15/- ANY SIZE MADE TO ORDER. DARK BOXES, with Removable Screens, from 20s. each. JONSTRATIONS, and all particulars as to methods of working, are either verbally or by correspondence, to intending purchasers, FREE ARGE. . Testimonials, &c., from Leading Experimenters, on application. and NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA’S BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPES. Makers of the ‘‘OFFICER OF THE WATCH” TELESCOPE, in use on all the vessels of H.M. Navy. Nickel-plated, covered with Brown Leather. PRICE ... «. £2 10s, £2 2s. As supplied by NEGRETT! & ZAMBRA to the War Office. Length, when closed, rx inches. Combining high power and portability. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL; 122 REGENT STREET, ; ILLUSTRATED Prick Lists Free py Post. cc FREE SATURDAY CLASSES FOR TEACHERS. A Free Course for Teachers is being given on Saturday mornings at University College by Prof. Karu Pearson, on Graphic Methods. The Course deals mainly with the use of the Drawing-board in Elementary, Geometrical, and Mechanical Teaching. ‘ 4 Early application should be made to Prof. Pearson, at University College, as there are only a few vacancies left Applicants should state their qualifications and experience. LECTURES ON CELLULOSE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. Mr. C. F. Cross, of the firm of Cross and Bevan, will deliver a Course of Fifteen Lectures, at University College, on Cellulose : the Chemistry of the Vegetable Fibres, and of their industrial preparation and uses. The Lectures will be held on Friday evenings, from 7.15 to 9.30, commencing on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6. The Course will deal especially with the Cellulose Group of Carbon Com- ounds, thereby covering a very wide field, and will include Wood, Cotton, Peat, Lignite, Coal, Textiles, Paper, Celluloid, Artificial Silk, the Willesden Process, and other industrial applications. Fee for Course, 41 1s. (payable by Artisans in two instalments). NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIP. KEBLE COLLEGE, OXFORD. A SCHOLARSHIP of the annual yalue of £60, together with Laboratory fees, not exceeding £20 per annum, will be awarded at this College in December 1896. The Examination commences Tuesday, December 8. Subjects : Chemistry or Biology, with Elementary Mechanics and Physics for all Candidates, and Elementary Chemistry for those who offer Biology. ae full particulars apply to W. Harcuerr Jackson, Keble College, xford. SWINDON AND NORTH WILTS TECHNICAL SCHOOL. An ASSISTANT MASTER is required at once for the Organised Science School. ; Candidates should state Age, Qualification, and Teaching experience. Commencing Salary, £100 per annum. Apply SEcrETARY, Technical School, Swindon. ALFRED JORGENSEN’S LABORATORY FOR THE PHYSIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY OF FERMENTATION. COPENHAGEN, V. (EsrasLisHED 1881.) STUDENTS’ SEss1oNS.—Courses of Instruction in the Physio- logy and Technology of Fermentation for Beginners and Ad- vanced Students, with particular regard to HANSEN’s System for the Pure Cultivation and Analysis of Yeast and the applica- tion of selected pure Yeast types in practice. ‘(1) Mould-fungi. (2) Forms of Transition between Mould-fungi and Saccharomyces Yeast-fungi. (3) Yeast-fungi: Culture Yeast Types, Wild Yeasts, Disease Yeast. (4) Fermentation Bacteria. (5) Preparation of absolutely pure Cultures of Yeast-fungi. (6) Preparation of Cultures on a arge scale. (7) Comparative Experiments with Mass Culture, and Instruc- ‘gn in their Use in Practice (in Breweries, Distilleries, Wine Fermentation,’ ). (8) Supervision of Fermentation Establishments. (9) Preservation of ie Types of Yeast. (x0) Instruction in the Use of Yeast Propagating chines. he English, French, Danish and German languages are used in the ruction. jhe Laboratory possesses a numerous collection of Culture-Yeast Types Breweries, Distilleries, Grape Wine, Fruit Wine), Wild Yeasts (Disease st), and Fermentation Bacteria, all of which are supplied for use in ratories and in practice. anuals of Instruction :—Alfred Jérgensen : gation,'’ new edition, ‘* Micro-Organisms and Fer- 1893 (published by F. W. Lyon, Eastcheap dings, London). French Edition (Société d’ Editions Scientifiques, is, 1894). Third German Edition (P. Parey, Berlin, 1892). Chr. Hansen : “Practical Studies in’ Fermentation (Contributions to ife-history of Micro-Organisms)" (E. F. Spon, London, 1895). , French mé in the ‘* Comptes réndus du Laboratoire de Carlsberg ” (Hagerup, Enhagen). German Edition (R. Oldenbourg, Munich, 1890-1895) ospectus gratison application. BA P be Laboratory has upto this day been frequented by 380 Students from untries, among them by 4r English and American Students. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, | 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. NATORE [OcropEr 29, 1896 : THESELECTRICAL {. > 7 AND f ¥ GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLE Ey AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE... PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN kO ARL’S COURT, S.W. ra PrincipALt—G. W. pe TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.L.E. Senior-Instrucror—C. CAPITQ, M.1.E.E., M.1.M Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Ste: ngine, Engineering with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. av The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical) Civi,, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS FOR DISSECTION: All types required for Science Courses, perfect conditio! - Pooteees ’ The following are some of the chief forms, with prices : Seyllium, 10d. each; 8s. doz. Sipunculus, 35. ta 4s, doz. Amphioxus, o@. each. Echinus (larg OS. dz. Astacus, od. each. Cucumaria (large), 1s, 4d. €ich. Anodon, od. each. Apus, 1s. each. Rana, 6d. each. Nebalia, 1s. per tube. Gammarus, 1s. per tube. Scorpio; 1s. to 15. 6d, each. Scolopendra, rs. 6d. each. Aplysia, 8d. to 10d. each. Haliotis, 8d. each. Loligo media, tod. each. Mya, 10d. each. Pedicellina, 1s. per tube. Salpa, 1s. 6d. per tube. Ascidia, 8d. each. Raia, 1s. to 2s. 6d. each. Lacerta, 10d. each. AD, _ _ tn Noctiluca, 1s. 3¢. per tube. Grantia, 1s. 3¢. per tube. Sycon, 1s. 3d. per tube. Medusoids, 1s. 3d¢. per tube. Aurelia, rod. each. Coryne, 1s. per tube. Obelia, 1s. per tube. Ascaris (large), 8d. each. Cerebratulus, rs. 6d¢. each. Nereis, 6d. each. Arenicola, 6d. each. Sagitta, 1s. per tube. REDUCTION ON LARGER QUANTITIES. JAMES HORNELL, BIOLOGICAL STATION, JERSEY. WATKINS & DONCASTER, NATURALISTS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF ENTOMOLOGICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC APPLIANCES AND CABINETS. Plain Ring Nets, wire or cane, including Stick, 1s. 3¢., 28., 2s. 6d. Fold- ing Nets, 3s. 6d., 4s. Pocket Boxes, 6d., od., 18., 15. 6d. Zine relaxing Boxes, od@., 1s., 15. 6d., 2s. Store Boxes, as. 6d., 4s., 55-, 6s. Setting Boards, flat or oval, from sd. to 1s. 8d. Setting Houses, os. 6d., 115. 6d., 145. Breeding Cage, 2s. 6d., 4s., 5s., 75. 6d. Botanical Cases, japanned double tin, 15. 6d@., 28. od., 35. 6d., 4s. 6d., 7s. 6d. Botanical Paper, from 1s. 1d. to 2s 2d. per quire. Insect Cases, 2s. 6d. to 11s. Forceps for removing Insects, 1s. 6¢., 28., 28. 62. per pair. Cabinet Cork, 7 by 34, 15., 1s. 4d. per doz. Nested Willow-chip Boxes, 4 doz. 8¢.—Our new Label List of British Micro-lepidoptera, with English and Latin names, rs. 6¢. Improved Pocket Pupa-Digger in leather sheath, 1s. 9d@. Taxidermists’ Companion, contain- — ing most necessary implements for skinning, ros. 6d. ; Scalpels, with ebony handles, 1s. 3¢. ; Fine Pointed Scissors, 2s. per pair; Egg Drills, 2d., 3¢., 1s.; Brass Blowpipes, 4¢., 6a. A large stock of British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Birds’ Eggs —Entomological Pins of every kind.—Benzoline and Oil Lanterns for sugaring, &c. (new and improved pattern), 2s. 6d. and 5s. each. A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS AND BIRDS' EGGS. Cabinets.—Special Show Room. For Particulars and Measurements see our Catalogue (66 pp.), which will be sent post free on application. Birds, Mammalts, &c., Preserved and Mounted by First-class Workmen, 36 STRAND, LONDON W.C. (Five doors from Charing Cross.) LIVING SPECIMENS FOR THE MICROSCOPE. Volvox, Spirogyra, Desmids, Diatoms, Ameeba, Arcella, Actinosphzrium, Vorticella, Stentor, Hydra, Floscularia, Stephanoceros, Melicerta, and many other Specimens of Pond Life. Price 1s, per Tube, Post Free. Helix pomatia, Astacus, Amphioxus, Rana, Anodon, &c., for Dissection purposes THOMAS BOLTON, 25 BALSALL HEATH ROAD, BIRMINGHAM. MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE LABORA TOR Y, LY MOG. The following animals can always be supplied, either living or preserved by the best methods :— Sycon ; Clava, Obelia, Sertularia; Actinia, Tealia, Caryophyllia, Alcy- onium ; Hormiphora (preserved) ; Leptoplana ; Lineus, Amphiporus ; Nereis, Aphrodite, Arenicola, Lanice, Terebella; Lepas, Balanus, Gammarus, Ligia, Mysis, Nebalia, Carcinus; Patella, Buccinum, Eledone, Pectens, Bugula, Crisia, Pedicellina ; Hclothuria, Asterias, Echinue#Ascidia, Salpa (preserved), Scyllium, Raia, &c., &c. For prices and more detailed lists apply to Biological Laboratory, Plymouth 310° THE DIRECTOR, Ly op aS wx TT