TS thie? er pate Teas % ROS elt, weer as Fohee's! Shier " seers - a BIN eneerey aries das bs GRASS oo ty Ber SET a ae bee et ae H ' Viatheath maa (eict itt 2 es tntere tase iw ite orpemees treed ee Cae een Tat a oa a Canaan Se She pew etn fay see se et 2 4 4 a $ 4 2 i BBW) -oRENOTN ams «Aer peays a 4 Rent tee at eT eT ane r a & ‘ Poraeen “ Hal dike } ah aba es dene Gnd 6B Rone. tayaeineal hi TARE atts Berane Hh) aes eae a a) Hee aad ae + tae oe P44 fie Nei aty Oe wu oh at! aps: iy a 7 Lt F = p Py Supplement to Nature \ Nature A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE VOLUME XLVIITI MAY 1893 to OCTOBER 1893 “ To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WoRDSWORTH Pondon and Few Pork MACMILLAN AND CO. Supplement to Nature, November 30, 1893 _ ABBADIE (M. AND MME, D’), Gift to Paris Academy of Sciences by, 421 Abbe (Prof. Cleveland), Smithsonian Institution Documents, 6; Ice Columns in Gravelly Soil, 20; Charts of Storm Frequency, 140 Abbott (Dr. E. A.), Antipodean Retrenchment, 249 _ Abbott (Geo.), Potstones found near Seaford, 315 _ Abercromby (Hon. Ralph), Prize offered for study of ‘‘ Southerly _ Burster” by, 77 _ Aberration, the Constant of, Prof. Chandler, 112 _ Aberration, a Determination of the Constant of, Prof. Geo. __C, Comstock, 460 _ Abney (Capt., F.R.S.), Failure of Photographic Law of Equal Chemical Action, 285; Colours of Sky, Sun, Cloud, and Candle Light, 333 _ Abraham (M.), a New Standard Condenser, 206. Academy, Belgian, Prize Subjects for 1894, 107 Acephala, Elimination of Foreign Bodies in, Henri Coupin, i Acoustics: The Motion of Vibrating Strings, Messrs. Krigar _ Menzel and Raps, 324 ; Sound Interference Illustrated, C. J. Woodward, 159 ; Apparatus for Demonstrating Oscillation of Air, Prof. V. Dvorak, 13 uired Characters, Non-Inheritance of, Dr. Alfred R. Vallace, F.R.S., 267; Dr. C. Herbert Hurst, 368 Actinometer, the Electrochemical, M. Rigollot, 38 Adams (Prof. F. D.), the Norian Rock of Canada, 298 Adams (Prof. John Couch), Memorial to, 107 Adelaide, Meteorological Observations (1890) in, 132 Adler (Hanna), a Substitute for Ampére’s Swimmer, 370 Adriatic, Earthquake on Shores of, 376 _ Aerial Navigation, 502 _ Aéronautics: Thermometer Soundings in the High Atmo- _ sphere, W. de Fonvielle, 160; New Flying Apparatus, Otto Lilienthal, 571; Chicago Congress on Aerial Navigation, A 5 _ ABtiology and Life-History of some Vegetal Galls and their In- habitants, on the, C. B. Rothera, 575 Africa: Death and Obituary Notices of W. Cotton Oswell, 62; the Arrow-Poison of East Equatorial Africa, Dr. T. R. Fraser, F.R.S., and Dr. Joseph Tillie, 92; Oil Rivers Protectorate renamed Niger Coast Protectorate, 112; Adoption of Responsible Government by Natal, 112; Gun and Camera in Southern Africa, H. Anderson Bryden, 125 ; Capt. Stairs’ Katanga Expedition, Dr. Moloney, 135; Report of South African Museum, 207 ; South-West Africa, Count Pfeil, 301; the Aleaoe Death of Emin Pasha, 356, 481 ; Return of Rev. R. P. Ashe, 356; Geographical Societ established at Tunis, 356; Projected Railway in Frenc Congo, 380; Commencement of the Central African Tele- graph Line, 380; Habits of South African Animals, Dr. Alfred Wallace, F.R.S., 390; Dr, Gregory’s Expedition to Lake Baringo, 397; Return of Dr. i W. Gregory, 618; Return of Mr. Selous to Mashonaland, 426; Discovery of Temple on the Limpopo, R. M. W. Swan, 426; Proposed Exploration of Uganda by Mr. Scott Elliott, 444; Death of 2 Depapad Parke, 481 ; Geology of Central East Africa, Walcot Gibson, 533; Dr. Baumann’s Exploration to North- East of Lake Tanganyika, 548; Resurvey by Mr. Mohun of Lake Leopold II., 601 Afterglowsin Spain, Prof. Augusto Arcimis, 29 _ Agassiz (Louis), his Life and Work, Charles Frederick Holder, Prof. T. G, Bonney, F.R.S., 52 Agriculture: Agricultural Education, Durham College of Science Scholarships, 36; Photographs Relating to Working INDEX of Rothamsted Laboratory, 63; the Rothamsted Jubilee Fund, 228; the Rothamsted Jubilee, 289, 296, 327; the Quantities of Water contained in Arable Lands after a Pro- longed Drought, MM. Demoussy and Dumont, 72; the Principles of Agriculture, G. Fletcher, 73 ; Journal of Royal Agricultural Society of England, 91; the Disadvantages of Irrigation, W. Roe, 110; Hawks and Owls the Farmer’s Friends, Dr. A. K. Fisher, 133 ; Agriculture-Teaching in Russian Schools, 156; the Future of British Agriculture, Prof. Sheldon, 174; Kelation of Number of Eyes on Potato Seed Tuber to Crop obtained, J. C. Arthur, 353 ; Cattle- Poisoning Species of Homeria (Cape Tulip) in Victoria, Dr. McAlpine, 378; Statistics for 1891-2 of Cattle Losses in Madras, 424 ; Statue of Duhamel-Dumonceau, 596 Air Pump, a New Form of, Prof. J. J. Thompson, 529 Aitken (John), Breath Figures, 71 Alaska and the-Adjacent Islands, Grasses of the Pacific Slope, including, Dr. Geo. Vasey, 411 Alaska, the Alleged Undiscovered Island off North, 356 Algze, some Protococcoidz, Al. Artari, 92 Allaire (H.), Chloroborate of Iron, 119 Allen (E, J.), Nephridia of Decapod Crustacea, 115 Allen (J. scale Origin and Development of Early Christian Art, 55 Alpine Guide, an, 314 Alpine Lakes, Glacier Theory of, Graham Officer, 198; Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., 198 Alps, the Iodine Value of Sunlight in the High, Dr. S. Rideal, 529 Altehoefer (Herr), Bactericidal Action of Peroxide of Hydrogen 599 Altschul (Herr), Critical Constants of Fatty and Aromatic Hydrocarbons, 206 Amagat (E. H.), Crystallisation of Water by Decompression below Zero, 632 Amazon Basin Scientific Expedition, Projected, 601 Amber, Burmite, a New Variety of, Dr. Noetling, 13 Amber, the Indian Origin of Ancient, A. B. Meyer, 422 America: An American Text-Book of Physics, Geo. F, Barker, Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., 1; Astronomy Popularised in America, 15 ; American Meteorological Journal, 20, 140, 239, 583, 631; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 38 ; American Journal of Science, 70, 187, 309, 431, 535, 631; American Journal of Mathematics, 140, 606 ; University and Educational Endowment in America, W, T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 248 ; North American Butterflies, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 338; the Fungus Gardens of certain South American Ants, John C, Willis, 392; the Geography of South America, 425 ; American Cyclone of August 28 and 29, the, 444; American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. William H. Hale, 460; Meeting at Madison, Wisconsin, 460; Dr. Daniel G, Brinton on the Earliest Men, 460; Section A (Astronomy and Mathematics), Prof. Doolittle on Variations of Latitude, 451; Latitude Deter- mination at Bethlehem in 1892-3, 460; Prof. Geo. C. Com- stock on a Determination of the Constant of Aberration, 460 ; Section B (Physics), Prof. Wm. A. Rogers on the Mor- ley Interferential Comparator, 461 ; Profs. Macfarlane and G, W. Pierce on the Electric Strength of Solid Liquid and Gaseous Dielectrics, 461; Joseph O. Thompson on Fatigue in the Elasticity of Stretching, 461; Section C (Chemistry), Prof. Morley’s Final Determination of the Atomic Weight of Oxygen, 461; Section D (Mechanical Sc’ence and Engineer- ing), Prof. J. J. Stevenson on the Use of the term Catskill, 462; Frank Leverett on Changes of Drainage in the Rock vi Index Supplement to Nature, [ November 30, 1893 . River Basin in Illinois, 462 ; Section F (Zoology), Prof. H. F. Osborn on the Mammals of the Upper Cretaceous, 462 ; Section G (Botany), Evolution and Classification, C. E. Bessey, 534; Section H (Anthropolozy), Dr. Brinton on the Mexican Calendar System, 462 ; Section I (Economic Science and Statistics), 463; Theories of the Origin of Mountain Ranges, Prof. Le Conte, 551 ; Geological Society of America, 578; Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, U.S. Army, Dr. A. T. Myers, 611 Ammonia Vapour as a Disinfectant, Herr Rigler, 298 Ameebe, Artificial, Prof. Biitschli’s, Dr. John Berry Haycraft, 94 Abphtoxes and its Development, the, Dr, B. Hatscheck, 613 Amphipods, Swarms of, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 28 Ampére’s Swimmer, a Substitute for, Alfred Daniell, 294, 370 Amsterdam Royal Academy of Sciences, 96, 168, 312 Analytical Statics, a Treatise on, Edward John Routh, F.R.S., Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 609 Anatomy, Hunan and Comparative, at Oxford, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 616 Anderson (Dr, William, F.R.S.), the Interdependence of Ab- stract Science and Engineering, 65 Andouard (A.), the Desert Sands of Lower Egypt, 336 ari apes hear Observations at Vienna, 1873-92, Dr. J. Hann, I Aneroid, the Corry ‘‘ Protected,” Edward Whymper, 160 Anglo-Saxon Remains and Coeval Relics from Scandinavia, on, Prof. Hans Hildebrand, 557 Angot (M.), the Eiffel Tower Experiments, Variation with Height of the Meteorological Elements, 12 Animal Heat and Physiological Calorimetry, Prof. Rosenthal, 88 Animal Intelligence, the Limits of, Prof. C. L. Morgan, 350 Animal Life, Types of, St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 148 Animals, the Intelligence of, Charles William Purnell, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 73 Annalen des K, K, Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, 92 Anomalous Dispersion, a Mechanical Analogue of, 527 Antarctic Exploration: Cruise of the Dundee Whalers, W. S. Bruce and C, M. Donald, 555 Antarctic Whaler Ba/ena, Return of, 112 Antarctic Whaling Expedition, Norwegian, 574 Antenne, Trilobites with, at last! H. M. Bernard, 582 Anthrax Bacilli, Production of Sporeless, M. Phisalix, 545 Anthropology: the Population of France, 108 ; Anthropolo- gical Institute, 118; {ndex to Publications, 482; the Baram District of Borneo, Charles Hose, 118; Anthropological Society of Washington, Prize Subjects for 1893, 229 ; Racial Dwarfs in the Pyrenees, J. S. Stuart-Glennie, 294; Strange Heathen Ceremony at Raiates, Miss Teuira Henry, 398 ; the Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan, Romyn Hitchcock, 398 ; the Breaking of Clay Vessels as a Funeral Rite in Modern Greece, Prof. N. G. Politis, 445; Dr. Brinton on the Earliest Men, 460; Opening Address in Section H of the British Association, by Dr. Robert Munro, 503; Ethno- graphic Aspect of Dancing, Mrs. Lilly Grove, 557; on Anglo-Saxon Remains and Coeval Relics from Scandinavia, Prof. Hans Hildebrand, 557; Origin and Development of Early Christian Art, J. Romilly Allen, 558; Ethnographical Notes on the Congo Tribes, Herbert Ward, 558; the ‘‘ Mad Head,” Dr. Crochley Clapham, 558; on the Structure of Lake-dwellings, Dr. Munro, 558; on a British Village of Marsh Dwellings, Arthur Bulleid, 558 ; Chicago International Congress of Anthropology, 570 Anthropometrical Measurements, A. Bertillon’s System of, 250 Antibes, Four Simultaneous,Water-spouts at, M. Naudin, 360 Antipodean Retrenchment, Dr, E. A. Abbott, 249 Antiquities, Assyrian, the Thieving of, 343; H. Rassam, 508, 549 Antiquities, the Thieving of, Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, 613 Ants, the Use of, to Aphides and Coccide, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 54; Alfred O. Walker, 54 Ants, the Sound-producing Organs of, Dr. D. Sharp, F.R.S., 4 Ants, the Fungus Gardens of ,certain South American, John C. Willis, 392 Antwerp Exhibition, ‘‘ Castle in the Air” for forthcoming, 569 Apex of the Sun’s Way, the, Prof. II. G. Van de Sande Bak- huyzen, 401 Aphides and Coccide, the use of Ants to, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S, 54; Alfred O, Walker, 54 Aphis, What becomes of the, in the Winter? J. A. Sharpe, 7 April Meteors, the, W. F. Denning, 5 E Arago, a New Statue of, 154, 223 Ararat, Mount, Ascent of, H. F. B. Lynch, 548 4 Arcangeli (Dr. G.), Growth of Leaf-stalk of Nymphzeaceze, 92 Archeology: Congress of Archzeological Societies, 251 ; the - Archeological Survey of England, 272; the Thieving of As- syrian Antiquities, H. Rassam, 343, 508, 540; the Thieving of Antiquities, Prof. W, M. Flinders Petrie, 613 , Archibald (E. Douglas), the Greatest Rainfall in Twenty-four Hours, 77, 317; the Big and Little Monsoons of Ceylon, 175 Architecture : Prehistoric Naval Architecture of Northern — Europe, G. H. Boehmer, 274; Institution of Naval Archi-— tecture, 277; Fast Ocean Steamships, Dr, F. Elgar, 278; Experiments on Combination of Induced Draughts and Shot — Air, applied to Marine Boilers, J. D. Ellis, 278 ; Transmission — of Heat through Boiler Plates, A. Blechynden, 278; Water — Tube Boilers, J. T. Milton, 278; the Bulkhead Question, G. — H. Bryan, 279; the Mechanics of Architecture, E. Wynd-— ham Tarn, 515 Arcimis (Prof. Augusto), Afterglows in Spain, 29 ae Arctic Exploration: Death of Capt. Richard Pike, 82; the | Race to the North Pole, Dr. H. R. Mill, 250; an Expe-— dition to 0 Sf Magnetic Pole, Col. W. H. pret fq Sailing of Dr. Nansen’s Expedition (June 24, 1 Oe Dr. Nansen’s Expedition, 301, 425, cae ; Departure a hee E Peary on his Second Expedition, 234; Departure of Mr. F. G. Jackson for Nova Zembla, 327; the Steam Whaler Newport's Voyage, 574 | Arctic Problem, the, and Narrative of the Peary Relief Expe- dition of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phi phia, Prof, Angelo Heilprin, 434 Beran he | Aren’s (Herr), Method of Detecting Cholera Bacillus in Water, 523 Argentinia and Chile, Flora and Fauna of, Dr. Philippi, 619 Argyll, a Vertebrate Fauna of, and the Inner Hebrides, J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E. Buckley, 123 Aristotle on Field Voles, 37 Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid and Trigonometry, Enunciations — in, P. A. Thomas, 564 ji Arloing (S.), Microbian Origin of Purulent Surgical Infection, 407 ; Armstrong (Prof. Henry E., -F.R.S.), the Appreciation of — Science by German Manufacturers, 29; the Conditions — Determinative of Chemical Change, 237 ; Ortho-, para-, and — peri-disulphonic derivatives of Naphthalene, 262 ; the Nature — of Depolarisers, 308 Arné (Riccardo), Diathermanous Power of Ebonite for Hat — Waves, 299 ‘ . Arnold-Bemrose (Mr.) on the Derbyshire Toadstone, 532 aed Composite Dykes in, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., 285, 286 ‘ Arrow-Poison of East Equatorial Africa, the, Dr. T, R. Fraser, — F.R.S., and Dr. Joseph Tillie, 92 ; Arsenic, Products of Sublimation of, Dr. Retgers, 510 Arsonval (M. d’), Physiological and Therapeutic Effects of In- jection of Orchitic Liquid, 23 ; Duration of Excitability of Nerves and Muscles after Death, 240; Electric Excitability of Muscles after Death : the Myophone, 399; Experiments © on Effect of Strong Alternating Magnetic Fields on Animals, 481 ; Dr. W. S. Hedley on M. d’Arsonval’s Work, . : Art, the Department of Science and, 403 Art, Early Christian, Origin and Development of, J. Romilly Allen, 558 i Artari (A. L.), Some Protococcoidze, 92 Artificial Immunity and Typhoid Fever, 211 Artistic Rows of Elms, Rev. Alex. Freeman, 223 Ascherson (Herr), the Metallic-looking Deposits on Teeth of - Ruminating Animals, 231 Ashwell (Frank), Warming and Ventilating, 556 Asia, General Glaciation of, Prince Kropotkin, 533 Asiatic Quarterly Review, 301 Asphyxia, on the Physiological Action of the Inhalation of xygen in, 575 Assyrian Antiquities, the Thieving of, 343; H. Rassam, 508, 40 a aiilian for Advancement of Science, Australasian, 569 Asterisms, the Early, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 438, 518 Astronomy: the April Meteors, W. F. Denning, 5 ; Daylight Meteor, March 18, J. E. Clark, 54; Meteor Showers, 15, 254, 326; Meteor Observations, W. F. Denning, 135; an ve searing egg Lnaex vii ' Ascending Meteor, Prof. Von Niessl, 209; a Remarkable Meteor, J. Lloyd Bozward ; J. Lovel, 567; August Meteors, 601 3 the Genesis of Nova Aurigz, Richard A. Gregory, 6; _ Nova (T) Aurigee Spectrum, W. W. Campbell, 524; Our Astronomical Column, 15, 39, 61, 81, 111, 135, 158, 183, 208, 233, 254, 276, 300, 326, 355, 379, 401, 425, 447, 483, 512, 524, 548, 573, 600, 622; South Polar Cap of Mars, Prof. George Comstock, 15 ; the Brightness of the Major and Minor » Planets, Dr. G. Miiller, 15; Astronomy Popularised in America, 15; Optical Tests for Objectives, Dr. Ludwig : Mach, 16; Photograph of a Bolid, 16; Meridian Circle Observations, 39; the Lunar Atmosphere, 40; the Recent _ Solar Eclipse, 40; Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 53; the Total Solar Eclipse (April, 1893), M. Deslandres, 81; M. Bigourdan, 111; M. N. Coculesco, 135; Observations - made during the Eclipse of April, 1893, 326; a Method of Detecting the Existence of Variable Stars by Continuous Photometric Observations, Dr. J. Joly, F.R.S., 47; Dis- tortion of Photographic Star Images due to Refraction, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 47; Roche’s Limit, Prof. G. H. Darwin, _ F.R.S., 54; Finlay’s Comet (1886 VII.), 51, 81, 112, 135, 158, 184, 208, 276, 300, 326, 355; M. Schulhof, _ 233, 254; Comet Finlay and the Prasepe, 512; the Greatest Brilliancy of Venus, Dr. G. Miiller, 61; _ L’Astronomie, 62, 158, 254; the Lunar Atmosphere, M. Spée, 62; Bulletin Astronomique for April, 62; Vari- able Star Nomenclature, 81; the Moon’s Surface, G. _K. Gilbert, 82; Amédée Guillemin, 82; the Satellites of im on Prof. W. H. Pickering, 81, 209 ; Observation on upiter, M. Lumsden, 158; Sun, Moon, and Stars: As- bs tronomy for Beginners, A. Gilberne, 101; Death of: Dr. Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., 107 ; Aurora Observations, 112; the Constant of Aberration, Prof. Chandler, 112; the As- _ tronomical Day, 112; Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 112; _ Washburn Observations, 135 ; the Cause of Sunspots, Dr. _ G, J. Storey, F.R.S., 143 ; Determinations of Gravity, 158 ; _ Solar Observations at the Royal College, Rome, Prof. | Tachini, 158; 2 New Variable « Cygnus, 183; a Bright Comet, 184, 233; Observations of Nebule, Dr. Rudolf Spitaler, 184 ; the Yerkes Telescope, 184; the Smithsonian Report for Year ending 1892, 184; the Smithsonian Astro- Physical Observatory, 184; Practical Astronomy, P. S. Michie and F. S. Harlow, 197; Stars having Peculiar Spectra, 208 ; Stars with Remarkable Spectra, T. E. Espin, 233; the Sun’s Motion through Space, 208 ; the Period of Rotation of Venus, 233 ; the Newall Telescope, 233; John- ston’s Notes on Astronomy, 233 ; the Hodgkins Fund Prizes, 233; a New Comet, 254, 622; Ephemeris of the New Comet, Prof. E. Lamp, 276; the Discovery of the New Comet, 300; Himmel und Erde for July, 254; for August, 3553 Observations of the Planet Victoria, 276; Difference _ of Longitude between Vienna and Greenwich, 277; Photo- graphs of the Milky Way, Prof. E, E. Barnard, 277; Changes in the Spectrum of 8 Lyrze, 301; the Variable Star vy Cygni, Prof. N. C. Dunér, 301 ; New Determination of the Constant of Universal Attraction, 301; the Coronal Atmosphere of the Sun, 301; Variable Stars, 301 ; Remarks on Herschel’s Second Method of Calculating Probable Orbit of Binary Star, J. A. C. Oudemans, 312; the Astronomical History of On and Thebes, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 318, 371 ; Rordame-Quénisset Comet, 1893, 326, 401; Herr E. Lamp, 355; the Spectrum of the Rordame-Quénisset Comet, Prof. Campbell, 379; Earth Movements, Herr E. -yon Rebeur-Paschwitz, 326; the Observatory of Yale Uni- versity, 327; Astronomische Gesellschaft, 327; Observa- tions of Aurorze, Dr. M. A. Veeder, 355 ; New Determination of the Constant of Universal Attraction, 355; Total Solar Eclipses, 355 ; Photography of Comet 4, 1893, F. Quénisset, 360; Old and New Astronomy, Richard A. Proctor, 361 ; the Origin of New Stars, Prof. A. W. Bickerton, 379; At- _-™ospheric Refraction and Star Photographs, Prof, A. A. _ Rambaut, 379; Astronomy Popularised, 380; Comet Ap- péarances in the Year 1892, Proi. H. Kreutz, 380 ; Astrono- _ mical Photography, Rt. Hon. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 391 ; _ the Cordoba Durchmusterung, 4or; a Simple Equatorial - Mounting, 401; a Remarkable Source of Error, 401; the _ Apex of the Sun’s Way, Prof. H. G, Van de Sande Bakhuy- | zen, 401; the Origin of New Stars, 402; an Old Device a Resuscitated, F. W. Levander, 416; Old and New Astronomy, A. C. Ranyard, 416; the Reviewer, 416; Honorary Distinctions, 425; a Meteor, 425; a Bequest to! Astronomy, 425; Old and New Astronomy, Mrs, S. D. Proctor-Smyth, 438 ; the Reviewer, 438 ; the Early Asterisms, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 438, 518; the Transit of Venus of 1874, 447; the Planet Venus, Ellen M. Clerke, 447 ; Memorie della Societa, &c., 448; Variations of Latitude, Prof. C. L, Doolittle, 451 ; Latitude Determination at Bethlehem, 1892-93, Prof. Doolittle, 460; Astronomical Photography, Dr. A. A. Common, F.R.S., 459; H. F. Newall, 517; Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., 541 ; a Determination of the Con- stant of Aberration, Prof. Geo. C. Comstock, 460; Mr. Tebbutt’s Observatory, 483 ; Universal Time in Australia, 484; Bishop’s Ring, T. W. Backhouse, 509; Double Star Measures, 512; Pubblicazioni della Specola Vaticana, 512 Fireball of January 13, 1893, Prof. H. A. Newton, 524; Report of the Committee on Solar Radiation, 525; the Moon’s Atmosphere and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, G. H. Bryan, 526 ; Shooting Stars of August, 1893, P. F. Denza, 535 ; the Constellations of the Far East, Kumagusu Minakata, 541; on the Parallax of the Planetary Nebula B.D. + 41°"4004, 548; Solar and Lunar Ephemeris for Turin, 548; Observatory on Mont Blanc, 549; Astronomy at the World’s Fair, 573; the Aurora of July 15, 1893, M. A. Veeder, 573; New Variable Stars in Cygnus, Herr Fr. Deichmiiller, 573 ; Deductions from Pulkowa Latitude Obser- vations, S. Folie, 583 ; the Scintillation of Stars, M. Dufour, 600 ; a Universal Telescope Stand, 600; Popular Astronomy, 600 ; Astronomy of the Fellahin of Palestine, P. J. Balden- sperger, 601 ; Determination of Geographical Longitude, Herr C, Runge, 623; Astronomy and Astro-Physics at Chicago, 623 ; a New Astronomical Observatory at Manila, 623; the Visibility of Venus tothe Naked Eye, 623; Meyer’s Con- versational Lexicon, 623 Asymmetrical Frequency Curves, Prof. Kar! Pearson, 615 Atlantic Water, Density and Alkalinity of, J. Y. Buchanan, 168 Atlas, the Universal, 147 Atlatl, or Throwing Stick, the Mexican, P. T. Mason, 597 Atmosphere, the General Motions of the, W. L. Dallas, 341 Atmosphere, High, Thermometer Soundings in the, W. de Fonvielle, 160 Atmosphere, the Lunar, 40; M. Spée, 62 Atmosphere of the Sun, the Coronal, 301 Atmospheric Oxygen, Origin of, T. L. Phipson, 384 Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North China Sea, Capt. Chas. J. Norcock, 76 Atmospheric Refraction and Star Photographs, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 379 Atom, Prof. Ebert’s Method of Estimating the Radiating Power of an, 527 : Atomic Weight of Oxygen, Prof. Morley’s Final Determination of the, 461 5) Aubel (M. van), Resistance of Bismuth, 571 Augen-Structure in Relation to the Origin of Eruptive Rocks and Gneiss, J. G. Goodchild, 532 ; August Meteors, the, 1893, W. F. Denning, 374 Aurora Observations, 112 Aurora of July 15, 1893, M. A. Veeder, 573 Aurora Borealis, Observation of an, M. le duc Nicolas de Leuchtenberg, 608 e Aurore, the Observation of, Dr. M. A. Veeder, 355 Ausdehnungslehre, Grassman’s, Prof. R. W. Genese, 517 Australia, Journey of Guy Boothby across, 40; Prize offered by Hon. Ralph Abercromby for Study of ‘Southerly Burster,” 77; the New Flora and the Old in Australia, A. G. Hamilton, 161; the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, its Products.and Potentialities, W. Saville Kent, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 217; Australasian Association for Advancement of Science, 229, 569; Universal Time in Australia, 484; The Hour-Zone System of Time-reckoning for, 601 ; Australian Museum, Annual Report for 1892, 621 Austria, Disastrous Floods in, 376 Automatic Balance of Reciprocating Mechanism, Mr, Beau- mont, 556 Automatic Gem Separator, an, Wm. S. Lockhart, 557 Autumn of 1893, Spring and, Rt. Hon, Sir Edward Fry, F,R.S., 509 Aveling (Edward), an Introduction to the Study of Geology, 292 Axioms of Dynamics, the Fundamental, Prof. Oliver Lodge, F,R.S., 62, ror, 126. 174; Edward T. Dixon, ror, 149; Prof, A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 126; Prof. J. G. MacGregor, 126, 223 : , Vili Index [Saapemen to Nature, November 30, 1893 Aymonnet (M.), Periodical Maxima of Spectra, 536 Ayrton (Prof.), Photometry, 190 Azores, Hurricane at, 445 Babylonian Cosmology, P. Jensen, 2 Bacchus Marsh Boulder Beds, the, Graham Officer, Lewis Balfour, 342; R. D. Oldham, 416 Backhouse (1. W.), Bishop’s Ring, 509 Bacteriology: the WNitrogen-fixing Micro-organisms, M. Berthelot, 23 ; Bacteria, their Nature and Function, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., 82; a Manual of Bacteriology, George M. Sternberg, 172, B. Griffiths, 219; Bacilli in the Saliva of Domestic Animals, 181; Antagonistic Effect of Bacillus Fluorescens Liquefaciens on other Organisms, Herr Olitzky, 181 ; the Cholera Bacillus, Herren Bujwid and Linkelburg, 207; Method of Detecting Cholera Bacillus in Water, Koch and Arcns, 523 ; Discovery of the Bacillus Anthracis in Well- mud, M. Diatroptoff, 230; Interaction of Micro-organisms, 274; Effect of Ammonia Vapour on Bacilli, Herr Rigler, 295 ; Bacilli in Norwegian Ice, 323; Loeffler’s and Laser’s Bacilli and Mouse Plagues, 323; Sulphuretted Hydrogen- producing Bacillus of the Black Sea, 323; Loeffler’s Bacillus ‘Typhi Murium and Laser’s Bacillus der Miause-seuche, 323 ; Bacillus Hydrosulfuricus Ponticus, 323; Micro-organisms producing Sulphuretted Hydrogen, Fromme and Stagnitta- Balistreri, 352 ; Susceptibility of Micro-organisms to Various Strengths of Disinfectants, Signor Trambusti, 352 ; Resist- ance of some Micro-organisms to High Temperatures, Herr Heim, 377; Greater Efficiency of Disinfectants at High Temperatures and with Moisture, MM. Chamberland and Fernbach, 377; Diagnostik der Bakterien des Wassers, Dr. Alexander Lustig, Mrs, Percy Frankland, 387; Modification of Loeffler’s Method for,Exhibiting in Stained Preparations the Cilia of Micro-organisms, MM. Nicolle and Morax, 399; Chemical and Bacterial Condition of Elbe at Magdeburg, Herr Ohlmiiller, 399; Production of Ammonia in Soil by Microbes, Emile Marchal, 406; Microbian Origin of Purulent Surgical Infection, 407; Bacteria in their re- Jation to Vegetable Tissues, Mr. Russell, 422 ; the Vitality of Pathogenic Bacteria in Vegetable Tissues, Herr Lominsky, 445; Prof. P. Frankland on the Present Position of Bacteri- ology, 530; Production of Sporeless Anthrax Bacilli, M. Phisalix, 545; Manual of Bacteriology for Practitioners and Students, Dr. S. L. Schenk, 562; Bactericidal Action of Per- oxide of Hydrogen, Richardson, Traugott, Van Tromp and Altehoefer, 599; Strauss’s Method of Colouring Cilia of Living Micro-organisms, 621 Baginsky (Dr.), Relation of Glossopharyngeal and Olfactory Nerves to Sensory End-organs, 408 Bailey (E. H. S.), Effects of Cyclone of June 21 in Kansas, 352 Baily (Francis G.), Telephone Lines and their Properties, William J. Hopkins, 99 Baker (H. B.), Influence of Moisture on Chemical Action, 118 Bakhuyzen (Prof. H. G. Van de Sande), the Apex of the Sun’s Way, 401 Baldwin (James Mark), Elements of Psychology, 292 Balfour (Lewis), New Conclusions, 342 Ball (Sir Robert S., F.R.S.), Wanderings of the North Pole, 349; the Discussion on Quaternions, 391; Astronomical Photography, 541 ‘ Ball (Prof. Valentine), Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 Balland (M.), Interior Temperature of Bread coming out of Oven, 632 a Ballooning : Electrification suggested as Cause of Ignition of Balloon Humboldt, Prof. Bornstein, 120; Thermometer Soundings in the High Atmosphere, W. de Fonvielle, 160 ; Trial of Langlois’ Screw for Vertical Propulsion, M. Mallet, 360; - Castle in the Air” for forthcoming Antwerp Exhibi- tion, 569 Ballou an M.), the Chinook Wind, 21 Baliichistan, the Earthquake in, 348 Baly (E. C. C.), Sodium Potassium High Temperature Thermo- meters, 63 Bancroft (T. L.), the -Habit and Use of Nardoo (MJarsilea Drummondit), 407 Banks’s (Sir Joseph) Correspondence, 205 Barker (David Wilson), the Glaciation of Brazil, 614; Scintil- lation of Stars, 614 Barker (Geo. F.), Physics, Advanced Course, Prof. Olive Lodge, F.R.S., 1 Barnard (Prof. E. E.), Photographs of the Milky Way. 277 Barnavave Carlingford, on the Igneous Rocks of, Prof. W. J. Sollas, 532 Barrett (Charles G.), the Lepidoptera of the British Islands, 585 Barrier Reef of Australia, the Great, its Products and Poten- tialities, W. Saville-Kent, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 217_ Bartoli (Prof.), Corrected Formula of Heat necessary to Raise a Gramme of Water to 2° C., 299 Barton (E. H ), Electric Interference Phenomena, 527 Basic Eruptive Rocks of Gran (Christiana Region), on the Genetic Relations of the, Prof. W. C. Brogger, 531 Basset (A. B., F.R.S.), Toroidal Functions, 23 ; Electro-Optics, 34; the Publication of Physical Papers, 222, 292; Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R S., 292; Mr. Love’s Treatise on Elasti- city, 415, 5433; Organisation of Scientific Literature, 436 ; the Publication of Scientific Papers, 529 : Batchelder (S. F.), New Series of Isanomalous Temperature Charts, 239 Battersby (J.), Crocodile’s Eggs with Solid Shell, 248 Battin (Joseph), Death of, 481 Baumann’s (Dr.), Exploration to North-East of Lake Tangan- yika, 548 Beadle (C.), Cellular Thiocarbonates, 94 Bean (T. E.), Sex Proportions of Butterfly production, 231 Beard (Dr. J.), Obituary Notice of Carl Semper, 271 Beaumont (Mr,), Automatic Balance of Reciprocating Me- chanism, 556; a Variable Power Gear for Electrical Loco- motives, 557 Beaver Creek Meteorites of May 26, 1893, E. E. Howell, 351 ; Prof, B. J. Harrington, 426 prs (Prof. Dr. W. J. Van), Katechismus der Meteorologie, 397 Beevor (Dr. C. E.), Analysis by Electric Stimulation of Motor Region of Cortex Cerebri in Macacus sinicus, 142 d Belgian Academy, Prize Subjects for 1894, 107 Belgique, Bulletin de l’ Academie Royale de, 188, 332, 406, 583 Bell (Dugald), the Shell-beds of North Scotland, 181; In- vestigation into the Shell-bearing Clays of Clava in Nairn, 532 Bell (Prof. F. Jeffery), Singular Swarms of Flies, 127 Ben Nevis, the Meteorological Observatory on, 428 Benda (Dr.), Microscopical Investigations on Development and Function of Mammary Gland, 408 Bendigo Gold-fields, the, E. J. Dunn, 207 Bengal Duars, Experiences in the, E. Heawood, 555 Benham (W. B.), New Species of Nais, 115 Benischke (Dr. G.), Alternate Current Utilised for Investigating Dielectric Constants of Solids, 378 ; Bennett (Alfred W.), Popular Botany, 104 : F Benson (C.), Normal* Distribution of Rainfall in Madras Presidency, 230 A Berget ( Alphihae New Determination of Massand Density of Earth, 251 Bergholz (Dr. P.), Bremen Meteorological Observations foul 1892, 422 ; Berlin Geographical Society, 40 . Berlin Meteorological Society, 120 Berlin Physical Society, 48, 144, 288, 407 Berlin Physiological Society, 47, 119, 288, 408 Berliner Wetter-Buch, das iilteste, Prof. Hellmann, 11 : Bernard (H. M.), Trilobites with Antennz at Last ! 582 Berthelot’s Principle Applied to Magmatic Concentration, A. Harker, 532 ; ai Bertillon (A.), System of Anthropometrical Measurements, 250 Bertillonage, E. R. Spearman, 249 : Berzelius and Liebig, Correspondence of, 561 Bessey (Prof. C. E.), Evolution and Classification, 534 Bevan (E, J.) Cellulose Thiocarbonates, 94 : Bezold (Prof. von), Meteorology as Physics of Atmosphere, 140, 239 Bible, Helps to the Study of the, Henry Froude, 539 Bickerton (Prof. A. W.), Origin of New Stars, 379 Bidgood (John), Popular Botany, 175 | Bifurcation of the (a Thoughts on the, suggested by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 564 Bigourdan (M.), the Eclipse of April, 1893, 111 Binswanger (Mr.), Electric Heating Applicances for Domestic Use, 546 November <0, 1893 Supplement to Nature, TL, nad Cx ix iology: Aids to Biology, Joseph W. Williams, 26 ; Medical Biology, 29; Biological Institute at Heligoland, 59; the _ Conjoint Board’s Medical Biology, Walter E. Collinge, 75 ; _Turbellariz of the Black Sea, Dr, Sophie Pereyaslawzewa, 109; Biological Station started on Heligoland, 231; Bio- logical Station established at Gall Lake, Minnesota, 324 ; thefsMinute Structure of Plant Hybrids, Prof. J. Muirhead » Macfarlane, 402; Projected Biological Survey of Indiana, _ 421; Origin and Meaning of the Term Biology, J. S. Burdon _ Sanderson, F.R.S., 464 ; Opening Address in Section D of _ the British Association, by Rev. H. B. Tristram, F.R.S., - 490; Biology at the British Association, 574; Marine | Biology, Dredging Expedition of the Liverpool Committee, _ 143 the Week’s Work of the Plymouth Station, 14, 39, 61, BA 81, IIl, 134, 158, 183, 208, 232, 253, 275» 300, 326, 354, 379, 401, 425, 447, 483, 524, 547, 573, 600, 622; Plankton of Northern Lagoon of Jan Mayen, G. Pouchet, 119; Whit- suntide Work of Liverpool Committee, Prof. Herdman, 133; _ Submarine Borers and Submarine Cables, W. H. Preece, _ F.R.S., 160; Animal Phosphorescence, D. Zabolotny, 92; _ Marine Biological Association, 236 ; European Laboratories of Marine Biology, 404 ; the Port Erin Station, 423 Birds’ Method of Steering, F. W. Headley, 293 ; F. A. Lucas, I ony Sexual Colouration of, T. C. Headley, 413 irds in a Village, W. H. Hudson, 409 Birds, Weight of, in Relation to their Bulk, 501 Birkeland (M.), Reflection of Electrical Waves at Extremity of Linear Conductor, 14 Biscay, Bay of, Currents of, A. Hautreux, 601 Bishop’s Ring, T. W. Backhouse, 509 Black Sea, Turbellariz of the, Dr. Sophie Pereyaslawzewa, 109; Sulphuretted Hydrogen-producing Bacillus of the, 323 Blake (Prof. J. F.), Felsites and Conglomerates between Bethesda and Llanllyfni, 118 Blake and Franklin (Messrs.), Is Colour-Blindness a Product _ of Civilisation ? 206 Blakesley (Mr.), Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Dynamics, 166; Photometry, 190 Blanford (W. T., F.R.S.), Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum, George Albert Boulenger, 313 Blanyulus guttulatus, a New Enemy of the Vine, M. Fontaine, 2 6 irckyaden (A.), Transmission of Heat through Boiler- plates, 278 Bleeding Bread, M. C. Cooke, 578 Blind, the Sense of Touch in the, Dr. Goldscheider, 48 _Blomefield (Rev. Leonard), Death« f, 445, 483 Blyth (A. Wynter), Lectures on Sanitary Law, 246 Bodenstein (Herr), the Action of Heat on Hydriodic Acid Gas, III Bodily Powers of Man and other Animals, Jeremiah Head, 498 Boehmer (G. H.), Prehistoric Naval Architecture of Northern Europe, 274 Bohr (Dr. Christian) on the Effect of the Stimulation of the Vagus on Disengagement of Gases in the Swim-bladder of Fishes, 575 Bois (H. E. G. G. du), Polarisation of Undiffracted Infra-red Radiation by Metal Wire Gratings, 406 Botid, Photograph of a, 16 - Bolton (H. C.), a Select Bibliography of Chemistry, 446 x Boltzmann (Dr. Ludwig), Vorlesung iiber Maxwell’s Theori der Electricitaét und des Lichtes, 435 Bombay, Science in, 13 Bonney (Prof. T. G., F.R.S.), Louis Agassiz: his Life and Work, Charles Frederick Holder, 52; Relationship be- : are Physical Geography and Geology, 554; Coral Reefs, ; 57 - Boothby, Guy, Journey across Australia, 40 _ Borel (Charles), Question of true Hysteresis in case of Dielec- _ trics, 110; Dielectric Constants of Biaxial Crystals, 240 _ Borneo, the Baram District of, Charles Hose, 118 Borneo, North, Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, John White- head, 564 Bornstein (Prof.), Electrification suggested as Cause of ___ Ignition of Balloon Humboldt, 120 Boron, on the Quantitative Determination of, M. Henri Moissan, 96 _.Boscher (E.), Imitation or Instinct by a Male Thrush, 369 Botany : Italian Stations for Economic Investigations of Plant Diseases, 13; Colours of Canadian Flowers with relation to Time of Flowering, A. T. Drummond, 37; Difficulty of Determining Plants by Local Names, B. B. Smyth, 37; Beitrige zur Biologie und Anatomie der Lianen, im Beson- deren der in Brasilien einheimischen Arten, Dr. H. Schenck, 53; Some Protococcoide (Algz), Al. Artari, 92; a New (Bay) Gall-Insect, Dr. C. Massa Congo, 92; Growth of Leaf-Stalk of Nymphzacez, Prof. G. Arcangeli, 92; a Fall of Rain from Lime-trees, Prof. F. Pasquale, 92; Bolletino della Societa Botanica Italiana, 92, 333 ; Chemistry and Physiology of Foliage Leaves, H. T. Brown and G. H. Morris, 94; Popular Botany, Alfred W. Bennett, 104 ; John Bidgood, 175 ; the Transpiration of Tropical Plants, Herr Haberlandt, 108 ; the Protective Function of Oxalic Acid in Plants, Herr Giessler, 109; Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, 115, 333; Flora of Pollard Willows near Cam- bridge, J. C. Willis and J. H. Burkill, 143; Plants dis- tributed by Cambridge Dust Carts, J. H. Burkill, 143; the New Flora and the Old in Australia, A. G. Hamilton, 161 ; Multiplicity of Homologous Parts in Relation to Gradation of Species, A. Chatin, 167; Hygroscopic Plants, G, Falken- horst, 253; Tobacco Culture in Trinidad, 275; Botanical Gazette, 284, 333, 359, 559; Oligodynamic Phenomena of Living Cells, Prof. Carl v. Nageli, 331 ; Journal of Botany, 333, 5593 Studies in Morphology of Spore-producing Mem- bers, I. Equisetineze and Lycopodinez, F. O. Bower, F.R.S., 3343; Failure of Efforts{to introduce Cultivation of Japanese Paper Mulberry into India, 353 ; Cattle Poisoning Species of Homeria (Cape Tulip) in Victoria, Dr, McAlpine, 378 ; In- fluence of Solar Radiation upon Plants, G, Landel, 384; the Habit and Use of Nardoo (Marstlea Drummondii), T. L. Bancroft, 407; Tubulane, a Caucasian Truffle, A. Chatin, 407; Grasses of the Pacific Slope, including Alaska and the adjacent Islands, Dr. Geo. Vasey, 411 ; the Anatomy of Magnoliacez, Sadahisa Malsada, 482 ; Ad- ditions to Kew Herbarium, 510; Gesammelte Abhandlungen iiber Pflanzen-physiologie, Prof. Sachs, 513; Pollination of Yucca, Prof. C. V. Riley, 523 ; Botanical Exploration of St. Vincent, H. H. Smith and G. W. Smith, 544; Subtropical Botanical Laboratory established at Eustis, Florida, 545 ; Madison Botanical Congress, 597; Localisation of the Active Principle in Capparideze, M. Léon Guignarel, 608 ; Lehrbuch der Botanik nach dem Gegenwartigen Stand der Wissen-chaft, 612; Insects and Flowers: Labiate, Chas. Robertson, 619 Bothamley (C. H.), the Composition of Mineral Waters, 22 Boulder Clay, Intrusive Masses of, Percy F. Kendall, 370 Boulders, Ice, as an Excavator of Lakes and a Transporter of, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 247 Boulenger (George Albert), Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum, W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 313 Boundoulaou Grotto, the, E. A. Marteland Emile Riviere, 231 Bourdon (M.), Curious Optical Illusion, 180 Bourquelot (Em.), Emulsine-like Ferment in Mushrooms, 512° Bourne (Gilbert), Coral Reefs, 576 Boussiresq (J.), Simplification of Formulze Depending on Resist- ing Power of Solids by introducing Greatest Linear Extension A supportable by Material in Place of Corresponding Elastic Force, 216 Boutan (Louis), Submarine Photographs, 377 Boutille (M.), New Electric Fire-Alarm, 423 Bouty (M. E.), the Capacity of Polarisation, 180; Reseerches of Polarisation, 336 Boulder Beds, the Bacchus Marsh, R. D. Oldham, 416 Bower (F. O., F.R.S.), Studies in Morphology of Spore Produc- ing Members ; I, Equisetineze and Lycopodinez, 334 Bowman (Sir William, F.R.S.), the Collected Papers of J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., and J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., 26 Boyer (G.), Two New Diseases of the Mulberry, 432 Boys (C. V., F.R.S.), Drawing of Curves by their Curvature, 116 Bozward (J. Lloyd), Wasps, 459 ; a Remarkable Meteor, 567 ; the Summer of 1893, 614 Brabourne’s (Lord) Library ; Sir Joseph Banks’s Correspondence, 20 Brain of Women, the, Prof. L. Biichner, 350 Bramcote and Stapleford Hills, Composition of the Rock of, Prof, Clowes, 532 Brandon, the Flint Industry at, Edward Lovett, 180 Braun (Dr.,C.), a Simple Rule for finding the Day of the Week corresponding to any given Day of the Month and Year, 222 Brazil Coffee Culture, 423 Brazil, the Supposed Glaciation of, Dr, Alfred R, Wallace, x Index [Pagers to Nature, November 30, 1893 F.R.S., 589 ; Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 614; David Wilson Barker, 614 Bread, Bleeding, M. C. Cooke, 578 Bread coming out of Oven, Interior Temperature of, M. Balland, 632 Breath Figures, John Aitken, 71 Brehm (A. E.), Les Merveilles de la Nature, La Terre, les Mers, et les Continents ; Géographie Physique, Géologie et Minéra- logie, Fernand Priem, Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 25 Bremen Meteorological Observations for 1892, Dr. P. Bergholz, 422 Brew (William), a Peculiar Discharge of Lightning, 370 Bridge Construction, a Practical Treatise on, T. Claxton Fidler, 612 . Brightness of the Major and Minor Planets, the, Dr. G. Miiller, 15 Brillouin (Marcel), Proper Vibrations of Medium indefinitely extended outside a Solid Body, 287 Brinton (Dr. Daniel G.), cn the Earliest Men, 460; on the Mexican Calendar System, 462 British Agriculture, the Future of, Prof. Sheldon, 174 BrItisH AssociaTION: Meeting at Nottingham, 485 ; Prof. Frank Clowes, 295, 344, 419, 443, 463, 520; Arrange- ments for Work of Chemical Section of the, Prof. J. Emerson Reynolds, F.R.S., 416; Inaugural Address by J. S. Burdon Sanderson, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., 464 Section A (Mathematics and Physics)—Opening Address by R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., President of the Section, 473.; Report.of the Committee on Solar Radiation, 525 ; Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald on the Period of Vibration of Dis- turbances of Electrification of the Earth, 526 ; the Moon’s Atmosphere and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, G. H. Bryan, 526; Grinding and Polishing of Glass Surfaces, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 526; Apparatus for Observing and Photographing Interference and Diffraction Pheno- mena, W. B. Croft, 526; on Sun-spots and Solar En- velopes, Rev. F. Howlett, 526; on Our Present Know- ledge of Electrolysis and Electro-Chemistry, T. C. Fitz- patrick, 527; on the Connection between the Ether and Matter, Prof. O, Lodge, 527; a Mechanical Analogue of Anomalous Dispersion, 527; Note on Prof. Ebert’s Method of Estimating the Radiating Power of an Atom, 527; on Electric Interference Phenomena, E. H. Barton, 527; on the Passage of Electric Waves through Layers of Electrolyte, 527; W. B. Croft on the Plan of Science Teaching at Winchester School, 527; on Standards of Low Electrical Resistance, J. Viriamu Jones, 528 ; Appa- ratus for Comparing Nearly Equal Resistances, F. H. Nalder, Dr. O. Lodge, F.R.S., 528 ; a Simple Interference Experiment, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 528 ; on Specula for Reflecting Telescopes, Dr. A. Shafarik, 528; the Publica- tion of Scientific Papers, A. B. Basset, 529; a New Form of Air Pump, Prof. J. J. Thompson, 529; on a Peculiar Motion assumed by Oil Bubbles in Ascending Tubes con- taining Caustic Solutions, F. T. Trouton, 529 Section B (Chemistry)—Opening Address by Prof. Emerson Reynolds, F.R.S., President of the Section, 477; G. J. Fowler on the Preparation and Properties of Nitride of Iron, 529; T. W. Hogg on Cyanonitride of Titanium, 529; Report of the Committee for Investigating the Action of Light upon Dyed Colours, 529; the Method of Isolation and the Properties of Fluorine, MM. Moissan and Meslans, 529; the Iodine Value of Sunlight in the High Alps, Dr. S. Rideal, 529; Report of the Committee on the Action of Light on the Hydracids of the Halogens in the Presence of Oxygen, 530; the Expansion of Chlorine and Bromine under the Influence of Light, Dr. Richardson, 530; Prof. P. Frankland on the Present Position of Bac- teriology, more especially in its Relation to Chemical Science, 530; on Explosions in Mines, with Special Reference to the Dust Theory, Prof. H. B. Dixon, Mr. Hall, Mr. Galloway, Prof. Thorpe, Mr. Stokes, 530 Section C (Geology)—Opening Address by J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S., President of the Section, 486; on the Genetic Relations of the Basic Eruptive Rocks of Gran (Christiana Region), Prof. W. C. Brogger, 531; on the Dissected Volcano of Crandall Basin, Wyoming, Prof, J. P. Iddings, 531; on Structures in Eruptive Bosses which resemble those of Ancient Gneisses, Sir Archibald Geikie, For. Sec. R.S., 531; on Berthelot’s Principle applied to Magmatic Concentration, A. Harker, 532; on the Igneous Rocks of Barnavave, Carlingford, Prof. W. J. Sollas, 532; or Augen-Structure in Relation to the Origin of Eruptiv: Rocks and Gneiss, J. G. Goodchild, 532 ; on the D. shire Toadstone, Mr. Arnold-Bemrose, 532; on t Igneous Rocks of South Pembrokeshire, Messrs. Ho’ and Small, 532; Composition of the Rock of Bramcot and Stapleford Hills, Prof. Clowes, 532; Source of N tingham Water Supply, Prof. E. Hull, 532; Investigation into the Shell-bearing Clays of Clava in Nairn, Du Bell, 532; General Glaciation of Asia, Prince Kropotkin, 533; the Esker Systems of Ireland, Prof. Sollas, 533 ; Origin of the Glacial Period, C, A. Lindvall, 533 Glaciers, Prof. Bonney, 533; on the Geology of Central East Africa, Walcot Gibson, 533 ; Geology in Secondary Education, 533 ce Section D (Biology)—Opening Address by Rey. H. B. Tris- tram, F.R.S., President of the Section, 490; Zoology o the Sandwich Islands, David Sharp, 574 ; on the Physico- Chemical and Vitalistic Theories of Life, Dr. J. S. Hal- _ dane, Mr, Langley, Prof. Cleland, Prof. Burdon Sanderson, 574; on the Digestive Ferments of a Large Protozoon, Prof. Marcus Hartog and Augustus E. Dixon, 575; onthe Effect of the Stimulation of the Vagus on Disengagement of (Sases in the Swim-bladder of Fishes, Dr. Christian Bohr, 575 ; on Nerve Stimulation, Prof. F. Gotch, 575 ; Physiological Action of the Inhalation of Oxygen in Asphyxia, 575 ; Dredging Expeditions in the Irish Sea lying around the Isle of Man, 575 ; on the Origin of Organic Colour, I*, T. Mott, 575; on the Roots of Lemna and the Reversing of j 1 the Fronds in Lemna minor, Miss Nina F. Layard, 575 ; onthe AZtiology and Life History of some Vegetal Galls and their Inhabitants, C. B. Rothera, 575 ; Lime Salts in’ Relation to some Physiological Processes in the Plant, Dr. J. Clark, 575; Coral Reefs, Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S.,— Dr. Hickson, 575; Dr. Rothpletz, Gilbert Bourne, Prof. Bonney, Sir H. Howorth, Mr, Stebbing, H. O. Forbes, — 576; the Lateral Canal System of Fishes, W. E. Collinge, 576; on the Ovipositor of the Cockroach, Prof. Denny, 5763; on Certain Gregarinide and the Possible Connection | of Allied Forms with Tissue Changes in Man, Dr. C. H. Cattle and Dr. J. Millar, 576; the Starch of the Chloro- phyll Granule and the Chemical Processes involved in its” Dissolution and Translocation, Horace T. Brown, F.E.S., 1 576; on Nuclear Structures in the Hymenomycetes, H. Wazer, 576 Section E (Geography)—Opening Address by Mr. Seebohm, President of the Section, 554 ; on the Relationship between — Physical Geography and Geology, Clements R. Markham, — F.R.S., W. Topley, F.R.S., E. G. Ravenstein, Prof. C. Lapworth, F.R.S., Prof. Valentine Ball, Dr. R. D. Roberts, Dr. H. R. Mill, H. Yule Oldham, Prof. Bonney, F.R.S., Sir Archibald Geikie, 554 ; Cruise of the Dundee Whalers, Balena and Active, toward the Antarctic Regions, / W. S. Bruce and C. M. Donald, 555; Experiences in the Bengal Duars ; the Settlement of Santal Colonists in that Region, E. Heawood, 555 i oe Section G (Mechanical Science)—Opening Address by Jere- miah Head, President of the Section, 497; Automatic Balance of Reciprocating Mechanism, Mr. Beaumont, 556 ; Warming and Ventilating, Frank Ashwell, 556; Watch- making by Machinery, T. P. Hewitt, 556; Pneumatic Caulking and Chipping Tool, Mr. Ross, 556; Relative Cest of Conductors with Different Systems of Electrical Power Transmission, 556 ; on Water Poweras a Source of Electricity, A. B. Snell, 557; a Variable Power Gear for Electrical Locomotives, Mr. Beaumont, 557; Flashing Lights for Marine Purposes, O. T. Olson, 557; an Auto- matic Gem Separator, William S. Lockhart, 557; th Wicksteed Testing Machine, Prof. Robinson, 557 ‘ Section H (Anthropology)—Opening Address by Dr. Robert Munro, President of the Section, 503; Ethnographic Aspect of Dancing, Mrs. Lilly Grove, 557; on Anglo- Saxon Remains and Coeval Relics from Scandinavia, Prof. Hans Hildebrand, 557; Origin and Development of Early Christian Art, J. Romilly Allen, 558; Ethnographical Notes on the Congo Tribes, Herbert Ward, 558; Dr. Crochley Clapham, the Mad Head, 558; Dr. Munro on the Structure of Lake Dwellings, 558; Arthur Bulleid on a British Village of Marsh Dwellings, 558; Thoughts on the Bifurcation of the Sciences suggested by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, g Supplement to Nature, as November 30, 1893 ] Ld Lndex xi _ F.R.S., 564; B.A. Sectional Procedure, 566; British As- sociation Report on Thermodynamics, G, H. Bryan, 616 ritish Butterflies, Charles G. Barrett, W. F. Kirby, 585 ‘itish Empire, 1892, Climatological Table for, 607 itish Medical Association, 322 sritish Museum, Catalogue of the Snakesin the, George Albert _Boulenger, W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 313 British Village of Marsh Dwellings, on a, Arthur Bulleid, 558 dmann’s (Herr) Method of Determining Co-efficients and Friction of very Viscous Liquids, 132 gger (Prof. W. C.), on the Genetic Relations of the Basic Eruptive Rocks of Gran (Christiana Region), 531 ‘romine, the Expansion of Chlorine and, under the Influence of Light, Dr. Richardson, 530 rook (George), Death of, 376 ; Obituary Notice of, 420 own (H. T.), Chemistry and Physiology of Foliage Laws, 94 3rown (Horace T., F.R.S.), Starch of the Chlorophyll Granule and the Chemical Processes involved in its Dissolution and Translocation, 576 . Brown-Séquard (M.), Physiological and Therapeutic. Effects of Injection of Orchitic Liquid, 23 rowning (P. E.), Separation of Copper from Cadmium by Iodide Method, 631 (W. S.), Antarctic Exploration, Cruise of the Dundee _ Whalers, 555 riihl (Prof.), Atomic Refraction of Nitrogen, 60 cunck (Dr.), Ozone Production at High Temperatures, 354 iryan (G. H.), the Bulkhead Question, 279; the Moon’s Atmosphere and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 526; British | Association Report on Thermodynamics, 616 Bryden (H. Anderson), Gun and Camera in Southern Africa, 12 B “ntl (Dr. A.), London Mean Temperatures 1763-1892, 155 Buchanan (J. Y., F.R.S.), Density and Alkalinity of Waters of Atlantic and Mediterranean, 168; the Publication of Scientific Papers, 340 Biichner (Prof. L.), the Brain of Women, 350 ckley (T. E.), a Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner _ Hebrides, 123 ckman (S. S.), the Bajocian ef Sherborne District, 191 Builders, on the Early Temple and Pyramid, J. Norman _ Lockyer, F.R.S., 55 : Bujwid (Herr), Choleroid Bacilli, 207 Bulleid (Arthur), on a British Village of Marsh Dwellings, 558 Bulletin de l’Académie Royale de Belgigue, 188, 332, 406, 583 Hetin Astronomique for April, 62 ulletin of New York Mathematical Society, 70, 187, 259, 359 ulletino della Sociéta Botanica Italiana, 92, 333 Bulletin de la Sociéié des Naturalistes de Moscou, 91, 188, 583 Burch (Geo. J.), a Manual of Electrical Science, 588 urdon Sanderson (J. S., F.R.S.), Inaugural Address at the ottingham Meeting of the British Association, 464; Origin and Meaning of the Term ‘‘ Biology,” 464; Origin and Scope of Modern Physiology, 465 ; the Specific Energies of the Organism, 467 ; Experimental Psychology, 469 ; Photo. taxis and Chemiotaxis, 470 Burial Mounds of Japan, the Ancient, Romyn Hitchcock, 398 Burkill (J. H.), Flora of Pollard Willows near Cambridge, 143 ; Plants distributed by Cambridge Dust Carts, 143 Burma, the Amber and Jade Mines of Upper, Dr. Noetling, er Tie, a New Variety of Amber, Dr. Noetling, 13 Burls (F. B.), Note on a Meta-azo-compound, 118 ; Azo-com- pounds of Ortho-Series, 262 Burnside (Prof. W., F.R.S.), a Problem of Conformal Repre- sentation, 23 ; Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable, _ 169 Burton (Dr, C, V.), Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Dynamics, 166 Biitschli’s (Prof. O.) Artificial Amoeba, Dr. John Berry Hay- craft, 594 Butterfly Production, Sex Proportions of, T, E, Bean, 231 Butterflies: Brief Guide to the Common Butterflies of the United States and Canada, the Life of a Butterfly, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 338 Butterflies, British, Charles G, Barrett, W. F. Kirby, 585 ble, Submarine, laid between Queensland and New Cale. onia, 623 ables, Submarine, and Submarine Borers, W. H. Preece, F.R.S., 160 ar (H. M.), the Site of Edinburgh in Prehistoric Times, I 3 Cailletet (L.), Experiments on Resistance of Air, &c., to the Motion of Falling Bodies, 311 Calbuco, Chili, Volcanic Eruption near, 618 Calculus, Differential, for Beginners, Joseph Edwards, 539 Callaway (Dr. Charles), Origin of the Crystalline Schists of the Malvern Hills, 46 Colacenesats Animal Heat and Physiological, Prof. Rosenthal, Calorimetry : Corrected Formula of Heat necessary to raise a gramme of water to 7° C., Profs. Bartoli and Stacciati, 299 Cambridge: Mr. H. Y. Oldham appointed to Cambridge Geo- graphical Lectureship, 136; Flora of Pollard Willows near Cambridge, J. C. Willis and J. H. Burkill, 143 ; Plants dis- tributed hy Dust Carts, J. H. Burkill, 143; Cambridge Philosophical Society, 143 ; the Rede Lecture, Prof. Michael Foster, Sec. R.S., 178 ; Tercentenary of the Admission of William Harvey to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 199 3 Proposed New Telescope for Cambridge Observatory, 35 ; Cambridgeshire, Shower of Ants and Flies in, 351 Camera, Gun and, in Southern Africa, H. Anderson Bryden, 125 Campbell (Prof.), the Spectrum of the Rordame-Guénisset Comet, 379; Nova(T) Aurigze Spectrum, 524 Candolle (Alphonse de), Obituary Notice of, W. T. Thiselton- Dyer, F.R.S., 269 Cap of Mars, South Polar, Prof. George Comstock, 15 Capstick (J. W.), Ratio of Specific Heats of Paraffins and Mono- halogen Derivatives, 260 Caraccas, Capture of Electric Eels by means of Wild Horses in, Humboldt’s Story contravened, 324 Carbon, the Specific Heat of, H. Le Chatelier, 72 Carhart (H. S.), a One-Volt Standard Cell, 309 Carr (F. H.), the Aconite Alkaloids, vi. ; Conversion of Aconi- tine into Isaconitine, 535 Carrier Pigeons, F. W. Headley, 223 Carus-Wilson (C.), Scotographoscope, 64; Vivisection, 317 Cassini, proposed Statue td, 273 en New Enamel for Protecting, Fletcher, Russell and 0, 571 ‘Castle in the Air” for forthcoming Antwerp Exhibition, 569 Catalogue, Official, of the Exhibition of the German Empire at the Columbian Universal Exhibition in Chicago, 176 Cataract Construction Company at Niagara Falls, Works of, 444 Cats, Manx, A. de Mortillet, 108 Catskill, on the use of the term, Prof. J. J. Stevenson, 462 Cattle (Dr. C. H.). on certain Gregarinide, and the possible connection of Allied Forms with Tissue Changes in Man, 576 Cattle Food, Vine-leaves as, A. Murtz, 168 Cattle Losses in Madras, Statistics for 1891-2 of, 424 Canfieldite, Prof. Penfield, 378 ; Cecil (Henry), Singular Swarms of Flies, 127 Ceilings, Soot-figures on, Dr, A. Irving, 29 ; Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 29 ; Lieut. Col. Allan Cunningham, 29 ; E. B. Poulton, F_R.S., 29; J. Edmund Clark, 77 Celestial Photography at the Paris Observatory, 617 Cells, Living, Oligodynamic Phenomena of, Prof. Carl V. Nageli, 331 Centenary of Gilbert White, 212 Century Magazine, Science in the, 250, 350 Cerfontaine (Dr. Pane), Trichinosis, 332 Cesaro(G.), Simple Method of Measuring Retardation in Minerals cut in Thin Plates, 583 Ceylon, the Big and Little Monsoons of, E, Douglas Archibald, 175 Chamberland (M.), Greater Efficiency of Disinfectants at High Temperatures and with Moisture, 377 Chandler (Prof.), the Constant of Aberration, 112 Chantre (E.), Microbian Origin of Purulent Surgical Infection, 497 Chaos, Order or, 241 f Chapeaux (Marcelon), Nutrition of Echinoderms, 583 Chappe (Claude), Statue to, 297 Chappuis (M.), the Spirit Thermometer, 12; Investigation of Thermal Expansion of Water by Weight-Thermometer Method, 423 Character, Prenatal Influences on, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S., 389 xii Index ig sand to Nature, November 30, 1893 Characters, Acquired, Non-Inheritance of, Dr. Alfred R. Wal- lace, F.R.S., 267 Charchani, Peru, Meteorological Station at, the Highest in the World, A. L. Rotch, 631 Charpentier’s Experiments Demonstrative of an Oscillatory Process in the Organ of Vision and ofits Dimensions, 380 Chassagny (M.), Influence of Longitudinal Magnetisation on Electromotive Force, 38 Chatin (A.), Multiplicity of Homologous Parts in Relation to Gradation of Vegetable Species, 167 ; Tubulane, a Caucasian Truffle, 407 Chatham Islands: Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the, 174 ; Henry O. Forbes, 74, 126; a Correction, 370; Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 27 ; Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., 101, 150 Chemistry : the Thionylamines, Prof. Michaelis, 14 ; Chemical Society, 22, 94, II7, 190, 262, 525; Limits of Accuracy of Gold Bullion Assaying, T. K. Rose, 22; the Volatilisation of Gold, T. K. Rose, 22; Boiling and Melting Points of Nitrous Oxide, W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and J. Shields, 22; Isomerism of Paraffinic Aldoximes, W. R. Dunstan and T, S. Dymond, 22; the Composition of Mineral Waters, C. H. Bothamley, 22; a Magnesium Compound of Diphenyl, W. R. Hodgkinson, 22; Dissolution of Gold in Potassium Cyanide Solution, R. C. Maclaurin, 22 ; Research Labora- tories attached to Elberfeld Farhbenfabriken, 29; a Method of Preparing Nitriles in a State of Purity, Prof. Michaelis and Dr. Siebert, 39 ; Lehrbuch der Allgemeinen Chemie, Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald, J. W. Roger, 49; Deport- ment of Charceal with the Halogens, Nitrogen, Sulphur and Oxygen, W. G. Mixter, 70 ; Influence of Free Nitric Acid and Aqua Regia on Precipitation of Barium as Sulphate, P. E. Browning, 70; Series of well-crystallising Double Halogen Salts of Tellurium with Potassium, Rubidium and Cesium prepared by H. L. Wheeler ; Corresponding Selenium Com- pounds, Dr. Muthmann and Schifer, 80 ; Analogy between So- lutions of a Gas and of a Salt in indifferent Solutions of Salts, I. M. Syctabenoff, 91; Chemistry of Foliage Laws, H. T. Brown and G. H. Morris, 94 ; Cellulose Thiocarbonates, C. F. Cross, E. J. Bevan, and C. Beadle, 94; Sulphocamphylic Acid, W.H. Perkin, jun. 94; Formation of Pyridine Derivatives from Unsaturated Acid, S. Ruhemann, 94; Chlorinated Phenylhy- drazines, Part II., J. T. Hewitt, 94; Oxidation of Tartaric Acid inthe presence of Iron, H. J. H. Fenton, 94; Products of Interactions of Tin and Nitric Acid, C. H. H. Walker, 94; Interactions of Thiourea and Haloid Derivatives of Fatty Acids, A. E. Dixon, 94; the Quantitative Determination of Boron, Henri Moissan, 96; Hydrocyanic Acid in Plants, Mr. van Romburgh, 96; the Action of Heat and Light on Hydriodic Acid Gas, Prof. Victor Meyer and Herr Bodens- tein, 111; Hydrates of Sodium, Potassium and Lithium Hydroxides, S. U. Pickering, 117; Detection of Arsenic in Alkaline Solution, J. Clark, 117 ; Improvementsin Reinsch’s Process, J. Clark, 117; Action of Light on Prevention of Pu- trefraction and Formation of are, Peroxide, A. Richardson, 117; Capillary Separation of Substances in So- lution, L. Reed, 118; Notes on a Meta-azo-compound, R. Meldola and F. B. Burls, 118; Influence of Moisture on Chemical Action, H. B, Baker, 118; New Haloid Derivatives of Camphor, F. S. Kipping and W. J. Pope, 118; Chlorobdrate of Iron, G. Rousseau and H. Allaire, 119; Heat Developed in Combination of Bromine with Unsaturated Hydrocarbons, W. Louguinine and Irv. Kablukov, 119; Preparation of Metallic Tung- sten, Molybdenum and Vanadium, M. Moissan, 144 ; Preparation of Thorium and Zirconium, L. Troost, 144; Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., Sir H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S., 145 ; Chemical Change, V. H. Veley, 149; the Conditions Determinative of Chemical Change, Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 237; Some Comments on Prof, Armstrong’s Remarks on, Prof. W. Ram- say, F.R.S., James Walker, 267 ; Decomposition of Steam by Heated Magnesium, Herr Rosenfeld, 157 ; Aluminium Chloride Compounds with Benzoyl Chloride and others of the Aromatic Series, MM. Perrier, Louise, Friedel, and Crafts, 157; Absorption of Seleniuretted Hydrogen by Liquid Selenium at High Temperatures, H. Pélabon, 168; Das Genetische System der Chemischen Elemente, W. Preyer, 173; Azoimide, Prof. Curtis, 183; the Treatment of Barium Sulphate in Analysis, J.G. Phinney, 187 ; Nature of Certain Solutions, M. C. Lea, 187 ; Properties of some Strong Solu- tions, S. U. Pickering, 535 ; the Formation of Ozone (ii.), W. A. Shenstone and M. Priest, 190 ; Ozone- Production High Temperatures, Dr. Brunck, 354; Boiling-Points o Homologous Compounds, I. Ethers, J. Walker, 19t ; Ci cal Constants of Fatty and Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Her Altschul, 206 ; Die Thermodynamik in der Chemie, J. J. Laar, 220; Traité Pratique d’Analyse Chemique et d Recherches Toxicologiques, G. Guérin, 221; Tetrachlorids of Lead, Prof. Classen and Herr Zaborsky, 232; Prof, Fried rich, 232; Chromopyrosulphuric Acid, A. Recoura, 253, 264 ; Azo-Compounds of Ortho-Series, R. Meldola, E. } Hawkins and F. B. Burls, 262 ; Researches on the Terpene: IIL., Action of Phosphorous Pentachloride on Camphene, J. E. Marsh and J. A. Gardner, 262 ; Note on Combination o Dry Gases, W. Ramsay, 262 ; Ortho-, Para- and Peri-disul- phonic Derivatives of Naphthalene, H. E. Arms and W. P. Wynne, 262 ; Supplementary Notes on Madder Colourin; Matters, E. Schunck and L. Marchlewski, 263; Metall Salts of Sulphophosphoric Acid, Dr. Glatzel, 275 ; Artificial Synthesis of Iron Pyrites, Dr. Glatzel, 275; Societ Chemical Industry, Sir John Evans, Treas. R.S., 279; Dis: sociation of Calcium Plumbate, H. le Chatelier, 287; Isola. tion of Crystallised Sodium Salt of Perchromic Acid, Dr. Haiissermann, 300; Considerations on Tautomeric Form Glucose, Mr. Franchimont, 312; Action of Liquefied Am monia on Anhydrous Chlorides of Chromium and Iron, Prof, Christessen, 325, 326; Density of Sulphurous Anhydride, A. Leduc, 336; Improved Mode of Preparing Ammonium Sal of Persulphuric Acid, Dr. Elbs, 400; Production of Ammo: nia in Soil by Microbes, Emile Marchal, 406; a Pro- duct of Incomplete Oxidation of Aluminium, M. Pionchon, 407; Arrangements for Work of Chemical Section of th british Association, Prof. J. Emerson Reynolds, F.R.S., 416 the Organo-metallic Compounds of Magnesium, Dr. Fleck 424; Reduction of Nitrous Acid by Ferrous Salts, Charlotte F. Roberts, 431; Bolton’s Select Bibliography, 445 ; Manu- facture of Oxygen from Air by means of Calcium Plumbate, G. Kassner, 446 ; Prof. Morley’s Final Determination of th Atomic Weight of Oxygen, 46 ; Opening Address in Section B of the British Association, by Prof. Emerson Reynolds, F.R.S., 477; the Compounds of Phosfhorus and Sulphur, Herr Helff, 482; Hydrazine and its Compounds, Franz Schrader, 483 Products of Sublimation of Arsenic, Dr. Retgers, 510 Nitro-metals, a New Series of Compounds of Metals wit Nitrogen Peroxide, A. E. Tutton, 524; on our Presen Knowledge of Electrolysis and Electro-Chemistry, T. C. Fitzpatrick, 527 ; Chemistry at the British Association, 529 G. J. Fowler on the Preparation and Properties of Nitrid of Iron, 529; T. W. Hogg, on Cyano-Nitride of Titanium 529; Report of the Committee for Investigating the Actio: of Light upon Dyed Colours, 529; Method of Isolation an the Properties of Fluorine, MM. Moissan and Meslans, 529 the Iodine Value of Sunlight in the High Alps, Dr. S. Rideal 529; Report of the Committee on the Action of Light ont Hydracids of the Halogens in the presence of Oxygen, 530 the Expansion of Chlorine and Bromine under the Influen of Light, Dr. Richardson, 530; Prof. P. Frankland on th Present Position of Bacteriology, more especially in its Rela- tion to Chemical Science, 530; on Explosions in Mines, with special reference to the Dust Theory, Prof. H. B. Dixon, Mr. Hall, Mr. Galloway, Prof. Thorpe, Mr. Stokes, 530; the Aconite Alkaloids, vi. ; Conversion of Aconitine int Isaconitine, W. R. Dunstan and F. H. Carr, 535; ditto, vii. ; Modifications of Aconitine Aurichloride, W. K. Dunstan and H. A. D. Jowett, 535; Constituents of Kamala, IL, A. G. Perkin, 535 ; Quantitative Method of Separating Iodine fi Chlorine and Bromine, D. S. Macnair, 535 ; Use _of Sodiu Peroxide as an Analytical Agent, L. Clark, 535 ; Preparation of Mono-, di- and Tri-benzylamine, A.T. Mason, 535; Form: of Terpenylic Acid, S. B. Schryver, 535; Preparation o Active Amyl Alcohol and Active Valeric Acid from Fuse Oil, W. A. C. Rogers, 835 Estimates of Chlorates a Nitrates in one operation, Charlotte F. Roberts, 535 ; Todid of Nitrogen, Dr. Szuhay, 547; the Glucoside of the Iris, F. Tiemann and G. de Laire, 560; Crystallised Silicide of Car- bon obtained with M. Moissan’s Electric Furnace, 572, 573 + Fixation of Iodine by Starch, E. Rouvier, 584; Relation between the Precipitation of Chlorides by Hydrochloric Acid and the Lowering of the Boiling-point, M. R. Engel, 608 ; Carbide of Boron isolated, Dr. Mulhausen, 622; Separa- tion of Copper from Cadmium by Iodide Method, P. E. Browning, 631 ent to Nature, «Sup; ‘ovember 30, 1893 Index Xili Shevalier (Rev. S.), the Bokhara Typhoon of October, 1892, 456, 522 Chicago : Congress on Aérial Navigation, 596 ; Anthropological Congress, 570; Meteorological Congress, 570; Intended Internationa! Electrical Congress at, 131; Astronomy at the Chicago World’s Fair, 573 ; Astronomy and Astro-Physics at Chicago, 623: Official Catalogue of the Exhibition of the _ German Empire at the Columbian Universal Exhibition, 176 shile and Argentinia, Flora and Fauna of, Dr. Philippi, 619 Shina Sea, Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North, Captain _ Chas. J. Norcock, 76 China Sea, Typhoons of, 376 hinese Observations, Early, on Colour Adaptations, Kuma- gusu Minakata, 567 ‘Chinook Wind, the, H. M. Ballou, 21 hlorine and Bromine, the Expansion of, under the Influence of Light, Dr. Richardson, 530 Cholera and Articles of Diet, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 375 Cholera Bacillus, the, Herren Bujwid and Finkelnburg, 207 Sholera Bacillus in Water, Methods of Detecting, Koch and Arens, 523 holera Nurseries and their Suppression, Ernest Hart, 322 olera Outbreak at Greenwich, the Reported, 618 era, Virulent and Epidemic, N. Gamaleia, 360 rley (J. C.), Sodium Potassium High Temperature Ther- mometers, 63 'Choughs, the Identity of Shakespeare’s Russet-pated, J. E. Harting, 445 ree (Charles), Appointment as Superintendent of Kew Observatory of, 11 hristensen (Prof.), Action of Liquefied Ammonia on Anhy- _ drous Chlorides of Chromium and Iron, 325, 326 Christie (J. C.), Advanced Physiography, 339 Chronophotography, Motion of Liquids Studied by, M. Marey, 47 Church (Prof. A. H., F.R.S.), Turacin : a Remarkable Animal _ Pigment containing Copper, 209 hurchill (William), Curious Phenomenon, 616 Ciona, the Pervisceral Cavity in, A. H. L. Newsted, 332 Clapham (Dr. Crochley), the Mad Head, 558 Clark (Daniel Kinnear), the Steam Engine: a Treatise on Steam Engines and Boilers, N. J. Lockyer, 51 Clark (J.), Detection of Arsenic in Alkaline Solution, 117 ; Improvements in Reinsch’s Process, 117; Use of Sodium Peroxide as an Analytical Agent, 535; Lime Salts in Rela- tion tosome Physiological Processes in the Plant, 575 Clark (J. Edmund), Daylight Meteor, March 18, 54; Soot- _ figures on Ceilings, 77 Jlark (Prof.), the Available Water-power of Maryland, 324 Jlark and Griffiths’ (Messrs.), Determination of Hour Tempera- tures by Platinum Thermometers, 155; Heating Effect of __ Small Currents necessary to Measure Resistances, 156 Clarkson (T.), the Sampling of Iron Ore, 551 lassen (Prof.), Tetrachloride of Lead, 232 ification, Evolution and, Prof. C. E. Bessey, 534 Claude (M.), Instruments for Measuring Difference in Phase between Current in Circuit and Impressed Electromotive Force, E33 Clava in Nairn, Investigation into the Sheli-bearing Clays of, Dugald Bell, 532 layton (H. H.), Six- and Seven-Day Weather Periodicities, 140 Cleland (Prof.), Physico-Chemical,and Vitalistic Theories of Life, 574 Clerke (Ellen M.), the Planet Venus, 447 leveland Iron and Steel Industries, Recent Developments in, Jeremiah Head, 356 ‘Climates, Geological and Solar, their Causes and Variation, __ Marsden Manson, 588 ‘Climatological Table for British Empire, 1892, 607 locks, New System of Electric Control of, E, F. von Hefner- Alteneck, 445 lowes (Prof. Frank), British Association, nine ng Meeting, 295, 344, 419, 443, 463, 520; Composition of the Rock of Bramcote and Stapleford Hills, 532; Sandstone near Not- . emg wholly Cemented with Crystalline Barium Sulphate, 21 Club, bit Ser Learned Societies’, 322 poakley (Prof, G. W.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 398 Coal-Balls,” Fossils in, H. B. Stocks, 72 obras attracted by Remains of Dead Cobra, 79 Coccide, the Use of Ants to Aphides and, Dr. Geo.J. Romanes, F.R.S., Alfred O. Walker, 54 Coccidia of Birds, A]ph. Labbé, 536 Cockerell (Prof. T. D. A.), Insects attracted by Solanum, 438 Cockroach, on the Ovipositor of the, Prof. Denny, 576 Coculesco (M. N.), Total Solar Eclipse (April, 1893), 135 Coffee Culture, Brazil, 423 + Colardeau (E.), Experiments on Resistance of Air, &c., to Motion of Falling Bodies, 311 Cold Wave at Hongkong, the, January, Effects, Sydney B. J. Skertchly, 3 Cole (Martin J.), Modern Microscopy, 246 Coleridge (Lord) and Vivisection, Prof. Percy F. Frankland, F.R.S., 268 Colin (J.), Influence of State of Surface of Platinum Electrode uponits Initial Capacity of Polarisation, 584 Colladon (J. D.), the Work of, M. Sarrau, 360; Obituary Notice of, Dr, Ed. Sarasin, 396 Collinge (Walter E.), Conjoint Board’s Medical Biology, 75 ; the Lateral Canal System of Fishes, 576 Colombo, Suggested Zoological Garden in, 510 Colorado, Destructive Cloud-burst in, 321 Colour: Perspective and Colour, Prof. Einthoven, 186; Con- trast Colours, the True Origin of, A. M. Meyer, 274 ; Colour Photometry, Capt. Abney, F.R.S., 333; Alterations of Colours presented by Gratings, George Meslin, 432; the Evolution of Colour in the Genus Megascops, 559; Early Chinese Observations on Colour Adaptations, Kumagusu Minakata, 567; on the Origin of Organic Colour, F. T. Mott, 575; Is Colour-blindness a Product of Civilisation? Messrs. Blake and Franklin, 206 ; Hering’s Theory of Colour Vision, C. L Franklin, 517 Coloration, Sexual, of Birds, T. C. Headley, 413 Columbian Universal Exhibition in Chicago, Official Catalogue of the Exhibition of the German Empire at the, 176 Colwyn Bay, Earthquake at, 179 Combustion, Spontaneous, Prof. Vivian B. Lewes, 626 Comets: Finlay’s Comet (1886 VII.), 61, 81, 112, 135, 158, 184, 208, 276, 300, 326, 355; M. Schulhof, 233, 254; Comet Finlay and the Presepe, 512; a Bright Comet?, 233; a New Comet, 254, 622; Ephemeris of the New Comet, Prof. E. Lamp, 276; the Discovery of the New Comet, 300; the Rordame-Quénisset Comet, 326, 401 ; Herr E, Lamp, 355 ; the Spectrum of the Rordame Quénisset Comet, Prof. Cainp- bell, 379; Photography of Comet 4 1893, F. Quénisset, 360 ; Comet Appearances in the Year 1892, Prof. H. Kreutz, 380 Common (Dr, A. A., F.R.S.), a Sensitive Spherometer, 396 ; Astronomical Photography, 459 Comparative Anatomy at Oxford, Human and, Prof. E, Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 616 Comstock (Prof. George), South Polar Cap of Mars, 15; a Determination of the Constant of Aberration, 460 Conclusions, New, Graham Officer, Lewis Balfour, 342 Conditions Determinative of Chemical Change, the, Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 237; Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., James Walker, 267 Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies, 576 — Tribes, Ethnographical Notes on the, Herbert Ward, 55 Congress on Aerial Navigation, Chicago, 596 Congress of Archzological Societies, 251 Congresses, Chicago Anthropological and Meteorological, 570 Congress at Chicago, Intended Electrical, 131 Congress, International Maritime, 272 ; Madison Botanical, 597 Congress of Photographic Society, 569, 596 Conjoint Boards’ Medical Biology, Walter E. Collinge, 75 Constable (F. C.), Soaring of Hawk, 223; Abnormal Weather in the Himalayas, 248 ; the Murree Hailstorm, 251 Constant of Aberration, the, Prof. Chandler, 112; a Deter- mination of the, Prof. Geo. C. Comstock, 460 Constant of Universal Attraction, New Determination of the, 301, 35 Conetalle late of the Far East, Kumagusu Minakata, 541 Constellations, Grouping of Stars into, 370 Contemporary Review, Science in the, 250, 443, 543 Conway (W. M.), Explorations in the Karakorana, 43; the Climbing of High Mountains, 443 Cook’s (Captain) Journal during his First Voyage round the World, made in H.M. Barque Zndeavour, 1768-1781, Sir J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., 195 1893—Its after Cook (C. J Lowen), British Locomotives, N. J. Lockyer, 586 XiV Index pe Cooke (M. C.), Bleeding Bread, 578 Copper, a New Method of Electrolytic Bright Depositing, J. W. Swan, 160 Copper, Turacine, a Remarkable Animal Pigment containing, Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S., 209 Coral Reefs: Prof. W. ¥: Sollas, F.R.S., 575 ; Dr. Rothpletz, Gilbert Bourne, Prof. Bonney, Sir H. Howorth, Mr. Steb- bing, H. O. Forbes, 576 ; the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, W. Saville Kent, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 217 Cordoba Durchmusterung, the, 401 Corinth, Isthmus of, Opening of Ship Canal across, 426 Cornish Mineral, Spangolite, a Remarkable, H. A. Miers, 426 | Cornu (A.), Diffraction Gratings, Local Anomalies, 144 Corona Spectrum, the, J. Evershed, 268 Coronal Atmosphere of the Sun, the, 301 Corresponding Societies, Conference of Delegates of, 576 Corry ‘* Protected” Aneroid, the, Edward Whymper, 160 Cosmology, Babylonian, P. Jensen, 2 wap (Henri), Elimination of Foreign Bodies in Acephala, 404 Cowper Sy A.), Death of, 78 Crafts (M.), Aluminium "Chloride Compounds with Benzoyl Chloride and others of the Aromatic Series, 157 Crandall Basin, Wyoming, on the Dissected Volcano of, Prof. 3 Bop gt Iddings, 531 Criminals and their Detection, E. R. Spearman, 249 Cripps (R. A.), Galenic Pharmacy, 27 Crocodile’s Egg with Solid Shell, J. Battersby, 248 Croft (W. B.), Apparatus for Observing and Photographing Interference and Diffraction Phenomena, 526; on the Plan of Science Teaching at Winchester School, 527 Cross (E. F.), Cellulose Thiocarbonates, 94 Cross (M. ].), Modern Microscopy, 246 Cross and Mansfield (Messrs.), Excursions of Diaphragms of Telephones, 156 Crosskey (R.), the Soil in Relation to Health, 196 Crova (M.), Photographic Study of Sources "of Light (Carcel Lamp and Electric Arc), 206 Crump (W. B.), the Early Spring of 1893, 414 Crustacea, Decapod, Nephridia of, E. J. Allen, 115 Crystal, Illustrations of Molecular Tactics of, Lord Kelvin, 159 Crystals, Instruments for Study of, H. A. Miers, 63; Dielectric ° Constants of Biaxial, Ch. Borel, 240; the Inner Structure of Snow, G. Nordenskiéld, 592 Cumming (L.), Thunderbolt in Warwickshire, 342 Cunningham (Lieut.-Col. Allan), Soot-figures on Ceilings, 29 ; Simplified Multiplication, 316 Cunningham (J. T.), the Coloration of the Skins of Fishes, 70 Curie (P.), Magnetic Properties of Bodies at Different Tem- peratures, 38 ; a New Standard Condenser, 206 Curious Phenomenon, William Churchill, 616 Curtis (Prof. G, E.), Analysis of Causes of Rainfall, 631 Curtius (Prof.), Azoimide, 183 Curves by their Curvature, Drawing of, C. V. Boys, F.R.S., 116; Asymmetrical Frequency, Prof. Karl Pearson, 615 Cyano. Nitride of Titanium, T. W. Hogg, 529 Cyclone of August 28 and 29, the American, 444 Cyclone in Gulf of Mexico, 569 Cyclone, Disastrous, at Savannah, 421; Cyclone on New York Coast, 421 Cyclone at Williamstown, 205 Cyclones of November, 1891, the Three Indian, Mr. Eliot, 545 Cyclones and Anticyclones, Movements of Air in, 583 Cygni, the Variable Star Y, Prof. N, C. Dunér, 301 Cygnus, a New Variable, #, 183 ; New Variable Stars in, Herr Fr. Deichmiiller, 573 Dabchick in St, James’s Park, Adventures of a, T. D, Pigott, 322 Dakotas, Certain Climatic Features of the Two, Lieut. J. P. Finley, 599 Dallas (W. L.), Upper Air Currents over Arabian Sea, 239; the General Motions of the Atmosphere, 341 Dallinger (Dr. W. H., F.R.S.), Modern Microscopy, M. J. Cross, Martin J. Cole, 246 Dancing, E:hnographic Aspect, of, Mrs. Lilly Grove, 557 Daniel (John), Polarisation, using a thin Metal Partition ina Voltameter, : 4 Daniell (Alfred), a Substitute for Aerobed? s Swimmer, 294 Danvers (Sir Juland), the Manufactures of India, 37 ' Deichmiiller (Herr Fr. ), New Variable Stars in Cygnus, 573 Darnell-Smith (G. P.), a Method of obtaining Glochidia, 223 — Dartmoor, Notes on, Lieut.-General McMahon, 142 i Darwin (Prof. G. H., F.R.S.), Roche’s Limit, 54 oe Daubrée on the Geological Work of High-Pressure Gas, out ‘ Daubrée (M.), Exceptionally High Temperatures in P shel: bronn Petroleum Beds, 3 tig David (Prof.), Sphene Discovered in Bathurst (New. h Wales) Granite by, 78 E Davis (W. M.), Proposed Subjects for Correlated Study D} State Weather Services, 239 Ne Davison (Charles), the Annual and Semi- en Seismi Periods, 359 Davy (M. Marié), Death of, 272 , wt Day of the Week, a Simple Rule for finding the Corresponding to any given Day of the Month and Year, Dr. C. Braun, 222 Daylight Meteor, March 18, J. Edmund Clark, 54 aie NTE Death, Proofs of, Dr. Edwin Haward, 156 win Defforges (M.), Distribution of Gravitation on Surface Globe, 336; Distribution of Intensity of Gravity of Sur! of Globe, MM. Orgéau, Daubrée, Cornu, Bassot, Tisserand, 484 EM Delage (M.), the Cambrian of the Herault, 432 Delahaye (M.), M. Foubert’s Map of Smokes of Paris, : New Electric Fire-Alarm, 423 eee Delbceuf (J.), Megamicros, or Sensible Effects of Propor:i Reduction of Dimensions of Universe, 406 ts Delebecque (A.), Changes in Téte Rousse Glacier since St Gervais Catastrophe, 407 4 Delegates of Corresponding Societies, Conference of, 576 Demoussy (M.), the Quantities of Water contained in Arabl Lands after a Prolonged Drought, 72 co Denning (W. F.), the April Meteors, 7 Meteor Observat ons, 135; the August Meteors (1893), 37. si: Denny (Prof.), on the Ovipositor of at Cockroach, 576 © Denza (P. F.), Shooting Stars of August, 1893, 535 Depolarisers, the Nature of, Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F. RS. 308 wg Picctaridives (M.), the Total Solar Eclipse (April, 1893), 81 Desulphurisation of Iron, John Parry, 427 4 Determinants, a Short Course in the Theory of, ti G. We ; 612 Determinations of Gravity, 158 ne Determination, New, of the Constant of Universal Attract ion, OT, 355 a Dentachs Mathematiker-Vereinigung Exhibition at Muni ah) : 619 : Deutsche Seewarte Report for 1892, 445 ae Dewar (Prof, J., F.R.S.), Magnetic Properties of Liquid Oxygen, 89; Refractive Indices of Liquid Nitrogen caer vir, Diamond, Artificial, obtained by K. D. Khroushchoff, 207 : Diatomacese, an Introduction to the Study of the, "Frederick Wm. Mills, 537 i Diatroptoff (M.), Discovery of the Baczllus Anthracis in Well : Mud, 230 ai Dickie (Dr. Hugh), Elements of Prysiograpty, 3 we Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, Prof. T E. Thoepe; F. RS. : Sir H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S., 145 Dielectrics, on the Electric Strength of Solid Liquid and Gaseous, Profs. Macfarlane and G. W. Pierce, 461 Diet, Cholera and Articles of, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 375 ‘a Dieterici (C.), Vapour Pressure of Aqueous Solution, tg Differential Calculus for Beginners, Joseph Edwards, 539 Difficulty in Weismannism Resolved, a, Prof. Marcus ELartog, 28 Diffusion, Gaseous, Prof. Herbert McLeod, F.R.S., 104 Digestive Ferments of a Large Protozoon, on the, Prof. M Hartog and Augustus E. Dixon, 575 4 Dinosaurs, some ‘Recent Restorations of, Prof. O. C. Mat sh 437; R. Lydekker, 302 s Disinfectant, Value of Ammonia Vapour as a, Herr Rigler, Disinfectants and Micro-Organisms, 161 7 Disinfectants at High Temperatures and with Moisture, MM, Chamberland and Pernbach, 377 Distichopora violacea, Karly Stages in Development of, Dr S. J. Hickson, 332 j Dixon (A. E.), interactions of Thiourea and Haloid Derivatives of Fatty Acids, 94; on the Digestive Ferments ofa L Protozoon, 575 Dixon (A. i % ), on a Theorem for Bicircular Quartics an¢ Supplement to es November 30, 1893 L[udex XV Cyclides corresponding to Ivory’s Theorem for Conics and Conicoids, 95 Dixon (Edward T.), the Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, _ 101, 149; Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Dynamics, 166 Dixon (Prof. H. B.), Explosions in Mines, with special refer- ence to the Dust Theory, 530 Joberck (Dr. W.), Typhoons of China Sea, 376 Documents, Smithsonian Institution, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 6 Dodgson (Charles L.), Pillow Problems, 564 n (Prof, Anton), Publications of the Zoological Station at Naples, 440 ionald (C. M.), Antarctic Exploration Cruise of the Dundee Whalers, 555 onnan (F. G.), Organisation of Scientific Literature, 436 joolittle (Prof. C. L.), Variations of Latitude, 451; Latitude Determination at Bethlehem, 1892-3, 460 Drainage in the Rock River Basin in Illinois, on Changes of, Frank Leverett, 462 rawing, Compulsory Laws of Error in, Arthur L, Haddon, 402, 416 edging Expeditions in the Irish Sea, 575 er (Dr. Julius) Die Gastropoden von Haring bei Kirch- bich] in Tirol, 567 ought, the Great, of 1893, 295 Drought and Heat at Shirenewton Hallin 1893, E. J. Lowe, Ee F.R:S., 436 ; Drought Cycles, M. C. Maze, 482 rude (P.), Relation of Dielectric Constants to Indices of Refraction, 312 Drummond (A. T.), Lake Memphramagog, 12; Colours of | Canadian Flowers, with Relation to Time of Flowering, 37 Duars, Bengal, Experiences in the, E. Heawood, 555 ‘Dublin Royal Society, 47, 143, 287 | Dublin, Rain making Experiments at, 522 Dubois (Eng.) Die Klimate der Geologischen Vergangenheit und ihre Beziehung zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Sonne, ‘Dacretet (C.), Method for making High Resistances without _ Self-induction, 353 Dufour (M.), the Scintillation of Stars, 600 Duhamel-Dumonceau, Statue of, 596 ‘Dulcin, a New Saccharin Substance, Prof. Kossel, 47 Dumont (M.), the Quantities of Water contained in Arable _ Land after a Prolonged Drought, 72 undee Whalers, Cruise of the, to the Antarctic Regions, W. _S. Bruce and C. M. Donald, 555 | Dunér (Prof. N. C.), the Variable Star y Cygni, 301 unlop (Dr. Andrew), Raised Beaches and Rolled Stones at ligh Level in Jersey, ror ‘Dunn (E. J.), the Bendigo Gold Fields, 207 ; Palzozoic Glacia- _ tion in the Southern Hemisphere, 458 unstan (W. K.), Isomerism of Paraffinic Aldoximes, 22; the Aconite Alkaloids, vi. Conversion of-Aconitine into Isaconi- ine, 535; vii, Modifications of Aconitine Aurichloride, uparc (L,), Changes in Téte Rousse Glacier since St. Gervais @ Catastrophe, 407 ‘Durham College of Science, Agricultural Scholarships, 36 Dust Theory, Explosions in Mines with special reference to the, Prof. H. B. Dixon, Mr. Hall, Mr. Galloway, Prof. ia nage Mr. Stokes, 530 Dust Whirl or (?) Tornado, a, J. Lovel, 77 Jvorak (Prof, V.), Apparatus for Demonstrating Oscillation of Air, 13; Improved Apparatus for Exhibiting Phenomena of _ Gaseous Diffusion, 79 , Dwarfs, Racial, in the Pyrenees, J. S. Stuart-Glennie, 294 ‘Dyed Colours, Report of the Committee for investigating the E Action of Light upon, 529 Dyeing, a Manual of, Edmund Knecht, Christopher Rawson, _ and Richard Loewenthal, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 170 Dyer (Dr. Henry), Science Teaching in Schools, 148 Dymond (T. S.), Isomerism of Paraffinic Aldoximes, 22 Dynamics: the Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, Prof. Oliver _ Lodge, F.R.S., 62, 101, 126, 174 ; Edward T. Dixon, tor, 149: Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 126; Prof. J. G. Mac- _ Gregor, 126 223; the Foundation of Dynamics, Prof. O. J. _ Lodge, F.R.S., 117, 167; Prof. Minchin, Prof. O. Henrici, Dr. C. V. Burton, Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Blakesley, Prof, S. _ P. Thompson, Mr. Dixon, 166 ; Dynamo Electric Machinery, Silvanus P, Thompson, 193; the Dynamo, C. C. Hawkins and F, Wallis, Prof. A. Gray, 244; Original Papers on Dynamo Machinery and Allied Subjects, Dr. J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 244 Dyson (F. W.), the Potential of an Anchor Ring, 45 Ear, the Morphology of the Vertebrate, Howard Ayers, 184 Early Asterisms, the, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 438, 518 Early Spring of 1893, the, W. B. Crump, 414 Early Temple and Pyramid Builders, on the, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 55 Earth, New Determination of Mass and Density of, Alphonse Berget, 251 Earth, the Mean Density of the, Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., 370 Earth, Magnetism of, in neighbourhood of Magnetic Rocks, Messrs. Oddone and Franchi, 274 Earth Lore, Fragments of, James Geikie, F.R.S., 385 Earth Movements, Herr E. von Rebeur Paschwitz, 326 Earth, the Period of Vibration of Disturbances of Electrification of the, Prof. G. F, Fitzgerald, 526 Earthquakes: Earthquake in Baltchistan, 348; at Colwyn Bay, 179; at Leicester, 351; at Mur Valley, 351 ; on Shores of Adriatic, 376; Erdbebenkunde. Die Erscheinungen und Ursachen der Erdheben, die Methoden ihrer Beobachtungen, Dr. Rudolf Hoernes, 363; Etude sur les. Tremblements de Terre, Léon Vinot, 363; Surface Changes accompanying Japanese Earthquake of 1891, Prof. Koto, 574 Ebert (Prof. H_), the Production of Electric Oscillations and their Relations to Discharge Tubes, 91 ; Electrical Discharges, 140; Luminous Phenomena in Vessels filled with Rarefied Gas under Influence of Rapidly Alternating Electric Fluids, 607 ; Method of Estimating the Radiating Power of an Atom, 27 nies (E.), Climatic Effects of Forests upon Neighbour- hood, 284 Ebonite for Heat-waves, Diathermanous Power of, Riccardo Arno, 299 Echinocyamus pusillus, Prof. Hjalmar Théel, 330; E. W. Macbride, 369 Echinoderms, Nutrition of, Marcelin Chapeaux, 583 Echols (Prof.), Wronski’s Expansion, 187 Eckhardt (Dr.), Instrument for Trisecting Angles, 353 Eclipse, Total Solar (April, 1893), 40; Prof. T. E, Thorpe, F.R.S., 53; M. Deslandres, 81; M. Bigourdan, 111; M. N. Coculesco, 135; Observations made during the, 326 Eclipses, Total Solar, 355 Edinburgh Mathematical Society, Proceedings of the, 340 Edinburgh in Prehistoric Times, the Site of, H. M. Cadell, 136 Edinburgh Royal Society, 71, 287 Edser (Edwin), Apparatus illustrating Prof. Michelson’s Method of Producing Interference Bands, 159, 372 Education: the Decreased Grant to the University of Mel- bourne, 228; Educational Status of Tasmania, 232; Uni- versity and Educational Endowment in America, W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 248; Science Classes in Connection with the London County Council, 383 ; Death and Obituary Notice of Prof. M‘F. A. Newell, 421; Geology in Secondary Education, 533 ; Technical Education, Agriculture- teaching in Russian Schools, 156; the New Technical Educator, 388 Edwards (Joseph), Differential Calculus for Beginners, 539 Eel, Process of Secretion in Skin of Common, Prof. E. W. Reid, 260 Eels, Electric, in Caraccas, Capture by means of Wild Horses, Humboldt’s Story controverted, 324 Egg, Crocodile’s, with Solid Shell, J. Battersby, 248 Egg, Fowl’s, Mechanical Genesis of Form of, Dr. j. A. Ryder 97 on the Eastern Desert of, E. A. Floyer, 40 Egypt, the Desert Sands of Lower, A. Andouard, 336 Egypt, the Influence of, upon Temple Orientation in Greece, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 417 Einthoven (Prof.), Perspective and Colour, 186 Elasticity, Mr. Love’s Treatise on, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 415, Elasticity of Stretching, on Fatigue in the, Joseph O. Thomp- son, 461 Elberfeld Farbenfabriken, Research Laboratories attached to, 29 Elbe at Magdeburg, Chemical and Bacterial Condition of, Herr Ohlmiiller, 399 Elbs (Dr.), Improved Method of Preparing Ammonium Salt of Persulphuric Acid, 400 Xvi Index Baer eee to Nature, November 30, 1893 Electricity: Instrument for Measuring Difference in Phase between Current in Ci-cuit and Impressed Electromotive Force, 13; Reflection of Electrical Waves at Extremity of Linear Conductor, M. Birkeland, 14; the Reflection of Elec- trical Waves in Wires, J. von Geitler, 110; Interference of Electric Waves after Reflection from Metallic Screen, Messrs. Saracin and De La Rive, 252; Interference Phenomena in Electric Waves passing through Different Thicknesses of Electrolyte, G. U. Yule, 261; on the Passage of Electric Waves through Layers of Electrolyte, 527; Electro-Optics, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 34; the Electro-Chemical Actino- meter, M. Rigollot, 38; Influence of Longitudinal Mag- netisation on Electromotive Force, M. Chassagny, 38; Luminous Discharges in Electrodeless Vacuum Tubes, 45: Oscillations of Low Frequency and their Resonance, Mr. Pupin, 60; the Production of Oscillations and their Relations to Discharge Tubes, H. Ebert and E. Wiedemann, 91 ; Appa- jtatus for producing Hertzian Oscillations of Short Wave- ength, Augusto Righi, 181; Oscillations of very Small Wave-lengths, Augusto Righi, 299; Methods for Experi- ments on Oscillations of Comparatively Long Period, P. Janet, 423; Oscillations of Lightning Discharges and Aurora Borealis, John Trowbridge, 535, 571; the Cause of Earth Currents, O. E, Walker, 60; High Frequency Electric Experiments, A. A. C. Swinton, 63; on Light and other High Frequency Phenomena, Nikola Tesla, 136; Behaviour of Positive and Negative Electricity in High Frequency Discharges, Messrs. Harvey and Hird, 252; Electrolysis of Steam, J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 70; Theoretical Investiga- tions on Electrolysis by Alternating Currents, R. Malagoli, 423; on our Present Knowledge of Electrolysis and Electro- Chemistry, T. C. Fitzpatrick, 527; M. Gouré de Villemon- tée’s Attempts to Prepare Metallic Surfaces giving a Constant Difference of Potential, 78; Comparison of Intensities of Light by the Protoelectric Method, J. Elster and H. Geitel, 91; Electric Organ of the Skate, the, J. C. Ewart, 93; Cap- ture by means of Wild Horses of Electric Eels in Caraccas, Humboldt’s Story controverted, 324; Electric Fishes, Dc. McKendrick, 593 ; Opening of New Electrical and Engineer- ing Laboratories at University College, 107; Question of True Hysteresis in Case of Dielectrics, Charles Borel, 110; Electrical Congress at Chicago, Intended, 131; Telephonic Communication by Water and Gas Pipes, 132; Long-distance Telephony, Prof. J. Perry, F.R.S., 263; Researches with the Elec'ric Furnace, M. Moissan, 134 ; Volatilisation of Metals in the Electric Furnace, M. Moissan, 207 ; Crystallised Silicide of Carbon obtained with M. Moissan’s Electric Furnace, 572, 573; Electrical Discharges, H. Ebert and E. Wiedermann, 140; Absolute Measure- ments on Discharge from Points, Julius Precht, 141; Ap- paratus for Studying Action of Discharge on Oxygen, W. A. Shenstone and M. Priest, 159 ; New Material for High Resistances, E. Jonas, 155; Heating Effects of Small Cur- rents necessary to measure Resistance, Messrs. Griffiths and Clark, 155; Determination of Electrical Resistances by means of Alternating Currents, F. Kohlrausch, 259; Bridge and Commutator for Comparing Resistances, F. H. Nalder, 263: M. E. Ducretet’s Method for Making High Resistances without Self induction, 353; Instrument for Measuring Resistance of Human Body, M. Mergier, 353; on Standards of Low Electrical Resistance, J. Viriamu Jones, 528; Resistance of Bismuth, M. Van Aubel, 571; the Hydrophone, Capt. McEvoy, 159; a New Method of Bright Depositing Electrolytic Copper, J. W. Swan, 160; Magnetic Viscosity, J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., E. Wilson and F. Lydall, 165; Physiological Effects of Alter- nating Currents fron Aerostatic Machines, Dr. Stephane Leduc, 180; the Capacity of Polarisation, M. Bouty, 180; Polarising Effects of Refraction of Light, K. Exner, 260; the Nature of Depolarisers, Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S,. 308; Polarisation of Platinum Electrodes in Sulphuric Acid, j- B, Henderson, 310; Residues of Polarisation, E. Bouty, 336 ; Polarisation, using a Thin Metal Partition in a Voltameter, John Daniel, 524; Influence of State of Surface of Platinum Electrode upon its Initial Capacity of Polarisation, J. Colin, - §84; an Electrical Horsewhip, 181; Waterpipes damaged by Electrolytic Action of Return Current from Electric Rail- way, C. H. Morse, 181; Existing Submarine Cables, 181 ; Effect of City and South London Electric Railway on Earth, W. H, Preece, F.R.S., 205 ; Dynamo Electric Machinery, Silvanus P. Thompson, 193 ; a New S:andard Condenser, P. Elgar (Dr. F.), Fast Ocean Steamships, 278 3 Eliot (Mr.), the Three Indian Cyclones of November, 1891, 5: Elliott (Scott), Proposed Exploration of Uganda, 444 a Ellis (J.D. ), Experiments on Combinations of Induced Draught: Embryology, Vertebrate, A. Milnes Marshall, Prof. E. Ri 5 3 Emerson (P. H.), on English Lagoons, 515 Curie, 206; M. Abraham, 206; Action of Platinum Copper Electrodes, and of Acid and Neutral Solutions up Amount of Copper Deposit, Dr. Oettel, 230; Experiment upon Attraction between Two Vacuum Tubes, Sir David Sal mons, 230; the Rotatory Power of Quartz at Low Tempera tures, MM. Soret and Guye, 230; Specific Rotation of Sali independent of Electrolytic Dissociation, Herr Schénrocl 230.; Dielectric Constants of Biaxial Crystals, Ch. Borel, 240 Temperature Coefficient of Dielectric Constant of Pure Watei F. Heerwagen, 260; Relation of Dielectric Constants t Indices of Refraction, P. Drude, 312 ; Alternate Curre utilised for investigating Dielectric Constants of Solids, Di G. Benischke, 378: a New Correlation between Light an Electricity, Dr. G. B. Rizzo, 377; Prof. Perry’s New E tric Current Meters, 252; Influence Machines, W. R. Pi¢ geon, J. Wimshurst, and E. E. Robinson, 263 ; Compact Sul phuric Acid Small-resistance Valtameter, R. W. Paul, 263 Use of Cupric Nitrate in the Voltameter, 431 ; Simple Fort of Automatic Cut-out, Felix Leconte, 274 ; a Substitute fo Ampére’s Swimmer, Alfred Daniell, 294 ; Hanna Adler, 370 a One-Volt Standard Cell, H. S. Carhart, 309; the Prevel tion and Control of Sparking, W. B. Sayers, 324 ; Sir Franc! Ronald’s Experiments in Telegraphy, John Sime, 325 ; Con tributions to the Theory of Secondary Batteries, a Streintz, 333; Electricity and Life, H. N. Lawrence, 350 Electric Excitability of Muscles afier Death, the Myophone M. d’Arsonval, 399 ; Lord Kelvin’s New Electrical Measur ing Instruments, 399; Flow and Dissipation of Energy ii Electric Circuits of Measurable Inductance and Capacity, A. W. Porter, 406; Electrical Action of Light upon Silve and its Haloid Compounds, Col. Waterhouse, 423; Net Electric Fire Alarm, MM. Delahaye and Boutille, 423 Vorlesung iiber Maxwell’s Theorie der Electricitit und de Lichtes, Dr. Ludwig Boltzmann, 435; the Works of th Cataract Construction Company at Niagara Falls, 444 Water Power as a Source of Electricity, A. B. Snell, 557: New System of Electric Control of Clocks, F. von Hefner. Alteneck, 445; M. d’Arsonval’s Experiments on Effects o Strong Alternating Magnetic Fields on Animals, 481; Dr. W. S. Hedley on M. d’Arsonval’s Work, 481; 0 the Period of Vibration of Disturbances of Electrific tion of the Earth, Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald, 526; Electr Interference Phenomena, E. H. Barton, 527; Untersuch ungen iiber die Ausbreitung der Electrischen Kraft, Heinrich Hertz, 538; Electric Heating Appliances Domestic Use, Mr. Binswanger, 546; Cost of Electric Lighting of Trains, 546; Relative Cost of Conductors wi Different Systems of Electrical Power Transmission, Variable Power Gear for Electrical Locomotives, M Beaumont, 557; A Manual of Electrical Science, Geo. Burch, 588 ; the Effect of Water Vapour on Electrical Dis charges, Prof. J. J. Thomson, 605 ; Luminous Phenomena Vessels filled with Rarefied Gas under influence of Rapidly Alternating Electric Fluids, H. Ebert and E, Wiedermann, 607 Solubility of some ‘‘ Insoluble ” Bodies in Water determin by Electric Conductivity of Solution, F. Kohlrausch and F, Rose, 607; Generation of Electricity by Small Drops, L Holz, 607 ; Conductivity of Copper Chloride Solution, R. Holland, 620 ; Discrepancies in Values obtained for Difference of Potential required to pierce Paraffin Slab, Dr. Monti, 620 Electrical Method of Fog-signalling, 621 ; the Thickness an Electrical Conductivity of Thin Liquid Films, A. W. Reinolc F.R.S., 624; Electric Conveyance of Heat, L. Houllevigu 632 4 and Shot Air, applied to Marine Boilers, 278 Ellis (T. Mullett), Reveries of World’s History from Ea Nebulous Origin to its Final Ruin; or, the Romance Star,” 411 Elms, Artistic Rows of, Rev. Alex. Freeman, 223 Elster (J.), Comparison of Intensities of Light by the Phot electric Method, 91 : Lankester, F.R.S., 26 Emin Pasha, the Reported Death of, 481 Enamel for Protecting Cast-iron, New, Fletcher, Russell Co., 57 Supplement to “ad | ‘ovember 30, 1893 Index Xvii _ Encyclopzedia of Technical Education, an, 388 _. Energetics, the Third Principle of, H. Le Chatelier, 632; W. ___ Meyerhoffer, 456 Energy, the Decomposition of, into Two Factors, W. Meyer- ___ hoffer, 523 __ Engel (Dr.), the Development of Blood Corpuscles, 47 _ Engel (M. R.), Relation between the Precipitation of Chlorides of dora Acid and the Lowering of the Boiling Point, _ Engine, Steam, a Handbook on the, Herman Haeder, N. J. - _ Lockyer, 314 __ Engineering : the Interdependence of Abstract Science and En- gineering, Dr. William Anderson, .F.R.S., 65; Death of E. A. Cooper, 78; Opening of New Engineering and Electrical Laboratories at University College, 107; Institution of Civil Engineers, 131 ; Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 356; Civil Engineering, Death and Obituary Notice of Thomas Hawksley, 522; Pocket-Book of Useful Formule and Memoranda for Civil and Mechanical Engineers, Sir Guilford L. Molesworth and Robert Bridges Molesworth, ‘ 610 | . England, the Archeological Survey of, 272 English Lagoons, on, P. H. Emerson, 515 ' Entomology : Swarms of Amphipods, Prof. W. A. Herdman, _ F.R.S., 28; the Use of Ants to Aphides and Coccide, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., Alfred O. Walker, 54; the Sound Producing Organs of Ants, Dr. D. Sharp, F.R.S., 65 ; the Digestive Processes in the Acarina, A. D. Michael, 71; What becomes of the Aphis in the Winter? T. A. Sharpe, 77; Locust Swarms in South Africa, 95; Locust Plagues, Col. Swinhoe, 95; Entomological Society, 95, 191, 607 ; Notes from the Habits of some Living Scorpions, R. I. Pocock, 104; Singular Swarms of Flies, Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, 127; Henry Cecil, 127; R. E. Froude, 103, 176; Baron C. R. Oesten Sacken, 176; Shower of Ants and Flies in Cambridgeshire, 351; M. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., appointed Hope Professor at Oxford, 154; Examples of Mimicry in Insects, 160; the Stainton Collection of Lepi- doptera, Lord Walsingham, 322; Plague of Wasps in Southern Counties, 351 ; the Ox Bot-fly in the United States, Prof. C. V. Riley, 378 ; Numerous Insects washed up by the Sea, Sophie Kropotkin, 370; Oswald H. Latter, 392; the Fungus Gardens of Certain South American Ants, John C. Willis, 392 ; a Few Remarks on Insect Prevalence during the Summer of 1893, Eleanor A. Ormerod, 394; Insects at- tracted b Hessian Fly in Norway, 618; a New Enemy of the Vine, Blanyulus guttulatus, M. Fontaine, 632 Ephemeris of the New Comet, Prof. E. Lamp, 276 Equatorial Mounting, a Simple, 401 -Equilibre des Liqueurs, Recit de la Grande Expérience de |’, laise Pascal, 436 _ Error, a Remarkable Source of, 401 _ Error in Drawing, Compulsory Laws of, Arthur L. Haddon, 402, 416 Eruptive Bosses, on Structures in, which resemble those of An- cient Gneisses, Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., 531 Eruptive Rocks and Gneiss, Augen-Structure in Relation to the Origin of, J. G. Goodchild, 532 Eruptive Rocks of Gran (Christiana Region), on the Genetic Relations of the Basic, Prof. W. C. Brégger, 531 Esker Systems of Ireland, the, Prof. Sollas, 533 i (T. E.), Stars with Remarkable Spectra, 233 Ether, the Luminiferous, Sir G. G. Stokes, 306 Ether and Matter, on the Connection between the, Prof. O. Lodge, 527, 528 phic Aspect of Dancing, Mrs. Lilly Grove, 557 Ethnographical Notes on the Congo Tribes, Herbert Ward, f : s 5 Ethnology: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-86, J. W. Powell, 3; the Gilbert Islands, Dr. O. Finsch, 92; Life with Trans-Sinerian Savages, E. Douglas Howard, 339 Etna, Rise of Lava in Crater of, Dr. Johnston-Lavis, 179 _ Eudiometer, the Word, Philip J.. Hartog, 127 - European Laboratories of Marine Biology, 404 Eustis, Florida, Subtropical Botanical Laboratory established at, 545 Evans (Sir John, Treas. R.S.), Society of Chemical Industry, 279 Evershed (J.), the Corona Spectrum, 268 ee ey ee ee Solanum, Prof. T, D. A. Cockerell, 438; the’ Evolution and Classification, Prof. C. E. Bessey, 534 - Evolution of Colour in the Genus Megascops, 559 Ewart (J. C.), the Electric Organ of the Skate, 93 Ewing (Prof. J. A., F.R.S.), Magnetic Curve Tracers, 64; Magnetic Qualities of Iron, 335 : Exhibition, Antwerp, ‘‘ Castle in the Air”’ for forthcoming, 569 Exhibition of Fruit Culture, Projected Russian International, 6 Exibition at Munich, the Deutsche Mathematiker- Vereinigung, 619 Exhibition at San Francisco, Projected International, 445 Exner (K.), Polarising Effects of Refraction of Light, 260 Expansions, Apparatus for Measuring, 461 Experts, the Position of Scientific, 381, 423 Faber (H.), Quadrics, 95 Falkenhorst (G.), Hygroscopic Plants, 253 rte Fauna and Flora of Chile and Argentinia, Dr. Philippi, 619 Fauna, a Vertebrate, of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E. Buckley, 123 Faye (H.), the ‘‘ Serpent d’Eau” of the Rhéne at Geneva, 584 Fellahin of Palestine, Astronomy of the, 601 Fenton (H. J. H.), Oxidation of Tartaric Acid in Presence of Iron, 94 : Fernbach (M.), Greater Efficiency of Disinfectants at High Temperatures and with Moistures, 377 Festing (Major-General), Photometry, 190 ; Fidler (T. Claxton), a Practical Treatise on Bridge Construction, 612 the Linear Transformations between Two Field Voles, the Plague of, 282 as Films, the Thickness and Electrical Conductivity of Thin Liquid, A, W. Reinold, F.R.S., 624 : Finger-Prints, Supplementary Chapter to Mr. Francis Galton’s Book on, 182 ae | Finger-Prints in the Indian Army, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 595 Finkelnberg (Herr), the Cholera Bacillus, 207 Finlay’s Comet (1886, vii.). 61, 81, 112, 135, 158, 184, 208, 276, 300, 326, 355 ; M. Schulhol, 233, 254; Comet Finlay and the Preesepe, 512 Finley (J. P.), Certain Climatic Features of the Two Dakotas, 599 Finsch (Dr. O.), the Gilbert Islands, 92 Fire-Alarm, New Electric, MM. Delahaye and Boutille, 423 Fireball of January 13, 1893, Prof. H. A. Newton, 524 Fish-Culture ; the Projected Stocking of Yellowstone Park Waters, 424 Fishes, on the Effect of the Stimulation of the Vagus on Dis- engagement of Gases in the Swim-bladder of, Dr. Christian Bohr, 575 Fishes, the Lateral Canal System of, W.-K. Collinge, 57 Fisher (Dr. A. K.), Hawks and Owls the Farmer's Friends, 133 Fisher (Osmond), Rigidity not to be relied upon in Estimat- ing Earth’s Age, 187 Fisher (Prof. W. R.), the Use of Scientific Terms, 590 Fitzgerald (Prof. G. F.) on the Period of Vibration of Dis- turbances of Electrification of the Earth, 526 Fitzgerald (Prof. Maurice), the Viscosity of Liquids, 45 Fitzpatrick (T. C.), on Our Present Knowledge of Electrolysis and Electro-Chemistry, 527 ; Fizeau and others (MM.), Report on a- Memoir, hy M. Defforges, on the Distribution of Intensity of Gravity at Surface of Globe, 484 Flames, Experiments to Demonstrate Structure of, Prof. Smithells, 64 Flashing Lights for Marine Purposes, O. T. Olson, 557 Fleck (Dr.), the Organo-Metallic Compounds of Magnesium, 424 Pletcher (G.), the Principles of Agriculture, 73 Fletcher (L., F.R.S.), the Williams Collection of Minerals, 357 Fletcher (W. H. B.), Hybrids between Cymatophera ocularis and Cymatophera or, 607 - Fletcher, Russell and Co.’s New Enamel for Protecting, Cast- iron, 57% : Flies, Singular Swarms of: R. E. Froude, 103, 176; Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, 127 ; Henry Cecil, 127; Baron Oesten Sacken, 176 Flies, Clouds of, in Michigan, C..D, McLouth, 545 Flint Industry at Brandon, the, Edward Lovett, 180 XViil Index Supplement to Nature, [ November 30, 1893 Flints said to be of Indian Manufacture, the American Ice-Age Drift, W..H. Holmes, 253 Flood, the Glacial Nightmare and the, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R. S., Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, F.R.S., 242 Floods, Disastrous, in Austria, 376 Flora, the New, and the Old in Australia, A. G. Hamilton, 161 Flora.of Greenland, the, 186 Flora and Fauna of Chile and Argentinia, Dr. Philippi, 619 Floras, the Distribution of Marine, George Murray, 257 Flower (Sir William H., F.R.S.), Museums Association, 234, 254 Flowers and Insects ; Labiate, Chas. Robertson, 619 Floyer (E. A.), the Eastern Desert of Egypt, 40 Fluids, the Mechanics of, Geo. M. Minchin, Prof. A. G. Green- hill; F.R.S., 457 Fluorine, the Method of Isolation and the Properties of, MM. Moissan and Meslans, 529 Flying Apparatus, New, P. H. Lilienthal, 571 Fog-Signalling, Electrical Methods of, 621 ‘Fogs and Horticulture, Prof. F. W. Oliver, 18 Folie (F.), Astronomical Deductions from Pulkowa Latitude Observations, 583 Fontaine (M.), a New Enemy of the Vine, Blanyulus guttulatus, 632 Fonvielle (W. de), Thermometer Soundings in the High At- mosphere, 160 Forbes (H. O.), Discoveries in the Chatham Islands, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 27, 74, 126, 174, 370; Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., lor, 150 Forbes (H. O.), Coral Reefs, 576 ‘ Forsyth (Dr. A. R.), Theory of Functions of a pm Variable, 169 Fortin (l’Abbé A.), Sécheresse 1893, ses Causes, 587 Fortnightly Review, Science in the, 250, 349,.443, 543 Fossils in Coal-Balls, H. B. Stocks, 72 Fossils: Abnormal Forms of Siritifera lineata from Car- boniferous Limestone, F. R. C. Reed, 143 Foster (Prof. Michael, Sec. k.S.), the Rede Lecture, 178 Foubert’s (M.), Map of Smokes of Paris, M. Delahaye, 78 Fountains, Luminous, on a Small Scale, M, Trouvé, 12 Foussereau (G.), Polarization Rotatoire, Réflexion et Réfraction Vitreuses, Réflexion Métallique, 266 Fowke (Frank Rede), Surgery and Superstition, 87 Fowler (G. J.) on the Preparation and Properties of Nitride of Iron, 529 Fraenkel (Prof.), the Methods of Speech- -Production, 407 France: x Bord de la Mer, Géologie, Faune et Flore des Cotes de France, Dr, E. L. Trouessart, 74; the Population of France, 108; France and International Time, W. de Nordling, 330; Meeting ofthe French Association, Prof. J. P. O’Reilly, 448: Geological Survey Map of France, 482 Franchi (Signor), Earth’s Magnetism in neighbourhood of Magnetic Rocks, 274 Franchimont (Mr.), Considerations on Tautomeric Form of Glucose, 312 Frankland (Prof. Percy F., F.R.S.), Lord Coleridge and Vivisection, 268 ; on the Present Position. of Bacteriology, 530 Frankland (Mrs. Percy), Cholera and Articles of Diet, 375 ; , Water Bacteria, 386 Franklin Institute, John Scott Prize Awards, 376 Franklin (C. L.), ‘Hering’ s Theory of Colour Vision, 517 Franklin and Blake (Messrs.), Is Colour-Biindness a Product of Civilisation, 206 Fraser (Dr. T. R., F.R.S.), the Arrow-Poison of East Equa- torial Africa, 92 Freaks, Frost, Lester F. Ward, 214 Freeman (Rev. Alex.), Artistic Rows of Elms, 223 Frequency Curves, Asymmetrical, Prof. Karl Pearson, 615 Friedel (M.), Aluminium Chloride Compounds ‘with Benzoyl Chlorides and others of the Aromatic Series, 157 Friedrich (Prof.), Tetrachloride of Lead, 232 Fromme (Herr), Micro-Organisms producing Sulphuretted Hydrogen, 352 Frost Freaks, Lester F. Ward, 214 Froude (R. E.), Singular Swarms of Flies, 103, 176 Frowde (Henry), Helps to the Study of the Bible, 539 ape giana Projected Russian International Exhibition of, Fiy (Rt Hon. Sir Edward, F.R.S.), Spring and Autumn of 1893, 509 Fuel Supply, Eventual Exhaustion of, 503 | m Functions of a Complex Variable, T ory of, Dr. A q Forsyth, Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S., 169 : Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, the, Prof. Oliver F.R.S., 62, 101, 126, 174 ; Edward T. Dixon, 101, 149; | se W. Riicker, F.R.S., 126 ; Prof. J. G. wane | 223 Fundy, Tides of Bay of, Gustav Kobbé, 444 Funeral Rite in Modern Greece, the Breaking of Clay Vessels as a, Prof. N. G. Politis, 445 3 Fungi, Increase of Known Species of, 298 Fungus Gardens of Certain South American Ants, the, John es Willis, 392 : Furnace, Electric, Researches with the, M. ‘Moissan, 134 it Galenic Pharmacy, R. A. Cripps, 27 Galloway (Mr.), Explosions in Mines, with Special eset ie to, the Dust Theory, 530 Galls, Vegetal, on the A&tiology and Life-History of some, and their Inhabitants, C. B. Rothera, 575 Galton (Francis, F.R.S.), Supplementary Chapter to Book on Finger-Prints, 182 ; Finger-Prints in the Indian Fig ers.) 5955 5 Identification, 222 a Gamaleia (N.), Virulent and Epidemic Cholera, 360 Gamble (J. S.), the Greatest Rainfall in Twenty tom Hours, 459 Garbett (E. L.); Snicide of Rattlesnake, 438 : Gardner (J. A.), Researches on the Terpenes, Ill, ; Action of Phosphorous Pentachloride on Camphene, 262 Garrod (Sir Alfred, F.R.S.), Urea in Blood of Birds and Animals, 142 . Gas, Daubrée on the Geological Work of High-Pressure, 226 Gas, Oxy-oil Process for increasing Illuminating Power of Coal, 599 Gases, an Objection to the Kinetic Theory of, H. Poincaré, 72 Se Gases, Modification of Hydrometer Method of Determining Densities of, M. Meslans, 598 Gaseous Diffusion, Prof. Herbert McLeod, F.R.S., 104; Im- proved Apparatus for Exhibiting Phenomena of, Prof. V. Dvorak, 79 te og Gaster (F.), a New Classification of Cloud-Forms, 119 Gastropoda of the Tyrol Tertiary and Triassic, Dr, J. Dreger, 567 Gautier (Armand), Minervite, a New Natural Phosphate, 119 ; Formation of Natural Phosphates, 240 Geikie (Sir Archibald, For. Sec. R.S.), on Structures in Erup- tive Bosses which resemble those of Ancient Gneisses, 531 ; Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 Geikie (James, F.R.S.), Fragments of Earth Lore, 385 Geitel (H.), Comparison of Intensities of Light by the Photo- Electric Method, 9t pees (J. von), the Reflection of Electrical Waves in Wats 10 vives (Prof. R. W.), Grassmann’s Ausdebnungslehre, 517 Genesis of Nova Aurigz, the, Richard A. Gregory, 6 Genetic Relations of the Basic Eruptive. Rocks of Gran (Christiana Kegion), on the, Prof. W. C. rk ori ; gg Genetische System der Chemischen Elemente, ae the ‘‘ Serpent d’Eau ” of the Rhéne at, H. Faye, 5 Geodetic Association, International, 596 > be Geography: H. O. Forbes’ Discoveries in. the “Chatham Islands, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 27; Henry O. Forbes, 74, 126, 174, 370; Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S., 101, 150; Geo- graphical Notes, 40, 62, 82, 112, 135, 159, 233, 301, 327, 356, 380, 425, 448, 548, 574, 601, 623 ; Berlin Geographical een 40; Paris Geographical Society, 40; Conversational Meetings, 327; Journey of Guy ogee across Australia, 40; the Eastern Desert of Egypt, E. A. Floyer, 40; Explorations in the Karakoram, M. Conway, 43; Royal Geographical Society Medallists, 59; Anniversary Meeting, 114; Refusal to admit Ladies as Fellows, 234 ; Death of W. Cotton Oswell, 62; System of Water Reser- voirs for Industrial Purposes in ‘the Alsatian Vosges, 62; Death of Captain Richard Pike, 82; Oil Rivers. Protectorate re-named Niger Coast Protectorate, 112; Adoption by Natal of Responsible Government, 112; Return of Antarctic Whaler, Balena, 112; Departure of Lieutenant Peary on his Second Arctic Expedition, 234; Norwegian Antarctic Whaling Expedition, 574; the Steam: Whaler Wew/or? in the bi i Bi ee : i : £ Supplement to Nature, Ne 30, 1893 Index xix _Arctic Regions, 574 ; Ocean Nomenclature, 112; Captain Stair’s Katanga Expedition, Dr. Moloney, 135 ; Mr. H. Y. Oldham appointed to Cambridge Geographical Lectureship, 136; the Site of Edinburgh in Pre-Historic Times, H. M. Cadell, 136; Death of Vita Hassan, 159; Captain Cook’s Journal during his First Voyage Round the World, made in HLM. Barque Z£yxdeavour, 1768-1781, Sir J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., 195 ; Captain Maunsell’s 1892 Kurdistan Journeys, 233 ; Physical Geography of Clyde Sea Area, Dr. H. R. _ Mill, 287 ; the Available Water-Power of Maryland, Prof. Clark, 324 ; Dr. Nansen’s Expedition, 301, 425, 574; Geo- _ graphical Journal, 301; South-West Africa, Count Pfeil, . 301, Asiatic Quarterly Review, 301 ; the Sinaitic Peninsula, Prof. Sayce, 301; Bathymetrical Survey of the Larger English Lakes, Dr. H. R. Mill, 327; Departure of Mr. F. G. Jack- son for Nova Zembla, 327; the Desert Sands of Lower Egypt, A. Andouard, 336 ; the Alleged Death of Emin Pasha, 356; Revue de Geographie, 356; Return of Rev. R. P. _ . Ashe, 356; Geographical Society established at Tunis, 356 ; Fragments of Earth Lore, James Geikie, F.R.S., 385; Dr. Gregory’s Eypedition to Lake Baringo, 397; Return of Dr. J. W. Gregory from East Africa, 618 ; _ Projected Railway in French Congo, 380 ; the Kara Sea Route to Northern Siberia, 3%0; Inaccuracy of French Elementary Text-books, Dr. M. Viguier, 380; Commencement of the Central African Telegraph Line, 380; the Geography of South America, 425; Rectification of Boundary between British and Dutch New Guinea, 426; Opening of Ship-Canal across Isthmus of Corinth, 426; Return of Mr. Selous to . Mashonaland, 426 ; Discovery of Temple on the Limpopo, R. M. W. Swan, 426; Proposed Exploration of Uganda, by Mr. Scott Elliott, 444; the Zoutspanberg Goldfields, Fred. Jeppe, 448 ; Changes in Coast Line of South-West Schles- _ wig, Dr. R. Hansen, 448 ; the Hypothesis of Sub-Continental Bells, M. Rateau, 484 ; Dr. Baumann’s Exploration to North- East ot Lake Tanganyika, 548; Ascent of Mount Ararat, _H. F, B. Lynch, 548; History of the Mapping of Missouri, Arthur Winslow, 548 ; Opening Address in Section E of the - British Association by Mr. Seebohm, 554; Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, Clements R. Markham, F.R.S., W. Topley, F.R.S., E. G. Ravenstein, Prof. C. Lapworth, F.R.S., Prof. Valentine Ball, Dr. R. D. Roberts, Dr. H. R. Mill, H. Y. Oldham, Prof. Bonney, F.R.S., Sir. Archibald Geikie, 554 ; Cruise of the Dundee Whalers to the Antartic Regions, W. S. Bruce and C. M. Donald, 555 ; Experiences in the Bengal Duars, Settlement of Santal Colonists in that Region, E. Heawood, 555 ; Ex- ploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo, John White- head, 564; the Tucheler Haide, R. Schiitte, 570; Surface Change- accompanying Earthquakes of 1891 in Japan, Prof. Koto, 574 ;. Festschrift in Celebration of Baron F. de Richt- hofen’s Sixtieth Birthday, 597; Types of Sea-Coasts, Dr. A. Philippson, 597 ; Currents of Bay of Biscay, A. Hautreux, 601 ; the Hour-Zone System of Time Reckoning for Australia, 601 ; Projected Amazon Basin Scientific Expedition, 601 ; Resurvey of Lake Leopold II. by Mr. Mohun, 601; Cable laid between Queensland and New Caledonia, 623 ; Deter- mination of Geographical Longitude, Herr C. Runge, 623 ; Geology: H. O. Forbes’ Discoveries in the Chatham Islands, Dr. Alfred R, Wallace, 27 ; Henry O. Forbes, 74, 126, 174, 370; Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S., 101, 150; Geological Society, 46, 118, 142, 191, 285; Origin of the Crystalline Schists of the Malvern Hills, Dr. Charles Callaway, 46; Volcanic Rocks from Gough’s Island, L. V. Pirsson, 70; _ Fossils in Coal- Balls, H. B. Stocks, 72; Felsites and Con- glomerates between Bethesda and Llanllyfni, Prof. J. F. Blake, 118; Llandovery Rocks near Corwen, Philip Lake and T. T. Groom, 118; Notes on Dartmoor, Lieut.-General McMahon, 142; Recent Borings through Lower Cretaceous Strata in East Lincolnshire, A. J. Jukes-Browne, 142; Lignite found in Blue Upper Globigerina Limestone at Malta, N. Tagliaferro, 156; the Shell-Beds of North Scot- - land, Dugald Bell, 181; Rigidity not to be relied upon in Estimating Earth’s Age, Osmond Fisher, 187; the Bajocian _ + of Sherborne District, S. S. Buckman, 191; Raised Beeches _. and Rolled Stones at High Levels in Jersey, Dr. Andrew Dunlop, 191 ; the Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes, Grdbam - Officer, 198; Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., 198; Daubrée on the Geological Work of High-Pressure Gas, 226 ; | the Glacial Nightmare and the Flood: a Second Appeal to Common-sense from the Extravagance of some Recent Seaford, ‘Geo. Abbott, 315; Geology, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, F,R.S., 242; Ice as an Excavator of Lakes and a Transporter of Boulders, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 247; Die Klimate der Geologischen Vergengenheit und ihre Beziehung zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Sonne, Eug. Dubois, 266 ; Composite Dykes in Arran, Prof. J. A. Judd, F.R.S., 285 ; Intrusive Sheet of Diabase near Bassenthwaite, J. Postlethwaite, 286 ; a New Genus (Styloseris) of Madrepo- raria from Sutton Stone of Scuth Wales, R. F. Tomes, 286; Cheilostamatous Bryozoa from Middle Lias, E. A. Walford, 286, an Introduction to the Study of Geology, Edward Aveling, 292; the Norian Rock of Canada, Prof. F D. Adams, 208: Slickensides, J. Allen Howe, 315; Pot-Stones found near Geologists’ Association in Ireland, 329; Intrusive Masses of Boulder Clay, Percy F. Kendall, 370; Fragments of Earth Lore, James Geikie, F.R.S., 385; the Bacchus Marsh Boulder Beds, R. D. Oldham, 416; the Cambrian of the Herault, MM. de Ronville, Delage, and Miguel, 432; an Elementary Hand- book, A. J. Jukes-Browne, 435 ; Palzeozoic Glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere, E. J. Dunn, 458; Chemical and Micro-Mineralogical Researches on Upper Cretaceous Zones of South of England, Dr. W. F. Hume, 482; Geological Survey Map of France, 482; Opening Address in Section C of the British Association, J. J. H. Teall, F-R.S., 486; Geology at the British Association, 531; on the Genetic Relations of the Basic Eruptive Rocks of Gran (Christiana Region), Prof, W. C, Brégger, 531 ; on the Dissected Volcano- of Crandall Basin, Wyoming, Prof. J. P. Iddings, 531; on Structures in’ Eruptive Bosses which resemble those of Ancient Gneisses, Sir Archibald Geikie, 531; on Berthelot’s Prin- ciple applied to Magmatic Concentration, A. Harker, 532 ; on the Igneous Rocks of Barnavava, Carlingford, Prof. W. J. Sollas, 532 ; on Augen-Structure in Relation to the Origin of Eruptive Rocks and: Gneiss, J. G. Goodchild, ‘532; on the Derbyshire Toadstone, Mr, Arnold-Bemrose, 532; on the ‘Igneous Rocks of South Pembrokeshire, Messrs. Howard and Small, 532; Composition of the Rock of Bramcote and Stapleford Hills, Prof. Clowes, 532; Source of Nottingham Water Supply, Prof. E. Hull, 532; Investigation into the Shell-bearing Clays of Clava in Nairn, Dugald Bell, 532 ;. General Glaciation of Asia, Prince Kropotkin, 533; the Esker Systems of Ireland, Prof. Sollas, 533; Theories as to Origin of the Glacial Period, C. A. Lindvall, 533; Glaciers, Prof. Bonney, 533; Geology of Central East Africa, Walcot Gibson, 533; Geology in Secondary Education, 533 ; Official Geological Maps of Germany, 523; Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, Clements R. Markham, F.R.S., W. Topley, F.R.S., E. G. Ravenstein, Prof. C. Lapworth, F.R.S., Prof. Valentine Ball, Dr. R. D. Roberts, Dr. H. R. Mill, H. Yule Oldham, Prof. Bonney, F.R.S., Sir Archibald Geikie, For. Sec. R.S., 5545; Geo- logical Survey of Russia, issue of General Map, 570; Geological Scciety of America, 578 ; Geological and Solar Climates: their Causes and Variations, Marsden Manson, 588 ; the Supposed Glaciation of Brazil, Dr, Alfred R. “Wallace, F.R.S., 589 ; Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 614 ;. David Wilson Barker, 614 ; Geological Structure of Japan, ‘Dr. Edmund Naumann, 619; Sandstone near Nottingham, wholly cemented with Crystalline Barium Sulphate, Prof. Frank Clowes, 621; Conditions of Appalachian Faulting, Bailey Willis and’‘C. W. Hayes, 631 Geometry: an Elementary Treatise on Modern Pure Geo- metry, R. Lachlan, 100 ;.an Elementary Treatise on Pure Geometry, with numerous Examples, J. W. Russell, 101 German Empire, Official Catalogue of the Exhibition of the, at the Columbian Universal Exhibition in Chicago, 176 German Manufacturers, the Appreciation of Science by, Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 29 German Mathematical Association, 150 Germany, Official Geological Maps of, 523 Germanium found in Canfieldite, Prof. Penfield, 378 Gibbs (Prof. J. Willard), Quaternions and Vector Analysis, 364 Gibson (Walcot), Geology of Central East Africa, 533 Gilberne (A.), Sun, Moon, and Stars, Astronomy for Begin- ners, IOL Gilbert (G. K.), the Moon’s Surface, 82 Gilbert (Dr. Joseph Henry, F.R.S.) Knighted, 375 Gill (Dr.), Observations of the Planet Victoria, 276. i Giessler (Herr), the Protective Function of Oxalic Acid im Plants, 109 XX Index Bigg seers to Nature, November 30, 1893 Glacial Period, Origin of the, C. A. Lindvall, 533 Glacial Phenomena, the Causes of, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, F.R.S., 242 Glaciation of Asia, General, Prince Kropotkin, 533 Glaciation of Brazil, the Supposed, Dr.. Alfred R Wallace, F.R.S., 589; Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 614; David Wilson Barker, 614 Glaciation, Palzozoic, in the Southern Hemisphere, E. J. Dunn, 458 Glacier-Growth, Solar Heat as an Agent in hindering, Herr Schiotz, 156 Glacier Theory of Alp'ne Lakes, Graham Officer, 198; Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., 198 Glacier, Téte Rousse, Change in, since Saint Gervais Catas- trophe, A. Delebecque and L. Duparc, 407 Glaciers, Prof. Bonney, 533 Glanders, Inoculation for, 273 Glass Surfaces, Grinding and Polishing of, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 526 Glazebrook (R. T., F.R.S ), Opening Address in Section A of the British Association, 473 Glochidia, a Method of Obtaining, G. P. Darnell-Smith, 223 Gloves made from Foal Skins, Russian, 79 Gneiss, Augen-Structure in Relation to the Origin of Eruptive Rocks and, J. G. Goodchild, 532 Gneisses, on Structures in Eruptive Bosses which resemble those of Ancient, Sir Archibald Geikie, For. Sec. R.S., 531 Gold in British Guiana, Hope Hunter, 79 Gold Bullion Assaying, Limits of Accuracy of, T. K. Rose, 22; the Volatilisation of Gold, T. K. Rose, 22 ; Dissolution of Gold in Potassium Cyanide Solution, R. C. Maclaurin, 22 Gold Fields, the Bendigo, E. J. Dunn, 207 Goldscheider (Dr.), the Sense of Touch in the Blind, 48 Golf, some Points in the Physics of, Prof. P. G. Tait, 202 Good Words, Science in, 351, 444 : Goodchild (J. G.), Augen-Structure in Relation to the Origin of Eruptive Rocks and Gneiss, 532 Goodrich (E. S.), New Organ in Lycoridea, 115 Gorham (Dr. John), a Reflecting Kaleidoscope, 159 Gotch (Prof.) on Nerve Stimulation, 575 Gottingen Royal Society of Sciences, 312, 336, 456 Gould (John, F.R.S.), an Analytical Index to the Works of R. Bowdler Sharpe, 100 Gran (Christiana Region), on the Genetic Relations of the Basic Eruptive Rocks of, Prof. W. C. Brogger, 531 Granophyre of the Carlingford and Morne Mountains, the, Prof. Sollas, F.R.S., 109 Grasses of the Pacific Slope, including Alaska and the adjacent Islands, Dr. George Vasey, 451 Grassmann’s Ausdehnungslehre, Prof. R. W. Genese, 517 Gratings, Alternations of Colours presented by, George Meslin, 432 Gratings, Aperture Fringes in the Experiment with Parallel, M. Georges Meslin, 608 Gratings, Diffraction ; Focal Anomalies, A. Cornu, 144 Gravitation Effects, on the Velocity of Propagation of, S. Tolver Preston, 103 Gravitation on Surface of Globe, Distribution of, M. Defforges, 336, 484; MM Fizeau, Daubrée, Cornu, Basset, and Tis- serand, 489 Gravity, Experiments for Determining by Weighing Diminution on Ascent from Earth’s Surface of, Drs. Richarz and Krigar- Menzel, 155 Gravitation, Determinations of, 158 Gray (Prof. A.), Original Papers on Dynamo Machinery and allied Subjects, Dr. J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., 244; the Dynamo, C. C. Hawkins and F, Wallis, 244 ; Magneto-Optic Rotation, 345 Great Drought of 1893, the, 295 Greece, the Influence of Egypt upon Temple Orientation in, J. Nerman Lockyer, F.R.S., 417 Greece, the Breaking of Clay Vessels as a Funeral Rite in Modern, Prof. N. G. Politis, 445 Greek Temples, the Orientation of, F. C. Penrose, 42 Green (Prof. A. H., F.R.S.), A. E. Brehm. Les Merveilles de Ja Nature, La Terre, les Mers et les Continents ; Géographie Physique, Géologie et Minéralogie, Fernand Priem, Prof. A. H, Green, F.R.S., 25 Greenhill (Prof. A, G., F.R.S.), Pseudo-Elliptic Integrals and their Dynamical Applications, 188; Hydrostatics and Ele- mentary Hydrokinetics, 457 ; a Treatise on Analytical Statics, Edward John Routh, F.R.S., 609 Greenland, the Flora of, 186 Greenwich Observatory, 112 ; Annual Visitation of the, 12 Greenwich, Difference of Longitude between Vienna and, 277 Greenwich, the Reported Cholera Outbreak at, 618 ba Gregarinidz, on Certain, and the Possible Connection of Allied Forms with Tissue Changes in Man, Dr. C. H. Cattle and a Dr. iJ; oak 576 : regory (Dr. J. W.), Expedition to Lake Baringo, ; Re- turn from eat Africa uf 618 et Gregory (Richard A.), the Genesis of Nova Aurigz, 6; Ad- vanced Physiography, 339 : Griffiths (A. B.), 5-Achroglobine, a Respiratory Globuline con- tained in Blood of Certain Mollusca, 119; a Manual of Bac- teriology, 219 . Griffiths (J.), Note on Problem to inscribe in One of Two Tri- angles a Triangle similar to other, 23 Griffiths and Clark (Messrs.), Determination of Low Tempera- tures by Platinum Thermometers, 155; Heating Effects of Small Current necessary to Measure Resistances, 156 Grigg (Richard), the Middlesborough Salt Industry, 356 Grinding and Polishing of Glass Su:faces, Lord Kayleigh, F.R.S., 526 Groom (T. T.), Llandovery Rocks near Corwen, 118 Grotto, the Boundoulaou, E. A. Martel and Emile Riviére, 231 Grove (Mrs. Lilly), Ethnographic Aspect of Dancing, 557 Grye (Bouquet de la), Tidal and Atmospheric Waves due to Luni-Solar Influence, 264 . Guérin (G.), Traité.Pratique d’Analyse Chimique et de Re- cherches Toxicologiques, 221 Guiana, British, Gold in, Hope Hunter, 79 Guiana, British, Meteorology of, for 1891, 620 Guignard (M. Léon), Localisation of the Active Principle in Capparideze, 608 : Guillemin (Amedée), Death of, 82 Gun and Camera in Southern Africa, H. Anderson Bryden, 125 Guye (P. A.), Rotatory Power of Bodies belonging to Homo- logous Series, 216; the Rotatory Power of Quartz at Low Temperatures, 230 Gyroscope Top, a New, Newton and Co., 354 Haberlandt (Herr), the Transpiration of Tropical Plants, 108 Habits of South African Animals, Dr. Alfred Wallace, F.R.S. , 390 Haddon (Prof. Alfred C.), the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, its Products and ‘Potentialities, W. Saville Kent, 217 Haddon ne L.), Compulsory Laws of Error in Drawing, 402, 41 Haeder (Herman), a Handbook on the Steam Engine, N. J. Lockyer, 314 Hailstones, Peculiar, Kanhaiyalal, 248 Hailstones, Remarkable, Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, 294 Hailstorm at Murree, Terrific, 229 Hailstorm, the Murree, F.C . Constable, 251 Haldane (Dr. J. S.), Physico-Chemical and Vitalistic Theories of Life, 574 , Hale (Dr. William H.), the American ‘Association, 460 Haliburton (R. G.), Orientation of Temples by the Pleiades, 565 Hall (Mr.), Explosions in Mines, with Special Reference to the Dust Theory,, 530 Hallwachs (W.), Theory of Change of Properties of ay in Proportion to Matter in Solution Invalidated in Case of Density of Dilute Aqueous Solutions, 571 Hamilton (A. G.), the New Flora and the Old in Australia, 161 Hamilton (Dr. A. Mc.L.), Mental Medicine, 250 Hann i J.), Anemometrical Observations at Vienna, 1873- 92, 10 Hann (Director J.), Obir Thermograph Records,, 251 Hannay (J. B.), Metallurgy of Lead, 165 Hansen oe R.), Changes in Coast Line of South-west Schles- wig, 44 sages Life, some Further Recollections of a, Selected from the Journals of Marianne North, Mrs. John Addington Symonds, 291 Harker (A.), Berthelot’s Principle applied to Magmatic Con- centration, 532 : Harley (Vaughan), Effects of Injection of Sugar intoa Vein, 334 Harlow (F.S.), Practical Astronomy, 197 Supplement to Nature, ‘ovember 30, 1893 Index Xxi Harrington (Prof. B. J.), the Beaver Creek Meteorite, 426 Hart (Ernest), Cholera Nurseries and their Suppression, 322 Harting, (J. E.), the Identity of Shakespeare’s Russet-pated Choughs, 445 : Hartley (Prof. W. N., F.R.S.), Spectra of Flame from Bessemer Converter, 64; Oxyhydrogen Blowpipe Spectra, 165 Hartog (Prof. Marcus), a Difficulty in Weismannism Resolved, 28, 77; on the Digestive Ferments of a Large Protozoon, 575 Hartog (Philip J.), the Word Eudiometer, 127 Harveian Oration, the, Dr. P. H. Pye-Smith, F.R.S., 601 Harvey (William), Tercentenary of the Admission of, to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 199 . Harvie-Brown (J. A.), a Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the }° Inner Hebrides, 123 Hasemann (A.), Novel Suspension for Pendulums, 399 Hassan (Vita), Death of, 159 Hatschek (Dr. B.), the Amphioxus and its Development, 613 Hiussermann (Dr.), Isolation of Crystallised Sodium Salt of Perchromic Acid, 300 Hautreux (A.), Currents of Bay of Biscay, 601 Hawaiian Islands, Observations taken at, Dr. Marcuse, 559 Haward (Dr. Edwin), Proofs of Death, 156 Hawk, Soaring of, F. C. Constable, 223 Hawkins (C. C.), the Dynamo, Prof. A. Gray, 244 Hawkins (E. M.), Azo-Compounds of Ortho-Series,, 262 Hawksley (Thomas), Death and Obituary Notice of, 522 Haycraft (Dr. John Berry), Prof. Biitschli’s Artificial Amcebze, 594 Hayes (C. W.), Conditions of Appalachian Faulting, 631 Hayes (M. Horace), the Points of the Horse, 364 Head, the Mad, Dr. Crochley Clapham, 558 Head (Jeremiah), Recent Developments in Cleveland Iron and Steel Industries, 356 ; Opening Address in Section G of the British Association, 497 Headley (F. W.), Carrier Pigeons, 223; Birds’) Method of Steering, 293 Headley (I. C.), Sexual Colouration of Birds, 413 Health Problems, Public, John F. J. Sykes, 27 Health: Public Health Laboratory Work, Henry R. Kenwood, 433 ; Health, the Soil in Relation to, H. A. Miers and R. Crosskey, 196 ; Heat, Mark R. Wright, 315; Animal Heat and Physiological Calorimetry, Prof. Rosenthal, 88; Corrected Formula of Heat necessary to raise a Gramme of Water to ¢° C., Prof. Bartoli and Stacciati, 299 ; Diathermanous Power of Ebonite for Heat-Waves, Riccardo Arné, 299; Specific Heat of Glass of Various Compositions, A. Winkelmann, 333 ; Electric Con- veyance of, L. Houllevigue, 632; the Great Heat of August 8-18, 395 ; Drought and Heat at Shirenewton Hall in 1893, E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., 436 Heaviside (Oliver, F.R.S.), Operators in Physical Mathematics, 2 Heawood (E.), Experiences in the Bengal Duars, 555 Hebrides, a Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner, J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E, Buckley, 123 Hedley (C.), the Range of Placostylus, 38; the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of New Zealand, 182 Hedley:(Dr. W. S.), on M.{d’Arsonval’s Experiments on Effects of Strong Alternating Magnetic Fields on Animals, 481 Heen (P. de), Variation of Temperatures of Transformation below and above Critical Temperature, 406 Heerwagen (F.), Temperature Coefficient of Dielectric Constant . of Pure Water, 260 Hefner-Alteneck (F. von), New System of Electric Control of Clocks, 445 Heilprin (Prof. Angelo), the Arctic Problem and Narrative of the Peary Relief Expedition of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 434 Heim (Herr), Resistance of some Micro-Organisms to High Temperatures, 377 Helff (Herr), the Compounds of Phosphorus and Sulphur, 482 Heligoland, Biological Ins:itute at, 59 Heligoland, Biological Station started on, 231 Hellmann (Prof.), Das ilteste Berliner Wetter-Buch, 11 Helmholtz (Prof. von), the Methods of Speech-production, 407 50 ena Southern, Palzozoic Glaciation in the, E. J. Dunn, 45 Henderson (J. B. ), Polarisation of Platinum Electrodes in Sul- phuric Acid, 310 Henrici (Prof. O.), Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Dynamics, 166 ' Henry (Miss Teuiza), Strange Heathen Ceremony at Raiatea 8 39 Henslow (Rev. G.), Effects of Growing Plants under Coloured Glasses, 422 Lai nt (G.), the Use of History in Teaching Mathematics, 16 Herdmann (Prof. W. A., F.R.S.), Swarms of Amphipods, 28 ; Whitsuntide Work of Liverpool Marine Biological Committee, 133; Oyster-Culture and Temperature, 267 Heredity : a Difficulty in Weismannism Resolved, Prof. Marcus Hartog, 28, 77 ; the Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters, Dr. C. Herbert Hurst, 368 ; the Definition of Heredity, T. Spencer Smithson, 413 ; the All-sufficiency of Natural Selec- tion, Prof. A. Weismann, 443 Hering’s Theory of Colour Vision, C. L. Franklin, 517 Herrmann (E.), Relations of Daily Synoptic Weather Charts to general Circulation of Atmosphere, 188 Hertwig (Prof. Richard), Lehrbuch der Zoologie, 173 Hertz (Dr. Heinrich), Untersuchungen iiber die Ausbreitung der Electrischen Kraft, 538 Hewitt (J. T.), Chlorinated Phenylhydrazines, Part II., 94 Hewitt (T. P.), Watchmakirg by Machinery, 556 Hickson (Dr. S. J.), Early Stages in Development of Disticho- pora violacea, 332 Hickson (Dr. ), Coral Reefs, 575 Hidden (W. E.), Mackintoshite, 431 Higgs (George), Geometrical Construction of Oxygen Absorption Lines and Solar Spectrum, 164 High-Pressure Gas, Daubrée on the Geological Work of, 226 Hildebrand (Prof. Hans) on Anglo-Saxon Remains and Coeval Relics from Scandinavia, 557 Himalayas, Abnormal Weather in the, F. C. Constable, 248 Himmel und Erde, 254, 355 History, the Use of, in Teaching Mathematics, G. Heppel, 16 Hitchcock (Romyn), the Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan, 398 Hobbs (W. H.), a Rose-coloured Lime and Alumina bearing Variety of Talc, 70 Hodgkins Fund Prizes, Smithsonian Institution, 233 ; Prof. S. P. Langley, 618 Hodgkinson (W. R.), a Magnesium Compound of Diphenyl, 2 2 Holmes (Dr. Rudolf), Erdbebenkunde : Die Erscheinungen und Ursachen der Erdbeben, die Methoden ihrer Beobachtungen, 363 ' Hogg (T. W.), Cyano- Nitride of Titanium, 529 Holden (Edward S.), the Suicide of Rattlesnakes, 342 Holder (Charles Frederick), Louis Agassiz, his Life and Work, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 52 Holland (P. J.), Electrical Conductivity of Copper Chloride Solution, 620 Holman (Silas ,W.), Discussion of the Precision of Measure- ments, 221 Holmes (W. H.), the American Ice-Age Drift Flints, said to be of Indian Manufacture, 253 Holz (L.), Generation of Electricity by Small Drops, 607 Honey, Plane-tree, Edm. Jandrier, 608 Hongkong, the Cold Wave at, January 1893; its After Effects, Sydney B. J. Skertchly, 3 Honorary Distinctions, 425 Hooker (Sir: J. D., F.R.S.), Captain Cook’s Journal during his First Voyage round the World, made in-H.M, Barque Zx- deavour, 1768-1781, 195 . Hopkins (William J.), Telephone Lines and their Properties, Francis G. Baily, 99 Hopkinson (Dr. J., F.R.S.), Magnetic Viscosity, 165 ; Original Papers on Dynamo Machinery and Allied Subjects, Prof. A. Gray, 244 Horizon, Artificial, W. P. Shadbolt, 510 Horsley (Victor, F.R.S.), Analysis by Electric Stimulation of Motor Region of Cortex Cerebri in Macacus Sinicus, 142 Horse, the Points of the, M. Horace Hayes, 364 Horses, Sagacity in, William White, 199 Horsewhip, an Electrical, 181 Horticulture: Fogs and Horticulture, Prof. F. W. Oliver, 18 ; Effects of Growing Plants under Coloured Glass, Rev. G. Henslow, 422 ; Two New Diseases of the Mulberry, G. Boyer and F. Lambert, 432 Hose (Charles), the Baram District of Borneo, 118 Houllevigue (L.), Electric Conveyance of Heat, 632 Hour-Zone System of Time-reckoning for Australia, the, 601 Howard (E, Douglas), Life with Trans-Siberian Savages, 339 XXil Ludex ment to Nature, vember 30, 1893 re Howard (Mr.), the Igneous Rocks. of South Pembrokeshire, 532 Howe (J. Allen), Slickensides, 315 Howell (E. E.), Beaver Creek Meteorite of May 26, 1893, 351 Howell (J.), Ore-treatment and Mining at Broken Hill, New South Wales, 37 Howorth (Sir Henry H., F.R.S.), the Glacial Nightmare and the Flood, 242; Ice as an Excavator of Lakes and a Transporter of Boulders, 247; Coral Reefs, 576; the Glaciation of Brazil, 614 Hubrecht (M.), Trophoblast of Tupaja Javanica, 168 | Huddersfield, Oxy-Oil Process for increasing Illuminating Power of Coal Gas, 599 ; Hudson (W. H.), the Serpent’s Tongue, 350; Birds in a Village, 409 Hughes (Prof. T. McKenny, F.R.S.), the Glacial Nightmare and the Flood, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 242 Hulke (J. W., F.R.S.), the Collected Papers of Sir William Bowman, F.R.S., 26 Hull (Prof, E.), Source of Nottingham Water Supply, 532 Hulme (E. Wyndham), the Publication of Scientific Papers, 40 : temas and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 616 ’ Humanitarian, Science in the, 250, 350 Humboldt’s Story of the Capture of Electric Eels by means of Wild Horses in Caraccas controverted, 324 , Hume (Dr. W. H.), Chemical and Micro-Mineralogical Re- searches on Upper Cretaceous Zones of South of England, 482 Hunter (Hope), Gold in British Guiana, 79 Hurmuzescu (M.), Curious Experiment by, 13 Hurricane at Azores, 445 Hurricane at Nova Scotia, 398 2 Hurst (Dr. C. Herbert), the Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters, 368 f is : Huxley (Prof.), W. K. Parker, 12 Hybrids, the Minute Structure of Plant, Prof. J. Muirhead Macfarlane, 402 Hydracids of the Halogens in the Presence ot Oxygen, Report of the Committee on the Action of Light on the, 530 Hydrazine and its Compounds, Franz Schrader, 483 Hydrocyanic Acid in Plants, 96 : Hydrokinetics, Hydrostatics and Elementary, Geo. M. Minchin, Prof, A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 457 : Hydrokinometer, a Self-Registering, M. Clerc, 264 Hydrophobia Statistics for 1892 at the Institut Pasteur, 544 Hydrophone, the, Capt. McEvoy, 159 Hydrostatics ; Negative Hydrostatic Pressure, G.’ van der Mensbrugghe, 188 Hydrostatic Pressure, Negative, G. van der’ Mensbrugghe, 332 Hydrostatics and Elementary Hydrokinetics, Geo. M. Minchin, Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 457 ; Hygiene: Public Health Problems, John F, J. Sykes, 27; Essays on Rural Hygiene, George Vivian Poore, 266 Hymenomycetes, on Nuclear Structures in the, H. Wazer, 576 Ice as an Excavator of Lakes and a Transporter of Boulders. Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S , 247 Ice, Arctic, the Various Kinds of, G. Pouchet, 251 Ice, Norwegian, Bacilli in, 323 Ice, Water and, as Agents of Earth Sculpture, James Geikie, F.R.S., 385 Icthyology ; the Coloration of the Skins of Fishes, J. T. Cun- ningham and C. A. MacMunn, 70 ; the Production of Monstrosities, J. A. Ryder, 252; Electric Fishes, Dr. McKendrick, 543 Identification, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 222: Supplementary Chapter to Book on Finger-Prints, 182 ; Finger-Prints in the Indian Army, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 595 Iddings (Prof. J. P.), on the Dissected Volcano of Crandall Basin, Wyoming, 531 Igneous Rocks of Barnavave, Carlingford, on the, Prof. W. J. Sollas, 532 Igneous Rocks of South Pembrokeshire, Messrs. Iloward ard Small on the, 532 Imitation or ‘‘ Instinct” by a Male Thrush? E. Boscher, 369 Immunity, Artificial, and Typhoid Fever, 211 India : Indian Medico-Chirurgical Review, 13 ; the Manufac- tures of, Sir Juland Danvers, 37; Cobras attracted by Re- mains of Dead Cobra, 79; Alleged Phenomenal. Rainfall at Dera Doon, 297 ; Failure of Efforts to Introduce Cultivation of — Japanese Paper Mulberry into, 353 ; Indian Origin of Ancient Amber, the, A, \B, Meyer, 422 ; Indian Survey for 1892, Report of, 510; Finger-Prints in the Indian Army, Francis _ te r Galton, F.R.S., 595 Indian Ocean, Royal Meteorological Institute of the Nether- lands’ Atlas of Observations in, 323; Behaviour of Storms of, Dr. G. Schott, 353 Indiana, Projected Biological Survey of, 421 % Inductoscript, Rev. F. J. Smith, 64 A Industrie Nationale, Société d’Encouragement pour I’, Prize Awards, 569 E Innsbruck Central Station utilised for Investigating Dielectric Constants of Solics, Alternate Current supplied by, Dr. G. Benischke, 378 ee Insect Prevalence during the Summer of 1893, a few Remarks on, Eleanor A. Ormerod, 394 ; Insect Pests, the Hessian Fly in Norway, 618 Insects Washed up by the Sea, Numerous, Sophie Kropotkin, 370; Oswald H. Latter, 392 te : Insects Attracted by Solanum, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 43% Insects and Flowers, Labiatz, Charles Robertson, Oty, er Ts Instinct, Reason versus, Charles William Purnell and Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 73 ; Instinct, Imitation or, by a Male Thrush? E. Boscher, 369 Institution of Civil Engineers, 131 E Institution of Naval Architects, 277 : Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 356 Intelligence of Animals, the, Charles William Purnell and Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 73 : Intelligence, the Limits of Animal, Prof. C. L. Morgan, 350 Interdependence of Abstract Science and Engineering, the, Dr. William Anderson, F.R.S., 65 ite Ete airs Interference Bands and their Applications, FUR.S., 212 Interference Bands, Apparatus illustrating Michelson’s Method! of Obtaining, Edwin Edser, 372 ¢ Interference and Diffraction Phenomena, Apparatus for Observ- ‘ing and Photographing, W. B. Croft, 526 < International Time, France and, W. de Nordling, 330 International Maritime Congress, 272, 304 : Intrusive Masses of Boulder-Clay, Percy F. Kendall, 370 Inventions, New Series of Illustrated Abridgement Classes published by Patent Office, 569 ay Invertebrata, Zoology of the, Arthur O. Shipley, bets: Herb Iodine Value of Sunlight in the High Alps, the, Dr, S. Rideal, 529 fey Ireland, Geologists’ Association in, 329 ; the Esker Systems of, Prof. Sollas, 533 Irish Petrology, W. W. Watts, 532 Irish Sea, Dredging Expeditions in the, 575 watt Iris, the Glucoside of the, F. Tienann and G. de Laire, 560 ~ Iron of Ovifak (Greenland), Henri Moissan, 167 Wee > Iron, Magnetic Qualities of, Prof. J. A. Ewing, F.R.S., and Miss Helen G. Klaassen, 335 ‘ Iron, Desulphurisation of, John Parry, 427 Iron, Nitride of, on the Preparation and Properties of, G. J. Fowler, 529 i Iron and Steel Industries, Recent Developments in Cleveland Jeremiah Head, 356 esi abste a” Iron and Steel-Institute, 36, 113, 376, 549 Irrigation, the Disadvantages of, W. Roe, 110 Irving (Dr. A.), Soot-Figures on Ceilings, 29 3 Isolation, the Method of, and the Properties of Fluorine, MM. Moissan and Meslans, 529 : Italian Stations for Economic Investigation of Plant Diseases, 13 : Italiana, Bolletino della Societ’ Botanica, 333 Italiano, Nuovo Giornale Botanico, 333 Italy, Railway Time in, 481 ; Adoption of Central European Time, 619 Jackson (Mr, F. G.), Departure for Nova Zembla, of, 327 Jacobs (Dr.), Action of Extracts ot Animal Tissues on Number of White Corpuscles, 408 j James (J. F.), Scientific Alliance of New York, 421 & Jamicson(M B.), Ore Treatment and Mining at Broken Hill, New South Wales, 37 ’ Jan Mayen, Plankton of Northern Lagoon of, G. Pouchet, 119 Jandrier (Edm.), Plane-Tree Honey, 608 Lord Rayleigh, | t c 5 eh. snl he asain! oe Ludex xxiii Janet (T.), Methods for Experiments on Electric Oscillations of Comparatively Long Period, 423 aspen : Seismology in Japan, Prof. John Perry, F.R.S., 136; ecent Volcanic Eruptions in Fukushima Districts, 179, 398 ; the Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan, Romyn Hitchcock, 398 ; the Cause of the Great Japanese Earthquake, 1891, Prof. B. Koto, 398 ; Surface Changes Accompanying Japanese Earth- quake of 1891, Prof. B. Koto, 574; Geological Structure of japan, Dr. Edmund Naumann, 619 Jelly-fish of Lake Urumiah, the, P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., 294 Jenkins (Rear-AdmiralT. A.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 376 Jensen (P.), Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, 2 Jeppe (Fred. ), the Zoutspanberg Goldfields, 448 Johns Hopkins University Circular, 183 Jobnston’s Notes on Astronomy, 233 Johnston-Lavis (Dr. H. J.), Rise of Lava in Crater of Etna, 179 ; Remarkable Hailstorms, 294 Joly (Dr. J., F.R.S.), a Method of Detecting the Existence of Variable Stars by Continuous Photometric Observations, 47 : the Diffusion Photometer, 269 Jonas (E.), New Material for High Resistances, 155 ayant (J. Viriamu), on Standards of Low Electrical Resistance, 52 Jourdain (S.), Scented Mists of Channel Coasts, 119 Journal of Royal Agricultural Society ‘of England, 91 Journal of Botany, 333, 559 Jowett (H. A. D.), the Aconite Alkaloids, VII. ; Modifications of Aconitine Aurichloride, 535 Jubilee, the Rothamsted, 289, 327 fit (J. W.), Composite Dykes in Arran, 285 ukes-Browne (A. J.), Recent Borings through Lower Creta- ceous Strata in East Lincolnshire, 142; Geology: An Elementary Handbook, 435 Jupiter, Observation on, M. Lumsden, 158 Jupiter, the Satellites of, Prof. W. H. Pickering, 81, 209 Kablukov (Irv.), Heat developed in combination of Bromine with Unsaturated Hydro-Carbons, 119 Kaleidoscope, a Reflecting, Dr. John Gobam, 159 Kanhaiyalal, Peculiar Hailstones, 248; an Appeal to Mathe- maticians, 415 Kansas, Effect of Cyclone of June 21 in, E. H, S. Bailey, 352 Karakoram, Explorations in the, W. M. Conway, 43 Kassner (G.), Manufacture of Oxygen from Air by means of Calcium Plumbate, 446 2 Kayser and Runge, Messrs., Method of obtaining Determination of Refractive Index of Atmosphere for every portion of Pho- tographic Spectrum, 60 Kelvin (Lord, F.R.S.), Illustrations of Molecular Tactics of Crystal, 159 ; New Electrical Measuring Instruments, 399 Kendall (Percy F.), Intrusive Masses of Boulder Clay, 370 Kennard (T, W.), Death of, 481 . : Kent (W. Saville), The Great Barrier Reef of Australia; its Products and Potentialities, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 217 Kenwood (Henry R.), Public Health Laboratory Work, 433 Kew Herbarium, Additions to, 510 Kew Meteorological Committee Report, 59 Kew Observatory ; Appointment of Mr. Charles Chree as Superintendent, 11 Kina Balu, Mount, North Borneo Exploration of, John White- head, 564 Kinetic Theory of Gases, the Moon’s Atmosphere and the, G. H. Bryan, 526 Kipping (F. S.), New Haloid Derivatives of Camphor, 118 Kirby (W.F.), Brief Guide to the Common Butterflies of the United States and Canada, the Life of a Butterfly, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, 338; the Lepidoptera of the British Islands, 585 Klaassen (Helen G.), Magnetic Qualities of Iron, 335 Klein (Dr. E., F.R.S.), Bacteria, their Nature and Function, 82 Knecht (Edmund), a Manual of Dyeing, 170 Knott (Prof. C. G.), Quaternions and Vectors, 148, 516 Kobbé (Gustav), Tides of Bay of Fundy, 444 Koch (Dr.), Method of Detecting Cholera Bacillusin Water, 523 Kohlrausch (F.), Determination of Electrical Resistances by Means of Alternating Currents, 259; Theory of Change of Properties of Liquids in Proportion to Matter in Solution invalidated in Case of Density of Wilute Aqueous Solutions, 571; Solubility of some Insoluble Bodies in Water deter- mined by Electric Conductivity of Solution, 697 | Képpen (W.), Rainfall Probability in United States, 215 Kossel (Prof.), Dulcin, a New Saccharine Substance, 47 Koto (Prof.), Cause of the Great Japanese Earthquake, 398 ; Surface Changes accompanying Japanese Earthquake of 1891, 7: SA (Dr.), Notes on Dryness of April, 1893, 120 Kreutz (Prof. H.), Comet Appearance in the Year 1892, 380 Krigar-menzel (Dr. Otto), Experiments for Determining by Weighing Diminution of Gravity on Ascent from Earth’s Surface, 155; Experiments on Diminution of Weight at Increasing Altitudes, 288 ; the Motion of Vibrating Strings, 24 Kinpottin (Prince), General Glaciation of Asia, 533 Kropotkin (Sophie), Numerous Insects washed up by the Sea, 370; Oswald H. Latter, 392 | Krouschoff (K. D.), Artificial Diamonds ob‘ained by, 207 Kiikenthal (Dr.), Departure of a Zoological Expedition to Molucea, 619 Kummer (Prof. E. E.), Death of, 107 i Kupelwieser (Paul), the Manufacture of Basic Steel at Witkowitz, 55° Kurdistan Journeys, 1892, Captain Mounsell’s, 233 Kiitzing (T. F.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 597 Laar (J. J. Van), Die Thermodynamik in der Chemie, 220 Labbé (Alphonse), the Coccidia of Birds, 536 Laboratories, European, of Marine Biology, 404 Laboratories, Research, for Women, Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 590 ; Laboratory, Subtropical Botanical, established at Eustis, Florida, 545 Laboratory Work, Public Health, Henry R. Kenwood, 433 Lacaze-Duthiers (M. de), Oyster-Culture in the Roscoff Aquarium, 560 : Lachlan (R.), an Elemepvtary Treatise on Modern Pure Geometry,. 100 Lagoons, on English, P. H. Emerson, 515 Laire (G. de), the Glucoside of the Iris, 560 Lake (Philip), Llandovery Rocks, near Corwen, 118 Lake District, English ; Bathymetrical Survey of Larger Lakes, Dr. H. R. Mill, 327 $ Lake Urumiah, the Jelly-Fish of, P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., 294 Lake-Dwellings, on the Structure of, Dr. Munro, 558 Lakes, Ice as an Excavator of, and a Transporter of Boulders, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., 247 Lambert (F.), Two New Diseases of the Mulberry, 432 Lamp (Prof. E.), Ephemeris of the New Comet, 276; Comet, 1893. (Rordame—Quénisset), 355 Landel (G.), Influence of Solar Radiation upon Plants, 384 Landslip in Norway, Disastrous, 78 ee i Langley (Mr.), Physico-Chemical and Vitalistic Theories of Life, 574 , Langley (J. N., F.R.S.), Arrangement of Sympathetic Nervous System, I., 21 ; Langley (Prof. S. P.), Smithsonian Institution: Hodgkins Fund Prizes, 618 ; Langlois Screw for Vertical Propulsions, Trial of, M. Mallet, 60 thcaen (Prof. E. Ray, F.R.S.), Phagocytes of Green Oysters, 75; Lehrbuch der Zoologie, Prof. Richard Hertwig, 173; Zoology of the Invertebrata, Arthur O. Shipley, 173; the Royal Society, 247; Vertebrate Embry- ology, 265; the Supposed Suicide of Rattlesnakes, 369 ; Human and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford, 616 Lapworth (Prof. C., F.R.S.), Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 Larden (Walter), Thunderstorm Phenomena on the Matterhorn, 16 icon (J., F.R.S.), Singularity of Optical Wave-Surface, 23 Laser’s Bacillus‘der Miiuse-Seuche, 323 Latitude, the Variations of, Sir Robert Ball, 349; Prof. C. L. Doolittle, 451 : Latitude Determination at Bethlehem, 1892-3, Prof. Doolittle, 60 Fp ite (H. N.), Electricity and Life, 350 Layard (Miss Nina F.), on the Roots of the Lemma and the Reversing of the Fronds in Lemna Minor, 575 ' Le Chatelier (H.), the Specific Heat of Carbon, 72; the Third Principle of Energetics, 240, 632; Dissociation of Calcium Plumbates, 287 ; XXIV Index fe Sere to Nature, November 30, 1893 Le Conte (Prof.), Theories of the Origin of Mountain Ranges, I oad C.), Nature of certain Solutions, 187; Endothermic Reactions Effected by Mechanical Force, 631 Lead, Metallurgy of, J. B. Hannay, 165 Leake’s (Arthur), Bequest to Astronomy, 425 Lectures on Sanitary Law, A. Wynter Blyth, 246 Ledebur (Prof.), Carbon in Iron, 550 Leduc (A.), Density of Sulphurous Anhyhride, 336 Lefort (Prof. Léon), Death of, 618 Lehmann (E. W.), a Photometer, 406 Leicester, Earthquake at, 351; Brilliant Meteor at 544 Lemna, on the Roots of, and the Reversing of the Fronds in Lemna Minor, Miss Nina F. Layard, 575 Leopard, a Snow, for the Zoological Gardens, 181 Lepidoptera : Sex Proportions of Butterfly Production, T. E. Bear, 231; Colours of certain Larve largely due to Food- Plant Pigments, E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., 239; Life-History of Bombycine Moths, A. S. Packard, 252; the Stainton Collection, Lord Walsingham, 322; Brief Guide to the Common Butterflies of the United States and Canada, the Life of a Butterfly, S. H. Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 338; the Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Charles G. Barrett, W. F. Kirby, 585; Hybrids between Cymatophera or and Cyma- tophera ocularis, W. H. B. Fletcher, 607; Effects of Temperature in the Pupal Stage on Species of Lepidoptera, F. Merrifield, 607 Lepinay (Mace de), the Phenomenon of Mirage illustrated, 109 Less (Dr.), European Barometric Conditions during Drought of March and April, 1893, 120 Leuchtenberg (M. le duc Nicolas de), Observation of an Aurora Borealis, 608 Levander (F. W.), an Old Device Resuscitated, 416 Leverett (Frank), on Changes of Drainage in the Rock River Basin in Illinois, 462 Lewes (Prof. Vivian b.), Spontaneous Combustion, 626 Lezé (R.), Study of Filtration of Liquids, 216 Library Association, Annual Meeting, 482 Liebig, Correspondence of Berzelius and, 561 Life, Electricity and, H. N. Lawrence, 350 Life, Physiéo-Chemical and Vitalistic Theories of, Dr. J. S. Haldane, Mr. Langley, Prof. Cleland, Prof. Burdon Sander- son, 574 Light: Light and other High Frequency Phenomena, Nikola Tesla, 136; Photographic Study of Sources of Light by means of Carcel Lamp and Electric Arc, M. Croya, 206; the Luminiferous Ether, Sir G. G. Stokes, 306 ; Absorption of Light by Platinum at Different Temperatures, Dr. G. B. Rizzo, 377 ; Electrical Action of Light upon Silver and its Haloid Compounds, Col. Waterhouse, 423; Report of the Committee for Investigating the Action of Light upon Dyed Colours, 529; Report of the Committee on the Action of Light on the Hydracids of the Halogens in the Presence of Oxygen, 530; the Expansion of Chlorine and Bromine under the Influence of Light, Dr. Richardson, 530; Cost of Electric Lighting of Trains, 576; Flashing Lights for Marine Purposes, O. T. Olson, 557 Lightning, a Peculiar Discharge of, William Brew, 370 Lilienfeld (Dr.), the Relationship of Cell-elements to certain Colouring Matters, 48; Clotting of Blood, 408 Lilienthal (Otto), New Flying Apparatus, 571 Lime Salts in Relation to some Physiological Processes in the Plant, Dr. J. Clark; 575 Limit, Roche’s, Prof. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., 54 Limpopo, Discovery of Temple on the, R. M. W. Swan, 426 Limulus, Morphology and Physiology of Brain and Nerve Organs of, Dr. W. Patten, 332 Lincei, Reale Accademia dei, Election of Fellows, 421 Lindvall (C. A.), Origin of the Glacial Period, 533 Linnean Society, 23, 46, 107, 143 167, 191 * Linnean Society Procedure, 150 Linnean Society, New South Wales, 287, 406, 584 Liquid Films, Thickness and Electrical Resistance of Thin, Profs. Reinold and Riicker, 115 ¢ Liquid Films, the Thickness and Electrical. Conductivity of hin, A. W. Reinold, F.R.S., 624 Liquid Oxygen, Magnetic Properties of, Prof. J. Dewar, ERS 89 “g e Liquids, Motion of, Studied by Chronophotography, M. Marey, 47 Liquids, Study of Filtration of, R. Lezé, 216 wet ces the Viscosity of, Prof. Maurice Fitzgerald, 45 ; Prof. erry, 45 Liquids in Proportion to Matter in Solution Invalidated in Case of Density of Dilute Aqueous Solutions, Theory of Change of Properties of, F. Kohlrausch and W. Hallwachs, 571 Literature, Organisation of Scientific, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., F, G, Donnan, 436 ea (Prof.), Refractive Indices of Liquid Nitrogen and Air, 20 Liverpool Marine Biological Committee, Dredging Expedition of the, 14 f Liverpool Marine Biological Committee, Whitsuntide Work of, Prof. Herdman, 133 Lobatchefsky (Nicolas Ivanovitch), Proposed Celebration of the Centenary of the Birth of, 296 Lockhart (Wm. S.), an Automatic Gem Separator, 557 Lockyer (J. Norman, F.R.S.) on the Early Temple and Pyramid Builders, 55 ; the Astronomical History of On and Thebes, 318, 371; the Influence of Egypt upon Temple Orientation in Greece, 417 ; the Early Asterisms, 438, Be Lockyer (N. J.), the Steam Engine: A Treatise on Steam Engines and Boilers, Daniel Kinnear Clark, 51 ; a Handbook on the Steam Engine, Herman Haeder, 314; British Loco- motives, C. J. Bowen Cooke, 586 Locomotion on Land, 499 ; Locomotion in Water, 499 ; Loco- motion in Air, 500 Locomotives, Electrical, a Variable Power Gear for, Mr. Beau- mont, 557 ' Locomotives, British, N. J. Lockyer, C. J. Bowen Cooke, 586 Locust Plagues, Col. Swinhoe, 95 Lodge (Alfred), Vectors and Quaternions, 198 Lodge (Prof. Oliver, F.R.S.), Physics, Advanced Course, 1 ; the Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, 62, 101, 126, 174 ; the Foundation of Dynamic,.117, 166; the Publication of Physical Papers, 292; on the Connection between the Ether and Matter, 527, 528; Thoughts on the Bifurcation of the Sciences suggested by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association, 564 ‘ Loeffler’s Bacillus Typhi Murium and Mouse Plagues, 323 Loeffler’s Method for Exhibiting in Stained Preparations the Cilia of Micro-Organisms, Modification of, MM. Nicolle and Morax, 399 Loewenthal (Richard), A Manual of Dyeing, 170 Loewy (Dr.), Methods of Blood-titration, 288 Me Bers the A B C Five-Figure, C. J. Woodward, B.Sc., 504 Lominsky (Herr), The Vitality of Pathogenic Bacteria in Vege- table Tissues, 445 gay ao Council, Science Classes in Connection with the, 353 London Mathematical Society, 619 ae Determination of Geographical, Herr C. Runge, 23 Longitude, Difference of, between, Vienna and Greenwich, 277 Longman’s Magazine, Science in, 350 Longuinine (W.) Heat Developed in Combination of Bromine with Unsaturated Hydro-Carbons, 119 Louise (M.), Aluminium Chloride Compounds with Benzoy) — Chloride and others of the Aromatic Series, 157 Love (A. E, H.), On the Collapse of Boiler Flues, 95 Love’s (Mr.) Treatise on Elasticity, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 415, 543 Lovel (J.), a Dust Whirl or (?) Tornado, 77; a Remarkable Meteor, 567 Lovett (Edward), the Flint Industry at Brandon, 180 Lowe (E. J., F.R.S.), Drought and Heat at Shirenewton Hall in 1893, 436 Lubbock (Sir John, F.R.S.), the Future of Science, 273 Lucas (F, A.), Birds’ Steering Methods, 414 Luminiferous Ether, the, Sir G. G. Stokes, 306 Luminous Fountains on a Small Scale, M. Trouvé, 12 Lumsden (M.), Observation on Jupiter, 158 Lunar Atmosphere, the, 40; M. Spée, 62 Lunar Ephemeris for Turin, Solar, and, 548 Lupeon (Herr von), Thermometer Liquids, 206 ae 4 (Dr. Alexander), Diagnostik der Bakterien des Wassers, 3 Lydaz (F.), Magnetic Viscosity, 165 Lydekker.(R.), Some Recent Restorations of Dinosaurs, 302 Lynch (H. F. B.), Ascent of Mount Ararat, 548 Supplement to | November 30, 1893 Index XXV Lyons (C. J.), Diurnal Variations of Barometric Pressure, 20 Lyre, Changes in the Spectrum of 8, 301 McAlpine (Dr.), Cattle-Poisoning Species of Homeria (Cape Tulip) in Victoria, 378 MacBride (E. W.), Echinocyamus pusillus, 369 McClure’s Magazine, Science in, 250 McEvoy (Capt.), the Hydrophone, 159 Macfarlane (Prof. Alexander), Vectors versus Quaternions, 75, 540 . Macfarlane (Prof. J. Muirhead), the Minute Structure of Plant Hybrids, 402 Macfarlane (Prof.), on the Electric Strength of Solid, Liquid and Gaseous Dielectrics, 461 MacGregor (Prof. J. G.), the Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, 126, 22 McGuire (J. D.), the Evolution of Working in Stone, 398 Mach (E. and L,), Photography of Flying Bullets, 353 Mach (Dr. Ludwig), Optical Tests for Objectives, 16 Machinery, Original Papers on Dynamo, and Allied Subjects, Dr. J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gray, 244 Machinery, Watchmaking by, T. P. Hewitt, 556 McKendrick (Dr.), Electric Fishes, 543 Mackintoshite, W. E. Hidden, 431 Maclaurin (R. C.), Dissolution of Gold in Potassium Cyanide Solution, 22 McLeod (Prof. Herbert, F.R.S.), Gaseous Diffusion, 104 McLouth (C. D.), Clouds of Flies in Michigan, 545 MacMahon (Lieut.-Gen.), Notes on Darimoor, 142 MacMunn (C. A.), the Coloration of the Skins of Fishes, 70 Macnair (D. S.), Quantitative Method of Separating Iodine from Chlorine and Bromine, 535 Mad Head, the, Dr. Crochley Clapham, 558 Manila, a New Astronomical Observatory at, 623 Manometer, a Llighly Sensitive, M. Villard, 132 Mansfield and Cross (Messrs.), Excursion of Diaphragms of Telephones, 156 Manson (Marsden), Geological and Solar Climates, their Causes and Variations, 588 Manufactures of India, the, Sir Juland Danvers, 37 Manufacturers, German, the Appreciation of Science by, Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S. 29 Manx Cats, A. der Mortillet, 108 Maps of Germany, Official Geological, 523 Marantonio, the Thrush Fungus, 622 Marcet (W., F.R.S), Influence of Exercise on Interchange of Respiratory Gases, 309 Marchal (Emile), Production of Ammonia in Soil by Microbes, 40 Marchlewski (L.), Supplementary Notes on Madder Colouring Matters, 263 Marcuse (Dr.), Observations Taken at Hawaiian Islands, 559 Marey (M.), Motion of Liquids Studied by Chronophotography, 47; Photography of Animals in Motion, 456 Marié-Davy (Dr. G. H.), Obituary Notice of, 351 Marine Biology, the Week’s Work of the Plymouth Station, 14, 39, 61, 81, III, 134, 158, 183, 208, 232, 253, 275, 300, 326, 354, 379) 401, 425, 447, 483, 524, 547, 573, 600, 622; Dredging Expedition of the Liverpool Marine Biological Comunittee, 14 ; Animal Phosphorescence, D. Zabolotry, 92 ; Marine Biological Association, 236; the Port Erin Station, 423 ; European Laboratories of Marine Biology, 404 Marine Floras, the Distribution of, George Murray, 257 Marine Purposes, Flashing Lights for, O. T. Olson, 557 | Maritime Congress, the International, 272, 304 | Markham (Clements R., F.R.S.), 01 the Relationship between Madison, Wisconsin, Meeting of the American Association at, | | Marlborough College, Report of Natural History Society of, 460 Madison Botanical Congress, 597 Madras, Statistics for 1891-2 of Cattle Losses in, 424 Madreporaria from Sutton Stone of South Wales, New Genus (Styloseris) of, R. F. Tomes, 286 Madreporaria, Mr. Saville Kent’s Collection of Western Austra- lian, 509 Maey (Eugen), Diffraction of Light at Straight Sharp Edge of Screen, 141 Magazines, Science in the, 249, 349, 443, 543 Magdeburg, Chemical and Bacterial Conditionfof Elbe at, Herr Ohlmiiller, 399 Magmatic Concentration, Berthelot’s Principle applied to, A. Harker, 532 Magnesium, the Organo-Metallic Compounds of, Dr. Fleck, | | Massalongo (C.), a New (Bay) Gall Insect, 92 424 Magnetism: Magnetic Properties of Bodies at Different Tem- atures, P. Curie, 38; Magnetic Curve Tracers, Prof. wing, F.R.S., 64; Magnetic Properties of Liquid Oxygen, Prof. J. Dewar, F.R.S., 89; Magnetic Viscosity, J. Hopkin- son, F.R.S., E. Wilson, and F. Lydall, 165; Earth’s Magnetism in Neighbourhood of Magnetic Rocks, Messrs. Oddone and Franchi, 274 ; Magnetic Qualities of Iron, Prof. J. A. Ewing, F.R.S., and Miss Helen G. Klaassen, 335 ; Magneto-Optic Rotation, Prof. Andrew Grey, 345 ; Effect of Strong Alternating Magnetic Field on Animals, M. D’Arsonval’s Experiments, 481; Dr. W. S. Hedley on M. D’Arsonval’s work, 481; Magnetic Observations recently made in Russia, M. Verukoff, 512 ; the Magnetic Elements at Sagasty, General de Tillo, 584; Curious Rotary Effects of Two-Phase pees, Current Field-Magnet, 598 Mahlke (A.), Thermostat for Comparison of Standard Ther- mometers, 155 Major (C. J. F.), Megalapidis Madagascariensis, Extinct Gigantic Lemuroid from Madagascar, 284 Major and Minor Planets, the Brightness of the, Dr. G. Miiller, I ; Mabgoli (R.), Theoretical Investigations on Electrolysis by Alternating Currents, 423 : Mallet (M.), Trial of a Screw for Vertical Propulsion, 360 Malvern Hills, Origin of Crystalline Schists of, Dr. Charles Callaway, 46 Mammals of Trinidad, the, O, Thomas, 37 Mammals, the Succession of Teeth in, Prof. H. F. Osborn, 8 2 Mecaiiials of the Upper Cretaceous, Prof. H. F. Osborn on : the, 462 Physical Geography and Geology, 554 37 Mars, South Polar Cap of, Prof. George Comstock, 15 Marsh (J. E.), Researches on the Terpenes; ILI., Action of Phosphorous Pentachloride on Camphene, 262 Marsh (Prof. O. C.), Some Recent Restorations of Dinosaurs, 437 : Marsh Dwellings, ona British Village of, Arthur Bulleid, 558 Marshall (A. Milnes), Vertebrate Embryology, 265 Maryland, the Available Water-Power of, Prof. Clark, 324 Mashonaland, Return of Mr. Selous to, 426 Mason (O. T.), Preparation of Mono-, Di- and Tri-benzylamine 535 Mason (Otis T.), New Caledonian Pottery, 543; the Mexican Atlatl or Throwing- Stick, 597 Mathematics; the Use of History in Teaching Mathematics, G. Heppel, 16; Toroidal Functions, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 23; Note on Problem to inscribe in one of two Triangles a Triangle similar to the other, J. Gritfiths, 23; Singularity of Optical Wave Surface, J. Larmor, F.R.S., 23 ; a Problem of Conformal Representation, Prof. W. Burnside, 23 ; Bulletin of New York Mathematical Society, 44, 70, 187, 259, 359; the Potential of an Anchor Ring, F. W. Dyson, 45; Mathe- matical Society, 22, 95, 188, 619; Vectors versus Quater- nions, Prof. Alexander Macfarlane, 75, 540; Vectors and Quaternions, Prof. C. G. Knott, 148, 516; Alfred Lodge, 198; Quaternions and Vector Analysis, Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, 364; the Discussion on Quaternions, Sir Roberts Ball, F.R.S., 391 ; on a theorem for Bicizcular Quartics and Cyclides corresponding to Ivory’s Theorem for Conics and Conicoids, A. L. Dixon, 95 ; Supplementary Notes on Com- plex Prisms formed with the Fifth Root of Unity, Prof. Lloyd Tanner, 95 ; the Linear Transformations between Two Quadrics, H. Faber, 95 ; On the Collapse of Boiler Flues, A. E. H. Love, 95; American journal of Mathematics, 140, 606 ; Thread Models of Developables Related to Higher Algebraical Equations, M. Schoute, 168 ; Theory of Func- tions of a Complex Variable, Dr. A. R. Forsyth, Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S., 169; Wronski’s Expansion, Prof. Echos, 187; Pseudo-Elliptic Integrals and their Dynamical Ap- aio, A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 188; a General roperty of any Field not admitting of a Potential, M. ‘Vaschy, 192; German Mathematical Association, 1503 Operators in Physical Mathematics, Part II., Oliver Heaviside, F.R.S., 284; Proposed Celebration of the Centenary of the Birth of Nicolas Ivanovitch Lobat- XXvi Lndex ‘Supplement to Nature, November 30, 1893 chetsky, 296; a Graphical Representation of the Twenty- seven Lines on a Cubic Surface, H. M. Taylor, 310; Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, 340; Instruments for Trisecting Angles, Dr. Eckhardt, 353 ; Death and Obituary Notice of Prof. G, W. Coakley, 398; Mathé- matiques et Mathématiciens, Pensées et Curiosités, A. Rebiére, 410 ; an Appeal to Mathematicians, Kanhaiyalal, 415 ; Hydro- statics and klementary Hydrokinetics, Geo. M. Minchin, Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 457; Opening Address in Section A of the British Association by R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., 473 ; Grassmann’s Ausdehnungslehre, Prof. R. W. Genese, 517; Jifferential Calculus for Beginners, Joseph Edwards, 539; the A BC Five-Figure Logarithms, C. T. Woodward, 564; Pillow Problems, Charles L. Dodgson, M.A., 564; Enunciations in Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, and Trigonomeiry, P. A. Thomas, 564; Asymmetrical Fre- quency Curves, Prof. Karl Pearson, 615; the Deutsche Meldola (Prof. R., F.R.S.), Azo-compounds and Ortho-series, 262; aManual of Dyeing, Edmund Knecht, Christopher Rawson, and Richard Loewenthal, 170 Mély (F. de), Schist-impregnated Peat-moss Treatment of Phylloxera, 512 Memphramagog, Lake, A. T. Drummond, 12 Men, on the Earliest, Dr. Brinton, 460 Mensbrugghe (G, van de), Negative Hydrostatic Pressure, 188, 332 Mental Medicine, Dr. A. M‘L. Hamilton, 250 . ( Mercury Pump, a Periodic, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, 320 Mergicr (M.), Instrument for Measuring Electrical Resistance of Human Body, 352 Meridian Circle Observations, 39 _ f Merrifield (F*), Effects of Temperature in the Pupal Stage on Species of Lepidoptera, 607 Meslin (George) Alternations of Colours presented by Maihematiker- Vereinigung Exhibition at Munich, 619 Matsuda (Sadahisa), the Anatomy of Magnoliacez, 482 Matterhorn, Thunderstorm Phenomena on the, Walter Larden, 316 Maunsell’s (Capt.), Kurdistan Journeys, 1892, 233 Maxwell’s Theorie der Electricitat und des Lichtes, Vorlesung iiber, Dr. Ludwig Boltzmann, 435 Mayer (A. M.), the True Origin of Contrast Colours, 274 ; Photometer for Measuring Intensities of Lights of Different Colours, 309 Maze (M. C.), Drought Cycles, 482 Mazella (E.), Determination of Wind-Force during Gusts of Bora Storm, 91; Temperature-Waves at Trieste, 1871-90, 297 Mean Density of the Earth, the, Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., 370 Measurements, Discussion of the Precision of, Silas W. Holman, 221 Measures, Metric in Russia, Prof, Petrushevskiy’s System, 298 Mechanics : Simplification of Formule Depending on Resisting Power of Solids !y introducing Greatest Linear Extension A Supportable by Material, in place of Corresponding Elastic Force Ro, J. Boussinesq, 216; Displacement of Rigid Body in Space by ae tae J. Walker, F.R.S., 311; a Correc- tion, 317; Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 356; Novel Suspension for Pendulums, A. Hasemann, 399; Hydro- statics and Elementary Hydrokinetics, Geo. M. Minchin, Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 457; Mechanics at the British Association, 556 ; Opening Address in Section G of the British Association by Jeremiah Head, President of the Section, 497; Mechanism in Nature, 497; Bodily Powers of Man and other Animals, 498; Locomotion on Land, in Water, and in Air, 499 ; Weight of Birds in Relation to their Bulk, 501 ; Aérial Navigation, 502; Eventual Exhaustion of Fuel Supply, 503; Automatic Balance of Reciprocating Mechanism, Mr, Beaumont, 556 ; Warming and Ventilating, Frank Ashwell, 556; Watchmaking by Machinery, T. P. Hewitt, 556 ; Pneumatic Caulking and Chipping Tool, Mr. Ross, 556; Relative Cost of Conductors with Different Systems of Electrical Power Transmission, 556; on Water Power asa Source of Electricity, A. B. Snell, 557; a Vari- able Power Gear for Electrical Locomotives, Mr. Beaumont, 557; Flashing Lights for Marine Purposes, O. T. Olson, 557; an Automatic Gem Separator, William S. Lockhart, 557; the Wicksteed Testing Machine, Prof. Robinson, 557 ; the Mechanics of Architecture, E. Wyndham Tarn, 515; a Treatise on Analytical Statics, Edward John Routh, F.R.S., Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 609 Medical Association, British, 322 Medical Biology, 29 Medical Biology, Conjoint Boards, Walter E. Collinge, 75 Medical Litera‘ure, the American Catalogue of, Dr. A. T. Myers, 611 Medicine, Mental, Dr. A. McL. Hamilton, 250 Mediterranean Water, Density and Alkalinity of, J. G. Buchanan, 168 Medley (Mr.), Photometry, 190 Megalapides Madagascariensis, Extinct, Gigantic Lemuroid from Madagascar, C. J. F. Major, 284 Megamicros, a Sensible Effect of Proportional Reduction of Dimensions of Universe, J. Delboeuf, 406 Megamicros, S. Tolver Preston, 517 Megascops, the Evolution of Colour in the Genus, 559 Melbourne University, the Decreased Grant to, 228 Meldola (R ), Note on a Meta-azo-compound, 118 Gratings, 432; Aperture Frngesin the Experiient with Parallel Gratings, 608 ; the Method of Isolation and the Properties of Fluorine, 529; Modification of Hydrometer Method of determining Densities of Gases, 598 Mesnard (Eugéne), Apparatus for Measuring Intensity of Per- fumes, 216 Metallurgy : Basic Steel, English and Foreign, E. W. Richards, 113; the Manufacture of Basic Steel at Witkowitz, Paul Kupelwieser, 550; the Elimination of Sulphur from Iron and Steel, J. E. Steed and E. H. Saniter, 113 ; Desulphurisation of Iron, John Parry, 427; the Recording Pyrometer, Prof. Roberts-Austen, 114; Researches with the Electric is M. Moissan, 134; Metallurgy of Lead, J. B. Hannay, 165 ; Recent Developments in Cleveland Iron and Steel Theanine Jeremiah Head, 356 ; Carbon in Iron, Prof. Ledebur, 550; Suggested Improvements in Manufacture of Steel Plates, William, Muirhead, 550; the Sampling of Iron Ore, T. Clarkson, 551 i Meteorology: a Remarkable Rainfall, Clement L. W: ragge, 3; the Greatest Rainfall in Twenty-four Hours, E. Presta Archibald, 77, 17; J. S. Gamble, 459; Me Beit, Council’s Summary of Rainfall and Temperature 1866-1893, 59; Rainfall Observations for 1891, 297 ; Alleged Phenome- nal Rainfall at Dera Doon, 297; Rainfall Probability in United States, W. Koppen, 215; Normal Distribution of Rainfall in Madras Residency, C. Benson, 230; on Secular Variations of our Rainfall, 367 ; Analysis of Causes of Rain- fall, Prof. G. E. Curtis, 631 ; the Cold Wave at Hong Kong, January, 1893, its After Effects, Sydney B. J. Skertchly, 3 the Weather Week by Week, 11, 36, 59, 78, 108, 131, 154. 179, 205, 251, 273. 323, 352, 376, 522, 570; Fall of Snow- balls in Saxony, Dr. Paul Schreiber, 11; Das ilteste Berliner Wetter-Biich, Prof. Hellmann, 11 ; the Eiffel Tower Experiments, Variation with Height of the Meteorological Elements, M. Angot, 12; the Spirit Thermometer, M. Chap- puis, 12; Lake Memphramagog, A. S. Drummond, 12; American Meteorological Journal, 20, 140, 239, 583, 631 ; Ice Columns in Gravelly Soil, Prof. C. Abbe, 20; Diurn Variations of Barometric Pressure, C. J. Lyons, 20; the Chinook Wind, H. W. Ballon, 21; Afterglows in’ Spain, Prof, Augusto Arcimis, 29; Prevalence of Violent Storms in Province of Roussillon, Dr. Pines, 36; Kew Committee Report, 59 ; Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North China Sea, Capt. Chas. J. Norcock, 76; Prize Offered by Hon. Ralph Abercromby for Study of ‘* Southerly Burster,” Re Disastrous Landslip in Norway, 78; Meteorologische Zeit- schrift, 91, 188, 215, 284, 259; Iridescent Clouds, H. Mohn, 91; Determination of Wind Force during Gusts of Bora Storm, E Mazelle, 71 ; Modern Meteorology, Frank Waldo, William E. Plummer, 97; Anemometrical Observations at Vienna, 1873-1892, D. J]. Hann, 108 ; The Climate of Turin, Dr. Rizzo, 108; Royal Meteorological Society 119, 239 ; Berlin Meteorological Society, 120; a New Classification of Cloud Forms, F. Gaster, 119 ; Scent d Mists of Channel Coasts, S. Jourdain, 119 ; Barometric Conditions over Europe during Drought of March-April, 1893, Dr. Less, 1203. Notes on Dryness of April, 1893, Dr. Kremser, 120; the Great Heat of August 8 to 18, 395; Drought and Heat at Shirenewton [all in 1893, E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., 436; Spring and Autumn of 1893, Right. Hon. Sir Edward Fry, F.R.S., 509 ; Sécheresse 1893, ses Causes, l'Abbé A. Fortin, 587 ; the Summer of 1893, J Lloyd Bozward, 614 ; 1890 Observations in Adelaide, 132; Peculiar Rainbow at Aboyne, 132; Lon- don Mean Temperatures, 1763-1892, Dr. A, Buchan, 155 ; ” Supplement to Nature, ‘ovember 30, 1893 Index XXVii Thermostat for Comparison of Standard Thermometers, A. Mahlke, 155; Determination of Low Temperatures by Pla- tinum Thermometers, Messrs. Griffiths and Clark, 155; the Corry ‘‘ Protected” Aneroid, Edward Whymper, 160; Physics of Atmosphere, Prof. von Begold, 140, 239; Charts Derining, 135; an Ascending Meteor, Prof. von Niessl, 209 Shooting Stars of August, 1893, P. F. Denza, 535; Bril liant Meteor at Leicester, 544; a Remarkable Meteor, J” Lloyd Bozward, J. Lovel, 567 ; the August Meteors, 600, W, F, Denning, 374 Meteorite of May 26, 1893, Beaver Creek, E. E. Howell, 351 ; Prof, B, J. Harrington, 426 Metric Measures in Russia, Prof. Petrushevskiy’s System, of Storm Frequency, Prof, Abbe, 140; Six- and Seven-Day Weather Periodicities H. H. Clayton, 140; the Big and Little Monsoons of Ceylon, E. Douglas Archibald, 175 ; Pubblicazioni of Vatican Observatory, 180 ; Hypotheses of Oscillations of Maximum Zone of Aurora, A. Paulsen, 188 ; Relations of Daily Synoptic Weather Charts to General Cir- culation of Atmosphere, E. Herrmann, 188 ; Cyclone at Williamstown, 205 ; the Standing-still Phenomenon of the Motala River (Sweden), 206; the Dynamics of the Atmo- sphere, M. Moller, 215; Remarkable Oscillations of Tem- perature at St. Petersburg, February 11, 1893, A. Schoenrock, 229; Terrific Hailstorm at Murree, 229; the Murree Hail- storm, F. C. Constable, 251; Solar Spots and Terrestrial Anticyclones, A. Searle, 239; New Series of Isanomalous Temperature Charts, S. F. Batchelder, 239 ; Proposed Sub- jects for Correlated Study by State Weather Services, W. 29 ; Mexican Atlatl or Throwing-Stick, O. T. Mason, 597 Mexican Calendar System, Dr. Brinton on the, 462 Mexico, Cyclone in Gulf of, 569 Meyer (A. B.), Indian Origin of Ancient Amber, 422 Meyer (Prof. Victor), the Action of Heat and Light on Hydri- odic Acid Gas, 111 Meyer’s Conversational Lexicon, 623 Meyerhoffer (W.), the Third Principle of Energetics, 456 ; the Decomposition of Energy into Two Factors, 523 Michael (A. D.), the Digestive Processes in the Acarina, 71 Michaelis (Prof.), the Thionylamines, 14 ; a Method of Prepar- ing Nitrites in a State of Purity, 39 M. Davis, 239; Fogs in British Islands, 1876-90, | Michelson’s (Prof.) Method of Producing Interference Bands, R. H. Scott, F.R.S., 239; Upper Air Currents Edwin Edser, 159, 372 over Arabian Sea, W. L. Dallas, 239; Abnormal | Michie (P. S.), Practical Astronomy, 197 Weather in the Himalayas, F. C. Constable, .248; | Michigan, Clouds of Flies in, C. D. McLouth, 545 Micro-Organisms, Disinfectants and, 161 Micronesia, the Gilbert Islands, Dr. O. Finsch, 92 Microscopy: the Digestive Processes in the Acarina, A. D. Violent Thunderstorms on Ben Nevis, 251; Obir Thermo- graph Records, Director |. Hann, 251; Hygroscopic Plants, 9; Falkenhorst, 253 ; Tidal and Atmospheric Waves due to Luni-Solar Influence, Bouquet de la Grye, 264 ; Die Klimate der Geologischen Vergangenheit und ihre Beziehung zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Sonne, Eug. Dubois, 266; Floods and Landslips in Tyrol, 273 ; Climatic Effect of Forests upon Neighbourhood, E. Ebermayer, 284 ; Earth-Temperature at Hamburg, 1886-91, W. J. van Bebba, 284; Temperature Waves at Trieste, 1871-1890, Ed. Mazelle, 297 ; Thunderstorm. Phenomena on the Matter- horn, Walter Larden, 316; Destructive Cloud-Burst in Colorado, 321; Sandstorm in Pomerania, 322; Royal Meteorological Institute of Netherlands, Atlas of Observa- tions in Indian Ocean, Part II., 323 ; the General Motions of the Atmosphere, W. L. Dallas, 341; Disastrous Cloud- Burst in Middle Styria, 351; Shower of Ants and Flies in Michael, 71; New Species of Nais, W. B. Benham, 115 ; New Organ in Lycoridea, E. S. Goodrich, 115 ; Nephridia of Decapod Crustacea, E. J. Allen, 115 ; Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 115, 3323 Royal Microscopical Society, 71, 167, 286; Modern Microscopy, M. J. Cross, Martin J. Cole, Dr. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S., 246: Selenite in Utah, Dr. Talmage, 286; Morphology and Physiology of Brain and Sense Organ of Limulus, Dr. W. Patten, 332 ; the Pervisceral Cavity in Ciona, A. H. L. Newstead, 332 ; Early Stages in Development of Distichopora Violacea, Dr. S. J. Hickson, 332 ; Microscopical Investigations on Develop- ment and Function of Mammary Gland, Dr. Benda, 408 ; an Introduction to the Study of the Diatomacezx, Frederick Wm. Mills, 537; Strauss’s Method of Colouring Cilia of Living Micro-Organisms, 621 Middlesborough Salt Industry, the, Richard Grigg, 356 Miers (H. A ), Instruments for Study of Crystals, 63; the Soil in Relation to Health, 196 ; Spangolite, a Remarkable Cornish Mineral, 426 Miguel (M.), the Cambrian of the Heranet, 432 Milky Way, Photographs of the, Prof. E. E, Barnard, 277 Mill (Dr. Hugh Robert), Soot-Figures on Ceilings, 29; Physi- cal Geography of Clyde Sea Area, 287 ;, Bathymetrical Survey of Large English Lakes, 327; Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 Millar (Dr. J.), on Certain Gregarinidz and the Possible Con- nection of Allied Forms with Tissue Changes in Man, 576 Mills (Frederick Wm.), an Introduction to the Study of the Diatomaceee, 537 Milton (G. T.), Water/Tube Boilers, 278 Mimicry in Insects, Examples of, 160 Minakata (Kumagusu), the Constellations of the Far East, 541 ; Early Chinese Observations on Colour Adaptations, 567 Minchin (Prof.), Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Dynamics, 166 Minchin (Geo. M.), Hydrostatics and Elementary Hydroki- netics, 457 : Mineralogy : a New Variety of Amber, “‘ Burmite,” Dr. Noet- ling, 13 ; the Amber and Jade Mines of Upper Burma, Dr. Noetling, 13; Rose-coloured Lime- and Alumina-bearing Cambridgeshire, 351; the Perennial Spring Climate of Quito, Dr. J. Hann, 352; Meteorological Society established at Zi-ka-Wei, near Shanghai, 352; Effects of Cyclone of June 21 in Kansas, E. H. S. Bailey, 352; Four Simultaneous Waterspouts at Antibes, M. Naudin, 360; Disastrous Floods in Austria, 376 ; Typhoons of China Sea, Dr. W. Doberck, . 376; Report of United States Weather Bureau for 1892, Ce Katechismus der Meteorologie, Prof. Dr. W. J. van bber, 387 ; Wetterbiichlein, Leonhard Reynman, 389 ; Hurricane in Nova Scotia, 398; Disastrous Cyclone at Savannah, 421 ; Cyclone on New York Coast, 421 ; Obser- vations for 1892, Bremen, Dr. P. Bergholz, 422 ; the Climate of Eastern Tasmania, Rev. G. R. M. Wilson, 424; the Meteorological Observatory on Ben Nevis, 428 ; the American Cyclone of August 28 and 29, 444 ; Hurricane at Azores, 445 ; Deutsche Seewarte Report for 1892, 445 ; the Typhoon of October 7-10, 1892, R. P. Chevalier, 455 ; Drought Cycles, M. C. Maze, 482; Rain-Making Experiments at Duplin, 522 ; the Bokhara Typhoon of October, 1892, Rev. S. Chevalier, 522 ; the Mont Blanc Observatory, 522; Oscillations of Lightning Discharges and Aurora Borealis, 535; Weather Forecasts, R. H. Scott, 543 ; the Three Indian Cyclones of November, 1891, M. Eliot, 545 ; Behaviour of Storms of Indian Ocean, Dr. G. Schot', 597; Fluctuations in Latitude of Storm- Tracks, Dr. M. A. Veeder, 598; Observations taken at Hawaiian Islands, Dr. Marcuse, 559; Cyclone in Gulf of Mexico, 569; Turin Osservazione, 570; Chicago Meteoro- logical Congress, 570 ; Movements of Air in Cyclones and Anticyclones, 583; Certain Climatic Features of the Two Dakotas, Lieut. L. P. Finley, 599; Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, 607; Climatological Table for British Empire, 1892, 607; Observation of an Aurora Borealis, M. Le duc Nicolas de Leuchtenberg, 608 ; Meteorology of British Guiana for 1891, 620 ; Meteorological Station at Charchani, Peru, Highest in the World, A. L. Rotch, 631 Meteors: Meteor, a, 425; the April Meteors, W. F. Denning, 5; Meteor Showers, 15, 254, 326; Daylight Meteor, March 18, J. Edmund Clark, 54; Meteor Observations, W. F. Mines, Variety of Talc, W. H. Hobbs,70; Sphene Discovered by Prof. David in Bathurst (New South Wales) Granite, 78 ; the Grano- phyre of the Carlingford and Morne Mountains, Prof. Sollas, F.R.S., 109; Minervite, a New Natural Phosphate, Armand Gautier, 119 ; Ovifak (Greenland) Iron, Henri Moissan, 167 ; New Method of Determining Comparative Hardness of Substances, August Rosinal, 180; Formation of Natural Phosphates, Armand Gautier, 240; Selenite in Utah, Dr. Talmage, 286; the Williams Collection of Minerals, L. Fletcher, F.R.S., 357; Germanium found in Canfieldite, Prof. Penfield, 378 ; Analysis of Canfieldite, Prof, Penfield, 378; Spangolite, a Remarkable Cornish Mineral, H. A. Miers, 426; Mackintoshite, W. E, Hidden, 431 Explosions in, with Special Reference to the Dust XXVHll Index lement to Nature, ie up, ovember 30, 1893 Theory, Prof. H. B. Dixon, Mr. Hall, Mr. Galloway, Prof, Thorpe, Mr. Stokes, 530 Mining: Ore-Treatment at Broken Hill, New South Wales, M, B. Jamieson and J. Howell, 37 Minnesota, Inland Biological Station established at Gall Lake, 32. Minot Planets, the Brightness of the Major and, Dr. G. Miiller, 15 Mirage, the Phenomenon of, Illustrated, MM. de Lepinay and Perot, 109 Missouri, History of the Mapping of, Arthur Winslow, 548 Mivart (St. George), Types of Animal Life, 148 Modern Meteorology, Frank Waldo, William E. Plummer, 97 Modern Mycology, Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S., 224 Mohn (H.), Iridescent Cloud, 91 Mohun (Mr.), Resurvey of Lake Leopold II. by, 601 Moissan (M. Henri) on the Quantitative Determination of Boron, 96 ; Preparation of Metallic Tungsten, Molybdenum and Vanadium, 134; Researches with the Electric Furnace, 134; Volatilisation of Metals, &c., in the Electric Furnace, 207 ; Electric Furnace, Crystallised Silicide of Carbon obtained with, 572, 573; Iron of Ovifak (Greenland), 167 ; the Method of Isolation and the Properties of Fluorine, 529 Molecular Force, Formula for Law of, M. van der Waals, 168 Molesworth (Sir Guilford L.) and Robert Bridges Molesworth, Pocket-Book of Useful Formule and Memoranda for Civil and Mechanical Engineers, 610 Moller (M.), the Dynamics of the Atmosphere, 215 Mollusca ; the Range of Placostylus, C. Hedley, 38 Mollusca of New Zealand, the Land and Freshwater, Hedley and H. Suter, 182 Moloney (Dr.), Captain Stairs’ Katanga Expedition, 135 Moluccas, Departure of Dr. Kiikenthol on Zoological Expedi- tion to, 619 Monsoons of Ceylon, the Big and Little, E. Douglas Archi- bald, 175 Mont Blanc Observatory, the, 522, 549 Month and Year, a Simple Rule for Finding the Day of the Week corresponding to any given Day of the, Dr. C. Braun, 222 Monthly Packet, Science in, 35 Monti (Dr.), Discrepancies in Values obtained for Difference of Potential required to pierce Paraffin Slab, 620 Moon’s Atmosphere, the, and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, G, H. Bryan, 526 Moon’s Surface, the, G. K. Gilbert, 82 Morax (M.), Modification of Loeffler’s Method for Exhibiting Cilia of Micro-organisms in Stained Preparations, 399 Morto’ogy ; the Thrush Fungus, Marantonio, 622; Artificial Immunity and Typhoid Fever, 211 More (C. J.), Wreck- Raising in the Thames, 78 Morgan (Prof. C. Lloyd), the Origin and Development of Music, Richard Wallaschek, 290; the Limits of Animal In- telligence, 350 Morley Interferential Comparator, Prof. Wm. A. Rogers on the, Cc. 461 Morley’s (Prof.) Final Determination of the Atomic Weight of Oxygen, 461 Morphology of the Vertebrate Ear, Howard Ayers, 184 Morris (G. H.), Chemistry and Physiology of Foliage Leaves, 94 Morse (C. H.), Water-Pipes damaged by Electrolytic Action of Return Current from Electric Railway, 181 Mortillet (A. de), Manx Cats, 108 — Bulletin de la Société des Naturalistes de,.91, 188, 593 eine River (Sweden), the Standing Still Phenomenon of the, 20) Moths, Life-History of Bombycine, A. S. Packard, 252 Mott (F. T.), on the Origin of Organic Colour, 575 Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo, Exploration of, John White- head, 564 Mountain Ranges, Theories of the Origin of, Prof. Le Conte, 551 Mountaineering, the Climbing of High Mountains, W. M. Con- way, 443 Muirhead (William), Suggested Improvements in Manufacture of Steel Plates, 550 Mulberry, Two New Diseases of the, G. Boyer and F. Lambert, 432 Miiller (Dr. G.), the Brightness of the Major and Minor Planets, 15; the Greatest Brilliancy of Venus, 61 Miiller (Prof. Max), Jubilee of Doctorate of, 481 eer asap Simplified, Lieut.-Colonel Allan Cunningham, 31 Men the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung Exhibition at, 19 Munro (Dr. Robert), Opening Address in Section H of the British Association, 503; on the Structure of Lake-Dwell- ings, 558 Muntz (A.), Vine-leaves as Cattle Food, 168 Mur Valley, Earthquake at, 351 Murray (George), the Distribution of Marine Floras, 257 Murree, Terrific Hailstorm at, 229; F. C. Constable, 251 Museum, South’ African, Report of, 207 Museum, Australian, Annual Report for 1892, 621 Museums Association, Sir William H. Flower, F.R.S., 234, 254 Mushrooms, Emulsine-like Ferment in, Em. Bourquelot, 512 Music, Primitive, Richard Wallaschek, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290 Muthmann (Dr.), Well-crystallised Potassium and Ammonium Selenium Bromides obtained by, 80 Mycology : Vergleichende Morphologie der Pilze, Dr. F. von Travel, Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S., 224; the > sg Gardens of Certain South American Ants, John C. Willis, 392 Myers (Dr. A. T.), Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, U.S. Army, 611 Myophone, the, M. d’Arsonval, 399 Niigeli (Prof. Carl V.), Oligodynamic Phenomena of Living Cells, 331 Nalder (F. H.), Bridge and Commutator for Comparing Elec- trical Resistances, 263; Apparatus for Comparing nearly Equal Resistances, 528 Nansen’s North Pole Expedition, 205, 301, 425, 574 Naples, Publications of the Zoological Station at, Prof. Anton Dohrn, 440 Nardoo (Marsilea Drummondit), the Habit and Use of, T. L. Bancroft, 407 Natal, Adoption of Responsible Government by, 112 National Review, 350 Natural History: the Selborne Society, 36; Natural History Society of Marlborough College, Report of, 37; Bulletin de la Société des Naturalistes de Moscou, 91, 188; Zapiski (Memoirs) of Novoros Sian (Odessa) Scciety of Naturalists, 92; Annalen des K. K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, 92 ; Proposed Monument to Gilbert White, 131 ; the Metallic- looking Deposit on Teeth of Ruminating Animals, Herr Ascherson, 231; Crocodile’s Egg with Solid Shell, J. Battersby, 248; the Life of a Butterfly, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 338; Habits of South African Animals, Dr. Alfred Wallace, F.R.S., 390; Transactions of Norfolk and Norwich Naturatists’ Society, 621. Natural Science, the Elements of, Dr. H. Wettstein, 612 Nature, Mechanisms in, Jeremiah Head, 497 Naudin (M.), Four Simultaneous Water-Spouts at Antibes, 360 Naumann (Dr. Edmund), Geological Structure of Japan, 619 Naval Architecture of Northern Europe, Pre-Historic, G, H. Boehmer, 274 Naval Architects, Institution of, 277 Nebulz, Observations of, Dr. Rudolf Spitaler, 184 Neolithic Implements ; the Evolution of Working in Stone, J. D. McGuire, 398 Nerve Stimulation, Prof. Gotch, 575 Nest, a Wasps’, 437 Neurokeratin, Dr. L. Ognoff, 188 New Caledonian Pottery, Otis T. Mason, 543 New Conclusions, Graham Officer, Lewis Balfour, 342 New Guinea, Réctification of Frontier between British and Dutch, 426 New Review, Science in the, 249, 350, 543 New South Wales: New South Wales Linnean Society, 287, 584; Ore-Treatment and Mining at Broken Hill, M. B. Jamieson and J. Howell, 37; Royal Society of New South Wales, 36, 287, 335, 536; Sphene Discovered in Bathurst Granite by Prof. David, 78 New York Mathematical Society, Bulletin of, 44, 70, 187, 259, 359, 421 wee York, Scientific Alliance of, J. G. James, 421 New Zealand, the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of, C. Hedley and H. Suter, 182 Supplement to Pee | November 30, 1893 Lndex XX1X Newall (H. B.), Astronomical Photography, 517 Newall Telescope, the, 233 Newall (Prof. McF. A.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 421 Newstead (A. H. L.), the Pervisceral Cavity in Ciona, 332 Newton and Co.’s New Gyroscope Top, 354 Newton (Prof. Alfred, F.R.S.), Mr. H. O. Forbes’ Discoveries in the Chatham Islands, 101, 150 Newton (Prof. H. A.), Fireball of January 13, 1893, 524 Niagara Falls, Works of Cataract Construction Company at, 444 Nicolle (M.), Modification of Loeffler’s Method for Exhibiting Cilia of Micro-Organisms in Stained Preparations, 399 Niessl (Prof. von), an Ascending Meteor, 209 Nitride of Iron, on the Preparation and Properties of, G. J. Fowler, 529 Nitriles in a State of Purity, a Method of Preparing, Prof. Michaelis and Dr. Siebert, 39 Nitro-Metals, a New Series of Compounds of Metals with Nitrogen Peroxide, A. E. Tutton, 524 Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, 115, 333 Noetling (Dr.), the Amber and Jade Mines of Upper Burma, 13; a New Variety of Amber, ‘ Burmite,” 13 Nomenclature, Variable Star, 81 Nomenclature, Ocean, 112 Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters, Dr. Alfred R. Wal- lace, F.R.S., 267; Dr. C. Herbert Hurst, 368 Norcock (Captain Chas. J.), Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North China Sea, 76 Nordenskidld (G.), the Inner Structure of Snow Crystals, 592 Nordling (W. de), France and International Time, 330 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, Transactions of, 621 North Pole, Wanderings of the, Sir Robert Ball, 349 North (Marianne), Some Further Recollections of a Happy Life, selected from the Journals of, Mrs. John Addington Symonds, 291 Norway, Disastrous Landslip in, 78 Norwegian Antarctic Whaling Expedition, 574 Norway, the Hessian Fly in, 618 Nottingham Meeting of the British Association, Prof. Frank Clowes, 295, 344, 419; J. S. Burdon Sanderson’s, F.R.S., Inaugural Address, 464 Nottingham Water Supply, Source of, Prof. E.. Hull, 532 Nova Aurigz, the Genesis of, Richard A. Gregory, 6 Nova (T.) Aurigee Spectrum, W. W. Campbell, 524 Nova Scotia, Hurricane in, 398 Objectives, Optical Tests for, Dr. Ludwig Mach, 16 Observatories: Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 112; Annual Visitation of the Greenwich Observatory, 127; the Astro- Physical Observatory, 184; the Observatory of Yale Uni- versity, 327; Proposed New Telescope for Cambridge Ob- servatory, 358 ; Mr. Tebbutt’s Observatory, 483 ; Celestial Photography at the Paris Observatory, 617 ; a New Astro- nomical Observatory at Manila, 623; Kew Observatory, Appointment of Mr, Charles Chree as Superintendent, 11 ; the Meteorological Observatory on Ben Nevis, 428; the Mont Blanc Observatory, 522, 549 Ocean Nomenclature, 112 Oddone (Signor), Earth’s Magnetism in Neighbourhood of Magnetic Rocks, 274 OJessa, Zapiski (Memoirs) of Novoros Sian Society of Natu- ralists, 92 Oettel (Dr.), Action of Platinum and Copper Electrodes and of Acid and Neutral Solutions upon Amount of Copper Deposit, 230 Officer (Graham), the Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes, 198 ; New Conclusions, 342 Official Catalogue of the Exhibition of the German Empire at the Columbian Universal Exhibition in Chicago, 176 Ognoff (Dr. J.), Neurokeratin, 188 Ohlmiiller (Herr), Chemical and Bacterial Condition of Elbe at Magdeburg, 399 Oil Bubbles, on a Peculiar Motion assumed by, in Ascending Tubes containing Caustic Solutions, F. T. Trouton, 529 Oil-Spreading on Sea Surface, Prof. Oberbeck, 181 Old and New Astronomy, Richard A. Proctor, 361; A. C. Ranyard, 416 ; the Reviewer, 416 ; S. D. Proctor-Smyth, 438 ; the Reviewer, 438 Oldham (H. Y.), appointed to Cambridge Geographical Lectureship, 138 ; Relationship between Physical Geography and prt 554 Oldham (R, D.), the Bacchus Marsh Boulder Beds, 416 Oligodynamic, Phenomena of Living Cells, Prof. Carl V. Nageli, 331 Olitzky (Herr), Antagonistic Effects of Bacillus Fluorescens Liquefaciens on other Organisms, 181 Oliver (Prof. F. W.), Fogs and Horticulture, 18 Olson (O. T.), Flashing Lights for Marine Purposes, 557 On and Thebes, the Astronomical History of, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 318, 371 Ophidia, Development of Pancreas in, G. Saint-Remy, 536 Optics : a Simple Optical Photometer, Dr. Simonoff, 12 ; Photo- meter for Measuring Intensities of Lights of Different Colours, A. M. Meyer, 309; a Photometric Method Independent of Colour, O. N. Rood, 535 ; Optical Tests for Objectives, Dr. Ludwig Mach, 16: Electro-Optics, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 34; a Portable Ophthalmometer, Dr. Thos. Reid, 44; Peculiar Phenomenon of Light Refraction on Snow, A. W. Whitney, 60; Method of Obtaining Determination of Re- fractive Index of Atmosphere for every portion of Photographic Spectrum, Messrs. Kayser and Runge, 60; Atomic Refraction of Nitrogen, Prof. Briihl, 60; Comparison of Intensities of Light by the Photo-Electric Method, J. Elster and H. Geitel, 91; the Phenomenon of Mirage} Illustrated, MM. de Lépinay and Perot, 109 ; Method of Studying Process of Diffusion in Liquids, O. Wiener, 109 ; Diffraction of Light at Straight Sharp Edge of Screen, Eugen Maey, 141 ; Diffraction Gratings, Local Anomalies, A. Cornu, 144; Experiments on Permeability of Metallic Wire-Gratings to Polarised Heat Rays, Dr. Rubens, 288; Polarisation of Undiffracted Infra-Red Radiation by Metal Wire Gratings, H. E. J. G. du Bois and H. Rubens, 406 ;a Photometer, E. W. Lehmann, 406 ; Alternations of Colours presented by Gratings, Georges Meslin, 432 ; Aperture Fringes in the Experiment with Parallel Gratings, M. Georges Meslin, 608 ; a Reflecting Kaleidoscope, Dr. John Gorham, 159; Apparatus Illustrating Prof. Michelson’s Method of Producing Interference Bands, Edwin Edser, 159; Inter- ference Bands and their Applications, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 212; Apparatus Illustrating Michelson’s Method of Obtain- ing Interference Bands, Edwin Edser, 372 ; Curious Illusion, M. Bourdon, 180; Is Colour-Blindness a Product of Civili- sation? Messrs. Blake and Franklin, 206; the True Origin of Contrast Colours, A. M. Mayer, 274; Diathermanous Power of Ebonite for Heat-Waves, Riccardo Arno, 299 ; Colours of Sky-, Sun-, Cloud-, and Candle-Light, Capt. Abney, F.R.S., 333 ; Magneto-Optic Rotation, Prof. Andrew Gray, 345; Absorption of Light by Platinum at Different Temperatures, Dr. G. B. Rizzo, 377; Charpentier’s Experi- ments Demonstrative of an Oscillatory Process in the Organ of Vision and of its Dimensions, 380; Absorption of Light by Liquid Bromine, Charles Camichel, 384 ; a Curious Optical Phenomenon, Dr. A. Wille, 391 ; Hering’s Theory of Colour Vision, C. L. Franklin, 517 ; Remarkable Case of Resusci- tation of an Optical Image, Prof. T. Vignoli, 545 ; Simple Method of Measuring Retardation in Minerals Cut in Thin Plates, G. Cesaro, 583. Orchitic Liquid, Physiological and Therapeutic Effects of Injec- tion of, MM. Brown-Séquard and d’Arsonval, 23 Order or Chaos? 241 Organic Colour, on the Origin of, F. T. Mott, 575 : Orientation : the Orientation of Greek Temples, F. C. Penrose, 42; the Influence of Egypt upon Temple Orientation in Greece, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 417 ; Orientation of Temples by the Pleiades, R. G. Haliburton, 566 Ormerod (Eleanor A.), a Few Remarks on Insect Prevalence during the Summer 1893, 394 O’Reilly (Prof. J. P.), Meeting of the French Association, 448 Ornithology: an Analytical Index to the Works of the late John Gould, F.R.S., R. Bowdler Sharpe, 100; Hawks and Owls the Farmer’s Friends, Dr. A. K. Fisher, 133; Wild Birds Protection, 133; Effect of Emotion on Song of Birds, Dr. Morris Gibbs, 156 ; Soaring of Hawk, F. C. Constable, 223; Carrier Pigeons, F. W. Headley, 223; Birds’ Method of Steering, F. W. Headley, 293 ; Birds’ Steering Methods, F. A. Lucas, 414; Adventures of a Dabchick in St. James’s Park, T. B. Pigott, 322; Imitation or ‘‘ Instinct” bya Male . Thrush, E. Boscher, 369 ; Birds in a Village, W. H. Hudson, 409 ; Sexual Colouration of Birds, T. C. Headley, 413 ; the Identity of Shakespeare’s Russet-pated Choughs, J. E. Harting, 445 ; the Coccidea of Birds, Alphonse Labbé, 536: Mechanical Genesis of Form of Fowl’s Egg, Dr, J. A. Ryder, 597 XXX L[ndex [s“% lement to Nature ‘ovember 30, 1893 Osborn (Prof. H. F.), the Succession of Teeth in Mammals, 238: on the Mammals of the Upper Cretaceous, 462 Oswald (Dr. Wilhelm) Lehrbuch der Allgemeinen Chemie, J. W. Rodger, 49 Oswell (W. Cotton), Death and Obituary Notice of, 62 Oudemans (J. A. C.), Remarks on Herschel’s Second Method of Calculating Probable Orbit of Binary Stars, 312 Overbeck (Prof.), Oil-Spreading on Sea Surface, 181 Owen (Sir Richard), the Proposed Memorial to, 297 Oxalic Acids in Plants, the Protecting Function of, Herr Giessler, 109 Oxford, Mr. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., appointed Hope Professor of Entomology 154 Oxford, Human and Comparative Anatomy at, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 616 Oxygen, Magnetic Properties of Liquid, Prof. J. Dewar, F.R.S., 89 ’ Oxygen, Origin of Atmospheric, T. L. Phipson, 384 Oxygen, Prof. Morley’s Final Determination of the Atomic Weight of, 461 Oxygen, Report of the Committee on the Action of Light on the Hydracids of the Halogens in the Presence of, 530 Oxygen, on the Physiological Action of the Inhalation of, in Asphyxia, 575 Oyster-Culture and Temperature, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 269 Oyster-Culture in the Roscoff Aquarium, M. de Lacaze Duthiers, 560 Oysters, the Green Colour in, M. Pelseneer, 12 Oysters, Phagocytes of Green, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 75 Ozone, Formation of (ii.), W. A. Shenstone and M. Priest, 190 Ozone- Production at High Temperatures, Dr. Brunck, 354 Pacific Slope, Grasses of the, including Alaska and the adja- cent Islands, Dr. Geo, Vasey, 411 Packard (A. S.), Life-History of Bombycine Moths, 252 Palolithics ; the American Ice-Age Drift Flints said to be of Indian Manufacture, W. H. Holmes, 253 Palzontology: the Boundoulaou Grotto, E. A. Martel and Emile Riviere, 231 ; Extinct Gigantic Lemuroid (A/egalopidis Madagascariensis) from Madagascar, C. I. F. Major, 284 ; Some: Recent Restorations of Dinosaurs, R. Lydekker, 302 ; Prof. O. C. Marsh, 437; Tertiary and Triassic Gastropoda of the Tyrol, Dr. J. Dreger, 567 Reni Glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere, E. J. Dunn, 45 ° Palestine, Astronomy of the Fellahin of, 601 Panmixia, a Note on, Dr. Romanes, 543 Paraffins and Monohalogen Derivatives, Ratio of Specific Heats of, J. W. Capstick, 260 Paris Academy of Sciences, 23, 47, 72, 96, 119, 144, 167, 192, 216, 240, 264, 287, 311, 336, 360, 384, 4097, 432, 456, 484, 512, 535, 559, 584, 608, 631; Gift by M. and Mme. d’Ab- badie to the, 421 Paris, M. Foubert’s Map of Smokes of, M. Delahaye, 78 Paris Geographical Society, 40; Conversational Meetings, 327 Paris Observatory, Celestial Photography at the, 617 Parke (Surgeon-Major), Death of, 481 Parker (W. K.), Prof. Huxley, 12 Parry (John), Desulphurisation of Iron, 427 Pascal (Blaise), Recit dela Grande Expérience de1’Equilibre des Liqueurs, 436 Pasquale (Prof. F.), a Fall of Rain from Lime-Trees, 92 Pasteur, Hydrophobia Statistics for 1892 at the Institut, 544 Patents ; New Series cf Illustrated Abridgement Classes, 569 Patten (Dr. W.), Morphology and Physiology of Brain and Sense-Organs of Limulus, 332 Paulsen (A.), Hypotheses of Oscillations of Maximum Zone of Aurora, 188 Pearson (Prof. Karl), Asymmetrical Frequency Curves, 615 Peary (Lieut. ), Departure on his Second Arctic Expedition of, 234 Peary Relief Expedition of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Arctic Problem and Narrative of the, Prof. Angelo Heilprin, 434 Pechelbronn Petroleum Beds, Exceptionally High Temperatures in, M. Daubrée, 360 Pélabon (H.), Absorption of Seleniuretted Hydrogen by Liquid Selenium, 168 Pelseneer (M.), the Green Colour in Oysters, 12 Pembrokeshire, South, the Igneous Rocks of, Messrs. Howard and Small, 532 Pendulums, Novel Suspension for, A. Hasemann, 399 Penfield (Prof.), Canfieldite, 378 Penrose (F. C.), the Orientation of Greek Temples, 42 ; Pereyaslawzewa (Dr. Sophie), Turbellariz of the Black Sea, 109 : Perfumes, Apparatus for Measuring Intensity of, Eugéne Mesnard, 216 4 Periodic Comet, Finlay’s, 81 Periodic Mercury Pump, a, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, 320 Perkin (A. G.), Constituents of Kamala, I., 535 Perkin (W. H., jun.), Sulphocamphylic Acid, 94 Perot (M.), the Phenomenon of Mirage Illustrated, 109 Peroxide, Nitrogen, Nitro-Metals, a New Series of Compounds of Metals with, A. E. Tutton, 524 : Perrier (M.), Aluminium Chloride Compounds with Benzoyl Chloride and others of the Aromatic Series, 157 ; Perry (Prof. J., F.R.S.), the Viscosity of Liquids, 45 ; Seis- mology in Japan, 136 Perry’s (Prof.), New Electric Current Metres, 252 Perspective and Colour, Prof. Einthoven, 186 : Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 425, 448 re — (Prof. W. M. Flinders), the Thieving of Antiquities, 13 Petroleum Beds, Pechelbronn, Exceptionally High Tempera- tures in, M. Daubrée, 360 Petrology ; on the Dissected Volcano of Crandall Basin, Wyom- ing, Prof. J. P. Iddings, 531; W. W. Watts on Irish Petro- logy, 532. : Petrushevskiy’s (Prof.), Metric Measures in Russia, 298 Pfeil (Count), South-West Africa, 301 ; Phagocytes of Green Oysters, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., . 75 Pharmacy, Galenic, R. A. Cripps, 27 Philippi (Dr.), Flora and Fauna of Chile and Argentinia, 619 Philippson (Dr. A.), Types of Sea-Coasts, 597 Secs (J. I.), the Treatment of Barium Sulphate in Analysis, 187 ; Phipson (T. L.), Origin of Atmospheric Oxygen, 384 Phisalix (M.), Production of Sporeless Anthrax Bacilli, 545 Phosphorescence, Animal, D, Zabolotny, 92 Photography: Photograph of a Bolid, 16; Inductoscript Pho- tography, Rev. F. J. Smith, 64 ; Photographic Properties of Cobalt Salts, 192 ; Photographic Study of Sources of Light, Carcel Lamp and Electric Arc, M. Crova, 206 ; Stars havin: Peculiar Spectra, 208 ; Photographs of the Milky Way, Pro: E. E. Barnard, 277; Failure of Law of Equal Chemical Action, Capt. Abney, F.R.S., 285; Photographic Annual for 1893, 324 ; Photography of Flying Bullets, Air Jets and Sound Waves, E. and L. Mach, 353; Photography of Comet 4, 1893, F. Quénisset, 360; Submarine Photographs, Louis Boutan, 377 ; Atmospheric Refraction and Star Photographs, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 379; Astronomical Photogmeh 5 Rt. Hon. Lord Rayleigh, 391 ; Dr, A. A. Common, ARS, 459; H. F. Newall, 517; Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., 5413 Photography of Animals in Motion, M. Marey, 456; Ap- paratus for Observing and Photographing Interference and Diffraction Phenomena, W. B. Croft, 526; Congress of Photographic Society, 569, 596; Celestial Photography at the Paris Observatory, 617; Determination of Geographical Longitude, Herr C. Runge, 623 Photometry : a Simple Optical Photometer, Dr. Simonoff, 12 ; a New Photometer, A. P. Trotter, 190; Notes on, Prof. S. B. Thompson, 190; Major-General Festing, 190; Dr. Sump- ner, 190; Frank Wright, 190; Prof. Ayrton, 190; Mr. Medley, 190; Mr. Swinburne, 190; Mr. Blakesley, 190; the Diftusion Photometer, Prof. J. Joly, F.R.S., 269; Pho- tometer for Measuring Intensities of Lights of Different Colours, A. M. Mayer, 309; Colour Photometry, Captain Abney, F.R.S., 333; a Photometer, E. W. Lehmann, 406 ; a Photometric Method Independent of Colour, O. N. Rood, 535 Phototaxis and Chemiotaxis, J. S. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S. 47° Phycology; Deathand Obituary Notice of T. F. Kiitzwig, 597 Phylloxera, Schist-impregnated Peatmoss Treatment of, F. de Mély, 512 Physics: Physics, Advanced Course, George F. Barker, Prof. a x : r a E x : : : le St Supplement to Nature, November 30, 1893 ] Index XXxi Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., 1; Curious Experiment by M. Hurmuzescu, 13; the Variation of Surface Energy with Temperature, William Ramsay, F.R.S., and John Shields, 21; Physical Society, 45, 116, 166, 190, 263 ; the Viscosity of Liquids, Prof. Maurice Fitzgerald, 45; Prof. Perry, 45 ; Motion of Liquids Studied by Chronophotography, Marey, 47; Experiments to Demonstrate Structure of Flames, Prof. Smithells, 64; Breath Figures, John Aitken, 71; the Specific Heat of Carbon, H. Le Chatelier, 72; an Objection to the Kinetic Theory of Gases, H. Poincaré, 72 ; an Explanation of Rotation of Plane of Polarisation in a Magnetic Field, based on de Reusch’s Experiments, M. Verner, 78 ; Improved Apparatus for Exhibiting Phenomena of Gaseous Diffusion, Prof. V. Dvorak, 79 ; Gaseous Diffu- sion, Prof. Herbert McLeod, F.R.S., 104; on the Velocity of Propagation of Gravitation Effects, 5. Tolver Preston, 103 ; the Action of Heat and Light on Hydriodic Acid Gas, Prof. Victor Meyer and Herr Bodenstein, 111 ; Drawing of Curves by their Curvature, C. V. Boys, F.R.S., 116; the Foundation of Dynamics, Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., 117; Thickness and Electrical Resistance of Thin Liquid Films, 115; Profs. Reinold and Riicker, 115, 624; Prof. Sakurai’s Method of Determining Temperatures of Steam from Boiling Salt Solution, 132; Herr Brodmann’s Method of Determin- ing Co-efficients of Friction of very Viscous Liquids, 132; Highly Sensitive Manometer, M. Villard, 132; Berlin Physical Society, 144, 288, 407; Relations between the Sur- face Tension and Relative Contamination of Water-Surfaces, Miss Agnes Pockels, 152; Experiments for Determining by Weighing Diminution of Gravity on Ascent from Earth’s Sur- face, Drs. Richarz and Krigar-Menzel, 155 ; Decomposition of Steam by Heated Magnesium, Herr Rosenfeld, 157; Ex- periments with Vibrating Bar, C. J. Woodward, 166; For- mula for Law of Molecular Force, M. van der Waals, 168 ; Cause of Luminosity of Heated Gases, Dr. Pringsheim, 144 ; the Publication of Physical Papers, James Swinburne, 197 ; Alex. P. Trotter, 412; A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 222, 292 ; Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., 292; some Points in the Physics of Golf, Sir P. G. Tait, 202 ; Study of Filtration of Liquids, R. Lezé, 216; Rotatory Power of Bodies belonging to Homologous Series, P. A. Guye, 216; the Third Principle of Energetics, H. Le Chatelier, 240; Ratio of Specific Heats of Paraffins and Monohalogen Derivatives, J. W. Capstick, 260; Physical Review, 274; Proper Vibrations of Medium in- definitely extended outside a Solid Body, Marcel Brillouin, 287; Experiment on Diminution of Weight at Increasing Altitudes, Dr. Krigar-Menzel, 288 ; the Luminiferous Ether, - Sir G. G. Stokes, 306; Experiments on Resistance of Air, &c., to Motion of Falling Bodies, L. Cailletet and E, Colar- deau, 311; a Periodic Mercury Pump, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, 320; Megamicros, or Sensible Effects of Proportional Reduction of Dimensions of Universe, J. Delbcenf, 406; S. Tolver Preston, 517; Mr. Love’s Treatise on Elas- ticity, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 415, 543; Attempts to Determine Greatest Possible Number of Physical Constants of-same Piece of Metal subject to Least Mechanical Manipu- lation, Herr W. Voigt, 422; Investigation of Thermal Ex- pansion of Water by Weight-Thermometer Method, L. Chappuis, 423 ; Recit de la Grande Expérience de |’ Equilibre des Liqueurs, Blaise Pascal, 436 ; Prof. Wm. A. Rogers on the Morley Interferential Comparator, 461; on the Electric Strength of Solid Liquidand Gaseous Dielectrics, Profs. Mac- failaneand G. W. Pierce, 461 ; on Fatigue in the Elasticity of Stretching, Joseph O. Thompson, 461; Opening Address in Section A of British Association, R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., 473; Report on a Memoir by M. Defforges on the Dis- tribution of Intensity of Gravity at Surface of Globe, 484 ; Physics at the British Association, 525; Report of the Com- mittee on Solar Radiation, 525; Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald on the Period of Vibration of Disturbances of Electrification of the Earth, 526 ; the Moon’s Atmosphere and the Kinetic Theory of Gases, G, H. Bryan, 526; Grinding and Polishing of Glass Surfaces, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 526 ; Apparatus for Observing and Photographing Interference and Diffraction Phenomena, W. B. Croft, 526; on Sunspots and Solar Envelopes, Rev. F. Howlett, 526; on Our Present Know- ledge of Electrolysis and Electro-Chemistry, T. C. Fitzpatrick, 527; on the Connection between the Ether and Matter, Prof. O. Lodge, 527, 528; a Mechanical Analogue of Anomalous Dispersion, 527 ; Note on Prof. Ebert’s Method of Estimating th Radiating Power of an Atom, 527; on Electric Inter. ference Phenomena, E. H. Barton, 527; on the Passage of Electric Waves through Layers of Electrolyte, 527 ; Teaching of Elementary Physics, 527 ; on Standards of Low Electrical Resistance, J. Viriamu Jones, 528 ; Apparatus for Comparing Nearly Equal Resistances, F. H. Nalder, Dr. O. Lodge, F.R.S., 528; a Simple Interference Experiment, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S,, 528 ; on Specula for Reflecting Telescopes, Dr. A. Shafarik, 528; a New Form of Air Pump, Prof. J. J. Thompson, 529; on a Peculiar Motion assumed by Oil Bubbles in Ascending Tubes containing Caustic Solutions, F. T. Trouton, 529; Theory of Change of Properties of Liquid in Proportion to Matter in Solution invalidated in Case of Density of Dilute Aqueous Solutions, F. Kohlrausch and W. Hallwachs, 571 ; Modification of Hydrometer Method of{Determining Densities of Gases, M. Meslans, 598; Luminous Phenomena in Vessels Filled with Rarefied Gas under In- fluence of Rapidly Alternating Electric Fluids, H. Ebert and E. Wiedemann, 607; Solubility of some Insoluble Bodies in Water Determined by Electric Conductivity and Solution, F. Kohlrausch and F. Rose, 607; Vapour Pressures of Aqueous Solutions, C. Dieterici, 620; Refractive Indices of Liquid Nitrogen and Air, Profs. Liveing and Dewar, 620 ; Endothermic Reactions Affected by Mechanical Force, M. C. Lea, 631 ; Interior Temperature of Bread coming out of Oven, M. Balland, 632; Crystallisation of Water by De- compression below Zero, E. H. Amagat, 632 Physiography : Elements of Physiography, Dr. Hugh Dickie, 3 ; A. E. Brehm, Les Merveilles de la Nature, La Terre, les Mers et les Continents, Geographie Physique, Géologie et Minéralogie, Fernand Priem, Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 25; Advanced Physiography, R. A. Gregory and J. C. Christie, 339 Physiology : Arrangement of Sympathetic Nervous System, I., J. K. Langley, F.R.S., 21; Physiological and Therapeutic Effects of Injection of Orchitic Liquid, MM. Brown-Séquard and d’Arsonval, 23; the Development of Blood Corpuscles, Dr. Engel, 47 : the Sense of Touch in the Blind, Dr. Gold- scheider, 48 ; the Relationship of Cell-Elements to Certain Colouring Matters, Dr. Lilienfeld, 48; Animal Heat and Physiological Calorimetry, Prof. Rosenthal, 88 ; Physiology of Foliage Leaves, H. T. Brown and G. H. Morris, 94 ; Berlin Physiological Society, 119, 288, 408 ; 6 —-achroglobine, a Respiratory Globuline contained in Blood of Certaia Mollusca, A. B. Griffiths, 119 ; Correlation of Action of Antagonistic Muscles, Dr. C. S. Sherrington, 141 ; Investiga- tion of Nerve Roots Forming Lumbo-Sacral Plexus of Macacus Rhesus, J. S. R. Russell, 141 ; Analysis by Electric Stimulation of Motor Region of Cortex Cerebri in Macacus Sinicus, Dr. C. E. Beevor and Victor Horsley, F.R.S., 142 ; Urea in Bird-Blood and its Bearing on Uric Acid Formation in Animals, Sir Alfred Garrod, F.R.S., 142; Trophoblast of Tupaja Javanica, M. Hubrecht, 168; the Rede Lecture, Prof. Michael Foster, Sec. R. S., 178; Alkalis of Blood ana Lymph, J. M. Syechenov, 188; Neurokeratin, Dr. J. Ogneff, 188 ; Duration of Excitability of Nerves and Muscles after Death, A. d’Arsonval, 240; Electric Excitability of Muscles after Death, the Myophone, M. d’Arsonval, 399 ; Process of Secretion in Skin of Common Eel, Prof. E. W. Reed, 260; Experiments on Transplantation of Slips of Small Intestine into Bladder, Dr, Rosenburg, 288 ; Methods of Blood-Titration, Dr. Loewy, 288; Experiments on Co- ordinating Centres of Cardiac Ventricle, W. T. Porter, 288 ; Influence of Exercise on Interchange of Respiratory Gases, W. Marcels, F.R,S., 309; Morphology and Physiology of Brain and Sense Organ of Limulus, Dr. W. Potter, 332 ; the Pervis- ceral Cavity in Ciona, A. H, Newstead, 332; Early Stages in Development of Distichopora Violacea, Dr. S. J. Hickson, 332 ; Effects of Injection of Sugar into a Vein, Vaughan Ffarley, 334 ; Microscopical Investigations on Development and Func- tion of Mammary Gland, Dr. Benda, 408; Relation of Glosso- Pharyngeal and Olfactory Nerves to Sensory End-Organs, Dr. Baginsky, 408; Clotting of Blood, Dr. Lilienfeld, 4c8 ; Action of Extracts of Animal Tissues on Number of White Corpuscles, Dr. Jacobs, 408 ; Mechanism of closing of Ductus Bogalli, Dr. Paul Strassmann, 408; Origin and Scope of Modern Physiology, J. S. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., 465 : Physiological Papers of Prof. Sachs, 513; Development of Pancreas in Ophidia, G. Saint-Remy, 536 Pickering (S. U.), Hydrates of Sodium, Potassium, Lithium Hydroxides, Solutions, 535 and 117; Properties of some Strong XXXIi Index lement to Nature, eg up, ‘ovember 30, 1893 Pickering (Prof.), Jupiter’s Satellites, 81; the Satellites of Jupiter, 209 Pidgeon’s (W. R.) Influence Machine, 263 Pierce (Prof. G. W.), on the Electric Strength of Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous Dielectrics, 461 Pigeons, Carrier, F. W. Headley, 223 Pigment, Animal, containing Copper, Turacin, Prof, A. H. Church, F.R.S., 209 Pigott (T. D.), Adventures of a Dabchick in St. James’s Park, 322 Pike (Capt. Richard), Death of, 82 Pillow Problems, Charles L. Dodgson, M.A., 564 Pionchon (M.), a Product of Incomplete Oxidation of Alu- minium, 407 Pirrson (L. V.), Volcanic Rocks from Gough’s Island, 70 Placostylus, the Range of, C. Hedley, 38 Plague of Field Voles, 282 Plane-Tree Honey, Edm. Jandrier, 608 Planet Venus, the, Ellen M. Clerke, 447 Planet Victoria, Observations of the, Dr. Gill, 276 Planetary Nebula, B.D. + 41° 4004, Parallax of, 548 Planets, the Brightness of the Major and Minor, Dr. G, Muller, 15 Plant Hybrids, the Minute Structure of, Prof. J. Muirhead Macfarlane, 402 Plants, Hydrocyanic Acid in, 96 Plants, Physiology of, Prof. Sachs, 513 Pleiades, Orientation of Temples by the, R. G. Haliburton, 66 5 Plummer (William E.), Modern Meteorology, Frank Waldo, 97, Plymouth Marine Biological Station, the Week’s Work of the, 14, 39, 61, 81, 111, 134, 158, 183, 208, 232, 253, 275, 300, 326, 354s 379, 401, 425, 447, 483, 524, 547, 573, 600, 622 Pneumatic Caulking and Chipping Tool, Mr. Ross, 556 Pockels (Miss Agnes), Relations between the Surface-Tension and Relative Contamination of Water Surfaces, 152 Pocock (R. I.), Notes upon the Habits of some Living Scor- pions, 104 Poincaré (H.), an Objection to the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 42 Poison, Arrow, of East Equatorial Africa, Dr. T, R. Fraser, F.R.S,, and Dr. Joseph Tillie, 92 Poisoning of the Future, the, Dr. S. S. Sprigge, 250 Polarisation: an Explanation of Rotation of the Plane of Polarisation in Magnetic Field based on De Reusch’s Experi- ments, M. Verner, 78; Polarization Rotatoire, Réflexion et Réfraction Vitreuses, Réflexion Métallique, G. Fonssereau, 266 ; Residues of Polarisation, E. Bouty, 336; Polarisation, using a Thin Metal Partition in a Voltameter, John Daniel, 524; Influence of State of Surface of Platinum Electrode upon its Initial Capacity of Polarisation, J. Colin, 584 Politis (Prof. N. G.), the Breaking of Clay Vessels as a Funeral Rite in Modern Greece, 445 Pomel (A.), the Norway Rat in the Ancient Western World, 72 Pomerania, Sandstorm in, 322 Poore (George Vivian), Essays on Rural Hygiene, 266 Pope (W. J.), New Haloid Derivatives of Camphor, 118 Popular Botany, John Bidgood, 175 Port Erin Marine Biological Station, the, 423 Porter (A. W.), Electric Circuits of Measurable Inductance and Capacity, Flow and Dissipation of Energy in, 406 Porter (W. T.), Experiments on Coordinating Centres of Car- diac Ventricle, 288 Postlethwaite (J.), Intrusive Sheet of Diabase near Bassenth- waite, 286 Potato, Relation to Crop obtained of Number of Eyes on Seed Tuber, J. C. Arthur, 353 Potstones Found near Seaford, Geo. Abbott, 315 Pottery, New Caledonian, Otis T. Mason, 543 Pouchet (G.), Plankton of Northern Lagoon of Jan Mayen, 119 ; the Various Kinds of Arctic Ice, 251 Poulton (E. B., F.R.S.), Soot-Figures on Ceilings, 29; ap- pointed Hope Professor of Entomology at Oxford, 154; Colours of certain Lepidopterous Larvee largely due to Food- Plant Pigments, 239 Powell (J. W.), Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of ne te ae to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1655-80, 3 Poynting (Prof. J. H., F.R.S.), the Mean Density of the Earth, 379 Presepe, Comet Finlay and the, 512 Precht (Julius), Absolute Measurements on Discharge of Elec- tricity from Points, 140 Precision of Measurements, Discussion of the, Silas W. Holman, 221 Preece (W. H., F.RS.), Submarine Borers and Submarine Cables, 160; Effect of City and South London Electric Rail- way on Earth, 205 Prehistoric Naval Architecture of Northern Europe, G. H. Boehmer, 274 Prenatal Influences on Character, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S., 389 Preston (S. Tolver), onthe Velocity of Propagation of Gravita- tion Effects, 103; Megamicros, 517 Preyer (W.), Das Genetische System der Chemischen Elemente, W. Preyer, 173 Priem (Fernand), A. E, Brehm, Les Merveilles de la Nature, La Terre, les Mers et les Continents ; Géographie Physique, Géologie et Minéralogie, Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 25 Priest (M.), Apparatus for Studying Action of Electric Dis- charge on Oxygen, 159 ; Formation of Ozone (ii ), 190 Primitive Music, Richard Wallaschek, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290 Pringsheim (Dr.), Cause of Luminosity of Heated Gases, 144 Pritchard (Dr. Charles, F.R.S.), Death of, 107; Obituary Notice of, 130 Procedure, Linnean Society, 150 Proctor (Richard A.), Old and New Astronomy, 361 ’ Proctor-Smyth (Mrs. S. D.), Old and New Astronomy, 4 Propagation of Gravitation Effects, on the Velocity of, S. Tolver Preston, 103 : Propagation of Electric Energy, Dr. Heinrich Hertz, 538 Protection of Woodlands, the, 337 Protozoon, on the Digestive Ferments of a Large, Prof. Marcus Hartog and Augustus E. Dixon, 575 Pyschology : Elements of Psychology, James Mark Baldwin, 292; Experimental Psychology, J. S. Burdon- Sanderson, F.R.S., 469 Pubblicazioni of Vatican Observatory, 180 Pubblicazioni della Specola Vaticana, 512 Public Health Laboratory Work, Henry R. Kenwood, 433 Public Health Problems, John F. J. Sykes, 27 Pump, a Periodic Mercury, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, 320 Pupin (Mr.), Oscillations of Low Frequency and their Reson- ance, 60 Pye-Smith (Dr. P. H., F.R.S.), the Harveian Oration, 601 Pyramid Builders, on the Early Temple and, J. Norman Lock- yer, F.R.S., 55 : Quaternions, the Discussions on, Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., 391 Quaternions, Vectors and, Prof, Alexander Macfarlane, 75, 540; Alfred Lodge, 198; Prof. C. G. Knott, 148, 516 Quaternions and Vector Analysis, Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, 364 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 115, 332 Queensland and New Caledonia, Submarine Cable laid between 623 Quénisset (F.), Photography of Comet 4, 1893, 360 Quito, the Perennial Spring Climate of, Dr. J. Hann, 352 Racial Dwarfs in the Pyrenees, J. S. Stuart-Glennie, 294 Rae (Dr. John), Death of, 296 ; Obituary Notice of, 321 : Raiatea, Strange Heathen Ceremony at, Miss Teuira Henry, 398 Rain-Making Experiments at Dublin, 522 Rainfall, Analysis of Causes of, Prof. G. E. Curtis, 631 Rainfall, the Greatest in Twenty-four Hours, E, Douglas Archibald, 77, 317; J. S. Gamble, 459 Rainfall, a Remarkable, Clement L. Wragge, 3 Rainfall, on Secular Variations of Our, 367 Rambaut (Prof. A. A.), Distortion of Photographic Star Images due to Refraction, 47; Atmospheric Refraction and Star Photographs, 379 Ramsay (Wm., F.R.S.), the Variation of Surface Tasrey with Temperature, 21; Boiling and Melting Points of Nitrous Oxide, 22 ; Note on Combination of Gases, 262 ; the Condi- tions Determinative of Chemical Change: some Comments on Prof. Armstrong’s Remarks, 267 . Ranyard (A. C.), Old and New Astronomy, 416 Raps (Herr), the Motion of Vibrating Strings, 324 Rassam (H.), the Thieving of Assyrian Antiquities, 508, 540 Supblement to Nature, November 30, 1893 Index XXXlil Rateau (M.), the Hypothesis of Sub-Continental Bells, 484 Rattlesnake, Supposed Suicide of a, W. H. Wood, 391; E. L. Garbett, 438; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 369 Ravenstein (E. G.), Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 Rawson (Christopher), a Manual of Dyeing, 170 Rayleigh (Rt. Hon. Lord, F.R.S.), Interference Bands and their Applications, 212; Astronomical Photography, 391 ; Grind- ing and Polishing of Glass Surfaces, 526; a Simple Interference Experiment, 528 Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Election of Fellows, 421 Reason versus Instinct, Charles William Purnell, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 73 Rebeur-Paschwitz (Dr. E. von), Earth Movements, 326; a Re- markable Source of Error, 401 Rebiére (A.), Mathématiques et Mathématiciens, Pensées et Curiosités, 410 Dees Mechanism, Automatic Balance of, Mr. Beaumont, 55 Recoura (A.), Chromopyrosulphuric Acid, 253, 264 Rede Lecture, the, Prof. Michael Foster, Sec. R. S., 178 Reed (F. R. C.), Abnormal Forms of Spirifera Lineata from Carboniferous Limestone, 143 geet (L.), Capillary Separation of Substances and Solution, II Reid (Prof. E. W.), Process of Secretion in Skin of Common Eel, 260 Reid (Dr. Thos.), a Portable Ophthalmometer, 44 Keinold (Prof. A. W.), Thickness and Electrical Resistance of Thin Liquid Films,* 115; Thickness and Electrical Con- ductivity of Thin Liquid Films, 624 Remarkable Hailstorms, Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, 294 Remington (E. C.), Luminous Discharges in Electrodeless Vacuum Tubes, 45 Research Laboratories for Women, Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 59° Retgers (Dr. ), Products of Sublimation of Arsenic, 510 REVIEWS AND OuR BOOKSHELF :— Physics, Advanced Course, George F. Barker, Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., 1 Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, P. Jensen, 2 Elements of Physiography, Dr. Hugh Dickie, 3 Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-86, J. W. Powell, 3 A. E. Brehm, Les Merveilles de la Nature, La Terre, les Mers et les Continents, Géographie Physique, Géologie et Minéralogie, Fernand Priem, Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 25 The Collected Papers of Sir Wm. Bowman, Bart. F.R.S., Edited by J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., and J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., 26 Aids to Biology, Joseph W. Williams, 26 Public Health Problems, John F. J. Sykes, 27 Galenic Pharmacy, R. A. Cripps, 27 Lehrbuch der Allegemeinen Chemie, Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald, J. W. Rodger, 49 The Steam Engine: a Treatise on Steam Engines and Boilers, Daniel Kinnear Clark, N. J. Lockyer, 51 Louis Agassiz, his Life and Work, Dr. Charles Frederick Holder, Prof. T, G. Bonney, F.R.S., 52 Beitrage zur Biologie und Anatomie der Lianen, im Beson- deren der in Brasilien einheimischen Arten, Dr. H. Schenck, 53 The Intelligence of Animals, Charles Wm. Purnell, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, 73 The Principles of Agriculture, G. Fletcher, 74 Au Bord de la Mer, Géologie, Faune et Flore des Cétes de France, Dr. E. L. Trouessart, 74 Modern Meteorology : an Outline of the Growth and Present Condition of some of its Phases, Frank Waldo, Wm. E. Plummer, 97 Telephone Lines and their Properties, Wm. J. Hopkins, Francis G, Baily, 99 _ An Elementary Treatise on Modern Pure Geometry, R. Lachlan, 100 Analytical Index to the Works of the late John Gould, F.R.S., R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., 100 An Elementary Treatise on Pure Geometry, J, W. Russell, 101 Sun, Moon and Stars, Astronomy for Beginners, A. Gilberne, 101 A Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, J. A. Harvey Brown and T. E. Buckley, 123 Gun and Camera in Southern Africa, H. Anderson Bryden, 125 Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., Sir H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S., 145 The Universal Atlas, 147 Types of Animal Life, St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 148 Science Teaching in Schools, Dr. Henry Dyer, 148 Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable, Dr. A. R. Forsyth, Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S., 169 A Manual of Dyeing for the Use of Practical Dyers, &c., Edmund Knecht, Christopher Rawson, Richard Loewen- thal, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 170 A Manual of Bacteriology, G. M. Sternberg, 172 Lehrbuch der Zoologie, Prof. Richard Hertwig, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 173 Zoology of the Invertebrata, A. O. Shipley, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 173 Das Genetische System der Chemischen Elemente, W. Preyer, 173 The Future of British Agriculture, Prof. Sheldon, 174 Dynamo Electric Machinery, Silvanus P. Thompson, 193 Capt. Cook’s Journal, 1768-81, edited by Capt. J. L. Whar- ton, F.R.S., Sir J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., 195 The Soil in Relation to Health, H. A. Miers and R. Crossley, 196 Practical Astronomy, P. S. Michie and S. F. Harlow, 197 The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, W. Saville-Kent, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 217 A Manual of Bacteriology, A. B. Griffiths, 219 Die Thermodynamik in der Chemie, J. J. Van Laar, 220 Discussion of the Precision of Measurements, S. W. Holman, 221 Traité Pratique d’Analyse Chimique et de Recherches Toxi- cologiques, C. Guérin, 221 The Glacial Nightmare and the Flood, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., T. McKenny Hughes, F.R.S., 242 Original Papers on Dynamo Machinery and Allied Subjects, J. Hopkinson, F.K.S., Prof. A. Gray, 244 The Dynamo, C. C. Hawkins and F. Wallis, Prof. A. Gray, 244 Modern Microscopy, M. J. Cross, 246 Lectures on Sanitary Law, A. Winter Blyth, 247 Vertebrate Embryology, A. Milnes Marshall, Prof. E. R. Lankester, F.R.S., 265 Essays on Rural Hygiene, George Vivian Poore, 266 Die Klimate der Geologischen Vergangenheit und ihre Beziehung zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Sonne, Eug. Dubors, 266 Polarization Rotatoire, Réflexion et Réfraction Vitreuses, Réflection Métallique, G. Foussereau, 266 Primitive Music, Richard Wallaschek, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290 Some Further Recollections of a Happy Life, selected from the Journals of Marianne North, edited by Mrs. John Addington Symonds, 291 Elements of Psychology, James Mark Baldwin, 292 An Introduction to the Study of Geology, Edward Aveling, 292 Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum, George Albert Boulenger, W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 313 A Handbook for Travellers in Switzerland, 314 A Handbook on the Steam Engine, Herman Haeder, N. J. Lockyer, 314 Heat, Mark H. Wright, 315 The Protection of Woodlands, John Nisbet, 337 Brief Guide tothe Common Butterflies of the United States and Canada, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 8 33 The Life of a Butterfly, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 338 i: Life with Trans-Siberian Savages, E. Douglas Howard, 339 Advanced Physiology, R. A. Gregory and J. C. Christie, 339 Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, 340 Old and New Astronomy, Richard A, Proctor, 361 Erdbebenkunde, Die Erscheinungen und Ursachen der Erd- beben, die Methoden ihrer Beobachtungen, Dr, Rudolf Hoernes, 363 XXXiv Index gg cereal ‘ovember 30, 1893 Etude sur les Tremblements de Terre, Léon Vinot, 363 ‘The Points of the Horse, M. Horace Hayes, 364 kragments of Earth Lore, James Geikie, F.R.S., 385 Diagnostik der Bacterien des Wassers, Dr. Alexander Lustig, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 386 Katechismus der Meteorologie, Prof. Dr. W. J. van Bebber, 7 : The New Technical Educator, 388 Wetterbiichlein. Von wahrer Erkenntniss des Wetters, Leonhard Reynman, 389 : Birds in a Village, W. H. Hudson, 409 Mathématiques et Mathématiciens, Pensées et Curiosités, A. Rebiére, 410 Grasses of the Pacific Slope, including Alaska and the adja- cent Islands, Dr. George Vasey, 411 Reveries of World History, from Earth’s Nebulous Origin to its Final Ruin, T. Mallett Ellis, 411 Public Health Laboratory Work, Henry R. Kenwood, 433 The Arctic Problem and Narrative of the Peary Relief Ex- pedition, Angelo Heilprin, 434 Vorlesung iiber Maxwell's Theorie der Electricitaét und des Lichtes, Dr. Ludwig Boltzmann, 435 Geology, an Elementary Handbook, A. J. Jukes-Browne, 435 Recit de Ja Grande Expérience de |’Equilibre des Liqueurs, Blaise Pascal, 436 Hydrostatics and Elementary Hydrokinetics, George Min- chin, Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 457 Gesammelte Abhandlungen iiber Pflanzen-physiologie, Julius Sachs, 513 On English Lagoons, P. H. Emerson, 515 The Mechanics of Architecture, E. Wyndham Tarn, 515 An Introduction to the Study of the Diatomacez, Fred. Wm. Mills, 537 Untersuchungen iiber die Ausbreitung der Electrischen Kraft, Heinrich Hertz, 538 Helps to the Study of the Bible, Henry Frowde, 539 Differential Calculus for Beginners, Joseph Edwards, 539 Berzelius und Liebig, 561 Manual of Bacteriology for Practitioners and Students, Dr. S. L. Schenk, 562 Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo, John Whitehead, 564 Peas Pillow Problems, Charles L. Dodgson, 564 The A B C Five-Figure Logarithms, C. J. Woodward, 564 Enunciations in Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, and Trigono- metry, P. A. Thomas, 564 The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Charles G, Barrett, W. F. Kirby, 585 nd Locomotives, C. J. Bowen Cooke, N. J. Lockyer, 5 Sécheresse 1893, ses Causes, Abbé A. Fortin, 587 Geological and Solar Climates, Marsden Manson, 588 A Manual of Electrical Science, George G. Burch, 588 A Treatise on Analytical Statics, Edward John Routh, Prof. A. G, Greenhill, F.R.S., 609 Pocket-Book of Useful Formule and Memoranda for Civil and Mechanical Engineers, Sir Guilford L. Molesworth and Robert Bridges Molesworth, 610 Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, U.S. Army, Dr. A. T. Myers, 611 Lehrbuch der Botanik nach dem Gegenwartigen Stand der Wissenschaft, 612 The Elements of Natural Science, Dr. H. Wettstein, 612 A grott Course in the Theory of Determinants, L. G. Weld, 12 A Practical Treatise on Bridge Construction, T. Claxton Fidler, 612 The Amphioxus and its Development, Dr, B. Hatschek, 613 Reynolds (Prof. J. Emerson, F.R.S.), Arrangements for Work of Chemical Section of the British Association, 416; Opening Address in Section B of the British Association, 477 Reynman (Leonhard), Wetterbiichlein, 389 Rhine at Geneva, the Serpent d’Eau of the, H. Faye, 584 Richards (E. W.), Basic Steel, English and Foreign, 113 Richardson (A.), Action of Light in Prevention of Putrefaction and Formation of Hydrogen Peroxide, 117 Richardson (Dr.), the Expansion of Chlorineand Bromine under the Influence of Light, 530 Richardson (Mr.), Bactericidal Action of Peroxide of Hydrogen, 599 Richarz (Dr. Franz), Experiments for Determination by Weigh- ing of Diminution of Gravity on Ascent from Earth’s Surface, 155 4 Richthofen (Baron F. von), Festschrift in Celebration of his Sixtieth Birthday, 597 Rideal (Dr. S.), the Iodine Value of Sunlight in the High Alps, 529 Righi (Augusto), Apparatus for producing Hertzian Oscillations of Short Wave-length, 181; Electrical Oscillations of very small Wave-length, 299 Rigler (Herr), Value of Ammonia Vapour as a Disinfectant, 2 Rigollot (M.), the Electro-Chemical Actinometer, 38 Riley (Piof. C. V.), the Ox Bot-fly in the United States, 378 ; Pollination of Yucca, 523 : Rive (De La), Interference of Electric Waves after Reflection from Metallic Screen, 252 Rizzo (Dr. G. B.), the Climate of Turin, 108; Absorption of Light by Platinum at Different Temperatures, 377 Roberts (Charlotte F.), Reduction of Nitrous Acid by Ferrous Salts, 431; Estimates of Chlorates and Nitrates in one Operation, 535 Roberts (Dr. R. D.), Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 ue | Roberts-Austen (Prof.), the Recording Pyrometer, 113 Robinson’s (E. E.) Influence Machine, 263 : Robertson (Chas.), Insects and Flowers, Labiate, 619 Robinson (Prof.), the Wicksteed big 5 Seprpeu 557 Roche’s Limit, Prof. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., 54 : Rock River Basin in Illinois, on Changés of Drainage in the, Frank Leverett, 462 ; abe te Rodger (J. W.), Lehrbuch der Allgemeinen Chemie, Dr. Wil- helm Ostwald, 49 ah Rogers (Prof. Wm. A.) on the Morley Interferential Com- parator, 461 he Rogers (W. A. C.), Preparation of Active Amyl Alcohol and Active Valeric Acid from Fusel Oil, 535. : Romanes(Dr. Geo. J., F.R.S.), the Use of Ants to Aphides and Coccide, 54; Telegony, 515; a Note on Panmixia, 543 Romburgh (Mr. Van), Eydrocyanic Acid in Plants, 96 Rome, Solar Observations at the Royal College, Prof. Taccini, 158 Ronali’s (Sir Francis) Experiments in Electric Telegraphy, John Sime, 325 Rood (O, N.), a Photometric Method independent of Colour, 535 ; Rordame-Quénisset Comet, 1893, 326, 401; Herr E. Lamp, 355 ; the Spectrum of the, Prof. Campbell, 379 Roscoe (Sir H. E., F.R.S.), Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, 145 Roscoff Aquarium, Oyster-Culture in the, M, de Lacaze- Duthiers, 560 Rose (F.), Solubility of some ‘‘ Insoluble” Bodies in Water Determined by Electric Conductivity of Solution, 607 Rose (T. K.), Limits of Accuracy of Gold Bullion Assaying, 22 ;. the Volatilisation of Gold, 22 . ; Rosenburg (Dr.), Experiments on Transplantation of Slips of Small Intestines into Bladder, 288 Rosenfeld (Herr), Decomposition of. Steam by Teated- Magnesium, 157 Rosenthal (Prof.), Animal Heat and Physiological Calorimetry, 88 : Rosiwal (August), New Method of Determining Comparative Hardness of Substances, 180 ; Ross (Mr.), Pneumatic Caulking and Chipping Tool, 556 Rotation, Magneto-Optic, Prof. Andrew Gray, 345 Rotation, the Dynamics of: a New Gyroscope Top, Newton and Co., 354 Rotch (A. L.), Meteorological Station at Charchani, Peru, the Highest in the World, 631 — Laboratory, Photographs Relating to Working. of, 63 Rothamsted Jubilee, the, 228, 289, 296, 327 Rothera (C. B.), on the A&tiology and Life-History of some Vegetal Galls and their Inhabitants, 575 Rothpletz (Dr.), Coral Reefs, 576 Rousseau (G.), Chloroborate of Iron, 119 Routh (Edward John, F.R.S.), a Treatise on Analytical Statics,. Prof. A. G, Greenhill, F.R.S., 609 Rouville (M. de), the Cambrian of the Herault, 432 . Miicdarsae, | Index XXXV Rouvier (G.), Fixation of Iodine by Starch, 584. : Royal Geozraphical Society, 114; the Medallists, 59 ; Anni- versary Meeting, 114; Refusal to Admit Ladies as Fellows, Royal Meteorological Society, 119, 239 _ Royal Microscopical Society, 71, 167, 286 Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 112 , Royal Society, 21, 44, 70, 92, I15, 131, 141, 159, 164, 215, 239, 260, 284, 309, 333, 359, 406; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 247; W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 247 ; Selected Candidates, 8; Royal Society Soirée, 63 ; Royal Society Election, W. T, Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 121 Royal Society of New South Wales, 36, 536, 584 Rubens (Dr. H.), Experiments on Permeability of Metallic _ Wire-Gratings to Polarised Heat-Rays, 288 ; Polarisation of Undiffracted Infra-red Radiation by Metal Wire-Gratings, 406 Riicker (Prof. A. W., F.R.S.), Thickness and Electrical Re- sistance of Thin Liquid Films, 115; the Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics,. 126; Research Laboratories for Women, 590 Ruhemann (S.), Formation of Pyridine Derivations from Un- saturated Acids, 94 Rule for Finding the Day of the Week corresponding to any given Day of the Month and Year, a Simple, Dr. C. Braun, 222 Runge and Kayser (Messrs.), Method of obtaining Determina- tion of Refractive Index of Atmosphere for every Portion of __ Photographic Spectrum, 60 mete (Herr C.), Determination of Geographical Lengitude, 3 Rural Hygiene, Essays on, George Vivian Poore, 266 Russell (J. S. R.), Investigation of Nerve-Roots forming Lumbo- Sacral Plexus of Macacus Rhesus, 141 i Russell (J. W.), an Elementary Treatise on Pure Geometry, 101 _ Rassell (Mr.), Bacteria in their Relation to Vegetable Tissues, Bi $qa2 Russia : Russian Gloves made from Foal-Skins, 79; Agricul- ture-Teaching in Russian Schools, 156 ; Metric Measures in Russia, Prof. Petrushevskiy’s System, 298; Russian Society of Fruit Culture, Projected International Exhibition, 376 ; Magnetic Observations recently made in Russia, Em. Bourquelot, 512; Geological Survey of Russia, issue of General Map, 570 Rustless Steel, H. G. Fourcade, 590 Ryder (J. A.), the Production of Monstrosities, 252; Mech- . anical Genesis of Form of Fowl’s Egg, 597 Sachs (Prof. Julius), Gesammelte Abhandlungen iiber Pflanzen- Physiologie, 513 Secken (Baron C. R. Osten), Singular Swarms of Flies, 176 St. James’ Park, Adventures of a Dabchick in, T. D. Pigott, 22 St. Petersburg, Projected Russian International Exhibition of Fruit-Culture, 37 Saint Remy (G.), Development of Pancreas in Ophidia, 536 St. Vincent, Botanical Exploration of, H. H. Smith and G. W. Smith, 577 Sagacity in Horses, William White, 199 Sagastyr, the Magnetic Elements at, General de Tills, 584 Sakurai’s (Prof.), Method of Determining Temperature of Steam from Boiling Salt Solution, 132 _Salomons (Sir David), Experiments upon Attraction between two Vacuum Tubes, 230 - Salt Industry, the Middlesborough, Richard Grigg, 356 _ San Francisco, Projected International Exhibition at, 445 Sandemann (Dr. Archibald), Death of, 2 Sanderson (J. Burdon, F,R.S.), the Collected Papers of Sir _ William Bowman, F.R.S., 26 ; Physico-Chemical and Vital- nie Theories of Life, 574; the Use of Scientific Terms, 13 4 wich Islands, Zoology of the, David Sharp, 574 _ Sanitary Law, Lectures on, A. Wynter Blyth, 246 _ Saniter (E. H.), the Desulphurisation of Iron and Steel, 113 _Santal Colonists, Settlement. of, in the Bengal Duars, E. Heawood, 555 Sarasin (M.), Interference of Electric Waves after Reflection _. from Metallic Screen, 252 j een (Dr. Ed.), Obituary Notice of Jean Daniel Colladon, 39 Sarran (M.), the Work of J. D. Colladon, 360 Satellites, Jupiter’s, Prof. Pickering, 81, 209 Savannah, Disastrous Cyclone at, 421 Saville-Kent’s (Mr. W.) Collection of Western Australian Madreporaria, 509 Saxony, Fall of Snowballs in, Dr Paul Schreiber, 11 Sayce (Prof.), the Sinaitic Peninsula, 301 : Sayers (W. B.), the Prevention and Control of Sparking, 324 Scandinavia, on Anglo-Saxon{Remains and Coeval Relics from, Prof. Hans Hildebrand, 557 Schiifer (Dr.), Well-Crystallised Potassium and Ammonium Selenium Bromides obtained by, 80 Schenck (Dr. H.), Beitrage zur Biologie und Anatomie der Lianen, im Besonderen der in Brasilien einheimischen Arten, 53 Schenk (Dr. S. L.), Manual of Bacteriology for Practitioners and Students, 562 Schiotz (Herr), Solar Heat as an Agent in hindering Glacier Growth, 156 Schleswig, South-West, Changes in Coast-Line of, Dr. R. Hanson, 448 Schoenrock (A.), Remarkable Oscillation of Rainfall at St. Petersburg, Feb. 11, 1893, 229 Schénrock (Herr), Specific Rotation of Salts Independent of Electrolytic Dissociation, 230 Schott (Dr. G.), Behaviour of Storms of Indian Ocean, 597 Schoute (M.), Thread-Models of Developables related to Higher Algebraical Equations, 168 Schrader (Franz), Hydrazine and its Compounds, 483 Schreiber (Dr.), Fall of Snowballs in Saxony, 11 Schryver (S. B.), Formula of Terpenylic Acid, 535 Schulhof (M.), Comet Finlay (1886, vii.), 233, 254 Schunck (E.), Supplementary Notes on Madder Colouring Matters, 263 Schiitte (R.), the Tucheler Haide, 570 Science : Science in Bombay, 13 ; the Appreciation of Science by German Manufacturers, Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 29; the Interdependence of Abstract Science and Engineering, Dr. William Anderson, F.R.S., 65 ; Science Teaching in Schools, Dr. Henry Dyer, 148 ; Tinctorial Art and Science, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 170; the Future of Science, Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., 273 ; the Publication of Physical Papers, James Swinburne, 197; Alex. P. Trotter, 412 ; the Publication of Physical Papers, A. B, Basset, F.R.S., 222, 292; Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., 292; Science in the Magazines, 249, 349, 443, 543; the Publication of Scientific Papers, J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S., E. Wyndham Hulme, 340, A. B. Basset, 529 ; the Position of Scientific Experts, 381, 423 ; Science Classes in Connection with the London County Council, 383 ; the Department of Science and Art, 403; Organisation of Scientific Literature, J. G. Donnan, A. B. Basset, F.R.S., 436; W. B. Croft on the Plan of Science Teaching at Winchester School, 527; Thoughts on the Bi- furcation of the Sciences suggested by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 564; Forthcoming Scientific Books, 579; a Manual of Electrical Science, Geo. J. Burch, 588 ; the Use of Scientific Terms, Prof. W. R. Fisher, 590; the Use of Scientific Terms, Prof. J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., 613 Scintillation of Stars, M. Dufour, 600; David Wilson Barker, 614 Sclater (P. L., F.R.S.), the Jelly-Fish of Lake Urumiah, 294 Scorpions, Notes upon the Habits of some Living, R. I. Pocock, 104 Scotographoscope, C. Carus- Wilson, 64 Scott (John), Prize Awards, 376 Scott (R. H., F.R.S.), Fogs in British Islands, 239 ; Weather Forecasts, 543 Scribner’s Magazine, Science in, 444 Scudder (Samuel Hubbard), Brief Guide to the Common Butterflies of the United States and Canada, the Life of a Butterfly, 335 Sea, Numerous Insects Washed up by the, Sophie Kropotkin, 370; Oswald H. Latter, 392 a Sea-Surface, Oil Spreading on, Prof. Overbeck, 181 Sea-Water (Atlantic and Mediterranean), Density and Alka- linity of, J. Y. Buchanan, 168 a Seaford, Potstones Found near, Geo, Abbott, 315 Searle (A.), Solar Spots and Terrestrial Anticyclone:, 239 Sécheresse 1893, ses Causes, l’Abbé A. Fortin, 587 Sectional Procedure, British. Association, 566 XXXVI Index ge rere to Nature, ‘ovember 30, 1893 Secular Variations of our Rainfall, on, 367 : Seismology : Seismology in Japan, Prof. John Perry, F.R.S., 136; the Earthquake in Balichistan, 340; the Annual and Semi-Annual Seismic Periods, Charles Davison. 359 ; Erd- bebenkunde, Dr. Rudolf Hoernes, 363 ; Etude sur les Trem- blements de Terre, Leon Vinot, 363: the Cause of the Great Earthquake in Central Japan, 1891, Prof. B. Koto, 398 Selborne Society, the, 36 Selection, Natural, the All-sufficiency of, Prof. A. Weismann, 443 Selenite in Utah, Dr. Talmage, 286 Selous (F. C.), Return to Mashonalond of, 426 Semaphore-Signalling, Statue to Claud Chappe, Inventor of, 297 Semper (Dr. Carl), Death of, 131 ; Obituary Notice of, Dr, J. Beard, 271 Sensitive Spherometer, Dr. A. A. Common, F.R.S., 396 Serpent d’Eau of the Rhéne at Geneva, the, H. Saye, 584 Serpent’s Tongue, the, W. H. Hudson, 350 Sexual Colouration of Birds, F. C, Headley, 413 Shadbolt (W. P.), Artificial Horizon, 510 Shafarik (D. A.) on Specula for Reflecting Telescopes, 528 Shakespeare’s Russet-pated Choughs, the Identity of, J. E. Harting, 445 Sharp (Dr. )., F.R.S.), the Sound-producing Organs of Ants, 6. 4. Sharp (David), Zoology of the Sandwich Islands, 574 Sharpe (R. Bowdler), an Analytical Index to the Works of the late John Gould, F.R.S., too Sharpe (T. A.), What becomes of the Aphis in the Winter? 77 Sheldon (Prof.), the Future of British Agriculture, 174 Shell-bearing Clays of Clava in Nairn, Investigation into the, Dugald Bell, 532 Shenstone (W. A.}, Apparatus for Studying Action of Electric Discharge on Oxyen, 159; Formation of Ozone (ii.), 190 Sherrington (Dr. C. S.), Correlation of Action of Antagonistic Muscles, 141 Shields (John), the Variations of Surface Energy with Tempera- ture, 21; Boiling and Ta Points of Nitrous Oxide, 22 Shipley (Arthur O.), Zoology of the Invertebrata, 173 Siberia, Northern, the Kara Sea Route to, 380 Siebert (Dr.), a Method of Preparing Nitrites in a State of Purity, 39 Silver and its Haloid Compounds, Electrical ‘Action of Light upon, Col. Waterhouse, 423 Sime (John), Sir Francis Ronald’s Experiments in Electric Telegraphy, 325 Simonoff (Dr.), a Simple Optical Photometer, 12 Simplified Multiplication, Lieut.-Col. Allan Cunningham, 316 Simpson (W. S.), Method of Preserving Water-colour Draw- ings, 297 Sinaitic Peninsula, the, Prof. Sayce, 301 Skate, the Electric Organ of the, J. C. Ewart, 93 Skertchly (Sydney B. J.), the Cold Wave at Hong Kong, January, 1893, its After-Effects, 3 Slickensides, J. Allen Howe, 315 ; Small (Mr.), the Igneous Rocks of South Pembrokeshire, 532 Smith (Rev. F, J.), Inductoscript, 64; a Periodic Mercury Pump, 320 Smith (H. H., and G. W.), Botanical Exploration of St. Vin- cent, 544 Smithell’s (Prof.) Experiments to Demonstrate Structure of Flames, 64 Smithson (T. Spencer), the Definition of Heredity, 413 Smithsonian Institution Documents, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 6 Smithsonian Report for Year ending 1892, 184 Smithsonian Institution: Bolton’s Select Bibliography of Chemistry, 446 Smithsonian Institution: Hodgkins Fund Prizes, Prof. S. P. Langley, 618 Smokes of Paris, M. Foubert’s Map of, M. Delahaye, 78 Smyth (B. B,), Difficulty of Determining Plants by Local Names, 37 Snakes: Cobras Attracted by Remains of Dead Cobra, 79 Snakes, Catalogue of the, in the British Museum, George Albert Boulenger, W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., 313 Snell (A. B.), Water Power as a Source of Electricity, 557 Snow Crystals, the Inner Structure of, G. Nordenskidld, 592 Snowballs, Fall of, in Saxony, Dr. Paul Schreiber, 11 Soaring of Hawk, F. C. Constable, 223 Societé d’Encouragement pour I’Industrie Nationale: Prize Awards, 569 Societies’ Club, Proposed Learned, 322 Society of Chemical Industry, Sir John Evans, Treas. R.S., 279 Soil in Relation to Health, the, H. A. Miers and R. Crosskey, I Solanum, Insects Attracted by, Prof. J. D. A. Cockerell, 438 j Solar Climates, Geological and, their Causes and Variation, Marsden Manson, 588 i Solar Eclipse, Total (April, 1893), 40; Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 53; M. Deslandres, 81; M. N. Coculesco, 135 Solar Eclipses, Total, 355 Solar and Lunar Ephemeris for Turin, 548 ssi Observations at the Royal College, Rome, Prof. Tacchini, I Solar Radiation, Report of the Committee on, 525 Sollas (Prof. W. J., F.R.S.), the Granophyre ‘of the Carling- ford and Morne Mountains, 109; the Igneous Rocks of Barnavave, Carlingford, 532 ; the Esker Systems of Ireland, 5333 Coral Reefs, 575 Soot-Figures on Ceilings, Dr. A. Irving, 29; Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 29 ; Lieut.-Col. Allan Cunningham, 29 ; E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., 29 ; J. Edmund Clark, 77 : Soret (M.), the Rotatory Power of Quartz at Low Tempera- tures, 230 South Polar Cap of Mars, Prof. George Comstock, 15, Space, the Sun’s Motion through, 208 Spain, Afterglows in, Prof. Augusto Arcimis, 29 Spangolite, a Remarkable Cornish Mineral, H. A. Miers, 426 Spearman (E. R.) Criminals and their Detection, 249 Specific Energies of the Organism, the, J. S. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., 467 Spectrum Analysis: Method of Obtaining Determination of Refractive Index of Atmosphere for Every Portion of Photo- graptic Spectrum, Messrs. Kayser and Runge, 60; Atomic Refraction of Nitrogen, Prof. Briihe, 60 ; Spectra of Flame from Bessemer Converter, Prof. W. N. Hartley, F.R.S., 64; Cause of Luminosity of Heated Gases, Dr. Pringsheim, 144; Geometrical Construction of Oxygen Absorption Lines and Solar Spectrum, Geo. Higgs, 164 ; Oxyhydrogen Blowpipe Spectra, W. N. Hartley, F.R.S., 165 ; Stars having Peculiar Spectra, 208 ; Stars with Remarkable Spectra, T, E. Espin, 233 ; the Corona Spectrum, J. Evershed, 268 ; Changes in the Spectrum of 8 Lyrze, 301 ; the Spectrum of the Rordame- Quénisset Comet, Prof. Campbell, 379; Nova (T) Aurizze Spectrum, W. W. Campbell, 524; Periodical Maxima of Spectra, M, Aymonnet, 536 i Spée (M.), the Lunar Atmosphere, 62 Speech-Production, the Methods of, Profs. von Helmholtz and Frenkel, 407 Specula for Reflecting Telescopes, on, Dr. A. Shafarik, 528. Spherometer, a Sensitive, Dr. A, A. Common, F.R.S., 396 Spitaler (Dr. Rudolf) Observations of Nebulz, 184 Spontaneous Combustion, Prof. Vivian B. Lewes, 626 Sprigge (Dr. S. S.), the Poi-oning of the Future, 250 Spring, the Early, of 1893, W. B. Crump, 414 Spring and Autumn of 1893, Right Hon. Sir Edward Fry, F.R.S., 509 ' Stagnitta-Balestreri, Micro-Organisms producing Sulphuretted Hydrogen, 352 Stainton Collection of Lepidoptera, Lord Walsingham, 322 ~ Stairs (Capt.), Katanga Expedition, Dr. Moloney, 135 Starch of the Chlorophyll Granule and the Chemical Processes involved in its Dissolution and Translocation, Horace T. Brown ,F.R.S., 576 Stars: Variable Star Nomenclature, 81 ; Variable Stars, jon the Star y Cygni, Prof. N. C. Dunér, 301 ; New Variable Stars in Cygnus, Herr Fr. Deichmiiller, 573; Stars having Peculiar Spectra, 208 ; Stars with Remarkable Spectra, T. E. Espin, 233 ; Grouping of Stars into Constellations, 370; At- mospheric Refraction and Star Photographs, Prof. A. A. Rambaut, 379; Origin of New Stars, Prof. A. W. Bicker- ton, 379; Prof. Hoffmann, 402; Double Star Measures, 512 3. Shooting Stars of August, 1893, P. F. Denza, 535; the Scin- paeion of Stars, M. Dufour, 600; David Wilson Barker,. 14 Statue of Arago, a New, 223 Stead (J. E.), the Elimination of Sulphur from Iron and Steel,. 113 Steam, Electrolysis of, J, J. Thomson, F.R.S., 70 es to Nature ‘ovemiber 30, 1893 ; Steam Engine, a Handbook on the, Herman Haeder, N. J. Lockyer, 314 Stebbing (Mr.), Coral Reefs, 576 Steel, Rustless, H. G. Fourcade, 590 Steering Methods, Birds’, F, A. Lucas, 414; F. W. Headley, 293 Sternberg (George M.), a Manual of Bacteriology, 172 Stevenson (Prof. J. J.), on the Use of the Term Catskill, 462 Stocks (H. B.), Fossils in ‘‘ Coal Balls,”’ 72 Stokes (Mr.), Explosions in Mines, with special Reference to the Dust Theory, 530 Stokes (Sir G. G.), the Luminiferous Ether, 306 Stone, the Evolution of Working in, J. D. McGuire, 398 Stoney (Dr. G. J., F.R.S.), the Cause of Sunspots, 143 Stracciati (Prof.), Corrected Formula of Heat necessary to Raise a Gramme of Water to C., 299 Strassmann (Dr. Paul), Mechanism of Closing of Ductus Bogalli, 408 Strauch (Dr. Alexander), Death of, 481 Strauss’s Method of Colouring Cilia of Living Micro-Organisms, 621 Streintz (Franz), Contributions to the Theory of Secondary Batteries, 333 Stuart-Glennie (J. S.), Racial Dwarfs in the Pyrenees, 294 Styria, Middle, Disastrous Cloud-Burst in, 251 Submarine Cable laid between Queensland and New Caledonia, 2 Submarine Cables and Submarine Borers, W. H. Preece, F.R.S., 160 Submarine Photographs, Louis Boutan, 377 Succession of Teeth in Mammals, the, Prof. H. F. Osborn, 238 Suicide of Rattlesnakes, the Supposed, Edward S. Holden, 342; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 369, W. H. Wood, 391; E. L. Garbett, 438 Summer of 1893, J. Lloyd Bozward, 614 Sumpner (Dr.), Photometry, 190 Sun, Moon, and Stars: Astronomy for Beginners, A. Gilberne, 101 Sun, the Coronal Atmosphere of the, 301 Sun’s Motion through Space, the, 208 ; Sun’s Way, the Apex of the, Prof. H. G. van de Sande Bak- huyzen, 401 Sunlight in the High Alps, the Iodine Value of, Dr. S. Rideal, 529 . Sunspots, the Cause of, Dr. G. J. Storey, F.R.S., 143 Sunspots and Solar Envelopes, 526 Sunday Magazine, 350 Superstition, Surgery and, Frank Rede Fowke, 87 Surface, the Moon’s, G. K. Gilbert, 82 Surface-Tension, Relations between the, and Relative Contami- nation of Water Surfaces, Miss Agnes Pockels, 152 Surgery and Superstition, Frank Rede Fowke, 87 Surgical Infection, the Microbian Origin of Purulent, S. Arloing and E, Chantre, 407 Survey of England, the Archeological, 272 Survey for 1892, Report of Indian, 510 Soy (H.), the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of New:Zealand, 182 Swarms of Amphipods, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 28 Swarms of Flies, Singular, R. E. Froude, 103, 176; Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, 127; Henry Cecil, 127; Baron C. R. Osten Sacken, 176 Swan (J. W.), a New Method of Electrolytic Copper Bright Depositing, 160 Swan (R. M. W.), Discovery of Temple on the Limpopo, 426 Swimmer, a Substitute for Ampére’s, Alfred Daniell, 294; Hanna Adler, 370 Swinburne (James), the Publication of Physical Papers, 197 ; Alex. P. Trotter, 412 Swinburne (Mr.), Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Dynamics, 166 ; Photometry, 190 Swinhoe (Col.), Locust Plagues, 95 Swinton (A. A. C.), High Frequency Electric Experiments, 63 Switzerland, a Hand-book for Travellers in, 314 Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales, 406, 584 Sydney, Royal Society of New South Wales, 335, 536, 584 _ Syechenov (J. M.), Alkalis of Blood and Lympb, 188 Syetchenoff (I, M.), Analogy between Solution of a Gas and of a Salt in Indifferent Solutions of Salts, 91 Sykes (John F. J.), Public Health Problems, 27 Symonds (Mrs, John Addington), some Further Recollections Index XXXVII of a Happy Life, Selected from the Journals of Marianne North, chiefly between the Years 1859 and 1869, 291 Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, 607 Szuhay (Dr.), Iodide of Nitrogen, 547 Tacchini (Prof.), Solar Observations at the Royal College, Rome, 158 Tagliafico (N.), Lignite Found in Blue Upper Globigerina Limestone at Malta, 156 Tait (Sir P. G.), some Points in the Physics of Golf, 202 _ Talmage (Dr.), Selenite in Utah, 286 Tanner (Prof. Lloyd), Supplementary Note on Complex Primes formed with the Fifth Roots of Unity, 95 Tarn (E. Wyndham), the Mechanics of Architecture, 515 Tasmania, Educational Status of, 232 Tasmania, the Climate of Eastern, Rev. F. R. M. Wilson, 424 Tavel (Dr. F. Von), Vergleichende Morphologie der Pilze, Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S., 224 Taylor (H. M.), a Graphical Representation of the Twenty- seven Lines on a Cubic Surface, 310 Teall (J. J. H., F.R.S.), Opening Address in Section C ot the British Association, 486 Technical Educator, the New, 388 Teeth in Mammals, the Succession of, Prof. H. F. Osborn, 238 Telegony, 590; Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 515; Prof. Weismann, 543 Telegraphy, Sir Francis Ronalds’s Experiments in Electric, John Sime, 325 : Telephone Lines and their Properties, William J. Hopkins, Francis G, Baily, 99 Telephones, Excursion of Diaphragms of, Messrs. Cross and Mansfield, 156 Telescope for Cambridge Observatory, Proposed New, 358 Telescope, the Newall, 233 : Telescope, the Yerkes, 184 Telescope Stand, a Universal, 6co Telescopes, on Specula for Reflecting, Dr. A. Shafarik, 528 Temperature, Oyster-Culture and, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 267 Temperature, Variation of Temperatures of Transformation below and above Critical, P. de Heen, 406 Temple and Pyramid Builders, on the Early, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 55 Temple Orientation in Greece, the Influence of Egypt upon, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 417 Temples, the Orientation of Greek, F. C. Penrose, 42 Temples, Orientation of, by the Pleiades, R. G,. Haliburton, Tercentenary of the Admission of William Harvey to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 199 Tertiary and Triassic Gastropoda of the Tyrol, Dr, J. Dreger, 567 Tesla (Nikola), on Light and other High Frequency Pheno- mena 136 Téte Rousse Glacier and St. Gervais Catastrophe, Changes in A. Delebecque and L. Duparc, 407 Thames, Wreck-Raising in the, C. J. More, 78 © Thebes, the Astronomical History of On and, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 318, 371 Théel (Prof. Hjalmar), the Development of Zchinocyamus fusillus, 330 Therapeutics: Physiological and Therapeutic Effects of Injec- tion of Orchitic Liquid, MM. Brown-Séquard and d’Arson- val, 23; Artificial Immunity and Typhoid Fever, 211 Thermodynamics: Die Thermodynamik in der Chemie, J. J. Van Laar, 220 ; Superior Limit of Wave-Lengths in Thermal Radiation of Solids, Willy Wien, 406; the Decomposition of Energy into Two Factors, W. Meyerhoffer, 523 ; British Association Report on Thermodynamics, G. H. Bryan, 616; the Third Principle of Energetics, H. Le Chatelier, 632 Thermometer Soundings in the High Atmosphere, W. de Fon- vielle, 160 Thermometer Liquids, New, Herr von Lupin, 208 Thermometers, Sodium Potassium, High Temperature, E. C. C. Baly and J. C. Chorley, 63 Thieving of Antiquities, the, Prof. W. M. Flinders-Petrie, 613 Thieving of Assyrian Antiquities, the, 343, H. Rassam, 508, 54° Thin Liquid Films, Thickness and Electrical Resistance of, A. W. Reinold, F.R.S., 115; Thickness and Electrical Con- ductivity of, A. W. Reinold, F.R.S., 624 XXXVIIi Index (+ mipplomant to Nature, ‘ovember 30, 1893 Thiselton-Dyer (W. T., F.R.S.), the Royal Society, 247; the Royal Society Election, 121 ; University and Educational Endowment in America, 248 ; Obituary Notice of Alphonse de Candolle, 269 Thomas (O.), the Mammals of Trinidad, 37 Thomas (P. A.), Enunciations in Arithmetic, Euclid, and Trigonometry, 564 Thompson (Prof. J. J.), a New Form of Air Pump, 529 Thompson (Joseph O.), on Fatigue in the Elasticity of Stretch- ing, 461 Thompson (Prof. Silvanus D.), Dynamics, 166 ; Noteson Photometry, 190 ; Dynamo Electric Machinery, 193 Thomson (J. J., F.R.S.), Electrolysis of Steam, 70; the Effect of Water Vapour on Electrical Discharges, 605 Thorpe (Prof. T. E., F.R.S.), the late Solar Eclipse, 53 ; Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, 145 ; Explosions in Mines with Special Reference to the Dust Theory, 530 Throwing Stick, the Mexican Atlatl or, O. T. Mason, 579 Thrush, Imitation or Instinct by a Male, E. Boscher, 369 Thrush Fungus, the, Marantonio, 622 Thunderbolt in Warwickshire, L. Cumming, 342 Thunderstorm Phenomena on the Matterhorn, Walter Larden, 316 Tides of Bay of Fundy, Gustav Kobbé, 444 Tiemann (F.), the Glucoside of the Iris, 560 Tillie (Dr. Joseph), the Arrow-Poison of East Equatorial Africa, 92 : Tillo (General de), the Magnetic Elements of Lagastyr, 584 Time, France and International, W. de Noedling, 330 Time, Railway, in Italy, 481 ; Adoption of Central European Time, 619 Time, Universal, in Australia, 484 Time-Reckoning for Australia, the Home-Zone System of, 601 Tinctorial Art and Science, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 170 Titanium, Cyano-Nitride of, T. W. Hogg, 529 Tobacco Culture in Trinidad, 275 Tomes (R. F.), New Genus (Styloseris) of Madreporaria from Sutton Stone of South Wales, 286 Tongue, the Serpent’s, W. H. Hudson, 350 Topley (W., F.R.S.), on the Relationship between Physical Geography and Geology, 554 Tornado, a Dust Whirl or? J. Lovel, 77 Total Solar Eclipse (April, 1893), Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., * 40, 53; M. Deslandres, 81; M. N. Coculesco, 135 Total Solar Eclipses, 355 Toxicologiques, Traité Pratique d’Analyse Chimique et de Recherches, G. Guérin, 221 Toxicology ; the Arrow-Poison of East Equatorial Africa, Dr. T. R. Fraser, F.R.S., and Dr, Joseph Tillie, 92 Trambusti (Signor), Susceptibility of Micro-Organisms to Various Strengths of Disinfectants, 352 Trans-Siberian Savages, Life with, E. Douglas Howard, 339 Transit of Venus of 1874, the, 447 Transmission of Telephone Currents, William J. Hopkins, Francis G. Baily, 99 Traugott (Herr), Bactericidal Action of Peroxide of Hydrogen, 599 Triassic Gastropoda of the Tyrol, Tertiary and, Dr. J. Dreger, 567 Trichinosis, Dr. P. Cerfontaine, 332 Trieste, Temperature Waves at, 1871-90, Ed. Mazelle, 297 Trilobites with Antenne at last ! H. M. Bernard, 582 Trinidad, the Mammals of, O. Thomas, 37 Trinidad, Tobacco-Culture in, 275 Tristram (Rev. H. B., F.R.S.), Opening Address in Section D of the British Association, 490 Troost (L.), Preparation of Thorium and Zirconium, 144 Trotter (A. P.), a New Photometer, 190; the Publication of Physical Papers, 411 Tromp (Herr van), Bactericidal Action of Peroxide of Hydrogen, 599 Trouessart (Dr, E, L.), Au Bord de la Mer; Géologie, Faune et Flore des Cétes de France, 74 Trouton (I. T.), on a Peculiar Motion assumed by Oil Bubbles in ascending Tubes containing Caustic Solutions, 529 Trouvé (M.), Luminous Fountains on a Small Scale, 12 Trowbridge (John), Oscillations of Lightning Discharges and Aurora Borealis, 535, 571 Tubulane, a Caucasian Truffle, A. Chatin, 407 Tucheler Haide, the, R. Schiitte, 570 Dr. Lodge’s Foundation of Tunis, Geographical Society established at, 356 Tupaja Javanica, Trophoblast of, M. Hubrecht, 168 Turacin, a Remarkable Animal Pigment containing Copper, Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S., 209 Turbellarize of the Black Sea, Dr. Sophie Pereyaslawzewa, 109 Turin, the Climate of, Dr. Rizzo, 108 Turin Osservazioni Meteorologiche, 570 Turin, Solar and Lunar Ephemeris for, 548 Tutton (A. E.), Nitro-Metals, a New Series of Compounds of Metals with Nitrogen Peroxide, 524 Types of Animal Life, St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 148 Tyrol, Tertiary and Triassic Gastropoda of the, Dr. J. Dreger. 6 4 567 Typhoid Bacillus, Stimulative Action of other Bacilli upon, 274 : Typhoid Fever, Artificial Immunity and, 211 Typhoon of October 7-10, 1892, the Rev. S. Chevalier, 456, 522 Typhoons of China Sea, Dr. W. Doberck, 376 United States and Canada, Brief Guide to the Common Butter- flies of the, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, W. F. Kirby, 338 United States Weather Bureau, Report for 1892, 377 United States, the Ox Bot-fly in the, Prof. C. V. Riley, 378 United States Army, Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, Dr. A. T. Myers, 611 Uganda, Proposed Exploration of, Mr. Scott Elliott, 444 Universal Atlas, the, 147 Universal Attraction, New Determination of the Constant of, 301, 355 University College ; Opening of the New Engineering and | Electrical Laboratories, 107 University and Educational Endowment in America, W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 248 ; University Intelligence, 20, 44, 69, 114, 140, 187, 215, 238, 258, 284, 309, 331, 358, 383, 406, 431, 455, 559, 583, 606, I 3 University, Melbourne, the Decreased Grant to, 228 Utah, Selenite in, Dr. Talmage, 286 Vapour, the Effect of Water, on Electrical Discharges, Prof. J. J. Thomson, 605 Variable Star Nomenclature, 81 Variable « Cygnus, a New, 183 Variable Star y Cygni, the, Prof. N. C. Dunér, 301 Variable Stars, 301 Variable Stars, New, in Cygnus, Herr Fr. Deichmiiller, 573 Variations of Latitude, Prof. C. L. Doolittle, 451 Variations of our Rainfall, on Secular, 367 : Vaschy (M.), a General Property of any Field not admitting of a Potential, 192 Vasey (Dr. George), Grasses of the Pacific Slope, including — Alaska and the adjacent Islands, 411 Vatican Observatory, Pubblicazioni of, 180 Vectors and Quaternions, Prof. Alexander Macfarlane, 75, — 540; Prof. C. G. Knott, 148, 516; Alfred Lodge, 198 Vector Analysis, Quaternions and, Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, 364 Veeder (Dr. M. A.), the Observation of Aurore, 355 ; Aurora of July 15, 1893, 573; Fluctuations in Latitudes of Storm Tracks, 598 Veley (V. H.), Chemical Change, 149 Velocity of Propagation of Gravitation Eftects, on the, S. Tolver Preston, 103 Ventilating, Warming and, Frank Ashwell, 556 Y : Venukoff (M.), Magnetic Observations recently made in Russia, 12 cae: the Planet, Ellen M. Clerke, 447 Venus, the Greatest Brilliancy of, Dr. G. Miiller, 61 Venus, the Period of Rotation of, 233 Venus, the Transit of, of 1874, 447 Venus, the Visibility of, to the Naked Eye, 623 : Verner (M.), an Explanation of Rotation of Plane of Polarisa- tion in Magnetic Field based on De Reusch’s Experiments, 8 visit Ear, the Morphology of the, Howard Ayers, 184 Vertebrate Embryology, A. Milnes Marshall, Prof. E., Kay Lankester, F.R.S., 265 : Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, J. A Harvie-Brown and T, E. Buckley, 123 1 Veterinary College, Royal, Thomassen’s Treatment of Acti- Supplement to Nature, lovember 30, 1893 nomycosis in Heifer, 91 ; Experiments with Koch’s Tuber- culin and Kalning’s Mallein, 91 Veterinary Science, Inoculation for Glanders, 273 Victoria, Cattle-Poisoning Species of Homeria (Cape Tulip), in, Dr. McAlpine, 378 Victoria, Observations of the Planet, Dr. Gill, 276 Vienna, Anemometrical Observations (1873-1892) at, Dr. J. Hann, 108 Vienna and Greenwich, Difference of Longitude between, 277 Vi Ti (Prof. T.), Remarkable Case of Resuscitation of an ‘Optical Image, 545 Viguier (Dr. M.), Inaccuracy of French Elementary Geo- graphical Text-Books, 389 Village, Birds ina, W. H. Hudson, 409 Villard (M.), a Highl Sensitive Manometer, 132 Villemontée (Gouré de), Attempts to Prepare Metallic Sur- faces giving a Constant Difference of Potential, 78 Vine-Leaves as Cattle-Food, A. Muntz, 168 Vines (Father R. P.), Death of, 421 Vinot (Leon), Etude sur les Tremblements de Terre, 363 Visibility of Venus to the Naked Eye, the, 623 Vision, Charpentier’s Experiments Demonstrative of an Oscil- latory Process in the Organ of, and of its Dimensions, 380 Viticulture, Schist-impregnated Peatmoss Treatment of Phyl- loxera, F. de Mély, 512 ; a New Enemy of the Vine, Blanyulus gultulatus, M. Fontaine, 632 Vivisection, Lord Coleridge and, Prof. Percy F. Frankland, F.R.S., 268 Vivisection, Cecil Carus- Wilson, 317 Voigt (Herr W.), Attempt to Determine greatest Possible Number of Physical Constants of some Pieces of Metal sub- ject to least Mechanical Manipulation, 422 Volcanoes, Outbreak at Fukushima, Japan, 179; Recent Eruptions in Fukushima District, Japan, 398; Rise.of Lava in Crata of Etna, Dr. Johnston-Lavis, 179; on the Dissected Volcano of Crandall Basin, Wyoming, Prof. J. P. Iddinzs, 531 ; Eruption near Calbuco, ‘Chili, 618 Voles, Field, Aristotle on, 37 Voles, the Plague of Field, 282 cool (M. van der), Formula for Law of Molecular Force, I Waldo (Frank), Modern Meteorology, 97 aba (E. A.), Cheilostomatous Bryozoa from Middle Lias, 286 Walker (Alfred O.), the Use of Ants to Aphides and Coccide, 54 Walker (C. H. H.), Products of Interaction of Tin and Nitric Acid, 94 Walker (G.), Boiling Points of Homologous Compounds, I., Ethers, 191 Walker (James), the Conditions Determinative of Chemical Ghenee, some Comments on Prof. Armstrong’s Remarks, 207 Walker (J. J., F.R.S.), Displacement of Rigid Body in Space by Rotation, 311; a Correction, 317 Walker (O. E.), the Cause of Earth Currents, 60 Wallace (Dr. Alfred R., F.R.S.), H. O. Forbes’ Discoveries in the Chatham Islands, 27; the Intelligence of Animals, Charles William Purnell, 73 ; the Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes, 198 ; Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters, 267 ; Prenatal Influences on Character, 389 ; Habits of South African Animals, 390; the Supposed Glaciation of Brazil, 5 Wallaschek (Richard), Primitive Music: An Inquiry into the Origin and Development of Music, Songs, Instruments, Dances, and Pantomimes of Savage Races, Prof, C. Lloyd Morgan, 2 Wallis (F.), the Dynamo, Prof, A. Gray, 244 Walsingham (Lord), the Stainton Collection of Lepidoptera, 322 Walton (Izaak), Proposed Tercentary Memorial of, 179 Ward (Herbert), Ethnographical Notes on the Congo Tribes, 558 Ward (Prof. H. Marshall, F.R.S.), Modern Mycology), 22 Ward (Lester F.), Frost Freaks, 214 it haan Warming and Ventilating, Frank Ashwell, 556 Warwickshire, Thunderbolt in, L. Cumming, 342 Washburn Observations, 135 XXXIX Washington, Anthropological Society of, Prize Subjects for 1893, 229 Wasps, J. Lloyd Bozward, 459 Wasps in Southern Counties, Plague of, 351 Wasps’ Nest, a, 437 Watchmaking by Machinery, T. P. Hewitt, 556 Water Bacteria, Dr. Alexander Lustig, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 86 Water, Crystallisation of, by Decompression below Zero, E. H. Amagat, 632 Water Power as a Source of Electricity, A. B. Snell, 557 Water-Spouts at Antibes, Four Simultaneous, M. Naudin, 360 Water-Supply, System of Reservoirs for Industrial Purposes in Alsatian Vosges, 62 | Water-Supply, Source of Nottingham, Prof. E. Hull, 532 | Water Surfaces, Relations between the Surface-Tension and relative Contamination of, Miss Agnes Pockels, 152 | Water Vapour, the Effect of, on Electrical Discharges, Prof. J. J. Thomson, 605 Water and Ice as Agents of Earth Sculpture, James Geikie, F.R.S., 385 Water-Colour Drawing, Method of Preserving, W. S. Simpson, 297 | Waterhouse (Col.), Electrical Action of Light upon Silver and its Haloid Compounds, 423 Watts (W. W.), Irish Petrology, 532 Wazer (H.), on Nuclear Structures in the Hymenomycetes, 576 Weariness, the Rede Lecture, Prof. Michael Foster, Sec. R.S. 178 Weather, Abnormal, in the Himalayas, F. C. Constable, 248 Weather Forecasts, R. H. Scott, 543 Weather Prophesying, l’Abbé A. Fortin, 587 Webber (W. J. van), Earth Temperatures at Hamburg, 1886- 91, 284 Weight at Increasing Altitudes, Experiments on Diminution of, Or, Krigar-Menzel, 288 Weismann (Prof. A.), the All-sufficiency of Natural Selection, 443; the Telegony Theory, 543 Weismannism, a Difficulty in, Resolved, Prof. Marcus Hartog, 20, 77 Weld (L. G.), a Short Course in the Theory of Determinants, 612 Wetterbiichlein, Leonhard Reynman, 389 Wettstein (Dr. H.), the Elements of Natural Science, 612 Wheeler (H. L.), Series of Well-Crystallising Double Halogen Salts of Tellurium with Potassium, Rubidium, and Calcium, 80 White (Gilbert), Proposed Monument to, 131; Centenary of, 212 White (Walter), Death and Obituary Notice of, 296 White (William), Sagacity in Horses, 199 Whitehead, John, Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo, 564 Whitney (A. W.), Peculiar Phenomenon of Light-Refraction on Snow, 60 Whymper (Edward), the Corry ‘‘ Protected Aneroid,” 160 Wicksteed Testing Machine, the, Prof. Robinson, 557 Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 91, 140, 259, 333, 406, 422, 607 : a Wiedemann (E.), the Production of Electric Oscillation and their Relations to Discharge Tubes, 91; Electrical Dis- charges, 140; Luminous Phenomena in Vessels filled with Rarefied Gas under Influence of Rapidly-Alternating Electric Fluids, 607 Wien (Willy), Superior Limit of Wave-Lengths in Thermal Radiation of Solids, 406 Wiener (O.), Method of Optically Studying Process of Diffusion in Liquids, 109 Wille (Dr. A.), a Curious Optical Phenomenon, 391 Williams (Joseph W.), Aids to biology, 26 Williams, Collection of Minerals, the, L. Fletcher, F.R.S., 357 5 Willis (Bailey), Conditions of Appalachian Faulting, 631 Willis (J. C.), Flora of Pollard Willows, near Cambridge, 143 ; the Fungus Gardens of certain South American Ants, 62 3 | Wilson (E.), Magnetic Viscosity, 165 Wilson (Rev. F, R.M.), the Climate of Eastern Tasmania, 424 Wimshurst’s (J.), Influence Machine, 263 Wind, the Chinook, H. M. Ballon, 21 xl Lndex .— Winkelmann (A.), Specific Heats of Glasses of Various Com- positions, 333 : Winslow (Arthur), History of the Mapping of Missouri, 548 Women, the Brain of, Prof. L. Biichner, 350 Women, Research Laboratories for, Prof..A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 590 Wood (W. H.), Supposed Suicide of a Rattlesnake, 391 Woodlands, the Protection of, 337 Woodward (C. J.), Sound Interference Illustrated, 159 ; the ABC Five-Figure Logarithms, 564 Word Eudiometer, the, Philip J. Hartog, 127 World History, Reveries of, from Earth’s Nebulous Origin to its Final Ruin ; or, the Romance of a Star, T. Mullett Ellis, Zabalotny (D.), Animal Phosphorescence, 92 Zahorsky (Herr), Tetrachloride of Lead, 232. Zapiski (Memoirs) of Novoros Sian (Odessa) Society of Naturalists, 92 ; Zi-Ka-Wei, near Shanghai, Meteorological Society established at, 352 ; Zoology : Zoological Gardens, Additions to, 15, 39, 61, 81, 111, 134, 158, 183, 208, 232, 254, 276, 300, 326, 355, 379; 401, 425, 447, 483, 511, 524, 548, 573, 600, 622; a Snow Leopard for the Zoological Gardens, 181 ; Suggested Zoological Garden in Colombo, 510; the Mammals of Trinidad, O. Thomas, 37; Aristotle on Field Voles, 37; the Norway Rat in the Ancient Western World, A. Pomel, 72; Mr. 411 Wragge (Clement L.), a Remarkable Rainfall, 3 Wreck-Raising in the Thames, C. J. More, 78 Wright (Frank), Photometry, 190 Wright (Mark R.), Heat, 315 Wronski’s Expansion, Prof. Echols, 187 Wynne (W. P.), Ortho-, Para-, and Peri-Disulphonic Deriva- | tions of Naphthalene, 262 Yale University, the Observatory of, 327 Yellowstone Park Waters, the Projected Stocking with Fish of, | 424 Yerkes Telescope, the, 184 Yucca, Pollination of, Prof. C. N. Riley, 523 Yule (G. U.), Interference Phenomena in Electric Waves -¥ passing through Different Thicknesses of Electrolyte, 261 H. O. Forbes’ Discoveries in the. Chatham Islands, Dr. | Alfred R. Wallace, 27; Henry O. Forbes, 74, 126, 174; | Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., 101, 150; a Vertebrate Fauna of | Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E. Buckley, 123; Death of Dr. Carl Semper, 131; the Tsarévitch Prize, 154; Lehrbuch der Zoologie, Prof. Richard | Hertwig, Zoology of the Invertebrata, Arthur O. Shipley, | Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 173; Zoological Society, 46, 71, 118, 167, 263 ; Report of the Council of the, 283; Publications of the Zoological Station at Naples, Prof. Anton Dohrn, 440 ; Prof. H. F. Osborn on the Mammals of the Upper Cretaceous, 462 ; Zoology of the Sandwich Islands, David | Sharp, 574; Departure of Dr, Kiikenthal on a Zoological He gece: to Moluccas, 619 ; Zoological Record for 1802, | 21 Zoutpansberg Goldfields, the, Fred. Jeppe, 448 Se NES hee = OR a ae ie) A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ‘© To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1893. AN AMERICAN TEXT-BOOK OF PAYSICS. Physics, Advanced Course. By George F. Barker, Pro- fessor of Physics in the University of Pennsylvania. Pp. 902. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1892.) HE days are nearly over whena text-book of Physics ; in one volume is any longer a possibility. The attempt to compress so great a mass of knowledge into small compass seems necessarily to involve the omission of anything like the full elementary explanation re- quired by junior students, as well as the more advanced discussion suitable to seniors; it also appears necessary to curtail any approach to a mathematical investiga- tion, and to dispense with the details of experimental appliances. With so much omitted it may surprise those who do not _ know whata vast region is now cultivated under the name Physics, that there is enough left to fill a bulky volume. But there is, and this volume contains it, viz. the quiet -and systematic rehearsal of the broad facts of the subject, a statement free from rhetoric and from effort, a statement which flows placidly on in a peaceful and easy flow. ; The absence of friction renders the ‘book hardly suitable for a beginner, especially one without a teacher; he could hardly manage to grip the facts as _ they passed him. But after a serious course of lectures, after a disjointed struggle with difficulties in this or that _ department, it would be a pleasant relief to a student to _ have a book like this put into his hands as a kind of glorified note-book, that he may leisurely revise the whole in a corrected and simple form. If a third year student is able to read this book feeling that it con- tinually excites in him recollections of the more detailed _ treatment he has elsewhere acquired, he may be satis- fied that he knows a good deal of Physics; if, on the other hand, he comes across pages where the matter is new and where he has any diffieulty in apprehending what is said, he may feel assured that here there is something q desirable for him to attend to and learn from any of the , more detailed and elaborate sources open to him. NO. 1227, VOL. 48] That is how the book strikes me: as one eminently suited to assist a student’s revision of the subject, so as to ensure that his knowledge may be free from glaring gaps ; but not as a book that could be recommended for learning from. It would probably, as I have said, be difficult to learn from, but a still more fatal objection to its use by a solitary learner is the probability that its easy flow would convey an altogether erroneous impression of the difficulties that really bristle about the subject, and would lead to only a very superficial smattering, quite incommensurate with the vast amount of information which is summarised and made more or less palatable by this genial treatise. Having thus indicated what seems to me the general usefulness of the book I proceed to indicate its contents. It begins with fundamental units and the laws of mechanics, together with a summary of the properties of matter. Then it proceeds to treat of Energy as belonging to various bodies ; masses, molecules, and the ether. This is the classification definitely adopted throughout the book—it is a treatise on the forms of energy. ‘‘ Mass physics, molecule physics, and ether- physics; and the fact is significant that to the last division of the subject it has been found necessary to devote more than half of the entire work.” ‘ Radiation is considered broadly, without any special reference to those wave-frequencies which excite vision and are ordinarily called light.” Modern references abound, and the subjects dwelt. on are those which at the present time are most exciting attention, “The author’s aim has been to avoid making the book simply an encyclopedic collection of facts on the one hand, or too purely an abstract and theoretical discussion of physical theories on the other.” “ He has made free use of all the sources of information at hiscommand. . . The names of those physicists to whom the science is most deeply indebted are given in connection with the subjects on which they have worked, and in order to bring the student into moreintimate contact with these great minds, the laws or principles they have formulated have frequently been given in their own words.” This free quotation is characteristic of the book, and sometimes it could be wished that a chapter and verse reference for further following up had been given, instead of only the mere name. But, after all, such reference B 2 NATURE 3 i [May 4, 1893 7 would have been fidgeting and out of harmony with the even tenor of the text, which is about as different as it can possibly be from the productions of German authors. I do not myself think it a good plan to incorporate formule in the text, so that there is nothing for the eye to catch. Such a proceeding may be convenient to the printer, but it is only permissible when the expressions are very simple and easy ones. However, all those in this book are simple and easy ones, so possibly no student need feel any inconvenience. So far as I have observed, the statements made are usually clear and correct. There are some few exceptions ; for instance, the definition of self-induction on pp. 814, 815 is not satisfactory. On p. 858 the distance apart of points, between which unit difference of magnetic potential exists, is unnecessarily specified in the definition of Verdet’s constant; but this is a slip made also in Everett’s “ Units,” and is an easy one both to make and to correct. The account of a volume-air-thermometer given on p- 295 can hardly pass muster; and indeed this and other meagre references to the work of Regnault may be taken as typical of the absence of even the outlines of those experimental details which one is accustomed to find in the writings of French authors. But, as I said at the beginning, the attempt to compress all physics into one volume of reasonable size and good print can only be made if one is content to omit about 90 per cent. of what might be included. As a convenient summary of a course of lectures of a par- ticular grade the book is probably about as good as can be expected, and it may be found useful for revision- work by students in this country. OLIVER LODGE. BABYLONIAN COSMOLOGY. Die Kosmologie der Babylonier. Studien und Materialen von P. Jensen. (Strassburg.) f Bae thick volume of five hundred and fifty pages of closely printed matter lying before us represents what was originally intended by its author to be the first part of an exhaustive treatise upon the mythology of the Babylonians in the widest sense of the term, but he was obliged to abandon the scheme after investigating the spiritual and religious views of the Babylonians which the cuneiform texts make known to us, because he was driven by facts to admit that any such attempt would, with our present information, be premature. Prof. Jensen has then contented himself with placing in the hands of his readers a series of facts and a collection of materials for making researches into the astronomical system of the Babylonians, together with the results which he deduces from them. He is fain to admit that the present state of the study of this subject is lamentable in the extreme ; for those who have worked at it in times past, and even those who still profess themselves to be devoted to the science, link idea to idea without regard to natural sequence, and draw conclusions, and invent systems, and give themselves over to traditions rather than to the serious discussion of the . facts and _ statements of the cuneiform texts. NO. 1227, VOL. 48] Other writers being naturally | incapable of distinguishing what is certain from that which is not, and possessing neither the knowledge necessary to control the work of Assyriologists, nor the power to work independently, reproduce the statements. given doubtfully by scholars, and send them among non-— experts as incontrovertible facts, and thus it comes that the greater part of the work which is current under the name of ‘‘ Babylonian Mythology ” must be considered ‘ base coin only. The earliest worker in the field of Babylonian i Astronomy was the famous Dr. Hincks, who published — the result of his investigations of some cuneiform texts in the British Museum in the Transactions of the Irish Academy in 1856. In 1862 Sir Henry Rawlinson, the ~ “Father of Assyriology,” discovered that most import. — ant document now universally known as the “ Eponym — Canon,” in which an eclipse of the sun was mentioned. As Dr. Hincks overlooked the fact that the greater num- } ber of the texts which he regarded as astronomical were purely astrological, this discovery by Sir Henry Rawlin- son of the notice of an astronomical event re- corded by the Babylonians, the accuracy of which could be demonstrated by modern mathematical calculations, must be considered as the first step towards. a scientific’elucidation of Babylonian astronomy, and a_ proof that pure astronomical science already existed in the Euphrates Valley as early as B.c. 700. In 1871 the veteran Assyriologist, Jules Oppert, published in the Journal Astatiqgue the results of his study of some syllabaries, and other texts in which the Babylonian names of the planets and other stars were given, and three years later Prof. Sayce published a lengthy paper entitled “ The Astronomy and the Astrology of the Babylonians,” in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archzology, in which he reprinted, without making a new collation, most of the astrological texts published by Rawlinson in “Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,” vol. iii., to which he added English translations. On the work of these two last-mentioned Assyriologists Prof. jenera makes some strong comments. ; Passing over smaller works by Schrader and Lotz we next strike firm ground in the excellent work by Drs. Epping and Strassmaier. The former is an astronomer of no mean skill and ability, and the latter is one of the greatest experts in modern cuneiform decipherment and is thoroughly skilled in working at the tablets at first hand. In the work entitled ‘‘ Astronomisches aus Baby- lon,” Freiburg i. B. 1889, these scholars published the texts from three tablets of lunar ephemerides for the years 188, 189, and 201 of the era of Seleucus, which began B.C, 312, together with a long astronomical commentary upon them and remarks upon Babylonian ephemerides of planets in general. From these texts it was evident that the Babylonians were accustomed to tabulate the heliacal rising and setting of the planets and of Sirius, and the opposition of the planets to the sun, and it was discovered that they had in the ecliptic a number of groups of stars, twelve of which correspond roughly in nomenclature and in position with the signs of the Zodiac. When this im- portant publication appeared Prof. Jensen had for some years been independently working at the history of the origin of the Zodiac, and a large portion of his work now before us was already in type. A careful study of the 7 ‘t . E ’ : , May 4, 1893] NATURE a o new matter and of the theories based upon it by Drs. Epping and Strassmaier convinced him of the general correctness of the results of his own investigations, at which he had arrived by a method peculiarly his own, and by many new readings of the cuneiform names of planets and stars which he was enabled to explain satis- factorily he confirmed several identifications of stars which had been pointed out by Dr. Epping by the light of mathematical astronomy. It is but fair to say that at the outset some differences of opinion existed between these distinguished scholars, but already many of them have been adjusted, and the proof of the general accuracy of the work is therefore much stronger. Prof. Jensen divides his book into two sections. In the first he treats of the “ Universe and its Parts,” and in the second of the “Creation and of the Formation of the World.” Under the first heading, in a series of chapters, he discusses the sky and the heavenly bodies in it, special attention being paid to the consideration of the Zodiac, the earth, the Mountain of sunrise, the abodes of the blessed dead and of the damned, and of the; Okeanos; and under the second he translates and explains the Babylonian texts referring to the Creation and to the Deluge. Many of Prof. Jensen’s ideas are new, and will therefore fail to be accepted by those who prefer to follow traditions and their own views in preference to results obtained directly from the cunei- form texts which are, after all, our only trustworthy authority on Babylonian cosmology, He argues his propositions in a sober manner, and he arranges his facts with clearness ; he gives proof or authority for every statement, and he assumes or takes for granted little or nothing. Prof. Jensen’s book is acareful statement of all the important views of the Babylonians concerning the system of the heavens and the earth as recorded by the officia astronomers and astrologers attached to the library of Assurbanipal at Nineveh about B.c. 660. His work will command the respect and earn the gratitude of all true scholars, even of those who may disagree with him, and by reason of it the scientific astronomer of to-day with his telescope and spectroscope and instiu- ments for stellar photography will respect his pre- decessors on the plains of Mesopotamia, who differ from him in their calculation of the length of the average period between new-moon and new-moon by two-fifths of a second only ! OUR BOOK SHELF. Elements of Phystography. By Wugh Dickie, LL.D. Collins Science Series. (London; Collins.) THIS is a small manual designedly written as a text-book for the elementary stage of physiography, according to the syllabus of the Science and Art Department. All that is necessary for this stage is treated of within its pages inas concise and brief a manner as possible. Interspersed amongst the text are upwards of 100 ex- cellent illustrations and four coloured maps, and very good sets of questions for exercise are inserted at the end of each chapter. The author would do well to be a little more precise and accurate in some of his statements. In Article 150, p. 138, he says: “The position of a star in the sky is fixed as follows :—(1) Its angular (distance E. or W. of the line passing through the poles.” Which particular NO. 1227, VOL. 48] one of the infinite number of lines passing through the poles is meant is not very clear. He should have “fixed” the line by adding “and the zenith.” At the end of Article 154 he states that “comets and nebulz are bodies less dense in their composition than stars, and more erratic in their movements.” Surely the author should know that nebulz do not appear to wander about amongst the stars, but keep the same relative position with respect to the latter. Upon the whole, however, the book, which is moderate in price, can be recommended to pupils ‘preparing for the examination in elementary physiography. Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-86. By J. W. Powell, Director. (Washington: Government Printing Office.) THE Report which occupies the first part of this hand- some volume is too old to be read with much interest. Happily it is accompanied by papers which are of more than passing value. One of these—on Indian linguistic families of America north of Mexico—is by Prof. J. W. Powell, who, in the course of an elaborate discussion and exposition, throws much light on an intricate and most difficult subject. A paper by Mr. W. J. Hoffman on the Midé’wiwin or “ grand medicine society” of the Ojibwa, will be read with pleasure by students of anthropology . and Mr. James Mooney devotes a very careful and inte? resting paper to the consideration of the sacred formula, of the Cherokees. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE, No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] A Remarkable Rainfall, IsEND a few particulars of the recent remarkable rainfall at Crohamhurst, situated on the westernslope of Mont Blanc, a peak on aspur of the D’Aguilar Range, an offset from the Blackall Ranges, South Eastern Queensland, The whole of this district is watered by the Stanley River, a tributary of the Bris- bane River, and hence the values given below were prominent factors in producing the terrible floods from which we have suffered. I may mention that the observer at Crohamhurst is Mr. Inigo Owen Jones, one of my specially trained assistants, and that implicit reliance can be placed on his figures. The following are the more remarkable falls of the flood period at Crohamhurst:—F or 24 hours ending 9 a.m. February 1, 10°775 inches; ditto February 2, 20°056 inches ; ditto February 3, 35°714 inches ; ditto February 4, 10°760 inches. The gauge is astandard of the ‘‘ eight-inch” pattern, standing one foot above the ground at an altitude of about 1400 feet above mean sea level. Theapproximate latitude and longitude of Croham- hurst are 26° 50S. 152°55’ E. The gauge was emptied every three hours, night and day, on the occasion of the greatest fall. I think meteorologists will agree that for a 24 hours’ fall we have beaten the world’s record. CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, Government Meteorologist of Queensland Brisbane, March 22. (late of Ben Nevis). The Cold Wave at Hongkong, January 1893.—Its After Effects, Now that the cold wave has completely passed away and warm weather is setting in (March 17, 1893), one can write more certainly respecting the effects upon animal and vegetable life. With regard to the plants the effect has been disastrous, especially on the higher levels, and were it not that our rarest plants descend the hillsides, and often occur in sheltered nooks, this year’s frost would have caused the extinction of several of them. Combined with the dry weather we have been enduring the frost has turned our fairly green island intoa brown, desert- looking land, much of the undergrowth being dead, Most of the leaves have fallen, even new leaves that were unfolding have 4 NATURE been shed, and only now is a fresh crop coming on. The common Lantana Camara, instead of being a blaze of bloom, is a ragged, almost leafless shrub, with here and there a flower- head ; Mimosa pudica is in many cases killed outright, butsome are putting out fresh leaves from the root stocks. Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, perhaps our commonest shrub, is quite killed on the hills, and the exquisite Exkyanthus quingueflorus, with its pink bells and opal glands, that is so cherished by the Chinese, at their New Year Festival (February 17) was hardly up to date. On February 28, with a party of naval officers, I ascended Lanto (3000 feet), a peak on an island near Hongkong, that is famous for Tiu Chung-fa, to give it the native name, and though I found numbers of the shrubs putting forth new red terminal leaves, only one was in flower, and the supply has been very scanty. Cocoa-nuts and bananas have suffered greatly. At Canton Dr. Henry reports the banana plantations are ruined, and bamboos have suffered. ‘‘ Aleurites triloba (the candle-nut) looks shrivelled up, while begonias, euphorbias, crotons, and scores of others look shrivelled up.” There the plants suffered more than at Hongkong, for Mr. C. Ford, super- intendent of the Botanic Gardens, reports Aleurites uninjured below an altitude of 300 feet. In his Government report he gives a list of over eighty species of exotics that have suffered, and the following effects upon indigenous plants :— Bischoffia javanica, Blume Killed. Blehnum orientale, Linn. oe Lmbelia Ribes, Burm. ; «-. Leaves killed. ovata, Scheff. ... ea gg oe a Lvodia triphylla, A. de C. * Ficus retusa, Linn. ee ... Killed. hispida, Linn. ... Be ae a Harlandi, Benth. Garcinia oblongifolia, Champ. Leaves killed. Ltea chinensis, Hook. and Arn. ifs re Melastoma candidum, Don Killed. Mesa sinensis, A. de C. cae Nephrolepis exaltata, Schott ... biserrata, Schott Psychotria elliptica, Ker Rottlera paniculata, Juss. Ae Rhodomyrtus tomentosus, Hassk Sponia velutina, Planch es Tetracera sarmentosa, Vahl ... ... Leaves killed. Zanthoxylon nitidus, A. de C. ree 3 Fronds killed. ” ” Leaves ,, Killed. ‘*Those which were killed were above 800 feet above sea- level.” The effect upon insect life has been disastrous. A few straggling butterflies and hymenoptera lasted a few days, and then came a blank of weeks when not an insect of any kind was seen, and the place seemed painfully still from the absence of cicadas by day and crickets by night. My friend Mr. H. E. Denson found a glow-worm at the Peak on F’ ebruary 6, but saw nothing else in the way of insects. Towards the end of February the weather began to be mild, though it is still below normal, and insects began to appear, some lepidoptera emerging crippled. Butterflies are still quite rare, and generally only single specimens seen. The only species as plentiful as usual is the little pale blue Zycena argea. Last year butterflies absolutely swarmed, Thus Mr. J.: J. Walker, R.N., has in his diary the following notes:—February 3. ‘*Euploeas in greater numbers than I had ever seen.” And again, March 4: ‘*The profusion of butterflies was quite bewildering.” I cannot show the difference between the two seasons better than by comparing the list of species on the wing :— Species. 1892]1893 Remarks. 1. Danais genutia, Cram. ... | ¢ | — ed 3. similis, Horsf. and Moore | c | —| In swarms, 1892. 3. grammica, Butl.... .. |v.c] —| In swarms, 1892. 4. tylia, Gray a. rj— Cw 5. Luplea superba, Herbst. v.c} r | { One only, 1893. 6. lorquiniz, Feld. ... v.c| —| ( Swarms in 1892, 7. Melanitis leda, Linn. v.c} r | One only, 1893. 8. Mycalesis mineus, Linn. ... | c | — aa 9. Ypthima as gs we Je j— ~ NO. 1227, VOL. 48] Species. 1892|1893 Remarks. 10. Clerome eumaus, Drur. v.c _ 11. Vanessa charonia, Drur: c A few, 1893. 12. Funonia asterie, Linn. wEte A few, 1893. 13. Lmonias, Linn.... beecdf VG, One only, 1893. 14. orithya, Linn., var. An- : dromeda Pe ieee _ 15. Symbrenthia hypelus, Hub. | c — 16. Ergolis ariadne, Linn. Ae ped = 17. Neptis eurynome, Westw. ... |\v.c eee 18, Athyma perius, Linn. A few, 1893. 19. sulpitia, Cram. ... ie -- 20. Hypolimnas misippus, Linn. a 21. Hestina assimilis, Doub. —_ 22. Cupha erymanthis, Drur. ... — One 9, 1893. 24. Pyrameio carduz, Linn. One only, 1893. ¢c c r r c 23. Argynnis niphe, Linn. VESEY r 25. indica, Herbst. ... r 26. Zemeros flegyas, Cram. ? c 27. Abisara kausamli, eld. c As usual in March, 28. Lampides elianus, Fabr. ... |\v.c 29. Polyommatus beticus, Linn.. | r _ 30. Lycena praxiteles, Feld. ... | ¢ — 31. argea?... ens EPG Bae — 32. Thecla “ag ie os oehG : _ : 33. Pieris canidia, Spar. Generally swarms. 34. coronis, Cram. aye —_ 35. Catopsilia catilla, Cram. ... | c _ 36. pyranthe, Drur. ... Oe ee _— 37. crocale, Cram. ead Br A few, 1893. 38. Tertas hecade, Linn.... SNe A few, 1893. 39. ‘Sp. .- tee see oa f 5 i. 40. Lxdas pyrene, Linn. ... area uC One only, 1893. 41. Spee ja Ss ALES o — 42. Hebomoia glaucippe, Linn. ... | c One only, 1893. 43. Papilio memnon, Linn. v.c One only, 1893. 44. helenus, Linn. v.c : A few, 1893. 45. polites, Godt. a 46. disstmilis, Linn... 47. antiphates, Cram. 48. sarpedon, Linn. ... 49. telephus, Feld. v.c Lak | 50. agamemnon, Linn. a 51. paris, Linn. A few, 1893. G2; bianor, Cram. A few, 1893. 53. Leptocircus, sp. e 54. Choaspes, sp. ot 55. Baorts mathias, Fabr. Telicota bambuse, Moore. ... < ie} ELLER ELL ESA PRI bonnets | (] lead a een | | Qamremanaanannna No, of species on the wing, March 17, 1892 ... ee) No. of species on the wing. March 17, 1893 ... Ne MSE The paucity of species this year does not nearly represent the difference, for whereas butterflies swarmed at this time last year, they are very rare now. Mr. Walker and I makeit a rule togo’ out every day and note the species, and I do not think we have — missed one. It is not the lack of flowers, for the gardens are aglow, and rhododendrons are superb. I may mention that our unique Khodoleia Championi flowered magnificently in February, producing two crops of flowers one after the other ; the first were damaged and snapped off short at the base of the peduncle, carpeting the ground with carmine blossoms ; the second blooms — were not shed. oH Bees are now active, cicadas and grasshoppers beginning to sing, but in diminished numbers. Hemiptera are waking up from their torpor, and coleoptera becoming numerous. I imagine there is not a great destruction of pupz and eggs, but that they are delayed in emerging. To-day we have the first real soaking rain for months, and as the south-west monsoon has begun to make itself felt, I anticipate quite a burst of life during the next few weeks, and will report. : Another interesting phenomenon has occurred since I wrote my first account of the cold wave. The sea-water flowing from | the north has cooled below the normal, and at the end of February: 3 Y ! G ‘ : 4 F one on account of its exceptional heat. to the Lyrid shower. a a ee ee May 4, 1893] NATURE 5 was as low as 57° F., but has since recovered. Thousands of _ fish died, or floated about torpid, the critical temperature having _ just been reached. This state of things lasted about three days. he Chinese fishermen said the fish had cholera, and called ~ attention to some alteration in a joss-house on an island in the harbour, any tampering with which causes sickness to man or beast, by interfering with the Fung Sui! They gave up fishing for a week, but the fish were not diseased so far as I could see. Imay note that since the Sanguir eruption in July last we have had perfect Krakatdo sunsets, which are only just waning. They were in greatest force in the middle of December, and the fine after-glow was visible at the zenith an hour and a half after sunset. It was strong enough to overpower the zodiacal light. Sypney B. J. SKERTCHLY. Kowloon, Hongkong, March 17. P.S.—Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., has just visited the Happy Valley after the rain. He finds the butterflies much more lentiful. C. cumeus, and H. glaucifpe have appeared within the last two days.—March 23. The April Meteors. OF the periodical meteor showers I believe that, from an observational point of view, the April Lyrids may be regarded as one of the least interesting. The display frequently disap- points expectation, and even on the night of April 20, which usually supplies the maximum, the observer often finds his patience taxed in watching a sky which gives not more than seven or eight meteors per hour from all radiants, and not more than one-third of these from the special shower of Lyrids. This is not, however, the invariable experience. Occasionally, as, for example, in 1863 and 1884, the display is a conspicuous one, and rivals other prominent showers, such as the Perseids, Orionids, and Gemmids. _ This year the circumstances were not altogether favourable for observation, the crescented moon being visible on April 19 and 20 during the first half of the night, and on April 21 her setting did not take place until 14h. The sky was however clear on April 18, 20, and 21, and the period was a remarkable The maximum shade temperature on four consecutive days was registered here as follow :—April 19, 75°, April 20, 77°, April 21, 81°, April 22, 78°. The height attained on April 21 is entitled to be regarded as a rare meteorological event. With an atmosphere so _ salubrious the work of recording meteors was rendered very pleasant, and reminded the observer of night-watches in July _ and August rather than with experiences comparatively early in the spring. On April 18 I noted 9 shooting stars in the 14 hour between 1th. 30m. and 13h., and of these 2 or 3 were Lyrids. The shower was so meagre that it was not thought advisable to watch its progress through the night. On April 19 the sky was not sufficiently clear for observations. On April 20, between 1th, 15m. and 14h. 25m., I looked towards the eastern quarter of the sky and counted 18 meteors, of which 7 were Lyrids with a sharply defined radiant at 272° +33. Several meteors were also observed from a contem- porary shower at 218°+33 between ¢ and y Bodtis. I saw this shower in 1887 from the same point on April 18-25. On April 21 the sky was beautifully clear, and I recorded 29 _ meteors during the 4 hours between 11h, 20m. and 15h. 25m. There were 8 Lyrids which showed very exact radiation from the point 273°+ 34 and close to the position determined on the preceding night. Several of the Lyrids were fine meteors leaving bright streaks and moving with moderate speed. A minor _ shower was detected from slow meteors seen on this and the previous night, at 200°+ 9° between Virgo and Bootes. I do not appear to have noticed this radiant during my observations of the Lyrids in former years. On April 22 clouds unfortunately prevailed, and the further progress of the display could not be watched. aking my observations collectively, I saw 56 meteors in watches extending over 84 hours on the nights of April 18, 20, and 21. Of these about 18, or one-third of the whole, belonged The apparent paths of the brighter meteors recorded were as follows :— NO. 1227. VOL. 48] Path ee _ Date G.M.T. Mag. From To Probable 1893. * SE a 6 Radiant. Appearance. ~ - m. ° ° ° °o ° ° April 18 ... 1250... 1 se 254+224 ... 239+29 +. 274+10+. Slow. B. streak yy 20 we 12.25 ue Toe 240449} -. 232+54 + 218+33 + V- slow. ty) 20 se 1450 we TH see 289-+53$ «+. 300+524 --» 200+ 9... Slow. ty 20 wee 12.39 vee 1 pee 244+ 204 ove 231+23 oe 272433 + Not swift, streak, ty 20 we 12 Bae YU ve 270444 + 268-+494 -» 2734-34. V- slow, streak. yy BE ve 1224 ve Q vs, 236430 ... 207418 « 273+34 +. Slow, streak. ty BT we 1326 oe S12... 292467 ... 307467 «. 263+6r... Rather swift, stk. The Lyrid seen on April 21 at 12h. 24m. was very brilliant, and it left a long streak between a and 8 coronz and slightly above Arcturus, As the meteor traversed its course of 30 degrees it exhibited three outbursts of light, and the places where these occurred were indicated by bright knots in the streak. One of the most important questions in connection with this cometary meteor shower is as to whether the radiant shows a displacement in its position as observed on successive nights. I wrote in NATURE for May 7, 1885, to the effect that my obser- vations on April 18, 19, and 20 of the year mentioned proved a rapid shifting to the eastwards, and even greater than that recognised in the radiant of the July and August Perseids. My later results confirm the supposed displacement, but show that it is far less extensive than that based on the figures obtained in 1885. Iappend a summary of all my radiants for this shower with the exception of those obtained in the years 1873 and 1874, which were certainly not very accurate owing to my inexperience inthe work at that time. In comparing the various positions included in the list, it must be remembered that too much weight should not be given to any-one individually, but that the general result deducible from them all will ensure the most trustworthy conclusions. The first position in the list, viz. that for April 18, 1885, is undoubtedly too far west to be consistent with the others, while that for April 19, 1877, is equally too far north. From the distribution of the radiants in right ascension there is striking evidence of displacement. Further observations will be very valuable, especially if made at the beginning and ending of the shower on say April 16, 17, and 22 and 23. But on these nights it is scarcely visible at all, so that it will be advisable to watch for it during the whole night, and perhaps to amalgamate the results for a similar date in several years. Radiants of Lyrids observed at Bristol. 1885 April 18......... 260 +33 RBS. 13) Rh areiacé casey 266 +33 1877 April 19......... 269 +37 1884 a sesese ee 209 +33 RSS ait iio sac tepare 268 +33 1887 ,, vases 269 +31 1878 April 20......... 273 +32 MeO Nea) sts ancoa 272 +33 BOOS fo. gs a vere nets et 274 +33 TOF eye esas 271 +33 cf F Saiaaae PRPC POEL (is a © 1878 April 21......... 272 +32 ROR igiper | ewnadaoes 273 +34 1878 April 22......... 275 +31 The consistency of the positions on April 20 sufficiently shows that the radiant is sharply defined and that its place may be determined with considerable precision. In looking over the observations I found two trifling clerical errors in my catalogue of radiants printed in the Alonthly Notices for May, 1890. Radiant number 102 was seen on April 19, not April 20, 1884, and number 104 on April 21, not April 20, 1878. f I believe this shower lasts from April 16 to 23. On the former date in 1877 I recorded three of its meteors, and the radiant was indicated at 263°+ 33°, but not with certainty. The very fine meteor of April 15 last, gh. 52m., seen in many parts of the country, was not anearly Lyrid, but appears to have be- 6 NATURE [ May 4, 1893 longed to aradiant in Cassiopeia, and possibly to the same system which furnished the fireballs of April 10, 1874, and April 9, 1876, with radiants at 19°+57° and 17°+57° respectively, ac- cording to Von Niessl. A fireball seen on May 30, 1877, had a radiant at 20°+58°, which is virtually the same position as the others. I would be glad to hear of any additional observa- tions of the large meteor of April 15, 1893, or of any of the meteors seen at Bristol on the nights of April 18, 20, and 21 last, and referred to in the first of the foregoing tables. W. F. DENNING. Smithsonian Institution Documents, I po not know whether your numerous readers realise that many of the public documents published by the United States Government and the Smithsonian Institution can be obtained by direct personal application to the author, at least as long as copies remain undistributed. The volume entitled ‘‘ Mechanics of the Atmosphere,” recently published by the Smithsonian Institution, was compiled in the confident hope of stimulating the study of this difficult subject by English-speaking scholars throughout the world; further volumes will follow if it becomes evident that this hope is being realised. This collection of translations appeals especially to the mathematical physicist, and I should be pleased to hear from any one who desires to study or teach this subject. CLEVELAND ABBE. Weather Bureau, Washington, April 15. THE GENESIS OF NOVA AURIGZ. I? is a common belief that everything is created for a beneficial purpose, and a commoner one that the chief purpose is the delectation of mankind. Without occupying the stilted position involved in the acceptation of such an idea, it can be said that all things that are made are useful for the extension of knowledge. Viewed from this standpoint, the universe is a field containing an infinite number of facts which have to be reaped and garnered before they can be threshed. In the case of the new star that appeared in Auriga last year, a rich harvest of facts has been gathered in. Astronomers from their watch-towers have scanned the celestial visitor through optic-glasses; estimated its glory; measured its place; photographed it, and caused it to weave its pattern in the spectroscope. But it is not enough to make observations and store them up in musty libraries without the proper understanding of their import. At all events, the greatest possible good should be wrung from the facts, and an attempt should be made to dis- criminate the theory that best explains them. For this reason the subject of Nova Aurige is here resuscitated. Theories galore have been propounded to account for that star's genesis, and the most important are de- scribed in this note, so that every one can judge for himself the explanation which sufficiently satisfies the phenomena. Before the advent of the new star of 1866 the general opinion was that such objects represented new creations. Spectroscopic observations then caused a revulsion of that idea, and we find Dr. Huggins suggesting in an italicised expression, that “ ¢he star became suddenly enrapt in burning hydrogen” (“ Spec- trum Analysis,” p. 28, Huggins, 1866). To quote more fully, “In consequence it may be of some great convulsion, of the precise nature of which it would be idle to speculate, enormous quantities of gas were set free. A large part of this gas consisted of hydrogen, which was burning about the star in combination with some other element. This flaming gas emitted the light represented by the spectrum of bright lines. The greatly increased brightness of the spectrum of the other part of the star’s light may show that this fierce gaseous con- NO. 1227, VOL. 48] flagration had heated to a more vivid incandescence the — matter of the photosphere. As the free hydrogen be- came exhausted the flames gradually abated, the photosphere became less vivid, and the star waned down — to its former brightness.” More or less modified forms of — this theory of a fiery cataclysm were afterwards put for- — ward, to account for the formation of Nova Cygni in — 1876. Mr. Lockyer, however, advanced the idea that the outburst was due to cosmica! collisions (NATURE, vol. xvi. — p. 413). In his words, “ We are driven from the idea that these phenomena are produced by the incandescence of large masses of matter because, if they were so pro- duced, the running down of brilliancy would be exceedingly slow. Let us consider the case, then, on the supposition of small masses of matter. Where are we © to find them? The answer is easy : in those small meteoric masses which an ever-increasing mass of evidence tends to show occupy all the realms of space.” Practically all — the theories with regard to the origin of new stars are modifications of one or the other of these; either an internal convulsion, or an external collision, is hypo- theticated. Let us see how each will stand the test put upon it by Nova Aurigze. The discovery by Mr. Lockyer that the bright lines in the spectrum of the new star were accompanied by dark lines on their more refrangible sides seemed at once to be a striking confirmation of his views. The interpreta- tion naturally put upon such a composite appearance was that two discrete masses were engaged in producing the body’s light ; one, having a spectrum of dark lines, was rushing towards the earth, while the bright-line star or nebula was running away. As Mr. Lockyer remarked ina paper communicated to the Royal Society on February 7, 1892, “the spectrum of Nova Aurigze would suggest that a moderately dense swarm [of meteorites] is now moving towards the earth with a great velocity, and is disturbed by asparser one which is receding. The great agitations set up in the dense swarm would produce the dark-line spectrum, while the sparser swarm would give the bright lines.” In spite of its simplicity, however, and its ability to account for the observed facts, the meteoritic theory did not commend itself to the minds of some astronomers. Dr. Huggins clung to/|the idea that the outburst was the result of eruptions similar in kind to those upon the sun, but the acquisition of knowledge of the light changes — of stars forced him to withdraw the original suggestion that the luminosity of a Nova is produced by chemical combustion (Fortnightly Review, June 1892, p. 827), in fact, to relinquish entirely the crude conception of a burn- ing world propounded in 1866. In its place Dr. Hug- gins put the view that Nova Aurigz owed its birth to the near approach of two gaseous bodies. “But,” he admits (/ééd. p. 825), “(a casual near approach of two bodies of great size would be a greatly less improbable event than an actual collision. The phenomena of the new star scarcely permit us to suppose even a partial collision, though if the bodies were diffused enough, or the approach close enough, there may have been possibly some mutual interpenetration and mingling of the rare gases near their boundaries.” “An explanation which would better accord with what we know of the behaviour of the Nova may, perhaps, be found in a view put forward many years ago by Klinkerfues, and recently developed by Wilsing, that under such circumstances of near approach enormous tidal disturbances would be set up, amounting, it may be, to partial deformation in the case of a gaseous body, and producing sufficiently great changes of pressure in the in- terior of the bodies to give rise to enormous eruptions of the hotter matter from within, immensely greater but similar in kind to solar eruptions.” Serious objections to the Klinkerfues-Wilsing hypothesis are pointed out by Herr Seelinger (Astr. Nach., No. 3118, and NATURE, May 4, 1893] NATURE 7 _ December 8, 1892). He shows that the statical theory of _ tides that has been applied is entirely inappropriate to _ the case, and also that the hypothesis involves assump- tions amounting almost to impossibilities. In the first _ place, the pairing of the bright and dark lines makes it _ necessary to assume that the two bodies engaged were of similar chemical constitution, one having an absorption ‘spectrum and the other an equivalent radiation spectrum. But even if we make this unthinkable supposition, a fatal objection has been pointed out by Mr. Maunder (Kzow- _ ledge, June 1892). It is that the bright lines ought to _ have their refrangibility increased, not decreased as the _ Spectroscopic observations show them tobe. Inother _ words, the erupted matter would approach the earth, not recede fromit. This single undisputable fact effectually disposes of the chromospheric hypothesis to which refer- ence has beeh made. Another chromospheric theory in which only a single _ star is involved has been put forward by Father Sid- greaves (Zhe Observatory, October, 1892). After de- scribing the spectrum he says, “It is only necessary, therefore, to consider the conditions under which the blue-side shift of the Nova’s lines should produce the _ absorption effect while the red-side parts show unclouded _ radiation. A great cyclonic storm of heated gases would produce this double if the heated gases were rushing towards us in the lower depths of the atmosphere trend- ing upwards and returning over the stellar limb. In the lower positions the advancing outrush would be screened by a great depth of absorbing atmosphere, while as a high retreating current its radiation would be along a clear line to our spectroscopes.” This explanation is plausible enough, but it does not go to the root of the matter. How, for instance, does Father Sidgreaves account for such a tremendous eruption as that required by his hypothesis? It is difficult to believe that internal forces could sustain, for two months, a stream of gas rushing earthwards with a velocity of about 400 miles per second, and then curving round and receding at the rate of 300 miles per second. And the idea becomes still more in- comprehensible when we remember that the body possessing this marvellous store of energy was quite in- visible before December, 1891. Until Father Sidgreaves explains the machinery by which the terrific whirl of chromospheric matter was started and kept up, his theory -can hardly be seriously discussed. As has already been remarked, Mr. Lockyer was the originator of the theory that Novas represent the result of the collisions of small masses. On this theory the broadened character of the lines in the spectrum of Nova Aurige is explained by supposing that different parts of the colliding swarms of meteorites were moving with different velocities, or with the same velocity in different ‘directions. Several modifications of the meteoritic theory have been published. Mr. W. H. Monck has suggested that a star, or a swarm of meteors, rushing through a gaseous nebula afford the best explanation of the phe- nomena. The only difference between this idea and that of Mr. Lockyer’s is that the nebula is supposed to con- sist of gaseous instead of meteoritic particles. But, from a dynamical point of view, there is no distinction between the two, for it is well known that Prof. G. H. Darwin has proved that the individual meteorites of a swarm would behave like the individual particles of a gas. Referring to the collision with a gaseous nebula, Mr. Monck says (Journal of the British Astronomical Association, January, 1893): “The previous absence of nebular lines, even if clearly proved, would not be con- clusive as to the non-existence of such a nebula, for its temperature may not be high enough to produce these lines until raised by the advent of the star. A consider- _ able proportion of Nove, however, appear to be con- nected with known nebulez. Irregularities in the nebula NO 1227, vou. 481] the relative velocity was considerable the bright gas-lines of the nebula would be distinguishable from the dark absorption lines of the star. The bright lines would be broader than usual, because the velocity of the portion of the nebula adjoining the star would be partially destroyed and the luminous gas would thus be moving with different velocities. The heating being confined to the surface of the star, the cooling would take place more rapidly than after an ordinary collision. But if the star travelled far through the nebula ina state of intense in- candescence, portions of the surface would from time to time be vaporised and captured by the nebula, the mass of the moving star thus diminishing at every step. It might even end in complete vaporisation, as meteors are sometimes vaporised in our atmosphere. Herr Seelin- ger has worked out mathematically a theory (Astr. Nach. No. 3118, and NATURE, vol. xlvii. p. 137) very similar to that of Mr. Monck. He supposes that a body enters a cosmic cloud, such as Dr. Max Wolf’s photographs show to be widely scattered through space. Whatever the constitution of such a nebulous mass, collision with it causes an increase of temperature, and a vaporisation of some of the constituents of the colliding body. The process is precisely similar to the entrance of a meteor into the earth’s atmosphere. According to Herr Seelinger, Nova Aurigze was produced in this wise. A dark body was rushing earthwards through space ; it came to a mass of nebulosity, the light of which was so feeble that the eye could not appreciate it ; the collision caused an in- crease of temperature and of luminosity ; the heaping up of the glowing vapours in front of the colliding body pro- duced the spectrum of dark lines, and the bright-line spectrum was given by the vapours left behind as the body moved onwards. These vapours would quickly assume the velocity of adjacent parts of the nebula, hence the dark lines would appear on the more refrangible sides of the bright ones in the manner observed. Mr. Maunder also favours a collisiontheory (Knowledge, June 1892), his idea being that a long and dense swarm of meteors rushed through the atmosphere of a star, and produced the phenomena exhibited by Nova Aurigze As the stream passed periastron, the spectrum of the glowing meteorites, and that of the constituents of the stellar atmosphere with which they were colliding, would appear together with the absorption spectrum of the star. From what has been said it will be seen that none of the collision theories are substantially different from that laid down by Mr. Lockyer in 1877. It has been asserted that the meteoritic theory is not competent to explain the observed facts, but the opponents have generally omitted to specify its imperfections. One of the commonest objectionsis that the collision of two meteor swarms would be accompanied by a very considerable slackening of the rate of movement. Against this can be urged Seelinger’s proof that the great relative velocity indicated by the spectrum could remain practically unchanged, and, in spite of this, enough kinetic energy could be transformed into heat to cause a superficial incandescence. Another objection is that it is impossible to conceive of meteor swarms of such magnitude that though rushing through one another with a relative velocity of more than seven hundred miles per second, disentanglement did not take place until two or three months had elapsed. In the light of latter-day revelations ofastronomical photography, this objection becomes a mere cavil. The long-exposure photographs taken in recent years show that space is full of nebulous matter, and the “stream of tendency” is towards the idea that such masses are not gaseous but of meteoritic constitution. Now a simple calculation proves that even if Nova Aurige hada parallax of one second of arc, the whole of the luminosity received up to the end of April, 1892, could have been produced by the collision of two bits of nebulous matter, each of which would subtend _ would produce the observed fluctuations of light, and if | an angle at the earth of less than half a minute of arc. 8 NATURE [May 4, 1893 Surely it is not too much to assume the existence of meteoritic swarms of such comparatively small dimensions. In some incidental remarks upon temporary stars, Mr. Maunder agreed with Mr. Lockyer in 1890 ( Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol. i. No. 1, p. 29) that they “must be stars in quite another sense to our sun. The rapidity with which their brightness diminishes is plain proof of this. Only small bodies could cool so rapidly, and since despite their vast distance (for their parallax is insensible) these Novas show themselves con- spicuous, we are obliged to explain their brilliancy by considering them as consisting of aggregations of such small bodies ; the total extent and mass of the swarm making up for the insignificant size of its components.” It will be seen that Mr. Lockyer’s theory fits in with these observations most aptly. ‘“ New stars,” he says (Roy. Soc. Proc., vol. xliii. p. 154), ‘‘ whether seen in con- nection with nebulz or not, are produced by the clash of meteor swarms. Clearly, as the swarm cooled down after the collision, we should find its spectrum tend to assume the nebular type.”” It is quite immaterial whether the chief nebular line is considered to be due to magne- sium or not. According to the meteoritic hypothesis, a new star, as it diminishes in brilliancy, and presumably in temperature, must degrade towards the condition of a nebula. Accept the observations in proof of such a transformation, and the idea that nebulz are entirely composed of glowing gas becomes untenable, unless it is believed that a Nova increases in temperature as it dimin- ishes in brightness. On the other hand, the change of a new star into a nebula gives strong support to Mr. Lockyer’s view that nebule are low temperature phe- nomena. Ina paper “On the Causes which Produce the Phenomena of New Stars” (Phil. Trans., vol. clxxxii. (1891) A. pp. 397-448) Mr. Lockyer shows that the spectroscopic observations of Nova Coronz, Nova Cygni, and Nova Andromede are in agreement with his hypothesis. It was therefore expected that Nova Aurige should assume the characteristic badge of a nebula. The ex- pectation has been strikingly realised. In August, 1892, the star revived, and on the roth of that month Prof. Campbell, of the Lick Observatory, wrote the following account of his observations of it (Ast. Nach., No. 3133) :— “The brightest line previously observed was resolved into three lines, whose wave-lengths were about 501, 496, and 486, which were at once recognised to be the three characteristic nebular lines. The same morning Prof. Barnard, using the 36-inch equatorial, observed the Nova asa nebula 3” in diameter, with a tenth magnitude star in its centre. Thus the nebulous character of the object was independently established by two entirely different methods.” Writing on the same subject, Prof. Barnard remarks (Astr. Nach., No. 3143):—“I think it unques- tionable that had any decided nebulosity existed about the star at its first appearance, it would have been detected in observations with the 36-inch, especially when the star had faded somewhat. So it is clearly evident that there has been an actual transformation in every sense of the word of a star into a nebula within an interval of only four months.” Herr Renz hasalso observed the nebular character of the Nova by means of the Pulkowa refractor. On the other hand, one or two observers have been unable to detect the nebulosity, and it does not appear on Dr. Roberts’s photograph of the region. Itis impossible, how- ever, to think that an observer of Prof. Barnard’s calibre could have been deceived in the matter ; hence the con- flicting observations are probably accounted for by fluctuations in the extent and brightness of the nebulosity. The fact that Dr. Max Wolf’s photographs of the Nova fail to show any haziness round the star goes for nothing, for a patch 3” in diameter could not be distinguished from a point upon the scale of his pictures. The spectroscopic evidence of the nebular character NO. 1227, VOL. 48] of Nova Aurigz in its old age does not rest merely upon — Prof. Campbell’s observations. Prof. Copeland examined ~ the spectrum on August 25 and 26, and also Mr. J. G. Lohse. From the measures obtained the mean values — assigned to the two brightest lines were A 500°3 and d 495°3, while a fainter line was seen in the position d 580°1, which is also the position of a bright line found in the Wolf-Rayet stars and Nova Cygni (NATURE vol. xlvi. p. 464). Mr. Fowler has also observed the two lines at 5006 and 4956 (/ézd. vol. xlvii. p. 399). But perhaps the most convincing of all testimonies is con- tained in a paper by Herr Gothard on the spectrum of the new star in Auriga as compared with the spectra of planetary nebulz (Monthly Notices R.A.S., vol. liii. p.5 5). The author has photographed the spectra of a number of nebulze, and compared the results with his, photographs of the Nova spectrum. “ Each new photograph,” says he, “ increased the probability, which may be considered as a proved fact that the spectrum not only resembles, but that the aspect and the position of the lines show it to be identical with the spectra of the planetary nebula. In other words the new star has changed into a planetary nebula.” Inthe face of this array of facts nothing could appear to be more satisfactorily established than the descent of the Nova to the condition of a nebula. Up to the present only one observer, Dr. Huggins, has de- livered himself of a contrary conviction. His observa- tions have led him to believe that “the bright band in the Nova spectrumis resolved into a long group of lines ex- tending through about fifteen tenth-metres” when a high dispersion is employed (Asér. Nach., No. 3153). This observation, however, has not been confirmed, hence it cannot be “ implicitly accepted.” It can hardly be dis- cussed until Dr. Huggins gives a more explicit descrip- tion of the number and positions of the individual lines he has seen. Such are the theories with regard to the origin of Nova Aurige and new stars generally. From the survey we see that Huggins’ theory of burning worlds suggested to account for the appearance of a new star has gone the way of Tycho Brahe’s idea that such bodies are new creations. Any and all chromospheric theories fail to explain the transformation of the Nova into a nebula, so they should be abandoned. And finally, the whole sequence of spectroscopic phenomena is explainable on the hypothesis that the light was pro- duced “by the clash of meteor-swarms.” From the point of view of the meteoritic hypothesis things could hardly have turned out more satisfactorily than they have, yet at least one carping critic, after being forced to admit the testimony of his eyes that the Nova now exists as a nebula, has ventured to say that the fact tells against it. How, forsooth? Simply to make such a statement without backing it up reminds one very forcibly of mud-throwing. Let the blows to the hypo- thesis be fairly given, and as fairly met, for only by such means can the truth prevail. RICHARD A. GREGORY. THE ROVAL SOCIETY SELECTED CANDIDATES. ene following fifteen candidates were selected on Thursday last (April 27) by the council of the Royal Society, to be recommended for election into the Society. The ballot will take place on June 1 at 4 p.m We print with the name of each candidate the statement of his qualifications. WILLIAM BURNSIDE, M.A., Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Green wich. Formerly Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge Author of the following papers among others :—‘‘On Deep ‘ May 4, 1893] NATURE 9 ater Waves resulting from a Limited Original Disturbance,” and ‘“‘On the small Wave-Motions of a Heterogeneous Fluid under Gravity” (Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., vol. xeieif On Functions determined by their Discontinuities and by a Certain orm of Boundary Condition,” and ‘‘On a Certain Riemann’s ‘Surface ” (ibid. , vol. xxii.) ; ‘‘On a Class. of Automorphic Functions,” with a ‘Further Note,” and ‘On the Forms of Lyperelliptic Integrals of the First Class, which are Expressible s the Sum of Two Elliptic Integrals” (éé¢d., vol. xxiii.) ; The Elliptic Functions of 4 K., &c.;” ‘Centre of Pressure ‘of a Plane Polygon” (Messenger of Math., vol. xii.) ; ‘‘On Certain Spherical Harmonics” (zé/d., vol. xiv.); ‘On the Trisection of the Period for Weierstrass’s Elliptic Functions ” (zbid., vol. xvi.) ; ‘‘On the Potential of an Elliptic Cylinder ” (ibid., xviii.) ; ‘‘ Geometrical Interpretation of a Condition of Integrability ;” ‘‘The Lines of Zero Length on a Surface as Curvilinear Co-ordinates ;” ‘‘ On the Propagation of Energy in Electro-Magnetic Field” (cdzd., vol. xix.); ‘‘On the ition-Theorem for Hyperbolic Functions ;” ‘‘On a Case f Streaming Motion ;” ‘‘A Property of Linear Substitutions ;” A Property of Plane Isothermal Curves;” ‘*On the Dif- ntial Equation of Confocal Sphero-Conics”’ (z6id., vol. xx.) ; On the Jacobian of Two Quadratics and a System of Linear Equations,” ‘‘On the Form of Closed Curves of the Third Class ;” ‘On Linear Transformations of the Elliptic Dif- erential ” (zdid., vol. xxi.) ; ‘‘On the Division of the Elliptic eriods by 9” (zdid., vol. xxii.) ; ‘‘On the Partition of Energy Between the Translatory and Rotational Motions of a Set of ow Homogeneous Spheres” (Elin. Trans., 1888); ‘‘On a Simplified Proof of Maxwell’s Theorem (in the Kinetic Theory of Gases) ” (Edin. Proc., 1887) ; ‘‘ On the Theory of Functions ” (Camb. Phil. Proc., vol. vii.), WYNDHAM R. DUNSTAN, M.A., Professor of Chemistry to, and Director of the Research ‘Laboratory of, the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. i urer on Chemistry in the Medical School, St. Thomas’s elite Author of numerous papers on Chemistry and Chemical Pharmacology, ¢.g. :—‘‘ The Action of Alkalis on the _ Nitroparaffins 7; «©The Physiological Action of the Paraffinic Nitrites” (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1891—the first of a series of ‘papers in conjunction with Prof. Cash, F.R.S.); ‘‘ Contri- tions to our Knowledge of the Aconite Alkaloids” ; ‘‘ The i ce of Skatole in the Vegetable Kingdom’’; ‘‘ The _ Constituents of the Artificial Salicylic Acid of Commerce and __amethod of producing the pure acid for medicinal use.” Dis- 3 Li ished as an Investigator, and for the interest which he has _ taken in Educational Questions. Ay qj od “Ee ; ; ie WiLu1AM ELLIS, F.R.A.S., F.R. Met. Soc., Memb. Inst. Elect. Eng., late President of Roy. Meteorol. Soc., Superintendent of the Magnetical and Meteorological Department, Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Connected with the Royal Observatory since 1841, and since 1875 has been Superintendent of t! : Magnetical and Meteorological Department. For eighteen years previously, in _ addition to astronomical work, had charge of the Chronometer _ and Time Signal Department. First showed how completely the long series of Greenwich magnetic observations confirmed the existence of sympathetic variation between solar spots and restrial magnetism, for horizontal force as well as for declina- mn. Among other works, carried out, on the English side, the whole of the operations in the telegraphic determination of the longitude of Cairo, in which a submarine’ line of about o miles in length was used in an unbroken circuit. His sion of these operations is given in the British ‘‘ Account f the Observations of the Transit of Venus, 1874.” Applied he principle of the galvanic regulation of clocks to the regula- on of a chronometer. Was formerly Observer in Durham Jniversity Observatory, his astronomical work during this time g published in the Astronomische Nachrichten, vols. xxxv., vi., and xxxvii. Is the author of a paper in the PAd/. Trans. ‘On the Relation between the Diurnal Range of Magnetic Declination and Horizontal Force, as observed at the Royal servatory, Greenwich, 1841 to 1877, and the Period of Solar Spot Frequency.” Also of papers in the AZemoirs and Monthly Notices of the Roy. Astron. Soc., the Quart. Journ. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., and other scientific journals. NO. 1227, VOL, 48] J. CossaR Ewart, M.D., Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh. An original investigator in various departments of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. Author of valuable biological memoirs communicated to the.Royal Society and to various scientific journals, his researches on the Locomotive System of the Echinodermata having been selected by the Council of the Royal Society as the subject of the Croonian Lecture of 1881. He was appointed in 1878 to the Chair of Natural History in the University of Aberdeen, and, subsequently, to the corre- sponding chair in the University of Edinburgh. This last post he now fills. He is a member of the Fishery Board of Scotland, and is at present engaged under the co-operation of the Board in important observations and experiments on the Natural History of the Herring. Author of :—‘‘ The Develop- ment of the Electric Organ of Raia datis” ; ‘* The Structure of the Electric Organ of Raia circularis”; ‘‘The Electric Organ of Raia radiata” (Phil. Trans., 1889) ; ‘‘ The Structure, Relations, Progressive Development and Growth of the Electric Organ of the Skate” (ébid., 1892; ‘‘The Cranial Nerves of Elasmobranch Fishes ”’ (Trans. Roy. Soc., Edin.). WILLIAM TENNANT GAIRDNER, M.D. (Edin.), Hon. LL.D. (Edin.). F.R.C.P. (Edin.). Hon. M.D. (Dublin). F.K.Q.C.P. (Ireland), Physician in Ordinary to H.M. the Queen in Scotland. Professor of Medicine in the University of Glasgow. Since his graduation, in 1845, has made numerous contributions to the science of Medicine, more especially in the departments of Pathology, Public Health and Hygiene, and Clinical Medicine. He is generally recognised as one of the foremost physicians of his time, and his status in the profession is indicated by the fact that he has acted as President of the British Medical Association. or several years he acted as the first Medical Officer of Health for the city of Glasgow, and it is well known that the measures he then initiated for securing the health of the community soon materiaily lowered the death rate of the city, and have been largely adopted both at home and abroad. Dr. Gairdner has held the chair of Medicine in the University of Glasgow for thirty years, and he is distinguished as a teacher as well as an investigator into the phenomena of disease. Dr. Gairdner has published the follow- ing works:—(1) ‘*Contributions to the Pathology of the Kidney” (1848) ; (2) ‘Pathological Anatomy of Bronchitis and on Bronchial Obstruction” (1850); (3) ‘‘ Pathology of Pericarditis” (1860); (4) ‘‘Clinical Medicine” (1862); (5) “‘Public Health in Relation to Air and Water” (1862) ; (6) ‘Alcoholic Stimulants in Treatment of Fever” (1864) ; (7) ‘* Study of Fever in Glasgow” (1865) ; (8) ‘‘ On Articulate Speech and Aphasia ” (1866) ; (9) ‘‘On Antipyretic Treatment of Specific Fever” (1878) ; (10) ‘‘ Clinical Lectures ” (1877) ; (11) ‘* Angina Pectoris”’ in Reynolds’s ‘‘ System of Medicine” (1877) ; (12) ‘*On the Physiognomy of Disease in Finlayson’s Clinical Manual” (1878); (13) ‘‘On Insanity’ (Morisonian Lectures, 1885) ; (14) *‘ The Physician as a Naturalist ” (1888) ; and many papers in medical journals, and in the transactions of pathological and medical societies. ; ERNEST WILLIAM HOBSON, D.Sc. (Cantab.). Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and University Lecturer. Author of the following memoirs, paper and book :—‘*On a Class of Spherical Harmonics of Complex Degree with Applications to Physical Problems” (Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc., vol. xiv.); ‘‘ Synthetical Solutions in the Conduction of Heat ” (Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., vol. xix.) ; ‘* Systems of Spherical Harmonics” (¢déd., vol. xxii.) ; ‘* On Harmonic Functions for the Elliptic Cone ” (dd., vol. xxiii.) ; “On a Radiation Problem ” (Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., vol. vi.) ; ‘*On a Theorem in Differentiation and its Application to Spherical Harmonics” (read before the Lond. Math. Soc., and in the press) ; ‘‘ On the Evaluation of a Certain Surface-Integral and its Application to the Expansion of the Potential of Ellipsoids ” (read before the Lond. Math. Soc.) ; ‘‘ On Fourier’s Theorem” (Messenger of Math., vol. xi.). Author of the article ‘* Trigonometry,” in the ‘‘ Encyclopzedia Britannica,” Author of a treatise on ‘‘ Trigonometry,” including many of the higher developments. ; Sirk HENRY HOYLE HOWoORTH, Barrister-at-Law. Author of ‘‘A History of the Mongols, 4 vols., 1876-87; ‘The History of Chenghiz Khan and his | fe) NATURE [May 4, 1893 : Ancestors,” containing much information upon the Ethnograph of Asia, &c., published in parts in ‘‘ The Indian Antiquary,” and about to be republished separately ; ‘‘ The Mammoth and the Flood,” 8vo, pp. 464, 1887. Numerous papers on historical, antiquarian, anthropological, and geological subjects in Journ. Ethnolog. Soc., Journ. Anthrop. Inst. (Westerly Drifting of the Nomads, Ethnology of Germany, Spread of the Slaves, &c.), Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc. (Northern Frontagers of China), International Congress of Orientalists, Historical Soe. (Early History and Movements of the Danes and Norsemen), Archzo- logia, Geological Magazine, &c. Distinguished for his literary and archeological attainments. EDWIN TULLEY NEWTON, F.G.S., F.Z.S. Palzontologist to the Geological Survey of England and Wales. For twenty-five years on the Staff of the Survey. Recipient of the Wollaston Donation Fund of the Geological Society, in 1884. Author of numerous papers on Palzontological and Biological Subjects, of which the following are some of the more important :—‘‘ On the Skull, Brain and Auditory Organ of a New Species of Pterosaurian (Scaphog- nathus Purdoni)” (Phil. Trans., 1888) ; ‘‘Ona Gigantic Species of Bird (Gastornis Klaassenii) from the Lower Eocene” (Trans. Zool. Soc., 1886); twenty-six papers on ‘‘ Cretaceous Fishes and Tertiary Vertebrata” (in Quart. Fourn. Geol. Soc. and Geol. Mag., 1876-90) ‘‘On the Structure of the Eye of the Lobster and on the Brain of the Cockroach” (Quart. Fourn. Micros. Sct. 1873-79). Also the following Memoirs of the Geological Survey :—‘‘ The Chimceroid Fishes of the British Cretaceous Rocks” (1878) ; and ‘‘ The Vertebrata of the Forest Bed Series of Norfolk and Suffolk.” CHARLES SCOTT SHERRINGTON, M.B. (Camb.), M.A. Lecturer on Physiology, St. Thomas’s Hospital. Author of the following and other papers :— ‘*Secondary and Tertiary Degenerations in the Spinal Cord of the Dog” (Fourn. Physiol., 1885) ; ‘‘ Degenerations in the Spinal Cord following Lesions of the Cortex Cerebri” (zdzd., 1889) ; ‘‘ On two recently described Tracts in the Spinal Cord” {** Brain,” 1886) ; ‘‘ On Outlying Nerve Cells, in the Mammalian Spinal Cord” (Phil. Trans., 1890). Joint Author of the following, and other papers :—‘‘ Secondary Degeneration in the Spinal Cord of the Dog” (Journ. Physiol., 1884); ‘*Bilateral Descending Degeneration Fifty-two Days after Hemorrhage in one Cerebral Hemisphere” (‘‘ Brain,” 1886) ; ‘On the Formation of Scar Tissue” (Fouri. Physiol. 1889) ; On the Regulation of the Blood Supply of the Brain” (Fourn. Physiol. 1890) ; *‘ The Influence of the Movements of the body upon the Capacity of the Cranio-Vertetral Canal” (‘‘Brain,” 1891). EDWARD C. STIRLING, M.D. (Camb.), M.A., F.R.C.S., C.M.Z.S., late President, Royal Society of South Australia, and Inter-colonial Medical Congress. Senior Surgeon, Adelaide Hospital. Lecturer on ‘Physiology, University of Adelaide. Eminent for his researches in Physiology and Ethnology in South Australia. Formerly Assistant-Surgeon and Lecturer on Physiology, St. George’s Hospital, London. For ten years Surgeon to the Adelaide Hospital, and now Senior Surgeon and Member of the Board of Management. For ten years Lecturer on Physiology and Member of the University Council of Adelaide. President of the First Inter-colonial Medical Congress, 1887 ; Vice-President of the Second, 1888. President of the Royal Society of South Australia, 1889 ; and of the Australian Branch of the British Medical Association in 1888. A member of the Legislative Assembly South Australia, 1883-86. First President and Organiser of the States Children Council. For seven years Hon. Director and Organiser of the South Australian Museum. Author of many papers in the St. George’s Hospital Reports, Inter-colonial Congresses, the Transactions South Australian Branch Brit. Med. Assoc., Transactions of the Zoological Society, London, and Royal Society of South Australia. Discoverer of a new genus and Species of Marsupialia, Notoryctes Typhlops, and other species, during a journey from the north to the south of the Australian Continent, in company with His Excellency the Earl of Kintore, Governor of South Australia. JOHN Isaac THORNYCROFT, M.Inst.C.E, Member of Council of the Institution of Naval Architects. Author of several papers connected with Science, NO. 1227, VOL. 48 | as: ‘*On the Resistance opposed by Water to the motion ¢ Vessels of Various Forms, and on the way in which this varie: with the velocity ” (1869) ; ‘‘On the Efficiency of Guide-blad Propellors” (1883); ‘On the most sui for Shallow Draughts” (1885); “On Shallow-draught Screw- steamers” (1885); ‘‘On Torpedo-boats and Lig t Yachts (8vo, pp. 94, with five large diagrams, 1881). A distinguish engineer and naval architect, also most successful as a scientil naval architect in the construction of torpedo-boats, having a minimum of weight and a maximum of power and speed Attached to science and anxious to promote its progress. JAMES WILLIAM HELENUS TRAIL, ~ M.D., A.M., C.M. (Aberdeen). Regius Professor of Botany (since 1877) in the University of Aberdeen. Corresp. K.-K Zool.-Botan. Gesell., Vienna, and Soc. Nat. Sci. et Math. Cherbourg. Made, in 1874, important botanical collections i the Valley of the Amazon, in North Brazil. Author of a pape on the Palms collected on the occasion (Journ. of Bot., 1876 ofa ‘‘ Revision of Scottish Discomycetes” (Scottish Naturalist, N.S., iv., 1889); of a paper on the Gall-making Diptera o Scotland (zé/d., 1888), and of numerous others. om ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, LL.D., D.C.L., F.L.S., F.Z.S. Author of a paper ‘‘On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original Type” (Journ. Linn. Soc., iii., 1859, Zoology), and numerous other writings. ; ARTHUR MASON WORTHINGTON, ~ M.A., F.R.A.S. Head Master and Professor of Physics, Royal Naval Engineering College, Devonport. Distinguished as a physicist, especially for his researches on surface tension and on the stretching of liquids, Author of the following papers :—‘‘ On the Forms assumed by Drops of Liquid fallin; ‘Vertically on a Horizontal Plate” (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1876-77) ‘*On the Spontaneous Segmentation of a Liquid Annulus’ (zbid., 1879) ; «On Pendent Drops” (zdid., 1881) ; ‘‘ On Impac with a Liquid Surface” (zid., 1882); ‘On the Horizon Motion of Floating Bodies under the Action of Capillary Forces” (Phil. Mag., 1883); ‘‘On the Surface Forves in Fluids ” (2déd., 1884), ‘‘ On the Error involved in Prof. Quincke’s Method of Calculating Surface Tensions from the Dimeasions of Flat Drops and Bubbles” (édid., 1885); ‘‘A Capillary Multiplier” (zdid.) ; ‘On Tensional Stress and Strain ‘within a Liquid” (Brit. Assoc. Sect. A., 1888): ‘‘On the Discha: se of Electrification by Flames” (Brit. Assoc., Rept. Electrolysi: Comm., 1889) ; ‘‘ On the Mechanical Stretching of Liquids, an Experimental Determination of the Volume-Extensibility 0 Ethyl Alcohol” (read before the Roy. Soc. Feb. 4, 1 ; Also of the following :—‘‘ Physical Laboratory Practice,” an “* The Dynamics of Rotation.” t SYDNEY YOUNG, D.Sc. (Lond.). Professor of Chemistry, University College, Bristol. Well known as a scientific chemist. Author o numerous papers on Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, and o the border-land of Physics and Chemistry. Among these are : “* Alkyl Fluorides ;” ‘‘ Ethyl valerolactone ; ” ‘* Vapour Pressures and Specific Volumes of Halogen Compounds in relation to the Periodic Law ;” ‘* A New Method of determining Specific Volumes of Liquids and Saturated Vapours ;” ‘* Th Molecular Volumes of the Saturated Vapours of and of its Halogen Derivatives.” Dr, Young is the joint author of numerous memoirs on the th properties of liquids, and allied subjects, several of whicl have age in full in the Philosophical Transactions. During the last five years Dr. eit has published the lowing papers on chemical and physical subjects :—Preparation of Dibenzyl Ketone ; Vapour-Pressures of Quinoline, Dibenzy] Ketone, and Mercury ; Exact Thermometry ; The Volatilis of Ice; A Thermometer for Lecture Purposes; Rels : between Boiling-Points, Molecular Volumes, and Chemical Characters of Liquids; Vapour-Pressures and Molecula Volumes of Acetic Acid, Carbon Tetra-Chloride, and Stannic Chloride ; Relations between ‘* Corresponding ” Temperatures, Pressures, and Volumes of Liquids and Vapours, The last item of the series of joint papers with Professor Ramsay— ‘‘ A Study of the Thermal Properties of Water and Steam ”—h benzene, May 4, 1893] NATURE bi | been published in the Philosophical Transactions. Dr. Young s also the author of the articles on ‘‘ Distillation,” ‘‘ Sublima- on,” and ‘‘ Thermometry ” in Thorpe’s “‘ Dictionary of Applied Chemistry.” NOTES. _ Mr. CHar es CurEE, Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, has been selected to fill the important office of Superintendent to the Kew Observatory. It is one for which the combination of high mathematical capacity with a practical experience of the apparatus and methods of physical research is especially needed. Mr. Chree obtained in 1884 the hitherto unequalled honour of | first class in the most advanced parts both of the Mathematical and of the Natural Science Triposes, and he hassince been much gaged at Cambridge in experimental and mathematical investi- s. The results of these are published in the Cambridge sophical Fournal, and in the ‘Philosophical Trans- tions ” of the Royal Society. a B _ Tue “James Forrest” lecture will be delivered at the In- titution of Civil Engineers this evening by Mr. William derson, F.R.S. The subject is the interdependence of act science and engineering. Sir W. H. Fiower, F.R.S., will preside over the fourth innual meeting of the Museums’ Association, which will be held ‘in London in July. The meeting, which will last for several days, will begin on Monday, July 3. _Ar the meeting of the Victoria Institute on Monday a paper yy Prof. Maspero was read in the author’s absence by Mr. T. » Pinches, of the British Museum. The paper embodied the of Prof. Maspero’s investigations during the past ten as regards the places in Southern Palestine claimed, a the Karnac records, to have been captured by the in the campaign under Sheshonq (Shishak) against Rehoboam. ‘THE report of the Council of the City and Guilds of London Institute has just been published. We are glad to note they are ‘‘able again to point to steady and continued evelopment in each branch of the Institute’s work, as shown by the statistics of their colleges, and—what is more satisfactory —by the positions taken by their students, as the result, to a large extent, of the instruction provided.” “THE tercentenary of the foundation of the Botanic Garden of Montpellier will be celebrated by /éves from the 20th to the 28th of May, when the Botanical Society of France will hold its special annual session in the town. The botanists of Montpellier offer hospitality to foreign botanists who may desire to attend the /ées. Since the death of Dr. Prantl the editorship of the crypto- ic bi-monthly Hedwigia has been undertaken by Dr. G, ‘onymus, Herr P. Hennings, and Dr. G, Lindau. NDER the auspices of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in nna, Dr. E. v. Halacsy, and Prof. Hilber have undertaken a tanical and geological investigation of Mt. Pindus in Thessaly the course of the present year. OF. MARTIN, on account of his serious and prolonged ill- h, has tendered his resignation of the professorship of ogy, which he has held in the Johns Hopkins University 1876. A NEW journal of experimental and theoretical physics, called i¢ Physical Review, and conducted by Edward L. Nichols d Ernest Merritt, will be published for the Cornell University NO, 1227, VOL. 48] by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., New York and London. The first number will appear on July 1. The new journal will be issued bi-monthly, and each number will consist of at least sixty-four pages. It will be devoted to the promotion of original work in physics. Tue Camera Club has issued a ‘‘ Conference Number” of its Journal, in which an account is given of the proceedings of the Photographic Conference, held lately at the Society of Arts. SINCE our last issue the temperature has appreciably de- creased over these islands ; the maxima have only reached 70° occasionally in the southern and central parts of England, while in all other districts the thermometer has seldom risen above 60°. Up to Tuesday, the 2nd inst., the rainfall had only been slight, the greater part being confined to the northern and western parts of the country, where small amounts have been of frequent occurrence. The recent drought has been probably un- precedented in some parts ; at places on the south coast no rain had fallen for forty-five days, while in the neighbourhood of London there were thirty days without rain. The type of weather has recently undergone an entire change; cyclonic disturbances formed in and near our islands, while the anti- cyclonic conditions temporarily disappeared. With this change in the distribution of atmospheric pressure, the northerly and easterly winds gave place to those from westerly and southerly directions, unsettled and showery weather became general over the whole country, and the softer quality of the air was very perceptible. Notwithstanding the decrease of temperature, the Weekly Weather Report of April 29 showed that it was above the mean in all districts, the excess varying from 3° to 5° in the north and west, to 6° or 7° in most parts of England. The rainfall for the week was, of course, less than the mean in all districts, while bright sunshine was very preva- lent over the entire kingdom; in the Channel Islands the per- centage of possible duration was as high as 81, and in all dis- tricts it greatly exceeded the average. Dr. PAuL SCHREIBER has communicated to the JZeleovo- logische Zeitschrift for April an account of some extraordinary snowballs which fell at Glashutte, in Saxony, on December 4 last. After a storm which had lasted ten minutes, a calm sud- denly occurred, and light balls of snow measuring from four to five inches began to fall. The balls lay on the ground until the next day, there being from five to twelve of them to a square yard, Dr. Schreiber thinks that the phenomenon was of an electrical origin, as the preceding disturbance seemed to point to a thunderstorm. Pror. HELLMANN, to whom meteorologists are so much in- debted for many laborious investigations into the history of old observations and instruments, has recently made an im- portant addition to early meteorological literature by the pub- lication of Das dlteste Berliner Wetter-Buch, containing obser- vations made in Berlin in 1700-1701, by Gottfried Kirch and his wife, being the first part of a manuscript of over 1000 quarto pages. During the preparation of Dr, Hellmann’s valuable work on the climate of Berlin he had made constant search for these observations, which were known to have been in Berlin about fifty years ago, and he at last discovered them, strangely enough, in the Crawford Library at the Edinburgh University. It is well known that Lord Crawford (then Lord Lindsay) took an interest in collecting works on comets, and these old manuscripts contained a number of such observations, in addition to meteorological data. Dr, Hellmann’s account of the search for, and the discovery of, the manuscript, and of the antecedents of the Kirch family, is exceedingly interesting. {2 NATURE (May 4, 1893 IN the Annales of the French Meteorological Office, recently published for the year 1890, M. Angot has discussed the observations taken simultaneously during that year at the Central Meteorological Office and on the Eiffel tower, and has arrived at some interesting results respecting the variation with height of the several -meteorological elements, The reduced barometric pressure was lower every month on the tower than on the ground, the probable cause being the great difference in the velocity of the wind at the two stations. The observations made at the three stations on the tower allow of the variations of temperature with altitude being studied with great detail, and it was found that the rate of diminution was far from being pro- portional to the height above the ground. In all months, at the middle of the night-time, the temperature increased with altitude, the miaximum difference occurring at a mean height of about 500 feet, it then decreased at first slowly, and after- wards more rapidly; at about 1000 feet the mean rate of decrease already amounted to 1°'4 per 100 metres (328 feet) During the middle of the day-time the decrease of temperature with height above 500 feet is nearly uniform in all months, being about 1°°6 for each 100 metres. Between 500 feet and the ground, how- ever, the decrease showed a marked annual variation ; during the cold season the difference was less than that observed at the higher level, while in the hot season it was much greater. The diurnal variation of vapour tension at the summit of the tower exhibited entirely different characteristics from those near the ground ; generally speaking, there was only one maximum, near noon, and one minimum, between the evening and mid- night. During all months the vapour tension was less at the top of the tower than near the ground. The diurnal variation of the wind exhibited a marked minimum at the top of the tower during the day-time, and a maximum at night, being the reverse of what is observed at ground stations. THE Board of Agriculture has issued a valuable report on rust or mildew on wheat plants. It contains a complete account of the life-history of the fungus of ordinary mildew, Puccinia graminis, as well as of that of spring-rust and mildew, Puccinia rubigo vera, with a discussion of the conditions favourable for their propagation, and the best means of averting them. It is illustrated by some excellent coloured plates by Mr. Worthington Smith. RaTHER less than three years ago (NATURE, vol. xlii. p. 297) we had to record the death of Mr. W. K. Parker, and in doing so we gave some account of the main facts of his career. An excellent little biographical sketch of him by his son, T. Jeffrey Parker, has just been published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co, In an introductory letter Prof. Huxley speaks of the volume as one which ‘‘ gives a presentation as accurate as it is vivid, of a man of noble and lovable character, endowed with intellectual powers of a very unusual order.” Prof. Huxley says he has ‘‘never met with another such combination of minute accuracy in observation and boundless memory for details, with a vagrancy of imagination which absolutely rioted in the scenting out of subtle and often far-fetched analogies.” ‘* The genius of an artist struggled with that of a philosopher, and not unfrequently the latter got the worst of the contest.” AT the instance of some Russian meteorologists, who have frequent occasion to measure very low temperatures, M. Chappuis lately undertook a study of the spirit thermometer (Arch. de Sciences), He traces its anomalies to three sources, (1) Adhesion of the liquid to the walls of the capillary tube. When the instrument is brought from ordinary tem- perature to a lower, the sinking column leaves liquid on the tube, which for hours, and even days, continues slowly descend- ing. (2) Irregular expansion of the spirit with the temperature, As the expansion increases with heating, the graduation should NO. 1227, VOL. 48] be made to correspond, the degrees for higher temperat of being longer (which is not usually the case). (3) Impurities the spirit, and varying water-content, which affect expar i materially. M. Chappuis recognises the difficulty of gettin rid of these faults, and concludes that alcohol is not to be recom- mended as a liquid for thermometers marking low temperature On the other hand, it has been shown that toluol (with a boil point of about 110° C.) is a liquid well adapted for the Purp and free from the disadvantages referred to. Lake MEMPHRAMAGOG—the Loch Lomond of Canada— s partly in the State of Vermont, but belongs to the St. Lawrence hydrographic system. It is thirty miles long, and varies from one to four miles in breadth. It lies in the lap of ah h and is a deep- water lake, soundings in one locality indicating depths, it is claimed, of 600 ft. Mr. A. T. Drummond writes to us that from readings taken on August 10 last, at Ir a.m, under a strong sun and cloudless sky, two facts appear to be’ established :—(1) that Lake Memphramagog is a cold-water lake whose bottom temperatures are in August as low as 44°75 Fahr. ; (2) that the high surface temperature is only main- tained for relatively a few feet, beneath which the mercury falls rapidly towards the lowest reading. There is a decided surface current at the southern end, arising from the inflowing streams there, and it is suggestive the warm waters from these streamS flow, river-like, over the colder waters of the lake, just as the Gulf Stream, under a different influence, but light skims. the surface of such a large portion of the bro do Atlantic Ocean. Whilst the thermometer at twelve fathoms registered 51°, the waters of Lake Ontario, at their outlet into the St. Lawrence indicated at the same depth, and about the same period, 67°. THE green colour in certain oysters, localised in the gills and palps, and lost under certain conditions, is known to be due t an insoluble pigment introduced by a diatom on which tl 1e oysters feed. It has been shown lately by M. Pelseneer, of Ghent (Rev. Sci.), that a process of ‘ phagocytosis” here occurs. The pigmentary granulations are an injurious product in the blood ; and they are devoured by the blood corpuscles, which, thus charged, pass into the gills and palps, where blood is separated from the outer water by a mere thin layer of epithelium. The corpuscles penetrate between the epitheli cells, where some are destroyed, and some pass right through and escape. It is thus explained how green oysters placed water without the diatom referred to lose their colour f quickly (in thirty-six hours at most), the charged atid being rapidly eliminated. ; THE success of the luminous fountains at the Paris Exhibition of 1889 suggested to M. Trouvé the idea of producing the effects on a small scale and cheaply. Several forms of this small fountain are described in the Bulletin de la Société @ Encouragement. Instead of illuminating the water jets by lateral mirrors, M. Trouvé lights up with an incandescent lamp at the focus of a parabolic mirror a sort of inverted glass apertures for the liquid. M. Trouvé also here describes method of imitating lightning at one of the Paris theatres. Bi stead of flashing lycopodium. powder behind a broken line cut in the scenery (the old plan), a long bamboo or other fle 2) ; rod is used, having a small incandescent lamp of great brillia at the end, with a foot commutator, enabling one to make i or break the circuit at will. The rod is moved quickly down in’ zigzag direction at the proper moment. The sound of the ind in a storm is imitated by means of a double-action pump and: two sirens ; and that of hail by throwing coarse sand against an osier screen. iz A SIMPLE optical photometer, serving also to measure the degree of visual power, has been devised by Dr. Simono May 4, 1893] NATURE 43 oniteur de la Photogr.). A series of twenty-four pages is nged, the first having a clear grey tint, the second one of uble initenstiy; and so on to the twenty-fourth, the tint of which is nearly black, being twenty-four times more intense n that of pager. On each page are printed a few phrases in black letters of different sizes. In a badly lit room one may estimate the amount of illumination by turning over the ves of this little book, held about a foot from the eyes, until can no longer read the line of letters of a selected size. With good illumination you may proceed to the twentieth or asl page, but with poorer light you may be stopped at the tenth, or twelfth, or fifteenth. The instrument is for indoor use exclusively. In schools it might prove useful in _ testing the vision of children. A PERIODICAL which will show what natives of India can do - in some branches of science has been started in Bombay. It is called The Indian Medico-Chirurgical Review, and is edited by N. A. Choksy. We have received the third number, in which several native writers’ record the results of original ~ observation, while there are many good notes on work being done in Europe. In one article the Review urges the necessity for the establishment of a teaching university in Bombay. As the teaching of law, medicine, and science in the presidency is practically located in the city of Bombay, ‘and hence in touch with the existing examining University, a few professorships might, the Review thinks, be endowed, and eminent men invited from Europe to occupy the new chairs. The Review also suggests that the Government might with advantage ““copy the system of the German Universities by establishing biological, physiological, pathological, bacteriological, and _ hygienic institutes, in connection with these professorships, and & _ place over them professors who would go on teaching and at _ the sam» time carry on original researches.” In the report of the Geological Survey of India for 1892 reference is made to Dr. Noetling’s visit to the amber and jade mines of Upper Burma—a visit which was rendered possible by _ the starting of the Maingkwan column. The so-called amber turns out to be a new variety of this form of fossil resin, to which : the name of Burmite has been assigned by Dr. Noetling in con- __ junction with Dr. Otto Helm (a distinguished authority in this line) of Danzig, to whom specimens were forwarded. The peculiarity of Burmite is a fluorescence, giving the mineral an appearance as of solidified kerosine oil: and, as far as has yet _ been seen, it is of darker colours than is usual with amber proper (succinite) ; while it is a little harder than the latter. The colour alone is, according to the present fashion in Europe, against the mineral, but some of the darker varieties of brown red colour, present on being cut deeply ex cabochon, the flat or under face being turned to the observer, a really gorgeous ruby tint which should make the stone desirable ornamentally. The so-called jade—for the actual constitution of the mineral as worked in Burma determines it properly as jadeite—is worked by pit and quarry mines, the former for forty miles along the bank of the Uru river southwards from Sankha, while the latter _ are excavated on the top of a plateau at Tammaw, eight miles out of Sankha, in the Mogoung subdivision. The industry seems to be a thriving one, and rather promising for future more Systematic and skilled development, for at least 500 men are _ engaged every season in working the quarries. White is the _ commonest colour, the green varieties being of much rarer ‘occurrence ; while, in some of the fewer boulders obtained from the laterite beds along the course of the Uru river, a ‘‘ red _ jade” appears to have been produced by ferruginous decompo- sition change. _ _ THERE are two stations in Italy for the economic investiga- 4 tion of the diseases of plants; one at Pavia, established in NO. 1227, VOL. 48} 1871 in connection with the Botanical Institute of the Royal University, and now under the directorship of Prof. Briosi ; the other at Rome, established in 1887, and presided over by Prof. Cuboni. They are required to investigate the nature and cause of diseases, to test and provide remedies, and to disseminate information by lectures and publications. As might be expected, the diseases of the vine and of the olive occupy a large share of their attention. Pror. V. Dvorak, of Agram, uses a very simple apparatus for demonstrating the oscillation of the air in sound phenomena. In an ordinary resonating sphere the short neck is replaced by a small metal plate with a conical hole opening inwards, its shortest diameter being about 2mm, When the resonator sounds, the passage of air through the hole is strong enough to extinguish alighted match. Ifa small paper wheel resembling a water- wheel is placed a little below the opening and the resonator stands about 3 cm. in front of a wall, the blowing ofa horn, or the singing of the proper note, is capable of setting the wheel in rapid rotation. A very serviceable lecture apparatus for measuring the intensity of sound is illustrated in the Zeztschrift fiir Physikalischen Unterricht. A narrow glass tube bent at a very obtuse angle is half filled with alcohol. One end of the tube has a conical opening, and this is placed at a distance of 0'5 cm. from the opening of the resonator described. The whole is mounted on a board capable of adjustment to any angle. The puffs emitted from the resonator when responding to a sound affect the level of the alcohol, and the displacements are read oft ona scale attached to the tube, projected, if necessary, on to a screen. Another effect of sound easily observed is that of repulsion. A light resonator of the ordinary construction is floated on water, its axis being kept horizontal by means of an attached piece of wire. On blowing the horn, the sphere will float in the direction opposite to that in which the neck is pointed. To produce continuous rotation, four resonators are attached to a light cross of wood turning on a needle point, or one resonator with four bent necks is suspended by a thread. If this acoustical reaction wheel is placed in one corner of the lecture theatre, it can be set rotating from the opposite corner by a strong tuning fork, or even by singing through a conical tube. AT the recent exhibition of the Société Francaise de Physique, M. Hurmuzescu showed the following experiment :—A metallic wire, through which a continuous current is passed, is stretched horizontally in a glass tube containing gas either at the ordinary © atmospheric pressure or rarefied. As soon as the wire becomes — red-hot it begins to vibrate in a vertical plane, and the contain- ing tube becomes much hotter at the bottom than at the sides. This effect has not been satisfactorily explained by its dis- coverer. M. CLAupE showed at the same exhibition, an instrument for measuring the difference in phase between the current in a circuit and the impressed electromotive force. The principle of the instrument is as follows :—When a piece of soft iron, fixed to the end of a spring, is placed before the pole of an electro- magnet having a permanently magnetised core and traversed by an alternating current, it is attracted and vibrates with the same period asthe current. Ifthe spring also carries a mirror from which a ray of light is reflected on to a scale, the length of the band of light produced will be proportional to, the maximum displacement of the mirror. Two such electromagnets are used, acting on the piece of soft iron in opposite directions, and at such distances that they produce the same maximum deflection, one magnet being placed in series with the circuit, and the other joined to the ends of a non-inductive resistance. Under these conditions the length of the band of light is proportional to the cosine of half the angle of lag. 14 NATURE [| May 4, 1893 AN interesting note by M. Birkeland appears in the Comptes Feendus for April 17 on the reflection of electrical waves at the extremity of a lirear conductor. By an application of Prof. Poynting’s theorem concerning the movement of the energy in an electromagnetic field to the case of a Hertzian oscillator, he has shown how the damping of the oscillations depends on the nature and position of the conductors in the neighbourhood. He also accounts for the fact that, when the distance between the first stationary node and the end of a wire is determined by means of a secondary circuit, the value found is smaller than that obtained by a direct measurement of the potential along the wire, by showing that the paths along which the magnetic energy travels are extended beyond the end of the wire, so that the wave has, so to speak, to make a detour round the end of the wire, and is thus retarded. AN important new series of compounds, the thionylamines, in which two new hydrogen atoms of the amido group of the primary amines are replaced by the radicle thionyl SO, have been prepared by Prof. Michaelis, and are described in the cur- rent number of Liebig’s Annalen. It has been found that the primary amines of the fatty series when dissolved in ether react with thionyl chloride, SOCI,, in a manner which is readily con- trolled by extraneous cooling of the vessel in which the reaction is conducted. The products are the hydrochloride of the amine employed which separates in crystals, and the new liquid thionylamine which remains dissolved in the ether, but can readily be isolated by fractional distillation. Thionyl chloride is incapable of acting upon the hydrochlorides of the amines of the fatty series, hence three molecular equivalents of the amine are required for every equivalent of thionyl chloride, according to the following equation in the case of methylamine :— SOCI,+3(CH;.N H,)=CHy.N:SO+2(CH;NH,.HCl). The thionylamines of this series are colourless fuming liquids which boil without decomposition and emit a most powerful odour. They are decomposed by water into the original amines and sulphur dioxide. The amines of the aromatic series likewise form thionylamines with thionyl chloride; and the hydro- chlorides, unlike those of the fatty series, react with equal facility in accordance with the equation C,H;NH,.HCI+SOCI, =C,H;sN:SO+3HCI. It is only necessary to cover the pow- dered hydrochloride of aniline with benzene, add the calculated quantity of thionyl chloride, and warm over a water bath for a short time. The lower members of the aromatic thionylamines are yellow liquids which distil without decomposition ; the ’ higher members may likewise be distilled without loss under diminished pressure. Alkalies convert them into the original amines and a sulphite, C,H;N: SO+2NaOH=C,H;NH, +Na.SO3. THIONYL-METHYLAMINE, CH,N:S0, the first member of the series, is most conveniently prepared by reacting with methyl- amine upon a solution of thionylaniline in toluene. The latter is first prepared and cooled by a freezing mixture ; the methyl- amine should likewise be maintained at as low a temperature as possible until the moment of adding it to the solution of thiony]- aniline. After agitation and standing for some time the product of the reaction may be distilled, when thionyl- methylamine is obtained as a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 58-59. Its odour is not unlike that of bleaching powder. Thionyl-ethylamine, C,H;N:SO, may be readily obtained by mixing cooled ethereal solutions of thionyl chloride and ethylamine. The reaction even at this low temperature is very violent, occurring with hissing and the evolution of white fumes as each drop of the dilute ethereal solution of thionyl chloride falls into the solution of ethylamine. Ethereal solutions of thionylaniline and ethylamine afford a better yield, and with less admixed impurity. Thionyl-ethylamine boils at 73°, and NO. 1227, VOL. 48] in properties closely resembles thionyl-methylamine, Several of the higher members of this and of the aromatic series have been prepared by Prof. Michaelis, and are fully described in his lengthy memoir. It is interesting that in presence of the — moisture of the air, or of a small quantity of added water, the — thionylamines are converted into compounds of the amines with — sulphur dioxide. Those of the aromatic series usually consist of — two molecules of the original amine with one molecule ofsulphur dioxide. The first few members of the fatty series form com- — pounds consisting of equal molecules of the amine and sulphur — dioxide, and the higher members appear capable of forming both classes of compounds. ; Durinc the Easter vacation the Port Erin Biological station has been full, The Liverpool Marine Biological Committee — organised a dredging expedition, and the steamer Lady Loch — was hired for some days, during which a trip was made to the _ deep water lying west of the Isle of Man, and the shallower — ground round the Calf Island and off Spanish Head was also — explored. On one of the days the calm sea and low tide enabled the wonderful caves near Spanish Head to be visited in a boat — from the steamer. The exposed sides, parts of the roof, and as far down as can be seen in the clear water, are closely cove-ed with rounded red ascidians adhering together in masses, black and white sponges, and tufts of 7ududaria, forming altogether a most striking sight. The sponges are mostly Pachymatisma Johnstoni, and the ascidians are Alder’s Polycarpa glomerata,a somewhat variable species solitary specimens of which have ~ been sometimes referred to Styela rustica (a species which probably does not occur at all in British seas), Amongst the more noteworthy animals obtained on these recent dredging expeditions were Virgularia mirabilis, Corynactis viridis, — Depastrum cyathiforme, Amphiura chiajii, Palmipes placenta, Porania pulvillus, Stichaster roseus, Luidia ciliaris, Brissopsis lyrifera, Thyone fusus and T. raphanus, Hyalinecia tubicoia, Calocaris macandrewee, Pasithea sivado, Xantho tuberculatus, Ebalia tuberosa and E. tumefacta, Hippolyte spinus, a new species of Metopa, Munida sp., Zsocardia cor, Lyonsia norvegica, Spirialis retroversus, Fissurella greca, Capulus hungaricus, Pleurobranchus plumula, Lamellaria perspicua, Dendronotus arborescens, Tritonia hombergt, Eolis tricolor, Eolis angulata, Acteonia corrugata, Scaphander lignarius, and a new species — of the compound ascidian G/lossophorum, allied to G. humi/e, Lahille, but differing in the colour of the colony and also in — minute structure. Prof. Brady and Mr. Thompson obtained a number of interesting Copepoda, including a new Dactylopus, and a new and very large Zichomolgus, which is found in-. habiting Pecten maximus, just as L. agilis inhabits the common cockle. Port Erin the following have been working at the station :-— Prof. M. C. Potter, Prof.|F.ZE. Weiss, Mr. W. J. Beaumont, Mr. E, T. Browne, and Mr. J. H. Vanstone. Another dredging expedition will be organised for the Whitsuntide vacation, Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.— — Last week’s captures include the rare Polyclad Prosthecereus vittatus and Macruran Gedza stellata, and a remarkable haul of __ the Nudibranch Hero formosa whose first capture on our southern coasts was recorded a few weeks ago. The investigation of the floating fauna is much impeded by the continued abundance of gelatinous algee, which clog the meshes of the townets at all depths. The Leptomedusa /rene pellucida is still fairly common, and the pelagic larvee of Cereanthus (arachnactis) have now reached a high grade of development. The following animals are now breeding :—The Hydroids Clava multicornis, Gono- thyraa Loveni, Sertularia pumila and Plumularia pinnata ; the Nemertine Cephalothrix bioculata ; and the Decapod Crustacea Eupagurus bernhardus and Portunus pusillus, Since the L. M. B. C. Easter dredging party left May 4, 1893] NATURE 15 THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the "past week include a Crowned Gibbon (Hy/obates pileatus, @) from Borneo, presented by Mr. Leicester P. Beaufort; a Bengalese Cat (Felis bengalensis) from India, presented by - Captain F. Whistler; a White-bellied Hedgehog (Zvinaceus __ albiventris) from Somaliland, presented by Mr. H. W. Seton- Karr, F.Z.S. ; five Weasels (Mustela vulgaris) British, presented ; y Mr. George Long; a Festive Amazon (Chrysotés Jestiva) _ from Guiana, presented by Mrs. Hills; a Chinese Lark (AZe- lanocorypha mongolica) from China, presented by Mrs. Pollard ; two Serin Finches (Serinus hortulanus) from south-west Spain, _ presented by Mr. J. A. Crawford, F.Z.S. ; an Undulated Grass _ Parrakeet (A/elopsittacus undulatus) from Australia, presented by _ Mast. W. D. Savory; a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua _ galerita) from Australia, presented by Mr. E. P. Ramsay ; two _ Hawfinches (Coccothraustes vulgaris) British, presented by Mr. __ A. Klosz ; a Magpie Tanager (Cissopis /everiana) from south- east Brazil, presented by Mr. H. A. Astlett ; two Great _ Cyclodus (Cyclodus gigas) from Australia, presented by Captain _ Clarke ; a Common Viper (Viera derus) British, presented by _ Mr. Briton Riviére, R.A., F.Z.S. ; a Poé Honey-Eater (Pros- themad landiz) from New Zealand, a Malabar Green @ nove _ Bulbul (Phyllornis aurifrons), a Red-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus _ jocosus) from India, a Cape Coly (Colius capensis), two Derbian Zonures (Zonurus derbianus) from South Africa, two American Blue Birds (Sialia wilsoni) from North America, two Great Eagle Owls (Bubo maximus) European, deposited ; two Black- necked Swans (Cygnus nigricollis, 8 9) from Antarctic America, two Madagascar Love-birds (Agapornis cana, 6 2 ) from Mada- gascar, a Red-sided Eclectus (Zclectus pectoralis, §) from New Guinea, purchased ; a Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus,é) a Great Wallaroo (Macropus robustus, 8), seven Satin Bower Birds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) from Australia, two Maugés _ Dasyures {(Dasyurus maugei, $), a King Parrakeet (Apvos- mictus scapulatus), two Diamond Snakes (Alorelia spilotes), a Water Lizard (Physignathus lesueuri) from New South Wales, received in exchange. , meee Moe , OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. SouTH PoLar Cap oF Mars.—During the opposition of Mars in 1892 Prof. George Comstock made a series of deter- “minations of the position ops of the south polar cap of Mars, of its angular extent, and of its polar and equatorial diameter. In the first-mentioned measurements he placed the micrometer thread tangent to the planet’s disc, and so rotated it that it was symmetrically situated about the point of tangency ; one ob- servation included five settings of this kind, with a determina- tion of the parallel from a neighbouring star, and for the majority of the observations these measurements were made ____ both with telescope east and west. The angular dimensions of ___ the caps were measured by placing the thread tangential to the 3 disc of the planet at the extremities of the cap. The co- ordinates of the centre of the spot, where @ represents the areographical longitude and A the south polar distance, together with the diameter of the cap and the adopted corrections to the position angle of the axis of Mars as given by Marth’s ephemeris, may be gathered from the following table :— 1892. aoa a e Ephem. july 26... 44 0°47 341 ~ 2°26 Aug. 984.3.) * 35 2°95 311 = 3°06 Sept. 19 22 2°95 336 - 2°66 4 _ Prof. Campbell finds the correction to the position angles, as _ given by Marth’s ephemeris as — 0°16, while Prof, Hall’s cor- _ fection amounts to + 1°'24, both of which vary considerably _ from the values given above. These differences, as Prof, Com- _ stock points out, may arise from the systematic errors affecting _ the three methods employed. NO 1227, VOL. 48] The measures of the diameter as made at opposition were as follows :— Date. Eq. diam. Polar diam. Aug. 5 2606 25°19 nO wae 25°80 25°36 hey: ote 26°25 25°67 THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE MAJOR AND MINOR PLANETS. — The latest publication issued from the Astrophysical Observa- tory at Potsdam (No. 30) contains all Dr. G. Miiller’s deter minations of the brightnesses of both the major and some of the minor planets. These observations extend over a period of about eight years, but the majority were made during the years 1883-85. The first chapter is devoted to a tabulation of the different stars used throughout the work for purposes of com- parison. In the second are brought together all the planetary observations, while the third consists of a discussion of the whole number of observations, each planet being independently treated. ‘To state briefly some of the results that these deter- minations have brought to light we may say: (a) That with the exception of the planets Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, the variations in brightness are found to be directly dependent on the phase differences, which can be plotted out in simple curves. (6) That from the observations of each planet the ‘‘ Licht- schwankungen ” accord with no theory, and that near opposition the variations in brightness are found to be larger than those which should be the case as regards the theoretical values. (c) The form of the light curves, when one expresses the bright- nesses in stellar magnitudes, approaches very nearly, except in the case of Venus, a straight line, and the variations in magni- tude are also very nearly proportional to the corresponding phase-differences. (d) The observations give no indication of the dependency of the ‘‘ Lichtstirke” on the rotation of the planets. And lastly (e) that by taking series of observations of the largest planets, obtaining the mean values from different years, differences are found which, as Dr. Miiller says, cannot be due to the inaccuracy of the measures or to the fact that the same instruments were not always used. The following table shows clearly the relative brightnesses that result from the above determinations :— Name of Brightness. App. radius. Reduced Relative Zéllner’s Planet. Distance x. Distance 1. Brightness. Albedo. Albedo. Mercury ... —0°003 ... 3°23 ... -0°808 ... 0°64 ... 0°43 Venus... —4'004... 8°78 — 2°638 ... 3°44 ... 2°33 Mars . ~1'297... 4°68 —1'297 ... I'00 ... 1°00 Jupiter ... —8°932 ... 94°23 = 2412 299 tee 34 Saturn ... —8°685 ... 77°63 - 2°86 ... 3°28 ... 1°87 Uranus .. —6'858 ... 36°67 — 2°388 ... 2°73 ... 2°40 Neptune... — 7°053 ... 43°15 —2°229 ... 2°36 ... 1°74 METEOR SHOWERS.—Of the important meteor showers which occur during the present month that which occurs on the sixth exceeds all others in brilliancy. On the evening before and after this date there are also two other showers, but they are much fainter. The positions of the radiant points are, according to Mr. Denning :— Date. Radiant. Meteors. ; Decl. May 5 254 21 Slowish on Beige: eee Swift ; streaks Prt | 224 + 7 Slow ; bright ASTRONOMY POPULARISED IN AMERICA,—There seems to be no doubt that the interest taken in astronomy in America is rapidly on the increase, and the demards for large telescopes there have played no small part in helping to stir up in many minds the desire for enlightenment in this fascinating science. Increase in the number of students and amateurs, and rapidly growing demands for small telescopes are signs that cannot be misconstrued, indicating as they do the vast interest that even to-day is shown in the oldest of sciences. Tosatisfy and further these favourable omens, or in other words to bring together those who can instruct into close relations with those who are to be instructed, the editors of Astronomy and Astrophysics pro- pose, assuming they get a sufficient number of subscribers, to issue a monthly publication entitled ‘‘ Popular Astronomy.” The idea of this project is that it should serve asa guide for self- instruction, and supply a medium for queries and answers for methods of work, facts, books, &c. They propose tocommence 16 NATURE [May 4, 1893 | with a series of topics for observation, the stars, moon, planets, &c., assuming that the readers are supplied only with an opera glass or small telescope. It is to be in no sense professional, ** except to be accurate in statement of fact and principle with- out being technical in terms.’’ The first number can be ready by September of this year if the subscribers are forthcoming. OPTICAL TESTS FOR OBJECTIVES.—In a small pamphlet en- titled ‘* Optische Untersuchung von Objectiven,” by Dr. Ludwig Mach of Prague, the contents of which have appeared in the Photographischer Rundschau, the writer describes a very simple means of obtaining photographs of objectives showing defects in the glass. After first referring shortly to the methods adopted by Schréder, Alvan Clark, &c., giving some excellent small pho- tographs of some of the results obtained by these means, he de- cribes his method of making small optical errors visible. He casts, by means of an achromatic lens, an image of the sun on ascreen in which isasmall hole. Behind this screen, at some distance from it, he places the object glass to be tested, together with the camera at its focus, and it is found that in all places where the object glass is not perfect a system of interference marks or rings is formed. Experimenting with an object glass of 10'2 cm. aperture and 143 cm. focal length, by Sir Howard Grubb, the writer shows a photograph taken after this means, PHOTOGRAPH OF A BoLip.—Although on fine nights many telescopes carrying with them photographic plates are turned towards the starry heavens for special objects, none, except a very few exceptions, have had the good luck to record the passage of a bright meteor. M. Lewis, at Ausonia (Connecticut) seems to have been very fortunatetin this respect (Audletin Astronomique, tome x., March), for on January 13 of this year, while photo- graphing the comet Holmes, a very bright meteor crossed the field of view. An examination of the plate showed that the trail commenced at about th. 38m. R.A., and + 33° 40’ declination, terminating at oh. 8m. R.A., and + 32° 12’ declination. Under the microscope he says that the centre of the trail is crossed by a very dark axis, clearly defined, while the other part is bounded by fringes of very irregular forms, indicating that fragments of matter had been detached from the meteorite: signs of rotary movement during its passage before the sensitised plate were also visible. For orbit determinations, photographs such as these, if they could be more often obtained, would be very valuable, for one could then fix the different points of the trajectory with far greater accuracy than is now done by the necessarily very ap- proximate method of naked eye estimations, GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. AN amusing instance of newspaper science occurred in a morning paper last week. A note on the salinity of the North Pacific, published in this column (vol. xlvii. p. 590), was repro- duced without acknowledgment, but with annotations. After the quotation, ‘‘a tongue of considerably fresher water stretches nearly across the ocean about ro° N.” came the interpolation, ‘*caused no doubt by the dilution of the sea by the melting snow and ice of the northern regions,” a far-fetched hypothesis, which ignores the rainy belt of calms. A worse error was to say that the curves of equal salinity ‘‘run through Behring Strait,” when the original said Bering Sea. The use of a map would probably have prevented the blunders. THE Mouvement Géographigque publishes a useful réswmé with route-maps and portraits of the officers of the various expeditions of the Katanga Company from May, 1890, to April, 1893. In July, 1890, the expedition of M. A. Delcommune left Europe for the Congo, went by the Lomami, discovered Lake Kassali, and reached Bunkeia, in Katanga on October 6, 1891. This expedition spent a year in exploring the upper Lualaba and the western side of Lake Tanganyika, then descended the Lukuga, crossed the Congo basin in a west-by-north direction to Lus- ambo, and arrived in Brussels on April 15, 1893. An expedition under Le Marinel left Lusambo on December 23, 1890, reached Bunkeia on April 18, 1891, and after taking possession of Kat- anga, returned to Lusambo in August ofthesame year. On July 4, 1891, Captain Stairs left the east coast, and travelling by Lake Tanganyika reached Bunkeia in December, but the leader died on the Zambesi on his way home on June 8, 1892. In Septem- ber, 1891, Captain Bia’s party left Stanley Pool, ascended the Sankuru, discovered Lakes Kabele and Kabire, near the Lualaba, and reached Bunkeia in January, 1892. Thence in NO. 1227, VOL. 48] June they reached Lake Bangweola, and after Captain Bia’s ; death, Lieutenant Francqui led the expedition through the upper regions of the Lualaba, and in January, 1893, joinec Delcommune at Lusambo, returning with him to Europe. The E discoveries made by these four expeditions are of great import- ance ; they fill in much of the detail of the Congo basin very lightly sketched on the maps. rhe A RuMOUR has been current that Dr. Nansen’s polar e The but it is satisfactory to learn that this is not the case. Fram is practically ready for sea, and the the month of June, as originally intended. THE recent advance in Arctic navigation is strikingly showa in the announcement by a Norwegiaa firm of a pleasure-trip to — Spitzbergen, planned for this summer, with a vessel st for ice-work and fitted with every comfort. MM. FoureAu AND MEry have during the past year out some important journeys in the Sahara. French protection. The French officials are beer extending the cultivable area of the oases in the northern Sahara by sinking artesian wells and securing artificial irrigation. THE USE OF HISTORY IN TEACHING — MATHEMATICS+ HAVE ventured to make some suggestions to this Associa tion as to the use of history in teaching mathematics, and 7 the restrictions and limitations under which it may be advan- tageously employed. It will be perhaps the most convenient course to begin with the restrictions and limitations. The three most important of these are :— (1) The history of mathematics should be strictly auxiliary and subordinate to mathematical teaching. (2) Only those portions should be dealt with which are of veal — assistance to the learner. , (3) It is not to be madé a subject of examination. Y Unless these conditions are observed, it is to be feared that the effect of the introduction of new matter for instruction would be injurious rather than beneficial. The ordi school- boy or schoolgirl now takes in hand quite as many subjects as — he or she can satisfactorily study, and nobody wants the number ~ to be increased. When men look back on their school days, they constantly 4 feel some things they have always remembered and often — applied came to them from their masters not as part of the regular course or as included in the work done for examination. It is just this outside illustrative position that I propose history should occupy in respect to mathematics. days of competitive examination. Coming now to the main question, which is in what ways — history makes mathematical study easier, clearer, or more inter- esting, it may first of all be remarked that it gives us stereo- scopic views instead of pictures and diagrams. subject may be looked at from many sides, each aspect s ing a different mode of treatment. Thus, although we where the main truths of elementary statics were all derived from the fundamental axiom that a ruler would balance if its ~ middle point were supported ; it is yet a good thing for the pupil to know that such a method was successfully adopted. We — do not want in arithmetic to go back to the old-fashioned rules — of single and double false position, but the student is all the better for knowing what they were, and what could be effected — Possibly some of us might really like to go — back to the proof of Euclid I. 47 in the ‘‘ Vija Ganita,” depend- — ing only on the almost obvious truth that triangles of the same — by their means. shape have their sides proportional, but at all events a student should know about this proof, even if he were to be warned of — the objections to using it. ; i In some instances there is a further direct advantage in recall- ing old methods that are now superseded. Though the change ~ 1 Abstract of a paper by Mr. G. Heppel, read before the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching. i Ba tion is likely to collapse at the last moment for lack of funds 5; A particular t= want to go back to the method in Whewell’s Mechanical Euclid, party will embark in F tea 3 They have suc- — ceeded in reaching the country of the Tuaregs, which has not been visited by Europeans since the Flatters’ mission was mas- sacred in 1881, and they have induced the chiefs to acknowledge I want at the outset — to free myself from any imputation of desiring to add one grain’s weight to the heavy burden boys and girls have to bear in these — i NATURE 17 — May 4, 1893] unknown quantities, school boys have been for the most part ularly trained to look on algebra as a game of hide and k, where x is concealed under conditions, and has to be ragged out into the light. The idea of some undetermined adix of a scale of notation, which was the very essence of the bra of Stifel and Stevin, has not been brought prominently them. It may be of interest to give four successive stages which a process of multiplication in algebra has arrived at resent form. The first, originated by Stifel and adopted Recorde, made use of very strange signs with very odd es. In the product, beginning from the right, the first term called the absolute, the second the oot, the third the square, ie fourth the czde, the fifth the zezzdsenzike, and the sixth the ursolide. Inthe second stage, Stevin’s notation, adopted by tiggs, is self-explanatory. The third system is Vieta’s, adopted : ee been wisely made, yet it may happen that some important articulars have become comparatively obscured under the new tment, that were in full light when the older plan was in . Since Harriot introduced into England the grand and ful improvement of making letters of the alphabet stand given some slight sketch of the means by which they were then determined. In the Daily News of December 16, 1892, a verse was quoted as being often found written in a schoolboy’s Euclid or Algebra :— ‘*If there should be another flood, Hither for refuge fly, Were the whole world to be submerged, This book would still be dry.” The schoolboy’s charge of dryness must be met by showing him how the progress of the arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and trigonometry that he is learning has gone on in answer to the needs that men have felt, and the desires they have formed, There have been periods in which men, under the influence of some widely-spread motive, have called for the aid of the theorists to help them on their course, and the endeavour to supply the great want of the time has brought about a great advance in theoretical knowledge. As we look at the course of these great movements, we find that it is the practical men that supply the stimulus to exertion, that set the few thinking for the | advantage ofthe many. Three instances of these great wants of life—one of them now dead, the other two in ever- increasing lifeand vigour,stand out prominently be- yond the rest—astrology, commerce, and naviga- tion, The influence of astrology extended over such a vast period of time that we cannot trace its pro- gress step by step from the ancient Chaldeans to the Doctor Dee of the reign of Elizabeth, who was the last eminent English mathematician of the astrological sort, and at the same time one of , the great promoters of mathematics in its more modern applications. We can see, however, what has been left to us as the result of the attention that was paid to astrology. The works of Bhascara, himself an astrologer, show the ada -2aa + 3@ -4 BA A ASS aaaaa — 2aaaa+ 3aaa — 4aa + a@aaa — 2aaa + 3aa — 4a aaa - 2aa@ + 3a - 4 aaaaa — aaaa + 2aaa -3aa - a-4 a — 207 + 3a — 4 e+ a+t a — 2a* + 30% — 4a? a* — 2a% + 3a" — 4a a — 207 + 3a - 4 a - a+ 2a - 302° - a-4 another example, a boy can use logarithms and understand what they are, directly he has mastered the Jaw of indices, but n order to calculate them he imagines that he must know the Binomial and Exponential Theorems. Surely it would aid him comprehend the relations of logarithms to numbers, if he that they were originally calculated when the Binomial Exponential Theorems were unknown, and if he were NO. 1227, VOL. 48] fe See | | | extent to which the Indian arithmetic and algebra had gone, and what stock was in hand to be turned to the new: purpose of facilitating Euro- pean commerce. We had also from these ancient scholars the elements of trigonometry and tables of sines and cosines. The old astrologers were maintained and were enabled to carry on their researches by the wealth of princes : Alphonso, King of Castile; Frederick II, Emperor of Germany ; Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, are instances of monarchs who had astrologers in their ‘train, filling recognised positions in their courts. Some of these were men of real learning ; others, like Galeotti, introduced with the romance writer’s licence as to place and time in Scott’s ‘‘ Quentin Durward,” and Lilly, who successfully deluded the Parliamentary leaders in the Civil War, were not much better thaa quacks. When we leave the astrological age and proceed to the com- mercial, the history is much more complete and more interest- ing. The whole story of the introduction of Indian arithmetic into Europe by means of the Arabians, first as the result of the Moorish conquests in Spain, and then, after a long interval, as aresult of the commercial enterprise of Italy, is full of romantic interest. It is curious to notice how strongly the commercial element comes out in the algebra of Mahommed ben Musa. _ It is all about questions of money, partnerships, ‘and legacies. When the practical objects for which mathematics were studied became different, there was a corresponding alteration in the mode by which such researches were encouraged and main- tained. There still remained the patronage of great princes and nobles, but a new class of promoters arose among the great merchants and trading communities, A great wave of public enthusiasm seems to have borne along with it all classes of society, engaging them in the advancement of the new learning. Benedetti held the office of mathematician to the Duke of Savoy, with a good salary ; Torricelli was mathematician to the Duke of Tuscany ; Harriot received £300 a year regularly from the Earl of Northumberland, and while his noble patron was for fifteen years in prison for complicity with some of the ambitious plots of his friend Sir Walter Raleigh, Harriot, Hues, and Warner bore him company, and were generally spoken of as the Earl’s three magi. As showing the interest taken by the traders of great cities, it may be noticed that some of the most important treatises of the time were written at the instigation of the merchants of Florence, and published at their expense. In our own country, the first English translation of Euclid was 18 NATURE [May 4, 1893 made by acitizen of London. Recorde dedicates the first English algebra to the company of Merchant Adventurers trading to Muscovia. Important advances in mathematics were made by the pro- fessors at the college in London, founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. ‘This feeling among the trading classes produced results in Italy which Libri tells us were unparalleled in any previous time. We all know of the Floral Games of Toulouse, and the athletic contests of the Greeks at Olympia and Corinth. But Libri tells us that just this interest, just this popular ex- citement was felt in Italy when Ferrari or Bombelli had made a step in advance in the solution of cubic and biquadratic equa- tions. There were public challenges to contests of skill, pro- clamations by heralds, wagers to be decided. There is a collection of answers given by Tartaglia to questions submitted to him for solution by men from all ranks in society, princes, monks, doctors, ambassadors, professors, architects, and mer- chants, and a large proportion of them had to do with cubic and biquadratic equations. It may seem rather strange that this particular portion of Algebra should have excited so much interest, but it must be remembered that it is not possible to determine beforehand what researches into abstract truth will afterwards lead to the greatest practical benefits. There was a widespread belief that the new powers of calculation would bring about material advantage. I trust that I may be pardoned for thus bringing forward matters which are no doubt very familiar to most of the members of this Association ; but the object has been to give a sample of the kind of facts that would be likely to appeal to the minds of young learners, and to attach some human interest to the ab- stract subjects they are studying. This human interest is to be found in the history of navigation not less than in that of com- merce. The relation between the commercial impulse and the navigation impulse was not exactly one of succession. The former was the earlier, then the two for atime went on together, and afterwards the latter was supreme as a ruling motive for promoting mathematics, The two great problems in navigation were first, if you knew where you were, to find how you could best get somewhere else ; and secondly, if you did not know where you were, to find this out by astronomical observation. The solution of the first was mainly dependent on maps and charts, and consequently for a long time men were hard at work making these for the use of sailors. The first great promoter of this work in modern times was Prince Henryof Portugal, called the Navigator, and after his death in 1460 to the close of the century, Portugal, eagerly engaged in the exploration of the coast of Africa, con- tinued to be the great chart-producing country. Later onit was to the Netherlands that we were principally indebted for im- provements in this direction, and in the long list of those thus engaged a prominent place is taken by Stevin. Mercator’s projection is so called from Kauffman, who invented it in 1566, but did not clearly show the principles on which it is founded, a task that was afterwards accomplished by an Englishman, Edward Wright, whose great services to science have been but scantily recognised. The second great problem—to find out where you are by astronomical observation—was a pressing question in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries. The chief instrument the Elizabethan mariner had at his command was the astrolabe. This was made in very various forms. For use at sea, of course the simplest form was chosen. There is a plate in Hutton’s Mathematical Dictionary of one, consisting of a graduated circle held up by a ring, and so keeping a vertical position by its own weight, furnished with an arm and two sights, by which the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars could be estimated. The astrolabes in use on land were fitted up with much greater refinement. An instrument perhaps more frequently used, easier to work with than the astrolabe, but less accurate, was called the cross- staff or fore-staff. It was composed of a graduated wooden rod, about three feet long, with cross pieces sliding along it of differ- ent heights, and the angle was observed in the same way that a volunteer uses the sights on his rifle. This fore-staff could be applied to roughly determine the distance between two stars. To determine with any accuracy a ship's place at sea, three things are requisite. First, a theory that is true and workable as far as it goes; secondly, means of observation; thirdly, means of calculation. A defect in any one of these requisites renders comparative excellence in the other two o small use. NO. 1227, VOL. 48] Now, the mariners of Drake’s time had scanty theoretical knowledge, poor instruments, and very deficient means of ca culation, They could, in a rough fashion, find out in abo what latitude they were ; the longitude remained a mystery. _ It was at the beginning ofthe seventeenth century that the firs' great improvement took place. The invention of logarithms, by Napier, placed the calculating power at one bound far in ad- vance of either the theoretical knowledge or the means of observation. His system, further developed by Briggs, the Gresham professor, so completely supplied the want previously existing, that any improvements made between then and the present time are mere matters of detail. a The improvements in theory and in instruments went on gradually and together. Tycho Brahe did much to a the efficiency of instruments, and every step in this direction gave the means of correcting or developing previous defective - theory, and each theoretical advance suggested or rendered - possible some new instrument of observation. It is no proper part of my subject to trace the steps of this progress. It is suffi- cient to say that now the shipmaster, oftena man of no g : scientific attainments, generally accustomed to work by rules, the reasons for which he does not know, has in his cabin a chronometer and a book of navigation tables, which represent in a material form the genius and the toil of the master minds that have arisen during the centuries of the past. : In the application of pure mathematics to navigation, as well as to many other purposes, it is curious to notice the changes in the relations between graphic methods and calculation methods. — At first the former greatly predominated. The quantities of straight lines and curves engraved on Drake’s astrolabe, the profusion of scales on old sun dials, that but few thoroughly understand, were originally intended and were accepted as the most simple means of determining practical problems, They gradually gave place to numerical calculation, but not very quickly. Fifty years ago a boy’s training in the elements of navigation was conducted far more on the lines of geometrical construction than it is at present. In quite recent times there has been a revival of graphic methods in a somewhat different aspect. Besides the value they have always had for illustration and explanation, it has been seen that there is a special field for them in cases where calculation would be long and troublesome, and this special field is being clearly marked off. . The correspondence between the practical aims of men and the progress of theoretical knowledge and of means of calcula- tion does not stop with navigation. In recent times the need for more powerful or more exact machinery, the employment of steam and electricity, our increased knowledge of what is meant by heat and light have had the effect of demanding fresh ad-. vances in mathematical methods ; or, perhaps, more exactly of selecting from the mass of abstract truth acquired for its own sake the particular portion suited to the special purpose. ‘These influences have had, however, nothing to do with the school- boy’s elementary programme, and are, therefore, outside the immediate subject of this paper. ; A In conclusion, I would urge that if there is any sound founda- tion for the views that have been expressed, we ought not in England to be without some elementary primer of the History of Mathematics. 3 FOGS AND HORTICULTURE. PROF F. W. OLIVER’S second report on the effects of urban fog upon cultivated plants has been presented to the scientific committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, and i now printed in the Society’s Journal. The following is th passage in which he deals with possible remedial measures :— There is very little of what I can say likely to be consoling to the horticulturist. We must recollect that in the employmen' of measures directed towards mitigating the injuries incident to fog, two factors—the presence of poisons in the atmosphere ar the reduction of light—have to be considered. To counterac these the urban cultivator is asked to construct air-tight houses, with definite openings where the admitted air can be filtered ; whilst to compensate for the loss of light due to the absorption which the rays undergo in traversing a stratum of dense fog, he must provide a generous installation of electric light. Without doubt, the entire preservation of vegetation in foggy weather only a matter of £ s. @. But it is for the cultivator to sit do May 4, 1893] 19 and count the cost. Representative growers agree in advising that although horticulture, under these conditions, would be interesting from a scientific point of view, it would hardly commercially desirable. The necessity for the recon- ion of glass-houses upon valuable urban land must of ity suggest to the horticulturist the alternative of decamp- into the country, where the cultural conditions are more ourable. ‘The enhanced value of urban sites has, apart from other inducements, no doubt been a factor in determining an easing number of growers to settle well outside the suburbs. then, any idea of reconstruction is raised, it would in all pro- ity prove to be the last straw. Considerations of this sort me, in making a few remarks upon cultural precautions, to my suggestions to such as are possible of realisation—things gas they are. we could eliminate atmospheric contamination, I do not k the reduction of light alone would be a very serious cause omplaint. Now and then it might be so to some extent, gh it would hardly be a grievance of the first magnitude. when we have superadded aérial contamination that the hief is done. Many very common injuries to flowers— aries which impress the cultivator and catch his attention— ve no casual relation with diminished illumination, The in- scences of rhododendrons, which become so characteristically aed up in their bud-scales and fail to open, will expand per- fectly in total darkness. So also will the flower-buds of most chids. Since, however, the application of artificial light, ina inner likely to be effective, would be an unduly heavy burden on the grower, we will dismiss this aspect of the question, and ceed to discuss whether atmospheric contamination can be aply remedied. _ And, first of all, can fog be neutralised or absorbed after it _has entered a plant house? I have experimented with several things, but my results do not justify me in basing any recom- mendations upon them. The sluicing or syringing of liquid chemicals about a house has little to recommend it, even when _attended with some success. To solids the objection is not so t. But I have not found that carbonate of ammonia, for stance, exerts any noticeably beneficial action as a neutraliser the acid vapour of fog. But fog is a complex product, and nything which might neutralise one constituent would probably leave the others free to do their damage. I have never felt that anything could be done inside the house towards mitigating fog ept the taking of certain precautions as regards watering and re And I am of this opinion still. The scope of this report does not extend to a discussion of the big question of the abolition of fog. Even the most sanguine of the present generation can hardly hope to enjoy any abatement the fog-nuisance. So that I shall be more practically dis- ging my mission in discussing how fogs may be excluded plant-houses than in attacking the greater problem. Stoves, hin certain limits, can be covered in with sheets of canvas, id this has been tried with encouraging results. I first heard f this method being systematically and successfully applied from xr. C. Davies, of the Mote Park Gardens, Maidstone. Even the fogs of limited duration which are experienced there are sufficient to destroy the blossoms of a whole houseful of orchids. But they have been successfully combated by covering in the house with canvas sheets. Elsewhere I have seen this done, sometimes at my suggestion, with beneficial results. Still, at the est, it is but an expedient. Immunity obtained in this way is ly partial. Severe fogs of short duration, or longer ones of only moderate density, may be filtered through canvas, so that 2 damage caused is lessened ; but a persistent dense fog gener- ly prevails in the end. If plant-houses were constructed rather less leaky than is the ase at present, something definite could no doubt be done owards filtering the air. I confess to holding serious doubts as whether the admission of air to plant-houses, as in vogue just ow, is based on sound physiological principles—and this quite art from the fog-nuisance. During the course of my inquiries aes device for ventilating conservatories—the ‘‘ patent fog- inihilator” of Mr. Charles Toope—came prominently under y notice ; and as IJ have been frequently asked what I think of _ I will take this opportunity of stating what Iknow. The m is as follows: A number of boxes, situated on the floor the staging, communicate directly with the exterior by ans of aperatures which can be readily closed if desirable. these boxes contain several open-work trays, upon which sticks charcoal are loosely placed. ‘The air entering a box from out- NO. 1227, VOL. 48] NATURE ( side is led through these trays, coming into close contact with the charcoal. As the air leaves the box it impinges upon the hot- water pipes, and is thus warmed before it reaches the plants in cultivation. The entrance of air is promoted by simple con- trivances known as ‘‘ exhaust-caps”’ placed on or near the ridge of the house.. These caps are so constructed that practically, under all conditions, an out-draught of air obtains. Should the draught be too great, it can be regulated by means of valves. By this system a constant circulation of air throughout the house is brought about. The air enters the charcoal-box at once from outside. It passes through this and is warmed by the hot-water system of the house, and ultimately escapes by means of the ‘exhaust-caps.” Excepting for the apertures mentioned the house is air-tight. It is by means of the charcoal that Mr. Toope claims that the air admitted is purified. As the air cir- culates between the sticks of charcoal it gives up the products of coal-combustion with which it may be contaminated, as in foggy weather. Charcoal undoubtedly possesses remarkable-properties as an absorbent, and Mr. Toope is by no means the first to call atten- tion to its properties in this respect. Forty years ago the chemist Stenhouse! made observations on these properties, and it may not be without interest to call attention to what he said about it. In the paper referred to, Stenhouse describes and illustrates the remarkable property of charcoal as an absorbent and oxidiser of the products of decomposition of organic matter. He describes how the carcases of dogs were kept covered with a thin layer of powdered charcoal—but otherwise exposed— without any nuisance arising therefrom. He adds that he has devised a respirator on this principle, to be used in districts smitten with cholera or yellow fever. He found, further, that with such a respirator he could breathe with impunity air con- taining large amounts of ammonia, sulphurrtted hydrogen, and other hurtful gases.” Finally, he suggested the application: of charcoal for purifying the air of houses located in infected districts—all air admitted to be passed through thin canvas bags containining crushed charcoal. Were stch precautions taken, many regions at that time fatal to Europeans could be, he was sanguine, dwelt in with impunity. In a later paper” Stenhouse describes his experiments, show- ing how the absorbent property of charcoal could be greatly increased. From this paper I venture to make the following extract, as charcoal seems to have fallen into desuetude as an absorbent :— ‘The lighter kinds of wood charcoal, owing to the nine volumes of oxygen gas contained in their pores, possess a con- siderable power of oxidising the greater number of easily alterable gases and vapours. The absorbent power of charcoal is comparatively much greater than its capacity for inducing chemical combination. In this respect charcoal presents a remarkable contrast to spongy platinum, which, though inferior as an absorbent for some gaseous substances—such, for instance, as ammonia, of which spongy platinum absorbs only thirty volumes, while charcoal absorbs ninety—is, nevertheless, immensely more effective both as an oxidiser and as a promoter of chemical combination generally. As it is desirable, for some purposes, while retaining the absorbent power of charcoal un- impaired, to increase its oxidating influences, it struck me that this important object might be easily effected by combining the charcoal with minutely divided platinum. In this way a com- bination is produced to which I have given the name of plat- inised charcoal, which possesses the good properties of both of its constituents. In order to platinise charcoal, nothing more is necessary than to boil the charcoal, either in coarse powder or in large pieces, in a solution of bichloride of platinum, and when the charcoal has become thoroughly impregnated with the platinum, which seldom requires more than ten minutes or a quarter of an hoar, to heat it to redness in a closed vessel—a capacious platinum crucible being very well adapted for this purpose, When 150 grains of charcoal were impregnated with nine grains of platinum, by the process just described, the charcoal was found to have undergone no change in its external appearance, though its properties had been very essentially altered. . . . I find that two per cent. of platinum is sufficient 1 J. Stenhouse, ‘‘ Ueb. die entfarbenden und disinficirenden Eigenschaften der Holzkohle, nebst Beschreibung eines Kohle-Respirators zur Reinigung der Luft durch Filtration,” Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, Bd. xc. 1854, p. 186. ae 2 J. Stenhouse, ‘On Platinised Charcoal,” Journ. Chem. Soc. viii. 1856, Pp. 105. 20 NATURE [May 4, 1893. to platinise charcoal for most purposes. Charcoal containing this small amount of platinum causes a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen to combine perfectly in about a quarter of an hour, and this is the strength of platinised charcoal that seems best adapted for charcoal disinfectant respirators... . Platinised charcoal seems likely to admit of various useful applications ; one of the most obvious of these is its excellent adaptability to air-filters and respirators for disinfectant purposes.” So much for the properties of charcoal. My colleague, Prof, Corfield, of University College, assures me that ‘‘ charcoal is now very little used for the purification of foul air. It was formerly em- ployed in sewer ventilation, but it was found that it soon became damp and was then useless. I was anxious to test Mr. Toope’s application, and to see how far the sulphurous acid of fog might be absorbed as the foggy air passed through the charcoal trays. Mr. Toope, therefore, at my request, furnished me with a sample box, so arranged that I could aspirate air throught it. I was frequently in the habit of aspirating fog through 25 c.c. of potassium permanganate of such strength that the aspiration of 2} to 3 cubic feet of an ordinary fog would decolorise the solution, whilst 14 to 2 cubic feet sufficed in the case of very severe fogs. I have repeatedly aspirated air, in all sorts of foggy weather, through the charcoal box. But even in the most severe instances I have never noticed anything more than a slight discoloration of the permanganate after the passage of asf{much as 25 cubic feet. I have also placed the box in a chamber into which an atmosphere of strong sulphurous acid was introduced—an atmosphere of which 7; cubic foot sufficed to entirely decolorise the permanganate. When drawn through the charcoal, however, 3 cubic feet could be drawn without perceptibly affecting the colour of the fluid. When kept in an atmosphere of strong sulphurous acid the charcoal becomes in time charged, and, for the time being, in- capable of further absorption. In this charged condition I left the box for some eight or ten weeks, and found that by the ex- piration of that time it was as good an absorber as ever. With ordinary fogs there seems litle fear of anything of this kind happening ; nor have I observed any tendency in the charcoal to get choked in this way in long spells of foggy weather. That other impurities are also absorbed I have no proof, though I consider it most probable. In order to demonstrate the advantages of his system to horti- culturists, Mr. Toope has constructed a small conservatory at his offices in Stepney. Here he cultivates, in an unfavourable atmospheric environment, a collection of orchids and other stove plants. The results I regard as distinctly favourable to his system, though they were not by any means convincing, This arose, not necessarily, from any defect in the filtering apparatus, but rather from faulty cultural methods. Mr. Toope is a busy man, and the charge of his plants falls to the lot of others. Many plants very sensitive to atmospheric impurities, which he obtained at my suggestion, received a severe check in transit before they reached him. Others, again, which he raised from seed for observation were liable to neglect from time to time. So that a casual visitor unacquainted with the facts might easily have carried away an unfavourable impression of the utility of the system. But, taking everything into consideration, I incline to take a distinctly favourable view of charcoal as a filter for contaminated air—so much so that I believe it might be adopted with advantage by our urban cultivators. The charcoal undoubtedly absorbs a very large percentage of the sulphurous acid, and this can only have a beneficial result. The adoption of the system to old plant-houses does not involve any very serious reconstruction. The charcoal-boxes and exhaust-caps are easily fixed; whilst it is only very old and leaky houses that cannot be rendered reasonably airtight. In this way the toxic action of fog will, lam confident, be mitigated to an appreciable extent. As regards cultural precautions to be observed in foggy weather, experience indicates that a low temperature and a moist atmosphere are conducive to the well-being of the plants, though they, of course, afford no absolute protection. This aspect of the question has been clearly put in the following note from the Gardeners’ Chronicle by Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, which I venture to quote 2 extenso :— ‘*The Kew practice of keeping the winter temperature of the houses as low as we dare is based on the result of practical ex- perience. I do not dogmatise for other people who want to solve their own problems, and find out what is best for their particular requirements for themselves. But, as Mr. Henslow NO. 1227, VOL. 48] has pointed out, the theory of the subject has been stated cle: by Lindley ; and it may not be amiss to quote a few words from his classical ‘ Theory and Practice of Horticulture’ on the subject. » sphere humid with a high temperature. I quote from Lindley, — p. 207 :— Re “© Another source of dryness is the coldness of the glass roof, especially in cold weather, when its temperature is lowered by the external air, in consequence of which the moisture of the artificial atmosphere is precipitated upon the inside of the glass, whence it runs down in the form of ‘‘ drip,” ” hg ‘* Again, ‘It is evident that the mode of preventing this dry-— ing of the air by the cold surface ofa glass roof will be either by raising the temperature of the glass, which can only be effected by drawing a covering of some kind over our houses at © night, so as to intercept radiation, or by double glass sashes ; or else by keeping the temperature of the air as low as possible, consistently with the safety of the plants, and so diminishing the difference between the temperature of the external and int HM air.” : B ‘In large glasshouses it is obviously impracticable to a 7 the expedients which Lindley suggests. The only alternative is to do what we do at Kew—lower the temperature as much as_ possible, and so secure the highest possible relative ho with the double result of keeping the plants at rest and of check- ing their desiccation.” aq I hope shortly to issue a third report dealing with the fog question from its purely local aspect, including lists of plants” which suffer and the area around the metropolis to which these special injuries are observed. a In due time I shall prepare a very detailed report or mono- graph, illustrated from the large series of drawings which I have accumulated. It will only be in such a detailed monograph that I shall be able to justify many of the statements which occur in the bedy of this, the second report. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL } INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—Mr. Perdlebury, of St. John’s College, has” been reappointed a University Lecturer in Mathematics, for five years, from Lady Day 1893. Prof. Macalister, President o the Anthropological Institute, has given three lectures this term on Physical Anthropology as follows: April 27, ‘‘ The Races of Australia ;” April 29, ‘‘ The Ancient Egyptians ; ” May 2, ‘‘ Th Prehistoric Races of Britain.” 7: The Professor of Pathology announces a practical course instruction in bacteriology, to be given during the ensuing long vacation, by Prof. Adami, Dr. A. A. Kanthack, Dr. Wesbrook, and Mr. L, Cobbett. d Mr. J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S., will deliver the second part of his course of lectures on oceanography at noon on Tuesdays during the present term, : The Smith’s Prizes are this year awarded to three mathem: ticians, who are bracketed, namely, C. E. Cullis, B.A., of Caius, for an essay ‘‘On the Motion of Perforated Solids in Incompressible Liquid”; D. B. Mair, B.A., ‘‘On the Con- tinuous Deformation of Surfaces” ; and R. H. D, Mayall, B.A., of Sidney, ‘‘On Certain Forms of Current Sheets.” Mr. Mair and Mr. Mayall were bracketed Second Wranglers and Mr. Cullis bracketed Seventh Wrar gler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1891. Hi SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. American Meteorological Fournal, April.—Ice columns im gravelly soil, by Prof. C. Abbe. During spring and autumn little slender columns of ice are found at the surface Z gravelly coils in moist places after a clear cool night, ant the surface layer is found to be raised up an inch or tw Prof. Abbe coffers an explanation of the phenomenon, which differs from that given by Leconte and others. The sub is of some importance to agricultural soil physics.—The diurnal variations of barometric pressure, by C. J. Lyons, 0 the Hawaiian Weather Bureau. ‘The author takes into accoun the exjansion of the air Loth upwards and laterally, caused May 4, 1393] _ NATURE 21 by the apparent motion of the sun, and he considers that it is the /ateral pressure that causes the barometer to rise to a ‘maximum about half way between local sunrise and local “maximum of temperature. He states that an advancing area, which is increasing in the temperature of its lower strata, _ will cause a high barometer area at a considerable distance in front of itself, and that the reverse occurs during the advance of an area which is diminishing in the temperature of its lower ‘strata. The evening maximum he takes to be a reactionary _ wave from the afternoon minimum.—Recent foreign studies of _ thunderstorms, by R. de C. Ward. The author has collected the literature of the subject from the time that Mr. G. J. _ Symons commenced his observations, in 1856, down to the close Bat 2802, and gives a general summary of the results of each discussion. The present paper refers entirely to Great Britain. _—The Chinook wind, by H. M. Ballou. Comparatively little 4 yet been written about the Chinook wind; its name is rived from that of the tribe of Chinook Indians living near Puget’s Sound. During the prevalence of the wind the ther- nometer often rises from below zero to 40° or 45° in a few hours. - It is analogous to the Féhn in Switzerland, and similar winds “are reported from various parts of the world. All that is _ needed to produce them are high and low pressure areas, whereby _ the air is caused to pass over the mountains, depositing its mois- ure during the ascent, and descending on the leeward side. _ The author gives a list of works bearing upon the subject.— The North Atlantic hurricane of December 22, 1892, by E. _ Hayden. The paper is accompanied by a map showing the great size and severity of the storm. It is estimated that the area embraced was fully four million square miles, and the - author considers that this storm is accountable in some _ degree for the subsequent very cold weather in North America and Europe. ‘i SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. : Lonpon. Royal Society, February 9.—‘‘Preliminary Account of _ the Arrangement of the Sympathetic Nervous System, based _ chiefly on Observations upon Pilo-motor Nerves.” I. By J. N. Langley, F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity.College, Cambridge. In the eat, the spinal nerves which contain pilo-motor fibres in their nerve-roots, are usually the 4th thoracic to the 3rd lumbar inclu- __ sive. The spinal pilo-motor fibres run into the sympathetic trunk, __ there they become connected with nerve-cells; on leaving the sym- __ pathetic chain, they run to their peripheral endings in cranial or inalnerves. The fibres to the body accompany those dorsal cutaneous branches of the spinal nerves, which supply the skin over and close to the vertebre. Broadly speaking, the pilo- ‘motor fibres run from the sympathetic chain to the cranial and _ nerves in the greyrami, but a few fibres may run out in the white rami. Broadly speaking, the fibres issuing from any _ one ganglion are connected with nerve-cells in that ganglion and with no other sympathetic nerve-cell. In some cases a cer- tain number of such fibres are connected with nerve-cells, not in the ganglion from which they issue, but in the ganglion imme- diately above or below it. The fibres, before and after they _have joined nerve-cells, may be called respectively pre-ganglionic and post-ganglionic. Each ganglion, by its post-ganglionic bres, supplies, in any one individual, a definite portion of skin. _ The areas supplied by the ganglia from above downwards, start- ing with the superior cervical ganglion, are, apart from a vari- _ able amount of overlapping, successive areas, The cranial rami of the superior cervical ganglion supply the skin of the dorsal Part of the head, except a posterior portion, beginning about 14 m. behind the anterior level of the ears ; this unaffected region we may call the occipital region. The cervical rami of the Superior cervical ganglion supply the skin of the occipital region of the head by fibres running in the great occipital (2nd cervical) nerve, and the skin over the first three or four cervical vertebrze by fibres running in the 3rd cervical nerve. The ganglion stel- atum, by its cervical rami, supplies the skin from the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebree to some point between the spine of the 2nd and 3rd thoracic vertebree. Often its area extends upwards to join the occipital region. The areas supplied by the post-gang- onic pilo-motor fibres of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th cervical nerves vary in relative size in different individuals ; roughly we may take the 3rd nerve as supplying the skin over the first three NO. 1227, VOL. 48] and a half vertebre, and the others as supplying successive strips of about two vertebrze each. _In the fore leg region, one, two, or three spinal nerves send no cutaneous branches to the mid-line of the back. These are the 7th and 8th cervical, and the 1st thoracic, nerves. Sometimes the 7th, sometimes the Ist, thoracic has such a cutaneous branch ; corresponding to the presence or absence of these cutaneous branches is the presence or absence of pilo-motor fibres in the rami which pass from the ganglion stellatum to the respective nerves. The ganglion stel- latum also sends pilo-motor fibres to the first four thoracic nerves. From the 5th thoracic nerve downwards (and some- times from the 4th) there is a ganglion and ramus for each nerve. The distribution ofall these rami down to the 4th lum- bar may be considered together. The area ofthe second thoracic ramus (or of the Ist, as mentioned above) fullows on the area of the lowest effective cervical ramus. The 4th lumber ramus sup- plies either the skin over the 7th lumbar vertebra and a small piece of sacrum or the skin over the sacrum. Between the limits just given for the 2nd thoracic and the fourth lumbar the areas follow on each other, the length of each areabeing about that of a vertebra. Below the 4th lumbar nerve is the hind leg region, which is like that of the fore leg already mentioned, in so far as one, two, or three nerves have no dorsal cutaneous branches to the mid- line, and the corresponding rami have no pilo-motor fibres. These nerves are the 5th, 6th, and 7th lumbar. About the end of the sacrum appears to be the dividing line between the areas of the rami which come from above and those which come from below the ineffective ramus or rami. Thus the skin over the lower part of the sacrum may be supplied by the 4th, 5th, or, perhaps, the 6th lumbar ramus, the skin over the upper coccygeal vertebree by the 7th lumbar or Ist sacral. The second sacral ramus, as a rule, supplies the hairs of the tail just'above the level of the anus and over it ; the 3rd sacral ramus supplies the hairs for about an inch and a half below the level of the anus. The coccygeal ganglion gives off rami to the bbb coccygeal nerves, and these supply different lengths of the tail. It is easily shown that the area of the skin supplied with pilo- motor fibres by the dorsal cutaneous branch of any given spinal nerve is also supplied by it with sensory fibres. And there is good reason for believing that the fibres of the grey ramus of a nerve, z.¢. the post-ganglionic sympathetic fibres of a spinal nerve, have in the main the same distribution in the skin as the sensory fibres of the nerve. Each spinal nerve, from the Ist cervical to the 3rd lumbar, sends fibres to 7 or 8 sympathetic ganglia. For the details of this connection we must refer to the figure appended to the paper. March 23.—‘‘On the Variation of Surface Energy with Temperature,” by William Ramsay, Ph.D., F.R.S., and John Shields, B.Sc., Ph.D. It is shown that a close analogy exists between the equation for gases, pvu=RT, and an equation expressing the relation of surface energy to temperature, 4s = KT, where ¥ is surface tension ; s, surface ; x, a constant; and 7, temperature measured downwards from a point about 6° below the critical point of the fluid. As the origin of T in the gaseous equation is where # = 0, so the origin of t should be where y= 0. Correcting the above equation so that 7 shall represent the number of degrees measured downwards from the critical point, the equation becomes ys =« (rt - @). But even this equation does not express the whole truth. For at temperatures less than 30° below the critical temperature, the relation between surface energy and temperature is not a recti- linear one ; a correction is therefore introduced in the form of a second term, which becomes insignificant at temperatures more than 25° or 30°7 ; it is ys = nt — nd (I— 107%), The liquids examined were: ether, methyl formate, ethyl acetate, carbon tetrachloride, benzene, chlorobenzene, acetic acid, and methyl and ethyl alcohols ; in fact, the only ones for which data are available. For, in order to calculate ¥ from the rise in a capillary tube, it is necessary to know the density of 22 NATURE the orthobaric liquid and gas ; and trustworthy data exist only for these liquids and for a few others which resemble them closely, e.g. fluorobenzene, bromobenzene, &c. Also to calculate s, ze. molecular surface, it is necessary to know the molecular volume of the liquid, and to raise it to the $rds power. Hence vi = s, or molecular surface ; z.e. it is possible to compare different liquids on the surfaces of which equal numbers of molecules lie. Measurements were made at — 89°°8, the boiling point of nitrous oxide under atmospheric pressure, with ether, methyl formate, ethyl acetate, and the two alcohols; the other sab- stances are solid at that low temperature. These observations confirmed the rectilinear relation with the first three ; but in the case of the two alcohols evidence was obtained of molecular association, as also with acetic acid. It is possible to calculate the amount of association at any temperature in such cases. For, as x is approximately constant for the molecular surface of the “normal” liquids, the equation «ld = xi, where @ is the differential coefficient of an associating liquid, and x is the molecular aggregation, gives the number of simple molecules which have united to form a compound at the temper- ature chosen. For the alcohols at — 90°, and for acetic acid a 20°, the association of molecules approximates to (C,H,Os),, (CH,O),, and (C,H,O),. We have thus a method by which it is possible to ascertain the molecular complexity of undiluted liquids. The results with the alcohols are shown to agree within resonable limits with those indicated by experiments with strong solutions by Raoult’s method. It is incidentally shown in the course of the paper that there is no angle of contact between liquid and glass, when the liquid surface is in contact only with its own vapour. Ordinary measurements of capillarity give inconstant, and probably inac- curate, results, for it is not the surface tension of the liquid which is measured, but that of a solution of air in the surface film of the liquid. The paper contains tables and curves exemplifying and illus- trating the statements given. Chemical Society, March 16.—Dr. W. H. Perkin, Vice- President, in the chair.—The following papers were read :—The limits of accuracy of gold bullion assaying and the losses of gold incidental to it, by T. K. Rose. Assays of gold bullion by the ordinary method may be rendered more accurate by the use of a more sensitive balance than is usually employed. The amount of copper or silver contained in the assay piece very consider- ably influences the ‘‘ surcharge ” or difference in weight between the gold originally present in the assay piece and the cornet finally obtained. The presence of antimony, zinc, tellurium, iron, or nickel reduces the surcharge by quantities which the author has determined. It therefore follows that to ensure accuracy check assays must be made on alloys of the same com- position as those under examination. Variations in the sur- charge are also caused by changes in temperature of the muffle furnace used in cupellation ; a rise of 5° in the temperature usually worked at, viz. about 1064°, is accompanied by a reduction in the surcharge of about o’or per 1000, If attention be paid to the points enumerated above, the gold in bullion of a high degree of purity can be determined within + 0’02 per 1000, the Jimits of accuracy having been previously considered to be + o'1r0 per 1000. The author has estimated the losses of gold in bullion assays. These are due to absorption by the cupel, volatilisation in the muffle and dissolution in the parting acid. —The volatilisa- tion of gold, by T. K. Rose. The author has determined the loss of gold incurred on heating test pieces of the pure metal or its alloys at temperatures between 1045° and 1300° under various conditions. The loss of gold increases as the tem- perature rises, pure gold losing four times as muchat 1245° as at 1090°. A large amount of gold is volatilised in an atmosphere consisting mainly of carbonic oxide, whilst asmall amount only is lost in coal gas. A comparatively small amount of gold is carried away by the more volatile metals, copper appearing to exert an exceptional influence. Metals which are easily vola- tilised do not appear to be completely driven off at the highest temperatures attained. A larger proportion of gold is lost by alloys which form flat buttons on the cupe! than by those which form spherical buttons ;7it would hence seem that the condi- tions which lower the surface tension of the gold button also NO. 1227, VOL. 48] [May 4, 1893 © raise the vapour pressure of the metal.—Note on the bo point of nitrous oxide at atmospheric pressure, and on melting-point of solid nitrous oxide, by W. Ramsay and Shields. Nitrous oxide boils at — 89°°8, and melts at — 102 —The isomerism of the paraffinic aldoximes, by W. Dunstan and T. S. Dymond. The importance of the auth discovery of the existence of two acetaldoximes in connectic with the theory of the isomerism of oximes is pointed out. behaviour of the isomerides towards reagents is very simila: the acetyl derivatives prepared from the liquid and solid modi- fications appearing identical. Both acetaldoximes are verted by hydrogen chloride into the same hydrochloride. action of phosphoric chloride on the crystalline aldoxime i ethereal solution at a low temperature yields a product w on hydrolysis gives ammonia and acetic acid, as well as meth amine and formic acid; the same products are obtained — almost the same proportion from the liquid aldoxime at a high temperature. The two isomerides yield only ammoni and acetic acid when treated with phosphorous chloride. Pr pionaldoxime, Et.CH : NOH, has hitherto been known only a liquid boiling at 132°; the authors find, however, tha may be obtained in two forms, the one a liquid and the oth solid melting at 22°.. The solid modification is converted i the liquid one by heating, and the liquid form changes slowly in the solid one on cooling ; this behaviour is quite similar to that of the isomeric acetaldoximes. The action of reagents on acet- and propion-aldoximes is also analogous. It would app from the above results that further study is needed to establis criteria of stereochemical isomerism in the case of these oximes the authors are therefore still engaged upon the subject. The mineral waters of Askern, in Yorkshire, by C. H. Bothamley. The author gives analyses of the wat of four wells or springs at Askern. These wat are accredited with considerable therapeutic value.—No' on the distribution of acidic and alkalinie radicles in solution containing calcium, magnesium, carbonates, and sul- phates ; and on the composition of mineral waters, by C. H. Bothamley. The author concludes that if the question of ionic dissociation in solution be put on one side, and mineral wa’ and solutions of calcium, magnesium, and the carbonic and sul- phuric acid radicles, be'represented as containing salts as the sulphuric radicle must be regarded as combining by i ence with magnesium and not with calcium, as is generally : posed.—A magnesium compound of diphenyl, by W. R. Hod kinson. Magnesium has no action on dry aniline, toluidin form- and acet-anilid and phthalanil ; phenylhydrazine begins act on magnesium at about 150°, and at higher temperatures the reaction becomes very violent. Aniline, benzene, ammonia, and nitrogen are evolved and a solid whitish substance contain- ing the metal remains in the retort ; on heating this residue oil is obtained which contains diphenyl. These results s gest the presence of magnesium diphenyl.—Note on acetanhyd: citric acid, by F. Klingemann. The author criticises the work of Easterfield and Sell on this acid—The dissolution gold in a solution of potassium cyanide, by R. C. Maclaurin. The author shows that the dissolution of gold in potassiun cyanide solution is conditioned by the presence of en, and that the amounts of oxygen absorbed and of gold dissolved — in the proportion indicated by Elsner’s original equation—-___ 4Au + 8KCN + O, + 2H,O = 4AuCN, KCN + 4KH Furthermore, it is shown that the rate of dissolution varies wi the strength of the solution and that it passes through a mi mum in passing from dilute to concentrated solutions ; variation is traced to a decrease in the solubility of oxygen in solutions of potassium cyanide as the concentration increases. — March 27.—Annual General Meeting. —Prof. Crum Brow F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President delivered ¢ address in which he discussed sthe history of the phlog theory and its gradual displacement by more modern vie The halance-sheet for the past year was then presented, and usual votes of thanks passed. A ballot was then taken for t election of officers and Council for the present year. Mathematical Society, April 13.—Mr. A. B. Kem F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President, calling att tion to the title of a paper he had read at the January meeting on the application of Clifford’s graphs to ordinary binar quantics (av/é, p. 382), said that the subject being there regardec from Prof. Clifford’s point of view, he had, following the pre cedent set in a paper by the late Mr, Spottiswoode on Clifford’ -e May 4, 1893] NATURE 23 aphs, associated the name of Clifford only with the graphs in the title. He had, however, on further consideration come to he conclusion that by such exclusive association an impression ‘might be created which would operate unjustly towards the unquestionable originality of the paper by Prof. Sylvester on ‘the application of the new atomic theory to the graphical repre- ‘sentation of the invariants and covariants of binary quantics ‘published in the American Fournal of Mathematics, vol. i. ‘p. 64. By permission of the council he proposed therefore to er the title of his paper by referring therein to the graphs as the Sylvester-Clifford graphs.”.—The following communica- “tions were made :—Toroidal functions, by A. B. Basset, F.R.S. ‘The object of this paper is to develop the theory of toroidal functions from a point of view which brings out its connection “with the associated functions Py), Qn v), which occur in spherical and spheroidal harmonic analysis. A toroidal function is an associated function of degree »—%4 and order m, where # is zero or any positive integer, and 7 is zero or any positive integer not greater than ”. The paper com- ‘mences by showing that these functions may be expressed in terms of the definite integrals— P(r) =! — y"r(2+4) fi cos mpdp ¢ T= m+4 J PEO DF cos)” ” T(z—m+4) J o{v+(—1)! cosh g} It can easily be proved that these definite integrals satisfy the _ differential equations for toroidal functions, and the advantages of this method of procedure are twofold. In the first place these integrals lead to certain difference and mixed difference equations connecting functions of different orders and degrees ; _ and in the second place the whole of the analysis and the results _ will apply when x is changed into +4, in which case the in- tegrals become ordinary associated functions. In physical in- -yestigations connected with circular vortex rings, functions of degree 7 and order unity occur, whose properties may be more _ simply deduced from those of the zonal functions ; also v=cosh 7, when 7 is very large. If, therefore, €-»=4, 4 will be small, and appropriate series can be obtained in terms of &, The latter part of the paper is occupied with the investigation of these series, and it is shown that x Q,= way Ask, Om) =! yer(z+4) [° cosh mpdp ae whilst “i Px=h-"+i(p, log 4/4 +x), or _ where $7, Wz are infinite series of powers of %?.—Note on the _ problem to inscribe in one of two given triangles a triangle _ similar to the other, by Mr. J. Griffiths, The writer discusses the following propositions: (1) A triangle DEF inscribed in a ) given triangle ABC, so as to be similar to another given one A’B'C’, belongs to some one of twelve systems of similar in- triangles, each system having a centre of similitude of its own. (2) The centres of similitude of the twelve systems in question can be formed into two groups of six points which lie respec- _ tively on two circles, inverse to each other with respect to the ircumcircle ABC. (3) The centre of similitude of any system f similar triangles inscribed in ABC and having a common rocard angle equal to that of A’B’C’ will lie on one or other of he above circles. (4) As a particular case of the problem the different systems formed by a triangle DEF inscribed in ABC, so as to be either directly or inversely similar to it are noticed. -—The singularity of the optical wave-surface, by J. Larmor, -R.S. Itis shown that two sheets of a wave-surface cannot intersect along a curve. As the elastic quality of a crystalline _ medium is gradually altered, the separate sheets of its (me- chanical) wave-surface may draw together, and may finally come nto contact at one or more conical points; but any further iteration in the same direction produces instability, The existence of the abnormality of conical refraction would thus be, on a purely elastic theory, an indication of the immediate approach of instability.—On a problem of conformal representa- , by Prof. W. Burnside. ‘The paper deals with those cases which a rectangular polacs can be represented conformally on a circle or half plane by means of an integral equation between two complex variables. It is formally proved that NO. 1227, VOL. 48] whenever the polygon can be formed by the juxtaposition of equal and similar figures either (i ) triangle (ii) triangle FIA NIA Nia aay IX WIA (iii) any rectangle the representation is possible by such an integral equation, and that it is not possible in any other case. A general method for finding the equation carrying out the representation is given, and a few special cases are worked at length, The paper finishes by considering shortly the case in which the polygon is not simply connected, and one or two other allied points. Linnean Society, April 20.—Prof. Stewart, President, in the chair.—In view of the approaching anniversary meeting the election of auditors took place, when Dr. Meiklejohn and Mr. E. A. Batters were nominated on behalf of the Council, and Messrs. Thomas Christy and W. F. Kirby on behalf of the Fellows.—The President took occasion to notice the retirement of Mr. F. H. Kingston after thirty-six years’ service as lodge- keeper, and presented him with a testimonial inthe shape of a cigar case containing five and thirty pounds in bank-notes, which had been subscribed on his behalf by all thesocieties in Burlington House. After a suitable response on the part of the recipient, attention was directed to some photographs of Burlington House with the gateway as it existed before the rebuilding in 1868, and showing the old colonnade which had since been demolished and was lying still uncared for in Battersea Park. —On behalf of Mr. C. Chilton of Dunedin, N.Z., Mr. W. Perry Sladen gave an abstract of a paper on the subterranean crustacea of New Zealand, with remarks on the fauna of caves and wells. The paper contained a résumé of previous publications on the subject with additional information from the author’s own observation, and an expression of his views on certain controversial points in connection therewith. His remarks were criticised by the President and by Prof. Howes, Dr. Henry Power and Mr, G. Fookes.—A paper was then read by Mr, H. M. Bernard on the anatomy, physiology, and histology ofthe Chernetid@, withspecial reference to the rudimentary stigmata, and to a new form of trachea, or. which an interesting discussion ensued, and Mr. Bernard replied to the criticisms which were offered.—The society adjourned to May 4. Paris. Academy of Sciences, April 24.—M. Loewy in the chair. —On the observation of the partial solar eclipse of April 16, made at the Paris Observatory, by M. F. Tisserand. From a measurement of six photographs obtained by MM. Henry, the instants of contact were calculated to have been 3h. 59m. 51s. and 4h. 27m. 59s.—Recent researches on the nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms, by M. Berthelot. From a series of experi- ments upon samples of earth taken from the Botanic Garden of the Ecole de Pharmacie, it appears that the micro-organisms capable of fixing free nitrogen from the air belong to widely varying species, but that the chief agents are certain bacteria of the soil, seven species of which were isolated. The carbon and. hydrogen contained in the atmosphere does not appear capable of supporting the life of these bacteria, and their nourishment is. chiefly derived from the decomposition of sugar, tartaric acid, and other hydrocarbons supplied by higher organisms. If there is an abundance of combined nitrogen at hand, the bacteria flourish more profusely, and their absorption of free nitrogen, though placed beyond doubt, has certain definite limits. On the whole, it seems that the carbon-fixing and the nitrogen- fixing organisms fulfil mutually supplementary functions. —On the order of successive appearance of the vessels in the parallel formation of the leaves of certain Composite (Tragopagon, &c.), by M, A. Trécul.—Physiological and therapeutic effects of a liquid extracted from the male sexual gland, by MM. Brown- Séquard and d’Arsonval. Samples of the orchitic liquid for subcutaneous injection were offered to all medical men willing to report upon its effects. Over 1200 physicians availed them- selves of this offer, and their results are very encouraging. The malady showing the most striking effect of the remedy was loco- motor ataxy, of which 314 out of 342 undoubted cases were cured or considerably improved. Another almost incurable disease which proved very amenable to this treatment was shaking paralysis, of which 25 out of 27 cases were much im- proved. It appears that the orchitic liquid, though not possess- 24 NATURE [May 4, 1893 : ing any direct curative influence upon the various morbid states | of the organism, is capable on subcutaneous injection of curing or decidedly ameliorating a great variety of affec- tions, organic or otherwise. This action is due to two kinds of influence. By the one, the nervous system gains in vigour, and becomes capable of improving the dynamical or organic state of the diseased parts ; by the other, which depends upon the entrance into the blood of new materials, the liquid contributes to the cure of morbid states by the formation of new cellules and other anatomical elements. — Observation of the solar eclipse of April 16, 1893, at the Lyon Observatory, by M. Ch, André. —Observation’ of the solar eclipse of April 16 at the Algiers Observatory, by M. Ch. Trépied.—Addi- tional note, by M. Spée.—Spectro-photographic method for the study of the solar corona, by M. George Hale.—On the reduc- tion of any differential system to a linear form and integrable completion of the first order, by M. Riquier.—Verification of the steam counter and its application to the measurement of supersaturation and superheating, by M. H. Parenty.—On the tension of saturated water-vapour, by M. Antoine.—On the measurement of large differences of phase in white light, by M. P. Joubin.—On rational systems of expressions in dimen- sions of electric and magnetic quantities, by M. E. Mercadier. —Measurement of the difference of phase of two sinusoidal currents, by M. Désiré Korda.—Effect of colouring matters upon actino-electric phenomena, by M. H. Rigollot.—Study of ferric chloride and ferric oxalate solutions ; distribution of the op c oxide between the hydrochloric and "the oxalic acid, by M. iGeorges Lemoine.—On some derivatives of licareol, by M. Ph. Barbier.—On the constitution of gallic blue or tannine ‘indigo, by M. P. Cazeneuve.—On the chloramines, by M. A. Berg.— On bromal bornylates, by M. J. Minguin. =a we and quantitative analyses of formaldehyde, by M. A. Trillat.—On dioptase deposits on the French Congo, by A Alfred Le Chatelier.—On a zirkoniferous felspathic enclosure in the basaltic rocks of the Puy de Montaudou, near Royat, by M. Ferdinand Gonnard.—On a new mineral species discovered in the copper deposits of Boleo (Lower California, Mexico), by M. E. Cumenge.—On the rocks of the porphyritic series in the French Alps, by M. P. Termier.—On the discovery of the Marine carboniferous in the valley of Saint-Amarin (Haute- Alsace), by M. Mathieu Mieg.—Biological conditions of lacus- trine vegetation, by M. Ant. Magnin.—Acclimatisation in France of new Selman; we M. Dagan. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Books. —Vertebrate Embryology: ~~ A. Milnes Marshall (Smith, Elder, and Co.) —Chemistry for All: Harrison and R. J. Bailey (Blackie).—Unités et Etalons: C. E. Gailiubie (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— Principes de la Machine a Vapeur : E. Widmann (Paris, Gauthier-Villars). Smithsonian Institution, Report of U.S. National Museum, 1890 (Washing- ton).—The Soil in Relation to Health: H. A. Miers and R. Crosskey (Macmillan).—Wm. Kitchen Parker, F.R.S.: T. Jeffery Parker (Mac- millan).—Types of Animal Life: St. G. Mivart (Osgood).—Advanced Physiography: R. A. Gregory and J. Christie (Hughes).—Gun and Camera in Southern Africa: Hi. A Bryden (Stanford).—Alembic - Reprints; No. 1, Experiments upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, &c.: Dr. J. Black (Edinburgh, Clay). PAMPHLETS.—Vererbungsgesetze und ihre Anwendung auf den Men- schen: S. S. Buckman (Leipzig, Giinthers).—City and Guilds of London In- stitute ; Report to yr i April (London).—The Stzchiological Cure of Consumption, &c.: Dr. J. F. Churchill cto SERIALS. pirate Journal of Microscopical Science, April (Churchill). —Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, vol. 2, No. 7 (New York).—Ergebnisse der Meteorol Jahrgang 2 (Bremen).—Seismological Society of Japan, vol. 1, 1893 (Yokohama).— Geological Magazine, May (K. Paul).—Natural Science, eae (Macmillan). DIARY OF SOCIETIES, LONDON. THURSDAY, May 4. Royat Society, at 4.30.—On the Thickness and Electrical Resistance of Thin Liquid Films: Prof. Reinold, F.R.S., and Prof. Riicker, F.R.S.— Organic Oximides ; a Research on their Pharmacology : Dr. H: Pomfret.— On the Alleged Increase of Cancer : Geo. King and Dr. Newsholine.— Further Experimental Note on the Correlation of Action of Antagonistic Muscles: Dr, Sherrington. On the Differential Co-variants of Plane Curves, and the Operators Employed in their Development: R. F. Gwyther. Linnean Society, at 8.—Nervous System of Myxine glutinosa: Aified Sanders.—On Polynesian Plants collected by J. J. Lister; W._B. Hemsley, F.R.S. CueEmicat Society, at 8.—Ballot for the Election of Fellows.—Hydrates of Potassium, Sodium, and Lithium Hydroxides : S. U.. Pickerin; F.R.S.—Notes on Marsh's and Renich’s Tests for Arsenic: Dr. 7 Clark —The Fo mation of Hydrogen Peroxide in Organic | iquids: Dr. A. Richardson.—The Supposed Saponification of Linseed Oil by White Lead: J. B. Hannay and A. E. Leighton.—Notes on the Capillary Separation of Substances in Solution: L. Reed. NO. 1227, VOL. 48] INsTiTUTION oF Civit ENGINEERS, at 8.—The First ames Forrest ture—The Interdependence of Abstract Sci an bap William Anderson, F.R.S. must Royat Institution, at 3. Bey Atmosphere: Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. IDAY, May CHEMICALSociety, at 8. —Hotmaon Memorial Meating = aac Ri 8 ie Playfair, F.R.S.; Sir F. A. Abel, F.R.S.; W. H. P Royat InstiTuTION, at 9.—Fogs, Clouds, and Lightning: Shelford Bi well, F.R.S. Fi ‘ SA “Johnson oO Mio 6. ovAL INSTITUTION, at 3.—Johnson and Milton: Dr. Henry Craik, c. MONDAY, May 8 a ARISTOTELIAN Society, at 8.—G. F. Stout. Kova INSTITUTION, at 5 — General Monthly Meeting. TUESDAY. May og. INSTITUTION OF CivIL ENGINEERS, - 8.—Mining and Ore Treatment : Broken Hill, New South Wales: M. B. Jamieson and John Howe (Discussion. ) ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, at 8.30.—Note on the Skull of an ie ginal Australian: C. Dudley Cooper. (Communicated by Prof. Thane.)—On Borneo: C. Hose.—‘)n the Natives of Tonga: R. es Roya INsTITUTION, at 3.—Modern Society in China: Prof. R. Douglas. WEDNESDAY. Mav 10. Grooaicat Society. at 8.—On the Felsites and Con; Bethesda and Llanllyfni, North Wales: Prof. J. F. dovery and Associated Rocks of the Neighbourhood of Corwen Lake and Theodore 7. Groom. Evromo.ocical Society. at 7.—Dicranota, a Carnivorous Prof. L. C. Miall, F.R.S.—On a Lepidopterous Pupa Mictop t aiken with Functionally Active Mandibles: Dr. T. Algerno apman InstrtuTION oF Civit_ ENGINEERS, at 8.—The Introduction of Rub! Blocks into Concrete ee J: Wilson Steven. 'HURSDAY, May 11. ) MaTHEMATICAL Sone at 8.— On some Formu le of Codazzi and Wein garten in Relation to the Application of Surfaces to each other: Prof. an F.R.S.—On the Expansion of Certain Infinite Products: Prof.” Rogers. InstiTUTION OF ELecTRICAL ENGINEERS. at 8.—On the Prevention Sparking, Compound Dynamos without Series Coils or eld Magacts Self-exc:ting Dynamos and Motors without Winding upon Fi W. B. Sayers. Roya INsTITUTION, at 3. fires Atmosphere: Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. RIDAY, May 12. PuysicaL Sociery, at 5. at Drawing of Curves from their Curvatu Sey Boys, F.R.S.—The Foundations of Dynamics: Oliver Lods Rovat AsTRonomicat Socrery, at 8. Roya. InstiruTIoN, at 9 —Isoperimetrical Problems: Lord Relvi Pres. R.S. SATURDAY, May 13. Roya Boranic Society, at 3.45 Royat InsTITUTION, at 3. —Johnson and Swift: Dr. Henry Craik, C.B. CONTENTS. An American Text-book of ia: i ~ eres LOdG@6, MeBe: So cuiciaire o's hsuhas teem mca ue Babylonian Cosmology <9 | a2 9ceaha ae er nn | Our Book Shelf :— Dickie; ‘‘Elements of Physiography” . . Powell: ‘* Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the anaes of the Smithsonian Insti- — tution, 1885-86 om} be Letters to the Editor :— BES A Remarkable Rainfall.—Clement L. Wragge . . | The Cold Wave at Hongkong, January 1893—its After- Effects. -Sydney B. J. Skertchly ....... The April Meteors.—W. F, Denning. . . ; Smithsonian Institution Documents. —Prof. Cleve- land Abbe... The Genesis of Nova ‘Auriga. “By Richard A. Pee re re Gregory . Pipes ota ey The Royal Society Selected Candidates |... Nores.. . <)- 10y, 82 lene eee Our Astronomical Column ;— South Polar Cap of Mars . . The Brightness of the Major and Minor Planets . Meteor Showers . . eicbei a7 | See Astronomy Popularised i in America . Optical Tests for Objectives. .. +++ ++-- Photograph ofa Bolid . . +--+ +++ +s Geographical Notes . . The Use of Rigo in Teaching Mathematics. ~ G. Hepp Fogs eee Horticulture. By Prof, F. W. Oliver . University and Educational Intelligence. . . . Scientific Seah: oi se veteran S Societies and Academies SHE Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received Diary of Societies: 6.5. sic 8 gs) see as NATURE 25 THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1893. A BOOK ON PHYSIOGRAPHY. A, E. Brehm. Les Merveilles de la Nature.” La Terre, les Mers, et les Continents; Géographie Physique, ‘ologte et Minéralogie. Par Fernand Priem. (Paris: B. Bailliére et Fils, 1892.) HE wonders of nature! The book would be worth having that would help us to realise, however imperfectly, what it is that underlies this hackneyed phrase, But the book that shall create and tisfy a craving for this result will not be easy to build It must be encyclopedic, but (need it be said?) t an encyclopedia. It must be accurate to the st degree of accuracy, but must have nothing of pedant about it. Human interests must, wherever Opportunity offers, be interwoven with its narra- The narrative itself must be, not the heavy tic prosing of an old-fashioned schoolmaster, but Bingenial living talk of a friend. Sound judgment t pick out what is to be told and what left unsaid. far from looking upon all facts as of equal value, the most care must be exercised to present those only which are within the grasp of the lay mind; all that has signifi- cance for the specialist only will be out of place. Nothing will be inserted merely because it is curious or marvel- lous, for the object will be not to make the reader gape like an astonished clown at something which looks very ‘traordinary because he does not understand it; rather to use the emotion of wonder as a means to something beyond, as an inducement to look below the surface and find out how results so startling have been brought about. The right book must be neither shallow nor deep; fas- cinating as a poem, but sound as a scientific treatise ; and will be well if there run through all of it some one ading idea, which will serve to give it unity and string gether into a connected whole the sections of which it is ade up. _ Under the title of “Les Merveilles de la Nature” a series of works is being published which seem to be intended for what is usually known as the “general reader.” The preceding volumes have dealt with animal life, the volume now before us is devoted to Erdkunde. It will be possible, without pretending to deal with the whole of the bulky volume, to inquire how far it appears likely to meet the requirements of those readers for whom it seemsintended. The work opens with “ Données générales de la Géologie,” and the commencement is promising ; the treatinent is broad, and illustrations are supplied of the general truths enunciated. Butalready, on ). 5, we see how little judgment has been exercised in the lection of materials. Of what interest or of what jucational value to the general reader can be such echnical details as a description of the way of measure- ig dip and strike in the field, and a figure of a pocket ompass? A few pages further on we have a com- essed summary of the succession and life of the main eological epochs, and some well-executed figures of heir fossils. The account is far too meagre to be of any al use, and it is difficult to see what principle has uided the selection of the fossils. There is a “casual- NO. 1228, vot. 48 | ness” too about some statements calculated to mislead ; as when we find no mention of Brachiopods in the Silurian and Carboniferous, but the emphatic assertion that the Devonian fauna is specially characterised by the presence of numerous Brachiopods. Again it is true enough that the Triassic fauna “différe notablement de la fauna paléozoique;” but the fact that it contains a mixture of palzeozoic and mesozoic forms is at least of equal importance. These instances, picked at random, show how much of a compilation and how little of a masterly abstract is offered to the reader. A history of the progress of geology is one of those things specially suited to such a work asthe present. We have one here interestingly written, though perhaps the salient points do not stand out as boldly as could be wished. Further on, under the heads of mineralogy and petrology, we have a vast array of facts of very unequal interest or value for ordinary readers. What good can it be to any one to be told that thereare six or seven systems of crystallisation, when he is never told what is meant by a “system”? Symmetry, which lies at the base of crystallographic classification, is barely mentioned, and most imperfectly explained. But what an attractive and instructive story may be made about crystals! Some of the more elementary facts about their symmetry and probable molecular structure are not hard to grasp, and furnish fascinating illustrations of law and harmony. Looked at in this light, these flowers of the inorganic world cease to be mere glittering gauds, and tell a tale that all would follow with delight, Out of Ruskin, checked by Miller, such might be con- structed in place of this dull assemblage of barren and im- perfectly explained facts. When: we come to the micro- scopic examination of rocks there is much that is too detailed for the general public and not full enough for the specialist. The nationality of the book must be the excuse for the - survival of such statements as the following :—“ Le granite est la roche éruptive la plus ancienne. a. Ses éruptions se sont faites pour la plupart avant le dépét des roches sédementaires: le plus récentes paraissent dater du cambrien.” “Les porphyres pétrosiliceuse sont charactéristiques de l’époque permienne.” But surely any one whose knowledge went beyond a few books would have thought it fair to say that these views were not universally adopted, though they are held by some of the most distinguished of his countrymen. Turning to other branches of knowledge, the critic is still compelled to take serious objection to much that he meets with. Solar and stellar physics are scarcely up to date, though perhaps there is enough for a book of this class. It will be hard for any one who depends upon this book alone to gather how the shape of the earth is ascer- tained. It is all very well to copy out of a book that an arc of 1° is so long in Peru and so long in Lapland, but there is no word said as to how astronomers find out that they have travelled over 1° of latitude, nor of the trigonometrical survey requisite to measure the length of the arc. These points are easy enough of explanation, and if in place of the misleading cut on Fig. 64 a figure had been given with the necessary explanation, we should have had something of educational value instead of a mere transcript. Statements are made with great con- Cc 26 NATURE 3 [May 11, 1893 ~ ‘idence about the time of rotation of Mercury and the inclination of the axis of Venus and of the prodigious height of the mountains on these two planets; they certainly ought not to have been put down as well- ascertained matters of fact. Figs. 67 and 68 I confess are beyond me. These samples, culled from different parts of the book, are enough to give a fair idea of its general character, and the impression made on my mind by a general perusal is that it is by no means an ideal performance. But there is much that is attractive about it. It is crowded with illustrations, many of them artistic and apposite, though in the case of some it is hard to see upon what they are intended to throw light. With -children it will be deservedly afavourite. I think I know a boy, of some eight or nine years, not much addicted to reading, who will devour the “ pictures” and render the life of his elders a burden by the countless questions ‘they suggest. And the elders will, many of them, find in it much interesting matter; and if what they read is not always quite sound and here and there a little dismal, there is much that is lively and stirring and to which no -exception can be taken on the score of accuracy. We may wish the book good speed till something better of its ikind displaces it. A. H. GREEN. SIR W. BOWMAN’S COLLECTED PAPERS. The Collected Papers of Sir William Bowman, Bart., F.R.S. Edited for the Committee of the “ Bowman Testimonial Fund,” by J. Burdon Sanderson, M.D., F.R.S., and J. W. Hulke, F.R.S. In two volumes. (London : Harrison and Sons, 1892.) N O more fitting record of a well-spent life could have 4 been given to the world than these two volumes, .containing “The Collected Papers” of the late Sir William Bowman. In July, 1888, the ‘‘Bowman Testimonial Fund” was inaugurated. Its design was to make to Sir William Bowman some acknowledgment of the appreciation in which he was held on account of his high personal character and of his professional and scientific attain- ments. This took first the form of a portrait of himself by Mr. Ouless, R.A., and further of a republication at least in great measure of his various scientific memoirs. These memoirs have been edited, with the assistance of the .author, by Prof. Burdon Sanderson and Mr. Hulke. The first volume contains the whole “of the epoch- making researches which were accomplished by Sir William Bowman between forty and fifty years ago in the field which he himself designated as that of ‘ Physiolo- -gical Anatomy,’” for he regarded the discovery and uses parts as the main purpose of anatomical investigation. This volume has been edited by Prof. J. Burdon Sand- -erson, and contains three memoirs from the “ Philoso- phical Transactions ” on the minute structure and move- ments of voluntary muscle; on the contraction of voluntary muscle in the living body ; and on the structure and use - of the Malphigian bodies of the kidney, with observations .on the circulation through that gland; also the author’s contributions to “ The Physiological Anatomy and Physi- ology of Man.” This work was published between 1839 NO. 1228, VOL. 48] and 1856, by Drs. Todd and Bowman, and we learn th interesting details that out of a total of 298 illustration: to the two volumes, 120 of these were ftom the drawings of Bowman. This volume concludes with four contribu: tions to the “ Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology’ on Mucous Membrane ; on Muscle ; on Muscular Motion and on the Pacinian Bodies. ee The second volume comprises a selection of “ reprints, together with some papers, now first printed, under thi headings miscellaneous, surgical, and ophthalmologica These have been selected from a large amount of material and arranged with the assistance of the author. This volume has been edited by Mr. J. W. Hulke, who writes that, “read from the standpoint of the time when each wa written, these memoirs, in addition to their intrin: ic merits, have, as marking the views and opinions thet prevalent, a distinct value for the student interested in th history of modern medicine.” a The work is prefaced by a brief memoir by Hen Power, in which he reminds us that this man of many parts and much learning “ had a clear idea of the relative value of the different branches of knowledge associated with medicine, and that he recognised the futility of any endeavour on the part of the student to make himself a profound chemist, botanist, or physiologist, believing that such an attempt necessarily leads to the neglect of the practical subjects which are the occasion for which these foundation sciences are studied. No one knew bettet than he that ‘ex libris nemo evasit artifex, the scene 0 the labours of the student, was, in his opinion, at the bed: side of the patient.” These ideas of Bowman are o especial importance in these days, when the tendency 0 the teaching in our medical schools is for each teacher t try to make his subject the one alone necessary, inst ea of its being but a small part of an important whole. Th sketch, which is all too short, is appreciative and sym: pathetic, One little trait we miss; while the grea physiologist’s love of country life is hinted at, his love for and knowledge of flowers is passed over, and yet those who were privileged to know him in his days of well earned rest and leisure will remember what a delight hi: garden was to him. Two portraits are given; both are photographs. One is of the painting by G. F. Watts, R. v of Bowman when forty-eight years of age. This hardly does justice to the original painting, and one is of ne painting by W. W. Ouless, R.A., which was done fo1 the “Testimonial Committee Fund,” in 1889, whe1 Bowman was in his seventy-third year. This is al excellent and pleasing likeness. oa OUR BOOK SHELF. Aids to Biology. By Joseph W. Williams. (Londo n Bailliére, Tindall and Cox.) (Students’ Aids Series.) Tus little volume of 142 pages, small octavo, is th second work which has reached us written up to th standard of the first examination of the Conjoint Boare of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. \ information which it contains is transcribed from the best sources available, and the author has woven the excerpt into a very presentable whole, written in good, clear st} and exceptionally free of gross errors. The pages 0 the volume are enlivened by thirty-nine small woodcut and a well-chosen epilogue from Broca, and there ari co oy c 4 May 11, 1893] NATURE 27 lded a useful “index glossary,” and a series of “test estions,” largely culled from examination papers of the ist. The work is by no means destitute of small incon- ‘uities and an occasional misuse of technical terms ; d the most serious errors which it contains, contrary to e general rule, involve leading rather than subsidiary pics. The description of “living matter” as existing the “colloidal condition” and (two pages further on) “a semi-fluid granular substance . . . unable to absorb jlouring matters when living ” ; the alleged origin of the ome of “all animals above the ccelenterata” by “ the ing of the mesoblast” ; the assumption that the con- ile vacuole of the protozoa is a respiratory organ pumping in oxygenated water,” and “ furnishing oxygen ) the animal by means of its rhythmical dilatations” ; ‘confusion under the term “paraplasm” between fied portions of the cell-protoplasm and products of s living metabolism, with the correlated description of i¢ protoplasm of the egg cell as a “vitellus, or yolk” ; id the description of sclerenchyma as “stony tissue,” é cases in point. We note with satisfaction the ominence given to the physiological and more purely lemical aspects of the subject, too often neglectedin minor orks on general biology. Conspicuous among leading 9gmas formulated is the assertion that with the ex- ption of ascidians and some infusorians the animal S not contain cellulose,” with the implication that in animals form chlorophyll. We venture to think the time has now arrived when the investigations Beyerinck, Famintzin, Von Graff, and Haberlandt, abronn, and others, which have lately revolutionised knowledge on these vitally important topics, should nd expression in the elementary class-book. The thor remarks in his preface that “it must be remem- red that biology can be learnt in no other way than h the scalpel and the microscope,” and that his volume is intended “simply and solely for the purpose of re- ising” a practical knowledge which the student has gained under the guidance of his teachers, ‘‘ especially during the few weeks previous to the time when he in- tends to cross the threshold of the examination hall.” If this line of conduct can be ensured, the work will fulfil a good purpose ; but it may be doubted whether the over- taught medical student of to-day will regard the book as anyt hing but a cram one. It has been compiled at con- siderable pains and with marked success; but as the ispensation which it seeks to further cannot possibly endure, we wish we could congratulate the author upon devotion to some more permanent and desirable ee X Public Health Problems. By John F. J. Sykes, Illustrated. (London: Walter Scott ) ontemporary Science Series—has sought “to bring toa focus some of the essential points in evolution, environment, rasitism, prophylaxis, and sanitation, bearing upon the rvation of public health.” It wasimpossible for him 0 deal fully in the space at his disposal with any particular art of so vast a subject, but he has contrived to give a clear and interesting idea of the main lines of inquiry which workers in the public health service are chiefly acerned. First he treats of internal andexternalinfluences affecting health, these influences being heredity, physical influences (light and heat), chemical media, and biological agents. Then he discusses the following aspects of com- inicable diseases— causation, parasitism, dissemination, modifications. Afterwards there are series of chapters defensive measures against communicable diseases, }on the urban dwelling. Mr. Sykes, as medical officer ealth for St. Pancras and honorary secretary of the orporated Society of Medical Officers of Health, has mple opportunity for the study of the questions on ch he discourses, and his book ought to be of good NO. 1228, vot. 48] g HE author of this volume—which forms one of the service in disseminating sound ideas as to the conditions: on compliance with which the attainment of a higher standard of public health depends. Galenic Pharmacy. By R. A. Cripps. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1893.) THE student of pharmacy will, no doubt, find plenty of instructive information in this book. It does not, how- ever, call for an extended notice in this journal, as the author does not attempt a scientific treatment of the subject, but confines himself to dealing with it on the old lines. The various pharmaceutical operations of solution, infusion, &c., are fully described, but no attempt is made to arrange the facts on any than an empirical basis. The time has arrived, however, when pharmacy should be expounded in a more scientific manner, and many barbaric and obsolete processes excluded or re-modelled in the light of our present chemical and pharmacological know- ledge. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.) Mr. H. O, Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands. IN a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society on March 12th, and again in an article on ‘‘ The Chatham Islands and their Story” in the Yortnightly Review of this month, Mr. H. O. Forbes has described his very interesting discoveries in these islands, and has founded thereon certain conclusions as to: the past history of the New Zealand group. The most startling new fact is the proof of the recent existence on the Chatham Islands of two birds whose nearest allies inhabited the distant group of the Mascarene Islands within the historical period. These are a flightless rail very closely allied to the Aphanapteryx of Mauritius, and a coot which is hardly different, except in its somewhat larger size, from the extinct Fu/ica newtoni of the same island. It is on the flightless rail that Mr. Forbes mainly dwells in his. deductions of past changes which it is supposed to imply, and it is on these deductions only that I wish to make a few remarks. He quotes Prof. A. Newton and his brother as stating that the solitaire of Roderiquez and the Dodo of Mauritius, being evidently of one stock, and there being analogous facts in the adjacent islands, they are compelled to believe that ‘‘ there was once a time when Roderiquez, Mauritius, Bourbon, Madagascar, and the Seychelles were connected by dry land” ; and he then argues that there must also have been a continuous land surface between this land and the ancient land comprising New Zealand and the surrounding islands. ‘This connecting land he supposes to have been the Antarctic continent during a mild period and with great extensions over the southern ocean. When the Antarctic ice age came on the inhabitants of this continent had to. migrate northwards, and some, ‘‘ such as the genus Aphanapteryx, would seem to have split into parties, which, travelling by divergent roads, finally arrived in regions so far apart as Mauritius and the Chatham Islands, unaffected by the varying elimates and sur- roundings' they experienced, being of an ancient dominating type. It is this tremendous hypothesis which appears to me to be not only quite unnecessary to explain the facts, but also to be inadeyuate to explainthem. If one thing more than another is clear, it is that these comparatively small flightless birds were developed, as such, in or near to the islands where they are now found, since they could not possibly have arisen on any extensive land inhabited by carnivorous mammals and reptiles, and, if introduced into such a country, could not long survive. So far as I am aware, no doubt has ever been expressed on this point, the evidence for it being so clear and its explanation on the theory of evolution so complete ; and I hardly think that Prof, Newton would now maintain that the affinities of the flightless birds of Mauritius, Bourbon, and Roderiquez implied the former union of these truly oceanic islands. Allied forms of ancestral » flying birds may have reached the islands without such union ;. 28 NATURE [May 11, 189 and, owing to the total absence of terrestrial enemies and the abundance of food, may have developed into the allied flightless birds whose remains are found there. : But Mr. Forbes speaks of the genus Aphanapteryx itself, pre- sumably therefore flightless, inhabiting the Antarctic continent, and migrating northwards by two routes of about 2000 miles each, in which case, this enormous extent of land must have been as free from all carnivorous land mammals and reptiles as New Zealand and Mauritius are now. If however, the birds in question lost their powers of flight in or near the islands where their remains are found, all difficulties of this kind dis- appear, The Aphanapteryx belongs to a family, the Rallidze orrails, of world-wide distribution, while many of the component genera are also almost cosmopolitan, and are represented by closely allied species in distant regions. What difficulty, there- fore, is there in the same or closely allied species of this widespread group finding their way at some remote epoch to Mauritius and the Chatham Islands, and, from similar causes in both islands, losing their power of flight while retaining their general similarity of structure? To put the matter briefly: if the common ancestors of the Aphanapteryx of Mauritius and the Chatham Islands were flightless, they could not have reached those islands from the Antarctic continent owing to the length of route and the presence of enemies ; while if they possessed the power of flight no important change in land-distribution is required. I have discussed this one point only, because it illustrates the very common practice of explaining each fresh anomaly of distribution by enormous changes of physical geography, when a much more satisfactory explanation can be given involving no such vast and unsupported revolutions in the earth’s surface. I am aware that Mr. Forbes adduces many other facts and con- siderations in support of his view as to the former extension and habitability of the Antartic continent, some of which appear to me to be valid and others the reverse. On most of these I have already expressed an opinion in my “‘Island Life” ; and I only write now in order to point out that the very remarkable and interesting facts, whose discovery we owe to Mr. Forbes’s energy and perseverance, do not add anything to the evidence already adduced for that view, but may be best explained in a far simpler manner, and without requiring any important changes in the geography of the southern hemisphere. ALFRED R. WALLACE, Swarms of Amphipods. OncE last winter on entering the laboratory here after it had been shut up for a few days, we found the floor, tables, shelves, window-ledges, and even dishes on the highest shelves, covered with great numbers of dead amphipods. These were found to be Orchestia gammarellus (the shore-hopper). About ten days ago an unusually high tide occurred, and the curator and others who were working in the biological station noticed that the steps leading to the beach were swarming with amphipods. On investigating further it was found that the amphipods were coming upin great numbers from high-water mark, that they jumped up the steps, and that they climbed the vertical con- crete wall surrounding the station to a height of several feet. Many of them were found about twelve feet above the sea, having come nearly all the way on artificial ground (concrete steps and wall), and’they were so abundant on the platform outside the laboratory door that it was impossible to put a foot down without treading on many. Specimens were kept, and Mr. A. O. Walker, who is here with me now, finds that these also are Orchestia gammarellus. This species lives normally at or about high-water mark, and it is abundant here under stones at that line, but Mr. Walker tells me that he has taken it on the one hand nearly at low-water mark, and on the other hand under stones on grass, along with beetles, and we have found it near here far above high-water mark at the side of the road. However, these last are probably exceptional cases, and we are both inclined to think that the two amphipod invasions noticed here have been caused by the Orchestias being driven from their usual haunts by exceptionally high tides. But whether a panic arises on the flooding of their homes, or they lose their way on our concrete, the fact remains that whereas the sea was only a couple of feet higher than an ordinary high tide the amphipods ascended on the one occasion to about twelve and on the other to perhaps twenty feet above their usual level. Port Erin, April 29. W. A. HERDMAN. NO. 1228, VOL. 48] A Difficulty in Weismannism Resolved. WEISMANN’S essay ‘‘On the Significance of Sexual duction in the Theory of Natural Selection,” published enunciates the thesis that the object of sexual reproductio: create those individual differences which form the material which natural selection produces new species.” This thes developed in the essay, ‘‘On the Number of Polar Bodies Their Significance in Heredity ” (1887), and still furth ‘¢ Amphimixis,” published late in 1891. er While ‘‘ Amphimixis ” must have been nearly ready, to Nature (vol. xliv. p. 613), under the headin Difficulty in Weismannism,” pointing out a posteriori th plete insufficiency of sexual reproduction, by merely shui ancestral germ-plasms, to effect indefinite ific vari the lines adopted by Weismann. My friend, Mr, Poulton, (vol. xlv. p. 52) accepting my summary of Weismann’s 1 ‘¢ as fair statements,” but criticising the deductions is not ing for the effect of different groupings of the ancestral pla the germ-cells, and regretting that I had not awaited th lication of *‘ Amphimixis,” as ‘‘ Prof. Weismann tells wrote, ‘‘that the points raised by Prof. Hartog are co in this treatise.” Mr. Trow also wrote (vol. xlv. p. 102) that I had not allowed for the simultaneous action of selection or for the combinations of germ-plasms. In my rejoinder of the same date, Mr. Trow again u not taken natural selection into account, and that I h understood Weismann’s position. The controversy closed. Bh However, neither the German edition of ‘* Amphimi the authorised English translation published about six later, contained the solution of my difficulty that was anti by Mr. Poulton. ‘here runs through the book like a red the conception of 1886, that sexual reproduction is the ci of the variations on which natural selection acts. A re of mine to the inadequacy of this, Weismann’s The Variation, contained in an article in the Contemporary Re for July, 1892 (‘‘ Problems of Reproduction”), passed answer or comment, so far.as I know. Bee ee a In ‘*The Germ Plasm, a Theory of Heredity” ( Weismann devotes chapter xiv. to the consideration of her Herein I find the following theses, in which I pres italics of the original (English edition) :— 1. ‘*J¢ [sc. amphimixis] zs ot the primary cause ditary variation,” p. 414. | 2. ‘* The cause of hereditary variation must lie this [amphimixis]. Jt must be due to the direct effect o influences on the biophors and determinants” [sc. of th plasms or ids], p. 415. cf i 3. ‘* The origin of a variation is equally independ selection and amphimixis, and is due to the constant occur of slight inequalities of nutrition in the germ plasm,” p. 4 Obviously the position of 1886-91 has been abandon untenable. If we ask why, the answer is probably cont: in the following passage and annexed note (‘‘ Germ Pla PP- 434-5).:— isa ie ‘Tt has recently been maintained that as a consequet my theory I must adopt one of two alternatives, and either that the germ plasm of the higher animals consists | of the primitive protozoan ancestors, or that every id is strecel in accordance with the existing character species ; my real view, however, is intermediate betw two.” The note runs: *‘ Compare Marcus Hartog, NA’ vol, xliv.p. 102.” The reference omits my letter of Oc 31, 1891. The deductions made by this author from my ft views are logically correct, but are no longer justifiable, si myself have gained further insight into the proble: cerned, : , It follows from the above— 1. That Weismann has withdrawn his whole theory of variation as created by sexual reproduction, 2. That my account of his views on the point at issu was both full and fair. 3. That in 1891 no one else, not even Prof. Weismant perceived that ‘‘ logically correct’ deductions from his gi theory of the germ plasm were fatal to his theory of varia 4. That the Weismannism of to-day regards the acti external forces as the one essential cause of variation, | approximates to the teachings of the older evolutionists. — As no reference is made in the preface to this matte even inthe index (for which Prof. Weismann is not respons May II, 18,3] NATURE 29 sh to draw attention to it—all the more since so competent ter as ‘‘D. H. S.” seems in a review in NATURE (April 9 be unaware that the theory of variation by amphimixis ! ceased to exist as a ‘‘ Difficulty in Weismannism.” rk, May 1. Marcus Hartoc. e, Medical Biology. . B. H. HAs, I am glad to see, criticised effectively the is of Elementary Biology put forth by the Conjoint Board TURE,Vvol. xlvii. p. 530). A less fortunate course of study could y have been devised. The students who take the course de a number whose previous education, energy and ambition ot sufficient to encourage them to attempt a university rse, and the average quality is therefore not very good. They through a number of unicellular types, which give no g for the hands, though they are no doubt useful in other Then come Hydra andthe Leech. Hydra is of course od subject. The Leech is not instructive to a student who ‘no ‘knowledge of similar animals, and the untrained man mot possibly dissect it for himself. The rest of the course ists of parasitic worms and certain generalities. The parasitic ns commonly have the nervous system, heart, and some- ; even the alimentary canal absent or poorly developed, the reproductive organs are of extraordinary complexity. these the student has mainly to derive his notions of the of structure which are found among animals. Such a of study looks practical, but it is almost pure waste of It does not teach the student to dissect, nor does it roduce him to those problems of Nature which are most ible to a beginner. In fact, the whole course may be pected to evaporate shortly, leaving behind nothing more aable than a recollection of the outward appearance of certain parasitic worms, When the teacher attempts to introduce more instructive subjects, the class, solely bent upon satisfying the Conjoint Board, 00 apt to scamp the work, with this excuse, that their pre- course cannot have aroused any interest in Biology. ionally, the syllabus of the Conjoint Board is a sin, L. Cc. M Afterglows in Spain, _I HAVE read Mr, Backhouse’s note in NATURE (vol. xlvii. p. on the afterglows as seen by him in Spain during February and the doubts he expresses on the question whether this nenon has always occurred when the sun has been near the I have observed for many years the setting of the Cadiz on the sea horizon with the purest sky, and never arked the pink tint, but always the rosy tint in the west and the purple, or Cegensghein, in the east. After the Kraka- tdo eruption, in the clear sky of Madrid, the pink colour of the segment was always more or less visible ; and it has been more marked in these later afterglows. The phenomenon is of the same character as that of 1883, but much less brilliant. The apex of the segment rises frequently to 40°. T have also many times observed the green ray (rayon vert) in different conditions of the atmosphere, but nearly always with calm air; this is not precisely a ray, but a flash of green light that has a very perceptible duration of some tenths of a second. ; AuGusTO ARCIMIS, - Madrid, April 24. Soot-figures on Ceilings. E phenomenon noted by Mr. Poulton in Nature xlvii. p. 608) is a matter of very common observation ; cept in the detail of the nail-heads it has been often noticed. 2 explanation is, I fancy, simpler than that suggested by Prof. It is probably a simple case of sifting of air, as it passes upward diffusion through the porous plaster, where its passage not barred by contact of the plaster with the wood on the per side. The plaster acts as the plaster’of Paris plug does in = classical researches of Graham on the diffusion of gases, and the plug of cotton-wool does in the common process of steri- sing air in biological work. That warm air does stream up rough a plaster-ceiling in this way is a matter of experience to 4 As regards the origin of new species, the author, like Prof, ‘Weismann, tes the greatest importance to sexual reproduction, and especially to 8 fertilisation”’ (see ante, p. 606), NO. 1228, VoL. 48] every householder, when in the winter a bedroom over a sitting- room in which a fire is kept burning all day and a lamp or gas- flames for some hours in the evening, is always found to be drier and warmer than another room in the same house not so situated. We can scarcely classify dry wood and iron together as conductors of heat. A. IRVING, __Wellington College; Berks, April 29. THE soot-figures on ceilings described by Mr. Poulton remind me of the appearance of very similar figures brought out by hoar- frost. The first time I noticed this effect was on the surface of a smoothly-boarded gate, where the parts behind which the bars of the framing ran were marked out by a much thicker coating of hoar-frost than the rest. Subsequently I noticed the same effect on a wooden pier where the planking was crossed by broad belts of white, exactly outlining the timbers to which the boards were nailed. On another occasion thick hoar-frost had formed on the roof of the after-cabin of thesteam yacht Jedusa, composed of a close pile of fine needles of ice about one-eighth of an inch high, inclined at various angles. At first the places where the thin teak boards were nailed to the cross-beams were covered only a little more thickly than the rest, but as the warmth of the day increased the ice spicules disappeared—evaporated rather than melted—from the unsupported parts, but remained ina broad band outlining each beam except above the nail- heads, over each of which a small clear space had' melted. At the time I satisfied myself that the phenomena were due to peculiarities of melting rather than of deposition. Supposing the whole surface to have been coated uniformly, the thicker parts would take longer to heat up by the sun, and so tend to prolong the life of the ice spicules resting onthem. If this were so, conversely the thickened parts of the structure, cooling more slowly, should have received a lighter coating to begin with, but this I was never fortunate enough to observe. Is the similarity to the soot-figures accidental ? Hucu Robert MILL, 1, Savile-row, April 28, As this subject has been under discussion lately in NATURE, it seems worth while recording a striking instance which must be well known to many who have been in the large mess room of the Royal Engineers at Chatham, This room has a lofty, highly ornamented ceiling, which was for many years bordered with a deep cornice with a plain moulding either in plaster or papier maché, mostly stuck on one simple tem- plate, and coloured either white or some very pale tint. The room was lit by three sunlights in the roof, containing about 190 gas jets. In the course of time the whole of the white moulded cornice became grey with soot-deposit markedat intervals with light bars, which were apparently the outline of the wooden ribs carrying the mouldings. This pattern was fairly conspicuous, and was often a subject of discussion at mess (1885 to 1890). Dr, A. Lodge’s explanation of the cause seems to be the true explana- tion. ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. Kensington, April 28. THE mapping out of the heads of nails driven into the joists. of the ceiling at Felixstowe seems to be inexplicable by the theory of filtration, although this may very probably account for the more common cases of a deposit between but not upon the joists of a ceiling, I am endeavouring to get a photograph of the best part of the Felixstowe ceiling. Dr. Mill’s observa- tion seems to be due, as he suggests, to a different process. E, B. PouLton. THE APPRECIATION OF SCIENCE BY GERMAN MANUFACTURERS. RECENTLY, when giving evidence before the Gresham University Commission, I had occasion to speak of the attention devoted.in German chemical laboratories to higher studies, and when asked what were the results of this instruction I drew attention to an article published a. short time before in that most enterprising of chemical peri- odicals, the Chemiéker-Zettung, edited by Dr. Krause. In this article a description is given of the research labora- tory provided to accommodate s¢x and twenty skilled chemists, attached to the works of the Farbenfabriken, 30 NATURE [May 11, 1893 * vormals F. Bayer and Co., of Elberfeld, who are manufac- turers of dye-stuffs and other products derivable from tars. I told the Commissioners that if, at the present time, it were desired to fit up a research laboratory for chemical pur- poses in London, we could not do better than take these plans and reproduce them in their entirety, and that we should then, I believed, have reason to congratulate our- selves on possessing the best-appointed public research laboratory in the world. In addition to the two dozen skilled chemists in the research department at the Elberfeld works, a large number are engaged in other departments, the total number employed being, I believe, over siaty / The Elberfeld works do not stand alone: the world- renowned Badische Anilin and Sodafabrik probably has in the aggregate far more laboratory accommodation than is provided even at Elberfeld. I learn from my exported aniline-colours of the estimated value of no | than 44,269,000 marks, and alizarin valued at 12,906,00c marks—or little short of three millions sterling—a ve large proportion of these manufactured colouring matt being sent to the East Indies, where they are fast d placing those of natural origin. Dr. Caro in a compr hensive monograph just published in the Serichte which the gradual development of the coal-tar colo industry is fully traced out, speaks of it as a Germ: national industry. Manufactured in Germany 18° certainly now the recognized trade mark for chemicals throughout the world. Not many years ago Wurtz wrote, with reference to the origin of the science, “ La chimie est une science frar caise ;” at the present day we may say, without fear contradiction, that, whatever its origin, it is now a Ge science ; that it is to this fact that the Germans owe th Fic. 1.— Laboratory as seen from the street ; Works on right, Offices on left. friend Dr. Caro, that of the seventy-eight chemists in the employ of this firm fifty-six have the Ph.D. degree. At many other works equally ample provision is made —in fact the colour works throughout Germany are simply laboratories on a very large scale, As an antithesis, I may add that I told the Gresham Commissioners that I did not think that any English colour works had six skilled chemists in its employ ; at all events six was the maximum number. Is it then surprising that, notwithstanding that a very large proportion of the coal-tar used is of English origin, and that both the “aniline-colour” and the alizarin ‘industry were first established here, according to a state- ment in the Chicago Exhibition Catalogue of the German Section, about nine-tenths of the total quantity of artificial colouring matters now produced is manufactured in Germany? Whatever the proportion, in 1891, Germany NO. 1228, vot. 48] supremacy ; and that it is to our failure to feel the pulse of the times, and to educate ourselves up to the proper point that we owe our downfall. It is to be feared, moreover, that unless we realise this without further loss of time, and hasten to fit ourselves to do our fair share of the work, other industries in which chemistry plays an im= portant part, ere another twenty years are past, will al have quitted our shores. To do this we must put aside the idea that University extension and County Counc lectures, or even polytechnics and technical schools for the” multitude, are to bring about the necessary reform ; anc we must rise above the belief that a degree given for text= book knowledge and an acquaintance with the ordina methods of analysis is evidence of competency. A true conception of what a chemist is—what he is called on to do and to know in this age of progress—must arise In” high quarters and especially among our manufacturers. 4 May 11, 1893] NATURE 31 Our children must be properly taught at school and ' trained to work as well as to play, and we must cease to worry their lives at college by insisting on the study of a multiplicity of subjects, and no longer attempt to develope a Chinese system of examinations. Surely it is time that we realised that our examination system is a fraudulent failure. In Germany the victory has been gained wholly and solely through the agency of the Universities—here we are still dominated by influences which had their origin in the monkish cell, and our ancient Universities do nothing to help us. The intolerant individuality which has enabled us to conquer and to govern where other nations have failed is of little use in an industrial war against the most systematically instructed people in the world, whose weapons are scien- tific research and scientific method, and who have been careful to ‘‘ organise victory,” to use Huxley’s expression in his remarkable letter to the 77zmes at the time that the proposal to establish the Imperial Institute was under discussion. Huxley warned us six years ago of the fate _ that awaited our industries if we did not organise victory. I fear that so far as chemistry is concerned our insular conservatism still leads us to turn a deaf ear to all such _ warnings, and that the only change is that we are six _ years nearer to our fate. The following particulars are mainly taken from the number of the Chemziker-Zeitung above referred to. I am indebted to the Farbenfabriken, vormals F. Bayer and Co., for photographs from which the illustrations to this article have been prepared. I may add that I have had the very great pleasure of inspecting the laboratory. The opening passage of the Chemtker-Zettung notice is very significant, and is as follows :— . _Inany industry at the present day standing still involves -retrogression, and this is especially the case in the colour industry, which has developed to such an extent in our _ country during recent years, and which owes its develop- ment in the first instance to the extreme attention paid _ to chemical science in Germany at the universities and technical schools. Whereas formerly, however, the colour industry owed its progress almost entirely to the schools and their celebrated leaders, of late years know- ledge in this great field has become so specialised that a determining influence can be exercised only by one who is within the industry. Since the colour works have begun to pay attention to derivatives of coal and wood | tar not only in the dyers’ interest, but have also placed them at the service of medical science; and since it has been recognized that the protection afforded by a | patent does not retard, but, on the contrary, promotes an industry, and is therefore to the general good, and patent laws -have been introduced into Germany, of which, in comparison with those of other countries, we have reason to be proud, competition has so increased that all the works concerned are forced to make every effort to prevent their destruction in the struggle for existence. Consequently all the larger colour works within recent years have erected laboratories in which a large number _ of disciples of chemical science are unceasingly engaged in the endeavour to meet the growing wants of the dyer _ by adding to the already large number of artificial coal- _ tar colours, not only with the object of producing colours _ of increased beauty, but also to meet the growing desire for colours of greater fastness, and especially with the _ object of entirely displacing the natural dye stuffs which were formerly exclusively used. These technical labo- tatories are necessarily arranged with special reference to the requirements of the industry, and therefore differ in many respects from the laboratories at the universities and technical schools which are used for teaching purposes. __ The laboratory of the Farbenfabriken, vormals Friedr. - Bayer and Co. at Elberfeld, opened towards the close of 1891, is the newest institution of its kind. NO. 1228, VOL. 48] = fe i Fig. 1 is from a photograph of the building taken fronr the street. The object in view was to provide all necessary rooms for twenty-six chemists. In order to make full use of the site, however, rooms for certain other purposes were also included. The laboratory adjoins the offices of the firm and the dye house, and also the physiological laboratory. The new building is 35°66 m. long and 16°14 m. deep. A large portion of the basement is fitted up as a store for apparatus, &c., and is connected with the laboratories above by a stairway and lift. Luxurious provision is made here for the comfort of the staff, two rooms being provided in which they can change their clothes, along one side of each of which there are twelve clothes cupboards, and a bench with cupboards for boots underneath extend- ing along the opposite side ; and also of twelve separate bath rooms with hot and cold water, and a lavatory with twenty-four basins. The heating apparatus- for the baths, and a low pressure steam heating apparatus, are placed next to the wall at one end of the building, and here also niches are constructed for auto- claves—z.e. vessels in which materials can be heated under pressure. _ The ground floor is 6m. high from floor to floor, excepting at the eastern end, where it is 1°28 m. deeper. The eastern higher portion is divided by a floor into two: low apartments fitted up for experimental dyeing. Next. to this and beyond the stairway on either side of a corridor are two rooms, 2:96 x 5°61 m., one of which is- ‘a combustion room, the other containing balances and’ other physical apparatus. The whole of the remaining space, 24:18 m. long by 14°6 m. deep, is fitted up as a laboratory for twelve chemists, and comprises twelve separate working places, and two for large operations for common use. This arrangement has the advantage: that each chemist has had placed at his disposal a. separate laboratory for his own use without the room having been deprived of its uniform character. Fig. 2: is from a photograph of the laboratory, Fig. 3 represent- ing one working place. The first floor includes a room 8°13 m. by 3'21 m. for the use of the director of the laboratory; a room 9°82 m. by 5°61 m. used as a library ;! a room 5°61 m. by 2°96 m. for special use ; and a large laboratory corre- sponding to that on the ground floor with places for thirteen chemists. A gallery carried on iron brackets is. ' constructed along the side of this room on the outside of the building, in which experiments involving the production of specially unpleasant odours can be made. This gallery is approached through a glazed doorway constructed in one of the window places, but experiments. going on in it can be overlooked from the laboratory within, through the windows. The second floor is divided into two bya partition wall,. one part being occupied by the printers engaged in pre- paring the various labels, notices, &c., required by the firm ; the other being used by the bookbinders who make: up sample-books, &c. The attics are used as store rooms. The building is simply constructed of brick, stone being used only for the window-sills ; in fact, it is characterised throughout by simplicity and solidity of construction. The basement floor is cemented ; the remaining floors are: covered with antilaeolith, a clay asphalt which withstands. hot strongly acid liquids. The drainage water is carried away in open channels. constructed in the floor. The electric light is used throughout, the large labora- tories being each illuminated by means of four arc lamps, and the other rooms by glow-lamps. It has not been thought necessary to introduce any 1 Probably there are few, 7/ amy, libraries attached to educational institu- tions sv fully provided with the current literature and works of reference as. are the libraries at the chief colour works. . e mae Ui , | | Pe hipebe sem per kebederrs (4a REAR HEEPHIO: bemeell i addddadieds. “if BELLE PU LO EEL. : eal Ry sects.’ , Pi aot a oo i : sit WOME VSAM al Ta a |e ae SR issn &) S = NATURE 29 rere) May 11, 1893] mechanical system to secure general ventilation. Air is admitted through openings in the upper part of the win- dows, the foul air finding sufficient means of escape up 4 shaft in which there is a spiral staircase, at the end of the large laboratories, and which terminates in a large opening in the western gable. Special care, however, is ‘taken to remove fumes evolved in the chemical experi- ments. For this purpose a large number of earthenware pipes, 15 ccm. in diameter, are built into the walls be- tween the windows in the large laboratories and else- where ; these are carried up and connected with asphalted flues, which.eventually terminate in a large air shaft carried out above the roof; the necessary draft is secured by means of a large fan placed at the base of the shaft, and driven by the engine in the printing department. At right angles to the walls at both sides of the rooms, be- tween-the windows, hollow walls are built out about 2°5 m., on either side of which draft closets are constructed (see Fig: 2), flue pipes such as have been referred to being let into these walls. _ Passing over numerous interesting details of construc- tion, the arrangement of the laboratories may now be re- ferred to. Each place is so arranged as to constitute a complete laboratory with every necessary provision, while at the. same time there is nothing to prevent the various chemists working together or to hinder the neral supervision of the laboratory. The arrangement is best understood by reference to Figs. 2 and 3, of which the latter shows a single working place. The two side benches are connected by the window bench, so that ‘ach chemist has command of a bench about 15 m. long ! ‘The bottles on the shelves of each place contain 180 different agents—among these being all the substances in use or produced in the works, so that, if desired, any NO. 1228, VOL. 48] combinations tried in the laboratory may at once be effected on the large scale in the works. The pipes for gas, water, compressed air and vacuum are carried ina space behind the shelving, and can be easily got at for repairs, the shelving being made removable. The benches, except at the windows, are covered with lead. Under the bench there are numerous drawers and cupboards, containing all apparatus that can possibly be required, and also chemicals such as salt, potassium chloride, sodium acetate, &c., which are used in large quantities. Thus in Fig. 3 a sliding stand will be seen projecting from a cupboard on the right-hand side, carry- ing measuring cylinders inverted over pegs. Each drawer or cupboard, in fact, has its special purp ose, and is carefully labelled, the same arrangement being main- tained throughout the laboratory, so that the attendants are able to see that each chemist is supplied with all Fic- 3.—Working place of one chemist. necessary apparatus. On either bench next the window | there isa closed draft-closet, and next to it a hood, it | being possible to connect these by a moveable; window In one of the closets there is a large copper water bath, in which steam, previously cleaned from rust, condenses and canbe drawn off as boiling distilled water ; thisbath has the usual openings above with rings, &c., and has within it a drying oven surrounded by boiling water, a wooden drying closet being placed below in which things can be dried by heat radiated from the water bath above. The waste water and steam pass away through the hollow wall at the back of the closet, in which there is a channel com- municating with the drain. On either side of the window a pipe connected to the general ventilation system is let into the wall, to which a funnel-shaped hood can be attached, so that experiments | involving the evolution of fumes can be carried on at the 34 NATURE [May 11, 1893 Bt window-bench. This bench, however, is chiefly used for titration work, and therefore shelves are affixed to the wall some distance above it on either side, on which large bottles are placed containing the standard solutions. It will be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that a sink is placed at the end of the bench on the one side, and that there is a desk on the opposite side; adjoining this desk is an ice cupboard let into the bench, on the cover of which a balance for weighing out substances used in the experi- ments is placed. By the provision of such an ice cup- board at every place a great saving of ice has been effected: it isnot only available for the storage of ice— nowadays an indispensable laboratory agent—but things can be kept cool in it even over long periods, over Sun- day for example. Four differently coloured pipes for water, gas, com- pressed air and vacuum run along the ceiling, and from these branch pipes are carried down the columns to the benches ; taps are provided ina convenient situation, so that, if necessary, the supply of water, &c., to a bench may be at once shut off. The water pipes are covered with flannel to prevent the water which condenses on them from dropping down. Each working place is pro- vided with 4 taps for compressed air, 4 vacuum taps, II water taps, 14 gas taps for heating purposes, and 9 gas burners in case of a failure of the electric light. Asteam pipe runs along the wall, from which there are branch pipes connected with “ purifiers,” conveying steam to each of the large water baths before referred to, and to a valve under the hood adjoining the closet. A shower bath depends from the ceiling at either end of each of the large laboratories for use in case of the clothes of any of the chemists or laboratory attendants catching fire. Every bottle on the shelves is not only clearly labelled, but is also numbered, so that it is easy forthe lad who has to keep the place clean and in order, however igno- rant he may be, to arrange them properly, and more- over, each particular chemical occupies the same position in the row of bottles in every place in the laboratory. Each chemist has a lad to assist him who washes all vessels, keeps the benches clean and the apparatus in order ; in fact, does generally what he is told, even help- ing in the experiments. In addition, there are three lads under the supervision of an older laboratory servant in each laboratory, who at once avail themselves of any opportunity offered by the absence of the staff to “tidy up” in regions not specially committed to the charge of the young assistants. The order and cleanliness —extend- ing even to keeping the leaden bench tops polished—thus secured is most remarkable. Each chemist is so completely screened from his neigh- bour “next door,” that he is not only able to work undisturbed, but practically in secret ; he is only open to observation from the place on the opposite side of the main gangway, and the chemists are usually so placed that of the two working at these benches either the one is a junior under the direction of the other, or they are working in co-operation. Asa further illustration of the perfection of the arrange- ments I may quote from an account before me of a visit to the laboratory a description of the steps taken to put out a fire. A crack is suddenly heard and flames and a dense‘cloud of smoke are seen to ascend from one of the benches ; all the chemists in the room at once rush to the spot. The particular chemist is found to be unhurt, but the clothes of his laboratory boy are on fire ; instantly he is dragged to the shower bath, and the fire is at once put out. Meanwhile the laboratory servant has given the alarm by means of the electric fire alarm provided in the room, and within two minutes the twelve men on duty of the twenty-four members of the works fire brigade appear in full uniform. Those present, however, by turning on all the water taps in the neighbourhood of the fire and NO. 1228, VOL. 48] aig HE experimental and theoretical investigations of th directing the water on to the burning bench had already extinguished the flames. The room is filled with a den black fog, but by opening the windows and a valve in t main ventilation system near the ceiling this is very soc got rid of. The origin of the accident was simple enough a young chemist, fresh from the University, unaccustom to work with large quantities, had allowed his laborato boy to heat a couple of litres of the hydrocarbon toluent which he was using in recrystallising a substance, in ¢ glass flask, over a bare flame. i. Another striking feature in the large laboratories is series of brass valves arranged along the wall under hood opposite the bench for general use; the label under these valves bear the names oxygen, carbor dioxide, chlorine, sulphur dioxide, phosgene, methyl - chloride, hydrogen and ammonia. These variou gases, compressed in cylinders enclosed in cupboards ij the basement, can be used at any time by communicating - through a speaking tube to the man in charge of the store - department, who then opens the valve on the cylinde containing the required gas, so that it only remains fe the chemist to open the valve inthe laboratory. = __ In the lower laboratory one place only is distingui from all the others, being fitted up for electro-chemic: work with the necessary. current-measuring instruments a series of about fifty glow lamps being arranged resistances. In the balance-room, besides balances, there is alarge arc lamp with special lenses designed by Prof. von Perger, of Vienna, used in ascertaining the effect of light on colour —in these days sunlight can no longer satisfy the needs” of German industrial enterprise !_Colorimeters, spectro i scopes, and other apparatus are also to be found in this room. Colour chemists are not fond of making analyses if it be possible to characterise substances by any othe means ; the combustion furnaces are therefore but litt used, and a number of ovens in which pressure tubes are heated have supplanted most of them. a Adjoining the research laboratories there is a “ tech nical laboratory” full of apparatus exactly like that i usein the works, but of much smaller size. Here experi ments are carried out on a somewhat larger scale than im the laboratory prior to the processes being effected on th large scale in the works; and the staff in this laborator are also engaged in making many of the chemicals re quired to replenish the stores for use in the researc! laboratories. eee The stores are in charge of two superintendents, on of whom is educated as a glass-blower. It is worth mel tioning also that all thermometers, prior to their issu from the store, are there compared with a normal the mometer. j The laboratory was designed by my friend Dr. C Duisberg, the director, the necessary architectural assist ance being afforded by Herr Bormann, architect to th works. 4 ida The foregoing is but a very imperfect account of t marvellous works research laboratory. A more typic and concrete illustration of the appreciation of the. of science by German manufacturers, however, could neé possibly be found, but yet it is only one of many thi might be brought forward. Personally I can only saj that while lamenting the criminal short-sightedne: of my countrymen, I am lost in admiration of the ente! prise displayed by their foreign competitors ; it cannot, denied that they deserve to succeed! . : HENRY E. ARMSTRONG. — ae PS tones is ELECTRO-OPTICS. last twenty years have lent a new interest to what, | venture to think, is one of the most fascinating branc May 11, 1893} NATURE 35 4 of physical optics, namely, the action of an electromag- netic field upon light. The discoveries which have hitherto been made may be classified under four heads : (1) Faraday’s experiments, which show that when plane polarised light is transmitted through a ¢ransparent mag- netised medium, a rotation of the plane of polarisation is produced ; (2) Kerr’s experiments, which show that the effect of electrostatic force on a transparent medium is to convert it into one which is optically equivalent to a _uniaxal crystal whose axis is in the direction of the force ; (3) Kerr’s experiments on the reflection of plane polarised light at the surface of a magnetised iron reflector, which ‘show that a rotation of the plane of polarisation of the reflected light takes place, which in certain cases is in the “same and in others in the contrary direction to that of he amperean current which may be conceived to produce he magnetic force ; (4) Kundt’s experiments on the re- _ flection of light from magnetised iron, cobalt, and nickel, and also on the transmission of light through thin mag- netised films of these metals. There is also another series _ of experiments by Kundt, in which polarised light is _ refracted at the upper surface of a plate of glass, is then reflected at the lower surface, and again refracted at the pee surface. The results of these experiments show that e plane of polarisation of the ultimately emergent light S$ rotated in the contrary direction to that produced by _ an iron reflector. , There seems to be a fair amount of evidence to lead to the conclusion that Hall’s effect is intimately connected with the action of a magnetic field upon light, but further evidence is required before it can be asserted that both _ phenomena are due to the same ultimate cause. Up to _ the present time Hall’s effect has, I believe, only been _ detected in conducting media ; but if it be assumed to be capable of existing in transparent media, theory furnishes results which, as far as they have been worked out, are ‘in agreement with experiment. Hall’s effect is capable of explaining the experiments of Faraday, and it also gives a result in accordance with Kundt’s experiments on re- flection and refraction from a plate of magnetised glass in the case in which the magnetisation and incidence are normal. It would be quite possible to apply this theory to the case of oblique incidence, but the work would be laborious and the final results complicated. The experi- ‘ments of Prof. Dewar on liquid oxygen would seem to __ provide a more promising way of testing this theory, for, on account of the high susceptibility of this substance to magnetic action, it is possible that an effect might be observed in the case of direct reflection. According to theory, Hall’s effect ought to be positive in the case of glass and gaseous oxygen, and negative in the case of a solution of perchloride of iron; and a repetition of Kundt’s experiments, in which the latter liquid is em- _ ployed in the place of glass, ought to show that the rota- s, tion takes place in the same direction as that produced __ by metallic iron. Such experiments would be valuable as a further test of the theory, but they do not appear to shave been made. _ Apaper recently communicated to the Cambridge Philo- -sophical Society(May 1) still further confirms the view which I have put forward. In this paper I have transformed _ the formule for reflection at a magnetised transparent medium by assuming that the refractive index is a com- plex quantity. _ The resulting formule for the amplitudes of the reflected vibrations agree very well with Kerr’s experiments so far as qualitative results are concerned, provided the values and signs of certain quantities are sup- posed to be determined by optical, as distinguished from electromagnetic methods. They are, moreover, the same NO. 1228, VOL. 48] as regards their form as those deducible from Maxwell’s theory by taking into account the conductivity combined with Hall’s effect ; but unfortunately the values of certain constants, when expressed in terms of electrical] quantities, differ from the values which are required by optical ex- periments, in a manner which prevents a perfectly satis- factory electromagnetic theory being constructed in this way, and | doubt whether it will be possible to attain the end in view until a theory based upon the mutual reaction of ether and matter has been discovered in which quanti- ties, upon which the motion of matter depends, enter into combination with electromagnetic quantities. , Although the sign of Kerr’s effect in nickel is the same as in iron and cobalt, the sign of Hall’s effect is different. This difficulty is apparent rather than real, for a theory based upon the mutual reaction of ether and matter might very well introduce a factor containing the free periods of the vibrations of the matter which would change the sign of the magnetic terms. Some light might be thrown on this point by determining the principal incidence and azimuth for nickel and cobalt. The generally received theory, that reflection and re- fraction are materially influenced when any of the free periods of the vibrations of the matter fall within the limits of the visible spectrum, suggests that the sign of Kerr’s effect may be different in the case of the ultra-violet and the infra-red portions of the spectrum from what it is in the luminous portion. Experiments on this branch of the subject are needed, and possibly the employment of a fluorescent substance, such as quinine, in the case of the ultra-violet waves, or of a solution of iodine in disul- phide of carbon, in conjunction with Prof. Langley’s bolometer,? when the infra-red waves are experimented upon, might furnish important information on this point. The experiments of Kerr on the effect of electrostatic force suggest that if light were reflected from a strongly electrified metallic conductor, certain peculiarities would be observed, In the absence of experiments, which do not appear to have been made, it would be impossible to predict with certainty what these effects are likely to be ; but it would seem probable that an electrified metallic reflector would behave like a doubly-refracting metallic medium having a szzg/e optic axis which is perpendicular to the reflecting surface. When light is reflected from the surface of a uniaxal crystal which is cut perpendicu- larly to the axis, the component vibration at right angles to the plane of incidence is reflected in the same manner as if the medium were isotropic. Under these circumstances we should anticipate that in the case of an electrified metallic reflector, the component vibration zz the plane of incidence would be much more strongly affected by electrification than the component at right angles to this plane. If this speculation should be verified by experiment, it would follow that the principal inci- dence and azimuth, and also the difference between the changes of phase of the two components, would be affected by electrification ina manner which could be observed. ‘In conclusion I would point out that further experi- ments are required of the following nature :— (1) Experiments on the reflection of light from mag- netised ¢vansparent media, such as glass, perchloride of iron, and also if possible from liquid oxygen. (2) Experiments on reflection from and transmission through magnetised metals, special attention being paid to the effects produced by the non-luminous portion of the spectrum. ? (3) Experiments on reflection from electrified metallic reflectors. 2 A. B. BASSET. ? I do not know whether the bolometer is more sensitive to heat than a pair of average eyes are to light; if it is, experiments on the infra-red waves ought to be easier than experiments on luminous waves. 36 NATURE [May 11, 1893. NOTES. THE annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will be held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George Street, London, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 24 and 25. On Wednesday business will be transacted ; the Bessemer Gold Medal for 1893 will be presented to Mr. John Fritz, of Bethle- hem, Pa., U.S.A.; and the president-elect, Mr. E. Windsor Richards, will deliver his inaugural address, The following papers will afterwards be read and discussed: ‘‘On the elimi- nation of sulphur from iron and steel’’ (second paper), by J. E. Stead ; ‘‘On the Saniter process of desulphurisation,” by. E. H. Saniter. On Thursday the following papers will be read and discussed :—‘‘ On the basic process of Witkowitz,” by F. Kupelwieser ; ‘‘ Notes on puddling iron,” by John Head; ‘On a recording pyrometer,” by Prof. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S. THE Royal Society soirée was being held as NATURE went to press yesterday evening. A DINNER will be given by the Master and Fellows of Gon- ville and Caius College, Cambridge, on Wednesday, June 21, in the College Hall, to celebrate the tercentenary of the ad- mission of William Harvey to the college. THE annual dinner of the Royal Geographical Society will take place on Saturday, May 13, at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Métropole, Sir M. E. Grant Duff, President of the Society, in t he chair. THE second annual Robert Boyle Lecture of the Oxford University Junior Scientific Club will be delivered in the University Museum on Tuesday, the 16th inst., at 8.30 p.m., by Lord Kelvin, P.R.S. His subject will be, ‘‘ The Molecular Tactics of Crystals.” THE Geologists’ Association has made arrangements for a geological excursion to Farnham on Saturday, May 13. During Whitsuntide there will be an excursion to Bradford-on-Avon and Westbury, in Wiltshire. THE late Lord Derby has left by will to the Royal Society asumof £2000. He has also bequeathed £2000 to the Royal Institution. THE Royal Society of New South Wales offers its medal and 425 for the best communication sent in not later than May 1, 1894, containing the results of original research or observation upon each of the following subjects:—(1) On the timbers of New South Wales, with special reference to their fitness for use in construction, manufactures, and other similar purposes; (2) on the raised sea-beaches and kitchen middens on the coast of New South Wales; (3) on the aboriginal rock-carvings and paintings in New South Wales. THE Royal Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Buda-Pesth has devoted the sum of 2000 fl. to the promotion of botanical investigations during the year 1893. THE Committee of the Kew Observatory has issued its re- port for the year ending December 31, 1892. Tue Council of the Durham College of Science has resolved to offer to each county council in England the right of nominating a scholar who shall attend the course of instruction | in the agricultural department of the college without the pay- ment of fees, on condition that the county council pay to the scholar not less than £30 towards the cost of his board and lodging in Newcastle or the neighbourhood, and of such books or appliances as he may require for his study. Thescholarships will be tenable in the first instance for one year, but may be re- newed for a second year by the college council if the progress o the student is satisfactory. The object of the college council is twofold: to bring before the notice of county councils and NO. 1228, vor. 48] others the advantages offered by its agricultural department, and to make some acknowledgment to the country generally for the contributions it has received from imperial sources through the: Board of Agriculture. THE Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union is making a great effort double its membership, and ought to have little difficulty accomplishing its purpose, as it is one of the most vigorous ¢ the provincial scientific societies. Its funds are at present in- sufficient to justify it in publishing all the important works it has in hand. Mr. M. A. Veeder writes to us from Lyons, New York, that Lieut. Peary, of the United States Navy, during his coming expedition to the northernmost Greenland, will record observa: tions of the aurora, upon a plan that will enable comparisons to be made in detail with records from other localities. ‘‘ The plan, Mr. Veeder says, ‘‘ is already in operation, upon an international basis, and the results are proving to be important. Numerous observers widely distributed are desirable, and inasmuch as even those who have no special technical knowledge may make entries that will be of value any who feel so disposed may co- operate.” Further information and supplies of blanks may be obtained from Mr. Veeder, who will be glad to receive also, any records of observations of the aurora whatever, for purposes ony a comparison. MODERATE rains occurred in the north and west, in the earl part of last week, owing to the advance of depressions from th Atlantic, and a small amount of rain fell in the midland counties, but over the southern and eastern parts of England there was n measurable quantity. The drought has continued with great persistency over the southern part of the kingdom, the peri without rain, up to Tuesday the 9th inst., being fifty-three days at some of the stations reporting to the Meteorological Offce An anticyclone embraced ‘the greater part of western Euro throughout the past week, and spread westwards over th British Islands, causing high atmospheric pressure, while in northern Scandinavia the barometer rose to nearly 31 inches. The temperature has been irregular ; although high for the time of year, it has been lower generally than some weeks ago ; in a few instances the daily maxima have exceeded 70°, but in parts they have been little above 50°. The Weekly Weather Report of the 6th instant showed a general decrease of bright sunshin The percentage of possible duration ranged from 18 to 27 in Ireland, from 22 to 30 in Scotland, and from 41 to 57 in Eng land ; in the Channel Islands the high percentage of 81 was recorded. ‘At the meeting of the French Meteorological Society o April 4 Dr. Fines presented a note on the violence of t storms which are occasionally experienced in the province of Roussillon (Eastern Pyrenees). On five occasions betw 1860 and 1867 railway trains have been overturned on the line from Narbonne to Perpignan. A storm of great violen occurred from January 15 to 24 last, in which at one time th velocity amounted to 85 miles an hour. A large number o trees were uprooted and some loaded railway trucks were over turned on this occasion. THE annual general meeting and conversazione of the Se’ borne Society were held at the rooms of the Royal Society British Artists yesterday evening. The objects of this excelle society are: to preserve from unnecessary destruction such wild birds, animals, and plants as are harmless, beautiful, or rare to discourage the wearing and use for ornament of birds and their plumage, except when the birds are killed for food or reared for their plumage ; to protect places and objects of in- 1 terest or natural beauty from ill-treatment or destruction ; and ~ May It, 1893] NATURE 37 promote the study of natural history. Many good writers on natural history contribute to the society’s journal, Vature Notes. _ A CAPITAL paper on the manufactures of India was read by Sir Juland Danvers before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts on April 24, and is published in the current number of the ciety’s Journal. Sir Juland is of opinion that, if all timate means are taken for opening the markets ofthe world _to Indian commerce and for stimulating enterprise and energy _ by developing the country itself, India may become a large manufacturing as well as an agricultural country, and thus be enabled not only to support but to improve the condition of her ast population. The reading of the paper was followed by a most interesting discussion, in the course of which several high uthorities expressed their cordial agreement with the views stated by Sir Juland Danvers. Sir C. E, Bernard said that short of vast discoveries of workable gold within her borders India’s true and only way out of the silver difficulty that threatens her _with bankruptcy is the rapid development of her home industries, especially her cotton and iron manufactures. Tue Trinidad Field Naturalists’ Club prints in its Journal for _ April a valuable preliminary list of the mammals of Trinidad, by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the British Museum (Natural His- : ory). Mr. Thomas explains that he has prepared the list as a basis on which a complete scientific list of the mammals in- habiting Trinidad may be founded, and to show members of the society how extraordinarily little is definitely known of the mammals of the island. By known, of course, he means _ scientifically known in the sense of being published to the world, for he has no doubt whatever that many members of the society could off-hand add to the list many animals well-known to them and other inhabitants, but neither hitherto mentioned _ in scientific publications nor represented by specimens in the _ British Museum. He earnestly begs that all persons interested in the natural history of Trinidad will do what they can to obtain specimens and to send them home for identification. Every collection made at present is sure, he says, to contain species _ new to the island, even if not—as in the case of two bats recently received from Trinidad—altogether new to science. __ A PAPER on “‘ Recreation,” read by Mr. William Odell before the Torquay Natural History Society, has been printed separately. It contains some very interesting letters from the head masters of public schools as to the effect of athletics on school work, Mr. FREDERICK J. HANBURY and the Rev. E. S. Marshall are engaged in the preparation of a Flora of Kent, which should prove an exceptionally rich county flora, though some districts have as yet been but imperfectly searched. Any assistance will be gladly received by the Rev. E. S. Marshall, Milford Vicarage, _ Godalming, Mr. A. T. DRumMonp has been investigating the colours of Rowers i in Ontario and Quebec in relation to the time of flower- ing, and has contributed to the Canadian Record of Science an _ interesting paper on the subject. He finds that April, May, and even June and July are remarkable for the prevalence of white lowers, July and especially August of yellow, and September nd October of purple and blue. Goon illustrations of the difficulty of determining plants or getable productions by popular or local names are given in a letter by Mr, B. B. Smyth, of the Kansas Academy of Science, published in the current Quarterly Record of the Royal Botanic iety of London. ‘‘The name Nightshade,” he says, ‘‘is applied here to Solanum nigrum and S. triflorum; the name oody Nightshade is applied to S. Du/camara ; the name Bitter- NO. 1228, VOL. 48] sweet is applied to Celastrus scandens, a twining woody plant with clusters of showy scarlet berries ; the name Laurel is applied to the different species of Kalmia; the names Mock Orange and Syringa are applied (of course misapplied) to Philadelphus ; the name Sarsaparilla is (mis)applied to Aralia ; the name Snake- root is applied to a dozen different species in half as many different orders ; the name Mouse-ear is applied to Gnaphalium, Antennaria, and Cerastium.” WE have repeatedly called attention to the fact that the German publisher Engelmann is issuing an important series of small volumes consisting of papers which have marked an era in the history of science. A series of much the same kind has been begun, we are glad to note, by Mr. W. F. Clay, Edinburgh, and Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., London. The volumes in this series are to be known as ‘* Alembic Club Reprints.’ The first volume consists of Joseph Black’s paper, entitled, ‘*Experiments upon Magnesia Alba Quicklime, and other Alcaline Substances.” THE Natural History Society of Marlborough College has issued its report for the year ending Christmas, 1892. The high standard of work in the sections is said to have been, on the whole, well maintained ; but an exception is made in the case of the zoological section, the members of which showed **little disposition to exert themselves in work conducted on scientific lines.” The library of the society is rapidly increas- ing. Among the works added to it during the year were the four splendidly illustrated volumes (privately printed) on exca- vations and archzological discoveries in or near Wilts, by General Pitt-Rivers. These were presented by the author, to whom special thanks are accorded for his ‘‘ peculiarly interest- ing and valuable gift.”’ ARISTOTLE, it seems, knew almost as much about field voles as is known by those who have lately been studying the mischief done by these creatures in Thessaly and Scotland. In a passage quoted in the current number of the Zoo/ogis¢ from his ‘‘ Natural History of Animals” he speaks of their power of destruction as “*so great that some small farmers, having on one day observed that their corn was ready for harvest, when they went the fol- lowing day to cut their corn, found it all eaten.” ‘‘ The manner of their disappearance also,”” he continues, ‘‘is unaccountable ; for ina few days they all vanish, although beforehand they could not be exterminated by smoking and digging them out, nor by hunting them and turning swine among them to root up their runs. Foxes also hunt them out, and wild weasels are very ready to destroy them ; but they cannot prevail over their numbers and the rapidity of their increase, nor indeed can any- thing prevail over them but rain, and when this comes they disappear very soon.” This passage is quoted in the Zoologist by Mr. A. H. Macpherson. The editor adds a note showing that Aristotle was by no means the only ancient writer to whom the facts were familiar. Mr. G. Lewis contributes to the current number of the Entomologist a list of coleoptera new to the fauna of Japan, with notices of unrecorded synonyms. Some of the list are well- known European species ; others have hitherto been known from Siberia only. Mr. Lewis says that some years will elapse before the collection gathered by him in Japan can be com- pletely worked out. AN interesting paper on mining and ore-treatment at Broken Hill, New South Wales, was read at the meeting of the Insti- tution of Civil Engineers on May 2, the authors being Mr. M. B. Jamieson and Mr. J. Howell. From this mine silver and lead of the value of over £8,250,000 sterling had been taken within seven years; and it continued to yield about ane NATURE [May ve 220,000 ounces of silver, and between 600 and 800 tons of lead per week. Speaking of the products ofthe refinery, the authors said they were thus disposed of :—The pure silver was sold in the colonies by tender at stated intervals, in parcels of between 100,000 ounces and 150,000 ounces, and was purchased by the banks usually at a price somewhat above the price current in London. The soft lead was shipped either to England or to China ; the latter country was becoming gradually a larger buyer of the company’s lead. The matte and other compound products were shipped to England. The small amount of gold in the ore was recovered in the refinery. It amounted to about 3°4 dwt. per ton of bullion. Mr. C. HEDLEY has contributed to the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (Second Series, vol. vii.) an interesting paper on the range of Placostylus, which he describes as a more fruitful subject of study than any other molluscan genus inhabiting the same area. Their large and handsome shells have attracted the attention of the most superficial and unscientific collectors, so that an extensive series has been brought to the knowledge of investigators from remote localities. In the summary of his results, Mr. Hedley remarks, first, on the essential unity of the Placostylus area as a zoological pro- vince, embracing the archipelagoes of Solomon, Fiji, New Hebrides, Loyalty, New Caledonia, Norfolk I. (?), Lord Howe, and New Zealand ; a unity explicable, he thinks, only on the theory that they form portions of a shattered continent and are connected by shallow banks formerly dry land. This conti- nental area he proposes to call the Melanesian plateau. He holds, secondly, that this Melanesian plateau was never con- nected with, nor populated from, Australia, but that its fauna was probably derived from Papua vd New Britain. The pre- sence of genera common to Australia and New Zealand he believes to be explicable on the ground that they migrated, not from the one territory to the other, but each from a common source, New Guinea. Thirdly, he thinks that New Zealand and New Caledonia were early separated from the northern archipelagoes and ceased to receive overland immigrants there- from. Fourthly, the Fijis, according to Mr. Hedley, remained” to a later date in communication with the Solomons, but were severed from that group before the latter had acquired from Papua much of its present fauna. THE ‘‘Year Book of Australia” for 1893 has been pub- lished. . It includes an interesting account of scientific work done in the various Australian colonies during 1892. This has been compiled from information supplied by the scientific societies of Australia. Some valuable reports on the Victorian coalfields, by Mr. James Stirling, of the Geological Survey of Victoria, have been issued by the Department of Mines in that colony. They are fully and most carefully illustrated, A FRENCH translation of Lord Kelvin’s ‘‘ Popular Lectures and Addresses” has been published by Messrs. Gauthier- Villars et Fils. The translator is P. Lugol, who has added some notes. Translations of extracts from recent memoirs by Lord Kelvin, with notes, have been contributed by M. Brillouin. A FRESH instalment of the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (New Series, vol. xix.) has just been published. It covers the period from May 1891 to May 1892. Among the contents are some considerations regarding Helmholtz’s theory of consonance, by C. R. Cross and H. M. Goodwin ; a note on the dependence of viscosity on pressure and temperature, by C. Barus; what electricity is: illustrated by some new experiments, by W. W. Jacques; on a theorem of Sylvester’s relating to non-degenerate matrices, by H. Taber ; NO. 1228, VOL. 48] researches on the volatile hydrocarbons, by C. M. Warren ; descriptions of new plants collected in Mexico by C. G. Pringle in 1890 and 1891, with notes upon a few other species, by B. L. Robinson ; on some experiments with the phonograph, relating to the vowel theory of Helmholtz, by C. R. Cross es G. V. Wendell, and other papers. A PAPER entitled ‘‘ Further Studies of Vente and their | Pollination” has been contributed by Mr. W. Trelease to the — fourth annual report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and is — also published separately. It is well illustrated. : THE new number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological — Society includes the text of the anniversary address of the Pre- sident, Mr. W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S. He deals with the — work brought before the Society in the course of the last seven — years, during which he has served the Society in one official — capacity or another. A FOURTH edition of ‘Practical Physics,” by R. T. Glazebrook and W. N. Shaw, has been issued by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. The authors have taken advantage of this opportunity to make some alterations and additions sug- _ gested by their own experience or that of their successors at rhe _ Cavendish Laboratory. In a recent number of the Comptes Rendus, M. Rigollot gives a further account of his experiments on the electrochemical — actinometer. He finds that the electromotive force developed _ when light falls on a plate of oxydised. copper immersed in a — solution of a metallic iodide, bromide or chloride can be con- siderably increased if it has previously been dipped in some — colouring matter, such as eosine or safranine. This increase of — sensitiveness is different for rays of different wave lengths, and _ those rays which produce the maximum effect, for any one — colouring substance, depend on the position of the absorption band in the light which is transmitted by that substance. M. CuassaGny has a note in the current number of the — Comptes Rendus on the influence of longitudinal magnetisation on the electromotive force of an iron-copper thermo-electric — junction. Two couples were used, one being in the axis of a _ long magnetising helix, so joined together that they acted in opposite directions. The results obtained were :—(1) The effect of longitudinal magnetisation is always to increase the electromotive force. (2) This increase is independent of the — direction of magnetisation. (3) For increasing fields the in- crease is at first very nearly proportional to the strength of the — field, and attains a maximum value of 6°1 microvolts for afield | of 55 C.G.S. units. After this it slowly decreases till for a q field of 200 units it is 3'2 microvolts. : : AT the meeting of the Société Francaise de Physique, held — on April 21, M. P. Curie gave some of the results of his — experiments on the magnetic properties of bodies at different — temperatures. The body to be experimented on was placed in — a non-uniform magnetic field and the force acting on it — measured by the torsion of a metallic wire. Anelectric heater capable of raising the temperature of the. body to 1400° C. was used, together with one of Le Chatelier’s thermo-elements to — measure the temperature. In the case of oxygen, the magnetic permeability is constant for magnetising forces of from 200 to — 1350 units, and for pressures of from 5 to 20 atmospheres. — The law of variation of the permeability with temperature is very simple, since between 20° and 450° it varies inversely as the absolute temperature, In the case of air, the peas a! ata temperature ¢ is given by the formula 10%, = 2760/¢”, which ~ can be used to correct observations og in air at any tem- — perature. : May 11, 1893] NATURE 39 A NEW reaction, of wide general application and of consider- able practical utility, by means of which the important organic compounds known as nitriles may be readily prepared in a state of purity, has been discovered by Prof. Michaelis and Dr. Siebert, and is described by them in the current number of Liebig’s Annalen. As stated in our chemical note of last week, Prof. Michaelis has recently been studying the action of thionyl chloride, SObI,, upon the primary amines, and has shown that the product of the reaction is a thionylamine, a compound formed by the replacement of the two hydrogen atoms of the NH, group of the amine by the radical thionyl, SO. In seek- ing to ascertain whether a similar kind of compound to the thionylamines is formed when thionyl chloride is allowed to act upon the amides of the acid radicles, Prof. Michaelis and Dr. Siebert have discovered the new mode of preparing the nitriles. Instead of a compound of such a nature being produced, a nitrile is the main product, with sulphur dioxide and hydro- chloric acid as bye products. As the two latter are gaseous _ substances, it is at once evident that the reaction must afford a particularly convenient mode of preparing the nitriles in a state of purity. The reaction, moreover, is quite general, and is applicable both in the fatty and in the aromatic series. When thionyl chloride is brought in contact with acetamide, CH; .CO.NH,, a violent reaction occurs, with considerable rise of temperature. After a few minutes, however, the violence diminishes, and the liquid eventually becomes quiescent. In order to complete the interaction, the product should then be heated over a water-bath for a few hours, the reaction flask being provided with a reflux condenser. When the fumes of hydrochloric acid and the odour of sulphur dioxide are no longer perceptible, the reaction is completed in accordance with the equation— CH, .CO.NH, + SObl, = CH;.CN + SO, + 2Hbl. The dark-coloured liquid is then decanted from a small quan- tity of resinous products of decomposition and distilled, when pure acetonitrile, clear and colourless, passes over it at its boiling point, 82°. The yield of pure nitrile is about half the weight of acetamide employed. The violence of the reaction between thionyl chloride and acetamide is very much diminished by the addition of benzene; but owing to the difficulty of separating the resulting nitrile from the benzene by fractional distillation, it is preferable not to employ it. With care, the direct addition of the thionyl chloride may be made without loss. Propionamide reacts in a very similar manner with thionyl chloride, and almost the whole of the liquid product distils over quite colourless at the boiling point of propioni- trile (98°). In like manner, pure benzonitrile may be obtained by the action of thionyl chloride upon the amide of benzoic acid. It is preferable, however, in case of such higher boiling nitriles which can be readily separated from benzene by frac- tional distillation, to conduct the operation in presence of benzene, the reaction then proceeding much more regularly and ' without the violence of the direct action. Upon subsequent - distillation, the thermometer at once rises to 190° after the dis-" tillation of the benzene, and remains constant at that tempera- ture until almost the whole of the benzonitrile has passed over. Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.— __ Last week’s capturesinclude the Hydroid Hydractinia echinata, the Polycheta Zunice Harassii and Siphonostoma uncinatum, - the Polyzoan Prdicellina cernua, the Opisthobranchs Runcina _ coronata and Polycera Lessonii, the Crustacean Hyas araneus, and the Echinoderms Cucumaria Planci and Luidia ciliaris. The quantity of gelatinous alge in the Channel waters at length exhibits signs of diminution. Medusze of the remarkable Hydroid Corymorpha nutans (of Allman) have been taken in the tow-nets on several occasions. The meduse of Aurelia NO. 1228, vou, 48] aurita are growing rapidly in size, and have now attained an average diameter of 1}inches. The Megalope of Carcinus are no longer commonly taken in the tow-nets, but are chiefly to be found in especial haunts at the sea-bottom. The following animals, not hitherto noted, are now breeding : the Hydroids Plumularia setacea and Antennularia ramosa, the Decapod Crustacea Crangon fasciatus and Hippolyte Cranchii, the Ophiurid Amphiura elegans (= squamata), the Ascidian Stye- lopsis grossularia, and several species of Amphipoda and Pantopoda. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Mozambique Monkeys (Cercopithecus pygerythrus,?@) from East Africa, presented respectively by Mr. Arthur James and Miss Maude Parkinson; a Rhesus Monkey (Aacacus rhesus, 2 ) from India, presented by Miss G. Lloyd; a Bonnet Monkey (M@acacus sinicus, 2) from India, presented by Mr. R. Hughes; a Macaque Monkey (A/acacus cynomolgus, @) from India, presented by Mr. F. Byfield ; an Indian Buffalo (Bubalus bufelus, 2) from India, presented by H.H. The Maharaja of Bhoonagar ; a Common Hedgehog (Lrinaceus europaeus) British, presented by Mrs. E. Austen- Leigh; a West African Love-Bird (Agafornis pullaria) from West Africa, presented by Lady Theodora Guest ; two Herring Gulls (Zarus argentatus) British, presented by Mr. W. H. Aplin ; two Egyptian Mastigures (Uromastix spinipes) from Egypt, presented by Mr. Edmund Lamb ; a Moorish Tortoise (Zestudo mauritanica) from North Africa, presented by Me. T. W. Bayley; seven Green Tree Frogs (Hy/a arborea) South European, presented by the Rev. C. D. Fothergill ; a Silvery Gibbon (ylobates leuciscus) from Malacca, a Roseate Cockatoo (Cacatua roseicapilla) from Australia, twenty Green Tree Frogs (Hyla arborea) South European, deposited ; two Amherst Pheasants (7haumalea amherstia, 2 ?) from Szechuen, China, a Swinhoe’s Pheasant (Zuplocamus swinhoii, § ) fcom Formosa, three Cat Fish (Amiurus catus) from North America, purchased ; a Common Crowned Pigeon ( Goura coronata) from New Guinea, received in exchange; a Yak (Podphagus grunniens), 9), a Water Buck (Cobus ellipsiprymnus, x), an Angora Goat (Capra hircus. var. 8 ,), 2 Bennett’s Wallaby (Halmaturus bennetti, 3) born in the Gardens, OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. MERIDIAN CIRCLE OBSERVATIONS.—At the meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, held on April 14 last, the proceed- ings of which are recorded in the current number (No. 201) of the Observatory, the paper prepared by Messrs. Turner and Hollis (and read by. the former) entitled, ‘‘ Comparison of the Greenwich Ten-year Catalogue (1880) with the Cape Catalogue (1880),” was the means of instigating an interesting discussion with reference to questions relating to. systematic error of meridian obseryations, The questions thus raised are of great in:portance, for, as Dr. Gill remarks, they ‘‘ affect the objects for which public observatories were founded.” Generally speaking the coniparison of the catalogues above mentioned seems to have given very satisfactory results, but the series of differences ob- tained from the north-polar-distances, arranged in order of north polar distance, showed signs of small divergences. The source from which these differences could have arisen seems—since the accuracy of the N.P.D. places depends on the coefficient of refraction—to be at first sight apparent, and Mr, Stone’s opinion is that this quantity is ‘ practically mixed up with the question of refraction,” his firm conviction being that in the Cape obser- vations there are no systematic errors possible to account for o”4. Dr. Gill, in referring to the discussion generally, made some very striking. remarks about meridian observations, and was of opinion that at the Cape there were sources of syste- matic error amounting possibly to half a second of arc, The differences obtained from the reflex and direct observations at the Cape, he says, have led him to the conclusion that they are caused by the fact that, ‘‘since the walls of the transit rocm are 40 NATURE [May 11, 1893 about three feet thick, they retain for a long time the heat which they absorb during the day. The result is that there are layers of air of different temperature in the room at night.”’ To im- prove fundamental astronomy, half a second of arc, he says, must be seriously taken into account, and this can only be done by employing a sound instrument and a properly-constructed observing-room, ‘‘and we have neither the one nor the other at the Cape nor at Greenwich. If we are going to fight for two- tenths or three-tenths of a second, we must set to work de novo with better instruments, better housed, for the determination of constant error.” THE LuNAR ATMOSPHERE.—Various are the methods that can be adopted for observing whether the moon has an atmo- sphere or not, but some of them, such as those that depend on solar eclipses, have been the least often attempted, since they are of an extremely delicate nature. In eclipses, whether partial or total, if the moon really had a moderately dense atmosphere, we should be able, by photographing the sun when partially covered by the moon, to note whether the delicate details on the solar surface in the region of the lunar limb had suffered any slight alterations in their forms. To note such variations it is needless to say that photography must be employed, and further that the photographs must be on a moderately large scale, for if indeed there be changes of form they will by no means be necessarily very apparent. For such observations as these no better scale could be used than that adopted by M. Janssen in those wonderful solar pictures that have done much to help us in extending our knowledge of the sun’s surface. In fact M. Janssen, in Comptes Rendus for April 17 (No. 16) tells us that in order to try this method again several plates were exposed during the recent eclipse of the sun, but owing to the state of the sky the conditions were not very favourable, as these large photographs require a perfectly pure atmosphere. He mentions at the end of his note that he has already made some progress towards the solution of this question from the photo- graphs that were taken at Marseilles during the partial eclipse of July, 1879. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. THE Berlin Geographical Society has awarded the Humboldt medal, the highest honour it can bestow, to Dr. John Murray, editor of the Challenger reports, in recognition of the great ad- vances in physical geography which are associated with his name. Tue Paris Geographical Society has also awarded one of its gold medals to a foreigner, Dr. Fridjof Nansen. Other gold medals given by the Paris Society went to Captain Monteil, for his great journey to Lake Chad, M. Dybowski, for exploration on the Shari, and M. Lentheric for his monograph on the Rhone. Mr. Guy Boorusy has recently crossed Australia from north to south. He started from Normanton on the Gulf of Carpen- taria in March, 1892, travelled leisurely on horseback or in a waggon to Bourke, and then descended the Darling in a boat, and later a river-steamer to Morgan, thence by rail to Adelaide. The journey occupied rather more than a year, and so far as ap- pears little or no new country was traversed. THE May number of the Scottish Geographical Magazine con- tains a paper on the people of the Lake Nyasa region, by Mr. D. J. Rankin, in which he makes some Serious charges against Mr. H. H. Johnston, the British Commissioner. Mr. Rankin . considers the rule of the commissioner to be too severe, and finds mse! aleig his knowledge of the native tribes and their claims to the land, : Mr. E. A. FLoyer has a long paper in the Geographical - Journal on the Eastern Desert of y BA illustrated by some very characteristic pictures and a new map, the result of his surveys. The expedition of which he was the leader was sent out by the Egyptian Government in 1891, and surveyed 23,000 square miles of mountainous desert. The region is crossed by a ridge of high ground in the higher peaks of which a few shep- herds find a precarious pasture for their flocks, which feed on the comparatively thick growth of acacias. The water-supply is in the form of ‘natural reservoirs of rain, in many cases con- tained in limestone cavities which keep the wells supplied. NO 1228, VOL. 48} THE Columbus /é¢e held in Paris on April 15, the 400th an- niversary of the return of Columbus is reported at length in the current number of the Revue de Géographie, the main fea- ture being an address by M. Ludovic Drapeyron, who presided. The novelty of such celebrations has passed, and it is difficult to see how the celebration of the fourth centenary of each episode of the life of Columbus after 1492 can be made serviceable to geography or of special interest to the public. THE RECENT SOLAR ECLIPSE, WE have already printed a number of telegrams relating to observations of the solar eclipse of April 16 in various parts of the world, and now reproduce from the Wottingham Daily Guardian of May 9 an article on the work of the British party ia West Africa. This article is contributed by a special correspondent of that journal, who writes from H.M.S. Blonde, Las Palmas, April 28. It contains the first detailed information which has appeared on the subject. The expedition left Liverpool on March 18 by the British and _ African Company’s steamer Zeneriffe, the company having most: generously contracted to convey them to the Gambia at greatly reduced rates. Bathurst, near the mouth of the Gambia, was reached on March 31, when the observers and their instruments: were at once transferred to H.M.S. Alecto, which had been kindly placed at the disposal of the expedition by the Admiralty, The Alecto, being specially designed for service on the West. African rivers, was eminently adapted to the purposes of the observers, and, indeed, without some such aid the expedition would have been impracticable. On the afternoon of A 2 the A/ecto proceeded with the observers to the Salum River, which lies some distance to the north of the Gambia, and Fun- dium was reached on the following morning. The vi ‘by the way, is called Goundiougne My the French. The chief oc- cupation in this part of Africa is the raising of ground nuts for export. On arrival it was found that M. Deslandres and a small staff from the Paris Observatory had already been at Fundium a fortnight, and had got most of their instruments into positi A neighbouring site, kindly offered to the British party by the Administrator, was at once accepted as satisfying all require- ments. It had the advantage of being partially en , ancl was quite near to one of the wharves, so that the instruments could be put ashore without difficulty. The land around Fun- dium is very flat, and a perfectly clear horizon was therefore obtained. The site having been selected, plans for ee. ment of the various instruments were at once drawn, and the concrete bases were laid down, the necessary cement having been brought from Liverpool. Huts for the instruments, which had likewise been brought from England, and the instruments themselves were also erected with the least possible delay. , In this preliminary work Lieutenant-Commander and his staff, with the readiness characteristic of the British Navy, gave the party all needful assistance. As eclipse work was new to all the observers, with the excep- tion of Prof. Thorpe, who was in charge of the expedition, the instrumental equipment was such as not to overtax any of them. Prof. Thorpe, assisted by Mr. P. L. Gray, was in charge of a 6-inch equatorial telescope, belonging to Greenwich Observatory, with the necessary accessories for determining the intensity of the light at different points of the corona. The photometer used was of the form in which the amount of light The writer says :— piece of paper was determined by measuring the strength of the electric current which illuminates it. A number of such spots were so arranged in the photometer that the image of the corona formed by the telescope fell upon them, while on the other side they were. illuminated by a glow lamp, the whole, of course, being inside a dark box. I myself, representing Prof. Norman Lockyer, had the management of a 6-inch photographic telescope, provided with a large prism in front of the object glass for the purpose of determining the chemical constitution of the corona and prominences. With this method of work a separate image of each position of the corona or prominences is obtained corresponding to each kind of light which it emits, and this gives the clue toits chemical character. A duplex telescope for photographing the surroundings of the eclipsed sun was in charge of Sergeant J. Kearney, R.E., who has had the advan- tage of a long and varied experience in photographic matters. aglow lamp necessary to cause the disappearance of a grease spotona May 11, 1893) NATURE 41 ' “The instrument was provided with two object glasses of 4-inch _ aperture, the tube carrying them having a partition down the middle. The image formed by one of the lenses was received » directly on the photographic plate, but in the other case it was ' magnified about three times by one of Mr. Dallmeyer’s new telephotographic lenses. The dark slides carrying the photo- _ graphic plates were ingeniously arranged so that by a single operation two plates were exposed. Lieutenant Hills, R.E., one of the volunteer observeri was in charge of two spectro- scopes of the ordinary form provided -vith slits. These were mounted on an equatorial stand, and were each provided with a 3-inch condensing lens. Here, again, photographic plates replaced the eye. A piece of apparatus for determining the __ total light of the corona was in the hands of Mr. Forbes, the _ other volunteer observer. Lieut.-Commander Lang undertook te make a drawing of the faint outlying parts of the corona by ~~ following the age initiated by the American astronomer New- _ combe in 1878. This consists in erecting 2 wooden disc in line with the eye and the eclipsed sun, and at such a distance that it _ appears to cover all the bright inner corona. The eclipse itself ‘is thus eclipsed, and the observer has an opportunity of studying the more delicate parts of the corona, his eye being protected from the brighter light by the wooden disc. The weather, fortunately, was magnificent during the whole tay of the observers at Fundium, and almost cloudless skies “were experienced both day and night. By April 10 the instru- ments had all been carefully erected and adjusted by observa- _ tioas of the stars, and all was in readiness for the eclipse. Rehearsals of the operations which were to be gone through during the eclipse were now begun, and continued daily. It ‘was arranged that the commencement of totality should be an- nounced by pistol shot, Prof. Thorpe giving the signal to fire. rtermaster Hallet was then to record in a loud voice the lapse of the 250 seconds of totality by reading the 15 seconds sandglass, which is so commonly used with the ship’s log. Several rehearsals were gone through at dusk, when it was estimated that the light was about equal tothat which might be _ expected during totality. At last the day of the eclipse arrived, and everything was in _>~eomplete order. The morning was a little more hazy than sual, but all felt confident of obtaining at least a moderate view of the eclipse. The observers themselves were at their posts soon after noon, and driving clocks and other details were attended to. At five minutes past one the moon was seen to 5 ak i it gradually oe over the disc the temperature of the air as _ gradually fell. At two o’clock the officers of the A/ecto, who ___ were kindly assisting the observers, also took their places. The __ light now waned very rapidly, and the breeze felt cold. In _ appearance the light of day at these stages very much resembled at which precedes an English Uiuaderstorac All the ob- servers were now in perfect readiness for the pistol shot. ‘‘ Five minutes” was announced by Prof. Thorpe, and I began my _ spectrum photographs, exposing six plates. before totality. Amidst almost breathless silence the sound of the pistol shot awas awaited. Eventually a similar pistol signal adopted in the” French camp was clearly heard, and that moment the shadow of the moon went sweeping past. Prof. Thorpe’s signal to fire, however, was not given until at least 10 seconds later. As the last trace of bright sunlight cr age out flashed a magnificent _ «corona of silvery light, together with numerous red and white prominences. @ corona was very evenly distributed round _. the dark moon, that is to say, there were none of the great extensions along the Equator which were seen in 1878 and 1889. The light of the corona was very bright, and the lamps which ‘had been provided for the use of the observers during totality were quite unnecessary—indeed, the sky light was so bright that no stars became visible at all, but Jupiter and Venus, _ which happened to be quite near the sun, shone out most dis- _ tinctly. At Bathurst, however, the sky appears to have been _ clearer, and some of the brighter stars were also séen. The _ Various observations were made and the photographs taken with ‘no hitch whatever beyond the loss of about 10 seconds’ at the beginning of totality. This caused me to.lose three exposures during totality, and reduced the number of Sergeant Kearney’s Becioeraphs from'12 to 10, To err on the right side, Lieutenant ills very fortunately closed his dark slides soon after ‘‘ 25 seconds” had been called by the quartermaster. In this case the slightest flash of sunlight would have been disastrous. Five minutes after totality was over I exposed my last plate, NO. 1228, VOL. 48] have encroached on the south-western limb of the sun, and as” .throw considerable light on the subject. ‘have been developed at present, and in addition to the ordinary and the actual work of the expedition was at an end. What was more, all were confident of success. Now, as to the results of the observations and photographs. Though it is much too early to attempt to state all that we may, except to learn from them, one point is clear. The general distribution of the corona is exactly what was expected, seeing that the sun is now in a very disturbed state. The sun spots, it is well known, have an eleven yearly period, and at the present time they are nearly ata maximum. This, in fact, made the recent eclipse one of the highest importance. It has been observed in pre- vious eclipses that when the spots are at a minimum the corona is very much extended inthe direction of the sun’s equator, while, on the other hand, when the spots are at a maximum the corona is very much more evenly distributed. This supposed periodicity of the general form of the corona has received further confirmation by the recent observations. No unusual equatorial extension is shown on the excellent photographs taken by Sergeant Kearney, and none was observed by Lieut.-Commander Lang, who was specially Jooking for it. At Prof. Thorpe’s suggestion Dr. Prout, the colonial surgeon at Bathurst, also erected a similar wooden disc, and his observations confirm those of Captain Lang. The prominences also follow the sun spots with regard to frequency, j and, as already stated, a large number of them were seen. These are shown on Sergeant Kearney’s photographs, and a complete record of the spectrum of each one is shown on the photographs taken by ie Anos The latter have the further ad- vantage of showing the forms of the prominences as well as the spectra. Some of them chiefly show lines of hydrogen and calcium, while others again are almost crowded with lines of various metals. A complete record of the prominences has therefore been secured. With regard to the spectrum of the corona it seems doubtful at present whether: our’ knowledge has made any great advance by the recent observations. The spectrum appears to have been very largely continuous, such as would be given by a mass of incandescent solid particles. One green line, which has previously been observed to be very prominent in the coronal spectrum, and the bright yellow line of the unknown substance, which is called helium, however, are shown in my photographs, and subsequent detailed examination may lead to the discovery of others. Lieut. Hill’s photographs, which were specially exposed for the coronal spectrum, show a large proportion of continuous spectrum, and several lines which require further investigation. Much is to be hoped for, how- ever, in another direction. The question of the constitution of the layers of the vapour which lie closest to the photo- sphere is one of the first importance to solar physicists. I had made arrangements to take two successive instan- taneous spectrum photos as nearly as possible after the commencement of totality, but, as already stated, the oppor- tunity was lost by reason of the lateness of the signal. The photos taken immediately after totality, however, promise to Only two of these spectrum of the uneclipsed part of the sun, they show large numbers of bright lines in the spectrum of those portions of the sun’s atmosphere which were still left exposed by the moon. These, of course, also require a very detailed examination before any conclusion can be drawn. Of the thirty plates which I ex- osed only eleven have been developed so far, the facilities at ‘undium not being very great. These were selected here and there from the whole series, and little doubt is entertained as to the good quality of the ‘remaining plates. The photographic work was undertaken with the view of investigating the laws of variation in the brightness of the corona (1) according to the distance from the photosphere ; (2) from one eclipse to another. Prof. Thorpe and Mr. Gray were successful in securing obser- vations of the intensity of the light at sixteen different points of the corona, while Mr. Forbes made eleven measurements of the total light at as many different stages of the eclipse. All these observations were considered to be of a high degree of accuracy, but reduction to former standards and comparisons with measures at former eclipses have still to be made. M. Deslandres’ equipment consisted chiefly of spectroscopes of various forms, but in addition he was provided with instru- ments for photographing the eclipsed sun, one on a large and the other on a small scale. The haze somewhat interfered with his work, but he appears to have been fairly successful with such plates as were developed before the British expedition left. The natives at Fundium were by no means alarmed during the eclipse, and there was fortunately no call for the guard of 42 NATURE [May 11, 1893 bluejackets, which Captain Lang had taken the precaution to place in the immediate neighbourhood of the instruments ; indeed both here and at Bathurst the natives were sufficiently well informed to watch the progress of the eclipse through smoked glass. The cause of the eclipse seems to have been ascribed to the Almighty, and not in any way associated with the presence of the astronomers. The members of the expedition themselves had no opportunity of studying the effect of the eclipse upon the brute creation, but trustworthy observers in Bathurst report that the usual state of alarm prevailed amongst fowls, cats, and other animals. Immediately after the eclipse the huts were partly dismantled, and the observers and their instruments were photographed by Prof. Thorpe, exactly as during the operations, the astonished natives meanwhile gathering in large numbers. After a short rest, the work of dismounting and packing the instruments was begun, and before sunset considerable progress had been made. By the evening of April 17, all was packed and safely aboard the A/ecto, and the only material remnants of the expedition were waste paper and a slab of cement, prepared and inscribed by Lieutenant Hills, with the words, ‘British Eclipse Expedition, April 16, 1893.” It is impossible to speak too highly of the assistance rendered to the expedition by the officers and men of the A/ecto. As already stated, Lieutenant- Commander Lang made independent observations, with the assistance of Lieutenant Colbeck. Prof. Thorpe and Mr. Gray were assisted by Mr. Pym, and myself by Lieutenant Shipton and Chief Artificer Milligan, Lieutenant Hills by Dr. Moore, Sergeant Kearney by Sergeant Williams, and Mr, Collick and Mr. Forbes, by Mr. Willoughby, the engineer, and Mr. Murphy, one of the artificers. The expedition left Fundium on April 18, and arrived at Bathurst on April 19, where H.M.S. Blonde was waiting under orders to convey the party to Grand Canary. With- out this convenient arrangement, the expedition could not have left Bathurst before May 3 or 4. The homeward journey to England will be completed by a passage in the first available steamer. THE ORIENTATION OF GREEK TEMPLES2 THs investigation is supplementary to Mr. Lockyer’s exam- ination of the orientation of the Egyptian temples, in the course of which he has cited passages translated from hierogly- phics, showing most distinctly that there was a connection between the foundation of those temples and certain stars. He hasalso shown that the structure of the temples demonstrates that the light from these stars must have been admitted at their rising or setting along the axis of the temples through the doorways, and that in certain temples the doorways have been altered in such a way as to follow the amplitude of the star as it changed, owing to the precession of the Equinoxes, and that in some cases a new temple had been founded alongside of an older one for the same purpose. : Although there does not seem to be any historical or epi- graphical record of such a nature in Greece, the architectural evidence is not wanting. On the Acropolis of Athens there are two temples, both dedicated to Minerva, lying within a few yards of one another, both apparently oriented to the Pleiades, the older temple to an earlier position of the star group, and the other to a later one. At HE there are two temples almost touching one another, both following (and with accordant dates) the shifting places of Spica. In a temple at A%gina a doorway placed excentrically in the west wall of the cella was adapted for the observation of a setting star. A clue is given for finding out the dates of the foundations. of temples oriented to stars by means of the changes produced upon them by the precession of the Equinoxes ; a movement which induces a divergence between the latitudes and longitudes of stars, and their places reckoned in declination and right ascen- sion ; so that after the lapse of 200 or 300 years a star which rose or set in the direction of the axis of a temple would have 1 Abstract of a paper (read before the Royal Society on April 27), ‘‘ On the Results of an Examination of the Orientation of a number of Greek Temples, with a view to connect these Angles with the Amplitudes of certain Stars at the time these Temples were founded, and an endeavour to derive therefrom the Dates of their Foundation by consideration of the changes produced upon the Right Ascension and Declination of the Stars arising from the Preces- sion of the Equinoxes.”’ oF F.C, Penrose, F.R.A.S. Communicated by Prof. J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. NO. 1228, vot. 48] passed to a different amplitude, so as to be no more available for observation, as before, from the adytum. ‘ In the earlier ages of Greek civilisation the only accurate — measure of time by night was obtained by the rising or setting — of stars, and these were more particularly observed when helia-— cal, or as nearly as possible to sunrise. For the purpose of temple worship, which was carried on almost exclusively at sun- rise, the priests would naturally be very much dependent for their preparations on the heliacal stars as time warners. The orientation of temples may be divided into two classes, — solar and stellar. In the former the orientation lies within the solstitial limits ; in the latter it exceeds them. In Greece there ~ are comparatively few of the latter class. ‘ In the lists of temples which follow, all the ori obtained from azimuths taken with a theodolite, e Sun or from the planet Venus. In almost every case two or more sights were observed, and occasionally also the perform- ance of the instrument was tested by stars at night. The heights subtended by the visible horizon opposite to the axes of the temples were also observed. ’ The first list comprises twenty-seven intra-solstitial temples = 7 examples from Athens. I example from Sunium. 3 ie Olympia. I AS Corinth. 2 Fp Epidaurus. | I os Basse. 2 =a Rhamnus. ‘| I 3 Ephesus, 2 es Egina, I $5 Platea. -* I fs Tegea. I ‘5 oo q I vy Nemea. I 3 egalopolis. I ee Corfu. I ty Argos. For all these the resulting solar and stellar elements are iven, with the approximate dates of foundation, similarly tothe ollowing specimen, namely, that of the Temple of Jupiter at Olympia. Olympia, lat. 37° 38’ N. Temple! orientation Stellar | ‘Solar | Name Jupiter angle. elements. | elements. star ‘f oe au 262 37 46 Amplitude, star or sun 8 380 N 7 22 34 N. Corresponding altitude} 3 0 0 E.| 1 42 0 Declination .. +8 400 +6 52 22 Hour angles 6h 11™ 378 | 7h 34™ 525 Depression of s ie 14° 12'0” Right ascension .........] 232 40M 0% | 1h 3™ = Approximate date .....- B.C. 740 fe This example has been selected from the rest of the list because this temple has been chosen for the purpose of showing the method of procedure in working out the elements from the observations, those, namely, of the orientation angle, and of the height of the visible horizon. : A few f pein remarks, however, seem required respecting the Sun’s and star’s altitude, and the Sun’s depression when star is to be observed. UBS For a star to be seen heliacally, it is necessary that the should be just sufficiently below the horizon for the star to recognised. According to Biot, Ptolemy, speaking of Eg} has recorded this to be about 11°. But where, as generally Greece, there are mountains screening the glow which at si times skirts the true horizon, it seems fairat any rate for a magnitude star to consider 10° as sufficient. I have myselfse Rigel in thesame direction as the Sun when elevated 2 above the sea horizon, the Sun being less than 10° belo Obviously an observer looking from a dark chamber in a w known direction would be more favourably situated. It is proper to allow about 3° of altitude for a star to be seer above low clouds and the hazy glow which skirts the horizon. The Sun’s light, however,, seems to be very effective at a lowe altitude, and when he appears over a mountain of 2° or 3 altitude the angle may properly be reduced by 20’ or 25’, part for refraction, and partly because a small segment only of the dise is sufficient for illumination, fe The method I have pursued in working out the example of Temple of Jupiter at Olympia is as follows. eh The orientation angle, measured from the south point roun by way of west and north, is 262° 37’ 46”, which is equivale! to an amplitude of +7°22’14”. The eastern mountain subtends an angle of 2° 4’. For reasons above given, the solar altitud May 11, 1893] NATURE 43 may be taken as 1° 42’, but that of the star, 3°. Combining these values with the latitude, viz., 37° 38’, and using the formula sin 6 = cos zen. dist. x cos colat+sin zen. dist. x sin colat x sin ampl., we obtain for the star a declination of +7° 40’, and for that of the Sun +6°52’22”. This latter, with the ecliptic obliquity of about 800 years B.c., determines the Sun’s right ascension to have been rh. 3m. 15s. The next step is to inquire if there be any bright star or star group which, at a date consistent with archeological possibility, would have had a declination near to the above-named place, _. and would also have been heliacal. Such a star would have required about 6h. 8m. to pass from 3° altitude to the meridian, and it would have required to have been about 14h, in advance of the Sun to allow it to be seen. The approximate R.A, of such star would thereforé be about 23h. come and its declination, as already stated, must be about 7 40 N. ‘For trials I have used a stereographic projection of the sphere taken on the pole of the ecliptic, but showing also R.A. hours and parallels of declination. Any place on this projection may be chosen and marked on a superimposed sheet of tracing paper, and then if the tracing paper is turned round upon the pole of the ecliptic as a centre, so that the straight line drawn upon it, which in the first instance joined the two poles marked on the projection is carried round to an angle equal to the amount of precessional movement under consider- ation, if there be a suitable star marked on the projection the point selected for trial will pass over it or near it, and after the star has been thus roughly pointed out the more exact calcula- tions may be proceeded with. By this process in the case bTripos, and whose first term of residence was not earlier than the Easter term 1888. The subjects of examina- tion are Logic and Psychology, and the successful candidate must undertake to pursue a course of philosophical study. Applications for permission to occupy the University’s tables — at the Zoological stations of Naples and Plymouth are invited ; they should be addressed to Prof. Newton, and reach him on or before May 25. 3 The names of Prof. John Couch Adams, and of William, — seventh Duke of Devonshire, have been inserted in the list of Benefactors of the University, recited at the annual Commemora~ tion Service. ; The plans for the Sedgwick Memorial Museum of Geology, — prepared by Mr. T, G. Jackson, A.R.A., were approved. by a large majority, in the Senate on Thursday last. e work: | of construction cannot however be begun until the finances of the University, which this year show a deficit of some £4000, are in a more satisfactory state. A proposal to raise funds, by increasing the capitation-fee paid by undergraduates from 17s. to 40s. a year, is now before the Senate. te Alfred Eichholz, B.A., first class in both parts of the Natural Science Tripos 1891-92, with distinction in physiology, has been elected to a Fellowship at Emmanuel College. Mr. Eichholz has already published papers of interest on physio- logical and anatomical subjects, and his election reflects great credit on his college. ; SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. Bulletin of the New Vork Mathematical Society, vol. ii. nos. 5,6 (New York, 1893).—The earlier number opens with an account of the theory of substitutions (pp. 83-106), by Prof. Oskar Bolza, This is a warmly appreciative notice of Dr. F. N. Cole’s translation of Netto’s -‘‘ Theory of Substitutions and its Applications to Algebra,” to which attention has recently been drawn in our columns (see NATURE, pp. 338, 339).—Dr, M. Bocher in a bit of mathematical history (pp. 107-109) calls attention-to a remarkable memoir by Euler (** De motu Vibratorio _ Tympanorum,” 1764).—No. 6 contains a paperread before the New York Mathematical Society by Dr. T. Craig on some of the developments in the theory of ordinary differential equations (pp. 119-134). This is likely to be useful to students. other paper read before the same Society is one entitled ‘*On a Gehieral Formula for the Expansion of Functions in Series,” by Prof. Echols (pp. 135-144), which is intended to be a — brief exposition of a general theorem which forms the basis ofa series of papers on certain determinant forms and their applications.—A short note follows by Dr. E. McClintock on the early history of the non-euclidian geometry (pp. 144-147), in continuation and part correction of his previous note in No, 2 o' this volume. It discusses the claim to priority, brought forward — recently by Prof. Beltrami, of Saccheri (1733) in his ‘* Euclides ab omni nevo Vindicatus” as against Lobatschewsky.—‘‘ Notes and ‘‘ new publications” complete each number. — SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LoNnpDON. Royal Society, February 16.—‘‘On a Portable Ophthal- — mometer.”” By Dr. Thomas Reid, Glasgow. Communicated by _ Lord Kelvin,-P.R.S. i : a The object ofthis instrument is to measure the curvature ofthe central area of the cornea, the polar or optical zone, and as this — polar zone is the part of the cornea utilised for distinct vision, — the instrument furnishes all the data practically requisite for — the diagnosis and measurement of corneal astigmatism. Its use ~ May 11, 1893] NATURE A5 may be extended to the measurement of convex and concave reflecting surfaces within the limits of this instrument, z.¢. from 6to1omms, of radius. : The theory of itsconstruction is based ona particular application of the following well-known optical law :—that when two centred - optical systems are so combined that their principal foci coincide, the ratio of the size of the object to the size of the image formed by the combined systems is equal to the ratio of the principal foci of the two optical systems adjacent respectively to object and image. The two optical systems in this case are a convex lens and the cornea as a reflecting surface, the object being in the principal focus of the convex lens, The instrument is composed of the following parts : an aplanatic lens of 26 mms. focus, a rectangular prism neutralised in the visual axis by a smaller prism, one side of the rectangular prism being adjacent to the lens and an iris diaphragm being opposite to the other side in the principal focus of the lens. Behind the prism is a telescope with a double image prism fixed in front of * the object glass of the telescope, which has precisely the same focus as that of the aplanatic lens. Cross wires at its principal focus are viewed by a Ramsden eye-piece. Before using the instrument it is essential that the cross wires should be distinctly seen at the punctum remotum of the observer. The adjusted instrument is held in the observer’s left hand, which rests on the forehead of the patient, the diaphragm being directed to a luminous source to the right of the observer. When the observed eye is directed to the central or fixation point of the instrument, the image of the diaphragm in the cornea can only be distinctly seen, when the principal focus of the lens coincides with the principal focus of the cornea, the point of coincidence of the principal foci being found by moving the instrument to and fro. The image of the diaphragm by means of the double image prism appears as two images in the centre of the field, when the visual line of the observer’s eye is perpendicular to the ' surface of the cornea, through which it passes. If these images are not seen in the centre, their position indicates the direction of the angle a. The size of the corneal image being constant {2mms.) the images are brought into exact contact by suitable variations of the iris diaphragm. By using a-circular object, the circular, elliptical or irregular form of the image reveals at once the condition of the surface. When the images are elliptical, the minor axes of the two images are to be brought into the same straight line by a rotation of the telescope, and similarly with the major axes. Equal differences in the size of the diaphragm correspond to equal differences in dioptric power, each millimetre of difference in diameter corresponding to three dioptres. The amount of ' astigmatism in dioptres can thus be read offon agraduated scale fixed to the instrument. This instrument reads certainly to within half a dioptre, which between 7 and 8 mms. of radius of curvature is equivalent to ‘088 mums. of difference of radius. April 20.—‘‘ The Potential of an Anchor Ring,” by. F. W. Dyson, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Isaac Newton - student in the University of Cambridge. Communicated by - Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S. This paper is a continuation of some researches on rings pub- lished in the Phil. Trans, 1893. Asystem of solutions of Laplace’s equation applicable to space z#side an anchor ring is found. By means of these and the value of the potential at external points found in the previous paper, the potential of aringat internal points isfound. The stability of the annular form of rotating gravitating fluid is discussed ; the ring form is shown to be stable for fluted ' and twisted disturbances, but unstable for long beaded ones. The potential of a ring of gravitating matter whose cross section . is elliptic isobtained. Applying the result to Saturn’s system, it is shown that for his ring to be continuons fluid its density would have to be 100 times that of the planet. The steady ‘motion of a single vortex-ring of finite cross section in an in- finite fluid is discussed, and also the motion of a number of vortex rings on the same axis. Numerical calculations are entered into for the particular cases of a vortex ring followed by another of equal strength, a vortex ring approaching an infinite plane, and one passing directly over a spherical obstacle, Physical Society, April 28.—Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S., Past-President, in the chair.—Adjourned discussion on the - viscosity of liquids, by Prof. J. Perry, J. Graham, and L. W. Heath. Prof. Perry read a communication he had received from NO. 1228, voL. 48] Prof. Maurice Fitzgerald on the subject, in which the latter dis- cusses the corrections necessary for reducing the results obtained by circular motion to the corresponding motion in plane layers. He shows that in addition to the circular motion, the effect is complicated by radial flow due to ‘‘centrifugal head,” which causes the liquid to pass outwards near the bottom of the trough and inwards across the edge of the suspended cylinder, with continuations along the sides of the trough and cylinder. Taking ¢ I — this motion into account the formulay = Ar B +3 is de- : r duced, where v is the velocity, m4 the viscosity, A and B arbitrary constants, and ¢ a constant depending on the radial flow. Whence = 0 the formula reduces to equation (5) of the paper, whilst ifc =— 2p it becomes v =o The subject of r critical velocities in non-turbulent motion is referred to, and some probable effects of the anomalous variations of density and viscosity of sperm oil noticed by the authors of the paper are pointed out. Prof. Perry, in further reply to Prof. Osborne Reynolds’ comments, said he understood Prof. Reynolds to have proved that friction was proportional to velocity when the motion was steady. Experiments he (Prof, Perry) had made with discs of iron and glass in revolving mercury seemed to show that this was not the case. Onreplacing the mercury by sperm oil he found that up to a certain speed friction was strictly proportional to velocity, whilst above that. speed friction varied as v'?5, Coloured streaks in the liquid remained unbroken even at the highest speeds. He therefore concluded that continuity of the streaks was not necessarily accompanied by a linear law of friction.—Mr. E. C. Rimington read a paper on luminous dis- charges in electrodeless vacuum tubes. The luminous rings produced in exhausted bulbs and tubes by discharging Leyden jars through coils surrounding them, had, he said, been attributed by Mr. Tesla (Zlec. Eng. of New York, July 1, 1891) to the electrostatic action of the surrounding wire rather than to the rapidly varying magnetic induction through the rarefied gas. The present paper describes several experiments bearing on this point which lead the author to conclude that varying magnetic induction is the chief cause of the luminous rings. They also show that a superposed electrostatic field greatly assists the pro- duction of the luminosity. Most of the experiments described were performed before the meeting, some of the effects being particularly brilliant. In one experiment an exhausted bulb was placed within a coil connecting the outside coatings of two Leyden jars and placed between two metal plates, which could be connected at will with the outside of either jar. The spark gap between the inner coatings was then arranged so that no luminosity was seenin the bulb, On connecting one or both the metal plates with the jars in such a way as to increase the electrostatic field through the bulb, bright rings immediately appeared. An electrostatic field produced by a small induction coil connected to a piece of tin-foil on the bulb caused the rings to form at irregular intervals when the discharge of the jars and coil happened to be properly timed. In another experiment two loops of wire in series were used, and when put on the bulb in such a way as to produce a large magnetic effect but small electrostatic field, bright rings appeared, but if the magnetic effects of the coils opposed each other, whilst the electrostatic field was increased, no rings were seen. The subject is treated mathematically at some length in the paper, the times at which the maximum values of the current, the potential difference between the outside ofthe jars and the rate of change of current occur, as well as the values of their successive maxima being determined. The influence of size of jars is next considered, and the time-integral of rate of change ofcurrent on which the effect on the eye depends, expressed as a geometrical series. Taking an approximation the author shows that the time-integral is roughly proportional to the fourth root of the capacity. Large jars are therefore theoretically only slightly better than small ones, and this agrees with observation. On the subject of apparently unclosed discharges, such as are seen when dis- charges pass through a coarse spiral wound on an exhausted tube, the author said he had observed that the discharges were really closed, but the return part much diffused and of feeble intensity. Experiments were exhibited showing that under some circum- stances an exhausted bulb acttd like a closed metallic circuit, whilst under other conditions dissimilar effects were produced. Another experiment was shown in which a faint luminous ring, produced by a single turn of insulated wire round a bulb, was 46 NATURE [May 11, 1893 apparently repelled on touching the wire with the finger. The author also showed that fan-shaped luminosities could be pro- duced by rotating an exhausted tube in the electrostatic field produced by a charged ebonite or glass rod. Dr. Sumpner, speaking of the apparently unclosed discharges, pointed out that they might be closed through the wire forming the primary cir- cuit, in the same way as the coil of a transformer might be arranged to act partly as primary and partly as secondary. Mr. A. P. Trotter, after referring to Dr. Bottomley’s researches, said it was important in discussing such experiments to distinguish between electrostatic and electromagnetic effects. In Mr. Camp- bell Swinton’s experiments the luminosity always appeared to get as far away from the wire as possible and to be at right angles to it, whereas in Mr. Rimington’s the luminous portions were close to the wire. With a view to puzzling the discharge in Mr. Swinton’s tubes he had made a right-angled bend in the spiral surrounding the tube, the result of which was to make the luminosity discontinuous, one end of the break being bifurcated. In all Mr. Swinton’s experiments brush discharges surrounded the wire. Prof. S. P. Thompson thought an electrostatic field would aid a discharge even if its direction was not thesame as the E.M.F. due to varying magnetic induction. Planté had found that vacuum tubes through which 800 cells were insufficient to produce a discharge, immediately allowed a discharge to pass when a rubbed ebonite rod was brought within about 10 feet distance. This effect was found to be independent of the direc- tion of the disturbing field. Analogous effects had also been observed by Prof. Schuster, and described in his Bakerian lecture, Mr. E. W. Smith regarded the stresses set up in the medium as cumulative, a very slight cause acting on a substance already strained nearly to breaking point, being sufficient to cause breakdown. Mr. Blakesley inquired if the effects were the same if the induction coil, used in one of the experiments, . was replaced by an electric machine, and whether the direction of the field so produced influenced the result. Mr. W.R. Pidgeon said closed circuits were necessary, and he had found it very difficult to produce discharges in tubes unless the ends of the primary wire were brought together. In his reply Mr. Rimington said each turn of the luminous spiral formed a com- plete circuit of itself. The phenomena observed by Mr. Camp- bell Swinton were quite different to those he had shown, and due to different causes. Mr. Swinton’s spirals were reversed, and were due to phosphorescence of the glass, Zoological Society, April 18.—Sir W. H. Flower, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society’s mena- gerie during the month of March, and called special attention to three White-tailed Gnus (Connochetes gnu) from the Trans- vaal (a male and two females), obtained by purchase March 7, and to three Springboks (Gazel/a euchore) from South Africa, deposited by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.—Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of a curious variety of the Pig-tailed Monkey (Macacus nemestrinus) from the Baram River, Sarawak, lately living in the Society’s mena- gerie.—Mr, Sclater read a communication received from General Sir Lothian Nicholson, Governor of Gibraltar, respect- ing the Barbary Apes (M/acacus imuus) living on the Rock of Gibraltar, which were stated to have increased of late years, and were now supposed to be nearly sixty in number.—Mr. W. L. Sclater made some remarks on the principal animals noted in the Zoological Gardens of Antwerp and Amsterdam, which he had lately visited. —A communication was read from Mr. A. E. Shipley containing an account of the anatomy and his- tology of two Gephyrean worms of the genus Sipunculus from Zanzibar, together with a few observations on Sipunculids in general.—Mr. Oldfield Thomas gave an account of a small collection of Mammals obtained in Central Peru by Mr. J, Kalinowski. Amongst several species represented in this col_ lection, either new or of such interest as to deserve a record was especially noted a new form of Rodents of the family, Muridz, proposed to be called Lchthyomys stolzmanni.—Mr. H. J. Elwes read a communication from Mr. W. Warren describing a large number of new species and new genera of Moths of the family Geometride in Mr. Elwes’s collection, from Sikkim and other districts of India. Notes on the locali- ties and on other points were added by Mr. Elwes. Geological Society, April 26.—W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., President, in the Chair.—The following communications were read :—The origin of the crystalline schists of the Malvern Hills, | NO. 1228, VOL. 48] by Dr. Charles Callaway. This paper was the third of a series ofthree. In the first of these, published in the Quarterly Fournal in 1887, the author contended that many of the gneisses and _ schists of Malvern were formed out of igneous rocks. In the second, which appeared in the Journalin 1889, he discussed the origin of secondary minerals at shear-zones in the Malvern rocks, and arrived at the conclusion that all the mica and much of the felspar, to say nothing of quartz and other minerals, were of secondary origin. In the present paper the author first pointed out that some of the most important mineral changes described in his second communication—such, for example, as the con- version of chlorite into biotite—had since been confirmed by independent investigators. He held that, as a whole, the gneisses and schists of Malvern had been formed by the crushing and shearing of consolidated igneous rocks ; but he did not deny the possibility that here and there the foliated structure might have been produced in a fused mass. In the first stage of metamorphism the diorite or granite was crushed and decomposed, This slightly compressed rock could be traced step by step into a typical gneiss or schist. The signs of pressure progressively increased, and the mineral and chemical changes became proportionately greater. Reconstruction set in. The process of metamorphism did not always follow the same lines. Felspar was sometimes crushed into seams of fragments, and these, by partial re-fusion and pressure, were converted into gneissose lenticles of quartz and felspar. Intervening chlorite was changed to biotite, or even to muscovite or sericite, Thus a typical gneiss, consisting of quartz-felspar lenticles in a felt-work of mica, was formed out of a diorite. Sometimes the felspar was reconstituted without becoming fragmental ; and it was then deposited on, or it included, idiomorphic mica. Ora soda-lime felspar might, by a process of corrosion, be’converted into quartz, or asoda-felspar, or both. In an early stage of metamorphism, the rock was often dirty and rotten through the abundance of chlorite and disseminated iron oxide. The former being changed to mica, and the latter being either absorbed in the production of biotite, or reconstituted in a crystalline form, a sound clear gneiss was the result. In the completed product, the signs of crushing and shearing were often entirely wanting. Even strain-shadows were rare in it. The metamorphism, however, was demonstrated in numerous localities by tracing the gradations inch by inch, and by the subsequent study of large numbers of microscopic slides, in which the transition was still more clearly seen than in the fielc!. The classification of the Malvern schists originally p' sed was somewhat enlarged, the injection-schists being. subdivided into —(1) Schists of primary injection, in which one rock was injected into another, and (2) Schists ofsecondary injection, formed by the infiltration of secondary minerals along shear-planes, One of the most important of the chemical changes produced in the conversion of a diorite into an acidic schist was the elimination of magnesia. This was proved by analysis, The recent researches. of Mr. Alexander Johnstone had shown that even in the laboratory, and at the ordinary temperatures, carbonated waters were able to remove magnesia from certain of its combinations with silica. The reading of this paper was followed by a discussion, in which the President, Prof. Bonney, Mr. Harker, Mr. Rutley, Prof. Hull, and the author took part.—Supple- mentary notes on the metamorphic rocks around the Shap Granite by Alfred Harker, and J. E. Marr,F.R.S. This paper contains some additions and corrections to the work submitted to the Society by the authors on a previous occasion (see Quart. Fourn. Geol. Suc. vol. xlvii. p. 266). In the present communication special attention is paid to the alteration of a group of basic volcanic rocks by the granite. Some remarks were made on this paper by the President, Mr. Rutley, Mr. Teall. Mr. Harker and Mr. Marr replied. j Linnean Society, May 4.—Prof. Stewart, President, in the chair.—Dr. R. B. Sharpe exhibited some new and rare birds from Borneo, and made remarks upon the singular distribution of the genera to which they belonged. On behalfof Miss E. M. arare silkworm moth, Gonometa fascia from Lagos. Prof. J. B. Farmer exhibited under the microscope some preparations. showing attraction spheres in Hepatic spores, and gave the result of his recent researches on the subject.—Mr. Thomas. Christy exhibited some curious variations in foliage in plants of a Sterculia from Brazil, reared from the same pod, and showed also a specimen of Zrythroxylon Coca in fruit.—Mr. W. B. Hemsley showed two British plants‘which were interest- ing on account of the localities, namely Zmpetrum nigrune a Sharpe he also exhibited both sexes of the larve and cocoons of NATURE 47 May 11, 1893] _ from Dorset (where Mr. C. B. Clarke had seen it growing on _ Poole Harbour Spit though it had not been included hitherto in the county flora), and Scé//a nutans with prolonged bracts, usually regarded as an introduced garden form, which had been _ found growing apparently wild in a wood near Ashford, Kent. —Mr, Alfred Sanders then read a paper on the nervous system of Myxine glutinosa, a fish allied to the Lampreys. DUvBLIN. Royal Dublin Society, April 19.—Prof. A. A. Ram- _ aut, Astronomer Royal for Ireland, in the chair.—Dr. J. Joly, F.R.S., described a method of detecting the existence _ ofvariable stars by continuous photometric observations from _ night to night on groups of stars, by receiving the image of the group upon a photographic plate having a slow eccentric circular motion within the telescope, so that the images of the - individual stars appear as circular traces upon the plate. _ Variations in the intensity of any trace, not common to all the _ linear images, indicate a variability of luminosity in the parti _ cular star describing the trace.—Prof. A, A. Rambaut read a paper on the distortion of photographic star images due to ; Peftaction.—The usual formulz of refraction by which the rela- tive position of one star with regard to another may be corrected - for this effect, such as those published lately by the author in the _ Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 3125, are strictly applicable only to one definite instant of time. It is possible to keep only one star absolutely fixed on the plate by means of the slow _ motionsin R.A. and declination, and the changes in the amount of the differential refraction will cause any other star to alter its position on the plate if the exposure is continued for any con- siderable time. The effect of this change is that all stars on the plate, except that used to guide by, are more or less dis- torted. The paper contains tables giving the amount by which the refraction changes at various declinations and hour angles, and from these the amount by which a star image on the plate is distorted in passing from any hour angle to any other can be readily computed. For instance, it is shown that an equatorial star whose distance and position angle from the guiding star are 1400” and 45° would, in passing from an hour angle of 4h. to one of 5h., be distorted in R.A. by 5”°86 and in declination by 798. It appears, however, that if the zenith distance does not exceed 60° and the exposure is limited to a quarter of an ‘hour, the distortion will not exceed o’*2, and that ifthe correc- tions are computed for the middle of the exposure and the measures made from the middle of the slightly distorted image _ no error will arise.—Prof. T. Johnson, exhibited Gomontia _ polyrhiza, Born. et Flah., a green alga, perforating the shells of various molluscs. Specimens were collected at different localities on the west and east coasts of Ireland ; Galway (April, _ 891) being the first locality in which the plant was observed. Paris. - Academy of Sciences, May 1.—M. Loewy in the chair.— _ “The motion of liquids studied jby chronophotography, by M. _ Marey. The water whose motion was to be studied was con- _ tained in a long tank bent into an elliptic shape and returning upon itself. One of the branches had both sides closed b panes of plate-glass, behind which was placed a screen of black velvet. A centimetre scale was fixed to the inner pane, and the tank was illuminated by sunlight reflected from below. The camera was placed ata distance in front of the glass, screens _ ‘being arranged so as to keep off all light except that coming _ from the water. When the water was clear, the only thing __ photographed was the meniscus formed by'its surface against the lass, which appeared as a bright straight line. When the sur- e was disturbed by waves, the nature of the disturbance was _ indicated by the successive shapes assumed by the meniscus. To _ study the internal motions of the liquid, small globules were _ constructed of wax and resin, silvered like certain pills, and so __ proportioned as to be slightly heavier than water, so that they _ could be made to ‘float in neutral equilibrium by adding salt _ water. Stationary waves were then produced by rapidly chang- _ ‘ing the immersion of a solid cylinder on the opposite side of the tank, when the meniscus was thrown into the species of trochoi- _ dal curve already deduced from hydrodynamical theory. This _ curve appears in the photographs in great perfection, A wave of translation was also photographed fourteen times per second, and its velocity, as calculated by the scale, was 2°24 m. per *second. Streams and eddies were also produced in the tank, _ and traced by means of the bright balls. On letting the water NO. 1228, VoL. 48] flow past an obstacle in the form of a fish, more obtuse on one side than on the other, it was proved that no perceptible eddies were formed if the water first encountered the obtuse side, but that it was greatly disturbed if the acute end was presented to the stream.—Determination of the specific heat of boron, by MM. Henri Moissan and Henri Gautier.—On mineral phos- phates of animal origin, and on a new type of phosphorites, by M. Armand Gautier.—On the sanitary system adopted by. the Dresden Conference for establishing common measures to safe- guard the public health in times of bite cholera, without placing useless obstacles in the way of commercial transactions or the movements of travellers, by M. Bronardel.—Observations . of the comets, Brooks (1892, VI.), Holmes (1892, III.), and Brooks (1893, I.), made with the great equatorial of Bordeaux, by MM. G. Razet, L. Picart, and F. Courty.—On a general case where the problem of the rotation of a solid body admits of uniform integrals, by M. Hugo Gyldén.—On the displacement of the temperature of maximum density of water by pressure, and the return to the ordinary laws under the influence of pres- sure and temperature, by M. E, H. Amagat.—Researches to establish the bases of a new method of recognising the adultera- tion of butter by margarine employed either singly or mixed with other fatty materials of vegetable or animal origin, by M. A. Houzeau.—Observation of the solar eclipse of April 16, 1893, at the observatory of the Société Scientifique Flammarion at Marseilles, by M Léotard.—On a class of differential equa- tions, by M. Vessiot.—On the structure of finite and continu- ous groups, by M. Cartan.—On the ordinary differential equa- tions which possess a fundamental system of integrals, by M. A. Guldberg.—On the reduction of the problem of tantochronics to the integration of a partial differential equation of the first order and the second degree, by M. G, Koenigs.—On the densi- ties and molecular volumes of chlorine and of hydrochloric acid, by M. A. Leduc.—On the diminution of the coefficient of expansion of glass, by M. L. C. Baudin.—On the systems of dimensions of electrical units, by M. E. Mercadier.—On the influence of longitudinal magnetisation upon the electromotive form of a copper-iron couple, by M. Chassagny.—Optical phe- nomena presented by secondary wood in thin sections, by M. Constant Houlbert.—Decomposition of oxalic acid by the ferric salts under the influence of heat, by M. George Lemoine.—Con- tribution to the study of the Leclanché cell, by M. A. Ditte. On the fluorides of the alkaline earths, by M. C. Poulenc.—On the quantitative determination of phosphoric acid, by MM. A. Villers and Fr. Borg.—On licarene derived from licareol, by M. Ph. Barbier. —On a vegetable nucleine, by M. P. Petit. On an earthquake shock felt at Grenoble on April 8, by M. Kilian.—The month of April, 1893, by M. E. Renou.—On the emission of a sugar-containing liquid by the green parts of the orange-tree, by M. E. Guinier.—On a new genus of conifers found in the Albian of the Argonne, by M. Paul Fliche.—Dis- covery of two skeletons at Villejuif and at Thiais, their age and ethnic character, by M. Zaborowski.—Periodic form of the doriferous power in the fatty series, by M. Jacques Passy.— Researches on the employment of tree leaves in the feeding of cattle, by M. A. Ch. Girard. : BERLIN. Physiological Society, April 7.—Prof. du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair.—Dr. Engel gave an account of the out- come of his researches on the development of blood corpuscles. By using appropriate staining reagents, and fixation of the cor- puscles by drying, he had found, in the embryos of mice in various stages of development and in leukhemic children, that at first spheroidal nucleated cells make their appearance, metro- cytes, which subsequently divide karyokinetically into daughter- metrocytes. From the latter some non-nucleated cells contain- ing hemoglobin are developed, as also some red-coloured cells, from which are then formed the red corpuscles, the nucleated white corpuscles and platelets, In the discussion which ensued Prof. Ehrlich confirmed the above results from personal obser- vations, but regarded the origin of white blood-corpuscles from the red cells as not yet definitely established. Prof. Kossel spoke on anew saccharine substance called Dulcin, describing its chemical constitution and its effect on rabbits and dogs. Dulcin is two hundred times as sweet as sugar. Rabbits were unaffected by daily doses of 2 grm. (= 400 grm. sugar), but dogs were found to lose their appetite by prolonged taking of the above dose, recovering it soon when the drug was no longer adminis- tered. - Prof. Ewald had tried the effect of dulcin upon both 48 NATURE [May r1, 1893 healthy and sick people, observing no ill effect with doses equal to the amount of sugar ordinarily consumed. Prof. Heymans, of Ghent, reported that employing Golgi’s method he had observed numerous branching nerves in the muscles of the wall of the cardiac ventricle, and particularly in the apex of the heart, Dr. Lilienfeld had studied the relationship of cell-elements to certain colouring matters, and exhibited a mixture of the latter, so appeared of an equally brownish-violet colour, both in ueous and alcoholic solution. On shaking up in this crystals 7 nucleinic acid, the chief constituent of the nucleus, they were at once coloured bright green, whereas white of egg assumed an intense red colour. April 21.—Prof, du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair.— Dr. Goldscheider reported upon experiments on the sense of touch in the blind,as made by Hocheisen on eight individuals, of whom some were born blind, while others became blind in early youth. The results obtained showed that the muscular sense of the blind is far more acute than of those who can see, being more acute in the youthful blind than in those who are older ; in the latter the sense is scarcely more acute than that of those who can see. Similarly the power of localising was more acute in the young than in those who are older, and did not differ appreciably from that of those who can see. By practice both the above senses can be so sharpened in those who possess sight that they are ultimately as acute as for the blind. —M. Kriiger spoke on the chemical constitution of adenin and hypoxanthin, and described the reactions which led to the establishing of their constitutional formule. Physical Society, April 28.—Prof. Kundt, President, in the chair.—Prof. Neesen spoke on a new mercurial pump he had constructed on the principle of a Sprengel pump. Dr. Frohlich developed his views on the theory of the electromagnet, which by bringing Hopkinson’s theory into accord with con- ceptions of magnetic resistance and ideas on saturation had led to a considerable advance in generalisation. The discussion . which ensued was chiefly taken up by Dr. Du Bois, who urged that the views propounded were rather of technical than scientific interest. [ote.—In the report of the Physical Society (see NATURE, April 27, p. 624), in line five from the top, for ‘‘ pressure” read ‘* thickness,” and in line six from the bottom for ‘‘ Wren ” read ** Wien.”’] DIARY OF SOCIETIES. LONDON. THURSDAY, May 11. MATHEMATICAL SociETy, at 8.— On some Formule of Codazzi and Wein- garten in Relation to. the Application of Surfaces to each other: Prof. Cayley, F.R.S.—On the Expansion of Certain Infinite Products: Prof. L. J. Rogers.—A Theorem for Bicircular Quartic Curves and for Cyclides Analogous to Ivory’s Theorem for Curves and. Surfaces of the Second Degree: A. L. Dixon.—On the Linear Transformations ogee pean Two Quadrics : H. Taber.—The Collapse of Boiler-flues: A. E. H. Lowe. Institution oF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS. at 8.—On the Prevention of Sparking, Compound Dynamos without Series: Coils or Magnets; and Self-exciting Dnamos and Motors without Winding upon Field Magnets : W. B. Sayers. Rovat InsTITUTION, at 3. —The Atmosphere: Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. FRIDA Y, May 12. Puysicat Society, at 5.—The Drawing of Curves from their Curvature : e Ve Boys, F.R.S.—The Foundations of Dynamics: Oliver Lodge, R. Roya ASTRONOMICAL SoctETy, at 8. Roya INsTITUTION, at 9.—Isoperimetrical Podbiems: Pres.R.S. AMATEUR SciEnTIFIC Society, at 8,—Geological Time (with Special Reference to Mr. Mellard Reade’s Paper in the Geological Magazine for March): W. H. Davis. SATURDAY, May 13. Rovat Boranic SociEty, at 3.45. Roya InstiTuTion, at 3.—Johnson and Swift: Dr. Henry Craik, C.B. TUESDAY, May 16. ZoouocicaL Society, 4 8.30.—On the Atrium and Prostate of the Oligo- chetous Worms : Beddard, F.R.S.—Descriptions of Fifteen New Species of Denretide. G. B. Sowerby. —List of Mammals inhabiting the Bornean Group of Islands: A. H. Everett. —On a Second Collection of Mammals sent by Mr. H, H. Johnston, C.B., from Nyassaland: O. Thomas. Institution oF Civit Encrnerrs, at 8. —Monthly Ballot for Members.— Reception by the President and Council.—Wreck-raising in the River Thames: C. J. More. Roya. InstiTuTion, at 3.—Modern Society, in China: Prof. R, Ke Douglas. NO. 1228, VoL. 48] Lord Kelvin, ‘WEDNESDAY, May 17. Roya MerTeoroLocicat Society, at 7.—Mean Daily Maximum and — Minimum Temperature at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on the — Average of the Fifty Years from 1841 to 1890: William Ellis. tions, from a Practical Point of View, for a New Classification of q Forms: Frederic Gaster.—Notes on Winter: Alex. B. Mac a Rovyat Microscoricat Society, at 8.—Exhibition with the cee Microscope: Sir David L. Salomons.—Notes on Rotifers: C. Rousselet. — THURSDAY, May 18. Royvat Society, at 4.30. CHEMICALSociETY, at 8.—Observations on the Production of Veer guring Electric Discharge through O: a1 ae W. A. Shenstone and The Relative Strengths or Avidities of [some Weak — ‘ ee shields — ‘ The Boiling Point: of H Part Dr. James © Walker. ‘ Rovat InsTiTuTION, at 3.—The ES Distribution of Birds: Dx. R. Bowdler Sharpe. FRIDAY, May 19. Royat INsTiTUTION, at 9.—Poetry and Pessimism; Alfred Austin. SATURDAY, May 20. Royat InstiTuUTION, at 3.—Johnson and Wesley: Dr. Henry Craik, CB. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED, Booxs.—The Future of British Agriculture: Prof. Sheldon (W. H. Allen). —The Nests and Eggs of British Birds: C. Dixon Co and Hall). —Theorie der Optischen Instrumente: Dr. S. ski big gers : Harlow (K, Bah As Astronomy, 2nd edition: P. S. Mi and F. S. Harlow ( Age —An Analytical Index to the Works of ne late ohn a Gould, F.R.S. : Sharpe (Sotheran).—The New Technical Edu 4 cator, vol. x Gasset) PampPuHLets.—Determinations of Gravity with Half-second Pendu! ome on the Pacific Coast, § in Alaska, and at Washington, | D.C., a oboken, Nes BS 1 (W: ton).—The Ph pe (Liverpool, Sanders). 3 Sertais.—Medical Magazine, May Sr Capon Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xlix. Part 2, No. 194 val an Remain of the me. Society of New Soul Wak Xxvi ire p. 193295 Gedinborehh— Tinie und - Pheong A (Berlin, yal nt ich i ee Band.3 and 4 Heft (Wien) ~Joucust of the Scottish prpevet iety, third series, No, ix. (Blackwood). Sip tah ser of the American Academy of Arts and{Sciences, new series, vol. xix. (Boston, Wilson).—Report of the | Marlborough College Natural History Society, No. 41 (Marlborough). CONTENTS. PAGE q A Book on Physiography. By Prof. A. H. Green, a F.R.S, ere a ee Sir W. Bowman’s Collected Papers degen 26 Our Book Shelf :— ee Williams ::** Aids to Biology”... <<<... speecas Sykes : ‘‘ Public Health Problems” Ree eres if So Cripps: ** Galenic Pharmacy 2: 5° os «lay Legere. is the Editor :— Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands.—Dr. Alfred R. Wallace .... 2 Swarms of enpirem: —Prof, W. A. Herdman, F.R.S. A Difficulty _ in Weismannism Resolved. —Prof, Marcus Hartog.. . eRe Medical Biology.—L. C. M. . ‘ Afterglows in Spain.—Prof. Augusto ‘Arcata? Soot Foctas on Ceilings.—Dr. A. Irving; Dr. Hugh Robert Mill; Lieut.-Col. Allan Cunningham ; EB; Poulton, PRS, 3 i The Appreciation of Science by "German Manu- : (Zilustrated.) By Prof. neat E, Arm- facturers, _-- strong, F.R.S. .. Bes ae es Eléctro-Optics, By A. B. Bassett, BRS. Notes... oh es cy ae eve ae yein eum ee tae ae Our Astronomical Column :— Meridian Circle Observations . ey ‘ The Lunar Atmosphere . 2...) .04.5 + + +5 s . . en er . Geographical Notes ... ...:.++-++-s The Recent Solar Eclipse . . ea The Orientation of Greek Temples. By F.C, Penrose . Explorations in the Karakoram ° . University and Educational Intelligence i ey Scientific Serial Societies and Academies .........-. Diary of Societies . . vas TPS te ee kok fae Oe See tent i ee ee . Peers eter | Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received. . . . : NATURE 49 THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1893. _ _ OSTWALD’S GENERAL CHEMISTRY. Arbuch der Allgemeinen Chemie. Von Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald. Band I. 1891, Band II. Theil I, 1893. Zweite Auflage. (Leipzig : Wilhelm Englemann.) CHE conception of molecule is essential in explaining A the phenomena of both chemistry and physics. orosity and compressibility point to the conclusion that does not entirely fill space, to account for the spersion of light requires that matter should have a ained structure; these and countless other physical find an explanation in the conception of molecule. over, from various observations, more especially on properties of gases and the phenomena of surface nsion, the size of molecules can be approximately cal- ated, and in terms of the idea of molecule deduced in such as these physical properties are explained. he chemist, on the other hand, has arrived at the of the conception of molecule from totally different siderations. In the early days of his science, when laws of combining proportions and of chemical ivalents were taking definite shape, the revival of the conception of atom was of immediate service in further- ng the progress of chemistry. It was not long in becoming apparent, however, that the conception of atom alone was insufficient to meet the facts. _ The relative numbers of atoms entering into the com- position of compounds was a matter of doubt until adro’s hypothesis was accepted, and until it was nted that definite groups of atoms—chemical mole- were concerned in chemical processes. he chemist has thus built up his conception of mole- = in accordance with chemical facts; he regards it structure composed of parts, and in order to explain existence of isomers, he has to assume definite rela- ve arrangements of the atoms within a molecule. ‘rom the fact that the two conceptions of molecule been derived independently of one another, it has ne about that physical properties are discussed more $ apart from the chemical nature of the substances amined, and for this reason within recent times there is arisen a fascinating field of inquiry on the border- nd of chemistry and physics. For it has been urged, “Is it not possible to trace the cause of physical pheno- sna beyond the physical molecule?” If,as the chemist s shown, the molecule is a structure composed of tts, is it not possible that these parts of molecules are }units to be dealt with? In short, “Is not the ulti- ite cause of physical as well as of chemical phenomena be ascribed to the chemical atoms and their mutual elationships ? ” Already this question has been answered in several ys, and in none more striking than by those investiga- ns which are concerned with the physical constants of stances and their chemical nature. Here it has been that the magnitudes of many physical constants conditioned by the nature, number, and arrangement the atoms which compose molecules and that fre- ntly definite changes in chemical nature bring about NO. 1229, VoL. 48] SETS er gt rarer definite quantitative changes in the magnitude of physical constants. Books dealing with such investigations as these are but few, indeed the first volume of the book before us is- practically the only one which gives a comprehensive view of what has been done in this direction. If we ex- clude those parts which are purely physical and which are concerned with familiarising- the reader with the physical properties to be treated, the volume may in. the main be taken as linking on the chemical to the physical conception of molecule, in so far as to show that the magnitudes of physical constants are functions of molecular weight and molecular structure. Thegeneral arrangement of the contents of this volume is- pretty much as it was in the previous edition, although very few pages remain as they were, and the introduction of recent investigations has increased the size of the volume- by about one-third. The atomic hypothesis and the laws upon which it is based are first treated, then follows a use- ful summary of the various atomic weight estimations, from which are deduced the probable values of those funda- mental constants,values which arealready finding their way into current literature. The numerical relations existing. between the atomic weights of the elements constitute the concluding portion of this the first of the six books. into which vol. i. is divided. Succeeding books deal re- spectively with the physical properties of gases, liquids, solutions, and solids, and with the relations existing be- tween the physical properties and the chemical nature of the substances. Solutions are, in this edition, for the first time treated. in a separate book, which with certain additions has been translated into English by Mr. Pattison Muir, and has already been noticed in these columns (NATURE, vol. xlv.. p. 193). Electric conductivity and electrolysis now find a place in vol. ii. under electro-chemistry. The sixth and last book of vol. i. deals with chemical systematics—the criteria by which atomic weights are chosen, the periodic law and the relations between the physical con- stants of the elements and their atomic weights, and the molecular theory and the structure of chemical com- pounds in which the doctrines of valency, isomerism, &c.,. are discussed. The peculiar interest which attaches to connections. between the physical constants of substances and their chemical nature lies in the fact that an idea is thereby obtained of the constitution of the substances as they actually exist. Structure as deduced from purely chemical methods is founded upon reaction. The compound has. to be decomposed before its constitution can be deter- mined, and occasionally such methods lead to ambiguous results. Examples are steadily multiplying of compounds. which in one reaction appear to correspond with one formula, while in another reaction a different formula better represents their chemical behaviour. Already measurements of physical constants have been applied to some such cases and have served to indicate that the structure of a pure substance may be conditioned by its temperature. At high temperatures, for example, acetyl acetone would appear to exist in the ketonic condition, CH,CO.CH,.CO.CH,, while as temperature falls it would seem as if a gradual transition to the alcoholic conditions, D 50 NATURE [May 18, 1893 CH,,.C(OH):CH.CO.CH, and CH,.C(OH):C.C(OH) CH,, took place. But physical methods can be applied to the study of the phenomena of chemical change as well as to those of chemical structure. Change of any kind taking place in material substances is to be sought in the nature of the energy associated with those substances, and chemical change has therefore to be sought in the nature of chemical energy. Of the nature of chemical energy, how- ever, we know but little, Although it is the source of most of the energy turned to practical account in the arts and manufactures, and indeed, directly or indirectly, of all vital energy, it cannot be directly measured, and its nature is, as yet, but a matter for speculation. Part 1 of vol. ii. of the “ Lehrbuch” is concerned with making clear the present position of knowledge on this subject of chemical energy. To begin with, energy in general is discussed, the various forms under which it is known to us, and the units in which they are measured. Particular attention is directed to the factors which enter into the expressions denoting several of the types of energy, and more especially to the intensity factor. In the case of heat, for example, the intensity factor is tem- perature, .and temperature, of course, determines whether heat energy shall be transferred from one body to another. A heat change between two bodies is conditioned by their temperature, and if the factors entering into the expres- sion for chemical energy could be ascertained, the cause of chemical change might be traced in a similar way. But although chemical energy cannot be directly measured, it can be transformed into other kinds of energy, and in turn other kinds of energy may pass into chemical energy. The amounts of these other kinds of energy which are thus involved in chemical processes are often capable of accurate measurement, and from such measurements alone can an insight into the nature of chemical energy be at present obtained. With such measurements the rest of the part is concerned. During chemical change, chemical energy passes most readily and most completely into heat, and hence thermo- chemistry is first dealt with. A general historical dis- cussion of the subject is succeeded by chapters on the non-metals, salt formation in aqueous solutions,the metals, and organic compounds. The concluding chapters deal with the “energetics” of heat, wherein is to be found the material which can be grouped around the second law of thermodynamics and the nature of heat energy in general, and with “ chemical energetics ” which treats of such attempts as have been made to arrive at the nature of chemical energy and its relations to heat energy. Where possible, connections between the chemical nature of substances and the heat energy to which they give rise during chemical change are pointed out, and the general application of thermal re- sults to problems in chemical structure is kept well to the front. The subject of electro-chemistry, which his been entirely recast, now occupies some 500 pages, as compared with little more than 100 in the first edition. It consists of a historical introduction, and of chapters on electrical energetics, Faraday’s law, the migration of the ions, the conductivity of electrolytes, the constitution of electro- ytes and the properties of ions, electromotive force, the NO. 1229, VOL. 48] differences of potential in cells, and on electrolysis polarisation. In this section the author has col and generalised the mass of communications which recently been brought into existence by the hypothesis of electrolytic dissociation, and has connect them up with previous knowledge on the electric properties of solutions. In conjunction with other p tions of the “ Lehrbuch ” on the stoichiometry of sol this section gives the only full and systematic accoui the new theory of solutions which is available to : general reader. : The third and last book of this part takes up the su ject of photo-chemistry. The nature of radiant en which plays so important a part in the economy of natur and its relations to chemical energy, aré first discusse Then follow chapters on actinometry, the law of phot chemical action, and on special photo-chemistry, wh deals with the assimilation of carbon by plants, and tl action of light on various chemical substances. \ Enough has been stated to show that the work is uniq There is no other book which even attempts to cover same ground. No chemical library can be regarded : complete without a copy of Ostwald’s “Lehrbuch.” It tains an enormous amount of information, both theorétic and practical, which is simply indispensable to the ch and to the physicist. It is, indeed, difficult to overes the value of such a work. 3 Butatthesametime, mainly for the reason that it touch upon so many subjects, its usefulness in certain di may to some extent be interfered with. One cannot f to notice that the character of the work frequently savou more of a dictionary than a handbook. In the chapte: on solutions and electro-chemistry there is; perhaps, n much room for this objection, for there the autl has a definite purpose in view—the elucidation — the “new theory”—and writes around it; mould his information and shaping the issues in a way tl leaves little to be desired, if his standpoint be grante Contrasted with the treatment of these sections we ha on the other hand, that of the book generally. Here are: out short abstracts, in many cases but fragmentary, of t more important researches on the subject under discussio but little attention being paid however to generalising t results or smoothing down the discrepancies, or indeed 1 contradictions which occasionally arise. For e under the subject of the molecular volumes of liquids Kop; work comes first, and his method of obtaining atoi volumes is given, the values of carbon and hydrogen be derived by the comparison of aromatic and fatty pounds. In due course Horstmann’s conclusion that ring-grouping of atoms exerts a marked effect on molec volume finds a place, and the author passes on to o researches. But if Horstmann’s conclusion is j the whole superstructure of Kopp’s calculated ato: volumes is subject to modification, as the effect of r r grouping is ignored in the derivation of his atomic c stants. Again, here as elsewhere, the author gi Schréder’s work the prominence which has been more less denied it in the past. Schréder’s method, howey involves different atomic constants to those of Ko and it is left almost entirely to the reader to ass¢ the relative worth of the two systems. On o page of this chapter, too, Schiff’s rule relating © 5 m _ May 18, 1893] NATURE 51 he boiling points and molecular volumes of isomers is iven, while two pages later are set out the results of idel, which lead to the opposite conclusion, a conclusion vhich is much more generally true than that of Schiff, as the reader may verify by referring to the tables of physical nstants given towards the end of the chapter. The author may purposely have left matters in this condition, his idea being merely to indicate the gist of t has been done on the different questions. Indeed he present condition of subjects like molecular volume so unsatisfactory as to prevent any very definite con- lusions being stated. Nevertheless, if such abstracts as » given had on various occasions been supplemented by ole discussion, there is little question that the average dent would have found the mastering of several ions of the “ Lehrbuch” a task of less difficulty than at ent it is. On p. 387, lines 2, etc.,a volume-change due to oxygen attributed to hydrogen : typographical errors are some- numerous, as could hardly be otherwise in a work this kind. 3 To complete the second edition of the “ Lehrbuch,” Part 2 of the second volume, which treats of chemical affinity, has still to be published. Its appearance will serve to complete a work which goes further than any other to show how chemistry and physics must be united in the endeavour to arrive at the real nature of material phenomena. J. W. RopGER. j CLARK ON THE STEAM ENGINE, The Steam Engine: a Treatise on Steam Engines and _ Boilers. By Daniel Kinnear Clark, M.Inst.C.E. (London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and New York: Blackie and Sons, Limited, 1892.) ° ee author of this book holds the first place among those who many years ago made the locomotive an bject of scientific study. His famous work on railway achinery is still of prime importance, holding as it does honoured place in many drawing offices. The present work consists of two ponderous volumes of some 800 pages each, andclaims to be a comprehensive, accurate, and clearly written text-book, fully abreast of all the recent developments in the principle, performance, and construction of the steam engine. This no doubt is a very large claim to make for any work, but when one remembers who the author is, one is bound to admit that no one is more capable of carrying out so important a scheme. _ Besides the author’s many researches in locomotive ngineering particularly, we notice that the numerous blished records of investigation and practice haye been ade use of. This is certainly as it should be, and having een judiciously done adds greatly to the value of the work a book for reference. The work is divided into four main sections :—(1) The iples and performance of steam boilers; (2) the inciples and performance of steam engines; (3) the onstruction of steam boilers; (4) the construction of am engines, These main sections are again subdivided many chapters. NO. 1229, VOL. 48] ae statement of opinion as to the nett upshot of the. The vast amount of information to be gathered from these pages may be imagined when it is noted that the first section alone takes up some 373 pages. Most of this space is absorbed by descriptions of experiments with special types of boilers, mechanical and other means of stoking, the prevention of smoke and the relative effici- ency of various kinds of coal. Besides this the properties. of steam are discussed, and the question of the econo- mical combustion of fuel is very thoroughly gone into. The second section is an excellent treatise on the general behaviour of steam in the cylinder, and here we find evidence of the great experience of the author in this subject, particularly in the handling of the indicator dia- gram and the many lessons to be learnt from it when properly understood. The third section deals with the construction of steam boilers and concludes the first. volume. Here we find a collection of reports and original matter of a valuable description embracing the whole subject. It is a pity that the classical researches of the late Mr. P. W. Willans find no place in the volume, be- cause he, of all engineers, studied the thermodynamics. of steam thoroughly, and his contributions to science on this subject are invaluable. It may be noted that his central valve high-speed engines find no place in the work. This also is to be regretted, because this type of engine is rapidly coming to the front, both as an economical machine and a trustworthy motor particularly for electric lighting by direct driving, the Glasgow Cor- poration Electric Lighting Station being among the latest to be fitted with these engines. The first volume may be roughly said to contain most of the theoretical part of the subject, and the second volume the description of many types of stationary, marine, and locomotive engines. This volume begins with a very complete description of the various valve gears in use and the distribution of steam by ordinary and other slide valves, also the construction and modes of working of the many governors in use, Further on stationary engines for general purposes are described and very fully illustrated. We miss from these excellent examples the many types of high-speed engines used for driving dynamos, centrifugal pumps, fans, &c. Many of these have reached a high state of efficiency and might have been included with advantage. Chapter Ix. deals with British and foreign types of locomotives. We are not surprised to find that the many chapters on the locomotive are by far the best in the whole work. The author may be said to have grown up with the locomotive and to have made it his own par- ticular study; to this day the plucky man who rode on the buffer beams of the old Edinburgh and Glasgow four- wheeled engines taking indicator diagrams is often quoted on that line, now part of the North British system. The paper read by the late Mr. William Stroudley on the construction of locomotive engines, &c., before the Institution of Civil Engineers contains probably the most recent and trustworthy information at present avail- able on this subject. The author has done well in making the quotations he does from this source. Of the British locomotives illustrated all are of most recent design. The table of types of American engines made by the Baldwin locomotive works is interesting, and the illus- trations are good; but what is the use of giving the 52 NATURE [May 18, 1893 reputed weight of trains hauled without quoting the average speed? Surely the one can be of little service ‘without the other. Continental locomotive practice is well represented in the types in use on the St. Gothard railway. Of peculiar types of locomotives perhaps the six-coupled double bogie Fairlie engine is a good example. This engine, designed by Sir Alexander M. Rendel for the Mexican Railway Company, is stated to be able to haul a train weight of 3600 tons on the level. The -engine when fully charged carries 2850 gallons of water, and has 300 cubic feet of room for coal, and weighs 92} ‘tons. On regular duty the engines run on a section of road which, for a length of fourteen miles, has many ‘gradients of 1 in 25, with curves of 350 feet radius. More recent Fairlie engines supplied to this company weigh 93 tons 16 cwt. in running order, and are reported ‘to do their work admirably. We now come to the description of the different types -of compound locomotives in use. These are practically all included in the Webb and Worsdell types in use in this country. Of the Webb type we find the Dread- nought class, and, in the appendix, the Greater Britain, ‘thoroughly described and well illustrated. At the present time the London and North-Western Railway Company have eighty-three compound loco- ‘motives of Mr. Webb’s design at work, the total mileage -of which since 1882 up to the end of December, 1892, ‘was 22,854,037 miles, with an average consumption of 35°1 Ibs. of coal per mile. This includes not only the ‘fuel consumed in actually’ working the train, but also 1'2 Ibs. used in raising steam and all fuel consumed whilst the engine is standing or shunting. The descrip- tion of the Worsdell type of compound is equally clear, cand is well illustrated by the Great Eastern and North Eastern locomotives. Why, however, are the Worsdell ‘intercepting and starting valves alone described and illustrated ? when this type of valve is seldom if ever used -outside the North-Eastern Railway, the Worsdell Von Borries, Lapage, disc automatic valve being generally adopted in its place. Sixty Worsdell compound goods engines of the Mogul type have recently been sent to India, the cylinders being respectively 20 inches and 28 inches in diameter, stroke 26 inches, and the coupled wheels 5 feet 13 inches in diameter. These engines and ‘tenders weigh about 95 tons in running conditions. In the addenda to the second volume there is some interesting information in reference to the construction of American locomotives and boilers, and details are freely illustrated. Following this is a description of the Vauclain compound locomotive as made by the Baldwin locomotive works. Then comes a short description of the Westinghouse brake—a very good break no doubt ; but why should not the Vacuum brake find a place in the volume? These volumes cannot of course be appreciated with- ‘out careful study. They are a perfect mine of infor- mation, partly original, partly derived from contributions to the proceedings of various technical institutions and societies. The illustrations are excellent, and the typography remarkably clear. The work should be welcomed, both by the student and the engineer, as the best text-book on the steam engine and boiler yet published, N. J. LOCKYER. NO. 1229, VOL. 48] A LIFE OF LOUIS AGASS]Z. Louis Agassiz; his Life and Work. By Charles : Frederick Holder, LL.D., &c. (Leaders in Science) (G. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London.) % A ee a Life of Louis Agassiz a series of his tories of leaders in science would be incomplete. Fortunately materials are not lacking, for in additi to the “Life and Correspondence” edited by widow, there are numerous sketches and accounts of particular aspects of the man. The present volume — tells the main incidents of his life and work, plea- santly and succinctly, and presents us with a clear — outline of a remarkable personality. The book is well printed and the illustrations are not few. Some are good, others are not specially connected with the text, two are failures. Both relate to Switzerland. One is a sensational picture of Agassiz’ “descent into the heart of a glacier,” where he is being lowered down into a crevasse, while the text clearly shows that he descended a © moulin, ‘The other represents “ Agassiz on the pinnacle of the Jungfrau.” We think that this must bea studio — composition, for the “ pinnacle” is not very like what we have seen, and the topography of the view is in-_ comprehensible. 2 Agassiz was a sturdy Swiss lad, uniting, as became — a Neuchatelois, something of French versatility with — German tenacity of purpose ; a close and keen observer — delighting in every aspect of nature, happily neither “crammed” nor forced as a boy. When only twelve years old he was an omnivorous collector, and was more than this, a close student of his treasures. Intended for commerce, he prevailed upon his parents to let him attend a course of classes at the University of Lausanne, then to proceed to Heidellerg and Munich as a student of medicine. At the age of twenty-three he had obtained the degree of doctor in that faculty as well as in philosophy. By this | time, however, he had determined to devote himself to science, having already made his mark by his work on fresh-water fishes. After some stay in Paris a professor- ship was ultimately created for him at Neuchatel, which 4 he held until a visit to America ended in his accepting — a post at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and settling down in the United States. But before leaving his native land © he had become famous also by his studies of glaciers ; still it was in the New World that the most important i part of his life’s work was done. Apart from the immense — impulse which he gave to the progress of science in the 4 United States, his explorations along the coast of Florida, in Brazil, on both coasts of South America, all sup- plied abundant material for study, which was worked up with unflagging industry. pe The book, in short, is a marvellous record of work ac- complished. We read in it of incessant labours in the | lecture-room, the laboratory, and the field, yet the list of — his books and scientific papers appended to this volume is perfectly appalling. Ofthe former there are thirty-nine, — large and small ; the list of the latter occupies twenty-two and a-half pages, each containing about ten entries, on — the average. But this incessant activity, mental and physical, wore out even the sturdy Switzer, careful as he had always been in exercising the steed Cuvier’s last words . May 18, 1893} NATURE 53 tl o him, “ Be careful, and remember that work kills,” had been, perhaps of necessity, neglected. The day after hey were spoken the great naturalist had been stricken to death by paralysis. They were equally prophetic in e case of Agassiz, for by his sixty-seventh year even his rous constitution was worn out. Agassiz wasa born teacher. As one of his admirers says, is greatest work in science was his influence upon other men.” Surely thisis one of the best of epitaphs. This memoir contains some pithy sayings worth remembering our generation. These are a few samples—‘“ It is a idea to suppose that anybody is competent to learn pr to teach anything ;” “ The mind is made strong not through much learning but by the thorough possession _ of something ;” ‘“‘ Learn to read the book of Nature for yourself ;” “ Train your pupils to be observers ;” “ It is tter to have a few forms well known than to teach a little about many hundred species ;” ‘‘The study of ature is an intercourse with the highest mind.” A mark, also of his, has a lesson for this age of many books, when he said, commenting on his early difficulties in obtaining them, that “he believed it had been really an advantage, for it prevented him from relying too much on them, their absence forcing him to investigate for himself.” Dr. Holder compares the influence of Agassiz in America with that of Darwin in England. It was in many respects very different, as were the men; yet they had - much in common: the same intense love of nature, the Same thirst for knowledge, the same indomitable energy _in the pursuit of it. They were alike in being seriously hampered: Agassiz by poverty, at any rate in the earlier _ part of his life, for many a time his mind had to be fed at the expense of his body; Darwin by ill health in the _largerand later part. Yet they were very different: the one in constant intercourse with his fellow men, the enthusiastic leader of a band of students, the centre of society ; the other compelled to lead a recluse life. hey looked also upon nature from different standpoints. Agassiz was unable to accept Darwin’s views as to the rigin of species, though it is curious to see what con- cessions he was prepared to make in regard to a pro- gression from an embryonic stage to one of high develop- ment. This, however, must be by successive creations, not by evolution. In regard to the latter he apparently shared the fears of not a few other religious men, and _ failed to see that the vision of Mother Carey in Peace- _ pool, “making things make themselves,” may be as _ full an expression of the operation of a Divine Mind as "any scheme of creation. _ Agassiz, though he had a hard struggle, was fortunate _ in many respects: in the possession of good parents, a _ vigorous frame, and a sound constitution ; above all, in acquiring the friendship of such men as Cuvier and Humboldt at the age when their help was most needed. _ He was happy, like Darwin, in his family life, with a wife who was a helpmate, and a son who followed his footsteps, and still does honour to the name. Like Darwin also, he was felix opportunitate vite et mortis. Both had _ their obstacles to overcome, and their difficulties to con- quer, but they would have found these more formidable, _ because more insidious, in the present generation. Isan Agassiz or a Darwin any longer a possible product? NO. 1229, vot. 48] Natural science is now sometimes in danger of becoming a department of literature or a branch of physics. These men went to nature for their teaching rather than to books : now they would find it hard to avoid being smothered with “the literature of the subject,” and being choked With the dust of libraries. To read the life of the genuine lover of out-door nature such as Agassiz or Darwin, is like a breath from a glacier in the- valley of the Rhone ; to study the record of a life so sim- ple, so earnest, so pure, so reverent, is a lesson for all time. T. G. Bonney. OUR BOOK SHELF. Beitrigezur Biologie und Anatomie der Lianen, im Beson- deren der in Brasilien einhetmischen Arten. Von Dr. H. Schenck. Zweiter Theil. Beitrige zur Anatomie der Lianen. 8vo. pp. 271, tt. 12. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1893.) IN a brief notice of the first part of Dr. Schenck’s. “Beitrige” (NATURE, vol. xli., p. 514), the fact that it was only the first part was overlooked ; hence the remark that all the plates of that part were devoted to the illus- © tration of the external morphology of chiefly woody climbers loses the force it would have had, had it referred to the whole work. The second part has now appeared, and this treats of the anatomy, whilst the first treats of the biology of this class of plants. The two volumes form a valuable book of reference on this subject ; and. the illustrations include examples of the anatomy of the stems of climbing plants belonging to about twenty-five natural orders. There are twelve large folded plates con- taining 178 figures, all very laboriously and carefully drawn. The Sapindacee and Leguminosz are most numerously represented, and present some highly curious structures. ; W. B. H. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The Editor does not hold himself ge ene ect Sor opinions ex pressed by his correspondents, either 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 Late Solar Eclipse. In his account of the work of the Eclipse Expedition at Fundium Mr. Fowler seeks to explain his inability to obtain the photographs at the moment of totality by the assumption that he received the signal of the beginning of totality at least ten seconds too late, and he bases this assumption on his own estimate of the difference in time which elapsed between my signal and that of M. Coculesco, one of the French observers at Fundium. I did not hear M. Coculesco’s signal, as my head was neces- sarily enveloped in the dark cloth of my photometer at the moment, but M. Deslandres, the chief of the French party, with whom I returned to Europe, tells me that he estimated the inter- val at about two seconds, with which estimate M. Coculesco concurs, There would seem to be good reason to believe that the actual time of the total phase was several seconds less than we had been led to expect. The chronometer observations at Fundium (lat. 14° 7’) gave 243 seconds, M. Bigourdan, who was specially charged by the Bureau des Longitudes to make accurate observa- tions on this point at Joal, which is a few miles to the west of Fundium, and in lat. 14° 9’, informs me that the total phase there was 241 seconds. It is possible, therefore, that Mr, Fowler’s estimate of 10. seconds may not only have been erroneous in consequence of the known difficulty of accurately estimating a time interval 54 NATURE [May 18, 1893 during the exciting conditions of an eclipse, but may also have arisen from the fact that the actual eclipse was shorter than the calculated one, T. E. THorpe. Daylight Meteor, March 18, THIS meteor, reported to NaTURE by Dr. Rorie of Dundee, ‘was also seen by Mr. A. G. Linney at Ackworth, near Ponte- fract. Careful comparison of their records gave a probable path from just S.E. of Lanark to 30 or 40 miles W. of Mull. Notes received later from the Fort William Low Level Obsérvatory make it probable that the end was nearer there, ‘say just N. of Mull. The former gives an actual path of 180 miles, from a height of 140 to 42 miles 3 the latter, 140'miles, ending at a height of 4o miles or less. If Dr. Rorie’s time is correct, it travelled at a rate of 36 or-28 miles per second, both being rapid. This accounts for the magnificent streak. As this floated across to Dundee in three quarters of an hour, the ‘central part must have in that time travelled 95 or 85 miles at a height of 100 to 90 miles above the earth, and in an E.N.E. ‘direction. Thus its velocity seems to have exceeded 100 miles an hour. The Krakatdo dust reached us in the same direction, ‘its greatest height being 30 to 40 miles, and speed 72 miles per hour. A greater speed at greater altitude quite agrees with ‘theoretical probabilities, although the increase seems very great. J. EDMUND CLARK. Roche’s Limit. A LETTER has been addressed by Mr. D. D. Heath to the Editor of NATURE on the statical problem involved in “*G, R.’s” approximate method of finding Roche’s limit, ‘This letter has been submitted to me, and I have thus been led to look more closely into ‘*G, R,’s” proof, which I adopted ina recent letter to NATURE (April 20, 1893, p. 581). Mr. Heath shows that both ‘‘G, R.” and I have omitted the factor 2 from our result, and I now see besides that a statical solution is insufficient for the problem in question. ; The problem may be stated thus :—To find at what distance two equal spheres in contact can revolve in a circular orbit pee a third, the centres of the three spheres being ina straight ine. Take the following notation :—The single sphere of density and unit radius; the two spheres each of unit density and radii x ; c, the distance from the centre of the single sphere to the point of contact of the two; and w the angular velocity of the system. The problem may be rendered statical by introducing the conception of centrifugal force estimated from the centre of inertia of the system, which is also the centre of rotation. The distance of the centre of inertia from the point of contact of the two spheres is cal(o + 27%). Then the three equations, only two of which are independent, which express the equilibrium of the spheres are :— 7 4 ays w| eA irs + r) = Be aes.’ *, a eee aa o+ 27 (+r)? (ar)?? 4 43 «*( “=~ *) rie tha tg o + 273 (c= 72 (ar)? | gee are = 4 glide) E - Bol . 5 G o + 2r° ada (@ + ry ¥ (¢— a Adding the first two of these and dividing by ire and then subtracting the second from the first and dividing by rid we have - ae'( ¢ ) _ 4lc? + +?) a\o+2A) °° (7)? 307 _ ye! 8eo x. (= Ay Eliminating w? we have ele? — 7°)? — 8c2o = 4(c2 + 7°) (o + 274), or & — 2actr? — A120 + 873) + cr4 — gro + 273) = 0 NO. 1229, VOL. 48] a quintic for determining ¢, the approximation to Roche’s lin If the two spheres are infinitely small compared with the single one, this reduces to is :— Isis. Hathor. Nephthys. Ptah. Selkit. Sokhit. » Of these the first two and the last two undoubtedly symbolised stars, and there can be no question that the temple of Isis at the pyramids was built to watch the rising of some of them.® Of Iris and Hathor I have already written at length, and I think the stars are now _ known. The others are more doubtful, but it may be that Ptah = Capella and Selkit = Antares. But it is also stated that at Memphis’ [time mot given] there were temples dedicated to Soutekh and Baal. Now this is of great importance, for I suppose there is now no question among Egyptologists that the ods Set, Sit, Typhon, Bes, Soutekh, Soutkhou are identical. It is also equally well known that Soutekh was a god of the Canaanites* that the hippopotamus, e emblem of Set and Typhon, was the hieroglyph of the Babylonian god Baal,’ and Bes is identified with Set ‘in the book of the dead.” Maspero, of. cit. p. 44, note. 2 Maspero, of. cit. p. 46. , Op. cit. p. 64. Maspero. 4 Not only the bull; there is evidence in favour of the view that the goddess Selk = Antares. If so, the scorpion constellation had also been established, and doth equi marked by constellations in the time of : 5 Maspero, of. cit. p. 64. a <6 temple of Sais, as I have said, had east and west walls, and so had _ Memphis, according to Lepsius. The form of Isis at Sais was the goddess Neith, which, according to some authorities, was the precursor of Athene. _ ‘The temple of Athene at Athens was oriented to the Pleiades. 7 Maspero, of. cit. p. 357. 8 Maspero, of. cit. p. 165. 9 Pierret, p. 4. NO. 1229, VOL. 48] 10 Idem, p. 48. Jensen in his “ Kosmologie der Babylonier,” p, 16, points out that Bil was the name for the pole of the equator. If this be the Baal referred to by Pierret, we get the most marvellous coincidence between the Egyptian and Babylonian star-worship and suggestion of a common origin among an astronomically-minded people. This suggests that the founders of On and Memphis had a common origin, and the Memphitic intrusion took place after solar solstitial worship had been introduced at On. This worship could not have been brought into Egypt from any other country, bordering on Chaldza, and its ultimate predominance is the origin of the myth of Horus slaying the hippopotamus. Nay, it may be also suggested that the predominance was brought about by men and ideas reaching On from the south, so that the myth had a single celestial and a double terrestrial side. The Hawk God of Edffi, Harhouditi, had for servants a number of individuals called Masniou or Masnitiou= blacksmiths, just as the Hawk God of the Delta, Harsiisit, has for his entourage the Shosou Horou. Maspero in a most interesting paper! has recently called attention to some customs still extant among the castes of black- smiths in Central Africa, which have suggested to him that the followers of the Edffi Horus may have come from that province. ; He writes : “ C’est du sud de I’Egypte que les forgerons sont remontés vers le nord, leur siége primitif était le sud de l’Egypte, la partie du pays quia le plus des rapports, avec les régions centrales de l’Afrique et leurs habitants.’ Then after stating the present conditions of these workers in equatorial Africa, where they enjoy a high distinction, he concludes :— “Je pense qu’on peut se représenter |’Horus d’Edfou comme étant au début, dans l'une de ses formes, le chef et le dieu d’une tribu d’ouvriers travaillant le métal, ou plutét travaillant le fer. On ne saurait en effet se dis- simuler qu'il y a une affinité réelle entre le fer et la personne d’Horus en certains mythes. Horus est la face céleste (horou), le ciel, le firmament, et ce firmament est de toute antiquité, un toit de fer, si bien que le fer en prit le nom de ba-ni-pit, métal du ciel, métal dont est formé le ciel: Horus l’ainé, Horus d’Edfou, est donc en réalité un dieu de fer. Il est, de plus, muni de la pique ou de la javeline a point de fer, et les dieux qui lui sont apparentés, Anhouri, Shou, sont de piquiers comme lui, au contraire des dieux du nord de I’Egypte, Ra, Phtah, etc., qui n’ont pas d’armes a l’ordinaire. La légende d’Harhouditi con- quérant |’Egypte avec les masniou serait-elle donc I’écho ointain d’un fait qui se serait passé au temps antérieurs a Vhistoire? Quelque chose comme Jl’arrivée des Espagnols au milieu des populations du Nouveau Monde, Yirruption en Egypte de tribus connaissant et employ- ant le fer, ayant parmi elles une caste de forgerons et apportant le culte d’un dieu belliqueux qui aurait été un Horus ou se serait confondu avec Horus des premiers Egyptiens pour former Harhouditi. Ces tribus auraient été nécessairement d'origine Africaine et auraient apporté de nouveaux éléments Africains 4 ceux que renfermait déja la civilisation du bas Nil. Les forgerons auraient perdu peu a peu leurs priviléges pour se fondre au reste de la population ; 4 Edfou seulement et dans les villes ov Yon pratiquait le culte de Horus d’Edfou, ils auraient conservé un caracttre sacré et se seraient transformés en un sorte de domesticité religieuse, les masniou du mythe d’Horus, compagnons et serviteurs du dieu guerrier.” 3.—The Work of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties. We have next to consider what happened after the great gap in Egyptian history between the sixth and twelfth dynasties, 3500 B.C.-2851 B.c. (Mariette), from 1 L’ Anthropologie, July-August, 1891, No. 4. 58 NATURE | May 18, 1893 Nitocris to Amenemhat I. Empire. Amenemhat I. built no pyramids, he added no em- bellishments to Memphis ; but he took Heliopolis under his care, and now we first hear of Thebes.! Usertsen I. built no pyramids, he added no embellish- ments to Memphis, but he also took Heliopolis under his care, and added obelisks to the temples, one of which remains to this day. Further, he restored the temple of Osiris at Abydos, and added to the temple of Amen-Ra at Thebes.” Surely it is very noteworthy that the first thing the kings of the twelfth dynasty did was to look after the only three temples in Egypt of which traces exist, which I have shown to have been oriented to the solstice. It is right, however, to remark that there seems to have been a mild recrudescence of pyramid building towards the end of the twelfth dynasty, and immediately preceding the Hyksos period, whether as a precursor of that period or not. Usertsen’s views about his last home have come down to us in a writing by his scribe Mirri : 3— “Mon maitre m’envoya en mission pour lui préparer une grande demeure éternelle. Les couloirset la chambre intérieure étaient en maconnerie et renouvelaient les mer- veilles de construction des dieux. Il y eut en elle des colonnes, sculptées, belles comme le ciel, un bassin creusé qui communiquait avec le Nil, des portes, des obélisques, une facade en pierre de Rouou.” There was nothing pyramidal about this idea, but 150 years later we find Amenemhat III. returning both to the gigantic irrigation works and the pyramid building of the earlier dynasties. The scene of these labours was the Fayyfim, where, to crown the new work, two ornamental pyramids were built, surmounted by statues, and finally the king himself was buried in a pyramid near the Labyrinth. We pass to the Middle 4.—The Work of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The blank in Egyptian history between the twelfth and eighteenth dynasties is known to have been asso- ciated with the intrusion of the so-called Hyksos. It is supposed these made their way into Egypt from the countries in and to the west of Mesopotamia. It is known that they settled in the cities with east and west walls. They were finally driven out by Aahmes, the king of solstitial solar Thebes, who began the eighteenth dynasty, In (a) Ihave shown what happened after the first great break in Egyptian history —a resuscitation of the solstitial worship at On, Abydos and Thebes. I have next to show that precisely the same thing hap- pened after the Hyksos period (Dyn. 13 (?). Mariette, 2233 Brugsch; Dyn. 18, 1703 B.C, Mariette) had dis- turbed history for some 500 years. It is known from the papyrus Sellier (G.C. 257) that Aahmes, the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, who re- established the independence of Egypt, was in reality fighting the priests of Soutekh in favour of the priests of Amen Ra, the solstitial solar god, a modern repre- sentative of Atmu of On. “Amen-Ra was the successor of Menthu, the successor of Atmu of On. So close was the new worship to the oldest at On, that at the highest point of Theban power the third priest of Amen tock the same titles as the Grand Priest of On, “who was the head of the first priesthood in Egypt.”* The “Grand Priest of On,” who was also called the “‘ Great Observer of R&A and Atmu,” had the privilege of entering at all times into the Hadvenden or Naos. The priest Padouamen, whose mummy was found in 1891, bore these among his other titles. 1 Maspero, of. cét., p. 112. 2 Maspern, of. cit. p. 112. 3 Maspero, of. cit. p. 113. 4 Virey, New Gizeh Catalogue, p, 263. NO. 1229, VOL. 48] The assumption of the title was not only to associate the Theban priesthood with their northern con/réres, but — surely i proclaim that the old On worship was completely restored. x 5.—The Work of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. i There was another invasion from Syria, which founded — the twenty-second dynasty, and again the government is — carried on in cities with east and west walls (Sais, Tanis, — and Bubastis). The solstitial solar priests of Thebes withdraw to Ethiopia. They return, however in 700 B.C., _ drive out the Syrian invaders, and, under Shabaka and 4 Taharga, found a dynasty (the twenty-fifth) at Thebes, and embellish the solstitial solar temples there. 6.—Anthropological Evidence. 4 [t will be seen then that a general survey of Egyptian — history does suggest conflict between two races, and this — of course goes to strengthen the view that the temple — building phenomena suggest two different. worships, — depending upon race distinctions. ; oe We have next to ask if there is any anthropological — evidence at our disposal, It so happens that Virchow — has directed his attention to this very point.* 4 Premising that a strong race distinction is recognised — between peoples having brachycephalic or short, and — dolicocephalic or long, skulls, and that the African races — belong to the latter group, I may give the following ex- — tract from his paper :— a “ The craniological type in the Ancient Empire was — different from that in the middle and new. e skulls — from the Ancient Empire are brachycephalic, those from — the new and of the present day are either dolichocephalic — or mesaticephalic ; the difference is therefore at least as — great as that between the dolichocephalic skulls of the — Frankish graves and the predominantly brachycephalic — skulls of the present population of South Germany. 1 do ~ not deny that we have hitherto had at our disposal only — a very limited number of skulls from the Ancient Empire, — which have been certainly determined; that therefore — the question whether the brachycephalic skull-type — deduced from these was the general or at least the pre-— dominant one cannot yet be answered with certainty, but — I may appeal to the fact that the sculptors of the Ancient - Empire made the brachycephalic type the basis of their works of art too.” It will be seen, then, that the anthropological as well as the historical evidence runs on all fours with the re- — sults to be obtained from such a study of the old astronomy ~ as the temples afford us. i J. NORMAN LOCKYER.) NOTES. ON Monday, May 29, the Duke of Connaught will open the — new engineering and electrical laboratories at University Col- lege, London. e “yd 4 in May 18, 1393] NATURE 6r 2°21. As thesimplest type of nitrogen compound ammonia is next considered, in which the three affinitiesof the nitrogen attached by single linkage to the three hydrogen atoms. [he molecular refraction of ammonia calculated from its refrac- _ tive index is 5°65. Now, if it is admitted that the hydrogen in is simple compound possesses the same atomic refraction (1°05 _ for sodium light) as in the free state and in other ordinary com- % ions, an admission in support of which Prof. Briihl has _ previously adduced a considerable amount of experimental evidence, then the atomic refraction of the nitrogen in ammonia ‘is 2°50. The compounds of nitrogen with oxygen are next dis- _ cussed. The atomic refraction of oxygen for sodium light is _ 2°05, the molecular refraction of the free gas O, being 409. If one calculates the molecular refraction of nitric oxide, NO, by adding together the atomic refractions of the gaseous elements 2°21 and 2'05, the number 4:26 is obtained. It is interesting to find that the molecular refraction of nitric oxide, calculated from the values obtained experimentally by Dulong and by Mascart for the refractive index of the gas, is very nearly the same, 4°47. Hence in nitric oxide both elements retain about the same re- fractive power as in the free state. The case of nitrous oxide, N,O, however, is quite different and leads to an interesting con- clusion. Its molecular refraction calculated from the observed refractive index of the gas is 7°58. The value, however, obtained __ bysummation of the values of its components, 2 x 2'21 and 2°05, is only 6°47. The very considerable increase of 1°11 is due to the fact that we are here dealing with a case of double N=N linkage, Ss the two nitrogen atoms being mutually attached __ by two of their affinities. Indeed the increase is probably more _ than this, forthe atomic refraction of oxygen in organic compounds of this type has been found by Prof. Briihl to be less than the _ value above ascribed to it, The atomic refraction of the nitrogen in N,O is therefore at least 2°77. It is thus found that nitrogen _ as singly linked in ammonia possesses an atomic refraction of _ 2°50, when doubly linked, as in nitrous oxide, 2°77, and when _ trebly linked, as it probably is in the free gas, 2°21. The value therefore increases with double linkage, but curiously enough di- minishes again with treble linkage, unlike that of carbon, which still further increases with treble linkage, and showing that there is some very essential difference between the nature of the two _élements. Prof. Briihl concludes his interesting paper by dis- cussing the various values of nitrogen when combined with car- bon. When it is attached with only one of its valencies to a _ carbon atom, as in the tertiary amines, its atomic refraction is : found to be 2°90, a very high value, higher than that of the _ diazo nitrogen in nitrous oxide. When doubly linked to carbon, _ C: N, as in the oxims, there is a much larger increase still, the exact amount of which Prof, Briihl prefers to state after carrying out further determinations on a larger number of compounds. Tn case of cyanogen gas, N: C °C : N, where triple linkage of rogen occurs, there is alsoa very considerable increment 52) in refraction. In the case of hydrocyanic acid, however, the molecular refraction corresponds almost exactly with that _ calculated from the empirical formula HCN, showing that the _ ¢yanogen in this compound and in cyanogen gas are quite _ different in molecular structure, a point which Prof, Briihl hopes further to elucidate by observations of the refraction of the nitriles afc other allied organic nitrogen compounds, _ £rratum.—In our chemical note of last week (p. 39) SObl, and Hbl should read SOCI, and HCl. q _Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. — Last week’s captures include the Anthozoa Gorgonia verrucosa and Caryophyllia Smithii, the Nemertine Drepanophorus | Tubrostriatus, the Mollusca Sepia rupellaria (= biserialis), NO. (229. VOL 48, J Galtin« tricolor and Antiopa cristata, and the Ascidians Cored/a larveformis and Fragarium elegans. Several swarms of the medusa Odelia lucifera, full-grown and mature, were taken in the townets during the latter half of the week. Polychxte larvee, so abundant earlier in the year, are now very scarce. Zozwe of Porcellana, on the other hand, have increased in numbers, and every townetting contains a variety of Decapod larvee in different stages of development. The Hydroids Zu- dendrium capillare and Antennularia antennina, and the Poly- cheete Sadellaria spinulosa are now breeding. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Red-winged Parrakeets (Aprosmictus erythropterus, 2 2) from Australia, presented by Mr. H. Good- child ; two Ravens (Corvus corax) British, presented by Mr, Philip A, Wilkins; a Ducorp’s Cockatoo (Cacatua ducorpst) from the Solomon Islands, presented by Mr. R. Armitage; a Changeable Lizard (Ca/otes versicolor) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. H. L. Gibbs ; a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii) from South Africa, a Common Peafowl (Pavo cristatus, §) from India, deposited; a Yellow-cheeked Lemur (Lemur xantho- | mystox) from Madagascar, eleven Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis) South European, purchased ; a Senegal Touracon (Corythaix » persa) from West Africa, received in exchange ; a Japanese Deer (Cervus sika) born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE GREATEST BRILLIANCY OF VENUS.—Dr. G. Miller, whose work on the brightness of the major and some of the minor planets we referred to in this column two weeks ago (p. 15) contributes to Astronomischen Nachrichten, No. 3162, some interesting results with reference to the greatest brilliancy of Venus. That this planet does not appear brightest at -the time of conjunction, but some days before or after, has been | shown by the work of Halley, Lambert, &c., and the values, as obtained from their formule, are :— The greatest brilliancy occurs at . No. of days before Greatest ae © pg Elongation. eeanee ine doy Wwilliancy. Halley 117 56 39 43 36. ss 4263 Lambert 103 46 44 38 51 2°126 Bremiker ... 115 15 40 52 39 Hea obi Seeliger 116 0 4° 33 38 we 3018 Referring to the curves of the observed and computed bright- nesses, as here set forward by Dr. Miiller, several important points may be noticed. In the former the maximum brightness takes place at a phase angle of 119°, decreasing very gradually to 140°, and after that more rapidly. At the maximum the curve is moderately flat, only a very small variation being noticed between position angle 100° and 140°, a period of 36 days. Dr. Miiller remarks that the statements of epochs given in the astronomical ephemerides have no practical interest. As, an example showing the deviations of the values therein stated from those computed by his formula he works out the next epoch of the greatest brilliancy of Venus, which will be in in- ferior conjunction on February 15, 1894. The values for the brightness and the corresponding times result as follows :— Jan. 9 oh. G.M.T. h = -4°3776 10 ” ” — 4°3798 II ” ” . — 4°3809 12 ery) — 4°3809 Er ts ” ” —4°3802 14... ” ” —4°3782 which give for the epoch of greatest brilliancy January 11, 15h. M.T.G. The times of epoch, as given by the ephemerides, are :— Berliner Ast. Fahriuch «1 «. Jan. 8 16h, M,T.G, Nautical Almanac... 61. see ae Ir Bee Connaissance des Temps 12 j 4 ei Finiay’s Pertopic CoMET.—This comet, which. was dis- covered by Finlay in 1886, is one, if not the only one, of the 62 NATURE [May 18, 1893 periodic comets due this year. The following is a search ephe- meris for the present month for intervals of four days :— 1893. R.A, Decl. h m. s. Se May 20 23 48 12 -4 24 a4 Oo 5 24 —2 34 28 © 22 57 -0 40 June 1 © 40 53 +1 16 L’ Astronomie FOR May.—This number commences with the that it must also be concerned in the action of the human brain. _ The mechanisms of the “‘ five gateways of sense” have been _-worked out by anatomists and physicists, but their researches "are incompetent to declare how the impressions sent along the nerves at last reveal themselves as images or perceptions in the mind. Lord Kelvin hasdiscoursed on this matter ; he has sug- ed the existence of a magnetic sense, and has shown that ie mind may be influenced independently of the recognised organs of perception. There are undoubtedly occult pheno- mena which can only be accounted for by the supposition that -one mind can interact upon another, even as Mr. Preece’s el wires acted on each other. Setting aside the immense amount of calculated delusion and rimperfect observations which has characterised animal mag- netism, clairvoyance, &c., though probably not more than sastrology, necromancy, transmutation of metals, and other de- lusions, hampered the early advance of physical and chemical science, there still remains a substantial amount of authentic ‘fact on which argument may be founded. Prof. Oliver Lodge ‘drew attention to the matter in his Presidential Address to section A at the meeting of the British Association in Cardiff in 1891, and in the opinion of that acute investigator the subject ‘seems to deserve the attention of scientific societies. : It is less than fifty years since the nature of epidemics and *the mode of their propagation seemed to be beyond the reach -of human comprehension, and when Pasteur commenced his classic investigations into the causes of fermentation and of «contagious disease, no one, I presume, thought that such an -abstruse study as bacteriology could ever be of the least interest _ sto engineers, nor would they have thought that the controversy _ srelating to spontaneous generation, which raged so fiercely only -a few years ago, could have influenced the science to which oy were devoted. ‘But the triumphant demonstrations of Pasteur, of Lister, of _ Burdon Saunderson, of Tyndall, and of many other workers at home and abroad have shown that there is no such thing as _ ‘spontaneous generation ; that zymotic diseases, those scourges of animal and vegetable life, are caused by living organisms _ -whose modes of propagation and of travel are being eagerly studied, and are day by day being better understood ; they have ~shown that we are no longer fighting at random against an un- known and covert enemy, but are face to face with a subtle foe, whose tactics we are rapidly learning to understand. We have -discovered that his best allies are to be found in the carelessness of his victims as to cleanliness, to drainage, and water supply, -and that his most formidable enemy is the engineer, who, ‘being guided by the abstract investigations of the biologist and the chemist, can select with certainty the most fitting source of potable water, and can get rid of the sewage of centres of population, not only without inflicting injury on the surrounding ‘community, but very often actually benefiting them by removing xisting sources of pollution and by increasing the productive- ness of the soil, _ But not alone in sanitary matters has bacteriology produced profitable results ; it may truly be said that the great industries of brewing, of wine and vinegar-making, and many other _ manufactures, have been placed on a sound footing by the “knowledge we now possess of the occult action of ferments and of bacteria; and even in agriculture the true nature of the operations which take place in soil, by which the nitrogenous food of plants is rendered capable of assimilation, is one of the triumphs of the research of these our days. Schloesing, _ Miintz, Pasteur, Munro, Perqy Frankland, and others, have “shown that one of the most important of plant-foods in the soil is nitric acid, and that this substance is elaborated from | ammonia by the action of minute living organisms. The ngular fact has been demonstrated that the work’ is per- by a system of division of labour, one kind bacterium converting the ammonia into nitrous acid and NO. 1229, VOL. 48] declining to do any more, when another species takes up the work and produces nitric acid, which presents the nitrogen in a form which can be assimilated by the plant. ‘* Not only,” to use the words of Dr. P. Frankland, ‘‘ is this process of nitrifi- cation going on in the fertile soils, but enormous accumulations of the products of the activity of these minute organisms in the shape of nitrate of soda are found in the rainless districts of Chili and Peru, from whence the Chili saltpetre, as it is called, is exported in vast quantities, more especially to fertilise the overtaxed soils of Europe!” But more than that, long and patient research has established the fact that, in certain of the legumenous plants, the same microscopic agency acting in the roots endows them with the power of assimilating the nitrogen of the atmosphere, and by that means makes them the instru- ments for actually enriching the soil instead of exhausting it. I have already alluded to the circumstance that the engineer cannot be satisfied with vague statements or with mere abstract opinions. The very nature of his calling implies action ; he has to construct, his works must be stable, his machinery must act, his estimates of cost and of the consequences of his operations must come true, and hence he has to make a close alliance with that most fascinating and fruitful of the sciences—mathematics. It is not given to many to possess the peculiar aptitude which leads up to the highest investigation, but neither has the engineer often need of anything deeper than almost elementary knowledge, especially if he gets into the habit of working out the problems that come before him by the graphic methods which are now so assiduously cultivated, and if he will realise that slovenliness in the matter of calculations commonly leads to disastrous results, Though his attainments may not be high, and though disuse may have made it difficult to wield the power which knowledge, early acquired, once gave him, yet he can always appreciate and put his faith in the great minds which delight in subjecting the theories of physicists to the rigid test of mathe- matical analysis, and thereby stamping them with the seal of irrefragable fact. One great quality he must possess, especially in these days when numerous science colleges have rendered high mathema- tical training of easy access—and that is common sense. There is a tendency among the young and inexperienced to put blind faith in formule, forgetting that most of them are based upon premises which are not accurately reproduced in practice, and which, in any case, are frequently unable to take into account collateral disturbances, which only observation and experience can fore- see, and common sense provide against. I have endeavoured to show how the history of abstract science, by which I intend to designate the history of researches entered into for the sole purpose of acquiring knowledge of the operations of Nature and of her laws, without any thought of reward, or expectation of pecuniary advantage, has had its reflex in the records of the engineering profession, and how the most recondite investigations, apparently unlikely to have any direct influence on our practice, have, in course of time, become of cardinal importance. I have also ventured to point out how, in these days, the engineer must banish from his mind the idea that anything can be too small or too trifling to deserve his attention. ‘‘ Nothing is too small for the great man,” is, I am told, written over the cottage once occupied by Peter the Great at Saardam. The truth embodied in that legend should ever dwell in our minds ; for success, I am persuaded, lies largely in close attention to details. ‘ The discourse concluded by a warm tribute to the merits of the old servant of the Institute who had established the lecture- ship. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—It is proposed to appoint a Syndicate for the purpose of considering the desirability of establishing an ex- amination in agricultural science, open to all trained students, whether members of the University or not. The successful candidates in such an examination would receive a University diploma similar to the existing diploma in Public Health, It is understood that this plan has received the approval of the Royal Agricultural Society and the Board of Agriculture, These bodies, and certain of the County Councils, have further agreed to, subsidise a scheme for the regular instruction within the University of candidates for the examination if it be established. 70 NATURE SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American, Fournal of Science, May.—Deportment of char- coal with the halogens, nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen, by W. G. Mixter. The tenacity with which charcoal retains hydrogen even after ignition in chlorine makes it difficult to decide whether certain gases absorbed by charcoal are occluded or chemically combined with it. Experiments performed on sugar-charcoal, gas carbon, and ‘* Diamond Black,” a variety oflampblack derived from natural gas, indicate that chlorine does combine with charcoal, but that the combination is brought about by a replacement of the hydrogen. Pure native diamond and graphite do not take up chlorine, while iodine and bromine are not absorbed even by impure charcoal. Nearly pure amorphous carbon takes up but little sulphur, while a soft charcoal containing much hydrogen and oxygen combines with a considerable amount, taking it up even from carbon bisulphide.—Note on some volcanic rocks from Gough’s Island, South Atlantic, by L. V. Pirsson. An examination of beach pebbles from the shores of this craggy island, 240 miles S.E. of Tristan da Cunha, establishes its recent volcanic nature, and thus adds one more to the line of mid-Atlantic volcanoes which, sweeping southward through the Azores, Cape Verde Islands, Ascension, St. Helena, and Gough’s Island, terminates on Bouvet Island on the confines of the Antarctic Ocean.—The influence of free nitric acid and aqua-regia on the precipitation of barium as sulphate, by Philipp E. Browning. In the presence of nitric acid to the extent of 5 per cent. very little solvent action is shown, and the sulphate may be safely filtered after an hour’s time. Even with 20 to 25 per cent. the solubility does not exceed o’0oI grm. on the average. Aqua regia has even less solvent effect, and the presence of ten per cent. of either is a positive advantage since it gives the precipitated sulphate a coarsely crystalline form.—On a rose-coloured lime-and-alumina bearing variety of talc, by Wm. H. Hobbs. A talcose mineral was found developed in some specimens of white crystalline dolomite from Canaan, Conn., on lines evidently corresponding to fracture planes in the rock. One of the specimens had a deep rose colour, the other was nearly white, having lost its colour by exposure to light. The mineral was shown to belon: to the talc family by its chemical composition and its physical properties, but it differed from known varieties by its colour, its high percentages of lime and alumina, its low fusibility, and by its being easily decomposed by acids,—Also papers by Messrs. A. M. Edwards, A. W. Whitney, S. T. Moreland, S. L. Penfield, N. H. Darton, and M. I. Pupin, Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, vol. ii. No. 7 (New York, April 1893).—The contents are a review, by J. Harkness, of Prof. Greenhill’s ‘The Applications of Elliptic Functions” (pp. 151-57), in which, though there is much ap- preciative commendation, there is also the amari aliguid to add pungency to the criticism.—Next comes a further contribution, the third, on the non-Euclidian Geometry (pp. 158-61), this time by Prof. W. Woolsey Johnson.—The. remaining articles area notice of the Lehrbuch der Ausgleichsrechnung nach der Methode der Kleinsten Quadrate of Dr. Bobek, and the theory of errors and method of least squares of W. Woolsey Johnson, by Mansfield Merriman (pp. 162-63) ; and two notes (1) on the definition of logarithms (i.e. the definition given. by Prof. Stringham in the Amer. Fourn. of Math., vol. xiv.), by Prof. Haskell ; (2) a note on the preceding note, by Prof. Stringham (pp. 164—70).—The number closes with general nutes and list of new publications. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Lonpon, Royal Society, March 9.—‘‘ The Electrolysis of Steam.” By J. J. Thomson, M.A., F.R.S., Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics in the University of Cambridge. The following explanation of the results of the experiments seems to the author to be that which agrees best with preceding investigations. When an electric discharge passes through a gas the proper- ties of the gas in the neighbourhood of the line of discharge are modified. Thus, as Hittorf and Schuster have shown, the gas in the neighbourhood of the discharge is no longer an insulator, but can transmit a current under a very small potential difference. Faraday’s remark, that when once a spark has passed through a NO. 1229, VOL. 48] [May 18, 1893 gas the passage of another following it immediately afterwards is very much facilitated, is another example of the same thir We have thus good reasons for believing that when a =a passes.through.a gas it produces a supply of a modification the gas, whose conductivity is enormously greater than that. the original gas. I have shown (‘ Phil. Mag.,’ November 1891) that the conductivity of this modified gas is comparable | a that of strong solutions of electrolytes. When the discharg stops, this modified gas goes back to its original condition. bia now. the discharges through the gas follow each other so rapidly _ that the; modified’ gas produced by one discharge has not time to turn to its original condition before the next discharge pass the successive discharges will pass through this modified gas, If, on the other hand, the gas has time to revert to its original con dition before the next discharge passes, then the discharges pass. _ through the unmodified gas; we regard this as being accom- plished by means of successive decompositions and recombi tions of its molecules, analogous to those which, on Grot ou theory of electrolysis, occur when a current passes through am electrolyte. We regard the arc discharge as corresponding to the first — of the preceding cases where the discharge passes through the- modified gas, the spark discharge corresponding to the second? — when the discharge goes through the gas in its unmodified con- dition. : From this point of view, the explanation of the results of the — experiments on the electrolysis of steam are very simple. The modified gas produced by the passage of the discharge through the steam consists of a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, these : gases being in the same condition as when the arc discharge asses through hydrogen and oxygen respectively, when, as we ave seen, the hydrogen. behaves as if it had a negative charge, — the ovygen as if it had a positive one, Thus, inthe case of the arc in steam, the oxygen, since it behaves as if it had a_ positive charge, will go to the negative, while the h behaving as if it had a negative charge, will go to the positive- electrode. We saw that this separation of the hydrogen and oxygen took place. The correspondence between the quantities of hydrogen and’ oxygen from the electrolysis of the steam and those liberated by- the electrolysis of water shows that the charges on the atoms. of the modified oxygen and hydrogen are the same in ge but the opposite in sign to those we ascribe to them in ordinary — electrolytes. : In the case of the long sparks where the discharge goes through the steam, since the molecule of steam consists of tivo- positively charged hydrogen atoms and one negatively charged oxygen one, when the molecule splits up in the electric fields the hydrogen will go towards the negative, the oxygen towards- the positive, electrode, as in ordinary electrolysis, April 27.—‘‘On the Coloration of the Skins of Fishes, especially of Pleuronectide.” By J. T. Cunningham, M.A Oxon., Naturalist on the Staff of the Marine Biological Associa-- tion, and Charles A. MacMunn, M.A., M.D. Communicat by Prof. E, Ray Lankester, F.R.S. The anatomical analysis of the structural coloration ele: having not previously been adequately carried out, we have cle scribed these elements as they are found in the Pleuronectidee and — various other fishes, In the former family there are two kinds of — chromatophores, the black and the coloured, the latter usually of some shade of yellow or orange. The.coloured elements in the skin on the upper side are chiefly developed in the more — superficial layer immediately beneath the epidermis and for th most part outside the scales, and on the inner side of the skinin the subcutaneous tissue, the rest of the skin being almost destitute of these elements. In the superficial layer the iridocytes are- somewhat polygonal plates of irregular shape, distributed uniformly, and separated by small interspaces. The chromato-— phores are much larger, and farther apart, and are superficial to- the iridocytes, although sections show that their processes often pass down between adjacent iridocytes. The coloured chromato-- phores have less definite outlines than the black, and as a rule — radiating processes are but indistinctly indicated in them, he external part of the coloured chromatophore consists of diffused yellow pigment, while in the centre the concentration of the- pigment produces a deeper colour, varying from orange to red, — as in the plaice and flounder. On the upper side of the fish the subcutaneous coloration elements are quite similar, but not uniformly ‘distributed ; the iridocytes are larger, and the= chromatophores not so symmetrical in shape. ‘ May 18, 1893] NATURE 71 The lower side of the normal flounder is uniformly opaque white, like chalk. Here in the more superficial part of the skin _ theré is a uniform laver of iridocytes like those of the tipper side, opaque and reflecting, but not very silvery or iridescent. Chromatophores are entirely absent. In the subcutaneous layer _ there is a continuous deposit of reflecting tissue, to which the whiteness of the skin is due, the superficial iridocytes not being sufficiently thick to make the skin so opaque. q We have shown by descriptions of the coloration elements in a number of species of symmetrical fishes such as mackerel, whiting, gurnard, Cottus, pipe-fishes, &c., that the general dis- tribution of the elements is constant in all, the differences being in minute details. : ‘In chemical and physical properties the substances. contained in the coloration elements are as distinct as the elements are in _ appearance and form. The black chromatophores owe their colour to a melanin which is granular in its natural condition, is a‘nitrogenous body, and is very refractory towards reagents. ‘The pigment of the coloured chromatophores is always a lipo- chrome, and the absorption bands of the various lipochromes obtained from the fishes examined do not differ to any great degree. The reflecting tissue was found always to consist of guanin in the pure state, not, as has often been stated, to a «combination of guanin and calcium. These investigations of the elements and substances of color- ation were undertaken in order to find out what exactly took jlace when coloration was developed on the lower sidé’ of Boutiders in certain experiments carried on at the Plymouth Laboratory since the spring of 1890. he first experi- ment was not quite conclusive, although some pigmént was found on the lower sides of the fish after an exposure to light of four months. The sécond experiment was quite con- elusive. Four floundets were taken on September 17, 2890, from a number réared in the aquarium since the preceding May: they were five to six months old, and 5 to 8 cm. in length. They had been livingunder ordinary conditions, and were in all respects normal, having no colour on the lower sides, They were placed in the vessel above the mirror. On one of these, two faint specks of pigment were observed on April 26, 1891, one died on the following July 1, which showed no pigment, and one on September 26, 1891. The latter was 46°7 cm. long and showed only a little pigment on the posterior part of the operculum. At this time one of the two survivors had developed pigment all over the external regions of the lower side, and the other had a few small spots. The first of these two is still alive (March, 1893), being now three years old, and it isnow pigmented over the whole of the lower side except small areas on the head and the base of the tail. A drawing showing its condition in November, 1891, was exhibited at the soirée of the Royal Society in i892, and is laid before the Society with this paper. Thé other specimen died on July 4, 1892. It was then 25 cm. long and had a good deal of pigment in scattered spots on the lower side. This specimen had been exposed about ‘one year and ten months. Several other experiments gave similar results. The occurrence of abnormal coloration in pleuronectids is fully considered in the memoir ; a large number of specimens are described, and it is shown that there is no evidence whatever that these specimens have been exposed to abnormal conditions. We conclude that these abnormalities are congenital and not acquired. We conclude that exposure to light doés actually catise the ‘development of pigment in the form of normal chromatophores on the lower side of the flounder, and also causes the absorption of the argenteum to a-great extent. We infer, inspite of the occurence of congenital abnormalities, that the exclusion of the light from the lower sides of flat fishes is the cause of the absence of pigment from that side in normal specimens. We think that the fact that the metamorphosis of the flounder takes place at first normally, in spite of the light coming from below and being shut off from above, is, in respect of the pigmentation, in favour of the inheritance of acquired characters. When the exposure is con- tinued long enough, the change that has taken place in con- sequence of heredity is reversed, and pigment appears. We consider that these investigations afford support to the view that the incidence of light is the reason why the upper and dorsal surface of'animals is more strongly pigmented than the lower or ventral throughout the animal kingdom, and that the absence of light is the cause of the disappearance of pigment in many cavé-inhabiting and subterranean animals, NO. 1229, VOL. 48] Zoological Society, May 2.—Sir W. H. Flower, F.R.S., President, in the Chair.—The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of April ; and called special attention to a young male Orang (Simza satyrus) brought home from Singapore, and pre- sented by Thomas Workman, Esq. ; a White-bellied Hedge- hog (Zrinaceus albiventer) from Somaliland, presented by H. W. Seton-Kerr ; and a female Gibbon (Hy/obates mueller?) brought home from North Borneo, and presented by Leicester P. Beaufort.—The Secretary laid on the table a list of the exact dates of the issue of the sheets of the Society’s ‘* Proceedings ” from 1831 to 1859, concerning which information had lately been applied for.—Mr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., made some re- marks on the occasional protrusion of the cloaca in the Vasa Parrot at certain seasons.—Mr. Sclater also read some further notes on the Monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus, and called special attention to C. doutourlinii, Giglioli, from Kaffa, Abys- sinia, of which he had lately examined specimens in the Zoo- logical Museum of Florence, and which he considered to be a perfectly valid species. —Mr. M. F. Woodward read a paper (the first of a series) entitled ‘‘ Contributions to the Study of Mam- malian Dentition.” In the present communication the author treated of the dentition of the Macropodidee, and described the presence of a number of vestigial incisors. He also showed that the tooth generally regarded as the successor to the fourth pre- molar was, in reality, a distinct tooth, and that the molars in this family of Marsupials belonged to the second dentition. —Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., read a description of two specimens of a Stag from Central Tibet, belonging to the Ela- phine group, on which he proposed to found a new species, Cervus thoreldi. These specimens had been obtained by Dr. W. G. Thorold about 200 miles north-east of Lhasa, at an ele- vation of 13,500 feet above the sea-level, during his late adven- turous journey through Tibet in company with Capt. Bauer. Royal Microscopical Society, April 19,—A. D. Michael, President, in the Chair.—Mr. E, M. Nelson exhibited and described a mirror to be used instead of the camera lucida for the purpose of reflecting the real image from the microscope for drawing.—Mr, C. Rousselet exhibited a compressorium, the great advantage of which was that it enabled the object to be seen in every part of the field.—Mr. R. Macer exhibited and described a reversible compressorium which he thought might be useful,—Dr. G. P. Bate reada note on the illumination of diatoms by light reflected from the cover-glass in such a way as to produce a white ground illumination.—A letter from Captain Montgomery, describing the abandance of ticks in the coast lands of Natal, was read by Prof. Bell.—Mr. H. M. Bernard gave a résumé of his paper on the digestive processes in Arachnids.—Prof. Bell said that Mr. Bernard had made it appear probable that digestion was not confined to the digestive tract as usually understood, and in that case it might be that they were at the beginning of a series of observations which might throw a new light upon the processes of digestion. —The President said he had never worked much on these groups except amongst the Acarina. It was a curious thing that the distribu- tion of the crystals referred to by Mr. Bernard was by no means the same in different families of the Acarina ; in the majority of cases they lie outside the canal altogether, and are not found inside until they reach the hind gut. In the Gamaside they are poured into the cloaca. On the other hand there are families, such as the Tyroglyphidz, where the crystals apparently never enter the hind gut at all, but are spread through the general body cavity. In the Oribatide a medium course seems to hold good, it being very difficult to ascertain where they enter the hind gut. Whilst in the Trombidide they seem to enter in a definite channel down the centre of the back.—Mr. F, Chapman read a fourth paper on the Foraminifera of the Gault of Folkestone.—Prof. D’Arcy Thompson’s paper on a Tzenia from an Echidna was read by Prof. Bell.—Mr. C. H. Gill called attention to some pure cultivations of Diatums which he exhibited. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, May 1.—Sir Douglas Maclagan, Presi- dent, in the Chair.—A paper by Mr. John Aitken, on breath «figures, was read. These figures are generally pro- duced by breathing upon a piece of glass, on opposite sides of which two coins, or a coin and a piece of metal, have been placed, and have been oppositely electrified to high potentials. An image of the coin is thus developed. It appeared to the author 72 NATURE [May 18, 1893 | that these figures depended on the presence of dust, or other impurities on the surface of the glass,and that similar effects might be produced by means ofheat, The results of his experiments verified his conjecture and showed that dust has an effect on the formation of some kinds of breath figures.—A paper, communi- cated by Mr, H. B. Stocks, on some concretions from coal measures, and the fossil plants which they contain, was read, The concretions are found at Halifax, Yorkshire, and at Oldham, Lancashire, They are called ‘‘ coal-balls’’ by the miners, and are found in a bed, belonging to the lower coal measures, above a stratum containing marine shells. The chief constituents are carbonate of lime andiron pyrites. The remains of plants which the balls contain are wonderfully preserved, every cell being well defined. Often the nodule is a mass of fosil wood, with a thin mineral coating. The author thinks that the bed has been formed in shallow water near the sea coast, the process of forma- tion being similar to that now going on in the mangrove swamps of South America.—Lord Maclaren communicated a paper on the general eliminant of three equations of different degrees, Paris. Academy of Sciences, May 8.—M. Leewy in the chair.— On the equation Aw=e", by M. Emile Picard.—On an objec- tion to the Kinetic theory of gases, by M. H. Poincaré. If, in equation 75 of the theory of adiabatic expansion, Maxwell had made Q=¢ instead of =@, as he ought to have done, since Q is a function of «+, v+n, w+, he would have obtained the formula dp _§ dp 2 Oe where # is the pressure and p the density. This formula is not in accordance with experiment, but is a legitimate conclusion from the kinetic theory, Another error is pointed out in the theory of the conductivity of gases, where Maxwell’s formula K=—y ought to have been K= 3», For air, the experimental value is 56 x 1078, the calculated value from Maxwell’s formula 54x 10-°, and the value calculated from the corrected formula 81 x 107®,—-Shooting stars and fluctuations of latitude, by M. d’Abbadie.—On a new type of phosphorites, by M. Armand Gautier.—On a general case in which the problem of the rota- tion of a solid body admits of integrals expressible by means of uniform functions, by M. Hugo Gyldén.—The surmulot in the ancient western world, by M. A, Pomel, From evidence furnished by archeological excavations carried out by Prof, Waille at Cherchell, on the coast of Algiers, it appears that the surmulot or Norway rat, A/us decumanus, lived there at the time of the Roman occupation, instead of invading Europe from India in the middle of the eighteenth century. There appears to be no doubt that the remains found were contemporary with the Roman settlement of Julia Czesarea.—Mr. Rowland was elected correspondent for the section of physics in the place of the late M. Soret.—Researches on the formation of the planets and satellites, by M. E. Rodger.—Solar observations of the first quarter of 1893, by M. Tacchini.—On isothermal surfaces with plane lines of curvature in one or both systems, by M. P. Adam,—On the transcendentality of the number ¢, by M. Gordan.—On an application of the theory of Lie’s groups, by M. Drach.—On the limitation of degree for algebraic integrals of the differential equation of the first order, by M. Autonne,— On a theorem relating to the transformation of algebraic curves, by M. Simart.—On a class of dynamical problems, by M. Goursat.—Remarks on the specific heat of carbon, by M. H, Le Chatelier. Recent experiments conducted by MM. Euchéne and Biju-Duval, engineers to the Parisian Gas Company, place beyond doubt the conclusion arrived at by M. Monckman, that the specific heat of carbon does not asymptotically approach a certain value as the temperature rises. A large number of experiments show that the specific heat of graphite increases between 250° and 1000° in a manner rigorously proportional to the temperature. For temperatures between 0° and 250° the atomic heat ¢ = 1°92 + 0°0077¢, and between 250° and 1000° ¢ = 3°54 + 0'00246¢.—Electric interferences produced in a liquid lamina, by M. R. Colson.—On the flame-spectra of some metals, by M. Denys Cochin.—An attempt at a general method of chemical synthesis, by M. Raoul Pictet.—On the basicity and the functions of manganous acid, by M. G, Rousseau.—On the con- stitution of licareol, by M. Ph. Barbier. —On aluminium chloride NO. 1229, VOL. 48] syntheses, by M. P. Genvresse.x—On a liquid isomer of hydrocamphene, by M. L. Bouveault.—On the chemical com- position of essence of Niaouli, by M. G. Bertrand.—Methodical moulding of glass, by M. Léon Appert.—On basic nephelin: rocks of the Central Plateau of France, by M, A. Lacroix.—— On.the quantities of water contained in the arable lands after a _ prolonged drought, by MM. Demoussy and Dumont. The per. centages of water contained in garden earth at depths of o, 25, 50,75, and 100cm, respectively were 4°5, 27°, 24°0, 24°2, and 22°8. One hectare of such soil, 1m. deep, and weighing 12000 tons, would therefore contain 2460 tons of water, while a specimen of open land containing double the amount of fine sand contained only 1400 tons of water.—Comparative toxicity of the blood and the venom of the common toad (Bufo vulgaris), considered from the point of view of the internal secretion of the- cutaneous glands of this animal, by MM. Phisalix and G. Bert- rand.—The pyocyanic bacillus among vegetables, by M. A. Charrin.—Microbian synthesis of tartar and salivary calculus,. by M. V. Galippe. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—Essays on Rural Hygiene: Dr. G. V. Poore (Longmans),—-- — Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and Magnetism: Prof. 7 J. Thomson (Oxford, Clarendon Press).—The Health Resorts of Europe: Dr. T. Linn (Ki ).—Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), vol. 1: G. A. Boulenger (London).—Lehrbuch der otanik, Zweiter Band: Dr. A.>B. |Frank (Leipzig, = Sitzungsberichte der K. b. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. Math. - Naturw. Classe 1892 (Prag).—The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph : H. M. Field (Gay and Bird).—The Mammals of Minnesota: C. L. Herrick ah Soenpalis, Harrison).—U.S. Commission of Fish and Fi: ies ; Commissioner’s Report, 1888 (Washington).—Geology of the Eureka Dis- trict, Nevada, and Atlas to ditto; A. Hague (Washington). Pampuiets.—The Moon's Face: G. K. Gilbert (Westionay = ieee? tions on Karyokinesis in Seiog yee ¢ Dr. J. W. Moll (Amsterdam, Miiller).—The Colours of Cloudy Condensation: Prof. C. Barus.—Beitrage- zur Anatomie holziger und 1 Comp : J. Miiller (Berlin,. Friedlander).—Report on the Climatology of the Cotton Plant: Dr. P. H.- Mell (Washington). SERIALS.—Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, No. 105. of vol. xxii. (Spon).—The Physical Society of London P: ngs, vol. Part 1 (London).—Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Philadelphia, 1892, Part 3 (Philadelphia).—Z hrift fiir haftlich Zoologie, 56 Band, 1 Heft (Williams and Nora ae Jahrbuch, 20 Band, 1 Heft (Williams and Norgate).—Mémoires Sec tion Caucasi de la Société Impériale Russe de Géographie, livre xv. CONTENTS. PAGE Ostwald’s General Chemistry. By J. W. Rodger. . 49 Clark on the Steam-Engine. By N, J. Lockyer. .. 51 A Life of Louis Agassiz. By Prof. T. G. Bonney, EF RiSe 3. Neopet ve > et Re es Our Book Shelf :— : Schenck: ‘‘ Beitrige zur Biologie und Anatomie der Lianen im Besonderen der in Brasilien einheimischen a arten,”—W. B. H. ...... “oem ees Letters to the Editor :— y The Late Solar Eclipse. —Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F,R.S. 53 Daylight Meteor, March 18.—J. Edmund Clark . . 54. Roche’s Limit.—Prof. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S... . 54 The Use of Ants to Aphides and Coccide. —Dr. George J. Romanes, F.R.S. ; Alfred O. Walker .. . i On the Early Temple and Pyramid Builders, By a J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. 2... - ++ e+e + 55 2 WOt68 sc ice tae +) > Our Astronomical Column :— The Greatest Brilliancy of Venus ... Finlay’s Periodic Comet ; L) Astronomie for May ... +++» 52: The Lunar Atmosphere. . . Bulletin Astronomique for April . . .« Geographical Notes .......-.-->s The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. ... The Royal Society Soirée ....-+.+.-+-+-. The Interdependence of Abstract Science Engineering., By Dr. W. Anderson, F.R.S, University and Educational Intelligence. . . Scientific Serials Societies and Academies ....+. +++ Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received. . . ey, ek ON oe Dre eee Sr Vee, ie Ae, et ee POM, Mek een eae NATURE ao THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1893. REASON versus INSTINCT. The Intelligence of Animals. By Charles William Purnell, _ Barrister-at-Law. (Christchurch and Dunedin, N.Z.: _ Whitcombe and Tombs, Limited, 1893.) HIS little work has been written, the author states, in order to awaken public interest in the daily lives of numerous animals which surround us, and to enforce the view that they are not mere lumps of animated clay, ut creatures quickened by the fire of intelligence, and "mentally as well as physically our brethren.. The facts and arguments of modern writers on the subject have been condensed, and the results presented in a way cal- culated to interest the average reader, but always from the somewhat peculiar standpoint of the author. In his own words :—“ The object of this work is, first, to prove that, among animals instinct, as distinguished from intelligence, is non-existent, that, in fact, it is a mere name ; and, secondly, that the intelligence of the higher animals is essentially the same as our own.” After giving the definition of instinct from several writers, he proceeds to discuss the “ Origin of Instincts,” and he attributes it to hereditary habit, apparently un- aware that the hereditary transmission of habits is either doubted or actually denied by a large number of natural- ists. And he does not seem quite clear himself as to the meaning attached to the term, and to the necessity _of excluding in any particular case in which it is alleged to exist, the possible influence of imitation, of physical or mental idiosyncrasies which are admittedly hereditary, and of natural or artificial selection. He considers handwriting to be sometimes hereditary, but does not apparently see that both imitation and inherited muscular _ or nervous peculiarities are almost sure te be present ; Tehile in the case of trained dogs and horses whose acquired habits are supposed to be hereditary, he clearly _ perceives that selection comes in, since he says :—‘‘ We _know precisely how these habits have been acquired. The dogs and horses have been taught them by slow _ degrees ; the animals displaying most aptitude for their acquisition have been carefully selected as breeders, until, finally, the habit has grown into the animal’s mental constitution, and is perpetuated from parent to offspring.” Further on, he tells us that when the beaver builds a ge or constructs a dam, it does so by virtue of the “inherited experiences of its forefathers. Of this there is 10 evidence whatever, while we are told that there is eg of increased skill with age ; so that instruction , and imitation of, the older animals, with progressive ccsecsen through experience, will account for all the facts. __ A considerable portion of the work is occupied by sand arguments directed against the doctrine that € actions of animals emanate from blind instinct, a trine which Mr. Purnell seems to think is almost uni- versally held. When speaking of animals exhibiting joy, ief, love, hatred, pride, shame, revenge, or jealousy, he ids that we cannot conceive of an automaton being NO. 1230, VOL. 48] thus moved. And, after describing the dances of gnats and other insects, and the amusements of ants, he again declares that he cannot believe that these are “ mindless beings no more responsible for their actions than the piston of a steam engine.” Similar remarks are repeated again and again, as if the doctrine of the automatism of animals, instead of a philosopher’s paradox, was the common belief of the educated world. : The author fully adopts the view that animals possess an esthetic sense, admiring beauty of form and colour for its own sake; and he appears to be quite unaware that all the facts he adduces are explicable on the theory that the varied ornaments which we admire as being beautiful in themselves, may be to animals mere signs of the presence of desirable objects. Throughout his chapter on this subject he repeatedly states. as facts, that animals do love beauty; that what delights our eyes delights their eyes also; that they admire the beauty of their fellow’s brilliant colours ; and as an indication that this is so, he urges that the colours of all animals form “harmonious combinations.” The colours may be gaudy or odd, but they “ harmonise well together,” and “a true and perfect harmony does actually prevail in the colours of animals.” This is often asserted, but how can it be proved? Do the glaring colours of the blue and yellow macaw form a harmonious combination? Or those of many of the barbets or chatterers? The colours, con- templated individually, are beautiful, owing to their purity and the delicacy of the glossy surface on which they are exhibited, often presenting the lustre of silk or satin, or the soft texture of velvet, while the rounded contours and delicate gradations of tint are also pleasing. Bu to assert that the combinations of colours are always, or even usually harmonious, in the sense in which we use the term as applied to combinations in a lady’s dress or in the decorations of a room, seems to me to be com- pletely opposed to the facts. Notwithstanding these slight drawbacks, the work is full of interest. Almost every aspect of the subject is touched upon, and the writer often displays much origin- ality in his discussions. We find very interesting chap. ters on the amusements of animals, on their individuality of character, on the education of their young, and on their language ; and if he had confined his statement as to reason versus instinct, to the case of the higher animals, we might have been inclined to acknowledge that his view is the correct one. He does not, however, attempt to show how the theory of reason will apply to the acts of the larve of many insects, which seek special stations and construct special habitations for the pupe, or of the perfect. insects which lay up food for their young with the most admirable foresight and precautions. For these cases he falls back on hereditary habit; but it is difficult to see how this differs from the instinct which at the outset he denies the existence of. Among the most original portions of the book is the chapter “On the Aspect which Man presents to the Lower Animals,” and that on “ The Animal View of the World.” These are not so purely speculative as would appear at first sight, and some very good reasons are advanced for the conclusions arrived at. Mr. Purnell holds very strong views as to the rights of animals. He E 7+ NATURE [May 25, 1893 maintains that we are not justified in destroying them without adequate reasons. ‘‘ The struggle for existence may force us to kill them for food or for our own self preser- vation; but the mere sportsman, and still less, he who |. destroys animals simply in order to display his skill in shooting, can show no moral sanction for his acts.’ And after a strong protest against cruelty to animals, he | adds :—“ Fortunately for us, the memory of the unutter- able wrongs which dumb animals have sustained at man’s hands cannot have been transmitted by them from generation to generation, or assuredly the entire Animal Kingdom would rise up in fierce rebellion against the common oppressor ! ” On the whole, the book is very pleasingly and clearly written ; it is divided into a number of short chapters each treating some well-defined aspect of the question ; it contains examples of the best and most instructive facts illustrative of animal intelligence, and it is pervaded by a feeling of sympathy for the whole of animated nature. It is a pity that it is not issued in a more attractive form, the paper covers being hardly suited for such a book; but it is nevertheless well adapted as an introduction to the study of the subject, and will be especially interesting to those who think highly of the intelligence as opposed to the mere instincts of animals, and who are not afraid to recognise that even in their mental faculties and emotions the lower animals have much in common with ourselves. ALFRED R. WALLACE. OUR BOOK SHELF. The Principles of Agriculture. By G. Fletcher. (Derby : The Central Educational Company, Ld.) THIS little book is essentially a note-book of lectures given by the author, at the instance of the Technical Education Committee of the Derbyshire County Council, to school- masters and others intending to become teachers of agriculture. The syllabus covers the ground usually gone over in such a course, the arrangement of subjects being somewhat similar to that adopted by Fream in his well-known “ Elements.” The book contains, in a small space, a good deal of information, and, at the same time, indicates points with which the student should make him- self acquainted, but which could not be given in detail in a work of this kind. It seems to be carefully written, and, on the whole, very free from errors ; it will, no doubt, be a useful guide both to teachers and students of agri- culture. Au Bord dela Mer: Géologie, Faune, et Flore des Cotes de France. Par le Dr. E. L. Trouessart. (Paris: J. B, Bailliére et Fils, 1893.) IT often happens that people who go to the seaside for a holiday would be glad, if they could, to learn something about the scientific meaning of the objects by which they are surrounded. They have neither time nor inclination for the study of elaborate works, and as a rule there is not much to be gained by the perusal of local guide- books. Persons of this class in France will find exactly what they want in the present volume. The author gives first a sketch of the geology of the French coasts from Dunkirk to Biarritz, then deals with such’ marine plants as are likely to interest the reader, and finally pre- sents an account of marine animals. ‘The style is clear and unpretending, and the text is illustrated with no fewer than 149 figures. NO. 1230, VOL. 48] | above heading, Mr. Wallace has done me the honour to: eo | homes. | sibly have arisen on any extensive land inhabited by carnivoro LETTERS TO THE EDITO:... The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he underta to return, or to correspond with the writers of, reje manuscripts intended fcr this or any other part of NATURE, — No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] a Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands, IN a recent letter in NaTURE (vol. xlviii. p. 27), under the some observations on the conclusions I have arrived at on other discoveries I have made in the Chatham Islands, and on the evidence adduced. in my paper read before the Royal Geographical Society on March 12 last, ze. 2 that an Antarc continent—which I may name Antipodea—is necessary to plain the distribution of life in the southern hemisphere. M Wallace says, ‘‘It is this tremendous hypothesis which appe: to me to be not only quite unnecessary to explain the facts, also to be inadequate to explain them. If one thing more th another is clear, it is that these comparatively small flightless — birds were developed, as such, in or near to the islands where they are now found, since they could not possibly have ari: on any extensive land inhabited by carnivorous mammals reptiles, and, if introduced into such a country could not I survive.” If by this Mr. Wallace means that only the flight- lessness of these birds, apart from their general structure members of the genus Aphanapteryx, arose in or near t islands where they now are, he still leaves the, to me, greater difficulty unexplained how two so closely related species of same genus should have arisen in regions separated by nearly one half of the circumference of the globe. For it has to be re- membered that d4phanapieryx belongs to the Ocydromine group of the Rails, which is quite unknown in the northein hemisphere. and, therefore, to have reached ‘‘ Lemuria” (the ancient land which Madagascar, Mauritius, Bourbon, Rodriguez, and t Seychelles, are the fragments) the genus must have arisen dependently in both regions where its species are now found; or it spread from one or the other centre, or from some common land by flight. Mr, Wallace has himself pointed out that to expla the presence of the flightless Motornis and Ocydromus in two groups of islands in the New Zealand region requires a land connection, for it has been hitherto considered an axiom geographical distribution that the regions inhabited by the sam genus or species have been continuous, or have been, at events, such as to afford possibilities of migration from one another. If Aphanapteryx could have spread from the Chath: Islands to Mauritius by flight, surely Votornzs and Ocydromus did not require a land connection to reach from New Zealz to the nearer outlying islands, for they may equally have lo the use of their wings only after they reached their prese When Mr. Wallace asserts that these birds ‘‘ could not p mammals and reptiles,” he affirms what does not really appear to me to carry with it conviction without more proof. Rail. belong to a family of birds that have become of world-wide d tribution, not improbably because of the habits of its memb enabling them to escape destruction. They are better runn than flyers ; they are water and marsh-loving birds, many of them living in reed and rush brakes, and the dense vegetation sur- rounding marshes, amid which pursuit is difficult or impossible. I was much struck when in the Chatham Islands by observi how the habits of the small Oriygometra tabuensis protected The upland districts of Wharekauri are covered by a very den rush-like vegetation—the /erahina of the natives—in which t little Rail lives. We hunted: over acres and acres of country with the aid of a dog well trained to pursue and catch this species, but only after two days did we succeed in securing a specimen. We could see that the dog disturbed plenty of birds, but so rapidly could they make their way through the ¢erahi that they all escaped, for they never took to flight. T Catalus modestus is a nocturnal bird hiding securely in hollo trees and grass thickets all day, Nofornzs inhabited, and per- haps still inhabits, the dense scrub of the south-western portion of New Zealand, and could have there escaped the severest per: cution of carnivorous animals and reptiles, But evenif 4piana, zeryx had been subjected to the incessant and successful attacks o such enemies, its extinction, whether early or late, would de- May 25; 1893] NATURE 75 pend on the numbers in whichit wasreproduced. Many species of animals, it is needless to point out, such as rats and mice, are ceaselessly persecuted by enemies, and yet survive, and from time to time spread over vast areas. The lemming, notwithstand- ing that thousands yearly perish by their own act, and from the attacks of enemies during their migration, has not become ex- _ tinct. Nor can I see that 2000 miles is such an ‘‘ enormous extent of land” for a migration to extend over, even in face of carnivorous mammals and reptiles. It is at least not so great as the distance covered during the migration of the South ik, seals tapirs from Central Europe via Behring’s Straits to _ Brazil, the route supposed by Mr. Wallace to have been taken _ by the ancestors of these interesting animals. __. Mr. Wallace asks, ‘‘ What difficulty is there in the same or _ closely allied species of this widespread group finding their way at some remote epoch to Mauritius and the Chatham Islands, __and from similar causes in both islands, losing their power of , flight while retaining their general similarity of structure?” _ I must reply, none ; and then ask in turn, from where did they find their way ? which is the point under discussion. I am con- strained to believe that they came from an extensive land, capable of supporting large numbers of them, which must _ have been continuous with (as indicated by other evidence) _ or approaching close to both regions, otherwise we have to believe that this strictly Notogzean group has ‘‘ found its way” _ across half the globe, or has arisen independently in both _ regions from different sections of the family —an occurrence which we have no evidence to warrant our believing has ever taken place. Iam unable to speak for the present opinions of Prof. Newton or his brother ; but I know of no additional evidence that has come to light that is likely to have modified their well-considered opinion of a few years ago. On the contrary, it seems to me confirmatory of their views. I beg, however, to protest against the implication that I have invoked this ‘* tremendous hypothesis” to account for the dis- tribution of the 4phanapteryx and Fulica I discovered. I have given prominence no doubt to the valuable evidence their pre- sence contributes, additional only, however, to the numerous other facts I have adduced in my paper before the Royal Geographical Society, in support of the theory that a land of extensive _ dimensions—not isolated islands only as Mr. Wallace agrees to —existed in the southern seas, in order to explain the distribu- tion of plants and animals, unknown in the northern side of the _ equator, in regions so distant as South America, Australia, New Zealand, and ‘‘ Lemuria.” Ihave, inmy own opinion, adduced no more cogent facts pointing in this direction than those __ published by the late Prof. W. K. Parker, showing plainly the _ common ancestry existing between the Notogzean (Gymnorhine) _ crows of Australia, and the Deudrocolaptine birds of South America, Their common progenitor must have occupied some southern land connected with both Australia and South _ America. I might adduce still other weighty examples from the domain of ornithology, tending to support my opinion, which __ have been kindly communicated to me by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, _ but I forbear now, as I understand that this will form the subject of the second lecture of the course he is now delivering on Thursday afternoons at the Royal Institution. 104, Philbeach Gardens, May 20. Fienry O. Forses. Phagocytes of Green Oysters. _ In your issue of May 4 you refer in a note to a sug- _ gestion made by my friend and former pupil, Dr. Paul _ Pelseneer that the green amoeboid cells described by me as occurring on the surface of the gills of green oysters are to be interpreted as out-wandered phagocytes. It is, J think, only right to point out that Dr. Pelseneer (as he is careful to explain in the note published by him) has made no new observations on the matter, and merely professes to give an interpretation of the Sci. in my article on green oysters. I there described and figured large granular cells occurring in and upon the epithelium ofthe gill-hlaments and regarding them as epithelial secretion- cells attributed to them the active part in the elimination of the _ blue pigment ‘‘ marennin ” taken in by the oyster in its food— - the diatom Navicula ostrearia. At that time the general doctrine _ of “phagocytosis” had not been so fully developed as it is NO. 1230, VOL. 48] facts which I described in 1886 in the Quart. Yourn. Micr. | now seven years later. But I may say that already in 1887 one of my pupils (Mr. Blundstone) had established to my satisfaction the existence of extensive out-wandering of phagocytes through the surface epithelium of Avodon in various regions of the body, and that I was very soon led by the accumulating evidence of a similar kind (e.¢. Durham’s observations on star-fishes) to adopt the view that the large ‘‘ secretion-cells”’ discovered by me - both in the epithelium of the oyster’s gill and freely moving on its surface, were out-wandered phagocytes. I have taught this view in my lectures, and have made some further observa- tions (two years ago) on similar out-wandering phagocytes in other Lamellibranchs. The subject is one well worthy of minute study, phagocytosis in Mollusca being as yet an unex- plored ground likely to yield results of great physiological importance. E. Ray LANKESTER. Oxford, May 7. The Conjoint Board’s Medical Biolayy. THE pertinent remarks of L. C. M. (NATURE, vol. xlviii., p. 29), and G. B. H. (vol. xlvii., p. 530), respecting the course of elementary biology prescribed by the Conjoint Board, expresses, I think, the feelings of most biologists. Either it is desirable, or not, that previous to entering upon a course of purely medical studies the student should have a’ training in elementary biology. The Board have decided in the affirmative, and have prescribed a course as amusing as it is ab- surd. It demands a practical acquaintance with the structure of certain protozoa, ydra, the leech, two or three parasitic worms, a scrappy knowledge of botany, and a few generalities. The insecta, crustacea, mollusca, and the whole of the verte- brata, are entirely omitted in the practical work. Under such circumstances it is almost ridiculous to attempt to impart any true knowledge of biology, in fact it is quite impossible to do so, for in the absence of such types as the crayfish, dogfish or cod, very many important morphological facts cannot be illustrated. It would be interesting to learn the constitution of the com- mittee who have drawn up this inexplicable syllabus. Onereally cannot for a moment suppose that they are acquainted with the scope and aim of present-day biological teaching, but from hazy memories of their student days, and an acquaintance with Tenia, Ascaris, and the leech, have drawn up the present course. The examination, I should remark, is in perfect keeping with the syllabus. The important morphological facts to be gained by a dissec- tion of the leech are probably best known to the Board. It is sincerely to be hoped that the matter may not be al- lowed to rest here, but that some steps will be taken to impress upon the Board the utter absurdity of their present syllabus and mode and standard of examination, and the need for a recognized course in both zoology and botany. WALTER E, COLLINGE, Mason College, Birmingham, May 15. Vectors versus Quaternions. As in recent numbers of NATURE my views on analysis have been quoted, and not very correctly, I ask for space to state them more explicitly. I see truth in the quaternion analysis and in the vector analysis; but I believe that neither the one nor the other, nor the two combined, contain the whole truth. The vector is an important idea, and the quaternion is an im- portant idea, but there are in physical science many other important ideas which call for a more direct notation. ‘To avoid any narrow hypothesis I denominated my first paper ‘Principles of the Algebra of Physics”; but in the notice which Nature honoured it with it was printed as ‘‘ Principles of the Algebra of Vectors.” The title I gave it indicates briefly my position. I have been looking at analysis from the point of view of the physicist, and one of my guiding ideas has been that the fundamental rules of analysis, instead of being assumed as so many arbitrary rules of operation, should be grounded on the fundamental laws of physics. What is the greatest want of the physicist of the present day ? It is a generalised analysis which shall not contradict the Cartesian analysis, but be a logical generalisation of it, which shall include and harmonise such methods:as the Double Algebra of Argand, Cauchy, and De Morgan (an excellent pre- sentation of which has recently been published by Mr. Hay- ward), the method of Determinants, the Matrices of Cayley, the 76 NATURE [May 25, 1893 4 Quaternions of Hamilton and Tait, the Ausdehnungslehre of Grassmann, the vector analysis of Gibbs and Heayiside. It is this problem of how to harmonise, unify, generalise, and extend that I have been studying. Analysts and physicists dislike Mr. McAulay’s idea of an independent plant; they prefer to culti- vate the old tree venerable with the growth of ages. After studying impartially all the writers at my command I came to the conclusion that the analysis of vectors is comple- mentary to the analysis of versors, and that the fundamentel rules for the former are :— z= + fee Ries (1) ije-ji fh=-khf th=-ki (2) ija=k fk=t hi =} (3)5 whereas for the latter they are :— SU. BE, It It Il IT (242 7272 = — Bes (4) Ir it Wm oir I I Il I It It I It g272 = - 727? Ba - 72h? wk = - ki? (5) m I IL uo It i it If 2272 = - prkt=-i? Rita 7? (6) It follows that in the manipulation of the products of vectors, the distributive rule applies but not the associative ; while in the products of versors both apply. These fundamental rules for vectors are based on physical considerations, the principal one of which is that the square of a vector is essentially positive, whereas, according to quaternionists, it is essentially negative. My view agrees with that principle of analysis which considers the cosine in the first and fourth quadrants to be positive; to make it negative produces confusion anderror. These principles harmonise with those of Gibbs and Heaviside ; andin the memoir quoted I have carried them out to their logical development. It is this development which Prof. Knott characterises as ‘‘a pseudo-quaternionic system of vector algebra, which is non- associative in its products.” I see no worthy aim in being canny about the matter ; my sole aim was to develop the system so that its truth or falsity might the more readily appear. At the end of his article Prof. Knott admits that the assumption that the square of a unit vector is positive unity leads to an algebra which is essentially different from the algebra of quater- nions. As regards the fundamental principle being an assump- tion, I refer him to that same chapter of ‘‘ Kelland and Tait ” which he quotes, where he will find, italics and all:—‘‘ We retain what Sir Wm. Hamilton terms the associative laws of multiplication : the law which assumes that it is indifferent in what way operations are grouped, provided the order be not changed ; the law which makes it indifferent whether we con- sideraéctobea x dcorad xc. This law is assumed to be applicable to multiplication in its new aspect (for example that 77 = 77.k) and being assumed it limits the science to certain boundaries, and, along with other assumed laws, furnishes the key to the interpretation of results, The law is by no means a necessary law. Some new forms of the science may possibly modify it hereafter. In the meantime the assumption of the law fixes the limits of the science.” Here an authoritative expounder places the quaternion algebra on precisely the same footing that Dr. Knott places the ‘‘ pseudo-quaternionic ;” and he even predicts that in the course of time such a complementary algebra will be developed. It is incumbent on a critic, having admitted the logical development, to show that the assumptions are ab- surd, or correspond to nothing in physical science ; instead of which he informs us that he is appalled by the complexity, but nevertheless he feels sure that it contains nothing new, As regards newness I invite his attention to pr. 93 of the ‘‘ Prin- ciples,” where I have investigated the rules for the several partial products of any number of vectors in space of not more than four dimensions (and they may be easily extended to space of higher dimensions). These consist of certain rules of reduction which are to be taken along with the rule of signs of determinants, thus embracing determinants and Grassmann’s combinatory products in the general theory of products of vectors. He will also find there some reasons for believing that the triad of rules No. 3 are very different in nature from the other two triads, Nos, 1 and 2. It is possible to get along without No. 3. That vectors should be treated vectorially, and versors ver- sorially, and rotors rotorially, is neither nonsense nor a truism. lished the generalisations for space of the exponential, binom’ multinomial, and other fundamental theorems of analysis, I show that it was from treating versors vectorially that Hami failed to discover them. ' Pe Prof. Knott defines a quaternion as the quotient of ty vectors. Why choose the quotient ; is not the product al the simpler idea? But further on vectors are identified with quadrantal quaternions, from which it follows that a quatern is the quotient of two quadrantal quaternions. I have devot some attention to logic ; but I fail to extract any meaning of this implicit definition. i at Prof. Knott informs the reader that whereas Heaviside an myself find that v7 = d?u/dx? + d°u/dy? + d°u/d2? the x v°w is minus that quantity ; but he does not explain why Pre Tait prefers the unreal yv’« in his ‘‘ Treatise on Natural Philosophy.” A scientific critic would, instead of using ex- clamation points, proceed to show that in every c Vv (vw) = (vv)w. If that can be proved, not from any fanci properties of italic letters, but from physical consideratioy then I shall readily admit that v behaves as a versor rather a vector. The onus proband lies on the minus men. Austin, Texas, May 6. ALEXANDER MACFARLANE, An Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North China S DuRING a recent wintry cruise in H.M.S. Caroline in the North China Sea, a curious phenomenon was seen which may be of interest to your readers, The ship was on passage between Shanghai and the western entrance of the famous i land sea of Japan. On 24th February, at 10 p.m., when in latitude 32° 58’ N., longitude 126° 33’ E., which, on reference - to the map, will be seen to be sixteen to seventeen miles south — of Quelpart island (south of the Korean peninsula) some unusual lights were reported by the officer of the watch between the ship and Mount Auckland, a mountain 6,000 feet high. It was a windy, cold, moonlight night. My first impression was that — they were either some fires on shore, apparently higher from the _ horizon than a ship’s masthead, or some junk’s ‘‘ flare up” lights raised by mirage. To the naked eye they appeared sometimes as a mass ; at others, spread out in an irregular line, and, being globular in form, they resembled Chinese lanterns festooned between the masts of a lofty vessel. They bore north — (magnetic), and remained on that bearing until lost sigh: of about midnight. As the ship was passing the land to the east- ward at the rate of seven knots an hour, it soon became obvious that the lights were not on the land, though observed with the mountain behind them. ; On the following night, February 25th, about the same time, 10 p.m., the ship having cleared Port Hamilton, was steering east, on the parallel of 34°, when these curious lights were again observed on the same bearing, at an altitude of 3° or 4° above the horizon. It was a clear, still, moonlight night, and cold. On this occasion there was no land in sight on a north ~ bearing when the lights were first observed, but soon after. wards a small islet was passed, which for the time eclipsed th lights. As the ship steamed on at arate of seven knots an — hour, the lights maintained a constant bearing (magnetic) of — N.2°W., as if carried by some vessel travelling in the same direction and at the same speed, The globes of fire altered in — their formation as on the previous night, now in a massed — group, with an outlying light away to the right, then the — isolated one would disappear, and. the others would take the — form of a crescent or diamond, or hang festoon-fashion ina curved line. A clear reflection or glare could be seen on th horizon beneath the lights. Through a telescope the globes appeared to be of a reddish colour, and to emit a thin smoke. I watched them for several hours, and could distinguish no perceptible alteration in their bearing or altitude, the changes — occurring only in their relative formation, but each light maintained its oval, globular form. oa They remained in sight from 10 p.m, until daylight (about — 5.30 a.m.). When lost sight of the bearing was one or two points to the westward of north. At daylight land 1300 feet. high was seen to the north and north-north-west, distant fifty miles, the mirage being extraordinary. Thus, these lights were seen first in longitude 126° 33’ E., an last in longitude 128° 29’ E. At first the land was behind — them,. but during the greater part of the distance run it was — forty-five or fifty miles away to the north; and the bearing of — It is an important maxim, and of growing importance in these days. Violation of it has produced the fundamental weakness of Hamilton's analysis. Ina more recent paper I have pub- 1 NO. 1230, VOL. 48] = the lights for at least three-fourths of the distance did not change. Onarrival at KobéI read in a daily paper that the ‘‘ Unknown ~ May 25, 1893) NATURE 77 . light of Japan” had, as was customary at this season of the year when the weather is very cold, stormy, and clear, been observed Dy fishermen in the Shimbara Gulf and Japanese waters. The article went on to say that these lights were referred to in native ool-books, and attributed to electrical phenomena. On ntioning the matter, however, to the leading Europeans in Yokohama and Tokio, they appeared to have no knowledge of he matter, Captain Castle, of H.M.S. Zeander, informed me that, not g ago, the officers of his ship saw lights in the same locality vhich they thought at first were caused by a ship on fire. The ourse of the vessel was altered at once with a view of rendering stance, but finding that the lights increased their altitude as approached, he attributed them to some volcanic disturbance, being pressed for time, resumed his course. he background of high land seen on the first night dispels ‘idea of these extraordinary lights being due toa distant cano. The uniformity of the bearing renders the theory of heir being fires on the shore most improbable. I am inclined to the belief that they were something in the nature of St. Elmo’s It is probable that there are travellers among the readers your interesting journal who have seen or heard of this ‘phenomenon, and will be able to describe its origin and the atmospheric conditions necessary for its appearance. a Cuas, J. Norcock. H.M.S. Caroline, Hongkong, April 10, The Greatest Rainfall in Twenty-four Hours. In Nature, May 4, Mr. Clement Wragge, of Brisbane, ‘confidently asserts that Queensland has beaten the world’s record in the extraordinary amount recorded on February 3, -viz., 35°7 inches. I am sorry to have to take away such an unenviable palm from Queensland, by recalling a fact well known to every Indian meteorologist that the highest record extant belongs to Chirapunji, in the Khasia hills, where on _June 14, 1876, 40°8 inches were recorded in the twenty-four hours. Not only so, but on the 12th 30 inches fell, and in the four days, from the 12th to the 15th inclusive, as much as 102 inches. Of course the effects were not so disastrous in this case, as indeed such a state of things is little removed from the normal _ at Chira in the early part of June, but I have a very clear recol- _- lection of it as I was at Chirapunjion the 12th and 13th, and ‘not far from it on.the memorable 14th. ___The conditions which have occurred in Queensland and the orth Island of New Zealand during the last six months have been a remarkable example of persistent abnormals, and though _ the total number of rational causes may still be wanting to ies everything, one or two were evidently in operation when I was there from October to January, and I am confident that from the empirical law of persistency, coupled with a few rational inferences, a forecast of impending floods could have _ been made and can be made for the future, much in the same v 34 ¢ the general character of the monsoon can be foretold ‘in India, 4 May 13. E, Dovucitas ARCHIBALD. 3 A Dust-whirl or (?) Tornado, — In NATURE (vol. xl. p. 174) you kindly allowed me to describe a dust-whirl seen to originate on a heated dust-covered highway. The phenomenon has just been repeated under much ‘similar circumstances, only in this instance the column of dust after oscillating to and fro on the highway for about half a minute, moved rapidly away in a curvilinear path in a northerly direc- tion, the lower end of the whirl catching up loose material in its _track where it touched the ground, which it did at intervals of from ten to fifteen yards, carrying the strawy litter from a straw- _berry bed upwards of 50 yards in theair. It appeared to dissi- pate into the upper air when crossing a meadow some 300 yards from its place of origin, The characteristic ‘‘swish”’ of the rushing air was very marked, and the four motions common to all tornadoes (see Lieut. Finley’s ‘‘ Character of Six Hundred ornadoes’’), viz, whirling from right to left, progressive motion the north, a curvilinear track, and the dipping up and down, were all distinctly traced. The question therefore, naturally _arises—Can these dust-whirls be tornadoes in miniature ? _ Conditions at the time of the occurrence :—Date, Thursday, ‘May’t1, 1893; time, 11 a.m, Corrected barometer, 30.327 {falling slightly). Dry bulb, 66°.5 ; wet, 51°.8 = rel. hum. 38 per cent. Wind, south; force, 1. Some upper cirrus radiating from north-east, and drifting slowly from north-west, NO. 1230, VOL. 48] showing top and bottom arcs of haloat 10a.m, Black bulb in vacuo 128°.2; weather very warm and dry. , Driffield, May 11. J. Lovet. What becomes of the Aphis in the Winter? I HAVE spent many weeks this spring closely observing the budding trees, with the object of discovering in what. condition of life the aphis spends the winter; as the result of my obser- vations, which were made under the microscope, I believe that the aphidze during the autumn (or as many of them as have reached the state of reproduction) attach themselves to the stem of the tree, with their young inside them, in much the same way as the female members of the closely-allied family coccidze do. In course of tire the mother-aphis becomes simply a dried skin serving as a protection to the young. When the warm days of spring come these are developed and easily make their way through the skin and crawl on to the young leaves, there to begin their work of sucking and reproduction. T, A. SHARPE, Soot-figures on Ceilings, May I suggest a distinct, if not an alternative cause for Prof. E, B. Poulton’s soot figures in NATURE, April 27th? The ceiling plaster is very porous, except where it is in contact with the joists, etc. At such points very little deposit occurs compared with the spaces where tbe hot air is vigorously diffus- ing through into the cold space above. I suggest this because I am very familiar with a large ceiling where the rafters are thus picked out in light shades. Even the laths are picked out, but less distinctly. The main bolts likewise show dark, as in Prof, Poulton’s sketch, as if there were an air-space by them. There is no perceptible difference in the figures near the central chandelier from those in the corners remotest from heating causes. The bombarding pattern is often very well shown where super-heated water pipes run along a white-washed wall. The effect of every little break, even a nail in the wall, is most striking, Jj» EDMUND CLARK, A Difficulty in Weismannism Resolved. In my letter of the Ist inst. an omission of parentheses and quotation marks, which I omitted to note on the proof, alters the sense of the paragraph with quotations from the ‘‘Germ Plasm,” pp. 434-5. It should be as follows :—‘‘ The note runs thus: ‘Compare Marcus Hartog, NATURE, vol. xliv, p. 102,’ (the reference omits my letter of Oct. 31, 1891). _ ‘ The deductions made by this author are logically correct but are no longer justi- fiable,since I myself have gained further insight into the problems concerned.’” The absence of the inverted commas disguises this recognition by Weismann of the validity of my objections, and of the consequent change in his own views. Cork, May 15. Marcus Harroc, NOTES. THE Hon. Ralph Abercromby has given to the Royal Society of New South Wales the sum of £100, which is to be offered as prizes with the object of bringing about exhaustive studies of certain features of Australian weather. So far only one feature -has been selected, and a prize of £25 is now offered for an ex- haustive study of the well-known ‘‘ Southerly Burster,” Itis un. derstood that no essay which does not deal fully with the follow- ing points will be considered :—(1) The motions of the various strata of clouds for some hours preceding, at the time of, and following the ‘‘ burster ;”” (2) the weather conditions which lead up to and follow the ‘‘burster,” with weather charts of Australia for the day of occurrence and the following day ; (3) the general conditions which modify the character of the ‘‘ burster ;”” (4) The area of the ‘‘ burster” and its track ; (5) barograph traces showing the changes of pressure during the ‘‘burster;” (6) the direction and character of wind preceding it ; (7) the relation of ‘‘ bursters” to rainfall. The essay must not exceed 50 pages of foolscap, and must be sent in not later than March 31, 1894. It must embody studies of several bursters,’’ and must be chiefly the result of original research of the author, but authors = NATURE [May 25, 1893 are not deharred from making use of any available infor- mation, published or otherwise, on the. subject. A photo- graph of each. ‘‘ burster ”. described, giving a characteristic view of the cloud roll should, if possible, be sent with the essay. Dr. N. Wits has been appointed ordinary professor of 1 otany at the University and Director of the Botanic Gardens at Christiania. A MosT disastrous landslip occurred on the night of May 18, at Vaerdalen, in the district of North Trondhjem. Vaerdalen is a straggling country town with about 6000 inhabitants, and is an agricultural centre. The landslip occurred in the outskirts of the town, where there are a number of houses occupied by peasants, each farming his own land. The subsi- dence was so sudden and severe that between thirty and forty of these farmhouses fell instantaneously in ruins, leaving scarcely a wall standing. Twenty-two of the demolished houses were of considerable size, and many people were asleep in them when the catastrophe happened. The number of victims is estimated at close upon one hundred. The loss of property is very great. According to a Reuter’s telegram, from which we learn these details, the most fruitful part of the Vaerdals-Elv Valley lies under a mass of mud and slime, and it is feared that further Jandslips will occur. Durinc the past week the day temperatures over the British Islands have been mostly below 70° in the south and west, while in the north of Scotland several of the maximum readings have not exceeded 55°. On the 18th inst. rainy weather had become general, with thunderstorms in many places ; on that morning some heavy falls were measured, Ardrossan reporting 0°75 inch, York 0°74 inch, Loughborough 1°60 inch, and Jersey 0-91 inch, while on the following days large amounts were measured in various parts of Ireland. A small depression lying off the south-east coast of England on Sunday, the 21st inst., also brought over half an inch of rain to that part of the country, while in the early part of the present week the distribution of atmospheric pressure was favourable for further falls over the country generally. The Weekly Weather Report of the 20th inst. showed that the excess of temperature for that week ranged from 4° in the northern districts to 6° in most parts of England, that the rainfall was rather less than the mean in the north of Scotland, and equalled, or exceeded it, in all other districts. From the beginning of the year there is a deficit in all districts, amounting to 5°3 inches in the west of Scotland. Bright sun- shine was below the average amount in all districts. A-PAPER on ‘* Wreck-raising in the River Thames ” was read by Mr. C. J. More, engineer to the Thames Conservators, at the meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers on May 16. Mr. More mentioned that during the past eleven years seventy- four steamers of 55,758 tons register, fifty-four sailing. vessels of 9,128 tons, and three hundred and one barges of 11,956 tons, being a total of 76,842 tons register of shipping, had been raised by the Conservancy lighters. THE death of the well-known engineer, Mr, E. A. Cowper, isannounced, He was in his seventy-fourth year. Mr. Cowper displayed much ingenuity as an inventor, and was connected with many technical institutions, including the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the council of which he was a member, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, of which he was president in 1880-81, and the Iron and Steel Institute. A MAP of the smokes of Paris has been recently prepared by ’ M. Foubert, of the Tour Saint Jacques. The idea is to note the position of the principal factory chimneys, to observe during the day the emission of smoke, ther to indicate NO. 1230, VOL. 48] on the map, for each chimney, by means of circles of sizes and tints, the extent of the nuisance. There are ob defects (as M. Delahaye points out in the Revue Jndust in such a mode of representation. Thus no account is taken smoke from the environs, which materially affects Parisian a The black particles emitted from factory chimneys in = cases sink rapidly, but in others are long maintained in su sion. Then there is the large emission of smoke from pri dwellings. M. Delahaye manifests some partiality for cil smoke ; he remarks on its antiseptic properties in timerd ) epidemic, and on the screening action, whereby it preven losses of heat by radiation. AT the meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wale on March 29 Prof. David contributed a note on the discovery him of the mineral sphene zz s¢/w in granite at the Bathurst w: works. In the latest edition of his work on the minerals of New South Wales, Prof. Liversidge has described asingle w formed crystal of sphene from New South Wales, but the ex: locality from which it came is uncertain. In the Bathurst granite crystals of sphene are abundant, and vary in size from 7;th up to } inch in longest diameter. The crystals are of a very deep brown colour, and feebly translucent.. In chemical compositio the mineral is a compound of silica, lime, and titanic acicl. / M. VERNER has a note in the Yournal de Physique on an ex- planation of the rotation-of the plane of polarisation in magnetic field based on de Reusch’s experiments. From the e: perimental fact that a pile of birefringent plates in which principal sections are arranged helically rotates the plane polarisation, it follows that a birefringent body turning abou direction perpendicular to its optical axis will rotate the p of polarisation of a ray which traverses it parallel to the about which it is turning. For if the body is supposed divided into a series of plates by planes perpendicular to the axis rotation, while the light is traversing the first plate the will have turned through an angle, and thérefore the princip: plane of the second plate will be inclined to the direc ctio which the principal plane of the first plate occupied when thi light passed through it. Thus if the speed of rotation is com- parable with the velocity of light the plane of polarisation wi be rotated. This being so, the author makes the hypot that, ina magnetic field, at any given moment, the mag stress at a point on a line of force is only exerted in a certa azimuth normal to the direction of the line, and that the p in containing the portion of the line of force, and the directior of this stress, turns about the direction of the line of force wit a velocity proportional to the intensity of the magnetic field a) the point. Hence, when asubstance such as carbon bisulphide is placed in a magnetic-field, this magnetic stress, transversal t the lines of force, causes the body to become birefri with its principal plane coinciding with the direction of stress, and if, as is supposed, this direction rotates, the print plane will rotate, and the substance will exhibit m rotatory power. The above explanation accounts for th that the direction of the rotation is independent of the directio: in which the ray of light traverses the magnetic field. THE extensive researches of Pellat have shown the siderable change produced in the value of the difference « potential between the layers of air covering two metals in tact by the least chemical or mechanical alteration of the surfaces. In the Yournal de Physique for May M. Gouré Villemontée describes his attempts to prepare metallic surface which shall give a constant difference. For this purpose ht deposits the metal by electrolysis on plates of copper, or © small lead shot, and has studied deposits of iron, nickel, zin and copper made from solutions of different salts, at tempera May 25, 1893] NATURE 79 tures ranging from 10° to 40° C., and with varying current densities. The method adopted to determine the difference of potential consists in forming, with the two plates which are _ being experimented on, a condenser having its plates joined by a4 wire in which an opposing electromotive force could be pro- duced. The conclusions the author arrives at are, that the - difference of potential at the point of contact of two electro- ically deposited layers of the same metal is independent of the density of the current, and of the temperature and com- sition of the solution used in forming the deposit. He also finds that two deposits prepared at different times are identical, and give no contact difference of potential even when as much as a month elapses between their preparation. _AN improved apparatus for exhibiting the phenomena of _ gaseous diffusion is described by Prof. V. Dvorak in the Zeit- schrift fir Piysikalischen Unterricht. A porous pot such as is used for galvanic batteries, but in a fresh and clean condition, is well closed by a greased cork through which passa bent glass rod and a glass tube. The tube is attached to a narrow india- rubber tube leading to a horizontal capillary glass tube ending - inasmall cup. The capillary tube contains a drop of alcohol which serves as an indicator. The earthenware pot is placed in an inverted position, the glass rod serving asa handle. being obtained which contains selenious and hydrobromic acids __ and potassium bromide. They dissolve without decomposition, _ however, in dilute hydrobromic acid and separate from the _ solution again upon evaporation. The ammonium salt (NH,), _ SeBr,, is likewise readily obtained by employing ammonium bromide instead of potassium bromide. A precipitate of minute dark-coloured regular octahedrons is usually at once obtained upon adding the ammonium bromide, and the mother liquor _ after filtration yields by spontaneous evaporation beautiful garnet __ red octahedrons, modified by faces of the cube, which frequently _ exceed half a centimetre in diameter and exhibit a brilliant ~ semi-metallic lustre. Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.— Last week’s captures include a number of the Lucernarian Depastrum cyathiforme (one individual exhibiting a lateral bud), several varieties of the Actinian 7/02 (Sagartia) sphyrodeta, the Mollusca Sepiola atlantica, Philine apertaand 4olidiclla Alderi, and species of the Cumacean genera Diéastylis, Iphinoé and Pseudocuma. There has been no noteworthy change in the floating fauna. ‘The following animals, in addition to the larger number of those already recorded, are now breeding :—the Actinian Urticina felina (= Tealia crassicornis), the Cumacean Pseudocuma cercaria,the Brachyura Xantho floridus and rivulosus and the Echinid Zchinus miliaris. ; Tue additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Chacma’ Baboon (Cynocephalus porcarius, $), a Lion (Fedis Zeo, 2) from South Africa, presented by Mr. Frederick Vaughan Kirby; a Mozambique Monkey (Cercopithecus bygerythrus, &) from East Africa, presented by Mr. Lewis Atkinson ; a Sykes’s Monkey (Cercopithecus albigularis, 8) a Garnett’s Galago (Galago garnetti) from East Africa, presented’ by Mr. Thomas E. C. Remington; a Diana Monkey (Cerco- | pithecus diana, 2) from West Africa, presented by Surg.-Major S. J. Flood ; a Japanese Deer (Cervus sika, $) from Japan, presented by Mr. C. J.. Lucas; two Emus (Dromeus nove- Aollandie) from Australia, presented by Mr. Charles E. Milburn ; four Sociable Marsh Hawks (Rostrhamus sociabilis) from South America, presented by Mr. G. R. Gibson ; two Madagascar Weaver Birds (/ondia madagascariensis) from Madagascar) presented by Mr. Ginn; a Laughing ‘Kingfisher (Dacelo gigantea) from Australia, presented by Mr. W. B. _ Brett ; a Radiated Tortoise (Zestudo radiata) from Madagascar, “presented by Mr. B. Smith; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus _ Stnicus, &) from India, (two Mexican Guans (Penelope pur- fi purascens) from Central America, a Wattled Guan ( Uburria \earunculata) from United States of Columbia, deposited ; a White-lipped Peccary (Dicolyles labiatus, 8) from. South America, an Orange-winged Amazon (Chrysotis amazonica) from South America, twelve Spotted Salamanders (Salamandra _ taculosa) European, purchased ; 'a Reindeer (Rangifer taran- S, 6) born in the Gardens. 2 , |. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE Torat Sonar Eciirse (ApRIL,- 1893).—In Comptes *endus for March 15 (No. 20) M. Deslandres gives a brief pre- inary account of some of the main results that he has been NO. 1230, VoL. 48 | ! able to gather from the photographs taken by him during the recent total solar eclipse. The instrumental equipment that he had, enabled him to obtain photographs of the corona, to study its spectrum, to examine the coronal light in the most refrangible part of the ultra-violet region, and to measure the rotation of the corona by the method of the displacement of lines in the spectrum. The coronal photographs showed luminous jets of a length equal to twice the diameter of the sun, while the general outline had a form somewhat usual at times of maxima spot frequency, With regard to the spectroscopic results, the Jarge dispersion that was employed in one case was found’ to have been too great ; but from the photographs taken with the small dispersive instrument at least fifteen new coronal and chromo- spherical lines have been discovered. Perhaps the most inte- resting results obtained relate to the rotation of the corona. The negatives showed the spectra of two points exactly on opposite sides of the corona, situated in the equatorial plane of the sun, at a distance equal to two-thirds of his diameter. The lines in the spectra indicated large displacements, which on measurement were found to correspond to velocities of 5 and 7 kilometres. The conclusion to be gathered from such a result as this is that the corona must travel nearly with the disc in its motion and thus be subject to its periodical rotational movement. THE ECLIPsE OF. APRIL, 1893.—It is very satisfactory to hear that the photographs taken by the English party situated at Fundium, on the west coast of Africa, have, on. closer examination, turned out very excellent. There seems great reason also to believe that many old points may be cleared up, while hope is also entertained of raising some new ones. FINLAY’s PER1opic Comet.—A telegram from Kiel informs us that Finlay’s comet has been found. It runs as follows :— : 18 May, 16h. 15m. 6s., Capetown R.A. 355° 30’ 18” N.P. D. 95° 1’ 50” Dim. } VARIABLE STAR NOMENCLATURE.—Now that a systematic means has been adopted for numbering the minor planets until their orbits are fully recognised, much unnecessary confusion has been avoided. Just as it was with asteroids so it is with variable stars, many stars being termed such although their variability has not been confirmed. To correct such errors and to eliminate various other sources of mis-nota- tion, such as that of putting a catalogue letter in front of the constellation in which the star is situated, when another star in the constellation is so known in the star maps, Prof. Chandler adds a few notes with reference to the catalogue which will now soon be forthcoming (Astronomische Nachrichten 3161). He also gives a partial list of some of the letters that will be adopted to avoid further complexity. : Juriter’s SATELLITES.—In this column, vol. xlvii., p. 518, we referred to the important work that was being carried on at Arequipa by Prof. Pickering with reference both to the telescopic appearances of Jupiter and his system of satellites, Since that time further observations, more especially of the satellites, have occupied his attention, and an account of them is given in the current number of Astronomy and Astrophysics (No. 115). The first investigation he undertook was to find out whether the rotations of the satellites on their axes were retro- grade or direct. To do this the alternate lengthening and shortening of the discs were minutely observed, use being made of the revolution of the earth, since it is on this account that after opposition with direct motion of rotation a given phase. will be presented earlier, and with retrograde motion a given phase will be presented later than if the observations had been made from the centre of the sun. Working with the first satel- lite it was found that a’series of observations occupied about two hours, and upon the hypothesis of a direct rotation the synodic period was 13h. 3m. 25°8s., and upon a retrograde motion hypothesis, 13h. 3m. 10°8s. The conclusion of the dis- cussion of the observations here given is that the rotation is pro- bably retrograde. In the clear air of Arequipa, and with excel-' lent instrumental equipment, Prof. Pickering has been able to make many quite unique observations. We have mentioned before the flattening of the disc of the second satellite when about to. undergo an occultation, This observation has later been con- firmed, and thus shown to be a genuine observed fact. The reappearance of the third satellite on January 27 has given per- haps a better series of observations of: this atmospheric effect. When the satellite was half uncovered ‘‘it was noted that the cusps were distinctly rounded as in the case with the sun when 1 82 NATURE [May 25, 1893 near the horizon, as seen from a high mountain peak.” That Jupiter is not self-luminous, and that outside its cloud surface is situated a rare atmosphere capable of producing a measurable refraction, are two of the results of these observations, and taking the refraction at the cloud surface, the value 0”’*50 x 0”05 pro- bably is not far from the truth. THE Moon’s SuRFACE.—Under the title of ‘‘The Moon’s Face,” a study of the origin of its features, we have before us a small book of fifty pages, containing the address, as retiring President, of Mr. G. K. Gilbert, Society of Washington (Budletin, vol. xii., pp. 241-292). After giving a short survey of the various theories that have from time to time been suggested as explaining the origin of the features on our satellite’s surface, Mr. Gilbert has been led to put forward what he terms a ‘‘moonlet theory,” which ‘‘not only harmonises with the- varied details of crater character, but aids in the explanation, and even in the history, of the other features of the moon’s surface.” The hypothesis may be stated as follows :—Previous to the existence of the moon the earth was circled by a ring analogous to that which surrounds Saturn. The small bodies or satellites constituting this ring in time gradually coalesced, first into a large number of nuclei, and finally into one, this nucleus being our moon. The lunar craters are, to use Mr. Gilbert’s own words, ‘the scars pro- duced by the collision of those minor aggregations, or moonlets, which last surrendered their individuality.” In discussing this hypothesis the inquiry is carried‘on three lines : an investiga- tion of the ellipticity of the lunar craters, experimental inves- tigation: of the relation between the angle of incidence and ellipticity of impact craters, and of the orbital relations affect- ing the incidence angles of moonlets. With regard to some of the peculiar features of the lunar surface, let us briefly refer to some of the explanations given here. In the production of small craters small moonlets were employed, the cups being moulded as,the result of collision. For large craters, greater moonlets are supposed to have been in action, the rims round the cups being raised partly by the overflow at the edges of the cup, or resulting in the upheaval of the surrounding plain in all directions. The central cone is accounted for by supposing that the top parts of the walls of thé cup are so ‘‘ weakened by the efforts of heating,” that they consequently fall into the centre of the cup from all sides. In the region of the Mare Imbrium he supposes that a collision of great violence occurred, dispersing in all directions a deluge of material ‘‘ solid, pasty, and liquid.” The outrush from the Mare Imbrium thus introduces the elements necessary to a broad classification of the lunar surface. Smooth planes were produced by the liquid matter, parts were ground or sculptured by the solid matter, while some features were left entirely untouched. Such are one or two of the origin of surface features as put forward by Mr. Gilbert in his moonlet theory. That they are ingenious and lack not interest is true, but that the hypothesis itself is likely to be received with anything like favour seems very doubtful, since our present knowledge of the way nature works shows us that the last minor aggregations or moonlets could not. very probably act in the way indicated above, because the state of the nucleus about that time would be one of intense heat in consequence of the collisions, and there- fore would not be capable of receiving’ lasting impressions as required by the hypothesis. AMEDEE GUILLEMIN,—It is-with great regret that we have to record the death of M. Amédée Guillemin, which occurred recently in France. Many of our readers will have read the most interesting and valuable books which he wrote, setting forth scientific facts in a popular light.. Of his many writings perhaps that which is most familiar to us.are the volumes entitled “The Heavens” and ‘‘ The Forces of Nature,” as translated into fnglish, and it is only quite lately that we had occasion to notice a small volume, evidently his last work, dealing with astronomical subjects, and entitled ‘‘ L’Autres Mondes.” GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. LIEUTENANT R, PEary, the explorer of North Greenland, has been reluctantly compelled to relinquish his projected lecturing tour in Europe, as all his time must be devoted to preparations for his new expedition toward the North Pole, which he hopes to commence this summer, NO. 1230, VOL. 48] fore the Philosophical ' ‘fraction of this number of microbes. But leaving these silly THE Governments of Sweden and Denmark have entr Prof. Otto Pettersson with the planning and direction of a series of. simultaneous observations on the physical — dition of the Skagerrack, Kattegat, and Baltic Sea. These — observations are to be made on four days, three months apart, — and commenced on May 1, 1893. Simultaneous observations between the Moray Firth and the north of Shetland wo greatly enhance the value of the Scandinavian results, and it is” possible that the Fishery Board for Scotland may undertake this work, at least on some of the observing days. z CAPTAIN RICHARD PIKE, well known as an Arctic navigator in recent American expeditions, died at St. John’s, Newfound- land, in the beginning of May. In 1881 he conveyed the Greeley expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, and would have brought relief to the party, and saved the gallant explorers from _ their terrible experiences of starvation in 1883, had he not on that occasion been put under the orders of a United States cavalry officer, whose mismanagement ruined the expedition. Captain Pike’s last Arctic work was the transport of Peary’s expedition to McCormack’s Bay, and his return for them in the sealer Av¢e. He had the reputation of being the best practical navigator of the Newfoundland Sealing Fleet, and his experience will be missed in connection with Lieutenant Peary’s new ex- ‘pedition, which Captain Pike was to have taken north this summer, ) THE anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Scciety will be held on Monday, the 29th, at 2.30 p.m. From the - circular calling the meeting we observe that a very considerable _change in the composition of the Council is contemplated. The President, Sir M, E. Grant Duff, does not seek re-election, in the hope, as he hinted at the anniversary dinner, that his ‘‘leap into the gulf in the cause of women” will heal the recent dis- sensions in the Society, 2nd enable the scientific work in which — it is engaged to be cavtied on without interruption. Mr. Clements Markham, F.R.S., has accepted the nomination of the Council as President. Captain Wharton, R.N., F.R.S., — is proposed as a new Vice-President, and the following, amongst — other names, are proposed as new members of Council :—-Ad- miral Lindesay Brine, General T. E. Gordon, author of ‘* The Roof of the World;” Mr. G. S, Mackenzie, of the British - East Africa Company : Colonel C. M. Watson, and Mr, W. H._ Hudlestone, F.R.S., President of the Geological Society. These nominations are subject to the approval of the annual meeting, which is expected to be unusually large and representative, t me BACTERIA, THEIR NATURE AND © FUNCTION? - a: A WELL-KNOWN English writer a short time ago informed the public that Prof. von Pettenkofer, the distinguished © veteran. in sanitary science in Munich, expressed the opinion that ‘‘the atmospheric envelope of this globe is at present in a a bacillophil humour.” Expressions ‘such as these have been repeatedly used in one form or another, some more, some less — witty ; theintention being, of course, to convey an exaggerated — impression of the frame of mind of over-zealous enthusiasts. By such expressions more or less distinguished speakers and writers have been enabled to exhibit the smartness of their phraseology. Thus one distinguished professor re- lieved the anxiety of his students by the jocular observation — that idleness and laziness ‘will probably -be found to be due to a specific bacillus, while another no less profound. writer enunciated that crime and inebriety are probably due to” bacilli. ‘With regard to the distribution of bacteria, as wel as with regard to their action, we meet with statemen' which are almost made humorous by smartness of exaggel tion. . Under the cover of the title ‘‘Science Notes,” one of the London. papers offered to its readers for breakfast the following palatable dish:—‘‘In a grain of butter you have 47,250,000 microbes; when you eat a slice of bread and butter, you therefore must swallow as many microbes as there are people in Europe.” Here it ought to be stated that a grain of solid matter of London sewage contains only a small - exaggerations and those’ grotesque sayings to their authors for 1 Lecture delivered at the London Institution, on February 27.1893, by E. Klein, M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on General Anatomy and Physiology at the Medical School of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London May 25, 1893] NATURE 83 _ further improvement, it is nevertheless well established that a considerable number of phenomena in nature are intimately associated with bacterial life. The world. of bacteria is com- parable to an unseen flora which, in variety of character, of activity and importance in the economy of nature, compares _ with the visible flora, and in its extension and area of distribution _ is as great as, in some respects greater than, that of the visible vegetable and animal kingdom. Though unpreceived by the ‘unaided eye, this bacterial world forces itself, by its multifarious activity, continually on our attention ; it comes into prominence by the vast effects, the slow but far-reaching results which it ___- produces on man, animal, and plant, for good and for evil, in life and in death. Some of these actions I shall have the honour to bring before you this evening, and you will see that while there are bacteria whose actions are undesired and not con- ' ducive to the well-being of man or animals, there are others which are of the greatest service both to them and to plants, and are an essential and integral part in the economy of nature. ~ Ispoke just now of the bacterial world as of an unseen flora ; I meant by this a part of the vegetable kingdom not perceived __. by the unaided eye, though, as you will see, it is easily brought __ to perception by a variety of means. . The individua!s that con- stitute the bacterial world are, as is no doubt known to you, of such extremely minute size that only by the aid of the microscope can they be seen, their size being often less than zs}yy oF suhaa part of an inch, rarely more than z;'55 part of an inch. ‘Lhey are spoken of as having the character of plants, because the ‘elements, like those of a plant, are invested in a sheath of cel- lulose, within which is contained the essential part, the living protoplasm, the bacterial individuals being in fact comparable to * unicellular plants, in which, however, no definite cell nucleus has been hitherto demonstrated. It ought, however, to be mentioned that various observers have attempted to show, and, by complex methods of staining, have succeeded in showing in some bacterial _ species the existence of parts which resemble, and which are considered as comparable to, the nucleus forming an integral ' part of the typical vegetable cell. In speaking of bacteria as of plants there are other than - morphological characters which guide us in this designation ; bacteria resemble plants in this essential, that they possess the power to build up, out.of simple organic compounds, the most complex substances such as the protoplasm of their own bodies. ‘There are known not a few bacterial species which grow and - multiply, z.e. which build up their highly complex nitrogenous ' albuminous substances at the expense of relatively simple nitro- genous bodies, such as ammonium tartrate, urea and allied sub- stances, or which can do this even by the absorption of free nitrogen of the air. Other species require for their growth and - multiplication as complex nitrogenous substances as the animal body itself, and like this latter are capable of breaking them up into simpler combinations. Pathogenic bacteria—many of the species concerned in the decomposition and putrefaction of albuminous substances—belong to this group. All bacteria multiply by division ; hence their name, schizo- mycetes, or fission «fungi, the typical process. of multiplication _ consisting in the enlargement of an individual, and in subsequent splitting into two by fission, at the conclusion of which process two new individuals are the result, each of them capable of en- - larging and again dividing in the same way into two, and so on. ~ But it can be easily shown by comparative observations: and ex- amination of suitably prepared specimens of artificial cultures of the different species that not:seldom the process of multiplica- tion does not follow this line. _ Ishow you here a lanternslide of a microscopic. specimen of one of those species which, owing to the spherical or nearly spherical form of the elements, is called a coccus, or micrococcus ; and owing to the manner of growth in clusters and continuous _ masses, is called a staphylococcus ; this microscopic specimen _ has been obtained by the method of making ‘‘impression pre- __parations,” that is to say, by means of a thin glass pressed on to ' a recent, z.e. a young colony or colonies growing on the surface __| of asolid medium, an exact impression is obtained of the growth, _ anda good and correct insight is obtained of the manner in which the colony enlarges, and the way in which the individuals con- stituting the colony grow and multiply. You see in this photo- graphic representation that there are a good many individuals | many times (4-10 times) as large as others, that some of these large _ elements are uniform, while others show just the indication of a ___ transverse fissure by which the large element is dividing ; still _- others show two fissures at right angles, by which the big element NO. 1230, VOL. 48] * ‘becomes divided into four smaller ones. But you see also the majority of cocci are only minute dots, some in pairs, others in clusters, the former looking like two demilunes separated by a straight clear line ; in fact, this latter appearance: denotes the typical manner in which one coccus, having first enlarged a little, -divides into two small elements. But the presence of the huge elements mentioned above tells us also that one coccus may go on growing to a very large size without dividing, and having reached this huge diameter, then commences to divide, first into two, then into four, eight, and sixteen individuals of the typical size. I show you here an impression preparation ofa recent colony of another species (Bacil/us coli), the individuals of which are rod-shaped or cylindrical, and are what are called typical bacilli. -Here the great majority of the individuals are of cylindrical shape, and of a fairly uniform size ; a few only are shorter, and arranged in the form of a dumb-bell, indicating that one of the longer individuals has by fission split up into two smaller indi- viduals. But if you look at a third impression preparation, of which I here show you a photograph (Proteus), you will see that while there are a few chains of cylindrical bacilli, indicat- -ing successive division of the individuals and the new offsprings remaining joined end to end—thus constituting what is spoken of as a leptothrix—there are other threads if the colony which either show a division into cylindrical elements only imper- fectly.or not at all, appearing uniform and unsegmented threads ; where the segmentation is imperfect the individuals are of very various lengths, some not longer than those typical bacilli in the first-mentioned chains, others three and more times as long. These appearances indicate that the multiplica- - tion of the bacilli does not always take place in that typical manner in which it is generally represented, viz. one individual elongates a little, then splits up into two short individuals ; but a bacillus may go on elongating till it reaches the manifold length of the typical rods, and having reached this great length then segments into a great number of cylindrical rods. This mode of multiplication can be made out not only in these im- pression preparations, but can be actually observed in the fresh condition under suitable con«itions, ¢.g. on the warm stage. That this mode of growth appertains not only to cocci and bacilli, but also to the third morphological group of bacteria, | viz. the vibrios, or spirilla, is ascertained by the fact that often one vibrio, z.e. a more or less curved rod-shaped individual or a comma-shaped bacillus, grows into a uniform homogeneous spiral or wavy thread, which is capable of splitting up into a number, z.¢. a chain of comma-shaped vibrios. We have then the typical mode of division, by which one in- dividual, a coccus, or bacillus, or vibrio, as the case may be, slightly enlarges, and then by fission divides into two; or an individual continues to grow to abnormal size or length,. and then splits up into a series of individuals of the typical size ; this latter mode of multiplication implies a deficiency of fission for the time being, and is not, as far as can be made out, due to any abnormal conditions affecting the growth, for in. many species this occurs in recent and active colonies under conditions which in all other respects must be pronounced as favourable for growth and multiplication. Another interesting appearance, shown by some species of bacteria, is generally ascribed to degeneration or involution, ze. the bacteria assume peculiar abnormal shapes stated to be due to abnormal influences, insufficient or unfavourable soil, un- favourable temperature, &c., &c. ; but while it is true that such influences do produce abnormal shapes, disintegration, &c., there are certain changes in shape that are observed in some species of bacteria while growing under perfectly favourable conditions and with the normal rapidity, and which are anything but degenerating. A recent colony of the bacillus anthracis, like the photograph I show you here, growing on nutritive gelatine, is made up of twisted and convoluted threads of cylindrical rods, which threads are seen to shoot out and to extend. like filaments from -the margin of the colony. Now, you-noticein the next photograph that instead of these filaments being made up of the typical cylindrical rods the former consist of relatively huge spindle- shaped or spherical masses many times the diameter of the typical rods. The threads of this colony are perfectly active, and are growing with vigour and in perfectly normal. circum- stances as regards soil, temperature, and all other known con- ditions. Asa matter of fact, a few days later, as comparative specimens show, all threads may be, and as a rule are, again of 54 NATURE [May 25, 1893 the typical aspect, z.e. uniform threads and chains of rode shaped elements. ' Another photograph which I show yow here is from a colony of the bacillus of diphtheria. Here.also you notice the appear- ances ‘already mentioned of the anthrax bacilli, viz. shorter or longer filaments, in which some of the elements show a con- spicuous enlargement : pear-shaped, spherical, or club-shaped. Such forms are not involution forms : they occur in vigorous and actively growing young colonies, A'still further illustration, and one of great importance, is shown by this photograph, illustrating a similar change of the tubercle bacilli. This change has now been confirmed by several independent observers.. The typical tubercle bacilli of human or bovine tubercle and of early cultivations are cylindrical rods. In cultivations of long duration but still actively grow- ing you notice forms which are more filamentous, and, as in the present illustrations, are branched filaments with club-shaped enlargements. From all this the conclusion is justified that in all these cases of bacilli the typical cylindrical bacilli show occasionally an indication that reminds one of forms belonging to the higher or mycelial fungi, in which the growing filaments remain un- segmented and become thickened and even branched. These thickened, branched, and club-shaped forms of the. bacilli would correspond to an atavism, and would recall a probable former fungoid phase in the evolutional history of these bacilli. : The next point to which I wish to call your attention is the rapidity with which multiplication of the bacteria takes place, This differs. according to the amount and nature of the nutriment or soil on which they grow, and to the tempera- ture. - While some bacteria multiply even at lower temperatures at agreat rate, others do soonly at higher temperatures, But in order to give you an idea of the power and the rate of multipli- cation I may mention the following :—Direct observations show that the rate at which bacteria divide at a temperature of 20°C, varies from eighteen minutes to thirty minutes or a little longer, and at higher temperatures correspondingly faster. A tube of nutrient broth was inoculated with a trace of the growth of a staphylococcus (Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus), the number of cocci introduced into the tube having been previously determined to be 8 per cubic centimetre. The tube was then kept at 37°C. ; in the first twenty-four hours the cocci had multiplied to 640,000 per cubic centimetre ; in the second twenty-four hours to 248 millions per cubic centimetre, and in the third twenty- four hours to 1184 millions per cubic centimetre. . A point of interest is the motility exhibited by some bacteria. In some species most, in others comparatively few, individuals show ‘active locomotion, spinning round and darting to and fro; in many other species no motility is observed. In the motile species it is known that this motility is due to the presence and active motion of cilia or flagella, and these have been seen and photographed in former years in some of the larger forms, but only within recent years has it been possible, by means of new methods (Léffler), to actually demonstrate in the smallest forms these flagella, and here the remarkable facts have been shown that while some possess only one flagellum at one end, in other species the bacillus possesses a bundle of them, or is covered with the flagella on its whole surface. I show here some photos of the flagella, one possessing two flagella’ at one end (spirillum volutans), the other (cholera ba- cillus) one at one end, and the third (typhoid bacillus) is covered with quite a number of flagella. A not less interesting point is the formation of spores: the only trustworthily ascertained mode of spore formation is that which is called endospores, as is shown in the following photograms ; a bacillus at a certain phase develops in its protoplasm a minute glistening granule, this increases in size and becomes oval, while the rest of the substance of the bacillus becomes pale, swells up. and gradually degenerates and disappears, leaving the fully formed oval bright spore free.» These. spores are of great re- sistance to temperature, chemical obnoxious substances, drying, &c., so that even after long periods and various adventures, when again brought under proper and suitable conditions, they are capable of germinating into the bacilli, These then grow and divide and continue to do so, producing new crops. Non- sporing bacteria are for this reason more liable to succumb in the struggle for existence, although many species of non-sporing bacilli have such a vast power of multiplication and are so little selective in their requirements that they manage to keep NO. 1230, VOL. 4% their crops perpetually going ; some notorious putrefactive cocci _ and bacilli belong to this class. Having now mentioned the essential features in the morphology of bacteria, as far as is possible in the limited space of time at my disposal, I proceed to give you a short summary of some of the most. important activities which bacteria exhibit. oe Bacteria causing Decomposition of Albumen, oe an: cA Foremost in importance and vastness of result is the action — which certain species of bacteria have on albuminous matter, an _ action which is termed putrefactive decomposition. of albumen, — animal or vegetable, All organic matter when deprived of life is resolved into simpler compounds, is broken up into lower — nitrogenous principles, like leucin, tyrosin, indol, phenol, &c., _ of which the ultimate products are ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. The plant, it may be said in a general way, builds up albuminous matter from nitrates, this albuminous matter it is which forms the protoplasm of its cells, this albuminous matter it is which serves as nitrogenous food for animals; these again sup- — plying the food for other animals and man, In the living 4 of these the albuminous matter becomes broken up, yieldi nitrogenous principles like urea and allied substances, which — again, after further oxidation in the soil and in water, serve to” supply nitrates to the plant; but also the bodies of animals and — plants after death form a large stock from which by a long chain — of processes, induced and sustained by micro-organisms, lower nitrogenous compounds, and ultimately ammonia and nitrates — are produced, from which the living plants principally draw their nitrogen, ‘ ; : From this it is evident that the vegetable kingdom is depen- dent for its nitrogen chiefly on processes. bys which from the — albumen of dead organic matter, by the activity of micro- — organisms, in the first place lower nitrogenous principles. and ultimately ammonia, and in the second place, also by micro- — organisms nitrites and nitrates are formed. Now, the micro- — organisms which are capable of producing the first series of decompositions of dead albuminous matter form, so to speak, the — first:army of attack ; itis this army which, while multiplying at the expense of albumen, decomposes it, and thereby is instru-— mental in changing it into lower nitrogenous principles such as — leucin, tyrosin, indol, and ammonia. Amongst the large number of species of putrefactive bacteria I will describe two only, which — by their great distribution may be considered as playing a very important part in this decomposition of albumen. ‘The first is — or sage known as Proteus vulgaris, the second isthe Baci'lus colt, i ; (a) Proteus vulgaris.—This species is the common putrefactive - organism ; it is almost invariably present in dead and decaying — albuminous matter ; it is the organism which in dead animals and man ge the principal part in the destruction and resolution — of the body ; it is present in the cavity of the normal intestine ; it is found in connection with effete and dead matter occurrin in the body in health and disease; it has a wide distribution in — nature, and is present wherever organic matter happens to be in a state of putrescenée ; it is liable to pass from this and to be — transmitted to other putrescible matter by air currents, by dust, — by water, by human contact or otherwise, and then to set up in — ‘this new organic matter the same state of putrescence. Thesame applies to the bacillus coli, which has also a very wide «lis- tribution, and which is in most instances associated with putre- faction and decomposition of albuminous matter ; it is anormal inhabitant of the human and animal intestine, and from ;here often passes into the soil, water, and air. Sri These two species of organisms may be considered then being of great importance in the destruction and resolution o putrescible matter, in short of dead albuminous matter, i I show you here photographs of these two species as they ap- pear in artificial cultures, under various:forms of cultivation, an under the microscope under a magnification of 1000. Both the: species are motile bacilli. : The Proteus vulgaris, as its name implies, presents itself in forms so varied, that it is at first sight difficult to recognise then as belonging:to one and the same species: coccus forms, short ovals, short and long cylinders, homogeneous long threads, and even spiralforms. But by artificial cultivation by exact methods — they can be shown to belong to one and the same species ; and © it can also be shown that under particular conditions of cultivation — the bacillus almost invariably shows itself as cylindrical and thread-like forms ; whereas under other conditions it assumes — the character of cocci and ovals.. The photographs which I oa May 25, 1893] NATURE 85 show you here give an exact representation of these cylindrical and thread like forms observed in early gelatine plate cultures ; ter on, when the growth has proceeded for some days, and the Jatine has almost entirely become liquefied, the majority of the individuals are very short—either coccus-like or short ovals. - It is on account of this unstable or protean character of its form that Hauser gave it the name of Proteus, and being the common microbe of putrid decomposition, he called it Protems vulgaris. ; This organism, as a first and important action, peptonises albumen and liquefies and peptonises gelatine ; then this peptone is decomposed, yielding, amongst other substances, leucin, tyrosin, indol, skatol, phenol, and further, ammonia. (0) The Bacillus coli,—The normal inhabitant of the intestine man and animals is another powerful albumen decomposing microbe, but, unlike the proteus, it decomposes albumen with- "out first converting it into peptone ; it therefore does not liquefy _ gelatine like the proteus ; it rapidly decomposes albumen, form- z ¢ indol and allied bodies, and even ammonia, 4 Bacteria causing Ammoniacal Fermentation of Urea, -_Inconnection with these true putrefactive bacteria I have to _ mention a group of bacteria which, though not strictly connected _ with decomposition ofalbuminous matter, play an important part, inasmuch as their action supplements that of the former, the group in question consisting of species which can change urea and allied substances into ammonium carbonate. This action is generally and justly considered of the nature of a ferment or _ hydrating action, Jike that of other organised ferments to be agen described. But we mention this group here because y changing urea into ammonium carbonate it prepares, in one sense, the way for the action of certain other bacteria which, by oxidising ammonia into nitrites and nitrates, are the direct food-providers for the vegetable kingdom. Urea and allied substances, as stated above, are the last products of albuminous metabolism in man and animals, and therefore form an integral part of the material destined for the soil in which the plants of our gardens and fields live and thrive. I show you here one of the species of this group—for there are several—the _ micrococcus ure@ ; this. is a coccus growing as a white staphylo- ‘coccus, and forming connected masses in the natural or artificial culture media; it does not liquefy gelatine, grows extremely rapidly at higher temperatures. The photographs give you an ideaof the character of this _ organism in plate, in streak- and stab-culture, and in micro- scopic specimens ; in these latter you notice that neither in size, nor arrangement, nor mode of division does this microbe show anything that would distinguish it from other spécies of staphy- lococcus; its action on urea being its chief distinguishing character, being capable of converting it into ammonium car- - bonate. 3 : At present it is well established that nitrogenous principles like indol; phenol, and ammonia are produced during the decomposi- tion of albumen by proteus, bacillus coli, and other putrefactive bacteria ;and, further, that substances, as indol, phenol, and the like, are, by the activity of certain other bacteria not yet suffi- -ciently investigated, convertedinto ammonia. We have now traced the decomposition of albumen down to ammonia, and in this condition it is subjected in the soil to the action of the witrify- ‘ing bacteria—that is, bacteria which oxidise ammonia and con- vert it into nitrites and ultimately into nitrates ; these bacteria complete then the series of processes by which the nitrogen ultimately returns from where it started. It started as nitrates inthe soil surrounding the roots of plants, and as nitrates it ultimately again finds itselfin the soil ; first ithad been used by _ the plant in order to. build up its albumen, then as vegetable _ albumen it represents the food of animals ; in these it serves to _ build up the protoplasm of the animal body, from which it __ passes as food for carnivorous animals. Thealbumen of animals _or plants becomes decomposed by putrefactive bacteria, the | ultimate products of this, ammonia, becoming converted by the ~ nitrifying bacteria of the soil into nitrites and finally into nitrates, _ “From earth to earth” expresses the beginning and end of this wonderful migration and change ! Ey : Nitrifying Bacteria. _ Schloesing and Muntz were the first to show that the con- version of ammonia into nitrates in the soil is most probably _ caused by micro-organisms, but not till the researches of War- ington, Winogradski, and P, Frankland, were these micro- NO. 1230, VOL. 48] 5 organisms isolated and more carefully experimented with. Warington, and particularly Winogradski, have shown that there are two species of bacteria which play an important part in these processes, one species converting ammonia into nitrites, the other these finally into nitrates. I show you here some lantern slides of Winogradski, in which these two species are well shown ; the slides are of preparations of artificial cultiva- tions, in which Winogradski has been extremely successful. These two species (the nitrous and the nitric organism) are minute rod-shaped or oval bacteria ; when in the act of dividing, they form short dumb-bells ; the nitrous organism is larger than the nitric, but both show forms which possess celia, and which therefore are possessed of motility. Winogradski has by artifi- cial cultivations obtained both these species in large quantities, and, on testing them on liquids of suitable composition, found that the one is capable of converting ammonia into nitrites, the other these latter into nitrates. There can then be no doubt that the problem of the manufacture on a large scale of these nitrify- ing microbes, so important for agriculture, must be considered as solved, Bacteria of Leguminosa, I have now to introduce to your notice a group of organisms which, like the former, are of interest and import- ance to the vegetable kingdom, at any rate to one portion of it, viz. the plants belonging to the leguminose, Hellriegel and Wilfarth had shown that the excess of nitro- gen in leguminosze is obtained from the atmosphere by the instrumentality of bacteria in the soil around the roots of the leguminous plants ; that these bacteria ‘‘ fix” the free nitrogen contained in the soil, derived, of course, from the atmosphere ; and that if the soil be sterilised, by which the bacteria are killed, no fixation of nitrogen can take place, and the growth of the leguminous plant remains appreciably attenuated. The roots of leguminous plants growing in the ordinary soil are known to possess numbers of nodular growths.. These nodules have been thoroughly investigated by a large number of observers, and their importance in the process of fixing the nitrogen, and in the: proper development of the plant, has been satisfactorily worked out ; foremost amongst these stand the investigations of Prof. Marshall Ward, of Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert, of Beyer- inck, Prazmowski, Nobbe, and Frank. Beyerinck, then Praz- mowski, and particularly Nobbe, have shown that the nodules on the roots owe their origin to the growth in the tissues of the root of certain bacteria, and it is these bacteria which are in- strumental in fixing the free nitrogen. These bacteria repre- sent well-defined species, and, as Nobbe has shown, differ for the different leguminosz. My friend Prof, Marshall Ward has been kind enough to: supply me for examination with roots of lupines containing the nodules, and I show you here some photos as the result of this. examination, illustrating the distribution in the tissue of the nodules of particular species of bacteria, then the character of these bacteria under cultivations, and their aspect and size in microscopic specimens. This species of bacilli is composed of motile cylindrical rods, which, cultivated in gelatine, liquefy this, and produce in the liquefied gelatine a peculiar greenish fluorescent colouring ; on agar they also produce this colouring ; the nature of the young colonies in plate cultivation, their manner of spreading and swarming, are well shown in these photographs. : ; Chromogenic and Phosphorescent Bacteria. Time does not permit of more than a passing allusion to those remarkable species of chromogenic bacteria which have the power to produce pigments, either pigments which become dissolved in the medium in which these bacteria grow, or remain limited to the substance of the bacteria themselves, . Species of bacteria there are which produce pigments of scarlet red, orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, greenish-blue, blue, violet, or pink colour. The nature of these pigments and the meaning and object of their formation are still shrouded in a good deal of mystery, though Erdmann and Schiétter showed long ago that many points of similarity exist be- tween some of these pigments and certain anilin colours. I show you here cultivations of some of those chromogenic bac- teria, and in a diagram the spectrum of one species, viz. of the Bacillus prodigiosus ; this is the more common of the chromo- genic bacteria, being occasionally present in water and in air. The pigment is soluble in alcohol, though only to a limited « $6 NATURE [May 25, 1893 degree, and when the spectrum of such a solution is examined it is seen to present a characteristic absorption-band in green ; the spectrum of a watery distribution of these bacteria. shows two bands: one narrow one in green, the other broader in greenish-blue ; both are less deep than the single band of the alcoholic solution. Nor have I sufficient time to do more than allude to another remarkable group of bacteria, which comprises several species, all having the power to produce luminosity of themselves and the medium in which they grow. These phosphorescent bacteria have been long known (Pfliiger) to be concerned in the produc- tion of the phosphorescent condition of decomposing sea fish, but within recent times Ludwig, Fischer, Katz, and particularly Beyerinck have studied more in detail the conditions under which these bacteria grow, and have identified and cultivated several species. Dr, Beyerinck has kindly sent me one species of these phosphorescent bacteria. The elements of this species are short oval rods, often dumb-bells; they grow in fish broth, and when the growth becomes conspicuous to the unaided eye itis luminous when viewed in the dark. I show you here some cultures which, as you see, when I placetthem in the dark, show a beautiful phosphorescent appearance. The phosphorescence is more or less limited to the surface layer, that is the one in con- tact with the oxygen of the air; in the depth it is absent, but when shaking the flask the phosphorescence appears also in the depth, Fermentation. I have mentioned, in connection with a previous group, bacterial species which have the power to change by hydration urea into ammonium carbonate, a change which is called a fermentative action. Changes similar to these are caused by micro-organisms in many processes playing an im- portant part in industries. Amongst these changes I may mention one in particular, the souring of milk. There are a good many others, the viscous or mannit fermentation, the butyric fermentation, the indigo fermentation, the dextran fer- mentation, the acetic acid fermentation, and others, but time does not permit me to describe more than one, viz. the common bacterium lactis. I show you herea number of photographs of the bacterium lactis under cultivation, and as seen under the microscope, It isa minute oval bacterium, which multiplies with great rapidity, and which, introduced into milk, turns this sour in 12to 24 hours at the ordinary temperature ; whensterile milk is inoculated with this bacterium and kept in a warm place at a temperature of 60° to 65° I’., the milk is found solid and curdied before 20 or 24 hours are over, and in this curdled milk large numbers of the bacterium lactis are present either as dumb- bell ovals or as short chains. When a needle is dipped first into such curdled milk and then into normal milk, the same coagu- lation with the same appearances takes place in the latter. When a plate cultivation of such milk is made it is seen that a large number of colonies all of the same character are developed, which colonies are made up of the bacterium lactis ; through however numerous generations this organism is cultivated in artificial cultivations,—it grows well on nutritive gelatine to which whey or only lactic sugar has been added—and if then transferred to fresh milk, it always produces this souring and curdling ; that is to say, it changes lactic sugar into lactic acid, and as this is being formed it coagu- lates and precipitates the casein of the milk. With a trace of milk that has gone naturally sour—that is to say, to which the bacterium lactis has found entrance, and in which by its multi- plication it has produced curdling, any amount of normal milk can be successively turned sour and curdled. The bacterium lactis is not by any means a rare organism ; it is widely dis- tributed, and can at any moment, in dairies and other places, through impurities of the utensils, by dust, &c., find access to milk which would: soon succumb to its attacks; when, for instance, in dairies or in one or another locality the milk has ‘a frequent tendency to turn sour, this means that the. bac- terium lactis has taken firm footing in such a locality. It is well known that only extreme measures of cleanliness, thorough boiling of all utensils and vessels, cleaning of walls and floors can banish or reduce it. In this the analogy with an epi- demic of an infectious disease is obvious. Just as in an epidemic, every susceptible individual to which the contagion has had access becomes smitten by infection, and just as in an epidemic the contagium of the disease, being of wide distribution, and, having taken a firm hold of the locality, attacks an increasing number of individuals, and thus causes the epidemic—so also NO. 1230, VOL. 48] .dition, the actual infection with the specific microbe being ail in the case of the bacterium lactis: when this has taken a fir hold of, and has acquired a great distribution in, any locality, any sample of milk (¢.¢. susceptible individual) may take infection, either by coming in contact, directly or indi with atrace of the milk already infected, e.g. by being p in vessels in which infected milk has been kept previously, becoming infected through dust charged with the bacterium lactis, or coming in contact with water poured from a vessel n which traces of the microbes were still left. All this -finds it complete analogy in the case of an epidemic infectious disez The fermentative processes due to microbic activity, and playing an important part in industries (alcoholic and other fermenta- tions), illustrate in a very striking, manner some of the essen features observed in the nature, in the-production, and in the spread of infectious diseases in man and animals, ‘The ferm n- tative processes, thoroughly established as being due to microbic activity by the researches of Pastéur, were by Pasteur, id others alter him, used as illustrations of the way which infectious disorders in man and animals arise, and it was exactly these considerations which led Pasteur. to his bril liant ‘studies of these diseases, the results of which studies have been of such signal service in sanitary science in genera’ and in the prevention of infectiousdiseases in particular, In the fermentative processes studied by Pasteur and oth it was shown that each specific fermentative: process is due to the growth and multiplication of a specific microbe. Just the same is the case with the infectious diseases—when from substance which is in the process of fermentation, a trace c taining the particular microbe is introduced into fresh fermentibl substance, this latter undergoes the same fermentation ; fw it is shown that, however great the number, of accidental n: specific bacteria which may be introduced at the same time, un that particular bacterium be present amongst them, the specific fermentative change does not ensue. The same is th infectious diseases : the number of non-specific bacteria in water, dust, air, various common articles of food, &c., is sometimes diseases : an individual must be susceptible to the disease, thot gh it is not quite clearly established what the meaning of this is. Further : justas in the fermentative process the susceptibility the substance alone. is not sufficient, is only a preliminary essential, so also in the infectious disease : in order that a sus ceptible individual should become the subject of the disease it i essential that the specific microbe should be present and shoule find entrance into this susceptible individual. Just as little as: particular condition of the atmosphere, of temperature, &c., capable of producing the souring of milk, so also a particulai atmospheric or telluric condition, season, or other external cit cumstances alone cannot produce an infectious disease. Wh is wanted in the first place isthe presence of the bacterium lacti in the one, the. specific pathogenic microhe in the other mospheric or telluric conditions may and do favour the rapid pan Hauer ar and dissemination of the bacterium: other specific microbes, but without the presence of the sp microbes these processes could not take place. ‘* Thunder the air” could not turn the milk sour, could not make tainted, could not turn beer or wine sour, without the pre: of the specific microbes, which by their presence and mu cation produce those undesired changes in these substances particular condition of the air could and -would increase the rate of multiplication and distribution, and therefore increaset chances of infection of these substances and therefore a mol conspicuous manifestation of the effects of the activity of the microbes, but it could not produce the microbes themselves. - Pathogenic Bacteria, The different pathogenic bacteria connected with and causir the different infectious diseases have then the power of growil and multiplying within the infected individual and through thi different poisonous substances—toxins—which they. thet May 25, 1893] NATURE 87 ecm of causing the changes which characterise the particular isease. _ Ishow you here photographs of a variety of such pathogenic bacteria, and you will see from them that both as regards the manner of distribution of these bacteria in the tissues of the infected individuals as also in their morphological and biological characters in artificial cultures, most of them are sufficiently distinguished from one another and from other non-pathogenie bacteria. In considering the general action of pathogenic bac- teria we find that they may be grouped into (a) such as are entirely, so far as our knowledge at present goes, _ dependent on the living body of man or animals; these are en- _ dogenic bacteria or true parasites, for they do not appear to lead an existence independent of the living body: when, therefore, infection by them takes place, it takes place by direct trans- _ ference from an infected individual to a new one; this is so in _ small-pox, in vaccinia, and in hydrophobia ; (2) a second group comprises those which are capable besides a parasitic life, 7.¢. growing and multiplying within the animal body, to lead also an existence independent of the animal body ; that is to say, they, like many other non-pathogenic bacteria, are capable of thriv- ing in suitable materials in the outside world ; such are anthrax and fowl cholera, asiatic cholera and typhoid fever, tetanus and diphtheria, and others. But also amongst these some can lead _ such an ‘‘ectogenic” life comparatively easily, while others do ~ so only in a restricted sense ; while, for instance, anthrax, tetanus, typhoid fever can lead such ectogenic life easily, 7.2, growing and multiplying outside the animal body ; others, like tubercle and glanders, do so only to a very small extent. The former are obviously the more dangerous to man and animals on account of their more ready distribution than the latter, of which the ectogenic existence is considerably restricted by various con- ditions, e.g. they require higher temperatures to grow at, they require a much more specialised nutritive medium than is generally attainable by them. _ Time does not permit me to show you in detail the many and wonderful results obtained within a comparatively short recent period by a large number of workers, as regards the identifica- tion of many of the pathogenic bacteria, their habits of life, © their mode of spread and infection ; the way in which their ac- _ tion can be attenuated, their effects weakened, and such weak- ened cultures used for protective inoculations; the brilliant results achieved by Pasteur and many others in these protective and curative inoculations against anthrax, against fowl cholera, against tubercle, against hydrophobia, against tetanus and other diseases. But I will ask you to bear in mind that almost the entire study of bacteria, the exact methods first introduced by Koch and now universally used not only in regard to patho- genic bacteria, but in all other branches of bacteriology ; the exact knowledge that we possess of some of the most important branches of hygiene : as the knowledge of the exact nature of contagium, its mode of spread, the means of disinfection, the methods of protective inoculation, and a hundred and one other important points have been the result of, and gained by, experi- ment on animals. Amongst the wilderness of misery, cruelty, and death inflicted by mankind on animals for gain, for sport, pleasure, and other similar objects, to decry, as some do, the use of a comparatively few animals for the sake of gaining knowledge of the most important and complex phenomena of life and of disease, and of securing power to apply this know- ledge in the interest not only of mankind, but of the animals themselves, is apt to make one remember the words: ‘‘Ye _ blind guides! which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,” or the words, ‘‘Thou hypocrite! cast out first the beam out _of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the “mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” ie SURGERY AND SUPERSTITION. “70 those unversed in the history of surgery it may come as a surprise that many of the appliances commonly regarded 3 ee inventions of yesterday, are but the perfected forms of _ implements long in use, It is astonishing to find amongst the . bronzes of the National Museum at Naples, bistouries, forceps, cupping-vessels, trochars for tapping, bi-valvular and iri-valvular specula, an elevator for raising depressed’ portions f the skull, and other instruments of advanced construction which differ but little from their modern congeners. The in- ntion of such instruments, and the’ skill displayed in their NO. 1230, VOL. 48] construction, presupposes a long period of surgical practice. We find, accordingly, that four hundred years before our era, Hippocrates was performing numerous operations bold to the verge of recklessness. Thus he was accustomed to employ the trepan not only in depression of the skull or for similar accidents, but also in cases of headache and other affections to which, according to our ideas, the process was singularly inap- plicable. Strangely enough, the Montenegrins are, or recently were, accustomed to get themselves trepanned for similar trifling ailments, and it is probable that in both instances the procedure was but the surviving custom of primeval ages. ‘That such operations were then performed Dr. Robert Munro, in his admirable article upon prehistoric trepanning in the February number of the ortnightly Review, conclusively shows. His paper records a strange blending of the sciences of medicine and theology in their initial stages; for, whilst he makes it clear that during the neolithic period a surgical operation was practised (chiefly on children) which consisted in making an opening through the skull for the treatment of certain internal maladies, he renders it equally evident that the skulls of those individuals who survived the ordeal were considered as possessed of particular mystic properties. And he shows that when such individuals died fragments were often cut from their skulls, which were used as amulets, a preference being given to such as were cut from the margin of the cicatrised opening. The discovery arose as follows, In the year 1873 Dr. Pruniéres exhibited to the French Association for the Advance- ment of Science an oval cut from a human parietal bone, which he had discovered in a dolmen near Marvejols, embedded in a skull to which it had not originally belonged. His suggestion that it was an amulet was confirmed on the discovery of similar fragments of bone grooved or perforated to facilitate suspension. When Dr. Pruniéres’s collection was examined by Dr. Paul Broca he pointed out that that portion of the margin of the bone which had been described as ‘‘ polished” owed its texture to cicatricial deposits in the living body, and that, where these were wanting, death had ensued before the pathological action was set up, or the operation had been fost mortem. These discoveries led to widespread investigation, and to the production of trepanned skulls from Peru, from North America, and from nearly every country of Europe. These were not restricted to any particular race or period, but ranged from the earliest neolithic age to historic times, and included skulls of dolichocephalic and brachycephalic types. The method of conducting the operation appears to have been to gradually scrape the skull with asharp flint, though there is occasional evidence of its use in asawing manner such as obtained when the ruder implement was superseded by one of metal. The process was almost exclusively practised upon children, probably on account of the facility with whichit could then be accomplished, and possibly also as an early precaution against those evils for which it was esteemed a prophylactic. What the dreaded evils were was suggested by Dr. Broca,who, whilst he believed that the operation was primarily conducted for therapeutic purposes, saw behind these the apprehension of a supernatural or demoniacal influence. Readers of Lenormant’s ‘‘ Chaldean Magic” will remember ‘‘the wicked demon which seizes the body, which disturbs the body,” and that ‘‘ the disease of the forehead pro- ceeds from the infernal regions, it is come from the dwelling of the lord of the abyss.” With such an antiquated record before us it is, therefore, by no means an extravagant theory to broach, as Dr. Broca has done, that many of the convulsions of child- hood, which disappear in adult life, were regarded as the result of demoniacal possession. This being granted, what more natural than to assist the escape of the imprisoned spirit by boring a hole in the skull which formed his prison. When a patient survived the operation he became a living witness to the conquest of a fiend, and it is comprehensible that a fragment of his skull taken after death from the very aperture which had furnished the exit would constitute a powerful talisman. Chaldean demons, as we know, fled from representatives of their own hideous forms, and, if they were so sensitive on the score of personal appearance, others may have dreaded with equal keenness the tangible record of a previousdefeat. It is certain that to cranial bones medicinal properties were ascribed, a belief in the efficacy of which persisted to the dawn of the eighteenth century ; whilst, in recent years, such osseous relics were worn by aged Italians as charms against epilepsy and other nervous diseases. When once the dogma was promulgated that sanctity and a perforated skull were correlated, fond relatives might bore $8 NATURE [May 25, 1893 a the heads of the departed to facilitate the exodus of any malignant influence still lingering within, and to ensure them, bythe vener- ated aperture, a satisfactory position in their new existence. For similar reasons the bone amulet was buried with the deceased, and sometimes it was even placed within his skull, Dr. Munro considers it hard to say for what purpose such an in- sertion should have been made, but, arguing from his data, the practice does not appear to me difficult of explanation. He has shown that disease was the work of a demon imprisoned in the skull ; that this demon was expelled through the trepanned hole ; and that its margins were thus sanctified for talismanic purposes. The unclean spirit was gone out of the man, and observation showed that, during the man’s earthly existence, he did not return ; but what guarantee was there that in the dim ‘unknown region to which the deceased was passing the assaults of the evil one might not be renewed, that he might not return to his house whence he came out, and, with or without other spirits more wicked than himself, enter in and dwell in the swept and garnished abode? Surely, with such a possibility before them, it was the duty of pious mourners to offer all the protection that religion could suggest, and to defend the citadel with that potent amulet which recorded the previous discomforture of the besieger. The fost mortem trepanning may have been such a pious endeavour to carry sacramental benefits beyond the grave, as induced the early Christians to be baptised for the dead, and, if.there be truth in the deductions which have been made from the evidence, they point not only to a belief inthe supernatural and in the existence of a future state, but also to that pathetic struggle of human love to penetrate the kingdom of death, which has persisted from the death of ‘*Cain, the first male child, to him that did but yesterday suspire.” The possibility of reasonably making such deductions from a few decayed bones is a remarkable proof of the progress of anthropological science. Should any readers regard these de- ductions as unwarranted, they must remember that their value is dependent upon a series of facts which can here only be but very imperfectly reproduced. For these evidences in full sequence reference should be made to the paper by Dr. Munro, which forms the subject of this notice, and which will amply repay perusal, FRANK REDE FOWKE. ANIMAL HEAT AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CALORIMETRY HE problem of animal heat is one of the oldest problems of scientific speculation. Nevertheless it is only within recent years that we have been able to speak of it in terms of modern knowledge. Among the earliest contributors to such knowledge we may cite John Mayow and Joseph Black. Mayow was the first to suggest that atmospheric airis not a simple element and that its ‘‘nitro-aeric particles,” in combining with the blood in the lungs, produce the animal heat, while Black demonstrated that the air expired by the lungs contains ‘‘ fixed air” or, as we now call it, carbonic acid. Priestley discovered oxygen gas in 1771, but Lavoisier was the first to show that this constituent of the air is taken in by the blood in the lungs, and that its combination with the carbon, which is a regular constituent of all organic matter, produces animal heat in the same way as in all combustions. Lavoisier was the first, too, who measured the heat produced by an animal, making use of the ice calorimeter, constructed by himself and Laplace, while Crawford nearly at the same time made investigations with an apparatus similar to our water calorimeter. Neither form of apparatus is very suitable for this pur- pose. Scharling,: Vogel, and Hirn made use of an air calorimeter. Within the last few years Prof. d’Arsonval of Paris adopted the same principle, and I myself have’worked out the theory of it, and constructed apparatus, with which I have made a great number of experiments. The animal to be experimented upon in my apparatus is placed in a chamber surrounded by double metallic walls. The heat given out by the animal raises the temperature of the air contained between the walls, until the radiation from the outer surface causes a loss of heat equal to the amount gained 1Paper by Prof. Rosenthal of Erlangen, read before the Biological Section at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association for the Ad- vancement of Science. NO. 1230, VOL. 48] by it from the animal. This state of things having b established, the temperature of the air becomes constant, | gain and loss of heat being equal. In this way the given out can be calculated,? ‘ The chamber containing the animal is well ventilated by a: tion. If we measure the volume of the air aspired and ¢ duct a part of it through liquids absorbing carbonic acid, amount of this gas given out by the animal can be me: In another series of experiments the amount of oxygen absorbed — by the animal was also measured. The combination of app I made use of for this purpose is a variation of the meth invented by Regnault and Reiset. I shall not weary you with a long enumeration of all mye ments. All I wish is to give a brief account of some o results, which I think are of interest from a general biolog point of view. In the first place, I may mention my experiments on fe The high temperature in cases of febrile disease—is it the re: of greater heat production? Are we to assume that certain poisons taken into the body, or produced in it by microbes, stimulate the nervous system, or directly influence the tissues in — such a way as to cause greater oxidation, and thus to produce more heat ? , ae That is the opinion of many medical men, but it is met wi the great difficulty that neither the expiration of carbonic aci nor the excretion of oxidized nitrogenous matter is increased to — such a degree as to account fully for the rise of temperature. Therefore Traube, the late clinician of Berlin, proposed the theory that the rise of temperature in fever is caused, not by greater heat production, but by greater retention of heat. = On producing fever in animals by injection of various putrid , substances, I found that at the beginning of the fever, heat production is not increased, that the loss of heat is diminished, — and that the difference between the normal loss and that ob- | served in the period of rising temperature is sufficient to ee the febrile rise. When the temperature reaches its highest — point the amount of heat given out rises and comes to its | normal rate. Finally, when the fever begins to subside, durin; the period of falling temperature, the loss of heat is gre increased. ; : : > om All this is in perfect accordance with Traube’s theory. Nevertheless, I cannot say that heat production is ever aug mented in fever. I have not yet been able to make many experiments on man. There are two great difficulties in the way, and the greatest is the impossibility of makin strict comparison between the heat production in fever and t in the normal state, except jin cases of the regular in mittent type. Malaria, once so frequent in several parts of Ger- many, nowadays, thanks to hygienic improvements, is very seldom met with. So I have been able to make only two experime! on an individual afflicted with intermittent fever, on in- valids with abdominal typhus (typhoid fever), some on cases of pneumonia, and others on cases of fever caused by the inject: of Koch’s tuberculine during the short time when such i tions were practised in the hospitals of Erlangen. In't cases I found a small but real augmentation of heat producti and therefore I am inclined to suppose that the question is no yet solved. Perhaps there are two causes able to raise temperature in fever, one of them prevailing in some cases types of fever. s Most of my studies were conducted with a view explain the connection between heat production and ot physiological functions, and the influence of external circun stances on it. Higher animals, mammals and birds, maintai! their own 2g pag: nearly at the same degree, even when temperature of the surrounding air changes within large lim Is this regulation, as we call it, caused by adaptation of h decagities to the greater or smaller loss, or are there means eep the loss constant in spite of the changing difference betw: the animal and surrounding objects ? On measuring the heat production of the same animal in and warm air, I found that itis smallest in air of medium perature, z.¢. about 15° C., becoming greater in lower and higher temperatures. Thus an animal produces and lo nearly the same amount of heat in air at 5° as in air at 25°. In this case regulation of the animal temperature can be effe only by changes of the co-efficient of emission of heat from th skin, caused by changes of circulation. But for longer period: 1 Fora fuller account see my papers in: A rchiv fiir Physiologie, 1889, and Sitzungsber. d. K. preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch, 1888-1392. | May 25. 1893] NATURE . 89 that regulation is insufficient. In winter time we use thicker clothing, we need more food, and if the cold is very great, we “produce more heat by muscular action. In accordance with that experience, I found that animals produce more heat in winter than in summer. If nourished with the same food, suffi- sient to maintain their weight constant in winter, they do not oxidize the whole in summer, and therefore they gain in weight. It is remarkable that similar changes were observed ‘by Dr. Karl Theodor, Duke of Bavaria, in the amount of car- bonic acid expired by a cat, in the case of which he measured e expiration of this gas during five months. : _ Many experiments have been made to find the combustion at of our food-stuffs. For want of direct animal calorimetry, physiologists used these data for calculating the heat produced y living beings; but as my experiments show, there is fre- quently no exact accordance between the two. : i Richly nourished animals produce less, sparely nourished ones more, heat than the calculation gives. Between the two eases there is a third one in animals sufficiently nourished, viz. ‘such as take in so much nutriment as serves to maintain their weight unchanged for a long time. In this case only the amount of heat produced is really equal to that calculated upon the com- bustion of the constituents of food. But also in this case variations are observed, caused by change of temperature, _ muscular motion or other circumstances, so that only the middle figures correspond exactly to the theoretical value. Thus, if a well-nourished animal is, starved the heat produc- tion remains unchanged from three to four days, the animal burning its stored-up materials and losing much of its weight ; only then is it suddenly reduced to a lower amount. If now food is given again, heat production remains small, the weight increases, and then, three or four days later, the heat production increases and reaches its former amount. : If a sufficiently nourished animal takes in all its food once a day, the heat production varies very regularly in the twenty-four hours. Two hours after the meal it begins to rise, comes to its Maximum point between the fifth and seventh hour, falls sud- “iy between the eleventh and twelfth hour. In the second If of the period the changes are small, the minimum point being usually in the twenty-third hour. 2 fuk Similar changes go on in the expiration of carbonic acid. But after the meal it rises much more rapidly, and therefore comes earlier to its maximum point. Thus the ratio between heat production and expiration of carbonic acid is not a constant. This is true not only in the daily period. The wariations are seen to be still greater when we compare different animals, or the same animal at different times and in different states of nutrition. _ By such researches we are enabled to examine more exactly what chemical changes are going on in the animal system. The materials afforded by food are all oxidized at last, and leave the body in the form of carbonic acid and nitrogenous matter like area, What in a longer period is burnt in such a way, we can, with a certain degree of exactness, make out by chemical ex- amination of the constituents of food on the one hand, and of _ the excretions on the other. We can make up, in sucha way, a balance account for gain and loss of the animal, like the balance account of a merchant. But such:an account gives no exact | knowledge, because we have no means of completing it by taking an inventory. -We are, as regards the’ living body, in the Same position as a political economist, who knows the amount __ of goods imported into and hse Sr out of a country, but does Bot know what has become of the goods stored up or used up in the country itself. Therefore political economists do not now regard the mere balance of trade as being so important as they formerly thought. : Ph iology, like all branches of science, begins with a mere Sener tion of processes observed. With the progress of our know edge, reason tries to connect these processes one with another, and with those going on in lifeless nature. » What we call wnderstanding is nothing ‘else than knowing such connec- ons. Now in the case of bodily income and expenditure, it 5 y to observe that all materials going out of the system are more oxidized than those taken in as food, and reason tells us that the combination of these food materials with’ the oo Sea inspired must be the source of-animal heat. Hence, we have no doubt that the amount of heat produced must cor- nd to the amount of chemical processes going on ‘during Same time. But these processes we cannot observe tly; we can only observe the final products car- NO. 1230, vou. 48] x 4 bonic acids and others, when they leave the body. But by some of the processes heat may be produced or absorbed with- out any visible change of the body as a whole, viz. by solution of solid matter, by splitting highly complex substances into more simple ones, by forming sugar out of starch or glycogen out of sugar. Considering this, we need not wonder that for a long time it was impossible to answer the question whether there is any other source of heat production in animals besides oxidation. Only long continued calorimetric measurements have enabled me to fill up this gap.1 This done, I thought it possible to discover also something about these inner processes, by comparing, hour for hour,'the heat production with the excretion of carbonic acid, and with the absorption of oxygen. If the ratio between the heat produced and the carbonic acid expired changes, this cannot be explained otherwise than by the fact that different chemical substances are burned. Each’ sub- stance, according to its chemical constitution, gives out, when oxi+ dized, a certain amount of carbonic acid, and produces a certain amount of heat. But in the system it is a mixture of different substances which come to be oxidized. This mixture changes, not only in animals differently nourished, but also in the same animal in different’ periods of digestion. After a rich meal, what comes into the circulation first must be that part of the food that is easily and rapidly digested and easily and rapidly absorbed. Such ‘substances are the proteid matters. Later, the other constituents of the food, especially fat, come to the tissues, where they are burned. Now /aés, for the same amount of carbonic acid, produce far more heat- than proteids ; so, during the first hours of digestion the afflux of oxidizable matter to the tissues being very great, both heat production and expiration of carbonic acid increase, but the latter in a far higher degree than the former. at - The animal body may: be’ compared, as Prof. Huxley so well says, to an eddy in a river, which may retain its shape for an indefinite length of time, though no one particle of the water remains’ in it for more: than a brief period. But there is not only the difference between the animal eddy and the eddy of’ the river, viz. that the matter which flows into it has a different chemical composition from the matter which flows. out of it, but in addition, matters which make up‘ the eddy in a given time, change, if I may so say, their chemical value, com- bine with or separate from each other, without any visible change of the whole system. t ante - The study of heat production is of the greatest value. No doubt, the study of the vital processes becomes more complicated when we take into account the invisible internal changes occurr- ing in the body. But simplicity is not the highest aim in scientific inquiries ; the highest possible exactness is that to which we must aspire. Happily, the history of science shows that after trying several ways to solve complex problems, we find that one of them leads to a higher point of view, whence things appear in all their completeness, simplicity and distinctness. Towards such a point of view my researches are but the’ first step. Let us hope that the united forces of many physiologists will shorten the time necessary for the completion of the work. MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF LIQUID OXYGEN? AFTER alluding to the generous aid which’ he had received both from the Koyal Institution and from others in con- nection with his researches on the properties of liquid oxygen, and to the untiring assistance rendered him by his co-workers in the laboratory, Prof. Dewar said that on the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Michael Faraday he had demonstrated some of the properties of liquid oxygen. He hoped that evening to go several steps further, and to show liquid air, and to render visible some of its more extraordinary properties. The apparatus employed consisted of the gas-engine down stairs, which was driving two compressors. The chamber-con- taining the oxygen to be liquefied was surrounded by two circuits, one traversed by ethylene, the other by nitrous oxide. Some liquid ethylene was admitted to the chamber belonging to its circuit, and there evaporated. It was then returned to the 1 See also my address delivered to the general meeting of the German Association of Naturalists at Bremen, 1890. 2 Abstract of Friday evening discourse delivered at the Royal Institution by Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. é ? go NATURE [May 25, 1893 4 compressor as gas and liquefied, and thence, again, into the chamber as required. A similar cycle of operations was carried out with the nitrous oxide. There was a hundredweight of liquid ethylene prepared for the experiment.. Ethylene was ob- tained from alcohol by the action of strong sulphuric acid. Its manufacture was exceedingly difficult, because dangerous, and as the efficiency of the process only amounted to 15 or 20 per cent. the preparation of a hundredweight of liquid was no light task. The cycle of operations, which, for want of time, was not fully explained, was the same as that commonly employed in refrigerating machinery working with ether or ammonia. The lecturer then exhibited to the audience a pint of liquid oxygen, which by its cloudy appearance showed that it con- tained traces of impurity. The oxygen was filtered, and then appeared as a clear transparent liquid with a slightly blue tinge. The density of oxygen gas at — 182° C, is normal, and the latent heat of volatilisation of the liquid is about 80 units. The capillarity of liquid oxygen at its boiling-point was about one- sixth that of water. The temperature of liquid oxygen at atmospheric pressure, determined by the specific heat method, using platinum and silver, was — 180° C. Reference was then made to a remarkable experimental corroboration of the correctness for exceedingly low tempera- tures of Lord Kelvin and Prof. Tait’s thermo-electric diagram. lf the lines of copper and platinum were prolonged in the direction of negative temperature, they would intersect at - 95°C. Similarly, the copper and palladium lines would cut one another at — 170°C. Now, if this diagram were correct, the E.M.F. of the thermo-electric junctions of these two pairs of metals should reverse at these points. A Cu — Pt junction connected to a reflecting galvanometer was then placed in oxygen vapour and cooled down. At — 100° C. the spot of light stopped and reversed. A Cu — Pd junction was after- wards placed in a tube containing liquid oxygen, and a similar reversal took place at about — 170° C, : Liquid oxygen is a non-conductor of electricity: a spark taken from an induction coil, one millimetre long in the liquid requires a potential equal to a striking distance in air of 25 millimetres. It gave a flash now and then, when a bubble of the oxygen vapour in the boiling liquid came between the terminals. Thus liquid oxygen is a high insulator. When the spark is taken from a Wimshurst machine the oxygen appears to allow the passage of a discharge to take place with much‘ greater ease, The spectrum of the spark taken in the liquid is a continuous one, showing all the absorption bands. As to its absorption spectrum, the lines A and B of the solar spectrum are due to oxygen, and they came out strongly when the liquid was interposed in the path of the rays from the electric lamp. Both the liquid and the highly compressed gas show aseries of five absorption bands, situated respectively in the orange, yellow, green, and blue of the spectrum. Experiments prove that gaseous and liquid oxygen have substantially the same absorption spectra. This is a very note- worthy conclusion considering that no pee Yo of oxygen, so far as is known, gives the absorptions of oxygen. ‘The per- sistency of the absorption through the stages of gaseous con- «lensation towards complete liquidity implies a persistency of molecular constitution which we should hardly have expected. ‘The absorptions of the class to which A and B belong must be those most easily assumed by the diatomic molecules (O,) of ordinary oxygen ; whereas the diffuse bands above referred to, seeing they have intensities proportional to the square of the density of the gas, must depend on a change produced by com- pression, This may be brought about in two ways, either by the formation of more complex molecules, or by the constraint to which the molecules are subjected during their encounters with one another. When the evaporation of liquid oxygen is accelerated by the action of a high expansion pump and an open test-tube is inserted into it, the tube begins to fill up with liquid atmospheric air, produced at the ordinary barometric pressure. Dr. Janssen had recently been making prolonged and careful experiments on Mont Blanc, and he found that these oxygen lines disappeared more and more from the solar spectrum as he reached higher altitudes. The lines at all elevations come out more strongly when the\sun is low, because the rays then have to traverse greater thicknesses of the earth’s atmosphere. Michael Faraday’s experiments made in 1849 on the action of magnetism on gases opened up anew field of investigation. The NO 1230, VOL. 48} following table, in which + means ‘‘ magnetic” and — means. ‘* negative,”’ summarises the results of Faraday’s experiments. _ Magnetic Relations of Gases (Faraday). Iaaie, 18 Gabon In Hydto-. I Con Gage = 0 Rs ahead fo) + + weak + Nitrogen ... ... - —- . = strong = ae Oxygen...» ... + +. + Strong. + strong” Carbonic acid ... ° - - weak Carbonic oxide... ~ - - weak Nitric oxide — weak + + tee pa Ethylene ahs - - ~ — weak Ammonia vhs - - - seco Hydrochloric acid = — —- = weak = Becquerel was before Faraday in experimenting upon this subject. Becquerel allowed charcoal to absorb gases, and then: examined the properties of such charcoal in the magnetic field. He thus discovered the magnetic properties of oxygen to b strong, even in relation to a solution of ferrous chloride, as | forth in the following table :—. : Specific Magnetism, Equal Weights (Becquerel). Tron se, GL ah, OOD OOO Onsen, 66 GA ea ee 377 Ferrous chloride solution, sp. gr. 1°4334+ 140 | Aan eee eR eae 88 Water. (9, SRR SOE Sala eee 3.5 The lecturer took a cup made of rock salt, and put in it some liquid oxygen. The liquid did not wet rock salt, but remained in a spheroidal state. The cup and its contents were plac between and a little below the poles of an electro-magne Whenever the circuit was completed, the liquid oxygen rose from the cup and connected the two poles, as represented in the cut, which is copied from a photograph of the phenomen Then it boiled away, sometimes more on one pole than th other, and when the circuit was broken it fell off the pole i drops back into the cup. Healso showed that the magnet wou draw up liquid oxygen out of atube, A test-tube containin Magnetic ttraction of Liquid Oxygen. liquid oxygen, when placed in the Hughes balance, producedno, disturbing effect. _The magnetic moment of liquid oxygen is about 1000 when the magnetic moment of iron is taken as 1,000,0c0, On cooling. some bodies increased in magne power. Cotton wool, moistened with liquid oxygen, was stron attracted by the magnet, and the liquid oxygen was actual sucked out of it on to the poles.. A crystal of ferrous sulphate similarly cooled, stuck to one of the poles. ; vem The lecturer remarked that fluorine is so much like oxygen in — its properties, that he ventured to predict that it will turn out to be a magnetic gas. Nitrogen liquefies at a lower temperature than oxygen, an one would expect the oxygen to come down before the nit when air is liquefied, as stated in some text-books, but u fortunately it is not true. _ They liquefy together. In evapor ing, however, the nitrogen boils off before the oxygen. He poured two or three ounces of liquid air into a large test-tube, and a smouldering splinter of wood dipped into the mouth of the tu! May 25, 1893] NATURE ai was not re-ignited; the bulk of the nitrogen was nearly five minutes in boiling off, after which asmouldering splinter dipped __ into the mouth of the test-tube burst into flame, ___ Between the poles of the magnet all the liquefied air went to __. the poles ; there was no separation of the oxygen and nitrogen. _ Liquid air has the same high insulating power as liquid oxygen. ‘the phenomena presented by liquefied gases present an un- limited field for investigation. At — 200° C. the molecules of __ oxygen had only one-half of their ordinary velocity, and had lost __. three-fourths of their energy. At such low temperatures they __ seemed to be drawing near what might be called ‘‘ the death of __. matter,” so far as chemical action was concerned ; liquid oxygen, for instance, had no action upon a piece of phosphorus and * potassium or sodium dropped into it ; and once he thought, and publicly stated, that at such temperatures all chemical action ceased. That statement required some qualification, because a photographic plate placed in liquid oxygen could be acted upon by radiant energy, and at a temperature of — 200°C, was still sensitive to light. Prof. M’Kendrick had tried the effect of these low tempera- _ tures upon the spores of microbic organisms, by submitting in ____ sealed glass tubes blood, milk, flesh, and such-like substances, __ for one hour to a temperature cf —182° C., and subsequently _ keeping them at blood heat forsomedays. The tubes on being __ opened were all putrid. Seeds also withstood the action of a similar amount of cold. He thought, therefore, that this ex- _ periment had proved the possibility of Lord Kelvin’s suggestion, _ that life might have been brought to the newly-cooled earth upon _ a seed-bearing meteorite. In concluding, the lecturer heartily thanked his two assistants, . Mr, R. N. Lennox and Mr. J. \W. Heath, for the arduous work they had had in preparing such elaborate demonstrations, SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England _ (third series, vol. iv. pt. 1) there is an interesting paper on the home produce, imports, consumption, and price of wheat over _ forty harvest years, 1852-3 to 1891-2, by Sir J. B. Lawes and Dr. J. I. Gilbert. This ;paper, extending to fifty-five pages, _ contains a general review of the produce of the experimental plots at Rothamsted, from which they have annually calculated , the wheat i of this country.—The first of the official reports is that of the Royal Veterinary College on investigations ‘conducted for the Royal Agricultural Society during the year F 1892, An interesting case of actinomycosis is related ; a heifer with tongue badly diseased was put under Thomassen’s treat- _ ment. Potassium iodide administered at first in doses of one drachm, twice daily, and the doses gradually increased to three . diachms, effected a complete cure in about ten weeks. —Experi- ’ ments have lately been made at the Veterinary College with _ Koch’s tuberculin. The results in the case of seventy-two _ animals inoculated and afterwards killed show that ‘‘ the tuber- _ culin pointed out correctly the existence of tuberculosis in twenty- _ Seven animals and wrongly in five, and it failed to indicate the _ existence of the disease in nineteen. In only three of the twenty- seven animals in which the tuberculin correctly pointed out the _ existence of tuberculosis coulda positive diagnosis have been _ made by any other means.” Experiments have also been made __ with Kalning’s mallein, and ‘‘the results warrant the statement that mallein is an agent of greater precision than tuberculin, _ and that it is likely to render most important service in any __ attempt to stamp out glanders,” ie. Wiedemann's Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No 4.—On ce electric discharges ; the production of electric oscillations, and _ their relations to discharge tubes, by H. Ebert and E. Wiede- |, mann. The influence of electric oscillations of given ' frequency _ in producing glow in vacuum tubes without electrodes was __ investigated by means of Lecher’s wire system. The oscillations ae in the primary circuit were produced by means of an influence _ imachine throughout. The terminals of the machine were con- nected to the primary condenser, consisting of four plates, to a the further two of which the two Lecher wires, copper ‘wires or thick metal tubes, were attached, running parallel for distances __ varying from 2 to 14 m., and ending in another condenser of variable capacity. The sensitive tubes were placed in various positions between or near the plates of the secondary condenser. NO. 1230, VOL. 48] It was found that wide tubes, not too short, glowed most readily- Nodes along the wires were discovered by means of wire bridges» which were moved along the wires until the tube glowed, or, if ‘it was glowing already, until it reached a point where the glow became more intense and uniform. It was found that the position of the nodes was independent of the pressure in the tube, but ~ that as evacuation proceeded the limits within which the tube would glow grew wider. Hence the most accurate method for finding the nodes, was by finding them for the highest possible pressure of gas in the tube.—On the comparison of intensities of light, by the photoelectric method, by J. Elster and H. Geitel. Apart from the dissipation of an electric charge from a negative zinc pole by ultra-violet radiation, it is also possible to measure the intensity of optically active light by an electric method. If a clean surface of potassium is joined to the negative pole of a battery, and a platinum or aluminium electrode to the positive pole, and the two electrodes are placed in a vacuum cell, the illumination of the potassium surface will allow a current to flow whose’strength will be proportional to the intensity of the light source, and can be measured by means of a galvanometer. That this is really the case was proved by measuring indepen- dently in this way the intensities of two luminous sources, and then combining them, when the resultant reading was found to } be equal ‘to the sum of the other two, within the limits of con- stancy of the sources themselves. The greatest effect is produced by the blue rays.—Also papers by Messrs. Bjerknes, Zahn, Voigt, Richarz;.Ambronn, Christiansen, Goldhammer, and Oberbeck. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, March.— Iridescent ‘clouds, by H. Mohn.—The paper contains observations made at Chris- tiania during the years 1871-1892, together with a detailed investigation of the formula recently employed. During this period iridescent clouds were only visible on forty-two days ; in somé years the phenomenon failed entirely, and was not ob- served during the whole lustrum 1876-80. The great majority of cases occurred in December and January, but a few occurred in summer; the phenomenon was also seen somewhat more frequently at sunset than at sunrise or mid-day, but the difference is so small as to make it appear that its occurrence is inde- pendent of the.time of day. The height of the clouds varied from about fourteen :to more than eighty miles, the lower level being about twice the height at which ordinary cirrus clouds are uSually seen at Christiania. The phenomenon appears to have some connection with the state of the weather, as an examination of the synoptic charts showed that it mostly occurred during the prevalence of stormy weather in the North Atlantic and over Northern Europe, and when the air was dry and warm at Christiania. —On the determination of wind force during gusts of a Bora storm, by E. Mazelle. From an investigation of the anemometer observations at Trieste for the ten years 1882-1891, the greatest hourly velocity recorded was seventy miles, ~ But as hourly values give little idea of the violence of individual gusts, the author adapted an ingenious electrical arrangement to theanemo- meter, by which he could record the number of revolutions of the cupsin each second, During a storm on January 16 last, the gusts during the space of a few seconds reached the velocity equivalent to 100 to 140 milesan hour, Presuming the instru- ment to have been a large-sized anemometer, this high velocity is not unlikely, as in.a paper read before the Royal Meteoro- logical Society on May 18, 1881, by R. H. Curtis, a velocity at the rate of 120 miles an hour at Aberdeen is quoted as recorded in gusts lasting two minutes, while shorter intervals, if they could be measured, would no doubt show higher velocities ; and at Sydney a velocity of 153 miles an hour was recorded during one or two minutes. In all these cases the factor 3 has been used for the ratio of the movement of the cups to that of the wind, but this factor has been shown to givea velocity which is nearly 30 per cent. too high. ‘ Bulletin dela Société des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1892.—(No. 1.) The chief papers are:—The development of the gemmulz in Ephydatia: fluviatilis, by W. Zykoff.—Catalogue of Kazan Lepidoptera, continued, by L. Kroulikovsky.—Analogy between the solution ofa gas and of a salt in indifferent solutions of salts, by I, M. Syetchenoff. The author’s law, which was found or carbon dioxide (yv = ae — ), holds good within certain x limits, for the solution of salts in-the same solutions ; but the latter must only be taken either weak or of medium strength.— New» plants and insects from Sarepta, by Alex. Becker.—On a 92 NATURE [May 25, 1893 mesozoic fish from the Altai, by J. V. Rohon (Lepidotus | altaicus, n, sp.).—QOn the cells of some conjugata devoid of nucleus, by J, Gerasimoff,—(No. 2.) The Rhinoceride of Russia, and the development of Rhinoceride, by Marie Pawloff. —RKesearches relating to some Protococcoide, by Al. Artari (in German), The work has been done chiefly in order to study the doubtful species. They were cultivated in different con- ditions, and proved to be independent species, At the same time the author experimented upon the influence of various media upon variations ; the latter proved to occur within cer- tain well-defined limits only, not exceeding the specific differ- ences, The Algze, when returned to their previous conditions, may return to their previous forms, thus proving a certain re- sistance of the organism against the medium, The following new species are described :—G/aocystia negeliana, Pleuroceccus simplex, P. .conglomeraius, P. regularis, P. Beyerinchii, and Chlamydomonas apiocystiformis (three plates), —The birds of the Goyernment of Moscow, by Th, Lorenz, with preface by Prof. Menzbier (first paper). Eighty-eight species are. mentioned, with remarks upon their manners of life, based upon many years’ observations, Zapiski (Memoirs) of the Novoros Sian (Odessa) Society of Naturalists, yol. xvii. 2.—N. Andrussoff contributes, under the name of bio-geographical notes, a paper on pelagic diatoms, which contains a list of all named species of diatoms which have hitherto been found, either free, or in the stomachs of pelagic animals, both near to the coasts and in the open sea. The list is based on the researches of Hooker, Ehrenberg, Baddeley, Grunow, Castracane, and so on, down to the Chai- lenger expedition, and the works of Murray, Hensen, and Brun, and it is followed by short remarks upon the geological importance of diatoms. The paper is summed up in German. —Prof. Sintsoff gives a list of Neogene fossils in Bessarabia, the following species being new :—Acmea (Scurria) Reusst, tennissima, subrostata, and striato-costata, Acmaea pseudo- levigata, and Buccinum subspinosum,—D, Zabolotny discusses animal phosphorescence, and gives some facts on the same phenomenon observed in /imans, near Odessa. The phos- phorescent water was of a brown red colour, and contained masses of Daphniz, Rotifers, and Infusoriz. It appeared that luminosity was due to one Cilioflagellate, Glenodinium, from the Pervidinide tribe, and it seems that light was emitted by the protoplasm itself of the little animal,—A, Lebedintseff describes the bathometer used in 1891 and 1892 during the explorations of the Black Sea; and G. Muskatbliith gives a note on mitotic division of leucocytes in circulating blood. Annalen des K. K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, viii. No. 1. (Wien, 1893.)—Dr. O. Finsch continues his ‘‘ Ethnological experiences and authenticated objects from the South Sea.” The present is the first paper on Micronesia, and deals with the Gilbert Islands, As is usual with Dr. Finsch’s papers, it is well illustrated by eight plates, two of which are in colours, containing 110 figures, besides 16 wood-cuts, Although this paper, like the others of the series, is a catalogue of the objects collected by Dr, Finsch, and now in the National Museum in Vienna, it is at the same time an important contribution to the ethnography of Micronesia, a region of the great ocean about which com- paratively little is known. The Gilbert Archipelago—often called the Kingsmill Islands—are best known to the frequenters of museums as the country of formidable weapons armed with serried rows of sharks’ teeth, and of the coir armour which was worn as a defence against these deadly weapons. Dr, Finsch is of opinion that the Gilbert Archipelago, with Banaba and Nawodo, constitute a well-marked sub-province, as there is a distinct language, peculiar pantomimic dances (in which both sexes participate), characteristic tattooing, a special style of house, which latter are grouped into large villages, colossal assembly houses, well-built canoes, even for the South Sea, _ shark-tooth weapons, armour, a noose for catching eels, &c. He concludes by saying, ‘* In every respect the Gilberts exhibit more affinity with Melanesia than with Polynesia, and least of all with Micronesia.” The other articles are: ‘‘Characterless birds’ eggs: an oological study” [on Corvus corone, C. cornix and C. frugilegus], by Emil C. F. Rzehak; ‘‘On the crystalline structure of meteoric iron,” by G. Linck, and the usual official reports for 1892. THE last three numbers received (2-4) of the Budlettino della Societa Botanica Italiana contain a very large number of papers on the flora, phanerogamic and cryptogamic, of various districts of Italy and the adjacent countries, including an interesting note NO. 1230, VOL. 48] “of Materia Medica in the University of Edinburgh, and Jos on the very rich flora of Monte Nerone. In addition to these — Prof. R, F. Solla describes a case of polyembryony in the carob, Ceratonia siliqua, and also the structure of the tanniferc cells in the same plant. Sig. E. Baroni has a note ont relationship of calcicolous lichens to their substratum. Dr. Massalongo describes a gall on the bay, Zaurus nobilis, due the attacks of an insect which he regards as a new species, and names Phytopius Malpighianus. Prof. G, Arcangeli gives the result of observations on the growth of the leaf-stalk of va species of Nymphzeacez, which he finds to be greater in t! case of immersed than of floating leaves, This he attribu to the vertical pressure of the water on the upper surface of leaves in the former case. A paper by the late Prof. Pasquale was read, describing a fall of rain from lime-trees, quite unconnected with the manna produced by aphides, and due to the inability of transpiration to eliminate the whole the water absorbed through the roots. fist) 9 oe aia SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES, _ Lonpon, ne She lar a Royal Society, March 23.—‘‘Preliminary Notice on the Arrow-Poison of the WaNyika and other Tribes of East Equatorial Africa, with special reference to the Chemical Properties and Pharmacological Action of the Wood from which it is prepared.” By Thomas R. Fraser, M.D., F.R.S., Professor spd Tillie, M.D. (Edin.) q Burton,! Cameron,? and other travellers have given account: of much interest of an arrow-poison used in warfare and in the chase by the WaNyika, WaKamba, WaGyriama, and oth tribes of Eastern Equatorial Africa. Maks Several years ago, an opportunity was given to one of the authors to examine poisoned arrows, and the poison used in smearing them, of the WaNyika tribe, While the pharma- cological action of this poison was found ‘to have a close resemblance to that of Strophanthus seeds, its physical an chemical properties enabled the conclusions to be drawn that th poison was not made from these seeds, but was chiefly composed ofan extract prepared from a wood.® These conclusions have been confirmed by the examination further specimens of the WaNyika arrow-poison, and of wood from which it is prepared ; and some of the results of this examination are stated in this paper. The authors have separated from the arrow-poison and the wood a crystalline glucoside, whose elementary compositio reactions and other characters they describe. hi, They have elaborately investigated the pharmacological action of this glucoside. The minimum-lethal dose for Be was found be about 000005 grain per 100 grains of weight of frog, and foi rabbits about 0°000035 grain per pound of weight of animal. The glucoside has a very pronounced action upon the h A large dose causes, in the frog, arrest of the contractions in state of ventricular systole, and the heart soon afterwards acqui ires an acid reaction. After the heart is paralysed, respiration continue for so long as an hour, and for a considerable time frog can jump about actively. Smaller doses, on the other hand slow the heart by prolonging diastole, and arrest its pulsation in a state of ventricular diastole. This diastolic arrest is nm prevented by the administration of atropine, and is probably to a direct action on the motor ganglia and muscle of the h The action on blood vessels is very slight. Transfusion experi in the frog with a solution of 1 in 10,000 of saline produced about the same effect as the pure saline solution alone. ps A marked paralysing action is exerted upon the sk muscles, which also. quickly pass into a condition of rigor The spinal cord and sensory and motor nerves are but liti affected, and the former only doubtfully, except indirec through the enfeebled circulation when large doses administered. In warm-blooded animals, artificial respi does not prevent death from cardiac failure. aa In blood-pressure experiments, non-lethal doses were found produce a remarkable slowing of the pulse, the vertical height each pulse-curve indicating, at the same time, a great increase 1p” the force of the ventricular contractions. (oa : ‘ 1 “The Lake Regions of Central Africa,’’ 1860, vol. 2, p. 305- 2** Across Africa’, 1885, p. 59. ; y 3 Fraser, ‘On Strophanthus hispidus: its Natural History, Chemistry, and Pharmacology,” *‘ Edinburgh Roy. Soc. Trans.,” vol. 35, Part 1V, 1890, pp. 966-67. May 25, 1893] NATURE 93 The action upon the circulatory, muscular and nervous systems, fore, closely resembles of that strophanthin. pril 27.—‘‘ The Electric Organ of the Skate. Note an Electric Centre in the Spinal Cord.” By J. C. art, M.D., Regius Professor of’ Natural History, Univer- of Edinburgh. Communicated by Prof. Sir W. Turner, R.S. Having considered the development and structure of the ctric organ of the Skate, it appeared to me desirable, by way making my work more complete, to reinvestigate the nervous atus of the organ, and more especially to ascertain whether, in Zorfedo and Gymnotus, there is an electric centre. In pedo the electric organs are developed from a limited number otomes, and innervated by afferent fibres, belonging to a ed number of cranial nerves, which proceed from two large lections of cells—the electric lobes—situated in the region of medulla. In Gymnotus the nerves for the electric organs from two well-marked cellular tracts which extend _ along the ter length of the spinal cord, one at each side of the central canal. In the case of the Skate the _ question at the outset is, granting the existence of electric centre, is it, as in 7orfedo, situated in he brain or, ds in Gymnotus, in the spinal cord ? Sanderson and Gotch (Journal of Physiology, vol. x. No. 4), made out that in the Skate ‘‘a reflex centre is situated in the optic lobes,” but, withstanding this, these lobes in the Skate in “no way differ histologically from the corresponding Structures in Acanthias and other Selachians -_unprovided with electrical organs, The development of the Skate’s organ from portions of the caudal myotomes, and its inner- vation by afferent fibres from certain caudal nerves, point to the electric centre being situated in the spinal cord rather than in the brain, and to its being, as in Gymmotus, on a level, and all but coextensive, with the electric organ. Having observed, when working at the develop- ment of the electric organ, a number of large nerve-cells in the caudal portion of the spinal cord, the sections of Skate embryos made some years ago were first examined. It soon became evident that ‘in sections from the middle of the tail on a level with the electric organ certain cells of the anterior horn of the cord were very much larger than in sections through the root of the tail, and further that in late embryos and very young Skate there _wasan electric centre, resembling in many respects the electric centre in Gymnotus. It did not, of course, follow that the electric nerve-cells persisted into adult life. They might degenerate, and thus the supposed feebleness of the Skate’s organ might be accounted for. The fact that the Skate’s organ increases in size as the fish grows larger led me, however, to expect that large nerve-cells would be found in the caudal on of the spinal cord in well-grown fish. In this I was not disappointed, for, though there was at first some difficulty in demonstrating the presence of electric nerve-cells in large fish, on obtaining perfectly fresh material their position, size, and relations were easily made out, and the remark- difference in the appearance of sections of cord at, and in front of, the root of the tail, sections on a level with the electric organ, was at once ou From the observations already made, it appears that the electric centre in the Skate closely resembles, from a morphological point of view at least, the electric centre in Gymnotus. The electric tract is, however, much shorter in the Skate than in the Electric Eel, and the cells are relatively fewer in number. On the other hand, the cells in the Skate a Se than in Gymmotus, and this is true not only of batis but. also of 2, radiata, in which the organ is ex- de small and poorly developed. Nerve-cells from the electric centres of Torpedo, Gymnotus, and Raia are repre- ‘se in the accompanying figures. Fig. 1 represents a cell from the electric centre of the Skate (a 2. dalis two feet gern: Fig. 2 a cell from the electric centre of a well- grown Gynimotus ; and Fig. 3 a cell from the electric lobe of ‘a large Torpedo, A\l three figures are camera drawings, and NO. 1230, VOL. 48] ae the same lenses were used in each case—objective D and ocular 2, Zeiss. It will be noted that, though the cell from the Skate is much smaller than the Zorfedo cell, it is decidedly larger than the one from Gymnotus. In sections of the Skate’s cord on a level with the electric organ, small, as well as large, cells are usually visible in the anterior horn. The small cells are in connection with the fibres which supply the untransformed caudal muscles. They agree exactly with the cells in the anterior horn throughout the entire length of the spinal cord lying in front of the electric organ region.- One of these unenlarged motor cells is repre- sented in Fig. 4. It was drawn from a section of the cord (of the same fish from which Fig. 1 was taken), about six inches in front of the electric organ. It closely resembles, except in size, the electric cell (Fig. 1), and it also resembles the large motor cells of the Mammalian cord. A motor cell from the spinal cord of a Mammal, drawn to the same scale as the other cells | given, is represented in Fig. 5.1 | This cell, smaller than the | electric cell of the Skate (1), and still smaller than the cell from Torpedo (3), is about the same size as the electric cell of Gymnotus (2). : With the help of sections through a series of embryo Skate, for most of which I was indebted to Dr. Beard, I have been able to study the development of the cells in the Skate’s electric centre. This part of the subject, together with the condition of the electric cells in large fish, will be dealt with in a subsequent communication, It may, however, be stated now: (1) That in X. batis embryos under 5 cm. in length none of the motor cells in the caudal region had undergone enlargement. (2) That in an embryo 5°8 cm. in length, although the muscular fibres seemed still unchanged, certain cells in the anterior horn of the caudal portion of the cord were distinctly larger than similarly- shaped cells in their vicinity. (3) That.in an embryo 15°5 cm, For the use of the section from which Fig. 5 was drawn I am ‘indebted to Sir William Turner, F.R.S. F ; 94 NATURE [May 25, 1893 in length, in which the electrical elements were already well developed, the electric nerve-cells were large and conspicuous, so that sections through the cord in the region of the electric organ presented quite a different appearance from sections through the root of the tail, where no change had taken place in the cells of the anterior horn. ‘ t May 4.—‘‘ On the Differential Covariants of Plane Curves, and the Operators employed in their Development.” By R. F. Gwyther, M.A., Fielden Lecturer in Mathematics, Owens College, Manchester. Communicated by Prof. Horace Lamb, F.R.S. **On the alleged Increase of Cancer.” By George King, F.I.A., F.F.A., and Arthur Newsholme, M.D., MRE. Communicated by Dr, J. S. Bristowe, F.R.S. The general result is that the supposed increase in cancer is only apparent, and is due to improvement in diagnosis and more careful certification of the causes of death. Chemical Society, April zoth.—Dr. Armstrong, president, inthe chair. The following papers were read :—A contribu- tion to the chemistry and physiology of foliage leaves, by H. T. Brown and G. H. Morris. This paper deals with the occurrence, relations and physiological significance.of the starch, diastase and sugars contained in foliage leaves. The first part relates to the starch and diastase of leaves, and the second treats of the sugars of the leaf. A bibliography of the subject is appended. The work originated in an attempt to discover the explanation of the conditioning effect of ‘‘dry-hopping;” viz., the addition of a small amount of dry hops to finished beer. This was ulti- mately traced to the presence in the hop strobiles of a small, but appreciable, quantity of diastase, sufficient to cause slow hydrolysis of the non-crystallisable products of starch-transfor- mation left in the beer, and to reduce them to a condition in which they can be fermented by the yeast. The authors were then led to enquire into the first formation of starch in the chloroplasts of the foliage leaf, the mode of its dissolution and translocation in the plant and the nature of the metabolised products ; the results obtained are antagonistic to the assump- tion made by Sachs, that all the products of assimilation at some time take the form of starch. Only a small portion of the assimilated material exists at any one time as starch, The fluctuations in the amount of starch in leaves under various conditions were also determined. Wortmann’s recent denial that diastase plays any part in the dissolution and translocation of starch in leaves is incorrect ; the authors prove that, instead of leaves containing little or no diastase every leaf examined by them contained sufficient diastase to transform far more starch than the leaf can have contained at any one time. The dif- ference between the author’s and Wortmann’s results is chiefly due to the faulty method of examination employed by the latter. The products of the hydrolysis of starch by leaf-diastase are identical with those formed by malt-diastase, maltose having been directly separated from the leaves; leaf-diastase is not able to convert maltose into dextrose, but the leaf contains an enzyme capable of inverting cane-sugar. The amount of diastase present varies greatly in different plants, and within narrower limits even varies in the same plant at different times ; it is very high in the case of the Leguminose. Any conditions which favour a decrease in the leaf-starch result in an increase of the leaf-diastase; thus a marked increase in diastatic activity is observed with leaves kept in darkness. Contrary to Wortmann’s statement, leaf-diastase can attack the starch- granule under certain conditions; no evidence could however be obtained of the disappearance of starch in killed leaves under the influence of the contained diastase, and the authors are led to the conclusion that the first stage of dissolution of the starch-granule in the leaf is in some way or other bound up with the Zz of the cell. From expetiments on the leaves of Tropeolum the authors draw the following conclusions :— Cane-sugar is the first sugar to be synthesised by the assimila- tory processes. This sugar accumulates in the cell-sap of the leat-parenchyma whilst assimilation is proceeding vigorously, and when the concentration exceeds a certain point starch com- mences to be elaborated by the chloroplasts at the expense of the cane-sugar. This starch forms a more stable reserve material than the cane-sugar, and is only drawn on-when the latter ‘more readily metabolised substance has been partially used up. Cane-sugar is translocated as dextrose and levulose and the starch as maltose. From the invert-sugar derived from the cane-sugar, the dextrose is more readily used up for NO. 1230, VOL. 48] the respiratory processes, and possibly also for the new ti building, than is the levulose; hence in a given time n levulose than dextrose must pass out of the leaf into the The reading of this paper was followed -by an ian cussion in which the President, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, Dr. D. Scott, Prof. Green and Dr. Lauder Brunton took part.— interaction of alkali cellulose and carbon disulphide : lose thiocarbonates, by C. F. Cross, E. J. B C. Beadle. The maximum number of hydroxyl in alkali cellulose appears to be four, expressing lulose as Cy.H» 0,9. By the interaction of alkali cellul and carbon disulphide, cellulose thiocarbonates result ; products, when treated with water, swell enormously and r generate cellulose. From a study of a large number of th thiocarbonates the authors are led to assign to them the fo Ox re cs esc ; where X is the cellulose residue, a radicle of vari SNa J Say te ‘ dimensions. The thiocarbonates yield solutions of extraordin viscosity. —Sulphocamphylic acid, by W. H. Perkin, jun. heating Walters’ sulphocamphylic acid, a monobasic acid, CyH,40, distils ; on dissolving this in sulphone ae ee = phylic acid seems to be regenerated. By oxidation with perm ganate the latter yields a dibasic acid, CygH».O;, which onr tion gives another dibasic acid, C,,H»,O,. ‘The substance composition C,H, 0; yields, on hydrolysis, hydroxymetaxylene~ carboxylic acid (CO,H:Me:Me:OH =1:2:4:5) A number of salts and derivatives of the above substances are de- scribed.—Magnesium diphenyl, by Lothar Meyer. In reference to a recent note by Hodgkinson (NATURE, this vol., p. 22) th author states that magnesium diphenyl has been recently pt pared in his laboratory ; it is a voluminous powder and is spon- taneously inflammable. The formation of pyridine deriv: ; from unsaturated acids, by S. Ruhemann. Ethyl methyldicarb glutaconate yields methylmalonamide and ethyl amidoethy dicarboxylate with aqueous ammonia ; with phenylbydrazine gives ethyl methylmalonate. and the ammonium compound. ; CO.C.COOEt } baa fos 24 . Ethyl methylglutaco NNH.CH: Sa any a gives 8-methyl-aa’-dihydroxypyridine with aqueous ammonia and B-picoline onreduction with zinc dust. Similar reactions hold in the cases of the higher homologues of these two substances. Chlorinated phenylhydrazines, Part II., by J. T. Hewitt. ; thochlorophenylhydrazine does not yield a urazole when heate with biuret ; both the meta- and para-isomerides give urazoles and their hydrochlorides yield semicarbazides with potassius cyanate. A number of other compounds are described. — oxidation of tartaric acid in presence of iron, by H. J.. H. Fenton, On adding a small quantity of hydrogen peroxide to | solution of tartaric acid containing a trace of ferrous salt, a yellow colour is produced which changes to violet on addin alkali. The substance which gives the colour with ferric seems to be represented by the formula C,H,O3; it is crys line and behaves as a powerful reducing agent. The aut still engaged in its examination.—The inertness of quick by V. H. Veley. ‘The author is still making experiments the velocity of reaction between lime in various states of h tion and sulphurous and carbonic anhydrides at different ter peratures.—The products of the interaction of tin and nitric act by C. H. H. Walker. This investigation is a continuation ¢ the work of Veley on the conditions of the interactions of met: and nitric acid. ‘The whitish substance formed by the acti fairly concentrated nitric acid on tin seems to have the composi tion Sn(NO,) (OH)3.—Interactions of thiourea and some halo’ derivatives of fatty acids, by A. E. Dixon. Thiourea rea with dichloracetic : acid, yielding thiohydantoic acid and. ult mately thiohydantoin in accordance with the following qué tion :— ae the pyrazolon PhN aC Se a ttre scarnini cia a-monochlor (or brom) propionic acid interacts similarly thiourea, giving methylthiohydantoin ; on boiling this subs with hydrochloric acid it yields 8-methyldioxythiazole x NH.CO CO. ‘e \s —CHMe May 25. 1893] NATURE 95 Mathematical Society, May 11.—Mr. A. B. Kempe, _ F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The following] communica- ions were made :—On the Collapse of boiler flues, by A. E. H. Love. The problem consists in discovering the conditions of a _ collapse of a thin cylindrical shell under external pres:ure, when the ends are co: strained to occupy fixed positions, Since all problems of collapse depend on the geometrical possibility "of finite displacements accompanied by only infinitesimal strains, ‘it appears at the outset that unless the shell can receive a dis- epee went of pure bending without stretching of the middle _ surface collapse is impossible. The assumed condition of no terminal displacement is equivalent to closing the ends of the hell, and, since a closed surface cannot be bent without stretch- ing, this condition apparently precludes the possibility of ollapse. On the other hand it is well known that, if the _ external pressure exceeds a certain value, an infinitely long cylindrical shell of given small thickness and given diameter will collapse under the pressure. The critical pressure has been determined by Bryan and Basset, who find the same result. It ‘is therefore to be expected that, if the cylinder is of sufficient _ length, the extensional displacement which must be superposed _ upon the displacement of pure bending in order to satisfy the end conditions will be practically unimportant, except in the _ neighbourhood of the ends. The problem is thus reduced to «liscovering the order of magnitude of the length of the shell in order that it may be treated as infinite when the thickness is - small. ‘For this purpose consider the case where the pressure is just equal to the critical pressure, and the displacement of pure _ bending in the infinite cylinder is consequently of the form u=0, v=4Acos 29, w=A sin 29, where A is a small arbitrary constant. The displacement z is parallel to the generator, v is along the circular section, and z along the radius outwards, By means of displacements of this form the equations of equilibrium can be satisfied, but the boundary conditions at the ends cannot. Now take the case of an infinite cylinder with an end x = 0, at which v and w must vanish, and seek a displacement involving both flexure and extension of the middle surface to be superposed on the dis- placement. given by the above form, such displacement to satisfy the equations of equilibrium and the boundary conditions :— (1) that the new v and w are equal and opposite to those above given at x = 0; (2) that the new x, v, w vanish atx = o. The zequired solution can be determined and is of the form u =e-”* (A, cos mx + B, sin mx) sin 29, v=e-”™ (Ay cos mx + By sin mx) cos 29, m? d? (B, cos wx— A, sin mx) sin 29, in which B, and A, can be determined so as to. satisfy the con- ditions at x = 0, o is the Poisson’s ratio of the material of the shell, and m = [12(1—¢°*)]*/ /(d), é_is the thickness and d@ the diameter of the shell. If « be taken equal to } the reciprocal of ~ is about 546 of the mean proportional between the thickness and the diameter, and it follows that whenever x is great compared with this quantity the influence of the end is unimportant, and the displacement approximates to one of pure bending. To make the tendency to collapse occur in practice, it would be necessary that the half length of the flue be great compared with 7-1, and the prac- tical conclusion would be that for a flue of length / stability would be secured if Wc n[m, or l'< NJ (dt), where N is a considerable number. It is customary in sta- tionary boilers to make the flues in detached pieces connected by massive flanged joints, so ‘that the effective length of the flue is the distance between consecutive joints. If the number N be taken equal to 12 we have the rule that the distance between the joints must be not greater than twelve times the mean proportional between the thickness and the diameter. The value N = 12 accords well with what has been found safe in practice, but the rule as to spacing the joints is new.— On some formula of Codazzi and Weingarten in relation to the application of surfaces to each other, by Prof. Cayley, F.R.S.— n the expansion of some infinite products, by Prof. L. J. Rogers.—On a theorem for bicizcular'quartics and for cyclides _ corresponding to Ivory’s theorem for conics and conicoids, by Mr. _ A. L, Dixon, Using a form of the equation to these curves and NO. 1230, VOL. 48] surfaces (in quadricircular and pentaspherical co-ordinates) already studied by Darboux and Casey, the writer deduced that the ratio of the distance of any two points to the product of the lengths of the tangents from them to a fixed focal circle or sphere is the same as for the pair of corresponding points. He also showed how the theorem for the Cartesian oval could be derived from its equation in terms of elliptic functions.— A supplementary note on complex primes formed with the fifth roots.of unity, by Prof. Lloyd Tanner. The author investigates a method of determining whether a complex number is prime or composite. The process takes two distinct forms, one of which was established, on different grounds, by Tchébicheff. The other appears to be new, and_ is convenient in testing the sets of complex integers described in the author’s previous communication on the subject. The discussion is based upon a certain classification of complex integers according to the ‘‘orders” of their complexity, and this con- ception facilitates the.direct factorization of complex numbers. The theory is restricted to the case of 5, but seems to be quite general. — On the linear transformations between two quadrics, by Mr. H. Faber. In Creéle’s Journal, vol. v. (also Phil. Trans., 1858), Cayley gave.a representation of the auto- morphic linear transformation of the unipartite quadric func- tion in the notation of the theory of matrices. In the present paper the author extends Cayley’s method to the determination of the general linear transformation of a given quadric into another given quadric, and applies the results to the determina- tion of the general real linear transformation between two equivalent quadrics and to the reduction of a quadric to a sum of squares. The determination by this method of the general linear transformation between two quadrics depends upon the solution of an algebraic equation of the x" degree, to which the problem as it originally presents itself—viz., the solution of a system of x? quadratic equations in 2” variables, is thus reducible-—On maps and the problem of four colours, by Prince C. de Polignac,—On Fermat’s proof of the problem that primes of the form 47 + 1 can be expressed as the sum of two squares, by Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S. Entomological Society, May 10, Mr. Henry John Elwes, President in the chair.—Mr. R. McLachlan, F.R.S., exhibited for Dr. Fritz-Miiller, of Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil, specimens of larvee and pupz of a dipterous insect, and read a letter from Dr, Fritz-Miiller on the subject. The writer stated that the larvae were similar to those exhibited by Mr. Gahan, at a meeting of the society in October, 1890, and which were then thought by Lord Walsingham, F.R.S., and Mr. McLachlan, to be allied to the Myriapoda.—Mr. S. G, C. Russell exhibited specimens of /Yesferia alveolus, including one of the variety Taras, taken by him at Woking in April last.—Mr. J. M. Adye exhibited a long series of Moma orion, Eurymene dolo- braria, Amphidasis betularia, Cloephora prasinana, and a few specimens of Wotodonta dodonea, N. chaonia, and N. trepida, Acronycta alni, and Selenia tllustraria, all bred by him in March and April last, from larve obtained in the autumn of 1892 in the New Forest.—Mr. H. Goss read a copy of a letter received by the Marquis of Ripon, at the Colonial Office, from the Governor of the Gold Coast, reporting the occurrence of vast swarms of locusts at Aburi and Accra, West Africa, about the middle of February last. The writer stated that at Accia the swarm extended from east to west as far as the eye could see, and appeared to occupy a space about two miles wide and from a quarter of a mile to a mile in height.—Colonel Swinhoe stated that some years ago he had been requested by the Indian Government to report on plagues of locusts. He said he had witnessed swarms of these insects far larger than the one just reported from the Gold Coast, and mentioned that many years ago, when going up the Red Sea in one of the old P. and O. paddle boats, the boat had frequently to stop to clear her paddle-wheels from locusts, which had settled in such swarms as to choke the wheels and stop their .action.— Mr. E. C, Reed, of Valparaiso, Chili, communicated a paper entitled ‘‘ Notes on Acridium paranense, the migratory locust of the Argentine Republic.” Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. Champion, Mr, Elwes, Mr, McLachlan, and Mr. Merrifield took part in the discussion which ensued.—Prof. L. C. Miall, F.R.S., communicated a paper entitled ‘‘ Dicranota; a Carnivorous Tipulid Larva.”—Dr. T. A, Chapman communicated a paper entitled ‘On a Lepidoptercus pupa (Aicrofteryx purpurella) with functionally active mandibles.” Mr. McLachlan said he thought Dr. Chapman’s observations were of great value, and 96 NATURE [May 25, 1893 tended to show that the position of JAlicrofleryx was nearer the Trichoptera than had been supposed. —The President announced that the new Library Catalogue, which had been edited by Mr. Champion, with the assistance of Mr. McLachlan and Dr, Sharp, F.R.S., was now ready. PARIS. Academy of Sciences, May 15.—M. Leewy in the chair.— On the quantitative determination of boron, by. M. Henri Moissan. The determination is based upon Gooch’s methyl alcohol method, in which several improvements were intro- duced. . The boron is first obtained in the state of boracic acid by treating with nitric acid in a sealed tube. The boracic acid is separated by means of pure methyl alcohol. The reac- tion takes place in a bulb tube provided with a funnel which reaches down into the bulb and can be closed by a cock: Four distillations with alcohol are carried out, the vapours passing through a coil of glass tubing into a Bohewwian glass flask, Any uncondensed vapour is absorbed by ammonia solution. The liquid collected is poured upon a known weight. of pure slaked lime, forming calcium borate. The latter is calcined and weighed, and the increase of weight gives the amount of boric anhydride absorbed. To test whether the boron has all distilled over, a drop of the distilling liquid is caught on a strip of paper and placed in a flame, when a green colour will indicate any trace of boron, The slaked lime is kept, when not in use, in the form of a stable basic nitrate, which is made ready for use by a strong calcination. The quantity of lime should be 16 to 20 times the probable quaitity of boracic acid. The process, though still somewhat laborious, has given very con- sistent results. —The working of the soil and nitrification, by M. P. P. Déhérain.—Re-appearance of certain latent affections (etiology and pathogeny), by M. P. Verneuil.—Results obtained with mixtures of butters and diverse fatty materials by means of the new method for the recognition of adulteration of butter, by M. Auguste Huzeau.—On the terms of the second order resulting from the combination of aberration and refraction, by M. Folie.—On the observation of the total eclipse of the sun of 16th April, made at Fundium (Senegal), by M. H. Deslandres. —The solar eclipse of 16th April, 1893, at the Vatican observa- tory, by P. F. Denza.—On‘a class of systéms of ordinary dif- ferential equations, by M. Vessiot.—On the generalisation of the analytical functions, by M. G. Scheffers.—On the cases of integrability of the motion of a point in a plane, by M. Elliott. —On the general law and the formule of the flow of saturated water vapour, by M. H. Parenty.—On the dimensions of absolute temperature, by M. H. Abraham.—On a new kind of manometer, by M,. Villard.—Jn the inversion of Peltier’s phenomenon between two electrolytes beyond the neutral point, by M. Henri Bagard.—Study of the cad- mium and sal-ammoniz cell, by M. A. Ditte.—Influence of the temperature of tempering upon the mechanical properties and the structure of brass, by M. G, Charpy. —On. malic acid substitutions, by M. Ph. A. Guye.—Action of chloride of zinc upon chlorocamphor, by M. A, Etard.—On a certain number of organo-metallic combinations belonging to the aromatic series, by M. G. Perrier.—Inulasis and indirect alcoholic fer- mentation of inuline, by M. Ea. Bourquelot.—Chemical phe- nomena of assimilation of carbonic acid by chlorophyll- bearing plants, by M. A. Bach.—On the meteoric iron of Augustinowka (Russia), by M. Stanislas Meunier.—Influence of the medium on respiration in the frog, by M, A. Di-sard.—Action of oxygen and compressed air upon warm-blooded animals, by M. G. Phillippon, —On the ophthalmic nerves of Spondylus Gaderopus, by M, Joannes Chatin.—On the parthogenetic fragmentation of the ovules of mammifers during atresia of the Graafian follicles, by M. L. F, Henneguy. AMSTERDAM. Royal Academy of Sciences, April 28.—Prof. van de Sande Bakhuyzen in the chair.—Mr, Kamerlingh Onnes exhibited isogonic charts for 1540, 1580, 1610, 1640, 1665, and 1680, drawn by Dr. van B-mmelen according to observations discovered by him in old, especially Dutch books, in the manu- scripts of van Swinden and in old Datch ship-journals, — Mr. Franchimont treated of hydrocyanic acid in plants. A short time ago Mr. van Romburgh found hydrocyanic acid, probably as an unstable comp ound with acetone (and perhaps with glycose), in the caou'chouc-yielding plants AZanihot glaxiovti, Mill. Arg., Hevea brasiliensis, Mill. Arg., and Hevea NO, 1230, vol. 18] BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED, spruceana, Now Mr. van Romburgh has examined Indigofera’ : and found that the leaves of the Judigofera Saleneey DS 4 (Zarvem octan), which do not produce indigo, and particular smell, yield a considerable quantity of hydiae acid and of benzaldehyde by being weakened in water for hours. By new researches Mr. van Romburgh will try to fi out if this Indigofera contains amygdaline of lanroceraalan a whether the enzyme, to which the decomposition is due, identical or not with emulsine. This seems to be the first that hydrocyanic acid has been found in a plant belonging. the family of the Papilionacez. Booxs.—Catalogue of the Library of the Entomological Society of don, edited by G. C. Champion (London).—Evolution and m Be Dadson (Sonnenschein).—Zoology of the Invertebrata : 2 an (Black).—Archzological Survey of Egypt; Beni Hasan, Part zs Newberry (K. Paul).—Some Further Recollections of a H: hie Gh _ millan).—Helps to the Study of the Bible ter otis d Reet A History of Crustacea: Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing (K. P. z PamPHLETS.—Manchester Museum, Owens Coliege Sposa Handbo Outline Classification of the Animal Kingdom, 2nd edition (Manche Cornish).—Outline Classification of the Ve; etable Kingdom (Manch: Cornish).—Catalogue of the Type Fossils:. H. Bolton (Manche Cornish).—The Romanes Lecture. rBos-sivolition and Ethics: ‘C. Huxley (Macmillan).—Syllabus of Elementary Course of Botany: J: Philip (Aberdeen, Bisset). SERIALS.—Dictionary of Political sea g Part s (Macmillan) —As tronomy and Astro-Physics, May (Northfi ee joa of the Colleze o Science, Imperial University, Japan, vol. Part 1(TOky6).—American ~ ee of Mathematics, vol. xv. No. 2 (Baldmore):-Becanlache . iicher fiir S ik, Pfi hte und P. zehnter Band. 1.u. 2 Heft (Williams and Norgate). (Sete, ne CONTENTS. - PAG Reason versus Instinct, By Dr. Alfred R. Wallace . Our Book Shelf :— Fletcher: ‘* The Principles of Agriculture” Trouessart ; ‘* Au Bord de la Mer: : Géologie, Faune, et Flore des Cotes de France” Letters to the Editor :— § Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands.—Henry O, Forbes . . z Phagocytes of Green Oysters.—Prof, E. Ray Lan- MOGLON Mk. Sects ie eum Noe The Conjoint Board’s Medical Biology. Walter E. © . Collinge. .. 75 boning versus Quaternions.—Alexander “Macfar- a ORO AS ae eal > An Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North China Sea. —Chas, J. Norcock The Greatest Rainfall in Twenty- four okra +E. Douglas Archibald. ... . A Dust Whirl or () Tornado.—J. ‘Lovei pil aden What becomes of the Aphis in the Wi ete ‘A. Shape © 5 2555 Pts Soot-figures on Ceilings.—J. Edmund Clark | | Ks Tn ee oe ee ee « es 2 ee eivel: mae < A Difficulty in Weismannism Resolved.—Prof. Marcus Hartog 00020. yo. s et ee ee Notes... Mer ae eee ee i ee ee Our Astronomical Column :— The Total Solar Eclipse (April 1893) . The Eclipse of April 1893 Finlay’s Periodic Comet . . Variable Star Nomenclature Jupiter’s Satellites... .. The Moon’s Surface .... Amédée Guillemin. . .. . Geographical Notes... . Bacteria: their Nature and Function. “Dr E. Klein, FOR So pat ata Maids wow Sa 0) eet ou * Surgery and Superstition, “By Frank Rede Fowke . Animal Heat and Physiological Calorimetry. Prof. Rosenthal .°. 42.5 Magnetic Properties of Liquid Oxygen. ‘Prof. yf Dewar, F.R.S sity) Scientific Serials Societies and Academies rere) Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received. . . . eo © we © © © we ee WO Sis, Bert Me Jey Se Suan hee he i aoe bene Yee ate et ee SyenG ee NATURE 97 THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1893. MODERN METEOROLOGY Modern Meteorology: an Outline of the Growth and Present Condition of Some of its Phases. By Frank Waldo, Ph.D., Member of the German and Austrian Meteorological Societies, late Junior Professor, Signal Service, U.S.A. (London: Walter Scott, 1893.) F it be true that the condition of the weather forms a } general and engrossing topic for conversation among Englishmen, books which treat of meteorology should attract the attention of many readers in this country, and Dr. Waldo be assured of many students. But in this particular work the author has not dwelt upon the more popular side of the subject, he has not exhibited the capacity for making weather forecasts, or discussed the success which has attended such predictions, or the future that lies before work of that description. He has had in view rather that smaller class of readers, with whom meteorology means something real and hopeful, and who by accurate and patient work are earnestly striving to make it rank among the exact sciences. Considering the very substantial progress that meteorology has made, the opinion is shared by many, possibly by the author of this work, that the day has already come when this science is entitled to rank among the older and more systematised branches of scientific inquiry. This is entirely to misconceive the situation. Just as incorrect and unfair would it be, to see in the widely scattered and ardent meteorological observers, a class, whose power and knowledge are limited to the acquisi- tion of the readings of barometers and thermometers, Meteorology may not yet have produced its Kepler. certainly not its Newton, but working hypotheses, founded on rigorous dynamical principles are everywhere being tested, amended, harmonised with observed facts, showing that the days of simple accumulation of observa- tions are giving place to a new and more hopeful era. It is with the earnest hope of encouraging and instructing this army of observers, that Dr. Waldo in this little book endeavours to place before them the most recent results, which the pioneers of meteorology are seeking to establish with a fair prospect of success. Dr. Waldo explains that he is mainly a ‘student of what may be termed the German school of meteorology, a fact which may be expected to colour his work very materially. Practically it has its advantages and disadvantages. The views supported by that school are set forth at very considerable length, and since the ordinary English reader may not have had the same opportunities for making himself acquainted with the original memoirs that Dr. Waldo has enjoyed, it is a great advantage to be introduced to the special teaching of von Bezold, or of Oberbeck, or von Helmholtz, by one _ who has graduated in that school with no mean honours. _ On the other hand it is curious to the English reader, to _ find names which are as familiar to him as household words, _ authorities which he is accustomed to hold in the highest respect, passed over with the briefest mention and _ apparently as undeserving of consideration. This is a ; disadvantage both to the author and reader. The + NO. 1231, VOL. 48] author admits the drawback and apologises for omissions to French and English authorities, while in the student it is liable to produce a sense of disproportion and exaggeration, and even of unfairness to his own countrymen. But with this exception, understood and allowed for, this book is a valuable contribution to the literature of the subject. In an introductory chapter, which might have been extended with advantage, the author gives a rapid but admirable sketch of the various sources whence the recent history of meteorology may be gathered. These sources include not only distinct treatises and the periodical literature, but the work accomplished and recorded at the various congresses that have been held from time to time. This latter portion is treated in a very sketchy manner, and might have been much en- larged, lest the importance of such gatherings and the international benefits to be derived therefrom should be overlooked. The second chapter, which is practically a book of nearly two hundred pages, will certainly not be considered the least satisfactory part of the volume. Here is given the history and description of the more important of the meteorological instruments, with their methods of use, and given too, at great length, because the author asserts that there is no work in English which gives an adequate description of such instruments. With- out endorsing this somewhat sweeping assertion, there can be no doubt but that this chapter is eminently worthy the attention of those for whom in a great measure the book is intended—the teachers of physical geography and elementary physics. The author is as a rule fortu- nate both in what he inserts and in what he omits in his descriptions. His remarks on normal barometers are especially valuable and will be much appreciated. Dr. Waldo is particularly qualified to speak on questions touching the construction of these instruments, for we believe he was engaged in comparing the accuracy of the various standard barometers in use in the prin- cipal observatories in Europe. In the section on wind-measuring apparatus, is well illustrated that feature to which attention has been called, the small regard paid to English experiments in meteoro- logical inquiries. We place very considerable confidence, in this country at least, in the researches of Mr. Dines, and are disposed to consider him as an authority on the proper constant to be employed in the reduction of the indications of Robinson’s anemometer. It is true these researches are not altogether ignored, but they are dismissed in a couple of lines, which though they may give fairly accurately one of the principal results of his work do not in any adequate degree express the value ot his inquiry, and this omission, if such it can be called, contrasts very remarkably with the enormous space which is given a little further on to the description of the instruments and the record of the hourly and momentary occupation of the staff at the Pawlowsk observatory. We have no wish to disparage this, possibly, first of meteoro- logical observatories. We believe all that experience can suggest and devotion effect to secure accuracy and well directed observation is done here. It may well be that Pawlowsk presents us with an ideal meteorological observatory, supported with magnificence and directed F 98 NATURE [JUNE 1, 1893 with equal energy and ability. But the scale of magnifi- cence depicted is more likely to breed a spirit of discontent in those who do excellent work with smaller means, than furnish a scheme on which they can conduct their more modest establishments. We are the more disposed to quarrel with the author for the space devoted to this long and tedious description because we feel that useful matter which Dr. Waldo could so ably have contributed has been crowded out. Under the title “ Apparatus and Methods” we could have hoped space would have been found for “ Methods of Reduction.” Dr. Waldo admits not only that the ordinary observer is at times at a loss for reliable guidance in the reduction and discussion of a particular series of observation, but that the specialist in other inquiries into which meteorology enters or may enter cannot find the observations put into a form ready for use. Possibly the author feels that the subject of reduction is sufficiently large to demand a treatise to itself, but nevertheless many a meteorologist who has carefully tabulated his readings, for years it may be, would turn to a book expressly addressed to himself in the hope of finding some hints, which would enable him to extract something useful from his observations or at least to reduce them on systematic and uniform lines. Having dismissed the subject of instruments and observatories, the author proceeds to discuss the Thermodynamics and general motions of the atmosphere, and these two chapters, upon which has evidently been lavished an interest of the book and carry us a long way into a very difficult subject. It cannot be said that these chapters are light reading. The author has attempted a difficult, it may be an impossible task, for he virtually proposes to give the results of mathematical analysis without the use of mathematical symbols. Such forms of descriptive writing are seldom a success for any class of readers and it is scarcely too much to say that any one who can follow the successive steps of the argument, put forward by the various authorities here quoted, would find his work easier if the author had not dispensed with the assistance of ordinary symbols. But any one who struggles successfully with the difficulties of these chapters will find himself put in possession of the latest views of the exponents, of what the author has called the German School of Meteorology, though at the head of it we should place Prof. Ferrel with his high American reputation. Of the views of the various authorities here set out, we think Prof. Ferrel fares the best, as being most clearly expressed and in the completest detail, but in this instance Dr. Waldo was assisted by the fact that Prof. Ferrel has himself translated his book on “ Recent Ad- vances in Meteorology,” published under the auspices of the United States Government in 1885, into a popular treatise on “ The Winds.” Weare thus enabled to havein this section and particularly in the following one on the “ Secondary Motions of the Atmosphere,” copious extracts from Prof. Ferrel’s book in his own words, and this is extremely fortunate, for Ferrel’s views have altered not a little since he first submitted them to public consideration, and it is a little difficult to be certain that we have the last words of this distinguished meteorologist. For the remainder, it would be a great advantage to the reader NO. 1231, VOL. 48] immense amount of care, sustain the if the various views quoted from the original authoriti were not left so disconnected, but the points of harmor and divergence brought into stronger relief. The au is too content to stand in the background and allow sufficiently accentuating their strong points. would seem at times as though the several points divergence were not fully appreciated. We may illu e this peculiarity by an instance which also shows tl indifference of the author to English authorities on theoretical side, a peculiarity to which we have a called attention in practical work. In the historica account of Ferrel’s work is mentioned (p. 275) the fa that Prof. James Thomson published a paper in the P ceedings of the British Association, 1857, “ expressi somewhat of the same dissatisfaction with curre theories that Ferrel had printed in 1856, and the li of reasoning as regards a new theory was much of same nature, but not so complete as Ferrel’s. This pap is now chiefly valuable historically.” Then follows defence of the late Prof. Thomson againsta possible cha of plagiarism. We doubt whether this defence will t appreciated, for in 1857 the views of the Glasgow Professor differed widely from those held by Prof. Ferrel. That t have gradually approached since, is due rather to t fact that Ferrel has modified his views as originally held The distinguishing feature, or at least one distinguishing feature, in the theory of the latter, a theory which Pr Thomson had characterised as pervaded by impos: bilities and incongruities, is the assertion that th must be a heaping up of the top layers of the atmosphe: to a maximum height at about the parallel of 28°, and a depression of them not only over the Equator bu around the Poles and in high latitudes generally. He would thus produce six zonal vortex rings of circulation three in the Northern and three in the Southern Hemi. sphere. Prof. Thomson’s theory was a modification the older theory of Hadley, recognising and emphasisi the conditions to which a thin stratum of air would submitted under the effects of friction and impingement at the earth’s surface. As the final outcome of his theo Prof. Thomson concluded that in temperate latitudes there are three currents at different heights :—“ That the uppermost moves towards the Pole and is part of grand primary circulation between equatorial and pol regions; that the lowermost moves towards the Pol but is only a thin stratum forming part of a seconda circulation; that the middle current moves from t Pole and constitutes the return current for both the preceding, and that all these three currents have a prevailing motion from west to east in advance of the earth.” Those who have foll owed the development o! Prof. Ferrel’s ideas will find and will admit, that later theory, published in 1860 bears a far greater liken to that published by Prof. Thomson in 1857, than it does to his own earlier efforts in 1856. If there be any plagiarism, and it is not at all necessary that there should be, since the change of view could be amply explained by the gradual growth and improvement 0 Ferrel’s views in the interval, it can scarcely affect t reputation of the English meteorologist. But the value of the book is not to be measured bj 1 Phil. Trans. vol. 1893 A. p. 675. : JUNE 1, 1893] NATURE 99 _ the appreciation the author may have of English work. That it would have been better written if his reading had been wider or his acquaintance with the English terature of the subject more thorough, Dr. Waldo would himself admit. The object of the book is distinctly to make known in English reading circles what has been effected on the Continent by the studies of Von Bezold, Siemens and others, and this object is well executed. The exhibition of the views of these masters in lucid terms, and with a few exceptions the author makes his meaning very clear, is more than a sufficient reason for ‘the appearance of the book, which will be welcomed by any students, who are thus put in easy possession of ‘much abstruse work, which possibly embodies the more or less crudely shaped views that they themselves have held, but have been unable adequately to express. 4 WILLIAM E, PLUMMER. THE TRANSMISSION OF TELEPHONE CURRENTS. Telephone Lines and their Properties. By William J. Hopkins. (London: Longmans, Green and Co.) N this book the author has attempted the difficult task of instructing both the student and the practical man, and the result is, on the whole, more successful than is usually the case. The first half of the book is a text-book of the modern practice of telephone lines in America, and contains a large amount of good and inter- esting information on overhead and underground lines, poles, insulators, wires, conduits, cables, exchanges, and switchboards. This covers too wide a field to be useful to a telephone engineer, as each subject is necessarily treate1in a cursory manner, but to an English reader it is very interesting, if he knows enough of his own practice to note and appreciate the points of difference. Some ___ of these indeed will make the general public thankful for the restrictions under which telephone men labour over here, and one of the illustrations—a street telephone pole, about 100 feet high, with eighteen heavy wooden cross-arms—is a testimonial to the patience of American people. One or two of the explanations of facts outside strictly electrical information require revision ; for in- Stance, the coating formed on copper wire exposed to damp air is the hydrated carbonate of copper, and not the chloride, as stated by the author. Also the dictum on cables for underground circuits is somewhat curious, indiarubber insulation being condemned as not impervious to moisture, and liable to soften by heating, thereby allowing the wire to sink through the insulation. Con- sidering that in another part of the book a current of ten milliamperes is given as a maximum for telephone work, itis difficult to see how any appreciable heating is to take place, as the current density is such as would rejoice _ the heart of Mr. Heaphy. Again, the accusation that indiarubber will not exclude moisture for a longer time than anything else, makes one wonder what they make it ofin America, But after all these may be differences of opinion, and in general the information is unusually accurate. and is very clearly expressed. The only excep- tion to this is in the chapter on switchboards, where the _ frequent use of technical terms is likely to give some difficulty to a student who is ignorant of practice. The NO 1231, VOL. 48] addition of inverted commas to a technical expression is small assistance, where no explanation of its meaning is volunteered. The second half of the book rises above the text-book standard, and gives a very good account of recent work on the bearing of the capacity and inductance of a circuit on its transmitting power, and the effect of the configura- tion of itself and neighbouring wires, on its freedom from cross-talk and external influences. The paper of Mr. J. J. Carty, of New York, on the effects of electrostatic induction from neighbouring wires is largely quoted from and discussed, and his theory of the phenomena ener- getically advocated. A large number of experiments are described in a very clear manner, and the deductions seem mostly incontestable. But the law connecting length of wires that run parallel with each other with the amount of cross-talk produced seems incorrect. It is founded on only one series of experiments, and is given as C=£,// where C is the induced current and 7 is the length of parallel line. - It should surely be of the form C=i/(R+7) where R and ~ are the impedance of the re- ceiving instruments, and of the whole length of line re- spectively. The experiments very ingeniously show that by electro- static induction the charged wire will induce a charge in the neighbouring wires, and a series of such induced charges in opposite directions make an alternating current similar to the primary current. The compara- tively high potential of a telephone wire and the ex- tremely small currentrender this explanation the only possi- bleone, and the absence of electro-magnetic inductioneven from a much larger current is shown by simple experi- ments. After this the method of shielding the line by symmetrical arrangement, or by stranding or transposi- tion of the wires is clearly explained, as the induced current causing cross-talk is reversed in direction at every turn, so that only the last section will affect the receiving instruments. After considering air lines, the author gives a careful investigation of the construction of cables, with the effects of large capacity and the methods of reducing it. Cross-talk is also considered, and designs for non-inductive cables suggested. The un- equal efficiency of composite lines from the two ends is mentioned with unnecessary hesitation as to the reality of the fact, and no definite explanation is offered. It is found best to have the larger capacity at the sending end, probably because there is a considerable loss of electricity in transmission, and hence a smaller current over the larger half of the line, whereas in the reverse direction a large current has to be transmitted over a great distance, only to be, to a great extent, absorbed in the capacious cable. The chapter on external influences is written with im- partiality and completeness, and contains an account of some curious observations on the effect of tramways and electric lighting wires. Some good advice is given on the methods of avoiding disturbance, the double metallic circuit being recognized as the only completely satisfac- tory way out of the difficulty. An account of one in- stance of disturbance is sufficiently alarming, that a small arc lamp was maintained in a telephone circuit during a magnetic storm! If this source were only more regular, it might be another solution of what to do when 100 NATURE [JuNE 1, 1893 the coal gives out. An elaborate investigation of the action of electric light circuits ends in a set of rules and restrictions for the electric light engineer so stringent and complicated that it would effectually check all dis- turbances by frightening off a contractor altogether, and a three-wire system would be rendered impossible. However the author recognises that the best remedy lies in the telephone engineer’s own hands. The book concludes with a reprint of a paper by Mr. J. J. Carthy on Inductive Disturbances in Telephone Circuits, The general style of the book is good and intelligible, and the diagrams clear and new, the old familiar text- book pictures being rigidly excluded. The arrangement into chapters and headings is carefully done, though in the endeavour to make each one complete some repetition is unavoidable. The reason of the omission of an index at the end is hard to understand, as its use in a book in- tended to be kept is undoubted, and the insertion of the title of the book on every page instead of that. of the chapter does not mend matters. As the author states, the mathematical processes have been mostly omitted, or inserted as footnotes. But the few that are found in the latter place might just as well have been left out. For instance, to quote Lord Kelvin’s somewhat complicated formula for the current density at any point in a con- ductor is not so useful as a reference to his original paper would have been, and the formula is not used to obtain any result. Immediately after this follows a remarkable Zroof that dN/d/=E. The use of the term “ volume” for “ current” is needlessly unscientific, but in general the terminology is accurate and consistent. That comprehensive but dangerous word, “retardation” is used with careful explanation of the component parts of its cause, though in one or two places it is loosely em- ployed for “inductance,” or “ capacity,” with consequent inaccuracy. To sum up, it will be found a useful and very readable book, giving information not otherwise easily obtainable, and both practical men and students will find it repay careful reading. FRANCIS G. BAILY. MODERN PURE GEOMETRY. An Elementary Treatise on Modern Pure Geometry. By R. Lachlan, M.A. (Macmillan, 1893.) ate a recent regulation for the Cambridge Mathemati- cal Tripos provision is made for the introduction of a paper on “‘ Pure Geometry ”: this to include, in addi- tion to Euclid, the simple properties of lines and circles, the elementary properties of conic sections treated geo- metrically, for which a place has already been found, such questions as may be treated by inversion, reciproca- tion, and by harmonics. It has been for some time a reproach that pure geometry has not occupied a more prominent position in the University curriculum. The University has never lacked able geometers, and amongst the present generation our author has won for himself a good name. He has _ put together an excellent manual complete enough to meet present wants, and doubtless in subsequent editions he will bring the present work even more upto date than it is. Some of our best text-books are overloaded with NO. 1231, VOL. 48]| corollaries and much other matter which it is difficult for the student to retain clearly in his mind. Mr. Lachl appears tous to have steered a most judicious course and avoided overloading his book in this way. Mr. F (in “Lothair”) speaking of the limited range of the Engli language (which, however, he admitted to be expressi' said it consists of four words. If this be so, the word should select to characterise Mr. Lachlan’s essay is it is “charming.” It treats of the subject in si chapters, in which, after devoting the first three to introduction, measurement of geometrical magnitudes — and fundamental metrical propositions, he starts from harmonic ranges and pencils, and carries the student at — once to the theory ofinvolution. He then discusses pro- perties of the triangle (giving an account here of recent additions to this branch of the subject, from which we infer that it has at length got a footing in the Univer- — sity) and of rectilinear figures. The reader then has9 laid before him a clear account of the theories of per- — spective, of similar figures (previously introduced to — English readers in Casey’s “ Sequel ”), and of reciproca- _ tion. The properties of the circle are discussed uncler — the heads of the circle as a figure by itself, and then in relation to one or more circles. In this division of the — subject our author gives account of his own discoveries — and of the many interesting additions contributed by Mr — A. Larmor, In two remaining chapters the theories of inversion and of cross ratio are unfolded. The treatment — in the text is strictly confined to the line and circle. We believe that a further volume extending the methods — herein employed to the conic sections is in course of pre- : paration. A few slips have caught our eye, Viz. Pp. S3yn ex. 43 § 97 ex.; p. 55, €x.73 $116; § 262 ;§ 268,andone or two other easily corrected mistakes. In such a mass. — of mathematical work there may well be others. Refer- — ences are given to the sources whence many of the ques- — tions are taken. We note that an oversight, which we — have had occasion to point out twice before in NATURE. | in reviewing the late Dr. Casey’s “ Sequel,” is perpetuated — here. On pp. 68, 71, a question is cited from a “Trin. — Coll., 1889” paper, whereas it was given many years — previously in the Hducational Times (Feb., 1865, and — April), and was then by a correspondent carried back to ~ Steiner (Crelle, vol. liii.). Th e figures illustrate the text — very clearly, and there is a full index at the end. : OUR BOOK SHELF, An Analytical Index to the Works of the late John Gould, F.R.S. By R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D. With — a Biographical Memoir and Portrait. (London: — Henry Sotheran and Co., 1893). a THE compiler of the present work mentions in { preface that the need for it was originally suggested — in the course of a discussion between Lord Wharncliff and Lord Walsingham as to some ornithological questio They decided to refer to one of Gould’s plates, but could — not readily find the volume in which the figure was ~ given. It occurred to both of them that “such a diffi-- culty would not arise if there existed a_complete “Index” — to all the folio works issued by Gould,” and Lord — Wharncliffe asked Mr, Bowdler Sharpe whether he would — undertake the preparation of the kind of volume that was. wanted. As Messrs, Sotheran were willing to publish an “Index,” Mr. Sharpe set about the task, hoping to be — June 1, 1893] NATURE 101 able to accomplish it within a reasonably short period. _ As a matter of fact, he says, the enterprise “has taken me as many years to finish as I expected it would have taken months.” The “Index” does not relate to all the papers published by Gould in various journals, but it does include every work which he issued separately, whether in folio, or octavo, or quarto form ; and Mr. Sharpe, with the aid of his assistant at the Natural History Museum, has been careful to check the various references, the num- ber of which is nearly seventeen thousand. He has also _ put in some “ extra synonyms from popular works, such, for instance, as Oates’s ‘ Birds of British India,’ which in a few years will have familiarised Indian naturalists and “sportsmen with a certain set of names which do not occur in Gould’s works, though the species may be duly figured therein.” The work, which is very handsomely “got up,” will be of great value to all who are fortunate enough to possess Gould’s writings, and it will frequently be of good service to every serious student of orni- thology. In the biographical memoir Mr. Sharpe not only presents the leading facts of Gould’s career, but has much that is fresh and interesting to say about the results of his scientific labours and about the essential qualities of his character. An Elementary Treatise on Pure Geometry, with numerous examples. By J. W. Russell. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893.) THE opening sentence of the Preface—“ The author has attempted to bring together all the well-known theorems and examples connected with Harmonics, Anharmonics, Involution, Projection (including Homology),and Recipro- cation ”—indicates that the writer has given himself a “tall order.” Within the limits of 323 pages we have here collected every possible property that a student can desire to have. Our only objection to the book is that it is too full for ordinary purposes, but as the matter is put together with considerable skill and ability—thus evidencing the writer’s familiarity with, and mastery over, his subject—and illustrated with a choice collection of worked-out exercises, we cordially commend it. We could wish that a handbook for school use were founded upon it. There used to be a rumour abroad that the late Prof. Henry Smith intended to publish his Geomet- rical Lectures. That hope is now, we presume, frus- trated, but as Mr. Russell’s first lessons in Pure Geometry were learnt from Mr. Smith’s lectures, and as many of the proofs of the present work are derived from the same source, we must possibly take it as the substitute for the “ Geometrical Lectures.” The get-up of the text is on the usual lines of the Clarendon Press and is all that one could desire. Sun, Moon, and Stars: Astronomy for Beginners. A. Gilberne. (Seeley and Co., Limited). THis small book comprises 300 pages of matter, and contains a most interesting account of the various members of the solar system and other celestial objects more remote. The narrative is particularly adapted to a _ large class of people who desire to know somewhat of _ the wonders and awe-inspiring phenomena connected _ with the science of astronomy without making a special study of them; yet sufficient interest is aroused to induce a beginner to search for more information. The _work, however, does not claim to be a text book, although to a beginner it will serve as a capital starting- point. It is printed in open and _ pleasing type, _ and contains instructive illustrations. A few passages _ might be somewhat improved upon, as for example, By is said that a cannon-ball, reposing on the _ sun, if lifted one inch and allowed to fall, would dash _ against the ground with a speed three times greater _ than that of our fastest express-trains.” NO. 1231, VOL. 48] Pai LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex pressed by his correspondents, Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands. UNWILLING as I am to interpose in the discussion between Mr. Wallace and Mr. Forbes (supra pp. 27,74), yet each of those gentlemen having referred to opinions formerly expressed by my brother and myself, it seems fitting that I should offer a few words on the present occasion, if it were only to avoid mis- apprehension ; but I would premise that Ihave not seen Mr. Forbes’s paper read before the Geographical Society or his article in the Fortnightly Review. To this I would add that I am no more ashamed of opinions in the utterance of which before the Royal Society in 1868 I took ashare, than I am of having then been a quarter of a century younger than I am now. Whether they are to be considered modified by what I published some halfdozen years later, when I next touched upon the subject, I do not greatly care, and leave to the judgment of those (if any there be) who may take the trouble of comparing the passage in the Philosophical Transactions (1869, pp. 357, 358) with that in the ‘‘ Encyclopzedia Britannica” (ed. 9, iii. p. 760); and what I now think, or at least thought some eighteen months ago, when the last thing I wrote on the question was passed for press, will I hope be before the publicin October. However I would point out that one thing seems needed to make this discussion real, and that is proof of the assertion, made in NaATURE—at first tentatively (xlv. p. 416), then positively (¢om. sit., p. 580), and again with fuller details (xlvi. p. 252), that Aphanapteryx ever inhabited the Chatham Islands. Mr. Forbes has been so kind as to show me on two occasions the bones which he ascribed to a species of that genus, and I was fortunately able to let him compare them with those of the real Aphanapteryx in the Museum of this University, being all that have as yet been recovered from Mauritius. I pointed out to him differences between the remains of the two forms which appeared to me of generic value, and I thought I had satisfied him on this score, since he did me the honour of asking me to suggest a new name for the form which he had discovered. In that view I was confirmed by finding that, shortly after his last visit to Cambridge, he described the Chatham-Islands bird as Diaphorapteryx at a meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club on 21 December, 1892, as I learn from its printed Bu/letin (No. LV. p. xxi.), All this would matter little to any but specialists did it not seem that what Mr. Wallace rightly terms a ‘* tremendous hypothesis” is based on the asserted existence of Aphanapteryx in the Chatham Islands, and I understand that, on the strength of the assertion, further daring speculations have been indulged in, to support which Purple Waterhens, extinct or expiring Starlings, and what beside I know not, have been dragged in. Whether the additional evidence is worth anything remains to be | seen; but though I fully recognise the importance of Mr. Forbes’s discoveries, rightly interpreted, we are as yet without proof that Aphanapteryx inhabited any part of the New Zealand Region ; and if it did not, then as regards the speculations based upon it cadit questio. ALFRED NEWTON. Magdalene College, Cambridge, 27 May. The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, REFERRING to my previous article in NATURE on the above subject (May 18, vol. xlviii. p. 62), there are a few explanatory remarks which may be usefully made,—most of them suggested by the recent discussion at the Physical Society, especially as summarised by the President (Prof. Riicker). There seems to be some feeling against the advisability of ascending successive steps in a ladder of reasoning unless there be already some perception as to what is to be met with on the top. If the ladder shows signs of ending in a medium of unknown and in some respects paradoxical properties, that fact appears to be felt as an inducement to mistrust the steps which lead thither. But it must surely be admitted that if each rung is in itself firm and strong, and if successive rungs follow one another with a reasonable amount of sequence, then we ought fearlessly to 102 NATURE [JUNE I, 1893 mount and abandon ourselves whithersoever they lead, quite irrespective of dim suspicions about unacceptable consequences. Some doubt seems also felt concerning the wisdom of attempt- ing to pack important laws into small compass; but to this I plead that the axioms already stated by me are most of them purely Newtonian, and that for the attempt thus to summarise science in as few and simple statements as possible we have the high encouragement of his example. It is true that Newton issued his axioms in a form as perfect as it was reasonable or possible then to make them, and did not bring them out as matter fordiscussion. But to this two pleadings may be put in :— (1) That their perfect form did not by any means Arevent dis- cussion, nor would it have been desirable if it had ; it only made the inevitable discussion painful to him instead of pleasant. (2) That in his day he was minting fresh coins, complete in design and workmanship, for the use of a race which possessed nothing of the kind ; whereas now one is partly trying to rub off alittle tarnish and furbish up old currency in more modern style, and partly trying to put into circulation a few fresh coins at a time when everybody feels that they have quite as much money as they want. The step in advance which I believe has now to be: made is the explicit introduction of the Ether into the scheme of physics. Newton knew well enough that a connecting medium was a philosophic necessity, but he did not see his way to asserting its physical existence and discovering its properties. Conse- quently his philosophy was all stated in terms of action at a distance. But science has progressed since then, and the ether has be- come accessible in many then undreamed-of ways. It appears to me, therefore, that the time has come for enlarging the New- tonian axioms, on the basis of the labours of Faraday and Max- well and of other men now living, and for fearlessly following up any consequences to which the new axioms may lead us. My philosophic creed runs somewhat thus :—First that by our senses we become aware of motion ; I don’t much care by what sense it is, it seems to me by the muscular sense— partly eye muscles perhaps, mainly arm or leg muscles—but it may be by a succession of tactile sense-perceptions as some modern: physiologists and psychologists believe. But none of these questions belong to pure physics: somehow or other we are aware of Motion and Time and Space. We had already erected the structure of Geometry without invoking motion and time, we now erect Kinematics. And by motion, which is a usefully vague term, I mean nothing less than the whole of kinematics. Next in order of complexity we become aware of /orce plainly through our muscular or our tactile sense, and thus, indirectly, we gain the tremendously important idea of ‘‘matter.” The ratio of force to motion is zzertéa ; one of the most constant and fundamental qualities in the apparent universe. The product of force and motion is activity, whence arise the com- plex but brilliantly useful ideas associated with the term exergy. In elaborating these we erect the whole science of Dynamics. Thus far the scheme is essentially Newtonian, and the New- tonian axioms may be held to summarise its essentials in the briefest and clearest way. If I presume to restate them it is be- cause the modern terms ‘‘acceleration” and “stress,” which were not available for Newton’s use, assist the expression, so that by their aid some minor difficulties, such as those caused by the phrase ‘‘uniform velocity and direction” disappear ; this phrase need not have been introduced had a vector ac- celeration been a thing of easy apprehension or of common knowledge in Newton’s time. Prof. Minchin urges the explicit retention of the first law, not as a measure of time only, but as a qualitative statement introductory to the quantitative assertion of the second ; and I fully agree. I should like to take the opportunity of thanking both Prof. Minchin and Prof. Henrici for their careful criticism of my Physical Society paper. ; Premising that the necessary definition of terms must be understood or supplied, Inow repeat from my former article the essence of the Newtonian laws. Axiom 1. Without force there can be no acceleration of matter. Axiom 2, The inertia of matter is unconditionally constant. [Or, Acceleration of matter is proportional to unbalanced or re- sultant force. ] NO. 1231, VOL. 48] Axiom 3. Every force is one component of a stress, and a stress in a body or system does not accelerate it. ee Before proceeding, let me here intercalate a remark about the kind of scholium with which, on page 62 (NATURE, vol. xlviii. May 18) I prelude the definitions and axioms. I do not int the ‘‘experimental results” there quoted to be used for teach ing purposes ; in fact, my present aim is in no respects peda- gogic, but more ambitious ; I quote them as affording some sort of experimental basis for the Newtonian axioms. An experi- mental basis is a necessity—in other words, an axiom must be — based on some sort of experience ; and the experience on which — the Newtonian laws are based can hardly be considered as of a — very commonplace type. oe It is easy to //ustrate the second law with bits of elastic and trucks on wheels, but it is not so easy to prove it with accuracy —the sort of accuracy attempted, for instance, in the case of the law of Ohm, It is customary to say that Astronomy proves i but as a logical procedure that would be a terribly circular one ; and besides, the nature of gravitation is so singularly unknown that it can hardly with satisfaction be used as a foundati stone. a Anyhow, the proof which by those experiments I suggest is, — first to establish Hooke’s law fora spring, statically, by weights, 7.é., to prove that force is proportional to displacement ; next to show that vibrations of the spring are isochronous, i.¢., that acceleration is proportional to displacement; and thus to — deduce that force and acceleration are proportional (in this case at any rate) to a high degree of accuracy. The difficulties, such as they are, of this proof are of a merely mathematical — order, and are hence entirely unimportant. 4 The third ‘experimental result” quoted, is only to suggest — the impact experiments which Newton himself considered desirable as a basis for his third law. ; ae One other point before proceeding. With regard to the claim for obviousness, or frima-facie certainty, sometimes set up in connexion with a long-known law of nature, on any such ground as that it is a mere assertion that Cause equals Effect :— may I say once for all, and quite impersonally, that such a claim appears to me to be metaphysical nonsense of the wo st kind—the kind which has tended to bring real Metaphysics into unmerited disrepute. Is it not plain that everything depends on what is cause and what is effect, and that the inter- — pretation of nature essentially consists in the discovery and — accurate specification of what in any given case the true cause — and the true effect are ? ; Pe + 8 Now comes the new departure, or extension of the Newtonian — axioms, so as definitely to include the medium which it has been one of the chief works of the present century to discover. The chief axioms I intend to propose and trace the conse- quences of are :— Bh 2 Axiom 4. A stress cannot exist in or across empty space. _ Axiom 5. Material particles (atoms of matter) never come into contact. ae Axiom 6, A stress must extend from one material particle to another : it cannot end in ether. a This last is hardly axiomatic, but it is based on special — experimental evidence (Phil. Trans., 1893). : From these laws and from the law that stress is essential activity (which last does not need a separate statement, being deducible from the Newtonian axioms), a series of what appear to me fundamentally important deductions may be made, Some of these deductions relate to already known and ad- mitted facts, while others introduce some as yet unknown unadmitted ; the former set are mostly referred to in my } to the Physical Society, the others must be dealt with her after. ithe. Ouiver LopcE. May I make through your columns some criticisms on Prof. Lodge's views of dynamics, which I am afraid'I failed torender intelligible to him during the discussion on his paper beforet Physical Society ? : iF x It would be useless to say anything about his theory 0 ‘Contact Action,” for he has rendered the whole discussion — upon that point nugatory by saying in his reply to the criticisms that he does not admit that any two bodies can ever come int contact at all, ze, that the contact action he contemplates is something that takes place only between ‘‘the bodies” and an ‘‘ether” which exists between them. It follows that his own June 1, 1893] NATURE 103 “arguments and illustrations, as well as the criticism upon them, ' are all beside the point, for they all dealt with contacts between _ **bodies,”” not between a body and an ‘‘ether” in which it was moving. We must therefore begin de zovo, and we must start _ this time with some definition or explanation of what he means “respectively by ‘‘ the bodies” and ‘‘ the ether” which surrounds them. But the point I particularly wished to discuss was his view of the “‘identity ” of energy. I do not think any such identity can be recognised, at any rate if we grant Prof. Lodge’s own hypothesis that energy on being transferred from one body to another is always transformed from Kinetic to Potential energy, or vice versd, for I maintain that potential energy, as such, be- longs to a system of bodies not to any particular one of them, and so has no local habitation even though it has a name. _ The law of the conservation of energy is usually expressed by the formula— Kinetic + Potential Energy = Constant. _ But if this is to be a physical law, and not a mere truism, its terms _ must be defined in such a way that it is not a mere formal conse- quence of their definitions, As to Kinetic energy, everybody is ‘practically agreed in defining it as =4mv", or, which is the same _ thing, as 5 | mvdv, But if we define potential energy, as _ Prof. Lodge would apparently have us do, as = | —Fds, the formula does not assert a physical fact—at least no new one— but is merely an identity. The equation of energy in this form would, indeed, be quite useless, for we should have to know the previous path of each particle in order to evaluate | Fads. And so we find that in the equation of energy, as used by mathematicians, the ‘‘ Potential Energy” has nothing to do with any paths the particles may have described, but is a mere function of their present co-ordinates. The truth is that the physical fact implied in the law of con- servation is not that the exergy in general is conserved through- out all changes in the system, but merely that the Aimetic energy is always the same whenever the system returns to the same configuration ; that term being held, if necessary, to .in- clude, not only geometical form, but such conditions as tem- perature, chemical or electrical state, &c. The law of energy is then better stated thus : ‘‘In any inde- pendent system of bodies— Kinetic energy + A function of the configuration of the system = Constant.” And we may, if we like, call this function “ Potential energy,” since it diminishes as the kinetic energy increases ; but we have no right to assume 2 friori that it is the same sort of thing as kinetic energy. It is true that in some cases what used to be called potential energy is now regarded as in great part kinetic, but this can only be done if at the same time we change our conception of the ‘‘ configuration” of the system. If we regard the energy stored in a reservoir of com- pressed air as kinetic instead of potential, we must include the average positions of its particles in our statement of the configur- ation of the system. But the important conclusion to be drawn from this is that potential energy (gud potential) does not belong to a single particle but to the system as a whole, or at least itcan only be allocated to such portions of the system as may by themselves be regarded as independent systems, If ever all energy were __ explained to be kinetic energy, and if we could then explain how it comes to be transferred from one body to another, we _ might be able to trace the biography of a piece of energy as we might that ofan atom of matter. But even if ‘‘ potential energy ” may thus be regarded as only a name used to veil our present tee nce of what has happened inetic energy, it is still illogical to talk of the ‘‘ identity” of energy till this veil has been removed. And I cannot see that anything Prof. Lodge has _ said helps us in the smallest degree to remove it. ; Epwarp T, Dixon. Trinity College, Cambridge, May 27. Fra On the Velocity of Propagation os Effects. Ix, according to the accepted kinetic theory of gases, the velocities of molecules ‘‘ vary between zero and infinity” NO. 1231, VOL. 48] (Maxwell): it must certainly result that frequently enormous velocities are accidentally attained by even gross molecules, and this produces no perceptible disturbance measured by us. It would be admittedly almost puerile to ask how high a velocity might normally be possessed by a Jarge number of particles of matter (as an 2 priori question, that is), provided the particles be perfectly elastic, so that there is no jar at their encounters, but the movement goes on with perfect smoothness, so that its existence may escape detection by the senses. Moreover there is no resistance in space to free motion of material particles. In regard to the effects of gravity then, the practical question for us (in regard to their elucidation) becomes, What is the velocity demanded for the transmission of gravity? This velocity, whatever it be (if very great, but finite), may then reason- ably be considered to exist in matter in some form, or to be possessed by it. Toassert a przori that the existence (say among particles of matter) of a velocity even many times that of light, is unlikely, or to view this with incredulity as an abstract fact apart from its possible utility—would seem to partake somewhat of the nature of a prejudice, due possibly to absence of adequate reflection. A high normal velocity has the undoubted mechanical advantage of being able to produce a given dynamical effect by means of very small particles, z.e., without demanding for such effect any large collective mass or the employment of a great quantity of material. Smallness in size moreover allows the particles to possess a very long mean path: and they have the advantage of occupying, 2 tofo, very little room (although they may be relatively numerous). Without going into the question of the modus operandi of such effects as explosions of gases, dynamite, &c., it at least appears manifest that by the rejection of ‘‘ action at a distance,” a store of motion of a very high intensity in the matter of space would be consistent with, or would be demanded in order to give some rational account of sudden developments or transferences of motion. It may appear questionable whether a normal velocity of matter in space only equal to that of light, would be sufficient to account for the explosive violence of somt transferences of motion. The rate of travel of light when viewed in relation to the intervening distances of the chief bodies of the universe—may appear even slow. More than three years, for instance, are occupied in the transmission of a wave from the nearest Star to our system. It may be reasonable then to assume that the possibilities for the existence of a higher rate of intercommunication than this (that of luminous effects) may exist in nature, and that the bodily mass movements of the units of the universe may influence each other more quickly than their molecular movements; since ravitational disturbances or their measures appear to demand this. Itis so far certain that in addition to the luminiferous ether there may be plenty of room for finer and therefore more mobile material : or no one, as far as 1 am aware, has urged a difficulty on this head, provided its presence were subservient to some great mechanical purpose. Hamburg, May 16. S. ToLVveR PRESTON. Singular Swarms of Flies. Ir may interest some of your readers if I describe a sight which I saw this forenoon, which was quite new to me and apparently to all who witnessed it. After a brisk N.N.E. breeze in the morning, at about 11 a.m. it fell flat calm, thesky becoming inky black, with every sign of a heavy thunderstorm impending. Soon after, looking out of my office window at a belt of trees some hundred yards away, my eye was caught by a most singular and to me (at first) uncanny sight. Above the trees, apparently one on each principal prominence of their outline, there appeared a numberof slim clouds, like straight wreaths of thin smoke, slanting upwardsinto the sky. Though they maintained their positions, they seemed alive and moving, in a manner partly suggestive of the twisting motion of a water- spout. A field-glass showed the clouds to be swarms of small flies; and looking around, similar swarms were seen above all the trees everywhere. They-were perfectly visible to the naked eye a quarter of a mile off, and the glass showed them on the furthest trees in sight, these being nearly a mile away. All seemed to have much the same peculiar slant, pointing more or less towards the (then invisible) sun. Some of the swarms looked to be fifteen or twenty feet long. Over a few of the low bushes on a bank of rough ground 104 P NATURE [JUNE 1, 1893 close by, similar swarms were to be seen. Even these, however, were inaccessible ; but I caught some of an apparently similar swarm drifting over the ground between the bushes, and in- close some of the specimens herewith. To me they look just like the insects which ordinarily strew one’s table under the lamp at night (I notice, by the way, that to-night there are none, though the window is open as usual), and therefore I am led to suppose that the special character of the swarms noticed to-day appertains to some condition of the atmosphere, and not to the species of insect ; but perhaps some of your contributors can throw light on this point. It would also be very interest- ing to know whether similar swarms were noticed elsewhere to-day, and whether they showed the same slant as was noticed here. R. E. FROUDE. Admiralty Expt. Works, Haslar, Gosport, May 27. P.S.—The swarms of flies disappeared about I p.m., as the thunder clouds cleared away. Popular Botany. WE do not expect accurate scientific information from journ- alists; but so much confusion and error are seldom com- pressed into a small space as are to be found in a paragraph of which I send you extracts, cut from a London daily :—‘‘ A sad case of accidental poisoning by wild hemlock is reported from Tyne Dock. A little band of school children playing on some waste ground had gathered a quantity of a common variety of this dangerous plant, known to country folk as ‘ fool’s parsley.’ According to the evidence of one of the party, a little girl aged eight named Pringle, her sister ‘said it was cabbage, and she should eat some.’ Another boy and gir}, named Shafter, who were still younger, followed her example. All three were soon afterwards taken ill. One ‘complained of her legs as if they were tired’—a common symptom of hemlock poisoning—and “her head afterwards got bad.’ Pringle ultimately recovered under treatment, but the two Shafters on reaching home gradu- ally became unconscious, and died the same afternoon within twenty minutes of each other. This species of hemlock, known to science as the Contum maculatum, is said to be much more poisonous in May than in any other month.” It would be interesting to know what the plant really was. It can hardly have been the true hemlock, Conium maculatum, and instances of fatal poisoning by fool’s parsley, Acthusa cynap~ium, are so rare that an authentic record would be valuable. It is difficult to imagine either of these plants being mistaken for cabbage. Can it have been Cicuta virosa or Oenanthe crocata? It would be interesting if any reader of NATURE could throw light on the subject. The following delightful paragraph is cut from the same paper a few days later :— “*Can plants see? Darwin gave it as his opinion that some of them can [one would like to know where], and an Indian botanist relates some curious incidents which tend to verify the belief. Observing one morning that the tendrils of a convolvu- lus on his verandah had decidedly Jeaned over towards his leg as he lay in an attitude of repose, he tried a series of experiments with a long pole, placing it in such a position that the leaves would have to turn away from the light in order to reach it. In every case he found that the tendrils set themselves visibly towards the pole, and in a few hours had twined themselves closely round it. ALFRED W. BENNETT. Gaseous Diffusion. In your Notes of last week there is a description of an experi- ment for showing gaseous diffusion, devised by Prof. vy. Dvorak, which, however, does not seem so striking as one that was shown at the Royal Institution more than twenty years ago by, I think, Dr. Odling. A cylindrical porous battery cell was closed by a cork through which passed a vertical glass tube of about half an inch in diameter. The lower end of the tube was bent upwards into the form of a delivery tube, and was placed in a pneumatic trough, with a cylinder filled with water inverted over the end of the tube. On placing an inverted bell-jar of hydrogen over the porous cell, gas was rapidly collected in the cylinder, and this contained sufficient hydrogen to explode on the application of aflame. On removing the bell-jar, the hydrogen diffused outwards, and water was drawn up the wide tube. Cooper’s Hill, May 29. HERBERT McLEop. NO. 1231, VOL. 48] NOTES UPON THE HABITS OF SOME LIVING SCORPIONS. ! PRE literature which treats of the habits of living scor- pions is not voluminous, but it labours under the disadvantages of being based largely upon undetermined ~ species, and of being often of questionable trustworthi- ness with regard to the statements that are made. Even accounts that have been given of late years of the same species of scorpion differ widely as to facts ofno small importance. Mons. L. Becker, for instance, asserts thai the senses of hearing and seeing are highly developed in Prionurus australis, the thick-tailed yellow scorpion of Algeria and Egypt ; Prof. Lankester, on the contrary, — declares exactly the opposite to be the case. Dis crepancies such as these and the deficiencies above mentioned show the need for fresh observations upon the - subject, and no further excuse need be offered for publish ing the following notes upon the habits of some speci mens of two species of scorpions, Parabuthus capensis and L£uscorpius carpathicus, which I was fortunate enough to keep for some months in captivity. For the specimens of Parabuthus I gladly take this — opportunity of expressing my thanks to my friend Mr. H. A. Spencer, of Cape Town, who kindly collectedthem for me at Port Elizabeth, while acting as medical officer on board the Union Steam Ship Company’s ss. — Mexican ; while for the Euscorpius I amindebted tothe kindness of Dr. Gestro, of the Natural History Museum — at Genoa. This last genus of scorpion Prof. Lankester has also written about ; many of my observations, there- — fore, merely confirm those of this author. No descrip- — tion, however, has to my knowledge ever been published — upon the habits of any species of Parabuthus. This genus, however, belongs to the same family as Prionurus, and the behaviour of the two in captivity seems to be © very similar. : There is an abundance of evizence that scorpions are” nocturnal, and mine were no exception totherule. They wotld spend the daytime huddled together in corners of their box or under pieces of wood ; at night they would wander about, presumably in search of food. It was easy, however, at any time during the day to rouse them from their sluggishness. by applying a little artificial warmth to the box. One end of the box containing the Parabuthus was closed with a plate of perforated zinc. If this box was placed in the fender at a distance of about — a couple of feet from a moderate fire, with the zinc end turned towards the grate, the scorpions would climb upon the metal plate and bask in the warmth. But im- mediately the box was brought near the bars of the grate - they would all clamber or tumble from their position with ludicrous haste. It must not be supposed, however, that the amount of heat required to make them retreat was at all great. As a matter of fact warmth that I could without inconvenience bear for several minutes upon my hand would throw these animals at once into a state of the greatest consternation. 5 When walking both Parabuthus and Euscorpi carry the large pincers or chelz well in advance of the head ; these appendages thus fulfil the office of antenn: or feelers. In Parabuthus the body, however distended and heavy with food, is raised high upon the legs exa as Prof. Lankester has described in Prionurus, and t tail is usually carried, curled in a vertical plane, over t hinder part of the back. In Euscorpius, on the con- trary, as has also been pointed out by Prof. Lankester, the ventral surface of the body is scarcely raised from the ground during progression, and the tail, which is very slender and relatively much lighter than in Prionurus or Parabuthus, is dragged along, extended, and with aslight curl only at its hinder end. This difference in-the car- riage of the tail depends possibly upon the difference in its size and weight. For it seems reasonable to suppose that the heavy, robust tail of a Parabuthus or Prionurus June 1, 1893] NATURE 105 is carried with less muscular effort when curled over the back than when stretched out behind as in Euscorpius. __ When attempting to climb up the smooth sides of their box the Parabuthus would raise themselves upon the _ extremity of the fifth segment of the tail, and by keeping _ this organ perfectly rigid and in the same straight line _as the body they could maintain themselves in a nearly _ vertical position, thus reaching considerably higher than _ if supported upon the hind legs alone. _ The method of digging shallow pits or holes in sand, _ which Mons. Becker and Prof. Lankester have described _ in the case of Prionurus, is also practised by Parabuthus. _ Standing upon the first and fourth pairs of legs, and using _ the tips of the chelz and the end of the tail as additional ‘a Props, with the disengaged legs a scorpion rapidly icks the sand backwards between the legs of the last pair, very much as a rabbit or rat does when burrowing. Then with the apparent intention of removing what would prove an obstacle to its vision when crouching in the hole, it sweeps aside with its tail the heap of sand that has been thrown up, until the area surrounding its _ lurking place is tolerably level. _. I never saw a Euscorpius digging in the sand. They were usually to be found during the daytime under pieces : wood, to which they were nearly always clinging belly uppermost. It is difficult to explain why this atti- tude should be assumed. Many terricolous arthropods, however, have the same habit, and I see no reason for thinking that in the case of Euscorpius it has any connection with the copulation of these animals as Prof. Lankester suggests. All scorpions appear to be carnivorous, and there seems to be little doubt that they live principally upon insects or other articulated animals. My specimens of Euscorpius would eat blue-bottles and small flies, small cockroaches(Z. germanicus), wood-lice, small spiders, and centipedes (Lzthobius and Geophilus). The Parabuthus were fed principally upon the common house-cockroach _ and upon blue-bottles. It is interesting to note in con- nection with this last fact that Prof. Lankester’s exam- _ ples of Prionurus would not eat this common cockroach, nor did they seem to care for blue-bottle flies. This difference of instinct in the choice of food is remarkable, seeing how similar these two scorpions are in other _ particulars, both of habit and structure. _ ___ No one acquainted with the agility of a cockroach and the usual sluggishness of a scorpion would think that the latter would often succeed in capturing the former. Yet in truth, when placed in the same box, the insect seldom has a long lease of life. Its ultimate fate is always due to its ignorance of the scorpion’s nature, and to the latter’s adroitness in seizing anything that comes within reach. Wandering round the box, and exploring every inch of its new quarters with its antennz, the cockroach soon discovers the presence of the scorpion by touching _ it with the tips of these organs. The scorpion’s sense of touch, however, is as delicate as the insect’s, and the latter’s antennz, or any part of it that happens to be hear, is quickly seized by the pincers of the scorpion. Should the latter be disinclined for food and take no notice of the cockroach’s first approach, the insect, _ continuing its wanderings, will fearlessly creep over the Scorpion, just as a rabbit will over a python. Obviously this fearlessness must prove its destruction in the end, if not immediately. By means of its agility and strength, a cockroach sometimes eludes the scorpion’s first clutch, el sometimes, but not often, breaks away from the _ latter’s hold. But it does not readily learn from its _ Marrow escape the advisability of giving its enemy a wide berth the next time they meet. _ Although usually trusting to their heels for escape, cockroaches occasionally resort to a method of self- defence which is sufficiently curious to be described. Advancing upon an adversary rear end foremost, and at NO. 1231, vou. 48] the same time wagging from side to side this region of the body, they deliver vigorous backward kicks with their spiny hind-legs. This novel and humiliating mode of fighting, although not likely to prevail long against jaws and stings, is sufficient, nevertheless, to gain some- times for the insects a temporary reprieve. I have indeed seen a fine female Madeira tarantula spider retreat in discomfiture before a big cockroach of the same sex, which assaulted her in the way described. As soon as a cockroach is seized the use of the scorpion’s tail is seen ; for this organ is brought rapidly over the latter’s back, and the point of the sting is thrust into the insect. The poison instilled into the wound thus made, although not causing immediate death, has a paralysing effect upon the muscles, and quickly deprives the insect of struggling powers, and consequently of all chance of escape. If the insect, however, is a small one, one in fact that can be easily held in the pincers and eaten without trouble while alive, a scorpion does not always waste poison upon it. Thus I have seen a Parabuthus seize a blue-bottle fly, transfer it straight to its mandibles, and pick it to pieces with them when still kicking. Prof. Lankester only rarely saw his scorpions feed. I was more fortunate and repeatedly watched the operation, which is always performed exactly as this author has described. An insect is literally picked to pieces by the small chelate mandibles, these two jaws being thrust out and retracted alternately, first one and then the other being used. The soft juices and tissues thus exposed are drawn into the minute mouth by the sucking action of the stomach. It would seem, however, that some hard chitinous pieces are also introduced into the alimentary canal, for the entire exoskeleton of a cockroach is rarely, if ever, left after the meal is finished. Feeding is a slow process; a good-sized cockroach will last a Parabuthus for upwards of two hours or more, But although voracious eaters when the chance presents itself, they are able to endure with impunity starvation of several weeks’ duration. Unlike spiders, which are notoriously thirsty creatures, scorpions never seem to need anything to drink. At least none of mine were ever seen to touch water, although a supply of it was at first always kept in their box. With regard to the higher senses, the only one that seems to be highly developed is that of touch. Mons. L. Becker declares that sight and hearing are excessively developed; but I cannot substantiate this statement in either particular. With regard to hearing, my observations agree entirely with those of Prof. Lankester, who could not detect the existence of any sense of this nature. None of my scorpions ever gave the slightest response to any kind of sound, although they were tried with tuning forks of varying tone and with shouts of both high and low pitch. These animals, in fact, resemble the hunting spiders in being apparently devoid of auditory organs. They further resemble them in the development of their visual powers, being able to see a moving body, like a living cockroach, at a distance of only about three or four inches. Even at a distance less than this they do not seem able to distinguish form. Thus a specimen of Parabuthus excited by the presence of cockroaches in the box, was seen to rush at one ofits fellows that crossed its line of vision about two inches off, evidently not recognising by sight a member of its own species, for directly the pincers came in contact with the latter the mistake was discovered, the pugnacious attitude dropped, and no further notice was taken. This last observation shows that more is learnt from the sense of touch than from that of sight, an inference which is further supported by the habit, above referred to, of carrying the pincers wellin front of the head as if to feel the way. There is no doubt that the external organs of touch in scorpions are the hairs which thickly or sparingly cover various parts of the body. The tail is often very thickly studded 106 NATURE [June 1, 1893 with setae, and the poison vesicle always has some upon it. Their use upon this latter organ is very plainly seen during the act of stinging. For this act is not by any means a random thrust delivered indiscriminately at any part ofa captured insect. On the contrary, a scorpion generally feels carefully for a soft spot, and then with an air of great deliberation delicately inserts its sting into it. There can be little doubt that this care is taken that there may be no risk of damaging the point of the sting against a substance too hard for it. Areckless stab against the resisting chitinous exoskeleton of a beetle, for instance, might easily chip this point and thus deprive the scorpion of its most efficient weapon of attack and defence. The same care of the sting is shown in the carriage of the tail, this organ being curled in such a way that the point cannot come into contact with any foreign bodies. Even when teased with a piece of stick or irritated by being crawled upon by a cockroach, a scorpion is not often sufficiently provoked as to use the sting. The tail is certainly used to knock aside the in- strument or sweep off the insect, but the sides or lower surface of the organ are employed, the vesicle being care- fully tucked down. Upon one occasion a Parabuthus was seen to kill a cockroach and retire to a corner to eat it in peace, beginning at the tailend. Presently a smaller example ofthe same species coming along and finding the opposite extremity of the insect disengaged, started feeding on its own account. So quietly was the process carried on by the two, that not until nothing but a few shreds remained did the larger discover the presence ofits messmate. Thereupon it quickly brought its tail into use and by beating off its unwelcome guest secured for itself the remains of the meal. But although the pro- vocation was great the defrauded one never attempted to use its sting to punish the intruder. In connection with the organs of touch, the pectine or ventral combs must not be forgotten. Of the function of these appendages something is known, though no doubt much remains to be learnt. Their situation near the generative aperture, their larger size in the males, and the modification of their basal portion in the females: of some species, ¢.g. Parabuthus, suggest that they are tactile sexual organs of some importance, and Gaubert’s discovery of the nervous terminations in the teeth is a satisfactory confirmation of this supposition. But apart from sexual functions it is highly probable that they are useful organs of touch in other relations of life, enabling their possessor to learn the nature of the surface over which it is walking. In favour of this view may be adduced the fact that these animals have been seen to touch the ground with their combs. Moreover, it is a very noticeable circumstance that scorpions which, like Euscorpius, creep along with their bellies close to the ground, have very short combs ; while in others which, like Parabuthus, stand high upon their legs, the combs are exceedingly long. I once noticed a Parabuthus marching over a piece of a dead cockroach. When she had half crossed it, instead of going straight ahead as was expected, she halted abruptly, backed a little, and, stooping down, started to devour the fragment. From the height at which the body was being carried, I am persuaded that no portion of its lower surface, except the combs, could have come into contact with the piece of food ; so there can be little doubt that its presence was detected by means of the organs in question. Creatures which, like snakes, are both carnivorous and venomous, and present at the same time an appearance which is by no means reassuring, are always held in bad repute by mankind in general, and suffer in accordance with the principle laid down in the adage, “ Give a dog a bad name and hang him.” But amongst creatures of this description it is probable that scorpions qualify for first place with respect to the number and enormity of the vices with which they have been charged. Those NO. 1231, VOL. 48] a ‘oe that are most frequently alleged against them are general ferocity, murder, cannibalism, infanticide, and suicide. And yet in spite of this serious charge-sheet, there is n doubt that they are much-maligned animals. For in defence of the accusation of ferocity I can say that : never saw a scorpion use its destructive weapons exc with the legitimate object of killing prey for purposes nutrition, or as a reasonable means of defence when molested. Naturally enough they will not tolerat handling, but when allowed to crawl upon the hand they make no attempt to sting it, and merely evince a desire to escape to surroundings more natural and congenial © than human skin. From the charges of cannibalism and murder, however, these animals cannot be so easily cleared. For there is an abundance of evidence that they do sometimes, when in captivity, both kill and eat each other. Nevertheless, so far as my experience goes, — members of the same species do for the most part live — together in perfect harmony. Once only did I see alarge Euscorpius eating a small one. - But since the latter — showed no signs of violence, there are no reasons for supposing that it had died other than a natural death. — Like many other animals, scorpions may be made to — fight by artificial means, and when roused to a high — pitch of excitement by too much heat, they will clutch aot grab at each other with the appearance of the greatest — ferocity. _But I never saw any evil result from these tussles. The combatants always seemed to prefer to part company without bloodshed. : As for the accusation of infanticide, it appears to be quite groundless. For it is well known that a mother- — scorpion protects her young by carrying them about on — her back until they are able to shift for themselves. The question as to whether scorpions do or do not ~ commit suicide by stinging themselves to death, when — placed in a circle of fire, or otherwise tortured by that — element, is one which has excited a considerable amount of discussion. The belief that they do do so, with the object of escaping from the pains of burning, is of long standing, and probably has many adherents at the present time. But the experiments of Mr. Bourne upon some Maclras — species have shown (firstly) that the poison has no effect — upon the scorpion that possesses it, nor yet upon a member of the same or ofa closely allied species, and (secondly) © that these animals are easily and Seer killed by | moderately warm temperature (50° C.). Moreover, when distressed by a too warm atmosphere, or, according to” Lankester, by chloroform vapour, these animals have a habit of waving their tails in the air and of thrusting t sting forwards over the head, as if to punish some unsee! enemy. Andifthe sun’s rays be focussed with a len upon the back of a scorpion, the animal immediate! brings its tail over, and attempts to remove with it cause of irritation. So that the true account of at least some of the so-called cases of suicide by scorpions seem: to be this: the animals in reality have died from the he: to which they were exposed, and the observers ha erroneously inferred that the thrusts of the tail intended to put an end to the animal’s sufferings. 1 own experiments are all in favour of this conclusi I held a specimen of Euscorpius in a corked test-tu over a low fire. As soon as the air in the tube began | grow warm the animal, apparently in great distress, struggled about the confined space for a few seconds, brandishing its tail the while, then lapsed into insen Si- bility. The glass of the tube at this period was onl} slightly warm to my hand. Taken out of the tube ant placed near an open window, the animal quickly revived but it died the third time the experiment was tried. 0. no occasion, however, did it attempt to sting itself. also experimented upon Euscorpius and Parabuthus } focussing the sun’s rays upon them, and by placing mus: tard upon the membrane between the plates of the back Both the species attempted to remove the cause 0 ' JUNE 1, 1893] NATURE 107 irritation by scraping at the burning spot with the sting of the tail; but they seemed particularly careful not to _ sting themselves. 3 _. There seems, however, to be sufficient evidence _to prove that some scorpions have been seen to sting themselves during the course of experiments of a nature similar to those described above. One observer _ indeed mentions, in the case of an Indian scorpion, that slood issued from the wound made by the sting—a piece of corroborative detail which enhances the probability of _ the accuracy of the observation. But it is @ priord im- _ probable that the scorpion has any intention of killing itself. It seems, however, not improbable that a random blow meant for an unseen enemy might accidentally strike and pierce the deliverer ; or that when the irritation Is localised, as in the cases of burning with a lens, acid, whisky,’ or mustard, the scorpion, failing to remove the substance by the ordinary means of scraping with the tail, might thrust its sting into the spot affected, with the intention, not of killing itself, but of destroying the agent that is causing the pain: Or, indeed, it is conceivable ‘that the mental faculties are so deranged by torture and the approach of death, that the scorpion does not recog- _ hise its own body by its sense of touch, and stings it as it would sting any other object within reach of its tail. If a blow inflicted in either of these ways were to pierce the brain, or were to seriously lacerate the great dorsal blood-vessel, it might, one can suppose, cause death of itself, independently of the burning. _So that ifit be admitted that scorpions have some- times killed themselves, our verdict, it would seem, must be—accidental suicide, or suicide while of unsound mind. R. I. Pocock. NOTES. WE greatly regret to have to record the death of Dr. Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. He died at Oxford on Sunday morning last in his eighty-fourth year. We hope to give on a future occasion some account of his career as a man of science. THE gold medal of the Linnean Society-has this year been awarded to Prof. Daniel Oliver, of Kew, to whom it was pre- _ sented at the anniversary meeting of the Society held at Bur- _ lington House on the 24th inst. A TABLET erected in Truro Cathedral to the memory of the late Prof. John Couch Adams was unveiled by the Bishop of Truro on Saturday last. Canon Mason, a companion of Prof. Adams at Cambridge, delivered an address, in which he spoke of the illustrious astronomer as ‘‘ one of the greatest of Cornish- men.” ‘The tablet—the cost of which has been defrayed by public subscription—was designed by Mr. Pearson, R.A., and executed by Mr. Juleff, sculptor, of Cornwall. The Latin inscription, a translation of which will be placed near the tablet, is by the Archbishop of Canterbury. THE new engineering and electrical laboratories at University College, Gower Street, were opened on Monday last by the Duke of Connaught. Many invited guests were present at the cere- mony. Mr. J. E. Erichsen, the president of the college, in beginning the proceedings, said it was confidently anticipated _ that when the two laboratories which were about to be opened were fully equipped with mechanical appliances and electrical apparatus the college would possess every requirement for _ advanced research and thorough teaching. The cost would not fall far short of £20,000, and the council hoped that a liberal “response would be made to the appeal for funds which had been issued, and especially that the great City Companies, which had _ It is stated that in some parts of N. Americascorpions sting themselves to death if a drop or two of whisky be placed upon their backs; and that from this manifestation of their dislike of alcohol, these animals are known 5 natives as teetotallers. NO. 1231, VOL. 48] eae done so much for education and were so deeply interested in the success of such an enterprise, would give their assistance. Engineering was all-important, not only from a scientific, but from a national point of view, and it was needless to dwell on the importance of increasing the opportunities of the youth of this country for the study of the wonderful science of electricity, which half a century ago was little more than a toy for the learned, but now, through the telegraph and the telephones, entered into the daily life of us all,.and before which gas was, it would seem, destined to ‘‘ pale its ineffectual fires” as an illuminant. It was to be hoped that such laboratories as these would lead to fresh scientific triumphs and further practical developments. The Duke of Connaught, before formally declaring the laboratories open, delivered a short address, in the course of which he said it had been his good fortune to see some of the greatest engineering works in different parts of the Empire, and he was certain that those who, like himself, had seen them would recognize the vast importance of a thorough study of the sciences on which they reposed. Foreign nations were competing with us on all sides, and if we were to maintain the proud position which we had hitherto held we should have to use every endeavour to increase the oppor- tunities of study and of practical work. He trusted that the ceremony of to-day would mark a new era in the history of the college, and would tend to the prosperity and the in- creased power of ‘engineering in this country. Tue death of Prof. Ernst Eduard Kummer is announced. He died at Berlin on May 14. Dr. Kummer was a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, and at the time of his death was in his eighty-fourth year. A MEMOIR of the late F. A. Genth was read at a recent meeting of the Chemical Section of the Franklin Institute, and will be published in the June number of the Institute’s Journal. It was prepared by a committee specially appointed for the purpose. Mr. Genth is described in the paper as one of the abiest mineralogists, and certainly the foremost mineral analyst, hitherto known in the United States. The writers also speak in high terms of his personal character, and of his remarkable power as a teacher, Miss AGNES CRANE writes to us from Brighton with regard to an intimation she has just received from the ‘‘ chief com- missioner (Geology) of the Women’s Auxiliary Branch of the World’s Congress.” It is to the effect that the last week in August has been set apart, for a short session during the day, for the presentation of specially-prepared geological papers by women. Such papers are not to exceed half an hour in reading. The co-operation of English workers in this science is invited, and an address to ‘‘ geological women” will shortly be issued. The chief commissioner in geology is Mrs. Louisa F. Lowery, of 11, Gainsborough-street, Boston, Mass. A GEOLOGICAL excursion to Dorking will be made by mem~ bers of the Geologists’ Association on Saturday, June 3, under the direction of Prof. Boulger and Mr. T. Leighton, the object being to examine the district described by the directors in a paper read before the Association on December 2, 1892. Arrangements for excursions on the remaining Saturdays of June have also been made. Tue following prize subjects have been recently an- nounced by the Belgian Academy for 1894 :—A. Mathematics and Physics. (1) Exposition and discussion of the various theories of diffusion of one liquid into another, with new facts bearing on this ; (2) Estimate of théories explaining the con- stitution of solutions ; new experiments throwing light on the subject, and especially on the existence of hydrates in aqueous solutions ; (3) The investigations of modern geometers ‘on the theory of the triple orthogonal system to be summarised and 108 NATURE [June 1, 1893 extended in some important respect. B. Descriptive Sciences, (1) New researches on the intervention of phagocytosis in the development of invertebrates ; (2) Description of the phosphate, - sulphate, and carbonate minerals of the Belgian region, with indication of beds and localities ; (3) New researches on the peripheral nerve-system of Amphioxus, and especially on the constitution and genesis of the sensitive roots ; (4) New re- searches on the mechanism of cicatrisationin plants. The prize in each case is a gold medal worth 600 francs. Further, the Jean Servais Stas prize of 1,000 francs is offered for new re- searches determining the (at present uncertain) atomic weight of one or several elements. Memoirs may be written in French or Flemish, and must be sent in, with motto, &c., before August 1, 1894. Only manuscripts are allowed. Av the time of our last issue an anticyclone from off the Atlantic was spreading over the south-west of this country, and caused a renewal of the drought in many places in the south and east of England, but in Scotland and the north of Ireland the conditions were less settled, and a moderate gale was experienced in the north of Scotland. The maximum day temperature ranged during the first part of the period from about 55° in some parts of the north to 74° in the extreme south, while the night minima were generally high for the season. During the early part of the present week the barometer continued high, but several small depressions formed over the south and east of Eng- land ; cold northerly winds spread over the whole kingdom, accompanied by rain in many districts, and adecrease of several degrees in the temperature, the shade thermometer falling to the freezing point in the north of Scotland during the night of May 29. The Weekly Weather Report of May 27 showed that the temperature for that period was again above the mean, the average excess being from 3° to 5°. Rainfall was rather more than the mean in the north of Scotland, but less in all other districts. Bright sunshine was more prevalent over England and parts of Scotland than in the previous week ; in most parts of England the percentage of possible duration was from 41 to 46, while in Ireland it was 19 to 20, and in the north of Scotland only 17 per cent. Dr. J. HANN has published in the Sitsungsberichte of the Vienna Academy of Sciences some of the results of the anemo- metrical observations made at the Meteorological Institute at that place from 1873 to 1892. The discussion, which occupies eighty octavo pages, is divided into three sections : (1) the daily period of absolute wind velocity (without regard to direction), (2) the yearlyperiod of the velocity, and (3) the yearly period of the direction. In the two first sections a comparison of similar results for other stations, ‘partly specially calculated for this pur- pose, has been made. The following are a very few of the results of Dr. Hann’s valuable and elaborate work. The wind velocity shows a principal single daily period, with a minimum at 6h. a.m., anda maximum at th. p.m. Another secondary minimum is exhibited at 7h. 30m. p.m., and is followed by a secondary maximum atioh. p.m. The cause of these secondary extremes is found to lie in the daily range of stormy winds; on calm days the secondary extremes disappear, The absolute mean maximum velocity occurs in March, about 14 miles per hour, and the minimum in October, about 10 miles per hour. There also appears to be a secondary maximum in November, and a secondary minimum in January, while from spring to summer there is again a slight increase in the velocity. With regard to direction, the northerly component has its maximum in March and its minimum in October, the easterly component hasits maximum in April and minimum in July, the southerly component has also its maximum in April and its minimum in June and, lastly, the westerly component reaches a maximum in July and a minimum in February. NO. 1231, VOL. 48] THE Royal Observatory of Turin has recently published M work on the climate of that place, prepared by Dr. G. B. Rizzo, which is based on one of the longest series of observations extant. The monthly means and extremes of temperature and summaries of weather are given for 138 years (1753-1890), and the monthly © means and extremes of atmospheric pressure for 104 years. climate of Turin is of the Continental type, but is not severe, as the mean difference between the hottest and coldest : months is only 40°. The mean for January is 33°, and for Jt 73°; the mean of the annual minima is 13°, and the maxi’ 93 The average number of days with rain and snow is andthe amount 33 inches. As this long series offers gfe for the investigation of secular variations, Dr. Rizzo has en- deavoured to determine the periods of recurrence of hot and cold years. He finds that the observations do not support the 1 of thirty-five years quoted by Briickner, but that the hot pe cold years succeed each other at intervals of about nineteen | years. The causes which producethese variations are unknown, but they appear to depend upon local, rather than upon any extra= terrestrial conditions. The years of most rainfall are the coldest, © but the series shows no sign of the climate changing, as some persons have imagined. ; Ir is well known that the population of France is made a of many different elements, including, among others, Aquit- anians, Ligurians, Gallic and Belgic peoples, Franks, Burgun- : dians, and Norsemen. The Paris Society of Anthropology is strongly of opinion that much might be done to distinguish these various elements from one another, and has accordingly ‘issued — a circular in which it indicates to local observers the points about — which information is wanted. These relate both to living per sons and to human skeletons, or parts of skeletons, found in _ ancient monuments and elsewhere. Such remains, if there are no local buildings in which they can be placed, will be received by the. Society and preserved in its museum. ia M. A. DE MorRTILLET contributes to the Bulletins ide la: Société d’ Anthropologie de Paris (No. 1, 1893) an inet tee note on Manx cats. He points out that the Isle of Man is not the only part of the world in which tailless cats are found. ‘They are very common on the coasts of Japan, and have been cleverly represented by Japanese artists. M. de Mortillet suggests that Manx cats may be descended from specimens brought to the Isle of Man from Japan by sailors, x DuRING a recent stay at Buitenzorg, in Java, Herr Hie | landt made some experiments in the Botanical Gardens there, on the transpiration of tropical plants. In general this was found considerably less than that of plants in Central Europe, Thus of seventeen tropical species, some with coarse, leather- like, others with tender, leaves, nine species transpired per day | and per square decimeter surface less than I gramme; in six the amount was between 1 and 2 gr. ; and in two only it reached 2°6 and 3'25 gr. Now, with European vegetables and woody @ plants it varies commonly between 2 and 5 gr., and sometim reaches 6 or 7 gr. or more. This result the author ; a strong argument against the view that the transpiration current is of first importance in nutrition of land plants. — tropical plants, with their small transpiration, show extremely luxuriant vegetation, and are able, through osmotic forces, doubtless, to convey nutritive salts to their highest parts. curious that, spite of the great humidity of the air and the la amount of water in the ground, these plants often pos: guards against too great transpiration, such as thick, cuticula: ised epidermis, deeply sunk stomata, and especially tissu adapted for storage of water. And the reason cannot lie, a sometimes at the coast, in the presence of salt in the grouna Herr Haberlandt finds an explanation in the fact that whi he total transpiration is comparatively small, the hot sunn: onsiders ° JUNE 1, 1893] NATURE 109 “forenoons may occasion large evaporation. The transpiration in a forenoon hour was, in general, four to twelve times that “in an afternoon hour ; sometimes as much as twenty or thirty times. The forenoon hours are by far the most favourable to assimilation, and it is most important to the plant that its turgescence be not then too much depressed, an end accom- plished through those water reservoirs. TuE last issue of the memoirs of the Novorossian (Odessa) Society of Naturalists (vol. xvii. 3) consists of a very elaborate work in French, ‘Monographie des Turbellariés de la Mer Noire,’ by Dr. Sophie Pereyaslawzewa, ex-director of the Sebastapol Biological Station. The title of the work does not, however, exactly render its contents, as the author has not only given a monograph of forty-five species of Turbellarice from the Black Sea, of which twenty-nine species and the genus, ‘Darwinia, are new; she deals also with the anatomy and embryogeny of the Turbellariz, and presents them in a new light. The striking likeness between a young Accela and an Infusorian—she says—must probably be considered as the cause of the many errors committed’as regards the Turbellarize altogether. Various authors have differed immensely in their description of the Accela ; some have found in it no digestive cavity, others have denied the histological differentiation of the teguments ; others, again, have denied the existence of anervous system. It might have seemed that such instances would soon have been dissipated when carefully-prepared sections were resorted to; but the sections, made by different explorers, seemed to support the same views, as known from the works of Graeff and Goethe.? Mrs. Pereyaslawzewa now maintains, and supports her affirmations by carefully-prepared sections, that the Accela has a nervous system, ‘almost simultaneously dis- covered by Metchnikoff, herself, and Delage, and demonstrates that it possesses also a pharynx and a digestive cavity ; that its teguments are histologically differentiated, and that the name Aczela is not applicable to adult individuals, so that she has felt bound to change this name into Pseudo-acoela. This very elaborate monograph being published in French, it is accessible to all men of science. It is illustrated with sixteen well-printed plates, lithographed in Warsaw, from the author’s own drawings. Ir is known that certain plant-stuffs (alkaloids, tannin, oxalic acid, &c.) protect plants from attack by animals. . This function, in the case of oxalic acid, has been recently studied by Herr Giessler (enaische Zezts.), taking species of rumex, oxalis, and begonia. The acid mostly occurs in the epidermis and peri- pheral tissues of the vegetative organs ; parts underground have little or none. The leaves show most, but the acid may be found in the stem, and the leaf and flower stalks. Curiously, it dees not, like other protective matters, appear in young organs. The older and more sappy the tissues, the more oxalic acid do they contain. Snails, which avoided those plants in the natura} state, ate them when the oxalic acid had been precipitated. The substitution of various means of protection for one another was elucidated by Stahl ; plants not protected mechanically have chemical protection, and vce verséd. In the plants studied by Herr Giessler mechanical protection is deficient. Further, in organs that have little or no oxalic acid, isfound tannin. These two “‘ vicariate ” with each other also in different species of a us. In many tissues both occur together, The protective unction of a secretion, lastly, does not exclude other functions. Thus, regarding the epidermis as a water-reservoir, the osmoti- cally very active organic acids doubtless play an important part in the filling of the cells with water. The occurrence of begonia and oxalis species in very dry places, as also the deficiency in means of protection against transpiration, more pronounced the higher the quantity of acid, put this function of oxalic acid in a é still clearer light. ee NO. 1231, VOL. 48] Pror. SoLtas, F.R.S., communicated a paper on the granophyre of the Carlingford and Morne mountains to a recent meeting of the Royal Irish Academy. The grano- phyre is everywhere intrusive into the gabbro, and owing to the contrasted character of the two rocks it is possible to trace out their relation in the fullest manner. The be- haviour of the granophyre is of great interest ; from wide dykes, comparatively few in number, it passes into innumerable thin lamellar injections, which seam the gabbro through and through. These can be further followed into cracks of microscopic minuteness, and these swell out at intervals into ganglia, which give a white spotted appearance to the otherwise almost black gabbro. The ganglia are granophyric infillings of what were once drusy cavities in the gabbro, and it is suggested that the quartz so frequently found in gabbro associated with granitic rocks, as ¢g:, at Carrock Fell, is of a similar origin. Of equal interest is the abundance of gabbro fragments included in the granophyre, and since the mineral constituents of the gabbro present features peculiarly easy to recognise, there is no difficulty in following the changes which they have suffered in con- sequence of their immersion in the originally molten granophyre. Thus the Bytownite, which frequently occurs as phenocrysts in the granophyre, has frequently become surrounded by a mar- ginal zone of orthoclase, and the diallage can be traced into amphibole and biotite and colourless granules of pyroxene, which either remain.in clusters about their place of birth or are dispersed throughout the rock. It would, indeed, appear that the ferro-magnesian constituents of the granophyre which have led observers to designate it as syenite and augite grano- phyre are entirely derived from the grabbro, and it hence becomes an interesting question to consider whether in numerous other instances rocks intermediate in composition to the extremely acid and basic rocks with which they are assoc- iated may not also have arisen from the admixture of two already differentiated magmas, and not by the progressive modification of a single original magma. Ava recent exhibition by the French Société de Physique, MM. Macé de Lépinay and Perot showed a lecture-experiment illustrating well the phenomenon of mirage. A long vessel with plane sides contains a saline solution, on which is poured some distilled water. By diffusion, the liquids gradually mix and form a layer in which the density varies ina continuous way. If now a ray be sent, by means of a reflector, slightly upwards in the axis of the vessel, it describes a curve, passing through a maximum and descending. Its trace on a vertical plate of ground glass traversing the tube throughout its length, shows exactly the path taken, and gives a very pretty effect. On the same occasion, M. Pellin exhibited photographs of the fine gratings produced by Prof. Rowland, of Baltimore, whereby fine lecture experiments in diffraction can be produced at but small cost. AN elegant method of optically studying the process of diffu- sion in liquids is described by Herr O, Wiener in Wiedemann’s Annalen. It is somewhat similar to MM. de Lépinay and Perot’s beautiful imitation of the mirage, and consists in send- ing a beam of parallel rays through a vessel containing two liquids of different density and refractive power. A trace of fluorescein makes the path of the rays visible, and shows that they are bent away from the less highly refracting liquid in the region where diffusion is taking place. By care- fully pouring a layer of carbon bisulphide on to one of chloro- form, and a layer of alcohol on the top of both, it is possible to make the beam describe a wavy path, due to alternate re- fractions by the alcohol and the chloroform, both of which are less highly refractive than carbon bisulphide. For the purpose of minutely investigating the process another arrangement is adopted. Parallel rays of monochromatic light are sent through Ilo NATURE [JUNE 1, 1893 a slit at 45 degrees to the horizon, and pass through the diffu- sion vessel on to ascreen. ‘The dividing surface is indicated by a decided upward or downward bend of the line on the screen, which becomes gradually less pronounced and more evenly dis- tributed as diffusion equalises the refractive indices. The amount of vertical displacement at each point of the curve measures the difference of concentration in the region traversed by the ray. The constant of diffusion can be calculated from the rate of change of the diffusion curve, and the displacement of the point of maximum bending indicates the lesser diffusivity of the liquid towards which it takes place. Herr Wiener has also successfully applied the method to the determination of the thermal eonductivity of water by photographing the diffusion curve in various stages. THE question as to whether there is a true hysteresis in the case of dielectrics has received considerable attention lately, and Arno, Hess, and Janet have published the results of exten- sive researches on this subject. A note by M. Charles Borel in the current number of the Comptes Rendus has some bearing on this point. He suspends a disc of paraffined paper by its centre in front of a plate which is charged, by means of a rotating commutator, alternately positively and negatively. The duration of the charge was 0°006 second, and between charges of opposite sign it was put to earth for an equal intervals When a glass rod is placed on one side of the disc, so that the plane of the disc and the axis of the rod are parallel to the lines of force of the field, and the end of the rod nearest the charged plate is slightly inclined towards the disc, the latter is rotated. This rotation can be explained by the mutual action of the residual charges in the disc and glass rod when the charged plate is earthed. Different specimens of glass produced very different results on the suspended disc, some having no effect whatever. The replacement of the disc of paraffined paper by one of mica had little effect, while discs of pure paraffin or ebonite showed only a feeble effect. It was found that rods formed of conductors or of good insulators, such as ebonite and | shellac, produced a feeble rotation in the opposite direction to that produced by most dielectrics. If the rotation is really due to the residual electrification of the disc or rod this rotation in the inverse direction may be expected whenever tie rod has no residual electrification. The effects of crystals held in different directions was tried, and it was found that, in general, the deflection varied with the direction of the crystal, which was normal to the charging plate. Wiedemann's Annalen for May contains a paper by Herr J. von Geitler on the reflexion of electrical waves in wires. The waves were generated by means of the arrangement used by Blondlat, the secondary circuit being connected to two parallel wires 280 metres long. The variation of potential along these wires was measured by means of a differential electrometer, consisting of a double aluminium needle suspended by a quartz fibre before four metallic plates. These plates were connected, two and two, to the parts of the wire whose difference of potential had to be measured, in such a way that the attraction between the pairs of plates tended to turn the needle in opposite directions. The experi- ments show that if a series of electrical waves travel along two equal and uniform parallel wires there is a regular loss of phase and partial refexion wherever the parallelism of the wires is destroyed, or wherever there is a change in the diameter of the wire. The same effect is produced by joining the plates of a condenser to the two wires at any point. The curves showing the connection between the electrometer throw and the length of a branch circuit attached to the main wires are of a very curious form, and owing to the loss of half a wave length at the reflexion at the end of the branch circuit in one case, the curve NO. 1231, VOL. 48] obtained when the ends were separate was the exact inverse of that obtained when the ends were joined together. Mr. W. Roz contributes to the Agricultural Fournal, of 3 Cape Colony (April 6) an interesting paper on some of the dis- _ advantages that may result from irrigation. Most water nee - for irrigation contains variable quantities of soluble salts, mor especially soda salts, chlorides, and sulphates, not taken largely by plants. Every application of water, therefore, to the saline ingredients of the soil—a very different effect that of excess of rain water, which so far as there is open soil for it to drain away would be likely to take out rather tha add to the soluble salines in the soil, This mischief, accum: evaporation is great. The air, acting like a sponge on a surface, takes up the water, leaving the accumulated salts in the surface soil. But this surface soil is as the sponge to the layer beneath. Constantly after each water-leading the water is drawn to a surface, and evaporated, and its measure of salts left behind. — Obviously the harm done by this accumulated salt will depen on the nature and quantity of the salines in the water used, as- also upon the quantity of water applied. A good quality of river water may vary in having five to twelve grains to the gal- lon of soluble salts ; more than this becomes risky, unless -h sub-soil is very porous, THE Rugby School Natural History Society has issued its- report for the year 1892. The report, as the editor explains, differs from those of previous years in that the papers included — in it deal solely with the natural history of the neighbourhood. — They are all, with one exception, reprinted from the Rev. W, O. Wait’s ‘‘ Rugby, Past and Present,” and as in the main they — are written by old members of the Society, they may be re- garded as presenting a kind of summary of the Society’s work from its foundation to the present day. A PAPER on the Siyin Chins, by Major F. M. Rundall, i ; included in the third volume of the ‘‘ Supplementary Papers” of the Royal Geographical Society, and has also been printed separately, The author knows the Chin Hills well, and gives a very interesting account both of them and of the tribes by which they are inhabited. The paper is accompanied bya map. THE new instalment of the proceedings of the Geologists” Association includes the presidential address of Prof. J. F. Blake, delivered on February 3. It deals with the basis of the classification of Ammonites. 4 AN essay on the laws of heredity, read originally by S, S. Buckman before the Cotteswold Field Club, has been translated — into German, and issued as one of the series of ‘‘ Darwinislische — Schriften,’ published by Ernst Giinther, of Leipzig. The German title of Mr. Buckman’s work is ‘‘ Vererbungsgesetze und ihre Anwendung auf den Menschen.” Messrs. Crospy, Lockwoop AND Son will issue in a fe days an English edition of the ‘‘ Handbook of the Steam Engine,” by Herm. Haeder. The editor and translator of th English edition is Mr. H. H. P. Powles. : ‘*A CONTRIBUTION to the Chemistry and Phyatolbgg of Foliage Leaves,” by H. T. Brown, F.R.S., and Dr. G. F Morris, has been reprinted, by Messrs. Harrison and from the ‘‘ Journal of the Chemical Society,” May, 1893. THE Entomological Society of London has issued a catalogy of its library. The work has been edited by G. C. Champion, hon. librarian, assisted by R. McLachlan, F.R.S., and D. Sharp, F.R.S. Great additions to the collection have been made since the last printed catalogue was published in 1861 ; bt there are still certain deficiencies, and Mr. Champion expresses a hope that some of these may be speedily supplied by Fellows, — and that the publication of a separate Appendix may thus at distant date be rendered necessary. : June 1, 1893] NATURE Ii! ___ A COMPREHENSIVE study of the nature of the dissociation of ‘hydriodic acid gas by heat, the conditions of equilibrium of the dissociated constituents, and the circumstances under which re- combination occurs, has been made by Prof. Victor Meyer and -_ Herr Bodenstein, and their results are contributed to the current number of the Berichte. The investigation was conducted upon similar lines to Prof. Meyer’s recent experiments upon gaseous ‘mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen, a series of a large number of equal-sized bulbs connected by capillary tubes being simul- taneously filled with the pure gas and subsequently sealed and separated by fusion of the capiliaies. In commencing the experiments Prof. Meyer was surprised to observe the compara- tive readiness with which gaseous iodine and hydrogen unite without the aid of platinum sponge or other condensing agents. If a glass tube containing a little iodine is filled with hydrogen, sealed, heated in a bath of the vapour of boiling sulphur, and after cooling opened under water, a considerable escape of _ pent-up hydriodic acid gas occurs, and the water immediately afterwards ascends in the tube owing to the absorption of the remainder. The hydriodic acid for the purpose of the experi- ‘ments was all prepared by the direct union of the pure elements, inasmuch as the gas prepared by the usual method from iodide of phosphorus was always found to contain admixed volatile phos- phoruscompounds. The preparation was conducted by leading the mixture of iodine vapour and hydrogen over heated platinised asbestos, when it was found that 86 per cent. of the iodine entered into combination. The product, after passing througha suitable vessel in which the uncombined iodine was condensed, was received in cooled water, the gas regenerated by warming the fuming aqueous solution, and finally freed from moisture by leading it over phosphoric anhydride and from the last traces of free iodine by passing it over red phosphorus free from yellow phosphorus and lower oxides of phosphorus. The hydriodic __ acid gas thus obtained proved to contain no perceptible trace of _ impurity. Before proceeding to fillthe bulbs the air was ex- _ pelled from them by means of acurrent of pure hydrogen, which _ was allowed to pass through them for 24 hours, with occasional heating to near the softening point of the glass in order to remove the film of condensed air adhering to the surface of the glass. ___ The hydrogen was finally displaced by pure hydriodic acid and __ thebulbs sealed. These extreme precautions, which were adopted in order to secure a number of specimens of pure hydriodic acid, afford a striking example of the infinite pains which are required to effect the final settlement of many of the apparently simple problems of elementary chemistry. Py Pror. Meyer has definitely decided the question of the action of light upon pure hydriodic acid gas. Bulbs exposed upon the roof of the Heidelberg laboratory during the summer months became filled in a few days with large brilliant crystals of iodine. After ten days’ exposure 58 per cent. of the gas had _been dissociated, and at the end of the summer 99 per cent., or practically all. The fact that the waves of light are so _ active in effecting dissociation rendered it imperative that the _ thermal expeciments should be conducted in the dark. The _ whole of the above experiments in connection with the prepara- _tion of the gas and the filling of the bulbs were therefore con- ducted in a dark room, The thermal results may be very briefly summarised. The statement in text-books that hydriodic _ acid commences to dissociate at 180° is incorrect. It is only et presence of admixed air that this occurs. At 310° the decomposition of the pure gas is so slight that it would take 2,000 hours to attain the point of maximum dissociation at _ which equilibrium is established. This point was determined indirectly to be attained when 01669 of the original quantity of gas was dissociated. At the temperature of the vapour of boil- dng mercury (350°) equilibrium was found directly to be estab- NO. 1231, VOL. 48 | lished when 0'1731 was decomposed. At 394° (boiling retene) 01957 was dissociated, and at the temperature (448°) of boiling sulphur 0'2150. It is of particular interest to learn that Prof. Meyer has further proved by direct experiment that the forma- tion of hydriodic acid from gaseous hydrogen and iodine pro- ceeds at any temperature until exactly the same condition of equilibrium is attained as in the corresponding dissociation experiment. Thus when the synthesis of hydriodic acid was conducted at the temperature of sulphur vapour the reaction proceeded until only 021 of the elementary gases remained uncombined, the same amount as was dissociated when starting with the compound gas, Perhaps the most interesting result of the investigation is that concerning the rapidity of the dis- sociation. It has been found that whenever two bulbs of equal size are heated for equal lengths of time precisely the same amount of decomposition or of formation occurs. The reaction is thus found to proceed with strict regularity, the amount of dissociation or of synthesis at any fixed temperature being a direct function of the time, and capable of expression by a simple mathematical formula which is given in the memoir and which is amply verified by a large number of experiments. NoTEs from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Mollusca Eudima distorta and Rostanga coecinea, the Isopoda Anthura gracilis and Munna Kréyeri, and the Brachyura Lurynome.aspera and Portunus marmoreus, The gelatinous alga, which has been so abundant in the townettings since the beginning of April, has at length almost completely disappeared. Swarms of the Leptomeduse Irene pellucida (half-grown) and Odelia lucifera (full-grown and mature) have repeatedly been taken ; but for some weeks past an occasional specimen of Corymorpha nutans has been the only representative of the Anthomeduse. A single large Bipinnaria \arva has been observed. On the shore young in- dividuals of this year’s growth of the Nemertines Amphiporus lactifloreus and Lineus obscurus (= gesserensis), and of the Crustacean Carcinus menas are now plentiful. The follow- ing animals are now breeding:— Several TZeredellide, the Opisthobranch PAiline aperta; the Crustacea Virbius varians, Portunus marmoreus, Stenorhynchus phalangium and tenuirostris. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Common Hedgehog (Zrinaceus europeus, white var.) from Berkshire, presented by Mr. R. T, Hermon- Hodge: a Ruddy Ichneumon (Herfestes smithi) from India, presented by Mr. Maurice Welsh ; a Guillemot (Zomvia trotle) British, presented by Mr. H. B. Hewetson, F.Z.S. ; two Ring- hals Snakes (Sefedon hemachetes) from South Africa, presented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S. ; an Aurora Snake (Lamprophis aurora) from South Africa, presented by Mr. T. E. Goodall ; a Levaillant’s Amazon (CArysotis levaillantz) from Mexico, a Grey Parrot (Pszttacus erithacus) from West Africa, a Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinadis virginianus), a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Hedymeles ludovicianus) from North America, deposited ; a Jaguar (/e/7s onca, 2.) from South America, two Striped Hyznas (Hynna striata, 6 2) from North Africa, a Black-necked Swan (Cygnus nigricollis,§) from Antarctic America, twelve Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis) South European, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE Ecuiese oF ApriL, 1893,—M. Bigourdan communi- cates to Comptes Rendus for May 23(No, 21) a brief preliminary account cf his observations made during this total eclipse of the sun. The station he occupied was Joal (approximately Lorgitude th. 16m. 38s. E. of Paris, and Latitude 14° 9’ 25” N ) I12 NATURE on ; [JUNE 1, 1893. : and the observations were made from the Observatory erected by the Expedition of the Bureau des Longitudes. With an eye- piece magnifying 190 times he observed several occultations of solar spots by the moon, and in about fifteen cases he noticed the phenomenon that is equivalent to that seen in observations of the Transit of Venus and knownas the black drop. It was pro- duced, he says, not only at the contact of large spots, but at the point of contact of small ones, and even of the simple filaments forming the penumbre of spots. M. Bigourdan also made a special look for the phenomena known as Baily’s beads, some- times seen when the sun has been reduced to a very fine crescent by the advance of the lunar disc, but from all accounts he seems to have been unable to see any trace of them. A search round the sun for an intra-Mercurial planet, with a telescope giving a field of 25’, was also made, but with no satisfactory result, since he says that his instrument was not suited for that purpose: the negative result thus obtained affords no argument against the existence of such a body. The duration of totality lasted exactly qm. Is. FINLAy’s CoMET (1886, VII.).—The following is the current ephemeris of this periodic comet, as given in Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 3164 :— 12h. 7. Paris. R A. (app.) Decl. (app.) 1893. h. m. s. 6 June 1 © 40 53 +1 15°6 2 45 24 I 44°6 3 49 55 2 13°9 4 54 29 2 43°2 5 059 4 3 12°5 6 I 34! 3 419 7 8 18 4 11°3 8 I 12 56 4 40°6 AURORA OBSERVATIONS.—In the event of Lieut. Peary’s expedition to a high station in North Greenland (about Lat. 77° 30’ N. and Long. 70° 15’ W.), where regular observations of the aurora will be undertaken, it is hoped that everyone, wherever he may be, will help to supplement these observations by noting himself the times of absence and presence of this phenomenon. With so many workers in so many lands, it is needless to say that a systematic method of recording what is seen should be followed. With the intention of supplying this demand, Mr. M. A. Veeder has issued a set of blanks similar to those that will be used in the expedition, so that when properly filled up comparisons can be made in detail. In addition to the investigation of the local distribution of the aurora, it is hoped that the electro-magnetic conditions of solar origin may be more inquired into, and it is on this account that these circulars have been sent to both solar and magnetical observatories as well as to individual observers. As for the Arctic records, they will be continuous whenever observation is possible, relays of observers connected with the expedition relieving each other. In making such observations it is empha- sised here that minute descriptions of the formation of arches, streamers, prismatic colours, and the like, accompanying such variations in the extent of displays, are of interest, but are far less important than that the times should be noted as accurately as possible. Any one desiring these blanks can be supplied directly by applying to M. A. Veeder, New York. THE CONSTANT OF ABERRATION.—Prof. Chandler, in the Astronomical Fournal (No. 296), gives the third of his most important papers relating to the constant of aberration, treating in this article specially of Struve’s Prime-Vertical Observa- tions, 1840-55, from the new point of view with respect to the variation of latitude. In this discussion, in addition to a direct solution for all the unknowns, he. has made an indeterminate one, employing the constants pertaining to the 427-day term, and expressing the unknowns in terms of y and 2. As regards the former solution, employing the observations of the seven stars from the years 1840-42, the value of the observations ob- tained is 20’°533, Struve’s value from the same material being 20''445, and for the whole data from 1840-55 the aberration is 20"'514. This last-mentioned value would be the ‘‘ definite value from Struve’s Prime-Vertical Observations, if we accept the direct solution as the best,” but he says the zdeterminate solu- tion throws doubt upon this point. The definite value, as given by this solution, gives 20’°481 + o'1ILy + 0°2302; and, since as yet the most probable values of these constants are not known, NO. 1231, VOL. 48] those of the 427-day period applied to the special case of — Polaris, which were independent of the aberration, give, on — this assumption, 20’°474, a value, as will be noticed, smaller than that by the direct solution. The value 20’500 for the aberration constant is, according to Prof. Chandler, too gre: as inferred from the discussion here given. As a ‘‘ matter interest ” he gives the values of the aberrations deduced the observations of the several stars made in 1840-42. THE AsTRONOMICAL Day.—‘‘Is it desirable, all interests considered, that on and after January 1, 1901, the astronomical — day should everywhere begin at mean midnight?” This the question that has been put forward by a joint committ of the Canadian Institute and the Astronomical and Physic: Society of Toronto, and printed ina circular-letter addressed astronomers of all nations. Many of our readers may remet ber that as far back as 1884 the Washington International — Conference carried unanimously the following resolution, there being representatives of twenty-five nations, ** counting among them several astronomers of world-wide fame,” that ‘‘ the ‘ ence expresses the hope that as soon as may be practicable, the — astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere to — begin at mean midnight.” That the astronomical and civil day — should start together at the same moment seems without doubt — the right method of procedure, for what is gained really by reckoning the astronomical time from noon and the civil from — the preceding midnight? Tt is true that changes will have to be made in the Mautical Almanac, and all such-like year-books, — both astronomical and nautical ; but on the assumption that the — change is made simultaneously by all nations, and taking into — account that such a change cannot come into vogue for five or six years on account of the fact that these books are printed a few years in advance, there seems really no difficulty ahead. — The suggestion that the change, if made, should take place with the change of the century seems to be an excellent epoch for such a transition, for besides giving time for a thorough dis- cussion of so important @ question, it will, as Otto Struve says, — ‘*stamp itself on the memory of all who hereafter would be ~ busied in the investigations in which exact chronology plays part.” ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH.—The Annual Visita-_ tion of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich by the Board of Visitors takes place on Saturday, June 3 next. The Observatory — will be open for inspection at 3 p.m. es GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. Dr. NANSEN writes confirming the statement made in this” column as to the baselessness of the assertions regarding failure of his expedition. Heis making rapid progress with preparations, and expects to sail in the “vam on his great vent on June 20. ‘ THE most recent change of name in Africa is the adopti of the official title Niger Coast Protectorate for what previously known as the Oil Rivers Protectorate, comprising coastward part of the Niger delta. Peies ; Narat, which has been a British colony for fifty years, ha entered upon the final stage of colonial independence by th adoption of responsible government. It is expected that step will lead to a rapid development of the resources of the country, and a considerable extension of its railways. = THE Antarctic whaler Ba/ena put into Portland Roads for coal on May 25, and reached Dundee on May 30, being the firs toreturn. Mr. W. S. Bruce, who was on board as surgeon and in charge of scientific observations, reports that the homeward t was favoured by very fine weather. He confirms our fear that opportunities for scientific work had often to be lost on account of the purely commercial character of the trip, and the rigid in terpretation of his instructions by the captain. An account of — the voyage and its results will probably be given to the meeting of the British Association at Nottingham. On the retur 5 journey a series of floats was thrown overboard from the Ant- arctic ice-margin to the equator, in order to endeavour to g light on the direction and speed ofthe currents. The lowes air temperature experienced amongst the ice was 21° F, THE newnumber of the Geographical Fournal publishes ar e old minute of a committee of the Royal Geographical Society — held in 1845 to consider the nomenclature of the oceans. At iy U ee June 1, 1893] NATURE 113 meeting Sir John Franklin took part, and as he sailed on is last voyage shortly afterwards it is possible that his absence prevented the matter from being further discussed. The pro- visional resolution come to by the committee was to give the ing names and limits to the oceans :—Arctic Ocean and Antarctic Ocean, to the waters lying within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles respectively. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ‘stretched from the Arctic to the Antarctic Circles, and were separated from each other by the meridian of Cape Horn. The ‘Indian Ocean extended from India to the Antarctic Circle, divided from the Atlantic by the meridian of Cape Agulhas and from the Pacific by that of the south point of Tasmania. Mr. Arrowsmith, the eminent cartographer, was present at the meet- ing, and it is customary in Continental works to refer this systematic definitiun of the oceans to him. As a matter of fact his maps had a great deal to do with the nomenclature acquiring pularity. The committee proposed a triple sub-division of the Atlantic and Pacific into a northern, southern, and inter- tropical part. This has not come into general use. It is time that the question of oceanic nomenclature should be seriously _ considered again, and that the morphology and physiology of these great features be taken into account as well as their superficial outlines in determining a scientific classification. THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE. A MEETING of the Iron and Steel Institute was held on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, May 24 and 25, _ There was a somewhat short programme, only five papers being on the agenda, and one of these was not read. There were, however, two additional papers afterwards brought in, but they were only read by title, and as they were not discussed, had very little influence on the proceedings. The papers read were as follows :—On the elimination of sulphur from iron and steel, by J. E. Stead, of Middlesbrough ; on the Saniter process of _ desulphurisation, by E. H, Saniter, Wigan ; notes on puddling iron, by John Head; on the recording pyrometer, by Prof, W. H. Roberts Austen. On the members assembling on Wednes- day morning, the president, Sir Frederick Abel, occupied the chair, and the usual formal business of reading the minutes was first undertaken, after which the report of the council was read by the secretary, from which it appears that the advance of the - institute in respect to membership has not been altogether satis- factory of late. The resignation of the secretary, Mr. Jeans, _ was also mentioned. The opportunity has been taken by the council, of Mr. Jeans’s retirement, to introduce some modifi- cations in the secretarial and editorial arrangements. Mr. Bennett H. Brough, an Associate of the Royal School of Mines, i has for some time past been an assistant professor at the ‘Royal College of Science, has been appointed to the office of secretary and editor to the institute. _ Sir Frederick Abel next evacuated the presidential chair, which was then occupied by Mr. E. Windsor Richards, the new president. Mr. Richards is an excellent representative of the practical steel manufacturer, having been engaged in the iron and steel trades all his life. He was for some time manager at the important steel works at Eston in Middlesborough. Some time ago he vacated his position there to take the management of the Lowmoor Iron Works, an establishment almost classical in its antiquity, in an industry which has been so entirely re- formed within the last few years. Lowmoor, however, keeps to its old traditions and still produces best Yorkshire iron in the manner practised from a period extending back into the early days of iron manufacture, and this in spite of the improve- ments and advances made in the manufacture of mild steel. Mr. Richards having been conducted to the chair, at once pro- ceeded to deliver his inaugural address, One of the most important parts was his reference to the remarkable extent to which English steel is made from foreign ore. It is, of ‘course, unnecessary to state at any length the reason for this, as the fact must be well known to nearly all-our readers. The Iron ores of Britain, upon which our engineering supremacy was 80 long supposed to rest, is, with some not very important excep- tions, unfitted for the production of ingot iron, more generally known as Bessemer, or mild steel. The chief reason for this is _ the considerable percentage of phosphorus it contains, We ve, however, in Lancashire and Cumberland, hematite which are of a suitable description, but these are not largely worked as at first might be thought they would be, NO. 1231, VOL. 48] and the bulk of hematite ore required for steel making in Eng- land is brought from Bilbao, in North Spain. It has been generally thought of late that these deposits are being rapidly exhausted, and though the use of calcium will perhaps somewhat extend the life of the supply, the end may be sufficiently near to the present time to make it worthy of the serious considera- tion of steel makers. In the basic process, there is, however, a means by which our native phosphoric ores can be rendered suitable, to a large extent, for steel making purposes, and the successful working of the basic system is therefore a matter of national concern, In England, the process has received serious opposition. Perhaps we have been oyver-conservative in this matter ; or perhaps, on the other hand, we have displayed no more than salutary caution. However this may be, the Germans have gone far ahead of us in the production of basic steel, Germany, like England, has large deposits of phosphoric ore and, unlike England, has not that free sea communication with Spain, which has rendered the importation of hematite ores a matter of little difficulty and small expense. It was natural, therefore, that Germany should take hold of the new system with less caution and more vigour than the English steel makers, but the result has been somewhat antagonistic to English interests. Mr. Windsor Richards, in his presidential address, told us that the west coast of England has raised 2% million tons of ore, free from phosphorus, and could probably increase that quantity to produce 14 million tons of pig iron, should the demand arise. During the twelve months ending December 1892, the quantity of basic steel made in England was 406,839 tons. In Germany and Luxemburg 2,013,484 tons of steel were made from phosphoric ores, Mr. Windsor Richards is now, as we have said, an ‘‘iron- man,” which seems a curious thing in the present day, after he has held, perhaps the most important position of his time in the steel trade ; however, there is yet a large demand for Lowmoor iron, and the old-fashioned methods of production are still in vogue. Of this he gave some very interesting particulars. The address dealt at some length with the question of over-produc- tion, and it seems pretty evident that our facilities fur making steel are far ahead of the demand for the material. ‘In spite of this money is still being expended in steel-making plant, although so large a part of that already existing is at present lying idle, and appears likely to do so. The year 1892 was in many respects one of the very worst the iron and steel! industry has ever known. The two papers by Mr. Stead and Mr. Saniter on the elimin- ation of sulphur from iron, were contributions of great value. The subject is one of very considerable importance, and fortunately has been occupying the attention of metallurgists for some time past. It would be impossible for us, in a brief notice of this kind, to give an abstract of these two papers ; indeed they are only complementary to papers already read by the authors at former meetings. Calcium chloride is the purifying material in admixture with lime, and the process is adapted, either for purifying fluid iron or pig iron direct from the blast fur- nace. ‘The process is effected by running the fluid metal into a ladle having a layer of the purifying materials on the bottom, and afterwards running the metal into pigs or plate metal for subsequent use in the puddling process; or the crude sulphury pig may be treated in the basic Siemens furnace or Bessemer converter, with the desulphurising mixture. About 4 cwt. of crude calcium chloride is used per ton of steel, n conjunction with an excess of lime above that which is usually employed ; the cost of the calcium chloride is about 35s. per ton. About 70 per cent of sulphur can be removed from the charge of metalin an open hearth furnace by this process. It may be added that the process is in practical working at Wigan. What we have already said with regard to dephosphorisation of ore in its bearing on the use of our native ores also applies, to a great extent, to desu!phurisation, and although Mr. Saniter does not stand alone in the introduction of a desulphurising process, there is no doubt that he has rendered this country considerable service by his efforts in this direction. The reading of these two papers, together with the introductory business and the presi- dential address, occupied the whole of the Wednesday sitting, and the discussion on both papers was taken jointly on Thursday morning, The chief point raised was whether the process was one requiring such delicacy in manipulation that ordinary work- men could not be trusted to carry it out soas to produce uniform results. Whether this objection will be fatal time will show, but the general opinion appeared to be that by employing fairly 114 NATURE [June 1, 1893 skilled workmen the difficulties of manipulation were not such as could not be got over, and that fairly uniform results would follow reasonable care in working. The next business was the reading of Prof. Roberts- Austen’s paper on the recording pyrometer. It will be remembered that at the annual meeting of two years ago, Prof. Roberts Austen gave a description of the Le Chatelier pyrometer, and the appli- cation of it, which he had introduced, by which it was adapted for recording work in blast furnace practice. The object of the present paper was to give some particulars of the most recent form of this recording pyrometer, which Prof. Roberts-Austen has devised. At the request of Mr. E. P. Martin, Managing Director of the Dowlais Iron Works, Cardiff, an instrument was made and put into operation as a means of recording temperature of the blast in an iron smelting furnace. The spot of light from the mirror of a galvonometer is thrown on sensitised paper, the paper itself being traversed at a uniform speed. In this way the record of temperature at all times is obtained. The author gave an instance of the value of the instrument. The blast to the furnace in question was supplied by a number of hot blast stoves on the ordinary regenerative principle. When the chequer work in a stove has been heated up sufficiently and the blast is first turned on for supply of the furnace, the tempera- ture of the blast isnaturally at its maximum. As the blast cools the chequer work, by abstracting heat from it, the temperature gradually falls, and it continues to decrease until it is considered desirable to re-heat the stove, and then a new stove is switched on. It will be seen therefore, that the temperature of the blast in the main, common to two or more stoves, will vary regularly, so that a curve on the diagram indicating temperature, will consist of a number of more or less steep inclinations ; in fact, very much representing the teeth of a saw. That would be the normal inclination ; occasionally, however, the gas valves leak, and then the stove may be receiving hot gases when it ought only to be passing air. The average temperature when this leaky stove is in use will naturally be higher than that due to another stove ; in fac’, it will be heated at the expense of the remaining number of the group. The result is antagonistic to regular working which is so much desired in blast furnace practice, and though the evil effect may be neutralised by the heat absorbing property of the large mass of material in the blast furnace—acting, as it were, asa fly- wheel for heat—the state of irregularity, if carried to excess, might be very harmful. It is also, of course, desirable that the blast furnace operator should know at the earliest time when his valves are going wrong; in fact, the whole system upon which the Cowper stove is based bears on the proper reversal of the blast. Prof. Robert Austen’s apparatus fulfils the required conditions in supplying the knowledge required, and the in- vention cannot fail to be one of the greatest service to the metallurgist. A paper hy Mr. John Head on puddling iron was next read and was followed by a short discussion, alter which the meeting concluded with the usual votes of thanks. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ANNIVERSARY MEETING. HIE anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society held on Monday afternoon was, as we anticipated, excep- tionally large and representative. The report of the council stated that the membership of the Society on the Ist of May was 3691 (including 22 ladies), a net increase of 166 fellows since May 1st, 1892, being the largest net addition to the membership of the Society since 1875. The total net income for the year was £93,000, and the expenditure £9012. In addition to the services performed to the fellows and the public by means of evening meetings, the use of the Map Room and Library and the publication of the Geographical Journal, twenty four intending travellers have received instruction in practical astronomy and route-surveying from Mr. Coles, and instru- ments have been lent to eleven travellers for use in all parts of the world. In order to express disapproval of the words we italicise in the first paragraph of the report, which ran as follows :— Membership.—The question of electing Ladies as Ordinary Fellows was considered by a Special General Meeting on April 24th, when it was decided in the negative by a consider- able majority. The Council regard this vote (unless hereafter NO. 1231, VOL. 48] rescinded by a General Meeting) as conclusive against further election of Ladies as Ordinary Fellows, without p to the status of those already elected. They consider that, the circumstances, all the legal expenses incurred in con with this important question may equitably be defrayed by tl pie nti and they have accordingly provided for their bein: efrayed. i Mr, Dibden, seconded by Colonel Montague, moved rejection of the report, but on a division being taken report was accepted by a large majority. The medals other awards for the year were then presented as follows: . The Founder’s Medal, to Frederick Courtney Selous, recognition of his extensive explorations and surveys in Brit South Africa. The Patron’s Medal, to W. Woodville Rockhi for his travels and explorations in Western China, Koko Tsaidam and N.E. Tibet. The Murchison Grant tor 189: Mr. R. W. Senior, who, for several years in succession, ha‘ carried out a most laborious duty in the higher ranges of Kulu and Lahaul, Punjab Himalayas, and the results achieved © point of accuracy, expedition, and amount of work done, been exceptional in the face of great hardships and great phy difficulties. The Gill Memorial, to Mr. Henry O. Forbes, : his explorations and natural history observations in Guinea, the Malay Archipelago, and the Chatham Islands. T Cuthbert Peek Grant, to Mr. Charles Hose, for explorati and natural history observations and collections in Sara North Borneo. Six prizes of £5 each, and eight of books, yi" by the Royal Geographical Society to Students in Trainin; Colleges for 1893, were presented to the successful candidates who were introduced by Mr. Mackinder, ae A ballot was then taken for the election of officers a council for the eusuing year, and the list proposed by council was, as usual, adopted. The new president is Clements R. Markham, F.R.S., and the vice-presidents are t Hon. G. C. Brodrick, Sir Joseph Hooker, F.R.S., Sir Je Kirk, F.R.S., Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., General. Strachey, F.R.S., and Captain W. J. L. Wharton, F.R. Sir M. E. Grant Duff, the retiring president, then read th anniversary address on the progress of geography, in which h summarised the various activities of the Society. In the c of this he said that during the four years in which he the honour to be president, he had seen the number Fellows increase by three hundred and fifty-eight, and were now close upon three thousand seven hundred. 5 long the Society would have to take into the most se consideration the acquisition of a new domicile. ~ constantly increasing collections would of themselves, a: have pointed out before, ere long drive us from our pr quarters, and we have, in addition, reason to believe even if we could extend our borders where we now are, on thing like reasonable terms, which we cannot, certain chan the streets in this part of the town would ere long im us off the face of creation. Then, although the versity of London has been most kind to us in lending us the theatre, and although the character of our papers and of o1 publications, as well as our position as the leading geograph society of the world make us, I think, not unworthy recit of the kindness of a university, whose operations extend the whole of the British Empire, we cannot look forwar the present state of things continuing for an indefinite peri A vote of the Senate might at any time put an end to it.” An epitome of the year’s exploration—which has sufficiently recorded in our ‘‘ Geographical Notes” from to week—concluded the address, which was received with applause. On the motion of Lord Northbrook, second Sir John Lubbock, an enthusiastic vote of thanks was p to the retiring president, who briefly replied. At this stage a controversy regarding the question of mission of women to the Society was started, and after spirited speaking, the leading opponents of the recent acti the council stated that they were perfectly prepared to ¢ with the wishes of-a majority of the Society as ascertained means of a #/ébiscite, or a special general meeting to be vened at an early date. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Oxrorp,—The number of entries for the Honour Schoo Natural Science this year is 41, which compares favourably June 1, 1893] NATURE 115 past years, the highest number of candidates who obtained a place in the class list in any previous year being 31 in 1891 and 1886. There are also 51 candidates for the preliminary ex- aminations in Science. Comparing these numbers with those of the candidates in other subjects, we find Literee Humaniores 36 candidates, History 108, Law 70, Theology 65, and Mathe- ‘matics 14. Of the 41 candidates who seek Honours in Natural Science 5 offer Physics, 21 Chemistry, 13 Animal Physiology, 1 Botany, and 1 Geology. It is remarkable that there is no candidate offering Animal Morphology. It is understood, although it is not yet officially announced, that Merton College will give.a biological Fellowship in October next, __ the examination for which will be held at the end of September or early in October. A meeting of the demonstrators and assistants at the Museum was held on Saturday last to discuss their position as regards the rest of the University, and it was decided to memorialise the Visitatorial Board on the subject. CAMBRIDGE.—Prof, Foster will deliver the Rede Lecture in the Senate House on June 14 at noon. The subject of the lecture is ‘‘ Weariness.’ _ Mr. F. Darwin, Deputy Professor of Botany, announces two courses of lectures, to begin during the ensuing Long Vacation, _ an elementary one by Mr. Willis, of Caius College, and a more advanced course by Mr. Wager, of the Yorkshire College, ___ The Special Board for Medicine have issued new schedules in Physics and Elementary Biology for the First M.B. Examination. Tn regard to the former a practical examination in Experimental Physics is for the first time explicitly included in the scheme. _ By means of the bequest of £300 to the University by the late Mr. Henry Tyson, of Kendal, agold medal in Mathematics and Astronomy has been founded. The award will be made on the results of the examination for Part II. of the Mathe- matical Tripos, The Engineering Laboratory Syndicate have approved Mr. W. C. Marshall’s plans for an engineering laboratory, and sub- mitted them to the Senate for adoption. They propose that _ the most urgent needs of the Department of Mechanism shall be met by proceeding with such portions of the work as it may be possible to execute with the funds at their disposal. About _ £3500, in addition to the amouut already subscribed, will be “required to complete the building, and a further expenditure of not less than £1000 on necessary apparatus should follow. The _ Syndicate trust that the development of the school may not be __ long delayed for want of these sums. _ The Tripos Examinations Syndicate have put forward a “scheme by which nearly all the Triposes will begin after the _ last Sunday in May, and the Honours lists will be published by the end of June. This will involve the postponement of the i ral admission to the B.A. degree until the first week of hy, which falls in the Long Vacation. The proposal is only entative, and it will inevitably give rise to animated discussion. Mr. E, W. MacBride, Scholar, of St. John’s College, has been nominated to occupy the University’s table at the Ply- mouth Marine Biological Laboratory in June. Honorary degrees are to he conferred on the Maharajah of Bhaonagar, Lord Herschell (as Chairman of the Governors of the Imperial Institute), and Lord Roberts of Kandahar and Waterford ; Prof. Zupitza, the eminent philologist, and Mr. ee ee O’Grady, the Celtic scholar, are to be similarly moured, 5 SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for April, 1893, contains :—Description of a new species of Moniligaster from India, by W. Blaxland Benham (PI. xxxii. and iii), The age is from the Nilgiris and is named JZ indicus.— ote on a new species of the genus Nais, by W. Blaxland am (PI, xxxiii.). The worm was found in a ditch in = neighbourhood of Oxford; it is of a dull brownish colour, a quarter of an inch in length, and is called WV. heterocheta, : the fact that of the normally two chzte in the dorsal bundles one is of a ‘‘ crochet” shape, the other is capilliform.— On a new organ in the Lycoridea, and on the nephridium in Nereis diversicolor, O. F. Muell., by E. S. Goodrich (Pl. xxxiv. a xxxv.). “The new organ consists of a pair of large, highly- _differentiate:!, ciliated patches of ccelomic epithelium, which ~—'NO. 1231, VOL. 48] are found in every segment, except the first and the last few. These ‘‘ dorsal ciliated organs’ seem to occur throughout the Lycoridea, having been found in all the genera of that family examined by the author. Some notes on the minute structure of the nephridia of the Nereids are added. —On the nephridia and body-cavity of some Decapod Crustacea, by Edgar J. Allen, (Pl. xxxvi. vii. viii.). 41. The green gland of Palzmonetes (and Palzmon) at the time of the hatching of the larva has not developed a lumen. When the larva leaves the egg the lumen commences to open and the gland consists of an end-sac and a U-shaped tube, of which the distal portion gives rise to the bladder. The bladder then enlarges greatly, growing at first inwards towards the middle ventral line, then upwards, within the cesophageal nerve-ring and anterior to the cesophagus, to the middle dorsal line, where it meets its fellow of the opposite side. The two bladders grow backwards over’ the stomach and beneath the dorsal sac, subsequently fusing together in the middle line to form the unpaired nephro-peritoneal sac. 2. The shell-glands are the functional excretory organs at the time of the hatching and during the latter part of the embryonal period. They open at the bases of the second maxillz, and each consists of an end-sac and a Y-shaped renal tube, which have the typical structure of a crustacean nephridium. 3. A dorsal sac, which is completely enclosed by an epithelial lining, persists in adults of Palemon, Paleemonetes, and Crangon. 4. At its anterior end the dorsal sac is surrounded by a mass of tissue which appears to have the power of producing blood corpuscles. 5. The dorsal sac is formed as a hollowing-out in masses of mesoderm cells, which lie on either side of the cephalic aorta. 6, The body-cavity of these Crustaceans varies in different regions: (a) In the anterior part of the thorax it consists of a true ccelom (the dorsal sac and nephridia) and a heemoccele ; (4) in the posterior part of the thorax and in the abdomen, the body cavity is entirely a hemoccele.—Note on the ccelom and vascular system of the Mollusca and Arthropoda, by Prof. E. Ray Lankester. A reprint of an abstract of an important paper read at the 1887 meeting of the British Association, and published in these pages (vol. xxxvii. p. 498). The author adds a request for specimens of Lernanthropus to enable him to complete his researches. Five species of this genus are recorded from the Mediterranean in Carus’ ‘‘ Prodomus Faunae Mediterranee.”—Contributions to a knowledge of British marine Turbellaria, by F. W. Gamble (PI. xxxix.-xli.), records 71 species, of which 28 are now added to the British fauna. Plate xxxix. contains coloured figures of ten species. — Peculiarities in the segmentation of certain Polychetes, by Florence Buchanan (PI. xlii.).—Review of Bolsius’ researches on the nephridia of Lee ches by A. G. Bourne. In the notice of the January number of the Q. 7.47.5. the too brief account of Mr. Arthur Willy’s paper on the Proto- chordata is we regret deemed calculated to produce a mistaken impression ; it should read ‘‘that the author in consequence of new observations on the Ascidians, found it necessary to repudiate the theory of van Beneden and Julin, as to the pre- chordal vesicle of Ascidians and Amphioxus, which he had previously, without having made peisonal observations on the Ascidians, provisionally adopted.” THE number of the Wuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano for April contains three papers :—Sig. S. Sommier gives the results of a botanical tour in the region of the Lower Obi, in Siberia, in- cluding lists of the flowering plants, Vascular Cryptogams, Muscinez, Lichens, Fungi, and Algz obtained. A new species of fungus is described, Helotium Sommierianum, parasitic on Lycopodium clavatum. Dr. N. C. Kindberg contributes a list of mosses gathered in Southern Switzerland and Italy. Dr. E. Baroni gives measurements of the pollen-grains of various species of Papaver, Chelidonium, and Eschscholtzia, SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON, Royal Society, May 4.—‘‘ On the Thickness and Electrical Resistance of Thin Liquid Films.” By A. W. Reinold, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Physics in the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and A. W. Riicker, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Physics in the Royal College of Science, London. The paper gives an account of experiments made for the pur- 116 NATURE “ [June 1, 1893 3 pose of determining the thickness of black soap films formed of solutions of varying composition. Two methods of experiment were employed: (1) an optical method, in which the mean thickness of about 50 plane black films contained in a tube was deduced from observations of interference phenomena ; and (2) an electrical method, in which the thickness of a cylindrical black film was derived from a measurement of its electrical resistance. The optical method involves the assumption that the refractive index of a thin film of liquid is the same as that of a large quantity of the same liquid. Reasons are given for the belief that the refractive indices in question, if not identical, differ only slightly, and hence that the thickness of a film as determined by the optical method is the true thickness. In the electrical method the assumption is made that the specific conductivity of a liquid does not alter when the liquid is drawn out into a thin film. : If the results obtained by the two methods agree, the con- clusion is that the specific resistance of a film is not affected by its tenuity ; if they differ widely from each other, a change in the specific conductivity of the liquid must have taken place. The authors showed, in 1883, that for a solution of hard soap containing 3 per cent. of KNOs, with or without the admixture of glycerine, the mean thicknesses of black films, as measured by each of the two methods, were in close agreement. For such solutions, then, the specific conductivity is the same whether the liquid be examined in considerable bulk or in the form of a film 12uy in thickness. The accuracy of this result has been confirmed by a large number of observations made during the last three years. lf the proportion of KNO, added to the solution be dimi- nished, the thickness of a black film, whether measured optically or electrically, is found to undergo a change. The results obtained by the optical method show that (1) For a given solution of hard soap the thickness of a black film increases as the percentage of KNO, is diminished, being 12‘4uu for a 3 per cent. solution, and 221 for a solution containing no salt. This is confirmed by experiments on soft soap. ) When no metallic salt is dissolved in the solution the thickness of a black film increases as the strength of the soap solution diminishes. The thicknesses are 21°6, 22°1, 27°7, and 29°3uu when the proportions of soap to water are respectively 1/30, 1/40, 1/60, 1/80. (3) If the solution contain 3 per cent. of KNOsg, variation in the proportion of soap dissolved produces very little change in the thickness of a black film. Electrical Method.—\t has been stated that for a soap solu- tion containing 3 per cent. of KNO, the thickness of a black film as measured electrically is practically the same as that measured optically. If, however, the proportion of KNOg, be diminished, the thickness (measured electrically) increased in a far larger ratio than would be inferred from the optical method. If the proportioa of salt be diminished to zero, the thicknesses thu§ calculated are much greater than the greatest thickness at which a film can appear black. In such cases, therefore, the electrical method does not give the true thickness of the black, and the hypothesis that the specific conductivity of the film and of the liquid in mass are identical is untenable. The following table shows the change in apparent thickness due to diminution in the quantity of dissolved salt :— Hard Soap. Percentage of KNO3. 3 2 I o's 9 Mean apparent thickness of TBF. | ove 124A oes 26'S 154 black film (measured elec- >10°6 «. trigally) sia 43. air: eee aot The large value obtained for the apparent thickness in the case of the unsalted hard soap solution is confirmed by experi- ments on a solution of unsalted soft soap, which gave a mean apparent thickness of 162uu. In different films the measured thicknesses of the black differ widely from each other, the limits being roughly 824« and 230uu. This large variation is due in some cases, at all events, to a real variation in the thickness. Two different shades of black are (incases where the solution contains little or no salt) frequently seen ina film. They are separated from each other by a line of discontinuity which is irregular in shape. Comparative measurements on the two shades of black have been made, and the results indicate that the electrical thick- NO 1231, VOL. 48] * ogy nesses of the two kinds of black are approximately as 2:1, The results of numerous experiments carried out with | object of determining the cause of the great increase in electri: conductivity in black films made from unsalted soap , have shown that the increase of specific conductivity in | tion— aq (1) Is independent of moderate changes of temperature. fy Sd not due to the absorption or evaporation of water the film. oS as ie (3) Is not due to change in the composition of the liquid electrolytic decomposition produced by the current used measure the electrical resistance of the film. 53 1a (4) Is not affected by a very large change in the quantity CO, in the air around the film. tial (5) Is practically unaltered if the films are formed in mosphere of oxygen. 3 = The next question to be answered was whether the changes in specific conductivity affect black films only, whether similar phenomena can be detected in the case « thicker films. eer The conclusions arrived at were (1) that the specific ductivity of a film increases as the thickness decr (2) that this increase is less in the case of a film to which a has been added and is wé/ when the proportion of salt is a much as 3 per cent. The paper concludes with a discussion as to the cause of the increase of electrical conductivity in thin films, The autho point out that it may be attributed either to a modification. the chemical constitution of the film brought about by tenuity, or to the formation of a pellicle on the surface or te both causes combined. Y : Physical Society, May 12,.—Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R. President, in the chair.—A paper on the drawing of curves I their curvature, by C. V. Boys, F.R.S., was read, and demonstrz tions of the method employed given. Whilst giving a course lectures on capillarity, in 1891, the author wished to explai principles upon which the form of a water drop depe' and finding Lord Kelvin’s rule (Proc. R. Jmnst., Jan. 1886) cumbersome, devised the modification now dese The construction depends on the fact that the total c ture is proportional to the hydrostatic pressure, 2.¢., portional to the depth below the plane surface of the To avoid the trouble of finding reciprocals, a rule was divi so that the distance from what would be the zero of t scale are the reciprocals of the numbers attached to them, a the curvature of an arc, being the reciprocal of its radiu can be read off immediately by the rule. To meet cases whe the curvatures of surfaces are, in opposite directions, the ze or ©, is put at the middle of the rule and divided both The chief gain depends on the abolition of cumulative due to compass settings, which is effected as follows: The is made of a thin slip of transparent celluloid with a sm hole at the centre or 0, A small brass tripod with needle is placed so that two feet just penetrate the paper and | third rests on the longitudinal straight line of the strip, passes through the centre hole, thus forming a temporary b rigid centre about which the rule can rotate. A pen or pen through the hole at 0 traces out an arc whose curvature is eq to the reading of the scale where the needle point p When the rule crosses the axis of rotation of a genera curve, the numbers representing both curvatures are vi and the position of the needle-point corresponding to a gi total curvature can readily be found. A small arc is t drawn. Holding the strip firmly on the paper, the tripor moved a little so that the sum of the two readings at the ne point and where the rule crosses the axis has the valu sponding to the position of the tracing point, and é drawn. Repeating the process, a very perfect and accurate results, Details for drawing nodoids, unduloids, catenoids, | other curves are given in the paper, and many beautiful exan which had been executed by Miss Stevenson, were exhibited at meeting. The author also pointed out that the locus of po about which the strip successively turns is the evolute ¢ curve drawn by the tracing point. Prof. Perry considered f method a new departure of great value. When he (Prof. Per drew the capillary surfaces of revolution in 1875, he found cumulative errors produced considerable discrepancies. — Greenhill said one would now be able to secure better di of transcendental and other curves than heretofore, a not! JuNE 1, 1893] NATURE 117 thought Mr. Boys’ method would supplant the laborious pro- cesses now used to determine the paths of projectiles. Where the resistance varied as the square of the velocity the elevation for maximum range depended on the initial velocity, and for a cube law both elevation and range tend to finite limits as the initial velocity increases. Prof. Minchin inquired whether the catenary could be best drawn by using a scale of equal parts instead of one divided reciprocally. The President greatly ypreciated the saving of labour effected by Mr. Boys’ method, Gea thought the apparatus should be shown at the forthcom- ing exhibition of mathematical instruments in Germany.— Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., read a paper on the foundation of dynamics, in which he examines the objections raised by Dr. MacGregor (Phi/. Mag., Feb. 1893) against the views of Newton’s Laws of Motion and the Conservation of Energy, ex- 1 by the author in 1885. ‘The first part of the paper treats of the nature of axioms. An axiom or fundamental law is regarded as a simple statement suggested by familiar or easily ascertained facts, probable in itself, readily grasped, and not dis- _ proved or apparently liable to disproof, throughout a long course of experience. On such bases the conservation of energy and of matter rests. Neither can be proved generally, but like other fundamental laws they fit into a coherent and self-consistent scheme, and are therefore worthy of acceptance until they are shown to be wrong. The second part relates to the first and _ third laws of motion. Dr. MacGregor objects to the first law on the ground that uniform motion is unintelligible unless its direction and velocity are specified with reference to a set of axes, and directly axes are introduced, difficulties occur as to their motion, because there is no satisfactory criterion of rest. Such notions the author deems artificial and unnecessary, ex- cept where it is required to define the absolute magnitude and direction of the motion. Reasoning from his own experiments, he believed the ether was at rest, for he had not found it pos- sible to move it by matter. ‘The first law, he said, had been considered unnecessary, as being only a particular case of the second. While admitting the latter fact, he maintained that its ‘Separate statement was desirable, on account of its simplicity, _and its affording a practical definition of the mode of measuring ‘time. As regards the third law being deducible from the first, he pointed out that if it could be axiomatically asserted that _the centre of mass of a rigid system moves uniformly unless an external force acts on the system, then the third law follows. _ Newton apparently considered it best to state the third law as an axiom, but to many persons it is not obviously axiomatic a engineers do not accept it), hence its deduction from the two laws is useful. Part III. of the paper deals with the deduction of the law of conservation of energy from Newton’s _ third law, and universal contact-action. Dr. MacGregor objects _ to the author’s definition of energy as the name given to ‘‘ work _ done,” and contends that this definition assumes conservation. On this point Dr. Lodge invited criticism, meanwhile pointing out that his definition was analogous to the customary definition of the potential function, and a name for the line integral of a force considered as a quantity that can be stored. On the basis taken, two bodies can only act on one another whilst in contact, hence, if they. move, they must move over equal dis- ances ; but their action consists of a pair of equal and opposite forces, therefore their activities are equal, and whatever energy one loses the other gains, z.e., energy is transferred from one body to another without change in quantity. In Part IV. the diss! pation of energy, the nature of potential energy, and the second law of thermodynamics, are considered. In discuss- transference and transformation, ‘* potential energy” is used one the energy of a body under stress, and ‘‘ kinetic ,”’ that due to sustained motion. Each corresponds to the factors of the product Fz, ‘‘ activity.” So long as one factor is absent no activity can manifest itself, but directly ‘missing factor is supplied, transference and transformation in, This was shown to hold in an example of an air-gun ith its muzzle plugged, chosen by Prof. MacGregor as an stance of transference of potential energy without transforma- . The law of dissipation of energy is stated thus :—‘‘If a has any portion of energy in such a condition that it is : automatically to leave the body, that portion usually does sooner or later.” Instead of the ordinary form of the second y of thermodynamics the following statement is proposed :— he portion of energy which a body can automatically part is alone available for doing work.” In discussing this ect the author points out that the common notion that heat NO. 1231, VOL. 48] engines are much less efficient than water or electric engines is a mistake, arising from the fact that in the one case the effici- ency is calculated on the total energy, whilst in the latter cases only the available energy is considered. Two appendices accompany the paper, one the objectivity of energy and the question of gravitation, and the other on more detailed dis- cussion of the transmission of energy in difficult cases. Chemical Society, May 4.—Dr. Armstrong, President, in the chair.—The following. papers were read :—The hydrates of sodium, potassium and lithium hydroxides, by S. U. Picker- ing. By cooling solutions of sodium hydroxide, the author has succeeded in isolating a number of crystalline hydrates ; their formule and freezing-points are given in the following table :— ° NaOH, H,O freezes at 64°3 NaOH, 2H,O eae 12°5 NaOH, 3°11H,O ,, ,, 2°73 NaOH, 3'5H.O 5, 5, 15°55 aNaOH, 4H,O0 ” ” 7°57 NaOH, 4H,0 ”? Py pines Ye NaOH, 5H,O PR ay Pind £4 3 NaOH, 7H,0 ” 9» — 23°51 The hydrate containing 34 molecules of water is the only one of the eight which has been previously described. In the case of potassium hydroxide two new hydrates have been isolated ; these have the formule KOH,H,O and KOH,4H,O, and freeze at 143° and — 32°7° respectively. The previously known dihydrate freezes at 35'5°. Lithium hydroxide monohydrate, which was already known, was the only hydrate of this hy- droxide isolated.—Detection of arsenic in alkaline solution, by J. Clark. Arsenic acid is not reduced to hydrogen arsenide by zinc dust and caustic potash, or even by sodium amalgam in alkaline solution. No trace of arsenic volatilises on heating sodium arsenate with a large excess of aluminium and caustic soda. The statement of H. Fresenius, that Gatehouse’s modification of Fleitmann’s test indicates arsenic acid, is hence erroneous ; Fresenius’s results are probably due to the use of impure aluminium or of arsenic acid containing arsenious acid. The author concludes that none of the methods hitherto pro- posed for the generation of hydrogen arsenide from alkaline solutions, are available for the detection of arsenic acid.—Im- provements in Reinsch’s process, by J. Clark, Although Reinsch’s process is sensitive to minute quantities of arsenic, and removes all traces of that element from organic mixtures, there are two objections to its use in medico-legal cases. With small quantities of arsenic, the stain obtained is sometimes not easily identified, as the coated copper when heated is apt to give a sublimate of cupric chloride and organic matter instead of arsenious oxide ; the method is also not suitable for quantitative estimations, as the whole of the arsenic cannot be volatilised from the copper by means of heat. The author’s improvement on Reinsch’s process consists in digesting the coated copper with cold caustic potash and hydrogen peroxide, and dis- tilling with ferrous chloride and hydrechloric acid. The arsenic is precipitated in the distillate and weighed as sulphide, whilst any antimony present may be detected in the residual liquor.—The action of light in preventing putrefactive decom- position and in inducing the formation of hydrogen peroxide in organic liquids, by A. Richardson. Several observers have noted that the development of putrefactive organisms is checked by the combined action of sunlight and oxygen ; this sterilising influence of light in presence of oxygen has apparently always been regarded as the outcome of an action exerted by the organism. The author has made a number of experiments with urine, in order to ascertain whether, when sterilisation has been effected by light, any oxidising agent, such as hydrogen peroxide, is formed, and whether such substance may not be the sterilis- ing agent. No hydrogen peroxide is produced by the action of oxygen on sterilised urine in the dark, but an appreciable amount of the peroxide is formed on exposing such urine to light ; the production of the peroxide is hence independent of the presence of organisms. Substances, such as manganese dioxide, which destroy hydrogen peroxide, greatly facilitate organic growth ; the addition of hydrogen peroxide to fresh urine renders the liquid much less liable to change under the influence of or- ganisms, whilst if added to urine in which fermentation has already set in, the peroxide is rapidly decomposed.—The sup- posed saponification of linseed oil by Dutch white lead, by J. B. Hannay and A. E. Leighton. The author shows that the state- 118 NATURE [June 1, 1893 ment made by several technical writers to the effect that white lead acts on the oil with which it is ground, is erroneous.— Notes on capillary separation of substances in solution, by L. Keed, The author has made experiments on the separation of salts in solution by selective absorption in bibulous paper, using a method differing somewhat from those employed by previous workers. If a drop of a fairly dilute aqueous salt solution is allowed to spread on bibulous paper, a pure water margin is obtained surrounding a sharply defined interior space containing stronger salt solution. The width of the exterior zone is ap- parently dependent on the nature and concentration of the solution employed; some solutions, such as those of chrome and ammonia alums, give no pure water zone.—Note on a meta- azo-compound, by R. Meldola and F. B, Burls. A comparison of meta-azo-compounds of the formula OH A GS Ne € > Ne SX es ho ae N where X is an zzsubstituted hydrocarbon radicle, with the cor- responding ortho- and para- series, would be of interest as throw- ing light on the question of the constitution of organic colouring matters, the ‘‘ quinonoid” bonds not being present in the meta- compounds according to the present method of formulation. The authors have hence prepared metaphenolazo-a-naphthyl- amine with the intention of converting it into naphthaleneazo- metaphenol ; they have not yet isolated the latter substance and are therefore extending the investigation to other compounds of the same series.—The influence of moisture in promoting chemical action. Preliminary note, by H. B. Baker. The author has continued his investigations on the influence of moist- ure on chemical action, Ammonia was dried as completely as possible by freshly ignited lime; on then subjecting it to the action of phosphoric anhydride very little of the gas was ab- sorbed, Hydrogen chloride was dried first by sulphuric acid and finally by a week’s contact with phosphoric anhydride. On mixing ammonia and hydrogen chloride, dried in this way, no ammonium chloride fumes were produced and no contraction was indicated by the mercury gauge attached to the apparatus : it may therefore be concluded that ammonia and hydrogen chloride do not combine when dry. Union at once occurs, however, on introducing a small quantity of moist air. In like manner sulphur trioxide was found not to unite either with lime, barium monoxide, or copper oxide. Furthermore, no brown fumes were produced on mixing dry nitric oxide with dry oxygen.—The genesis of new derivatives of camphor con- taining halogens by the action of heat on sulphonic chlorides, by F. S. Kipping and W. J. Pope. When the sulphonic chlorides derived from camphor recently described by the authors, are heated at temperatures not very far above their melting points, decomposition occurs and sulphur dioxide is evolved whilst haloid derivatives of camphor remain, In the case of camphorsulphonic chloride, a chlorocamphor melting at 137-138, is thus obtained. From chlorocamphorsulphonic chloride, a well-crystalline dichlorocamphor melting at 118-119° is formed, whilst bromocamphorsulphonic chloride yields a compound which crystallises in long prisms and melts at 142- 143. These three derivatives of camphor appear to be dif- ferent from any known compounds and their further study will, it is hoped, throw light on the complex question of isomerism in the camphor series. May 5, Extra Meeting.—Dr. Armstrong, President, in the chair.—This being the anniversary of the death of Prof. A. W. von Hofmann, the President, after opening the proceedings with a short speech, called upon Lord Playfair, Sir F, Abel and Dr. Perkin to deliver addresses commemorative of Hofmann and his work. Anthropological Institute, May 9.—Prof. A. Macalister, President, in the chair.—Mr. C. Dudley Cooper exhibited and described the skull of an aboriginal Australian.—A paper by Mr. Charles Hose on Borneo was read. The Baram District, with which the author was most intimately acquainted, is situated in the Northern portion of Sarawak, and the races in- habiting it may divided into four sections :—(1) The low country people and the inhabitants of the coast ; (2) the Kayans and Kenniahs, inhabiting the head waters of the Baram River and its tributaries; (3) the Kalabits, living inland; and (4) the Punans, no nomadic tribes, found at the head waters of all the great rivers in Central Borneo. Each of these four divisions NO. 1231, VOL. 48] comprises a number of sub-divisions speaking different diale which can, however, be traced to the same origin. Al various races, except the Punans, employ dogs in hu The houses usually stand about twenty feet above the gro supported by huge posts of hard wood; they are some hundred yards in length, and often hold more than a h families. In times gone by the first post put into the gi was passed through the living body of a slave—usually a girl—but wild animals are now used instead of human for this purpose. Mr. Hose exhibited and described a kL: collection of native implements, weapons, and other obj and the paper was further illustrated by a number of ph graphic views shown by the limelight. —Prof. Macalister exh a skull from North Borneo.—Mr. F. W. Rudler exhibi wooden fire syringe from the Malay Peninsula, with a tinder box.—Mr. R. G. Leefe contributed a paper on nivates of Tonga. Geological Society, May 10.—W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The following communications we read :—The felsites and conglomerates between Bethesda Llanllyini, N. Wales, by Prof. J. F. Blake. The author brov forward fresh evidence in support of the views he had previo expressed astothe Cambrian age of these felsites, and as to th unconformity of the conglomerates on the purpleslates. A ney tunnel-section at Penrhyn Quarry was described, in which felsi was followed by St. Ann’s Grit with a conglomerate-band, ani there lying in the midst of the Cambrian series. After a wor or two on the conglomerate on Moel Rhiw-wen, the sections either side of Llyn Padarn were discussed in detail, and it wa: shown that the distribution of the rocks on the surface of thi country could only be explained by the unconformable posi! of the conglomerates and grits, which, moreover, lie ne horizontal. Aftera discussion of the conglomerates of Bet Garmon, a detailed section of the adit at Moel Tryfaen given, in which it was shown that there was only a 3 ft. 6 in band of conglomerate next the purple slates, followed by 1 feet of banded slates and laminated grits with four d intercalated bands of felsite; and it was argued that the glomerate on the summit, 55 yards across, could scarcely b represented by this thin band, Finally, the distribution of roc on Mynydd-y-Celywyn was shown to be satisfactorily explain by unconformity. Incidentally it was mentioned that a band rock in the felsite at Llyn Padarn, which had been consider to be a deposited slate, was in reality an intrusive igneous The conglomerates described were considered to be an overla of the Bronllwyd Grit. The reading of this paper was follow by a discussion, in which the President, Prof. Hughes, Mi Rutley, Mr. Marr, and the author took part.—The Llandoy and associated rocks of the neighbourhood of Corwen, by P Lake and Theo. T, Groom. The area described forms a ] of the northern slope of the Berwyn Hills, and siretches the southern bank of the Dee from Corwen to Pen-y-glog. beds of the Berwyns are here thrown into a series of fol which run nearly E.-W. ; and the northerly limbs of these fol are long and low, while the southerly limbs are short and stee] The folds are cut through by a number of faults which run neat E.-W., generally along the crests of the anticlinals, and th invariably throw down towards the north. The southern bai of the Dee Valley is here formed by these faults. A sec series of faults running about 20° W. of N. to 20° E. of S. is” later date. One of these, near Corwen, presents some features, since its downthrow in some ene is on the ea in others on the west. The lowest beds present are slates, with numerous Bala fossils. These are succeede mediately by the Corwen Grit of Prof. Hughes. No have been found in this at Corwen ; but in a grit occapyin similar position at Glyn Ceiriog numerous fossils have be covered. The Corwen Grit is succeeded by grey slates wit bands ; and in Nant Cawrddu, near Corwen, and Nant Llech near Pen-y-glog, these slates are followed by banded bi shales containing numerous graptolites of the JZonograp gregarius-zone. Above these are pale bluish slates; + nothing further is exposed till we reach the Tarannons. Corwen Grit clearly forms the base of the Llandovery in area, as suggested by Prof. Hughes. Some remarks were mi on this paper by the President, Prof. Hughes, Mr. Groom, Prof. Lapworth. Mr. Lake briefly replied. ; Zoological Society, May 16.—Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., \ President, in the Chair.—Extracts were read from a 4 June 1, 1893] NATURE 1 ae) addressed to Prof. Newton, F.R.S., by Prof. E. C. Stirling, of delaide, respecting the recent discovery of a large series of mains of Diprotodon, Phascolomys, and other Mammals at ake Mulligan, in South Australia, about 600 miles north of delaide. It was anticipated that when these remains were received and examined very important additions to our knowledge of the extinct Mammal-fauna of Australia would follow.—Mr. Beddard, F.R.S., read a paper upon the structures termed _*‘atrium” and “prostate” in the Oligochzetous worms, in which reasons were given for believing that all these structures were reducible to one common plan.—Mr. G. B. Sowerby read the descriptions of fifteen new species of shells of the family _ Pleurotomidze from different localites. —A communication was read from Mr. A. H. Everett, containing a revised list of the Mammals inhabiting the Bornean group of Islands, that is, Borneo, and Palawan, which, as Mr. Everett had shown in a previous paper, belongs zoologically to Borneo.—Mr. O. Thomas read a paper containing an account of a second collection of Mammals sent by Mr. H. H. Johnston, from Nyasaland. The present series (collected, like the former, by Mr. Alexander Whyte), consisted of about 75 specimens, referable to 30 species, _ of which a large proportion were additional to the fauna of Nyasaland.—Dr. P. Sonsino, of Pisa, read some notes on specimens of parasitic worms of the genus Déstomumt, of which he had lately examined specimens. _ Royal Meteorological Society, May 17.—Dr. C. Theo- * dore Williams, President, in the chair.—The following papers _ were read :—Mean daily maximum and minimum temperature at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on the average of the fifty years from 1841 to 1890, by Mr. W. Ellis. The author gives tables of the mean maximum and mean mimimum tem- perature of the air on each day of the year, and also tables showing the daily range of temperature and the mean of the daily maximum and minimum values.—Suggestions, from a prac- ‘tical point of view, for a new classification of cloud forms, by Mr. F, Gaster. The forms assumed by clouds at different levels and under various conditions have recently received considerable attention from meteorologists. The author, however, does not approve of the nomenclatures and classifications which have been proposed, as, in his opinion, they appear to be little, if any, better than the older ones they were intended to replace. Ele now proposes a somewhat different classification, arranging the clouds according to altitude under the following headings :— (1) Surface clouds, or those. which appear commonly between ‘the earth’s surface and a level of about 2000 feet ; (2) Lower medium clouds, including all varieties which usually float at an elevation ranging from 2000 to about 10,000 feet ; (3) Higher medium cl suds, or those commonly found at altitudes varying _ from-10,000 to about 22,000 feet ; (4) Highest (or cirriform) level clouds, or those at elevations exceeding 22,000 feet. The _ author gives the names of each variety of cloud included in the classification, together with an account of the principal charac- teristics of each as far as appearance goes. —Notes on winter, by Mr. A. B. MacDowall. In this paper the author discusses the question of periodicity in winter at Greenwich and Paris, and the relation of summers to winters. Paris, Academy of Sciences, May 23.—M. Leewy in the chair,— ‘The Permanent Secretary announced the death, at Berlin, of Herr Kummer, Foreign Associate, and M. Hermite gave a review of the work of the celebrated geometrician. Herr G. Wiedemann was elected correspondent for the section of physics, In the place of Herr W. Weber, deceased.—On the kinetic : 7 of gases, by M. H. Poincaré. A correction of Maxwell’s proof of the law of adiabatic expansion.—Note by M. Berthelot, accompanying the presentation of his work, ‘ Onthe Chemistry of the Middle Ages.”’—On some rare or r.ew natural phosphates ; brushite, minervite, by M. Armand Gautier. A new lime and alumina i sed was found among the concretionary phos- phates of the Grotte de Minerve. Microcrystalline like most of these substances, soluble in dilute mineral acids, in weak pot- ash lie, and in alkaline ammonium citrate, except a slight _ Clayey residue, it has a different composition from the other ; . aluminium phosphates, and has been called Minervite _ to recall its place of discovery.—Determination of the water ’ deat in soil carrying various crops after a period of great , ght, by M. Reiset.—Observation of the total solar eclipse of April 16, 1893, made at Joal (Senegal), at the observa- NO. 1231, vou. 48] tory of the expedition of the Bureau des Longitudes, by M. G. Bigourdan,—On the investigation of the solar corona apart from total eclipses, by M. H. Deslandres.—On a highly sensitive mano- metric apparatus, by M, Villard.—The heat spectrum of fluorspar, by M. E. Carvallo.—Dynamical phenomena due to the residual electrification of dielectrics, by M. Charles Borel.—-On chloro- borate of iron and on a method of preparing chloroborates isomorphous with boracites, by MM. G. Rousseau and H. Allaire. The method consists in letting a volatilised metallic chloride act at a red heat upon natural calcium borate or upon borosodiocalcite. In the case of iron, the product obtained corresponds sensibly to that of a boracite in which the mag- nesium has been replaced by iron, according to the formula 6FeO.8B,03.FeCl,. The chloroborate of iron crystallises in transparent cubes of a greyish colour, which act upon polarised light. This optical property shows that these crystals, like those of natural boracite, present a pseudo-cubic symmetry. They dissolve slowly in nitric acid and are rapidly dis- integrated by fused alkaline carbonates.—On the heat developed in the combination of bromine with some unsaturated substances of the fatty series, by MM. W. Louguinine and Irv. Kablukov. Calorimetric determinations carried out in the cases of trimethylethylene, hexylene, diallyl, allyl alcohol, and allyl bromide led to the following conclusions : The heat developed by their combination with bromine increases as one proceeds upwards in the homologous series. The pre- sence of an atom of Br replacing H in the unsaturated hydro- carbons mentioned, considerably reduces the rapidity of the addition reaction of the bromine. In presence of the OH group the addition reaction ceases to be sharply defined and is accompanied by a substitution reaction. —On licarhodol derived from licareol, by M. Ch. Barbier.—Action of sodium sulphite upon the amidophenol salts ; new method of obtaining amido- phenols from their salts, by MM. Aug. Lumiere and A. Seyewetz.—Ptomain extracted from urines in eczema, by M. A. B. Griffiths. —On 6-achroglobine, a respiratory globuline con- tained in the blood of certain Mollusca, by M. A. B. Griffiths. In addition to the a-achroglobine extracted from the blood of Patella, the 8 variety from the Chitons, and the y variety from the Tunicata, a fourth variety, 3-achroglobine, has been dis- covered in the blood of certain species of Doris. 100 grammes of this substance absorb 125 cc. of oxygen at 0° and 760 mm. Its empirical formula is Cg59H-+>99Nj45SO0:53.— On the Plankton of the northern lagoon of Jan Mayen, by M. G. Pouchet. The island of Jan Mayen possesses two lagoons formed by fresh water due to the melting of the glaciers, and separated from the sea by narrow dykes of sand and shingle. The southern lagoon is of recent date. At the time of discovery it was an open bay. The northern lagoon was explored by the steamer Za Manche in July 1892. By means of a fine net the central portion was tested for any surface life (Plankton) that might have escaped the Austrian expedition, which had failed to discover any. As the result of prolonged work a few species were found, includ- ing a Conferva, Infusoria allied to Paramecium and Actinophrys, a Tardigrade, a Copepod, and numerous Rotifers. —Dimorphism in the development of hemosporidia, by M. Alphonse Labbé. —On the scented mists observed on the coasts of the Channel, by M. S, Jourdain. These mists occur in spring under a north- east wind, and usually in the morning. The appearance is that of a bluish-grey vapour, and the smell that of lime-kilns. The air is very dry while they last. The author thinks that they are cosmic, not local phenomena. BERLIN, Physiological Society, May 5.—Prof. du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair.—Dr, Schmidt spoke on the colour- reactions of the excreta, whereby the mucin exhibits certain very characteristic and distinctive differences, as compared with proteids.—Prof. Fritsch exhibited a number of lantern-slides of the electric organs of Torpedo, Malapterurus, and Gymnotus, by which he had determined the structure of the giant ganglia, the axis cylinders which arise from these and are distributed to the electric organ and the protoplasmic prolongations, which either form a means of connection between neighbouring ganglia, or else resolve themselves into an anastomosing network.—Dr. Benda also exhibited projections of micro-photographs, in linear magnification of 2000 to 3000 diameters, of the testis of Salaman- ders in illustration of the formation and fate of the karyokinetic nuclear rods, 120 NATURE [June 1, 1893 Meteorological Society, May 9.—Dr. Vettin, President, in the chair,—Prof. Hellmann presented the two first numbers of reprints of important papers on meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, which he is publishing with the support of the German Meteorological Society and the branch society in Berlin, No. 1 isa fac-simile of the earliest German work on meteorology : Weather-book by Rynmann, dated 1510. No. 2 is also a fac- simile of Bl. Pascal’s celebrated research by which the existence of atmospheric pressure was first determined. —Prof. Bornstein spoke on the most recent theories as to thunderstorms, of which none supply a definite solution of the problems involved, and explained a simple form of apparatus by Elster and Geitel, in Wolfenbiittel, by means of which anybody can make obser- vations on atmospheric electricity, and invited the co-operation of the members.—Dr. Kremser gave some notes on the dryness of last April. Whereas the average fallin Prussia for April is 30 to 50 mm., the fall for last month was only Io mm. in the extreme east, falling to 1 mm. in the central region, and too mm, in the west and south-west. In Berlin a measurable amount of rain fell on only one day, the 17th, amounting to0’5 mm., so that this month was the driest recorded since observations were first made in Berlin. Up to the present time the driest month had been October, 1865, with a fall of 1 mm. The period of drought began as early as March 21 or 22, and in many parts of Prussia had lasted for forty days, being accompanied by absence of clouds and marked temperature amplitudes of 10° to 18°.— Dr. Less gave an account of the barometric conditions over Europe during the drought. They may be divided into three periods. In the first, at the end of March and beginning of April, the highest pressure lay over France and Germany, the lowest over Russia as far as the Ural Mountains. In the second period, the middle of April, the area of high pressure had moved over towards England, while the lowest pressure had extended to the centre of Germany. In the third period a flat area of lowest pressure situated over the Atlantic had driven the area of highest pressure once more towards central Europe.— Prof. Bornstein exhibited samples of the material used in the con- struction of the recently-destroyed balloon ‘‘ Humboldt.” This balloon had become ignited, accompanied by a violent explosion, while being emptied, without any definitely ascertainable cause, The speaker demonstrated how readily the outer surface of the material could be electrified by friction, and suggested that electricity had thus been generated, and had, as a spark-discharge, ignited the gas as it escaped. This source of danger could probably be removed by placing a few long metallic wires round the valve. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. LONDON. THURSDAY, June t. Rovat Society, at 4.30.—On the Colour of Sky-light, Sun-light, Cloud- light, and Candle-light : Captain Abney, F.R.S,—Flame Spectra at High Temperatures ; Part I., Oxyhydrogen Blowpipe Spectra: Prof Hartley, F.R.S.—Note on the Flow in Electric Circuits of Measurable Inductance and Capacity ; and in the Dissipation of Energy in such Circuits: A. W. Porter.—On the Metallurgy of Lead: J. B. Hannay.—On the Motion under Gravity of Fld Bubbles through Vertical Columns of Liquid of a Differ-nt Density: F. T. Trouton. Linnean Socrery, at 8.—On Polynesian Piants collected by J. J. Lister : W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S.—On the Anatomy of a New Plant— Melasto- macez or Gentianacee, Genus Novum: Miss A. Lorrain Smith.—Ob- — on the Temperature of Trees made in Boulder, Colorado: Dr. aur CuemicatSociety, at8.—Azo-Compounds of the Ortho Series : Prof Mel- dola, F.R.S, E. M. Hawkins, and F. B. Burls —The Fluoresceine of Camphoric Anhydride: Dr. Collie. —The Action of Phosphoric Chloride on Camphene: J. E. Marsh and J. A Gardner.—The Composition of Jute produced in England : A. Pears, jun. Rova I vstiruTion, at 3.—The Geographical Distribution of Birds: Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe. FRIDAY, June 2. ; Grotocists’ AssoctaTIon, at 8.—Consideration of the Principal Pheno- mena connected with Volcanoes: Dr_J. W. L. Thudichum. Rovat InsTiTuTION, atg Study of Fluid Motion by Means of Coloured Bands : Prof, sborne Reynolds, F.R.S. SATURDAY, June 3. Rovat INsTITUTION, at 3.—Falstaff —a Lyric Comedy by Boito and Verdi (w th Musical Illustrations): Dr. A. C. Mackenzie. Insti cure or Acruaries. at 3 —Annual Meeting. - Report of the Council for the Past Year and Election of Officers and Members of Council. MONDAY Jvnes5 Society or CHEmicat InpusTRY, at 8.—The Movement of Air as applied to (‘hemical Industries: H. G. Watel.—New Cellulose Derivatives and their Industrial Applications’ C. F, Cross and K. J. Bevan. Rov L InsTiTUTION, a: 5.- General Monthly Meeting. NO, 1231, VOL. 48] TUESDAY, June 6. Zoo.ocicat SociFTy, at 8.30.—Notes on the Anatomy and Cl of the Parrots: F. E. Beddard, and F. G. Parsons.—On Two H. African Rhinoceros: Mr. Sclater.—On some Bird-Bones from Depoxits in the Department of Istre, France: R. Lydekker. — Osteology of the Mesozsic Ganoid Fish, Lepidotus: A. Smith ward. Roya. INstiTuTIoN, at 3.—The Waterloo Campaign: E. L. S. Horsbu: WEDNESDAY, June 7. Geotocicat Society, at 8.—The Bajocian of the Sherborne Relations to Subjacent and Superjacent Strata: S. B Raised Beaches and Rolled Stones at High Levels in Jersey Dunlop. - THURSDAY, Jone 8. Rovat Society, at 4.30. MATHEMATICAL SoctETY, at 8.— Complex Integers derived from 63. Prof. G. B. Mathews.—Pseudo-Elliptic Integrals: Prof. G ERS. ne: sad Rovat INSTITUTION, at 3.—The Geographical Distribution of Birds: R. Bowdler Sharpe. FRIDAY, Jur 9. : Puysicat Society, at 5.—A New Photometer: A. P, Trotter.—N. Photometry : Prof. S. P. Thompson, F.R.S.—The Magnetic Fiele Wire : Prof. G. M. Minchin. ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, at 8. # + 3 Rovat INSTITUTION, at 9.—The Recent Solar Eclipse: Prof. BH Thorpe, F.R.S. ; SATURDAY, June 10. & Royat Boranic Society, at tS: 5 > al Roya. INSTITUTION, at 3-—Falstaff, a Lyric Comedy by Boito and Ve : Dr. i i (with Musical Illustrations): Dr. A. C. Mack i Booxs.—Year-Book of the Scientific and Learned Societies a L’Electricité Industrielle—Potential, Flux de Force deurs le Minel M. s (Dulau). ) ; Liqueurs: B. Pascal (Berlin, Asher).—The New Priesthood : Ouida New York, Macmillan).—Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographie, B enzie. Britain and Ireland (Ceili) Grape Arithmetic and Statics : v pi Prince triques; Ditto, Circuit Magnétique :sInduction Machines: RP. PAMPHLETS.—Wetterbiichlein von Wahrer Erkenntniss des Wetters : L Allen). Heft 2 (K. Paul),—Bulletins de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, t ‘ i “Tassos. a BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIV (Murby).—Erdbebenkunde : Dr. P. Hoernes (Leipzig, bi So n Gauthier-Villars).—The Theory of Telescopic Vision: E. Reynman (Berlin, Asher).—Récit de la Grande Expérience de l’Equili : SEKIALS.—Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, vol. 2, fo. troisiéme, iv. série, 4¢ Fasc.; Ditto, Nos. 2,3, 4 (Paris, CONTENTS. Modern Meteorology. By William E, Plummer . The Transmission of Telephone Currents. By ~ Francis'G: Baily 2.020. cas) is Modern Pure Geometry .....+..-. Our Book Shelf :— 1) Sharpe: ‘‘ An Analytical Index to the Works of the late John Gould, F.R.S. Pars. as Russell : ‘* An Elementary Treatise on Pure Geo- metry, with Numerous Examples”. . . 2. «+ 10 Gilberne : ‘‘Sun, Moon, and Stars: Astronomy for Beginners” . . . ; Letters to the Editor :— 4 Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands.—Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S... . The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics.—Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S.; Edward T. Dixon . . On the Velocity of Propagation of Gravitation Effects. —S. Tolver Preston. 2. 2 se ee eo Singular Swarms of Flies.—R. E, Froude . Popular Botany.—Alfred W. Bennett... _. Gaseous Diffusion. —Prof. Herbert McLeod, F.R.§ Notes upon the Habits of some Living Scorpions, by R. I. Pocock ....+-+++> Notes ... ee Our Astronomica! Column — The Eclipse of April 1893 . - - ++ ++++- Finlay's Comet (1886, VII.) ... ++ +++ Aurora Observations G SANs We 2 6, 0 eee The Constant of Aberration ... +. +++ « The Astronomical Day . -..++++++-s Royal Observatory, Greenwich . . ... +++ > Geographical Notes. . cee 6 es oe The Iron and Steel Institute .....-.. .. 4 Royal Geographical Society Anniversary Meeting 1 University and Educational Intelligence ..... Il Scientific Serisle se ee eh eer ks se Societies and Academies . ..+.-:- Diary of Societies . Ris: sola ee ae Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received .. . - ©: a ee 6 Eo Se Ae . . ie wer re PO ee er See She Te en te re set ee 2 Fens bets oe q NATURE I2I THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1893. THE ROYAL SOCIETY ELECTION. AD it not been for the unnecessary and indiscreet communication to the newspapers of a letter not intended for the public eye, the difference of opinion which made itself manifest at Burlington House last Thursday might have been settled in a purely domestic manner. As it was, it gave rise to comments which, in most cases, were as absurd as they were painful to the persons concerned. But the mischief is done and it would be affectation to deny that a question of consider- able moment has been raised and one which will very probably provoke in the future a good deal of discussion and consideration. Clearly, therefore, it has to be faced, and I willingly accede to the wish of the Editor of NATURE to state why I think the policy of the dissentients should not be accepted by the general body of the Fellows of the Royal Society. I say policy, because I think it must be obvious to every one that the matters involved goa good deal deeper than the personal interests which were at stake. And here I would say at once that looking at the names of the dissentients, it is impossible to suppose that those who | proposed to reject the recommendations of the Council were animated by anything but perfect good faith, and a real desire to act in the best interests of the Royal Society. Though I entirely disagree with them, I say this with the more conviction as they were nearly all my own personal friends. The harshest thing I should be disposed to say of their action is that while it had the uncompromising honesty, it also had the unreasonable narrowness of a somewhat provincial point of view. Every one will I suppose admit that in most adminis- trative matters the English people are above all things practical and are little influenced by considerations of either logical order or of mere symmetry. The Royal Society appears to be a notable case in point. It is un- like any analogous institution, as far as I know, in the world. It is by no means a mere Academy of Science. Looked at historically and from the point of view of actual facts, it is seen to be an association of persons of “light and leading” who wish to promote the interests of science especially in so far as they are a matter of national concern. I use deliberately the rather hackneyed words “light and leading” as descriptive of the qualifica- tions of its members. They fall in fact into the two categories ; on the one hand they consist of the most competent experts in different branches of science and on the other of prominent men in the political and social world who are sympathetic to science and desirous of promoting its progress as an indispensable phase of our life and intellectual development as a nation. Now itseems to me that the real importance of the proceedings of last Thursday was the attack which was virtually made and with some vigour on this position. The dissentients in their printed statement completely ignored its existence. I can only make the excuse for them which Dr. Johnson made when a lady asked him _ to account for a very palpable blunder in his dictionary, “Ignorance, ma’am, sheer ignorance.” It seems there- NO. 1232, VOL. 48] fore worth while to show that in including in the fifteen selected candidates a man of public distinction who was not a professional man of science the Council acted in accordance with well-established tradition and precedent which has not hitherto been seriously challenged. In other countries where Government is constituted on more bureaucratic lines than it is in this, men of science associate themselves in bodies to which non-scientific members of the community have no access. Such bodies can address the state, and are doubtless listened to with the respect due to expert authority. But the reason is mainly because science under such conditions falls into line with general bureaucratic arrangements. In England the expert as such is more usually listened to with hesitation. It is my belief that if the Royal Society were simply constituted of professional scientific men, its influence in the country would be vastly dimin- ished, Englishmen are distrustful of experts whom they think, and I must admit too often with justice, to be cramped in their general outlook and wanting in know- ledge of the world. Furthermore Englishmen are curiously shy of what they don’t comprehend. A purely professional Royal Society would be apt to be treated with a kind of ironical respect but otherwise severely left alone as a thing “no fellow can understand.” Now it may be asked reasonably, would this be a desirable state of things? I think it may be shown with little difficulty that in the interests of scientific progress in this country it would not. Consider for a moment the kind of work which the Royal Society does. In the first place, and I suppose the dissentients would say that this is its only proper function, it signalises and marks out those workers in science as to whose integrity and com- petence it has satisfied itself. But this might be done by a small and exclusive club, and though such a body would be distinguished, it would never enjoy the distinction which attaches to the Royal Society. That distinction rests on the fact that it possesses a quasi- official position in the State. It is therefore on the one hand able to approach the Government of the day with a recognised status and authority to speak; on the other hand it is the supreme scientific tribunal from which the Government can count on obtaining a perfectly impartial judgment on questions of importance to the community. Here it may be replied that a strictly-restricted scientific Academy could equally fulfil those functions. In any other country, I have already admitted that it may be so. But here again national peculiarities must be reckoned with. In this country most important Government business is in all essential features settled in a semi- official way. Preliminary four-farlers ascertain what applications would be acceptable and what will be con- ceded to them. The official letters which are ultimately exchanged only put on record what has been previously negotiated. It is here that the presence of what I may call a sympathetic lay element in the Society is so in- valuable. A statesman or public man by becoming a fellow has solemnly pledged himself to co-operate with his colleagues. A minister therefore who isan F.R.S. cannot refuse, in common courtesy, to lend his ear to representations to which as a politician he might be very willing to be deaf. No doubt there was a time when this lay element tended G 122 NATURE [June 8, 1893 to swamp the Society and to destroy its scientific prestige. But the Royal Society is not a thing of yesterday ; and accumulated experience has shown the way to the present modus vivendi which appears to me to have given the maximum advantage to the scientific world over which the Society presides without the remotest possibility of injurious interference. It may be well to consider in what this lay element consists. In the first place we have the Sovereign who was the Founder and is always the Patron and may in the future as in the past take an active part in the Society’s proceedings. Next there are the Princes of the Blood any one of whom may at any time be summarily pro- posed for election. The original statutes provided that any one of the rank of Baron or higher should be qualified for election. That privilege was however abolished in the present century, no doubt as opening the door to the lay element too widely. But the privilege was retained for the Privy Council, a body which in its constitution is analogous to the Royal Society inasmuch as access to it can only be obtained outside the Royal Family by conspicuous ability independently of mere rank or birth. And it may be noticed that the analogy is drawn even closer by the recent admission to the Privy Council of a scientific element. Each body has in fact in relation to the State its own field of activity and functions. But they are often not very dissimilar. A committee of the one body may advise the Government on the constitution of a new university; a committee of the other may equally advise it on the methods of obviating explosions in mines. We may have a Privy Councillor discussing at Burlington Housé Marine Signals or Colour Vision, while a late president of the Society may be occupied at Whitehall in determining whether the Eternity of Future Punishment is a binding article of the English faith. But besides members of the Privy Council it has been the custom time out of mind to elect into the Society as ordinary fellows men of conspicuous public position and merit, with the proviso, however, that they should in their careers have shown themselves sympathetic to science. Such elections, however, differ 27 soto from the honorary and merely complimentary degrees conferred by the Universities. Such men are brought into the Society, first, in recognition of their services to science, secondly, to confirm them in their interest in it, lastly, that their cooperation may be secured in the performance of the Society’s public work. The Society in order to effectively accomplish that for which it exists must be in touch with other fields of national life ; it requires and turns to good account its connections with society, with the legislature, with the bench, with Government adminis- tration. By including in their number a body of distin- guished public men, the Fellows of the Royal Society are able to enormously enlarge their influence and to display themselves as reasonable if hard-headed men of the world, perfectly able to play their part in affairs which concern them on equal terms with those who make the conduct of affairs their only business and by no means as mere recluses in a laboratory. Can any more effective mode be imagined for removing from scientific men that suspicion of impracticable pedantry with which men of science are too often regarded by the uninformed? In the face of these considerations which I had NO 1232, VOL. 48] thought were part of the well-known traditions of the Society I confess that the hubbub of last Thursda somewhat amazed me. It was fought over a man is preeminently of the kind that the Royal Society ha been always willing to coopt. A man of singular mod but vast learning, a scientific historian with the k : sympathy for science, a member of the legislature wh by his own unaided merit has acquired for himself conspicuous position amongst the statesmen of the day. If the principle of the admission, of laymen is admitt at all, who could be more suitable ? : the matter. Any one who has taken part in the sel : of candidates by the Council will know that there is a regular category for lay candidates presented on thei public form. The Council has to make up its list with du regard to the claims of every branch of science. But think I cannot be far wrong if I assert that in most recent years it has been the practice to select on an average one layman annually. There are at least a dozen in the a existing list and the obituary notices abound with the It is perhaps invidious to mention names but I ma single out of those living Sir Henry Barkly, Sir Willi Jervois, Sir John Kirk, Sir George Nares, Sir Bernar Samuelson, Sir George Verdon, Sir Charles W. Any of these men would probably disclaim any pretensio to be considered a professional man of science. each and all of them has rendered great services to it, a the recognition of this by the scientific world is the b way to get other distinguished public men to imitate the example. IfI have discussed the question at some length it i: because it seems to me to be one of vital importance the welfare of the Society. But the dissentients too! further step which if it were to become a preceder would be absolutely disastrous. They not merely prc posed that one of the candidates selected by the Counc should be rejected but without consulting him propose that another whom the Council had not recommende should be elected. It is true that in their first circular dissentients stated that the statutes of the Society left n other course open to them. This however is an entire mistake and I am afraid is rather characteristic of the want of due consideration which characterised the who proceeding. It appears to me, putting other considerations aside, — unlikely that in so delicate a matter any five fellows can arrive at a sounder conclusion than the twenty-one wi form the Council. Any fellow who has been a mem of that body must have been struck with the fran and impartiality with which the merits of the res candidates are weighed and discussed. And so large proportion of the Council is changed every year that would be practically impossible for it ever to come und the control of any one party in the Society, if there b such athing. It appears to me therefore that all pre-— sumption is in favour of the judgment of the Council an I think that experience has shown that in the vast maje of cases it has been exercised wisely. It will be generally agreed that in no branch of science can those who follow it arrive at a correct estimate of merits of those who work in other branches without the responsible evidence of men with the necessary technical June §, 1893] NATURE 123 _ knowledge. Now this testimony the Council both re- _ ceives and has the opportunity of carefully sifting. Having arrived at a judgment accordingly, it appears to me that that judgment should not be lightly upset unless ' in the almost inconceivable case of its being utterly outrageous. Councils have erred in the past, and I suppose the Council of the Royal Society cannot claim infallibility. It might be necessary therefore for the general body of fellows to correct its action. The election of a fellow is an irretrievable step. To oppose it is a grave but it may be a justifiable procedure. But to over-ride the Council’s discretion in not selecting a particular candidate is a much graver one. Non-selection is not an irretrievable injury and if in any one year it may seem to inflict some in- _ justice on a particular candidate its redress when justified by merit is not difficult of attainment on a subsequent occasion. But if a precedent were established for taking the matter out of the nands of the Council, peace and good feeling in the ranks of the Society would soon vanish. In time every election would be the occasion of a con- flict and no one who valued his self-respect would care to serve on the Council. Nor is there any reason to think that any substantial gain would accrue. A man may be rushed to the front by a wave of temporary and emotional popularity. Such a man, if the fellows acquired the habit of meddling with the Council’s pre- rogative of selection, might be forced prematurely upon the Society. In the long ‘run it is not improbable that those who resorted to such a practice might live to regret their precipitancy. W. T. THISELTON-DYER. VERTEBRATES OF ARGYLL AND THE INNER HEBRIDES. A Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. By J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E. Buckley. (Edinburgh : David Douglas, 1892.) Z PeRt NACITY in an endeavour to carry out the re- sults of a fixed idea has almost always been regarded as a virtue, even when the principle involved has seemed to be hopelessly mistaken, and thus the adherents of the Stuart and other lost causes still find sympathisers at the present day; but when none can doubt the value of the idea, the pertinacity with which it is supported, provided that obstinacy is left out, becomes a virtue that in these practical days is not easily exaggerated. Such perti- nacity is conspicuously exhibited by the authors of the book before us, Mr. Harvie-Brown and _ his worthy coadjutor, Mr. Buckley. This “Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides” is the 7/42 of a series of volumes, the inception of which is vastly creditable to its founder, the gentleman first named, and to all con- cerned in its production—even to the printer’s devil and the binder’s apprentice. Some of its predecessors have before received notice in these columns 3? but it has _ perhaps never been made clear to the readers of NATURE _ that this series of books is placing the zoology of the northern Kingdom on a footing which has not been attained, nor is likely to be attained in the southern part _ of the island, even though there exist particular English : 1 “*A Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherland, Caithness, and West Cromarty,” 2 _ Nature, xxxi. p. 292; ‘A Vertebrate Fauna of the Outer Hebrides,” _ Narourr, xl. p. ror, NO. 1232, VOL. 48] works—but this solely so far as ornithology is con- cerned—of merit superior to any one of the Scottish productions, the volume on Orkney, which is of remark- able excellence, being perhaps an exception. It is not difficult, however, to account to a considerable extent for this superiority: the proportion of persons with a taste for natural history to the general population being presumably the same in both parts of Great Britain, the enormously greater population of England would naturally furnish a larger number than Scotland is able to show. This is not said in derogation of the northern kingdom. It has always been rich in botanists ; and, among zoologists, the single name of William Macgillivray is enough to cover it with renown. How- ever much his merits, and especially his originality, may have been obscured or underrated in his life-time, he has already been recognised by those who have taken the trouble to inform themselves, and especially by American writers, as the most original British worker in regard to the vertebrate division of animals, since the incompar- able pair—Willughby and Ray. But of Macgillivray this is not the place to speak particularly. On some other occasion we hope we may say more of him, a man whose work by some unhappy fate failed to impress his contemporaries, and whose posthumous volume was oppressed by princely patronage—well-meant but ill- advised. He had little or no experience of “ Argyll and the Inner Hebrides,” and really does not now come into our story.? As a matter of fact it is hard to say who among old naturalists does deserve especial mention in connexion with the Faunal District of which this volume treats. Mr. Harvie-Brown, with the caution characteristic of his nationality, abstains from putting forth the claim of any predecessor; though, as brave men lived before Agamem- non, this district may have had a zoological historian before the laird of Dunipace and Quarter. The late Mr. Henry Davenport Graham—an honest observer if there ever was one—whose pleasant contributions to the ornithology of Iona and Mull, illustrated by some of his humorous and very clever sketches, were published in 1890 as a “ relief volume” of the present series, belongs of course to the existing epoch, for he died in 1872; and moreover his observations were confined to but a small portion—the islands just named—of the district. Thus as regards its ancient history from the zoological point of view, we have an absolute void, since the Statistical Accounts (both Old and New) of the county of Argyll and the Isles give as little information to the purpose as does the often-quoted but seldom-read description of Dean Monro, which was only published in 1774, 225 years after it was written.” To come to closer quarters, we are inclined, though we must say so with diffidence, to question Mr. Harvie- Brown’s delimitation of his ‘Faunal District.” In principle he is undoubtedly right, though somehow or other the result does not seem to work out well. His principle was laid down in the first volume of the series— that on Sutherland, Caithness, and Western Cromarty— and is the marking out of a district by physical features rather than by political boundaries. No naturalist ought 1 His portrait is given by our authors in their volume on “ The Outer Hebrides.” 2 A reprint of this very rare work was published at Glasgow in 1884 (by Thomas D. Morrison). 124 NATURE [June 8, 1893 to hesitate for a moment in preferring a watershed to a wapentake, since the former has natural limits, while those of the latter may be the consequence of a chapter of accidents. Moreover watersheds, though sometimes difficult to trace and lay down on a map, are as a whole much more to be trusted than some other kinds of boundaries, notably more so for instance than rivers, which in biology, with very rare exceptions, do not furnish a scientific frontier; but some wise man of old has remarked that there is reason in the roasting of eggs, and the faunist certainly ought to exercise some dis- cretion in choosing his watersheds. What difference there may be in the land-fauna of the two sides of the peninsula of Cantire, for instance, we are at a loss to conceive, and yet we have our author’s line of demarcation driven remorselessly along its summit ridge from its Mull to West Tarbert, and thence northward, splitting Knapdale in like manner, and shutting out from Argyll the home of Maccallum More—Inveraray itself! If the eastern half of Cantire, with Arran, Bute, Cowall, and goodness knows what beside, are to form another separate district, some- thing may be urged for this view, but if they are to be annexed to Carrick, Kyle and Cunningham—in a word to Ayrshire and the South-West of Scotland, we feel bound to protest against the proceeding as ‘an unnatural union. Arran undoubtedly agrees far more in every essential faunal character with Ardnamurchan than with Ayrshire—that much we venture to affirm, even if we should be sorry to attempt a delimitation between the districts of “Argyll” and “Clyde” further to the northward, or between “Argyll” and “Forth”; but though, as we have said above, we attach great import- ance in many cases to watersheds, we are inclined to hold ourselves entitled to cut across valleys on occasion, and because Loch Lomond drains to the “ Clyde” and Loch Katrine to the “‘ Forth,” it does not at all follow as a rule, that their upper levels belong to the districts which contain their “carses.” In other words the basin plan of dividing a country may be overstrained. Still we gladly admit that the fault is on the right side, and considering the extraordinary way in which so many of its counties interlock, it would be manifestly mis- leading to attempt to treat Scotland according to the method which is on the whole suitable enough for England, where the counties are much more continent. There is the old story of the man, possibly, it is true, an ignorant southron, who wished to explore Cromartyshire, but never succeeded in finding more than bits of it! To the naturalist islands have a peculiar fascination of their own, and it is quite pardonable therefore in our authors that, in the introductory portion of their volume, they should devote more space to the description of the Inner Hebrides than to Argyll, properly so called, especially when, as we have already stated, the delimit- ation of their district cuts off so much of what most people would include therein. Yet thereby they recall the celebrated story told by Sir Walter Scott of the Minister of Cumbrae, which we forbear from repeating ; and we must say that in their infinite mercy they might not have so wholly overlooked the interest that appertains to the adjacent mainland. Ardnamurchan, before men- tioned, receives its due, but Moidart and Morven, NO. 1232, VOL. 48] ‘moment that there is not plenty more to be learnt about — Ardgour and Lochaber, Ben Nevis, the loftiest peak in Great Britain, and the historic Glencoe, the gloriou Loch Etive and the beautiful Loch Awe, receive but scan attention. However our authors have given us, and ¥ are thankful for it, the portrait of two inhabitants of th mainland—the late Peter Robertson and his pony—thoug] not a word being vouchsafed to show why they are th honoured, many who take up the volume may wonder the preference shown tothem. The present writer cannot trust his recollection for equine likenesses, but if th beast figured (at p. xii. of the “ Preface”) was that whic bore him on a never-to-be-forgotten day, more tha thirty years ago, he has no objection to urge; an undoubtedly the man was worthy of being thus com- memorated since, throughout Scotland, no one was mor famous for his knowledge of Red Deer than the head: forester of Mona Dhu—the “ Black Mount”—while his — intimate acquaintance with the animal life of a charac- — teristic Highland district was no less good, and one could not be in his company for half an hour without recognising in him the true naturalist. He was wholly — different from the much-writing and much-bewritten — “ Field Naturalist” of the type with which we have lately — become painfully familiar, the man who is all eyes and — tongue but has no brains, thinking everything he sees is seen for the first time, and is worth publishing abroad because he has seen it. From one point of view this man is not wrong, since it pays well to contribute sensational article so based to a nonscientific magazine, while he can do this in safety, for no naturalist will be at the trouble to hurt his feelings by pointing out that wha he writes contains nothing more than was known before, and that his specious verbiage alone is new. “ Mi Robertson ”—to speak of him as he was spoken of by thos who for many years lived under his mildly despoti rule—was a man of retiring character and plain speech possessed of that admirable manner which, if not inborn, © comes only from mixing with all classes of society. He would address a prince of blood royal without a trace of — servility, or a cockney sportsman without exciting sus- 4 picion of contempt. The mens stbi conscia recté kept him from either failing. To no smattering of science did make pretence, and it was with wonder that he receiv the application to communicate the results of his ex: perience as to Red Deer to the editor of Macgillivray’ unhappy posthumous work already mentioned. W. that the whole of it had been published there! No could listen to his conversation without perceiving that as an observer of nature he had not wasted his life, ai that he had thought over, if not thought out, proble that have puzzled and still may puzzle the best informec of naturalists. But this is enough of him, and we have only said it because our authors have said nothing. must return to what they tell us. It is hardly to be doubted that to the naturalist the most interesting of Scottish mammals are the Phocide— the Seals, and it is curious to look back upon the obscuri in which they were involved until comparatively few years ago—not that we would. have any one to suppose for a them. It is probably not yet known to the majority of — British zoologists that, apart from all possible or impossible — June 8, 1893] NATURE 125 stray visitors—which may or may not be of casual appearance, such as Phoca barbata, P. annellata, P- _ greniandicaand Cystophora cristata—we have,as constant residents in our waters, two species—the common P. vitulina and the larger and more local Halicherus griseus—animals that differ as much in some of their habits as they do in conformation and appearance. Of the former species we need say little, but concerning the latter the several volumes of this series have given much information, making abundantly clear that it is a native of our seas and therefore a true member of our Fauna, a position that, through want of appreciation of recorded facts, had hitherto been doubtful. But our authors, in this volume at any rate, exhibit laudable caution in not advertising its haunts, leaving those who can “read between the lines ” sufficient indication as to where they are, which we maintain to be a perfectly fair proceeding on the part of writers in regard to species subject to persecution. Ifthe hairy coat of the Grey Seal approached in value that of his long-eared and furry cousins of the _ Southern Seas and North Pacific, the life of his race would not be worth a year’s purchase, despite the dangerous character of the waters he frequents. For- tunately it is only his oil that is coveted by his would-be murderers, and that is not a sufficient inducement to them to follow him to some of the asylums he has found. We could teil of one where he feels so secure, from absence of molestation, that he will let a boat come within oar’s length of him before he rolls off the rock on which he is basking—and then rather with the air of _ doing a courteous act in giving place to strangers who may want to land upon the shelf. All the same we fear that one of these days terrible return for his politeness will come upon him and his kindred even in the fortunate islands we have in mind, and we must not dwell longer on this subject lest we should reveal what ought to be a profound secret. But we are bound to admit that the Grey Sealis not the most intelligent animal in the world, hough his long, grave face gives him an expression of wisdom far beyond that conveyed by the chubby coun- tenance of his commoner relative. Of course the most important members of the Scottish fauna are at present the Red Deer and the Red Grouse— looking only to the amount of money they are the means of bringing into the country, though equally of course it is declared that the greater part of this amount, that which is paid for shooting rents, is not spent in the country. But we suppose the same might be alleged almost everywhere of rent of any kind, and heaven forefend us from dabbling in the mysteries of the “ dismal science.” Concerning Red Deer much more is to be told than people suppose. The statistics of Jura Forest compiled and privately printed by Mr. Henry Evans, of which an abstract is given by our authors in their Appendix (pp. 239-244) may well set any one thinking, especially as regards the death-rate, which if observed among human _ beings in any part of the world would set that district _ down as more unwholesome than any known elsewhere. _ The mortality is attributed chiefly to what is known as _ “Husk,” which appears due to a “ hair-like lung worm” _ {of what kind we cannot say), and reaches 20 ger cent. _ and upwards among the ma/e calves before they complete 4 NO. 1232, VOL. 48] their first year, and when we consider that this is on an island with a comparatively mild climate, where every care is taken of the beasts, the result is indeed extra- ordinary. It is only when the zoologist is brought face to face with facts of this kind that he can realise what the Struggle for Life must be of which he has read so much, and the depth of his ignorance about it. No wonder then we cannot explain, what seems to be quite certain, the dwindling, that in many places has ended in the extinction, of the Ptarmigan. Our authors appear to attribute it to the moist influence of the Gulf Stream, but we are not conscious of any evidence that this is greater now than it was twenty, thirty or fifty years ago and surely the reason must be sought elsewhere. We have allowed our notice of this very pleasant book to run to an excessive length, so that we must here surcease from commenting on many passages which really call for remark—most of them for praise and only a few for blame. We certainly should not care to involve ourselves in the mooted question of the alleged Pintail’s nest or nests on Hysgeir off Canna (pp. 129-131) ; but we must protest against our authors’ countenancing (p- 167, note) the often-exploded but ever reviving fallacy of Rooks’ eggs being served up in place of Plovers’. The curious so-called “ Tailless’’ or “ Docked” Trouts (“ club- tailed” would be a better name) of certain lochs are treated of by Dr. Traquair. They may perhaps be compared with the somewhat analogous case of the “Crummy ” Stags of Jura and Mull, concerning which we are disappointed to find little or no information, which is the greater pity since the introduction of new blood has already diminished and will probably put an end to these interesting local “sports.” A few words must, however, be added as to the illustrations, and especially to those from photographs by Mr. Norrie, which are not only well chosen, but for the most part extremely beautiful. The maps too are all effective if not always neat, and the little sketches “let in” to their margins are as pretty as they are accurate. Herein, as throughout the letter- press of the volume generally, the islands are most favoured, and there is only one of the plates which illustrates a scene on the Scottish mainland. So we part from Messrs. Buckley and Harvie-Brown, commend- ing their assiduity, and wishing all success to their next venture, whether Moray or Shetland be its subject. OUR BOOK SHELF. Gun and Camera in Southern Africa. By H. Anderson Bryden. With numerous Illustrations and a Map. (London: Edward Stanford, 1893.) In this book Mr. Bryden records the incidents which happened in the course of a year of wanderings in Bechuanaland, the Kalahari Desert, and the Lake River Country, Ngamiland. The region is one in which much interest has been taken lately, and colonists and settlers will find in Mr. Bryden’s lively pages exactly the sort of information that is likely to be most usefultothem. The volume also includes many passages that will be read with pleasure by ethnologists, naturalists, and sportsmen. The illustrations—which are offered as “ faithful delinea- tions of places, objects, and people hitherto not often accessible to the camera”—add greatly to the value of the narrative. 126 NATURE [June 8, 1893 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE, No notice is taken of anonymous communications.) Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands. In reply to Prof. Newton’s letter, under the above title, in Nature of last week (p. 101), in which he refers to the descrip- tion by me of the Chatham Island Ralline bones under a distinct genus Diaphorapteryx, and observes ‘‘that one thing seems needed to make the discussion [on the probability of a land connection between the Chatham and Mascarene Islands] real, and that is the proof of the assertion that Aphanapleryx ever inhabited the Chatham Islands,” I beg to say that in his letter there is a slight confusion of dates, which affects the question of the nomenclature. On July 29 last year I visited Cam- bridge for the purpose of comparing the bones from the Chatham Islands I had brought with me with the real Aphanapteryx remains in the Museum there. It turned out that Dr. Gadow, who was abroad, had laid them aside where Prof. Newton could not place his hand upon them, and I was, therefore, unable to see them. A week or two later. when in Edinburgh at the British Association Meeting, in a note intimating the return of Dr. Gadow, and kindly arranging for my examination of the bones, Prof. Newton adds, ‘‘ I be- lieve you will want a new generic name for what you have called Aphanapteryx,” and suggests the name Diaphorapteryx instead. I was unavoidably long prevented from revisiting the Cambridge Museum, and so in describing as Diaphorapleryx the Chatham Island bones, at a meeting of the British Ornitho- logists’ Club in December, 1892, I accepted the suggestion of Prof. Newton, who alone. had till then seen the remains from both localities. On February 23, prior to reading my paper at the Royal Geographical Society, I again visited Cam- bridge, and in the most kind manner received every facility and assistance both from the Professor and from Dr. Gadow in comparing the specimens. On this occasion I was unable to recognise any sufficient characters, by which, in my estimation, to separate generically the bones from the Chatham Islands from those from Mauritius. This decision I stated at the meeting of the R.G.S. on March 13 last, and more recently in a communication to the Brit. Ornith. Club, which will appear in its forthcoming Aud/etin. If I mistake not, however, Prof. Newton agreed with me that the Chatham Island form was nearer to Aphanapteryx than the latter was to Aryth- vomachus of Rodriguez. Some of these remains from Mauritius have been figured by Prof. Milne-Edwards in his ‘‘ Oiseaux Fossiles de France,” and the remainder are fully discussed and illustrated by Dr. Gadow in a shortly-to-be-issued fasciculus of the Trans.Z.S. of London, while those from the Chatham Islands will appear shortly, I hope, in one or other of the scientific journals or Proceedings. After a careful study of all the material I have no hesitation, however, in stating meantime—as those who care will then have an opportunity of judging—that the bones from both regions are generically the same. I maintain also, that even if some osteologists should be disposed (from the somewhat larger size of the Chatham Island bones, though among them I found a number scarcely to be separated on even that ground) to make a generic distinction between them, the question would not only not fall, but I really cannot see that the argument based on their discovery in the New Zealand region would bein the least invalidated, as the forms are unquestionably so very nearly related. The importance of the distribution of the blue Water- hens, and the relationship between the Huias of New Zealand and the Frive/upus of Reunion—long ago pointed out by Mr. Wallace—and many other facts as far as birds are con- cerned recently urged by Dr. Sharpe at the Royal Institution, appears now to a fuller extent by the discovery of those un- expected forms in the Chatham Islands. { must once more protest against the very erroneous state- ment that I have invoked this ‘‘tremendous hypothesis” to explain the distribution of the closely related forms of these two regions. I adduced, as I have said in my last letter, a great deal of other evidence in my paper at the Royal Geographical Society, which will appear very soon now. In addition to the facts there given [ may point out the sig- NO. 1232, VOL. 48] nificance to this question of the results of the investigations o my lamented friend, Mr. W. A. Forbes—an anatomist of the | highest acumen—on the genera Xenicus and Acanthisitta of © New Zealand, He found that the affinities of the Xexicide are with the /ipfride (including the Cotingide), Tyran Pittide, and Philepittide—groups confined to the New Z the Australian (ranging into the Oriental), the Mascarene, the Neotropical regions, and that they have no relatives else- where. Nor are the following sentences from Mr. Wallace’s — ‘Geographical Distribution of Animals” withouta bearingonthis — discussion :—‘* We have the pigeons and the parrots mos’ wonderfully developed in the Australian region, which is pre eminently insular, and both these groups have acquired conspicuous colours very unusual or altogether absent elsewhere. Similar colours [black and red] appear in the same two D: in the distant Mascarene islands. . . . Crests, too, are feed developed in both these groups in the Australian region only ; and a crested parrot formerly lived in Mauritius—a coincid: too much like that of the colours as above noted, to be con: sidered accidental.” HENRY O. FORBES. 104, Philbeach Gardens, Earl’s Court, S. W. fad The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics. As Prof. Lodge refers in the letter published in this week’ NATURE, p. IOI, to my remarks on his paper on the Fundamenta Axiom of Dynamics, I shall be obliged if you will allow me to state my views in yourcolumns. Apart from all minor questions — it appears to me that the main issue raised by Prof. Lodge is — whether the law of the conservation of energy can be from the fundamental laws of dynamics and the assumption of contact action. ; I have not the slightest objection (as he seems to ei pose) to the mathematical investigation of physical facts being on assumptions which are followed out to their logical conclusions nor do I shrink from using such methods even when they fail in some points or lead to paradoxical conclusions. They may — legitimately be accepted as convenient though imperfect mental — pictures of the truth, sketches, but not finished drawings, My objection to Prof. Lodge’s ‘‘ proof” is that in his attempt to avoid the unthinkable by discarding action at a distance, adopts another equally inconceivable conception, viz. contac action. ; He has already laidit down asjan axiom that ‘‘material particle: (atoms of matter) never come into contact.” It is onl abstaining from the attempt to define the constitution of the ether that he avoids being driven to the conclusion that it: various parts never come into contact either. 2 The assumption that he really makes is that when two bodies — (including in that term both matter and the ether) act immediatel: upon each other, the distance between the mutually acting — parts remains invariable during the action. This is not incon — sistent with action at a distance. If then the phrase ‘‘contact action” be discarded the assumption of action at constant dis- tance is a proper subject for investigation. a oe If the assumption be accepted the reasoning based on it is no doubt correct, but the value of the ‘‘ proof” (regarded as independent or self-contained) depends entirely on the value we assign 2 priori to the fundamental assumption. I doubt whether an argument based upon it would by itself have convinced world that the conservation of energy is a fact. F . If, on the other hand, the assumption is regarded as a m or less arbitrary postulate to be justified, 2 posterioré by the that conclusions can be deduced from it which jare othe known to be true, Prof. Lodge must not represent his course the ascent of a firm ladder of argument to results which, tho paradoxical, must be accepted under penalty of a reductio absurdum. On the contrary, it lies with him to justify h assumption by the use he makes of it. That the conse of energy follows is no doubt an argument in its favour, and I ~ for one shall look with interest for the other deductions which Prof. Lodge promises. ARTHUR W. RUCKER. June 2. Ir Mr. E, T. Dixon (NATURE, p. 103) will read what I ha previously written on the subject of energy he will find most of his objections anticipated. I have pointed out, as he now does, that so long as potential energy is regarded solely as a ‘‘ force function” the conservation of energy has no real physical mean- — ing (pp. 532, 533. Phil. Mag., June 1881). I quite agree that — potential energy belongs to a system rather than to a particle, — JuNE 8, 1893] NATURE 127 but Ido not see that the fact has any hostile significance as ards the question of zdemtity. - Pie will ates find that I have always hitherto included the connecting medium as one of the ‘‘ bodies” between which actions and reactions occur. (See for instance, Phil. Mag., June 1885, pp. 483-84, and October 1879, p. 281). I do not propose to continue to do this in future, partly because I find that the word ‘‘body” is not generally or conveniently understood to mean ether as well as ordinary matter, and partly because I now realise that there is something more definite to say con- cerning the function of the ether as regards stress. : But Mr. Dixon seems to suppose that the denial of action at a distance means that material particles are without influence on one another until they touch ; that for instance the earth cannot attract the moon unless it is in contact with it ; for he says that my contention that material particles never come into contact renders nugatory the whole discussion concerning ‘‘ contact action.” Tf this be the sort of meaning which he attaches to the phrase ‘€ action at a distance,” no wonder he is unimpressed with the arguments of those who deny its prevalence in nature. OLIVER LODGE. May I make a few corrections of statements which appear in your report of Prof. Lodge’s paper on the Laws of Motion {NATURE, p. 117)? : (1) I do not object to the first law on the ground of unin- telligibleness, but only to the ordinary mode of enunciating it. (2) I have not contended that Dr. Lodge’s definition of energy as the name given to work done assumes conservation. On the contrary, I have expressly pointed out that it does not. (3) I did not select the air-gun with its muzzle plugged as an instance of transference of potential energy without transforma- tion. Prof. Lodge had cited the air-gun as an instance of the transformation of Potential Energy into kinetic during trans- ference. I stated that if the muzzle were plugged it would serve equally well as an instance of the transference of potential energy without transformation. But I pointed out that both illustrations were defective and proceeded to show that in general the transformation of energy during transference is only partial. J. G. MacGREGoR. Hopeville, Bridge of Allan, N.B., June 5. The Word Eudiometer, THE following quotation from J. A. Scherer’s “ Geschichte der Luftgiitepriifungslebre ” (Vienna, 1785), may be of interest in connection with Prof. McLeod’s letter on the invention of the word ‘‘ Eudiometer ” (NATURE, vol. xlvii. p.536). After referring to Fontana’s Descrizione ed usi di alcuni stromenti per misurare Ja salubrité dell’ aria ” (Florence, 1775), Scherer continues (of. cit., vol. i. p. 153), ‘f Bald nach der Herausgabe der gedachten Instrumente machte Hr, Landriani ein neues bekannt, der erste, der es Eudiometer nannte. Er versichert uns er habe seinen Luftgiitemesser von Abt Fontana nicht entlehnt. Daher gehért die Ehre der Reformation des Priestley’schen Instruments Hrn. Landriani, die ihm auch Fontana selbst in zwei Briefen einraiumt.”’ Landriani’s own statement quoted by Prof. McLeod is thus fully confirmed by contemporary authority. Scherer’s book, which has just been purchased for the Owens College from the Kopp library, is full of interesting historical information with regard to eudiometry. PuILip J. Harroc. Owens College, May 23. Singular Swarms of Flies. Mr. Froupr’s letter (p. 103) forcibly reminds me of a swarm of flies which overlaid. every one who was on the parade at Ventnor, and drove numbers off the pier on the forenoon of a day which certainly fell on or between May 13 and 16, 1891. My diary bears only witness to the fact that I was then at Ventnor, but I shall never forget that as I went towards the black clouds ‘Inmet a venerable friend, whose white hair, beard, and light coat were literally blackened with flies, The natives, who had had previous experience of such acloud, ascribed it to the ‘“mackerel fly.” My colleagues in the entomological depart- ment of the British Museum told me I had witnessed a flight of Bibio Marci (St. Mark’s fly), and, on reading up the subject, I found no reason to doubt that they had made an accurate diagnosis of aslightly and imperfectly told story. NO. 1232, VOL. 48] I have a definite recollection of the flies’ rapid disappearance, and I have very little doubt that Mr. Froude has been the witness ofa cloud of the same dipterous insect. . F, JEFFREY BELL. 5, Radnor Place, Gloucester Square, W., June 2. P.S.—The weather was very warm during the days mentioned, but the succeeding (Whit) Monday was marked by a fall of snow in several parts of England. nm regard to the mutual association of action of antagon- tic muscles about other joints than the knee, it had been iced in an earlier series of observations that during excita- of the cortical areas of the hemisphere, when isolated ements of the pollex and hallux are being initiated, the ment of response obtained is often reversed by section of peripheral nerve or nerves supplying those muscles which dominate in the movement obtained. For example, flexion an ey section of the flexor nerve be at once converted into xtension. Sometimes, however, movement in the same e, although diminished in force and extent persists n after cutting the nerve to the predominant group of thean- NO. 1232, VOL. 48] tagonistic muscles. This indicates that in some cases there occurs, together with contraction of one group of muscles, con- comitant relaxation of the antagonist. This evidence of in- hibition of one set of the synergetic muscular couple during co-ordinate action induced by cortical excitation is in the case of the digits of comparatively infrequent occurrence. In the case of the eye muscles it is, on the contrary, quite usual. When, the external rectus muscle of one eye (¢.g., of the left eye) having been put out of action, the frontal cortex of the right hemisphere is excited, the eyeballs if previously directed to the right revert both of them to the left—z.¢., the excitation which evokes contraction of the right internal rectus evokes also relaxation of the left internal rectus. Again, when the internal rectus has been put out of action—e.g., in the left eye—excitation of the left frontal cortex produces, if the eyes have been previously directed to the left, an immediate move- ment of both eyeballs to the right, the left eye frequently rotating beyond the median primary position. Here the same excitation of the cortex which induces contraction of right external rectus muscles induces synchronously a relaxation of the left internal rectus muscle. These interruptions of the tonus or of the contraction of one antagonist concurrently with augmentation of the contraction of its opponent are obtainable not only from the so-called ‘‘ motor”’ region of the cortex, but even more strikingly by excitation of the ‘‘visual area” of occipital region of the cortex. During voluntary movements similar phenomena occur, but appear less obvious than under experimental excitation of the cortex. Although inhibition of contraction or tonus is appar- ently so common a factor in the co-ordination of the antagon- istic lateral straight muscles of the eyes, these muscles occa- sionally yield good indication of synergetic contraction as wel) as co-ordinate relaxation. The mutual association of the two oblique muscles seems usually of the nature of concomitant contraction, not of contraction coupled with relaxation. On the other hand, the muscles which close and open the palpebral fissure appear to work altogether independently one of the other. In their case section of the particular peripheral nerve concerned in either movement is at once followed by total dis- appearance of the movement, and that without reversal. Although the cerebral cortex exercises inhibition so readily in the field of innervation of the third nerve, the dilatation of the pupil evoked ‘by excitation of that portion of the cortex appeared whenever tested to be due to impulses discharged vid the cervical sympathetic, and not to inhibition of the con- striction exercised vid the third nerve. May 18.—‘‘An Experimental Investigation of the Nerve Roots which enter into the Formation of the Lumbo-Sacral Plexus of Macacus rhesus.” By J. S. Risien Russell, M.B., M.R.C.P., Assistant Physician to the Metropolitan Hospital. (From the Pathological Laboratory of University College, London.) This formed the subject of a paper recently read before the Royal Society, in which the author described one chief type of plexus met with in MJacacus rhesus, the main distinguishing features of which, as contrasted with the chief variation encoun- tered, consisted in the fifth lumbar nerve root sending a branch to the sciatic nerve trunk, and the obturator nerve taking its origin from the fourth and fifth lumbar nerve roots alone, whereas of the variations met with that which occurred most frequently was one in which the fifth lumbar root did not send a branch to the sciatic nerve, and the obturator nerve received a branch from the sixth lumbar nerve root in addition to those received from the fourth and fifth lumbar roots. Between these two extremes all forms of variation were met with; but the upper limit of supply to the limb was always found to be the third lumbar root, and the lower limit the first sacral root. Excitation Experiments. The movement which results on excitation of any given nerve root with the Faradic current is acompound one made up of several simple movements ; while excitation of any single small bundle of nerve fibres, many of which combine to form a nerve root, results in a single simple movement, and not all the movements of the compound root in lessened degree. These single simple movements bear an almost constant relation to the nerve roots, the same movements being as a rule found in any given root, and such movements always bear the same relation to the spinal level. Further, each bundle of nerve 142 NATURE [June 8, 1893 fibres representing a single simple movement in a nerve root remains distinct in its course to the muscle or muscles, pro- ducing such a movement without inosculating with other motor nerve fibres. Muscles diametrically opposed in their action are represented in the same nerve root, but in different degrees, and when a certain group of muscles predominate in their action in one root they as a rule predominate in that root. In those instances in which the opposed movements are represented in three con- secutive nerve roots the middle root of the series is that in which both movements are represented, while the root above contains the one movement, and that below contains the other. The movements of flexion and extension are found to alter- nate in their representation from above down, flexion being at a higher level than extension in the highest segment of the limb, while extension is above flexion in the next, and so on, A muscle is usually represented in two nerve roots, and to an unequal extent in these; and when variations occur, itis, as a rule, that one of the nerve roots in which the muscle is repre- sented is different, rather than that it is represented in more nerve roots. When the same muscle is represented in two nerve roots the muscle fibres innervated by one root are not innervated by the other, so that only part of the muscle con- tracts when a single root is excited. Ablation Experiments. Division of any given nerve root produces paresis of the group of muscles supplied by it, which paresis is temporary, nearly all of it being recovered from. The amount of paresis or paralysis produced is proportional to the number of nerve roots divided ; and this again varies according to whether the roots divided are consecutive or alternate ones, the effect being much greater in the former than in the latter case. Such division of one or more nerve roots. does not result in incoordination of the remaining muscular combinations represented in other nerve roots ; the remaining movements are merely more feeble. Exclusion of a certain Root or Roots during an Epileptic Convulsion in the Limb. Division of one or more nerve roots produces alteration of the position of a limb during an epileptic convulsion, which altered position depends on the muscular combinations that have been thus thrown out of action. And the effect is identical when the root or roots are divided at the time when the convul- sions are evoked, and when they have been divided some weeks previously. No incoordination is produced in the remaining muscular combinations ; and there is no evidence of overflow of the impulses which ought to travel down the divided root into other channels through the spinal centres, so as to reach the muscles by new paths, ‘intment of a new examiner, and said that, as the examination is competitive, the candidates would not be put to any disadvantage by the greater difficulty of the ques- tions, This may be a sufficient explanation of the circumstance, but, in many cases, candidates for Government appointments NO 1233. VOL. 48] have found upon reading the question paper, that impo changes have been made in the character of the examin without any intimation whatever having been given to the A conversazione of the Institution of Electrical Engine will be held in the galleries of the Royal Institute of F in Water Colours on Friday evening, June 23. THE Selborne Society have made arrangements for a visit Selborne, the home of Gilbert White, on Saturday, June Lord Selborne will occupy the chair at lunch, and be sup: by Lord Northbrook, the Earl of Stamford, and Sir Je Lubbock, Bart. Tickets for the excursion can be had the Secretary, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. THE fourth annual meeting of the Museums’ Association wi be held in the rooms of the Zoological Society during the first week in July. The formal proceedings will commence — Monday, July 3, at 8.30 p.m., when Sir W. H. Flower, F.R. the President-Elect, will deliver an address, It is ieooead devote mornings to the reading and discussion of papers bearin upon the subject of museums, and in the afternoons and ev a. ings visits will be made to. various Metropolitan un The arrangements of the meeting will be greatly facilitared those who propose to attend will give early notice to Mr. F. Rudler, 28, Jermyn Street, S.W. Tue fifth summer assembly of the National Home Readi n Union will be held at Ilkley, Yorkshire, from July 1 to July 8. The inaugural address will be delivered by the Master Trinity College, Cambridge, and there will be lectures by Henry Fawcett, Prof. Michael Foster, Sir Robert Ball, Mr. G. Collingwood, Mr. Churton Collins, and others. § lectures on archeology, botany, and geology will be each day, and will be followed by excursions to places interest in the neighbourhood. There could hardly bea‘ pleasant road to knowledge than that afforded by sachs a ing as this. Various learned and scientific bodies of Lindel and district, being desirous of inviting the British Associatic meet at Liverpool in 1896, sent representatives to the June 5 for the purpose of soliciting his aid in the furtherance their object. The Mayor would not pledge himself n course of action, but aaid he would consult the ener | the matter. THE Permanent Committee of the International cone Zoology propose, as the subject for the S. A. I. le Tsaréy prize, the study of the fauna of one of the great regions globe and the relations between this fauna and that of i bouring regions. The award will be made at the Leyden C gress in 1895. By the rules of the Congress this prize be given to a Dutch man of science. The jury wi works bearing upon a branch or a class of the animal kin Manuscripts or printed papers should be written in Fr sent, before May 1, 1895, to M. le Président du Comite manent, Société Zoologique de France, 7 Rue des G Augustins, Paris. With the exception of heavy thunderstorms wh occurred in the central part of Ireland during the Friday, the 9th inst., in which 1°2 inch of rain in Merioneth the mext day, the weather, as rep by the stations reporting to the Meteorological Office, been practically rainless over nearly the whole of the ; Islands, These conditions were owing to the persistence of an anticyclone over Scandinavia, the North Sea and our own are: The temperature has been somewhat high for the time of the highest daily maxima in the south and west having at t exceeded 75°; but in the north, and especially on the east coa June 15, 1893] NATURE 155 owing to the continuance of easterly winds, many of the maxi- "mum readings have been below 60°. During the early part of the present week the anticyclone decreased in intensity and ‘began to move slowly eastward, while a depression which lay _ over the south-west of France moved northward, causing the barometer to fall generally over our islands, and on Tuesday night, the 13th inst., a thunderstorm occurred at Jersey, while a further rise of temperature occurred over the southern portion of the kingdom, the maximum at Cambridge reaching 81°, The Weekly Weather Report of the 1oth inst. showed that the greatest excess of temperature occurred in Ireland and ‘the Channel Islands, where it was 5° above the mean. The rainfall just equalled the mean in the east of Scotland and -the north of Ireland only. Bright sunshine was above the usual amount everywhere; the percentage of duration ranged from 29 to 38 in Scotland, from 36 to 4o in Ireland, and from 40 to 67 over England, while in the Channel Islands the percentage was as high as 75 of the possible amount. WE are indebted to Dr. A. Buchan for the discussion and _ publication (in vol. ix, of the Journal of the Scottish Meteoro- logical Society) of avery valuable series of mean monthly and _ yearly temperatures for London and vicinity for 130 years, from _ 1763 to 1892. The only interruptions of the continuity of this ] long series occurred in May 1777 and July 1780, and the means _ for these months have been interpolated. For the 130 years the mean temperature of London is50°'2, The highest mean tem- perature of any month was 74°"1 in July 1783, and the lowest 25°’9 in January 1795, the difference being 48°'2. The warmest seasons were, winter, 1779, 8°°3 above the normal value ; “spring, 1811, +5°°2; summer, 1783, + 8°'2; and autumn, 1777, +5°'1. The coldest seasons were, winter, 1814, 6°'5 below the normal ; spring, 1837, — 6°°7; summer, 1816, — 4°°6; and ~ autumn, 1877, — 4°'1. The year 1783 had the highest mean annual temperature, being 5°*2 above the normal for the year ; and 1816, the lowest, being 3°°5 under the normal. Dr. Buchan states that much labour has been spent in searching for evidence of cycles, but that it cannot be said that the results show more than highly interesting resemblances and contrasts among the months, and that in whatever way the periods are viewed, they Suggest no appearance of a cycle. But a tendency is shown of _ types of high and low temperature to prolong themselves during moaths, seasons, and years. Following this paper is an equally important discussion by the same author of the temperature of the north-east of Scotland for 129 years, from 1764 to 1892, from observations taken at Gordon Castle and other places, AT the instance of Herr von Helmholtz, and with the support of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, Drs. Franz Richarz and Otto Krigar-Menzel have undertaken a remarkable series of experiments for the purpose of determining by weighing the diminution of gravity as we ascend from the surface of the earth. The method was theoretically the following :—To each pan of an ordinary balance is attached another pan by means of a rod about 2m. long. Two sensibly equal masses are placed in the left upper and the right lower pan respectively. The gravitational attraction being stronger on the latter weight, a difference will be indicated by the balance. On removing the left weight from the upper to the lower pan, and the right weight from the lower to the upper, the difference acts in the opposite direction, and half the mean of the two differences gives the decrease of gravity with the height. It is almost nee to say that the experiment was one of very great delicacy and difficulty. It was performed in an earth-covered ‘casemate of the citadel of Spandau, partly in order to utilise ee of lead weighing about a hundred tons to determine the E tr tion exerted by it. The necessary preparations were be in 1887, and the main part of the observations has only NO. 1233, VOL. 48] just been concluded. The difference between the values of g at two points, one 2'26m. above the other, was found to be 6°523 x 10-% The calculated value was 6‘970 x 10-8, The difference may be due to a density of the strata below the station being less than the average. A THERMOSTAT for the comparison of standard thermometers. between the temperatures of 50° and 300° C. is described by Herr A. Mahlke in the current number of the Zeétschrift fiir Instrumentenkunde. It is used at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt for the purpose of maintaining the thermometers to be compared at certain temperatures for which the boiling point of some substance is not available, It consists essentially of an oil-bath in a copper cylinder surrounded by another copper cylinder, the space between the two being filled with air. Heat is applied to the outer vessel. The heated air warms the inner vessel by circulating round it, there being a clearance of 2 or 3.cm. all round. Special precautions are taken to keep the level of the oil in the inner vessel constant,. and the temperature of the oil uniform throughout. Both cylinders are closed with lids containing holes through which to- insert the thermometers. The oil is kept circulating by means of two propellers enclosed in vertical copper cylinders open at both ends. Their axes project through the outer lid, and are provided with pulleys rotated by means of a small water motor.. The whole arrangement is designed to keep the entire body of oil in motion, so as to prevent unequal heating. Surplus oil, due to expansion, and any oil-vapour that may be evolved, are drawn off through a siphon leading through the walls of the cylinders into a refrigerator. The apparatus has worked very well, the variations of temperature not exceeding the average errors in reading the thermometer scales. : THE extremely high cost of high resistances made of metallic wire causes the discovery of a cheap substitute to be a matter of considerable importance. Most of the substitutes hitherto proposed, such as liquid resist-- ances, pencil marks on glass or ebonite, &c., are subject to the objection that they have an extremely high tem- perature coefficient, and in the case of the pencil mark, on account of the extreme thinness of the conducting material, the rubbing off of a few particles causes a great increase of resist- ance. These resistances also depend in a considerabie degree on the electromotive force to which they are subjected. The- Elettricista for May contains the description of a new material, for the construction of high resistances, discovered by E. Jona which is said to be free from most of these defects. He uses an. ebonite tube which is filled with a mixture of graphite and un- vulcanised ebonite in suitable proportions, The mixture is then- vulcanised, when it hardens and adheres to the containing tube.. Metal cups fitted with binding screws are fixed to the ends. In this way a resistance of a megohm can easily be obtained in a tube 10 cm, long and of 15 mm. diameter. In a recently-published number of the proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society there is an interesting paper by Messrs. Griffiths and Clark on the determination of low temperatures by means of platinum thermometers. Acting on. the suggestion of Profs. Dewar and Fleming, that from obser- vations on the resistance of certain pure metals (including platinum) at very low temperatures, it would appear as if the resistance vanished at absolute zero, the authors have calculated by means of Callendar and Griffiths’ method the temperature at which the resistance of several platinum thermometers, whose accuracy had been severely tested, would be zero. The values obtained seemed to corroborate the conclusions arrived at by Profs, Dewar and Fleming as the mean value found for the temperature at which the resistance would be zero is — 273°"96+ This gives a convenient method of graduating a platinum ther~ 156 z “aN NATURE [JuNE 15, 1893 tometer, when a high order of accuracy is unnecessary, with- out the usual observation in sulphur vapour, which, in the absence of special apparatus, is a troublesome operation. _ For if the platinum is pure, it may be assumed that at absolute zero the resistance vanishes, and thus a measure of the resistance in steam and ice will allow of its constants being calculated. WHILE making the observations mentioned in the previous note the authors were led to suspect that the heating effect of the small currents necessary to measure a resistance are of more importance than is usually supposed. During their deter- mination of the value of the mechanical equivalent of heat by means of an electric current, they measured the temperature of the bath containing the wire under experiment, at which the re- sistance was the same, while the difference of potential at the ends was increased from one to ten volts. Hence they were able to calculate the change of resistance (5R), and the results seem to show that 5R = aC? where a is a coefficient depending on the nature of thesurroundings. Thus, by determining the re istance of a coil with two different electromotive forces, it would be possible to find the value ofa, and hence calculate the value of the resistance when C = 0, THE June number of the Journal of the Institution of Electri- cal Engineers contains a long paper by Mr. A. T. Snell on the distribution of power by alternate current motors. The paper is followed by a full report of the discussion which it raised when,it was communicated to the Institution. ACCORDING to the Electrical Review Messrs, Cross and Mans- field have recently contributed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology some further experiments on the excursion of the diaphragms of telephones. They find that on increasing the magnetising current, the corresponding permanent deflection increases more and more rapidly in proportion up to about #oths of an ampére, after which the deflection is very nearly pro- portional to the current. Similarly. the results show that as the strength of the magnet of the telephone increases, the amplitude of the vibration likewise increases up to a certain limit and .then falls off. The maximum motion of the diaphragm for a given value of the alternating line current employed is attained before the core reaches half saturation. It also appears that, in general, the amplitude of vibration of the diaphragm increases less rapidly than the current actuating the telephone. AGRICULTURE is rapidly becoming more scientific. In France the Société Nationale d’Agriculture lately charged a special commission to study the question of agronomic maps, designed to afford the farmer useful indications on the physical and chemical qualities of land, so that he may know how to improve it, what manures to apply, and in what quantity, &c. In an interesting report on behalf of this commission (sum. marised in Rev. Gen. de Sciences) M. Carnot represents that the time is now ripe for production of cantonal and communal agronomic maps, on a large scale; and a number of suggestions are offered as to how the work should be done. THERE is now a general tendency in Russia to introduce some teaching in agriculture and horticulture into the primary schools. Both private persons and the Provincial authorities freely give grants of land to the schools and to the teachers’ seminaries for their fields and orchards, and in many schools the plots of arable land and gardens attended to by the pupils become small centres of agricultural and horticultural education. In Caucasia the same tendency is even more pronounced, and no better idea can be given of the extent of this new movement than by giving the following facts relative to the primary schools of Kuban, a pro- vince of Northern Caucasia. This year ten schoolmasters have been invited to attend the lectures upon sericulture and bee-keep- ing at the schools of the Cossack villages, Armavir and Labinskaya. The inspector of the schools has acquired, with NO. 1233, VOL. 48] the modest grant of £35, thirty appliances for raising silk- worms, and five arrangements for each school for pumping out honey from the beehives, and preparing the artificial wax honeycombs ; in addition to which, ten schools have been sup- plied with apparatus for silkworm culture, while others have been supplied with seeds of plants of special use to bees. All schools which have gardens of silkworm trees have been sup- plied with seeds of the tree, and 20,000 young trees have — been distributed. among them. Fourteen schools are ex- pected this year to carry on the silkworm culture, and ten other — ; schools are already carrying on experiments relative to thesame. _ IN the current number of the Entomologists’ Monthly Maga- zine, Mr. R, McLachlan, F.R.S., in an article on the extinction — of several species of British butterflies within recent years, a the decadence that appears to be going on with respect to — others, suggests the enforcement of a close-time to last continu- — ously during the whole of a series of five or ten years, 3 IN a recent paper to a Christiania journal on the melting of a inland ice (whereby glaciers are prevented from growing in- — definitely in thickness, notwithstanding additions above the snow line), Herr Schiotz attempts to estimate the three factors — concerned in the interior fusion, viz. earth heat, friction, and pressure, and arrives at the result that a more important agent — than any of these (in hindering glacier growth) is solar heat — melting the surface ice below the snow line (Waturw. Rdsch., No. 21). A PARAGRAPH describing a supposed earthquake felt in the — Isle of Man on the afternoon of May 5 was published in several — London and provincial papers. Mr. Charles Davison writes us to the effect that his inquiries show that the shocks were-due, — not to earthquakes, but to the firing of heavy guns from ae battleship situated near the island. : DurRING the cutting of atunnel at the Notabile Terminus of the Malta Railway (writes Mr. N. Tagliaferroin the Mediterranean Naturalist) a piece of lignite, of dimensions about 11 by 4 by © I inches, was found embedded in the blue variety of the upper globigerina limestone. The upper layers of this limestone appear to be contemporaneous with the Langhian series of miocene beds of Italy, and were probably deposited on an ascent jog sea-floor at a depth of nearly 300 fathoms, The discovery lignite in these beds is, therefore, of some importance. WRITING in Sczence of May 5, Dr. Morris Gibbs says that the results of observations of the songs of fifty different species of birds shows that the notes do not change in quality as a resul of change in emotion. After robbing nests he has waited listened, allowing ample time for the male to learn of the s tion. In each instance the male, upon returning to the em nest, at once burst into song, and though it is possible that song expressed much sorrow or complaint, Dr. Gibbs co never distinguish any difference between it and the warbling was accustomed to hear. ig In the Lancet of June 10, Dr. Edwin Haward calls attenti ] to a point with respect to proofs of death, which, in co quence of the growth of opinion in favour of eee great importance. Sir B, W. Richardson and himself had decide in a particular case whether life was or was not e: Of ten tests applied to the body, eight indicated that death complete. These were (1) heart sounds and motion ent absent, together with all pulse movement; (2) respite sounds and movements entirely absent ; (3) temperature of body the same as that of the surrounding air in the room; | a bright needle plunged into the body of the biceps muscle a left there showed no sign of oxidation on withdrawal ; (5) inter- mittent shocks of electricity passed through various muscles ¢ groups of muscles gave no indication whatever of irritabili JuNE 15, 1893] NATURE 157 6) the fillet test applied to the veins of the arm caused no filling of veins on the distal side of the fillet ; (7) the subcutaneous injection of ammonia caused the dirty brown stain indicative of dissolution ; (8) rigor mortis was detected on making careful "movements of the joints of the extremities and of the lower jaw. Two tests, however, indicated that life was not extinct. The - opening of a vein to ascertain whether the blood had undergone ~ coagulation showed that the blood was fluid. This is not very _ important, because under abnormal conditiors the blood may remain fluid after death has occurred. But a criterion which has been believed to afford sure evidence of life or death was found to fail. It is known as the diaphanous test, and consists in holding the fingers of the supposed dead person in front of a strong light, and looking through the narrow spaces between two fingers just touching one another. The belief has been that if the person is alive a line of scarlet colour will be seen, and that the absence of the colour indicates death. In the case in- vestigated, however, the scarlet line of light between the fingers was clearly visible, though death was assured by the fact that decomposition set in. Further, Sir B. W. Richardson records acase in which the test, applied to the hand of a lady who had simply fainted, gave no evidence of the scarlet line ; so that, on that test alone, she would have been declared dead. Thus the diaphanous test, which has been considered by many as infallible, has been proved to be untrustworthy. HERRN FRIEDLANDER UND SOHN, of Berlin, have issued their Natural History News, Nos. 3-9. The lists contain advertisements of recent literature on natural history. THE Technical Instruction Committee of the Essex County Council have just issued a prospectus containing syllabuses of lectures on chemistry and biology—sciences which are specially applicable to the industries of the county. Tron has ceased to exist as an independent journal, after living for twenty‘years under that title and fifty years as the Mechanics’. Magazine. It has been amalgamated with /dustries, and the combined journal will in future be issued under the title of Industries and Iron. THE life of Sir Richard Francis Burton, by Lady Burton, will shortly be published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. The work will recount Sir Richard’s life from his birth to his death, _and will comprise two volumes of about 600 pages each. A large amount of space is devoted to a description of his explorations. WE have received the New South Wales Statistical Regisier for 1891 and previous years, compiled from official returns by Mr. T, A. Coghlan. The volume is a collection of eight parts. which have already. been issued separately, It is wholly de- voted to statistics. From Felix Alcan, of Paris, comes a work on the ‘‘Con- quéte du Monde Végétal,” by Louis Bourdeau, The arrange- ment of the matter in the book is very good. After discussing the general theory of the growth of plants, the author passes to the study of various groups of plants of economic and of orna- mental value, This branch of the subject is divided into seven parts. The operations of culture furnish matter for a special chapter, and the book is concluded with an account of the creation and preservation of artificial varieties of some types of plants. To a large extent the subject is treated historically. THE Life Saving Society has for its chief object the development of instruction in such swimming arts as would be of assistance to a person endeavouring to save life. They have Just issued a revised edition of an excellent little handbook in which an account is given of the methods recommended by the society for the rescue of the drowning and the resuscitation of the ; ‘Apparently drowned. It is hoped that the issue of this course of instruction will lead to the subject of life-saving and resusci- _ tation being included in the curriculum of every school. NO. 1233, VOL. 48] \ THE decomposition of steam by means of heated magnesium makes, according to Herr Rosenfeld (Berichte), a pretty lecture experiment. A short piece of a combustion tube is furnished at one end with a stopper and tube for escape of gas, and con- nected at the other with a vessel containing water. A little powdered magnesium (0°5 to 1 gramme) is put in the tube, and cautiously heated; then, by gently heating the water, steam passes over, and the metal merely glows. In this way is ob- tained a steady current of hydrogen, which can be collected over water. But if a rapid current of steam is sent over the heated metal, the latter burns with dazzling light, and the heat breaks the tube. This occurs, however, only after some time, when a good deal of hydrogen has been collected in the bell-jar. AN interesting compound of aluminium chloride with benzoyl chloride, the chloride of the benzoic acid radicle, has been obtained in large crystals by M. Perrier, and an account of it is contributed to the current number of the Comptes Rendus. Such compounds are of particular importance in view of the remarkable ré/e which aluminium chloride has been found to play in synthetical chemistry, as affording some insight into the nature of the intermediate reactions upon which the apparently catalytic action of this useful salt depends. The new compound now described is represented by the formula CsH,COCI. AICI, or, if aluminium chloride is considered as represented by the usual double formula, (CgHsCOCI),.Al,Clg. It is readily pre- pared by heating about ten grams of benzoyl chloride dissolved in 150 c.c. of carbon bisulphide with nine grams of anhydrous aluminium chloride in a flask fitted with a reflux condenser. After three hours’ ebullition and subsequent cooling a large yield of the colourless tabular crystals of the new compound is obtained. The crystals decompose somewhat rapidly in moist air, and they are instantly decomposed by water, forming an aqueous solution of aluminium chloride, hydrochloric acid, and benzoic acid. They are readily soluble, however, without decomposition, in carbon bisulphide. The formation of com- pounds of this nature is not confined to the chloride of benzoic acid, but would appear to be general throughout the aromatic series, and M. Perrier has already isolated in a pure state the corresponding compound containing the chloride of phthalic acid. Moreover, in the fatty series the chloride of butyric acid- is found to combine readily with aluminium chloride, in carbon bisulphide solution, to form a compound of the same definite nature. °* THESE compounds are not the first of the kind that have been prepared. Last year MM. Perricr and Louise described:a con- siderable number containing the aromatic ketones, ethers, and phenols. They were all constituted upon the same type, M,.Al,Cl,, where M represents a molecule of a ketone, ether, or phenol. The compound containing acetophenone, for instance, (CgH;.CO.CH3)9. AlgClg, may be obtained in good crystals by cooling the liquid formed by heating acetophenone dissolved in carbon bisulphide with aluminium chloride to 40°. Similarly the compound with phenyl benzoate, (CgH;.COOC,H;),:Al,Cle, crystallises from the liquid obtained by heating the components in carbon bisulphide solution. They are all of the same character, permanent in carbon bisulphide solution or in dry air, but de- composed rapidly by moisture. THE formation of the above compounds explains at once the important synthetical method introduced by MM. Friedel and Crafts for the preparation of the aromatic ketones by the action of the hydrocarbons upon the chlorides of the acid radicles in presence of aluminium chloride. It is most probable that a compound of aluminium chloride with the chloride of the acid radicle, (R.COC1),.Al,Clg, is first formed, and that this is sub- sequently converted by the hydrocarbon into the compound of 158 NATURE [JuNE 15, 1893 rf aluminium chloride and the ketone, (R.CO.R) .Al,Clg, with elimination of hydrochloric acid. _ Under the conditions of the experiment this latter compound is dissociated into free alumi- nium chloride and {the free ketone. That this explanation is very near the truth is demonstrated by the fact that by working in carbon bisulphide solution, M. Perrier has actually converted his new compound with benzoyl chloride, (CgH;COCI),. Al,Cl,, directly into the ketone compound, (CgH;.CO.CgH5)». AlgCl,, by reacting upon it with benzene. The crystals of the ketone compound obtained were identical with those prepared from benzophenone itself. WE regret that in announcing the birthday honours last week the name of Mr. Daniel Morris was printed ‘‘Mr. David Morris.” Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Actinian Chitonactis coronata, the Polycheta Giycera capitata and Procerea picta, the Opistho- branchs Candiella plebeia and Triopa claviger, the Schizopod Leptomysis mediterranea, the Ascidian Pycnoclavella aurilucens and a number of Amphioxus fanceolatus. The character of the floating fauna has exhibited little change since the preceding week, Ctenophora and Leptomedusz having been especially abundant. The following animals are now breeding: Various Serpulidze, the Schizopoda Schistomysis arenosa and Leptomysis mediterranea, the Decapod Crangon sculplus, and the Ascidian Botryllus violaceus. The majority of Amphioxus also are full- grown and mature. ‘ THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Stair’s Monkey (Cercopithecus stairsi, 3) from East Africa, presented by Mr. F. Hintze ; a Himalayan Bear (Ursus tibetanus, 6) from Northern India, presented by Capt. Michael Hughes, 2nd Life Guards ; a Maugés Dasyure (Dasyurus maugei) from Australia, presented by Mr. Robert Hoade ; four South Island Robins (Miro albifrons) from New Zealand, presented by Capt. Edgar J. Evans; two Carrivn Crows (Corvus corene), British, presented by the Hon. Wm, Edwardes ; a Rose-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) from Moluccas, presented by Mr. J. B. Sutherland ; a Herring Gull (Larus argeniatus) British, presented by Miss M. A. Croxford ; a Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), a Tawny Owl (Syrnium aluco), British, presented by Mr. Alan F. Crossman; two Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) from Texas, presented by Mr. A. E, Jamrach; a Red-handed Tamarin (Afidas rufimanus) from Surinam, a Yellow-footed Rock Kangaroo (Petrogale wxanthopus, 6) from South Australia, fourteen Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) from Texas, four Tuberculated Iguanas (Jguana tuberculata) from the West Indies, deposited ; a Malbrouck Monkey (Cercopithecus cynosurus) from West Africa, four Bronze-winged Pigeons (Phaps chalcoptera), two Australian Sheldrakes (Zadorna tadornoides, & 2) from Australia, four Green Waxbills (Zstrelda formosa) from India, purchased ; a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii), a Japanese Deer (Cervus stka, 9 ) born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Fintay’s Comet (1886 VII.).—The ephemeris of Finlay’s comet for this week is as follows :— 12h, 4.7. Paris. R.A. (app.) Decl. (app.) 1893. h, m. s. SAT June 15 ea I 45 47 +38 29 16 a 50 31 8 312 17 Fa 155 15 ‘si 8 591 18 = 200 Sas 9 268 19 oe 4 45 9 54°2 20 ae 9 30 10 21°3 21 Fis 14 16 10 43°! 22 219 I +1 14°5 NO, 1233, VOL. 48] DETERMINATIONS OF GRAVITY.—The ed pe (No. 1 the report of the ‘‘ United States Coast and Geodetic S for 1891” contains a set of determinations of gravity made wi half-second pendulums on the Pacific coast, in Alaska, and Washington, D.C., and Hoboken, N.J., under the sup tendence of Mr. T. C. Mendenhall. On account of the diffi and cost of a previous undertaking, the apparatus in present determinations has been greatly reduced both in m tude and complexity by using a pendulum vibrating to hall second and a chronometer in place of a clock. The pendul apparatus consisted of a set of three-quarter metre pendulums, dummy or temperature pendulum, an air-tight receiver in whi the pendulums were swung, a flash apparatus, wherein a electromagnet in the circuit of a chronometer moves a shutter and throws out a flash of light each second, a tel for ob- serving, mounted above the flash-light apparatus and varic accessories. The pendulums themselves constituted a sei three, so that discrepancies in any one of them, if t appe: could easily be detected. Each was composed of an allo aluminium Io per cent. and copper 90 per cent., a co highly resistible to corrosion. The base station adopted at the Smithsonian Institution in. Washington, and the val assumed there for g was 980°1o dynes. 4 vf oa The following are the values of g as obtained at five places, table given here including several other determinations:— nposi! reas = Ekv. e Station. t. N. . of — above ; Greenw. cea-level, 4¢ station. aed, er eet. Dynes. Washington, D.C. 3853 7702 34 [980'1000} 980°10 San Francisco, Cal. 3747. 42226 375 9799507 — Seattle, Wash. 47360 12120 243 980°7I1 Mount Hamilton, 8 Cal. 37 20 121 39 4205 979°6456 979 Lick Observatory / : Hoboken, N.J. 4044 7402 35 9802555 980°25' SOLAR OBSERVATIONS AT THE KoyAL COLLEGE, RoME.- In the Memorie della Societa degli Spettroscopisté Naliani P. Tachini communicates the observations of the sun made at the — Royal College Observatory during the first trimestre of this — year. The records of the protuberances during this period show that the monthly numbers were 138, 198, 264, a rapid increas 3 as will be noticed, the maxima heights being 1026”, 1149”, _ and 1650” respectively for the same months. ‘The mean alti-— tudes increased also rather irregularly, 706", 824”, and 11 being the numbers given: With regard to the oe Maxch contained the most numerous (358), being 94 more than Januar and 73 more than Felruary. ‘Lhe number of groups for 1he first two months were, curiously enough, nearly equal ( = numbers being tof and 102), but the extensions were very different, 1968 and 2215 representing the numbers for the spots, | and $70 and 1170 for the faculea. The same number of the memoirs gives a summation of the solar observations made the Royal Observatory at Palermo during the year 1892 by T. Lona and A. Mascari, and M. Abetti’s observations of th conjunction of Mars with v Tauri, and of Saturn wit! Virginis. 4 ' L’AsTRONOMIE FOR JUNE.—The opening article in t month’s number contains a description of a very ren observation on Jupiter made by M. Lumsden on September 1891. It seems that he has seen the shadow of { satellite of Jupiter on the planet’s surface, accompanied followed by a second shadow, not so dark and ; original satellite, but nevertheless very distinct a) ) testable. This second shadow is said to have moved uniform with the real one, following it at an equal distance. The server seems to be very certain that it was not a spot, so” aioe is—How can this secondary shadow be explaii t was thought at first that as the other satellites were all ont same side of the primary it might have been one of th shadows, but the facts show that that was not the case. Lumsden suggested that perhaps it was the shadow of Sa I cast by the light emitted by Satellite 4, assuming the fou satellite to be self-luminous, but M. Flammarion’s explan: is perhaps more simple, it being that since the atmosphere of Jupiter is very deep, the clouds would be at various depths, and ~ at great distances from one another, so that sometimes the shadow of a satellite would fall either on the upper or on the lower clouds, or even on the disc itself. It is true that the dis-— tance between these shadows would be very small as seen “7 a June 15, 1893) NATURE #59 ‘the earth, and in the actual observation here mentioned the distance between the shadows is comparatively large. Among other communications in the same journal we may mention M. ‘Cornu’s address on the discovery of minor planets by photography, M. Flammarion on the spring of 1893, some otes on the late total solar eclipse, and a brief reference to a proposed new astronomical station on Mount Mounier, at an altitude of 2800 metres. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. Mr. F. G. Jackson, whose proposed attempt on the North Pole by Franz Josef Land has been announced, has altered his plans. He now proposes to spend next winter in Nova Zembla, in order to familiarise himself with the conditions of Arctic life, and to test his sledges and other appliances for travelling over ‘the ice. His more serious journey in Franz Josef Land has been postponed for a year, and will havea greatly increased chance of success. : _ Vita Hassan, well known as Emin Pasha’s apothecary in the Equatorial province, died recently. He had published a _ book on affairs inthe Sudan, which throws some new light on _ the history of the Egyptian provinces before Stanley's expedition reached the Albert Nyanza. 3 A LADY traveller, Miss Taylor, of the China Inland Mission’ _ has made a somewhat remarkable journey in Eastern Tibet? details of which will be looked for with much interest. MisS _ Taylor, who travelled alone, is expected soon to arrive in this country. A GrocrRApHicaL Club has recently been established in Philadelphia, which practically constitutes a new geographical - society. It has published the first number of a bulletin contain- ing a paper by Mr. E. S. Balch on mountain exploration, in _ which he endeavours to redeem mountaineering from the charge of being only a dangerous pastime. iy THE coral reefs of Dar-es-Salaam, onthe east coast of Africa, _ have beencarefully studied by Dr. Ortmann, whose observations extend considerably our knowledge of fringing reefs. THE ROVAL SOCIETY SOIREE. “THE President of the Royal Society received a brilliant company at the Society’s rooms on the occasion of the _ annual ladies’ soz-ée on June 7. Many of the exhibits were _ shown at the conversaztone of May 10, and were noted in _ Nature of May 18. Other exhibits are described in the following account :— Mr. C. J. Woodward exhibited a bar over a resonance chamber illustrating sound interference. When a ventral nt is‘over the box aloud deep tone is heard. When the bar _ is placed so that a node is near the centre of the opening to the box no sound is heard, owing to opposite movements of the bar on either side of the node. The Karakoram Mountain Survey Expedition exhibited Water-colour Drawings of the scenery of the Karakoram Mountains, Kashmir, India, by Mr. A. D. McCormick. _ These drawings were made at altitudes of from 15,000 to . 20,000 feet, during the Expedition in 1892. _ Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., exhibited an illustration of vortex motion showing motion analogous to vortex rings in fluids. Prof. Thorpe, F.R.S., exhibited autotype enlargements _ from photographs taken by himself, illustrative of the recent _ African Eclipse Expedition. The enlargements portrayed—(r) the eclipse party ; (2) the observing party at Fundium, Senegal— taken immediately after the eclipse; (3) the duplex corona- graph ; (4) the prismatic camera ; (5) the integrating photometer ; _ (6) the equatorial photometer. ; Re _ Capt. McEvoy exhibited the hydrophone. This, in connec- tion with a new instrument named a kinesiscope, is intended to be used at night, or in foggy weather ; it has for its object the revention of surprise attacks from torpedo-boats, or other hostile vessels, approaching anchorages, or mine-fields. It will ace warning of their movements when they are several miles distant by ringing bells, flashing lights, &c. These signals in “every case are verified by telephones in the circuit. The ‘NO. 1233, VoL. 48] 2 apparatus, which is electrical, may also be employed to warn vessels off dangerous points of the coast. Dr. John Gorham exhibited a reflecting kaleidoscope, which is'a new instrument adapted to produce not merely symmetric patterns of beauty, but to exemplify many of the theories in optics connected with the reflections of light. To do this changes in its construction are required to adapt it to its novel uses. The two mirrors, for instance, must be thrown open to admit the light upon them and the objects. The objects them- selves must have a definite shape to cause them to reflect oblique rays of light only, while the light again must fall upon them from above, instead of being transmitted through them from below. ‘These objects consist of strips of card bent back- wards and forwards into hollows and elevations, upon which the light falls obliquely. It is then received upon the mirrors and reflected from them to the eye. Experiments were made to show :—(1) Gray tones from oblique white surfaces; (2) tints and shades of colour from oblique coloured surfaces ; (3) depth, intensity, and brilliancy by repeated reflections ; (4) the choice lustre, &c. Mr. Edwin Edser exhibited an apparatus to illustrate Prof. Michelson’s method of producing interference bands. Light is allowed to fall on a mirror thinly silvered, so that about half of the light is reflected and half transmitted. The two rays pursue paths which are mutually perpendicular, are reflected back by two ordinary mirrors, and on meeting interfere. The interference bands can be projected on a screen, and this fact together with the simplicity of the arrangements will make the method very useful for lecture illustration, Mr. W. A. Shenstone and Mr, M. Priest exhibited an apparatus used for studying the action of the electric discharge on oxygen. A known volume of oxygen at known temperature and pressure is exposed to the ‘* glow ” discharge at known difference of potential. The change of pressure is read by a mercury manometer, and from this the proportion of ozone is calculated. The use of the mercury manometer, hitherto impossible, makes this method very accurate, and by means of it our knowledge of the influence of various conditions (such as difference of potential, rapidity of discharge) has been considerably extended. It is found that under equal conditions a coil is more effective than a ‘* Wimshurst ” or ‘* Voss” machine. The using of mercury in the manometer is made possible by protecting it from the ozone by placing a rod of silver in the tube connecting the ozone generator and the manometer. Mr. Percy E. Newberry was in charge of an exhibit by the Egypt Exploration Fund (Archeological Survey), The exhibit included water-colour drawings executed by the artists of the survey—Mr. Percy Buckman, Mr. John E. Newberry, and Mr. Howard Carter—-during the past season, 1892-3. (1) Sketches of various sites visited by the officers of the survey, including views of Tell el Amarna, Sheikh Said and Dér el Gebrawi. (2) Specimens of facsimile drawings of wall paintings from ancient -.. tombs in the provinces of Minieh and Assiut (VI. and XIU. dynasties, B.c, 3800 and B.C. 2500). Lord Kelvin, Pres. R.S., exhibited illustrations of the mole- cular tactics of a crystal. (1) Bravais homogeneous assemblage of 512 single points. (2) Two homogeneous equilateral as- semblages of points, red and green, with stretched springs between each point of the green assemblage and its nearest neigh- bour, and four struts between each of the reds and its nearest neighbour of the green assemblage ; showing how any degree of resistance to compression with given rigidity can be provided for by Boscovich’s theory. (3) Three-dimensional netting, analogous to the ordinary hexagonal netting of two dimensions. The stretched cords of this model are exactly in the positions of the struts of model No. 2, (4) Twelve nearest and eight next- nearest neighbours of an ideal particle at the centre of a cube, placed to show the cubic arrangement of an_ equilateral assemblage. (5) Cubic cluster of fourteen balls, being the least. number which can show cubic form in an equilateral assemblage. (6) Probable molecular structure of Iceland spar. (7) Illustrat- ing the molecular movement in the twinning of Iceland spar by knife according to Baumhauer, (8) Illustrating Baumhauer’s artificial twinning of Iceland spar by knife. (9) Tetrahedron with adjustable edges (six independent variables). (10) Two aiebepas bir models of :—(a) A dextro-chiral crystal. (2) A evo-chiral crystal. (11) Special tetrahedron, with perpendicu- lars from corners to faces, meeting in one point ; to illustrate engineering of Boscovich’s theory for an incompressible elastic crystal with 12 arbitrarily given rigidity moduluses. Dr. G. H. Fowler exhibited specimens of oyster shells. The 160 NATURE [JuNE 15, 1893 specimens illustrate :—(1) The rate of growth of the oyster. (2) Natural varieties of the shells. (3) Modifications of a variety bred under new conditions, Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, F.R.S., exhibited abnormal and normal forms of oyster shells. The collection included oyster shells, showing the great variety of abnormal forms produced by accidental change in the position of the shells during growth, and also a selection of oyster shells, showing that among recent shells of O. edu/is most of the forms occur which are considered of specific value in fossils, The Joint Eclipse Committee exhibited the following photo- graphs taken during the recent Eclipse Expeditions to West Africa and Brazil. .(1) Photographs of the corona, taken in West Africa. (2) Photographs of the spectra of the corona and prominences, taken in West Africa. (3) Photographs of the corona, taken in Brazil. (4) Photographs of the spectra of the corona, and prominences, taken with the objective prism in Brazil. (5) Photographs of the stations, Mr. W.H. Preece, F.R.S.,exhibited submarine borersand speci- mens of submarine cables damaged by them. The Yylophaga and Limnoria terebrans have proved serious and expensive depreda- tors in tropical seas, but while twenty years ago limnoria was practically unknown in our English waters, it has now gradually spread all around our coasts, and cables have to be served with brass tape to be protected from its attacks. Some stones pierced by Saxicava rugosa were also shown. They came from the Plymouth Breakwater. Several specimens of dam- aged cables from different parts of the world were exhibited. The Zoological Society of London exhibited (t) a series of living Canadian walking-stick insects (Diapheromera femorata), hatched from eggs laid in the Society’s insect-house in 1892. The “ Walking-sticks” are orthopterous insects of the family Phasmidze, so-called from, their resemblance to sticks. They are strictly herbivorous, and closely imitate the plants upon which they feed, changing colour as the foliage turns in autumn. In North America the present species is said to do great injury to the oaks. These specimens are fed on hazel-leaves. (2) Living specimens of the Hornet Clearwing Moth of the Osier (Sesta bembiciformis), reare| from pupz in the Society’s Insect- house. This moth affords one of the best known examples of “mimicry.” Although belonging to quite a different order of insects, it resembles a hornet so close y as to deceive a casual observer, especially when it is on the wing. Col. Swinhoe exhibited some species of butterflies, illustrating protective mimicry. Mimetic forms of the nymphalid genus Hypolimnas in India, Malayana and Africa, showing the various phases of development of mimicry in two widespread species of the same genus; also mimetic resemblances to different protected species in the females of Zuripus halitherses, &c. Prof. H.G. Seeley, F.R.S., exhibited fossil skulls fromthe Karoo Rocks of Cape Colony. These specimens were brought from Cape Colony by the exhibitor in 1889. They include examples of the chief types of fossil reptiles included in the Ascpatael and Theriodont groups, preferable to the genera Dicynodon and Tapinocephalus. Mr. Edward Whymper exhibited the Corry ‘ protected” aneroid, a new form of aneroid, specially designed for use in mountain-travel, or for aeronauts. This form of mountain aneroid is designed to avoid the inaccuracies which result from continued exposure to low atmospheric pressure. It is enclosed in a perfectly air-tight outer case, and the internal atmosphere is kept at about a normal pressure at all times, except when an observation is to be taken, and then the cock is opened, and communication with the external atmosphere is established. After taking a reading, the pressure is restored to the normal by means of a small force pump. The conditions thus corres- pond to those which originally obtained, when the aneroid was graduated under the air-pump receiver. Mr. J. W. Swan exhibited specimens of electrolytic copper, deposited bright. A series of electrolytic copper deposits, showing the great change produced in the character of the deposited metal by the addition of a minute quantity of colloid matter to an acid solution of sulphate of copper. The deposits produced from the solution containing the colloid are not only bright instead of being dull, but they are also very much harder and more elastic than ordinary electrolytic copper. Prof. Henrici, F.R.S., exhibited (1) A harmonic analyser, constructed by G. Coradi, Ziirich, according to instructions by Prof. Henrici and Mr. Sharpe. The instrument gives, on going once over a curve, the first five terms of the expansion in NO. 1233. VOL. 48 | Fourier’s series, and on going twice more over the curve, it g' es five additional terms. The constant term is not given, (2) A calculating machine by Prof. Sellinger, constructed by Ott, Munich. This instrument is constructed on altogether new rinciples. The ‘‘carrying” is done continuously without jerks. It works very rapidly and smoothly. ‘ In addition, Prof. J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., on the localities and instruments used during the eclipse April 16, 1893, in West Africa and Brazil, with photograph showing some of the results obtained. i Mr. W. M. Conway also used the electric lantern to sl photographic. lantern slides, illustrating the scenery of th Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram Mountains, Kashmir, India. The photographs were taken during Mr. Conway’s climbing survey expedition in 1892. Some of them were taken from summit of the Pioneer Peak (22,500 ft.) ; the remainder sent the great mountains K2, Gusherbrum, Masherbrum, th Golden Throne, and others, probably the highest group mountains in the world. Wie At intervals throughout the evening Mr. W. ety a exhibited the lantern: stereoscope (invented by Mr. J Anderton). The images of a pair of stereoscopic transparent having been superposed on a 10-foot screen, the beams of from the two lanterns were polarised in planes at right ang]. each other. The picture was viewed through a pair of similar toa small opera glass, and a true stereoscopic effect obtained. Bt. THERMOMETER SOUNDINGS IN THE HIGH ATMOSPHERE. a ‘THE project, which was suggested by Le Verrier in 1874, of sending small billoons into the upper atm sphere with registering apparatus has been executed recently by M. mite, in Paris, with remarkable‘success. No fewer than thi small balloons, constructed with paper and varnished petroleum, were liberated during the last four months of 18g and penetrated to an altitude of 9000 metres. A paper balloon of 60 cubic metres capacity was sent up on December 7, but ploded at a small distance from the earth. It was there < resolved to build a balloon of 113 cubic metres capacity in gold beaters’ skin. The launching of this balloon took place on March 21 last, at Vaugirard, with the help, of the Aerophytic Union of France, of which I have the honour be the president. The balloon was filled with 113 cubic metre: of coal-gas. Its weight with netting was about four te kilograms. It carried in a small basket a Richard regis ing apparatus for temperature and pressure, and about : hundred postal-cards, to be liberated by the combustion cotton string specially prepared for the purpose. This part the operation utterly failed. Although the fire was put to both extremities of the string, it was extinguished before all the c: had been sent down, and out of four hundred which were cipitated, no more than five or six were recovered. Thus, thi hope of determining the path by dropping such objects from immense height had proved futile. But the recovery of thi balloon at 190 km, from Paris was very easy, and the reg ing apparatus was returned to its owner in excellent worl order. The diagram, which had been traced on the revolvi cylinder, has been submitted to a close inspection, of which th results have been published in the Comptes Rendus and Pde phile, a new periodical devoted to the study of aeronautics. The registering of the pressure had been continued dow 95 mm. of mercury, which answers to something less 17,000 metres, if Laplace’s formula is valid even for this tude. A temperature had been registered of — 51° C. =6¢ below zero Fahr. at a level of about 14,000 metres, 4a cording to the same formula. The temperature onthe gro being + 17°, a diminution of 67° C. was thus found, wh is about a degree for each 210 metres. The atmosp her being supposed to extend up to 180,000 metres, it is easy to see that these numbers are an indication that the cold of t upper regions is much greater than supposed according Fourier’s theory, which asserts that the greatest degree of observed at the surface of the earth, viz. 58° registered Black in Northern America is about equal to the temperat celestial space. : This remarkable observation is not however to remain isolated, as Commander Renard, of Meudon, has built a set JUNE 15, 1893] NATURE 161 registering apparatus, which were exhibited recen‘ly at the an- niversary meeting of the Société de Piysigue, and will be sent up very shortly with a 113 c.m. balloon inflated with pure hydrogen. So a new departure may be said to have been taken for the scientific exploration of the air at an altitude ‘where no human being can penetrate. The Series of prizes _ —pro} by M. Hodgkins for 1893 and 1894, and the creation _ of the Hodgkins medal by the Smithsonian Institution, certainly add new interest to these experiments. M. Janssen intends to establish an apparatus for making pure hydrogen in the Meudon Observatory in order to help M. Hermite to send his sounding balloons to a higher level if possible. He will, moreover, try to measure by direct observation the altitude of the balloons sent, as long as they remain visible from his Observatory. : This last scheme was adopted by Le Verrier, who says in the Bulletin de l' Association Scientifique de France for October 1874: ‘‘La hauteur du ballon est toujours déduite de la mesure du barométre et du thermométre, au moyen d’hypothéses sur la repartition de la pression atmosphérique. II s’agit d’écarter ces causes d’incertitude, et de mesurer directement par . des opérations trigonométriques la hauteur méme du ballon; ce qui permettra de vérifier les lois admises ou de les modifier. Les operations trigonométriques 4 terre seront faites par les astronoms de |’observatoire sur le charge de cette partie des dépenses. La direction de l’aerostat fourni par l’observatoire est confiée 4 M. W. de Fonvielle.” The protracted illness of the illustrious astronomer and his subsequent death, prevented the series of ascents from being tried as contemplated. The experiments already tried by M. Hermite, namely, on March 3, prove that the balloon will remain long visible from an Observatory, if the ascent is executed on a clear and calm day with a considerable ascending force, which gold- beater’s skin can support without being torn by the friction. The ascent of March 21, when ordinary gas was employed, took place with such velocity that the balloon was seen always nearing the zenith, independently of the diverging direct’on of the air, the mean recorded velocity having been eight metres per second from the time of starting to the time of maximum, which was reached in three-quarters of an hour, according to the automatic barometer. The inflating pipe (appendice) which the balldon carried with it, was 30 cm. diameter and go cm. long, and air took the place vacated by the retreating gas, when the balloon descended. Consequently it was found qnite full when discovered, just the Same as when the balloon was liberated. The only differenec ' was that the gas had been expelled and replaced by air. Since the volume of the balloon remained quite constant during the whole of the operation, it would have been quite easy to determine the absolute distance from the observatory by measuring the apparent diameter with a micrometer. By taking Simultaneously a reading of zenith distance and azimuth, it would have been gs easy, by a series of observations con- ducted from a single station, to ascertain the altitude of the balloon and every circumstance of its motion. The principal object of M. Janssen will be to determine the absolute minimum of temperature at the maximum altitude, which can be done more or less precisely, and the direction or velocity of the winds blowing at different altitudes. Then the indications of the registering instruments can be submitted “to the rational control which is necessary before coming to any definite conclusion. _ Itis interesting to notice that these preliminary results are inconformity with the Jouleand Clausius theory, which asserts that al space is at the temperature of — 273°C., or even with the opinion that there is no limit to the refrigeration, as asserted by other natural philosophers. Another questionis raised by these experiments, when coupled with Dewar’s and Cailletet’s discoveries relating to the lique- faction or solidification of the elements of the air. If the tem- perature descends to such a degree it is necessary to admit that ‘the air loses its gaseous condition and becomes changed into a Series of minute crystals or drops, which follow the earth in its motion through space, and are constantly vapourised when fall- _ ing in Ng a where the temperature is somewhat above their int of liquefaction or evaporation. _ ___Such are some of the questions raised by this new exploration of elevated regions, rendered very easy by the unexpected facility with which balloons and instruments in working order are re- eovered. This has been rendered possible in France by the NO. 1233. VOL. 48] , interest taken in the matter by public schoolmasters, who have been notified of the experiments by the newspapers, and have found special instructions printed on a paper pasted to the basket. It is certain that similar results may be obtained in every civilised country in the world, and we trust this new ‘method will’ develop and improve so that unquestionable facts will be discovered with regard to the mysterious cosmical fron- tiers of our globe. W. DE FONVIELLE. DISINFECTANTS AND MICRO-ORGANISMS. SOME important results have recently been obained by Heider, who has been experimenting with dis- infectants at higher temperatures and testing the effect pro- duced upon their bactericidal properties. The author’s first contributions in this direction were published in 1891. In Heider’s original communication, ‘‘ Ueber die Wirksamkeit von Desinfektionsmitteln bei héherer Temperatur” (Centrai- blatt fiir Backteriologie, vol. ix. 1891, p. 221), temperatures of 55° and 75° C. were employed, and the spores of anthrax were selected for investigation. Although these spores, it was ascertained, survived an immersion during 36 days in a § per cent. solution of carbolic acid kept at the ordiniry temperature of the room, they were destroyed in from one to two hours in a similar solution at 55°C. Weaker solutions of this acid (1 per cent. and 3 per cent.), even when maintained at the higher temperature for seven and eight hours, produced no effect upon the anthrax spores, On the temperature being raised to 75° C., however, three minutes’ exposure to a 5 per cent..solution of carholic acid, fifteen minutes to a 3 per cent. solution. from two to two and a half hours toa 1 per cent. solution sufficed to annihilate these spores. Other materials were also investigated at these high temperatures, and equally satisfactory results obtained. Heider has brought together all his researches on this interest- ing subject in an elaborate memoir, ‘* Ueber die Wirksamkeit der Desinfectionsmittel bei erhdhter Temperatur,” which has been published in the Archiv. fiir Hygiene, vol. xv. p. 341. It is pointed out how great an effect upon the powers of resistance possessed by micro organisms may be exercised by the nature of their surroundings, and that it may be taken that they are, as a rule, more refractory in their normal environment than when purposely introduced into various materials. This has been shown by Yersin, in respect to the tubercle bacillus, which succumbs more readily to certain temperatures when exposed in artificial cultures than in sputum. Heider also found that particular culture media had a remarkable effect in this respect upon bacteria, that, for example, those grown in sugar broth (3 per cent. cane sugar) proved far more capable of re- sisting exposure to a high temperature than those introduced into ordinary broth. In conclusion, it having been distinctly proved that the bactericidal action of the majority of disin- fecting materials is markedly increased when they are employed at a higher temperature, the author recommends that in all those cases where the destruction of spores is required, instead of applying these materials in cold solutions, they should be employed hot, or even boiling. The advantages derived by so doing are not alone the greater security obtained and saving of time, but economy in the cost of material, inasmuch as effectual sterilisation may be accomplished by the use of lecs concentrated solutions. THE NEW FLORA AND THE OLD IN AUSTRALIA. A VERY interesting paper on the effect which settlement in Australia has produced upon indigenous vegetation, by Mr, A. G, Hamilton, appears in the new number (vol. xxvi.) of the ‘‘Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales.” Mr. Hamilton traces with great care the results which have sprung from’ the direct action of man. He then deals with the alteration of the flora by the introduction of a new fauna, and the modification of it by the destruction of the native fauna. Finally, he considers the introduction of a new flora, and the conseq tent modification of the indigenous flora through competition, The following is the portion of the paper relating to the effects due to a new flora :— 162 NATURE a [June 15, 1893 oa The plants which have become naturalised in Australia natur- ally come under two headings, viz. those purposely introduced for use, ornament or sentiment, and those which acciJentally found their way here. Of those introduced ‘for use or for ornamental purposes, a large number do not spread to any extent: they are children of civilisation and show no tendency to hecome feral, Many hardy annual garden flowers come up self-sown in gardens year after year and yet never gain a footing outside. Others again, which have the power of spreading rapidly, are never able to do so, as they are succulent feed, and cattle take care that they never multiply. Such are oats and other grains. Wheat never seems to spread at all away from the fields in which it is culti- vated. But stillt vere are numbers of useful plants which are able to hold their own and more. Among these may be men- tioned the lemon, peach, Cape gooseberry, tomato, and passion fruit, all of which are wild in many parts of the Illawarra district, and continue to bear fruit. Another species of passion flower (Passtflora alba?) is common there and is even more plentiful than the edible species. It is bitter and nau rodden parts of the Australian Alps during the author’s NO. 1233, VOL. 48] ‘days may well surprise us. earliest explorations, A/chemilla arvensis and Veronica pere- grina were at first only noticed near settlements. The occur- rence of Arabis glabra, Geum umbrosum, Agrimonia eupatoria, Eupatorium cannabinum, Carpesium cernuum, and some others will readily be disputed as indigenous and some questions con- cerning the nativity of various of our plants will probably remain for ever involved in doubts.” As will be seen from this, the origin of some plants will and must remain more or less a matter of personal opinion. And on referring to lists of plants of the various colonies it will be found that their authors differ in their placing of these doubtful plants. If we critically examine the Census of New South Wales plants by Mr. C. Moore, of Queensland plants by Mr. F. M. Bailey, of Victorian by Baron Von Mueller, and of New South Wales by Dr. Woolls, we shall find abundant evidence of diversity of views in this respect. But very many weeds present no difficulty at all, although the record of their plentiful occurrence in very early The Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods (* Proc. Linn. Soc. of N.S. Wales,” vol. iv., p. 133) rematks that Leichhardt found Verbena bonariensis so plentiful in the neighbourhood of Darling Downs, then only five or six years settled, that be named the place Vervain Plains. The injury done by introduced weeds will be almost entirely by competition, but it is possible that in time, the Australian plants may begin to hold their own and even to some extent drive out the others. This will be more especially the case with the group of plants which are found on the barren and sandy tracts wherever the Hawkesbury Sandstone formation occurs, In such land few aliens get a footing. On the sandstone about Sydney as a rule, and in the Blue Mountains where the same soil occurs, the foreign weeds have no chance. But wherever the soil is fairly good, or where it has been broken up, there they triumph and exclude the indigenes. To some, extent however, the weeds will work their own destruction. They increase so rapidly that competition is most severe, not between them and the natives, but between individuals of the same alien species, or between distinct alien species. Sisymbrium officinale was once a pest near Mudgee, the fallow and unoccupied land being covered with a thick mass of it; but after the lapse of a few years it became quite rare, and Erigeron canadense took its place. I think that in some cases the fact ofa heavy crop of weeds occurring in a locality one or more years is a reason for expecting its scarcity in the following years. The soil becomes exhausted of the particular constituents demanded by the plants, and they fail in consequence. I had often read doleful prophecies of the damage that might be expected when the Cape weed (Cryptostemma calendulaceum) became common. When I first saw it appear in Illawarra, I was therefore prepared to see much land infested by it in a short time. It spread to a great extent in certain spots for a couple of years and then almost disappeared. In my garden half-a-dozen vigorous plants came up, and as I left them for the purpose of observation, they flowered and seeded plentifully. I fully expected a large crop the following year, but to my sur- prise not a single plant was to be found, nor has there been on Mr. T. Kirk, in a paper on the naturalised plants of Port Nicholson, N.Z., says :—‘‘ At length a turning point is reached, the invaders lose a portion of their vigour, and become less encroaching, while the indigenous plants find the struggle less severe and gradually recover a portion of their lost ground, the result being the gradual amalgamation of those kinds best adapted to hold their own in the struggle for existence with the intro- duced forms,and the restriction of those less favourably adapted to habitats which afford them special advantages.” (Trans, N. Z. Inst., vol. x., p. 363 ) And Mr. T, F. Cheeseman, from whose paper on the ‘‘ Naturalised plants of the Auckland District”’ I have quoted the above, coincides with this opinion to some extent and says, ‘* Speaking generally 1 am inclined to believe that the struggle between the naturalised and the native floras will result in a limitation of the range of the native species rather than in their actual extermination. We must be prepared to see many plants once common become comparatively rare, and possibly a limited number—I should not estimate it at more than a score or two—may altogether disappear, to be only known to us in the future by the dried specimens in our museums.” If this is likely to be the case in a territory so limited as New Zealand how much more is it probable in Australia with the vast extent of area, diversified surface and various climates from tropical to cold temperate. 1 Paper read before the Auckland Institute, November 1292. NATURE [JUNE 15, 1893 164 SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. The differences of wave-length between the components of Lennon | pairs increase in the same-order. a 3 3 These and other properties, which will be referred to, are q Royal Society, March 9.--‘‘On the Geometrical Con- | still more obvious in the trains or flutings. . struction of the Oxygen Absorption Lines Great A, Great B, | From its holding an intermediate rank in each of its distin- | and a of the Solar Spectrum.” By George Higgs. Communi- guishing characters I was induced to adopt Bas a typical cated hy R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S. In the early part of August, 1890, the photographic work of | means of rectangular co ordinates. in a geometrical representatién, and to investigate the subject by q Before a complete analysis could be made out, a micrometel | had to be completed. This consisted of a platform, serving as | plate holder, which was made to travel on runners betwee parallel ways by means of a screw of such a pitch as to move the negative from one division of the scale to the next, for one re- volution of the divided plate on the screw head, this laiter bein divided into 100 parts. : the normal solar spectrum which I had undertaken had been carried as far as great A, or the limit of visibility in the red, and to A 8350, or beyond 2, in the invisible regions. During the two previous months of continuously dull weather, while classifying and comparing results, I was interested, on making a close examination of the head portion of the A line, to find, the rhythmical grouping, the harmonic order of se- 69 oO 9 l 2 ce 4 a PELL . | | rig divied | | ee a A i | Fic. 2. Ceo On and over the platform, a microscope is mounted with slide motions at right angles to each other ; an index of glass fibre and quence, and other characteristics of the B line repeated here in every detail. : These two bands, together with alpha, are composed of a _ reflector complete the apparatus. ee number of doublets or pairs, which approach each other on the Over 1000 measurements of nearly 200 lines haye been made, | more refrangible side with uninterrupted regularity, finally cross- | 100 of which belong to great A, these together with the com- ing, and at the limiting edges of all three bands the three last | puted positions are contained in the Proc. Royal Soc. i pairs overlap each other. | In the analysis the axis of x is assumed to occupy a position NO. 1233, VOL. 48] June 15, 18y3/j coincident with, or parallel to, the scale of 1/10’? m. units, and the positions of the various lines are set off on this scale (see Fig. 2) for the group, which is divided into four series. Ordinates are then drawn in the position occupied by each line. The axis of y is divided into a number of equal parts, I, 2, 3, #. Lines parallel to the axis of x, drawn from each of these divisions, in- tersect the respective ordinates. The continuous curve passing through the points’ of intersection is found to possess all the pro- perties of a parabola. Three points at least are selected to determine the position of the vertex and value of latus rectum. The distance from the origin along y is also found for an ordinate to the first line of a series. Now, from the equation to the parabola (w+c)°. ®—= px, the formula A=V+* _ is derived, where V = the wave-lengthin 1/10! m units of a point in the spectrum coinciding with the vertex of the curve ; Z, the latus rectum ; ”. any number of units, reckon- ing from the origin ; ¢, a constant. In practice a representation more suitable for lantern projec- tion being desirable, two units are taken ony for each line of (2 +c)? i the series ; the equation then becomes A = V + ° , where I. = 49, and c has twice its former value. April 20.—‘‘ Magnetic Viscosity.” By J. Hopkinson, D.Sc., F.R.S., E. Wilson, and F. Lydall. Insome experiments carried out by Dr. J. Hopkinson and B. Hopkinson, an account of which appeared in the Electrician of September 9, 1892, it was found that when hysteresis curves were obtained for rings of soft iron and hard steel wire by means of alternate currents, and com- eo Re pared with curves taken with the bal- listic galvanometer, in the cases where te -elstls the induction was considerable, there re “ebre eka was a marked difference which might be due to magnetic viscosity or to the ballistic galvanometer. To settle this question the experi- ment was tried of completing the gal- vanometer circuit at known intervals of time after the magnetising force had been changed, and noting the deflection. The effect of the self- induction of the ring was approxim- ately calculated, and found inadequate to account for the deflections obtained. Next, the experiments previously alluded to were continued, and curves of hysteresis obtained with alternating currents of a frequency of 5, 72, and 125 v per second, the method of pro- cedure being exactly the same. In all the curves thus obtained it was seen that the more rapid the change of mag- netising force, the greater was the de- viation from the curve taken with the ballistic galvanometer. The accom- panying figure gives the hysteresis curves actually obtained, and show this point very clearly. Similar experiments were carried out on hardened chromium steel, and the same effect was observed but was not so marked. The following conclusions are drawn from the experiments :—(1) As Prof. Ewing has already observed, after sudden change of magnetising force the induction does not at once attain to its full value, but there is a slight in- crease going on for some seconds. (2) The small difference between the bal- listic curve of magnetisation with complete cycles, and the curve determined with a considerable frequency which has already been observed is a true time effect, zl6) @| (72. Sil _ the difference being greater between a frequency of 72 v per _ second and 5 ~ per second, than between 5 uv per second and | the ballistic curve, NO. 1233, VOL. 48] NALURE ue 165 June 1.—‘‘On the Metallurgy of Lead.” By J. B. Hannay. Communicated by Sir G. G. Stokes, F.R.S. In this paper the author deals with the result of seven years’ researches on the metallurgy of lead. It is shown that by repeated crystallisation any subsulphide of lead may be fractionated into meta'lic lead, and its mono- sulphide. The sp.gr. of pure monosulphide is found to be 7°766, and the methods of analysis are reviewed and corrected. The reaction, PbS + PbSO, = 2Pb + 2SO,, which was sup- posed to explain lead smelting, is shown to have no existence, as when lead sulphate and sulphide react upon each other, a volatile compound, PbS,O, or PbS.SO,, is formed which intro- duces complications, and being unknown to chemists was the cause of the errors in the accepted furnace reactions of lead. This substance is formed whenever its constituents PbS, and SO,, meet at high temperature, and is the cause of lead fume. Similar volatile compounds are formed by the gases CO,, CO and H,O. These bodies dissociate on cooling, but form colour- less gases at a red heat. All the furnace reactions of lead compounds are examined and corrected in the light of these discoveries, and the fact applied to explain the metallurgy of lead. A new metallurgy is mapped out by which galena is treated in a Bessemer converter, and made into pig-lead, litharge, or sulphate of lead, in any proportions as may be desired, while all the silver is eliminated. ‘‘Flame Spectra at High Sbige goats Part I. hydrogen Blowpipe Spectra.” By W. N, Hartley, F.R.S. The substances examined are supported i in the oxyhydrogen ao ae : serene Oxy- BeBe E ) flame on small plates of kyanite. This mineral contains ninety- | six per cent. of aluminium silicate, and is practically infusible. The spectra were all photographed. The dispersion of the instrument being that of one quartz prism of 60°. | The spectra of a large majority of the metals and their com- 166 NATURE [June 15, 1893 pounds all terminate somewhere about the strongest series of water vapour lines in the ultraviolet. Typical non-metallic spectra are sulphur, selenium, and tellurium ; the first yields a continuous spectrum with a series of beautiful fluted bands, the second a series of fine bands, occurring at closer intervals, and the third is characterised by bands still closer together and near the more refrangible termination of which four lines occurring in Elartley and Adeney’s spark spectrum of tellurium are visible. Increase in atomic mass causes shorter periods of recurrence of bands. In line spectra it is the reverse ; increase in atomic mass causes greater periods in the recurrence of lines. Charcoal and carbon monoxide yield chiefly continuous spectra; the latter, however, exhibits some carbon lines. The hydrocarbons yield the well-known spectrum of carbon bands with also those attributed to cyanogen. Of metallic elements, nickel, chromium, and cobalt yield purely line spectra ; antimony, bismuth, silver, tin, lead, and gold beautiful banded spectra (spectra of the first order) accompanied by some few lines. Iron and copper exhibit lines, and, less prominently, bands. Manganese has a beautiful series of bands and a group of three very closely adjacent lines. Aluminium gives a fine continuous spectrum with three lines, origin uncertain, zinc a continuous spectrum without lines, and cadmium a spectrum consisting of one single line only, A 32602. Of compounds, chromic trioxide yields a continuous spectrum with six lines belonging to the metal, copper oxide a fine band spectrum with two lines of the metal, magnesium sulphate gives a spectrum of magnesium oxide consisting of broad degraded bands composed of closely adjacent fine lines and one line be- longing to the metal, A 2852. -The sulphates of calcium, strontium, and barium give both bands of the oxides and lines of the elements. Phosphorus pentoxide yields a continuous spectrum with one peculiar line, seen also in the spectrum of arsenic, The chlorides ofthe alkali metals give also lines of the ele- ments with a more or less continuous spectrum, which, it is believed, is due to the metal in each case. Lithium chloride gives no continuous spectrum. The Volatility of Metals.—One of the most interesting facts ascertained by this investigation is the volatility of all the metals examined, except platinum, and particularly the extra- ordinary volatility of manganese, and, to some extent, of the infusible metal iridium. Metal believed to be pure iridium is seen to have diminished after the flame has played upon it for about two hours, Physical Society, May 26, Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. C. J. Woodward showed some experiments with a vibrating bar. On suspending the bar by two loops of cord, and placing it over a resonance box, the sound was greatly intensified. When placed crosswise, and partly over the box, a position could be found where no in- crease of sound resulted, whilst a little movement in either direction from this position caused a considerable increase, —The discussion on Dr. Lodge’s paper, the foundation of dynamics, was then resumed. Communications on the subject from Mr. S. H. Burbury, Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, and Prof. E. F. Herroun were read. Prof. Minchin said the first fundamental axiom of dynamics postulates the existence of Force as an entity distinct from AZatter, Space, and Time, and this was the object of Newton’s First Law. It also gave the criterion of the presence of force. To merely retain the law as defining egua/ times was to degrade it. Asregards the supposed impossibility of defining uniform motion he said, similar difficulties occur in all sciences, even in geometry. Nevertheless a rational science of geometry existed. In dynamics we had notions of a right line and of uniform motion in it, although no criterion of either may exist. The fact that the science harmonises with ordinary experience constitutes its validify. In his opinion the extra- ordinary devices which had been suggested for defining directions fixed in space were unnecessary, and merely served to cover the subject with ridicule. He disagreed with Prof. Lodge in admitting the first law as a particular case of the second, for unless force was postulated (the function of the first law), the second became a mere definition, and not a law. Speaking of the third law he said the author had made a serious error in stating that it could be deduced from the first,'for the centre of mass of a system might be at rest, without action and reaction necessarily being equal and opposite. The third law was not superfluous; neglecting it had led to great miscon- ception and mystery about the Principle of Virtual Work, and NO. 1233, VOL. 48] D’Alembert’s Principle, both of which are simple ded from it. In opposition to Dr. Lodge, he defended the ordi definition of Energy, and asserted that withott the no force and work, the term energy loses all meaning. § of transference and transformation of energy, he inquired proof given could be applied to the case of a body sliding a rough rigid inclined plane, for here the stress (friction) work on the body but not on the plane, and there was no tran ference. He regretted that the expression ‘‘ potential ener, was used in different senses in the paper, sometimes n ‘* static energy,” and at others ‘‘the available portion kinetic energy of a body.” Referring to the idea of all « being ultimately kinetic, he asked if by accepting this t author meant to surrender the independent’ existence of ft If so, difficulties would arise ; for example, in the kinetic of gases the expression for the pressure, = 4 fs v7, was arrived at by assuming the existence of force. The state: on the top of slip 9 about making a ‘‘ moving work” was not necessarily true, as might be seen by: the case of a sphere rolling down a rough inclined Prof, O, Henrici thought axioms should be treated as logical definitions, as for example in geometry, ‘‘two st: lines cannot enclose a space.” Every new notion require axiom. In passing from geometry. to kinematics the idea Time presented itself, and the appropriate axiom was contaif in Newton’s first law. On approaching dynamics Force an Mass were met with. He disagreed with Prof. Minchin : garding force as most fundamental. Mass was more ess for force might be abolished. On the other hand, he con with Prof. Minchin in thinking that the idea of a centre of 1 was not axiomatic. Referring to Dr. Lodge’s nmi (NATURE, p. 62) he agreed with axiom (a) fully, a with (4) partially. Axiom 3 required further developm The crucial point, however, was axiom 4, ‘‘ Stress cannot in or across empty space.” This he regarded as very i plete, and maintained that axioms defining the properties of | ether were necessary to further progress. If varieties of spa be contemplated each advance required fresh axioms, Dr. Burton remarked that contact movement did not n equal velocities ; sliding motion was a case in point. in deforming an incompressible fluid, although force and might exist, no work was done. Conservation could proved from denial of action at a distance. Speaking doctrine of transference and transformation of energy, he : it was a convenient working rule, but not true univer Newton’s laws were simple and consistent, but some existed as to how much was definition and how much / fact. Mr. Swinburne protested against the difference betwe theory and a working hypothesis being overlooked, All e ceptions were based on experience, and ideas of ether and ate derived from ‘‘jelly” and ‘‘cricket balls.” We ought alsc remember what ‘‘ explanation” means, viz. deseribing the1 familiar in terms of the more familiar, It was customar: describe the phenomena of fluids by reference to solids beeat we were more familiar with solids ; an intellectual fish wor probably do the revérse. The so-called ‘‘ Theory of M netism” which breaks upa bar of iron into a number of st pieces, each possessing the properties of the original regarded as absurd. It was no ‘‘explanation” and “theory.” Ether might be used asa working hypoth must not be treated as an entity. Mr. Blakesley que whether transference of energy was always accompanies transformation, and he did not see why energy should be loo v Fe upon as (wv) pe in preference to any other subdivision factors. As regards effects being proportional to their he pointed out that the heating of an electric circui thermoelectric action, followed laws not linear, Prof. S. Thompson, referring to the demonstration of the law of tre ference, &c., given on slip 8, said that attempts to tr into Latin or Greek at once revealed the ambiguous chai the proof.” Speaking of Ohm’s law, he pointed out. constant, was not an essential feature, as Dr. Ohm never said R was constant. In identifying ene! difficulty presented itself, for one never came across it 2 single thing but as a product, and in being transformed paths of the two factors might possibly be different. Dixon said the whole of geometry and dynamics could based on verbal definitions. The conservation of energy co be written as: Kinetic energy + potential energy =a cor June 15, 1893] NATURE 167 but on substituting the expressions for kinetic and potential energies, an identity resulted ; therefore the original statement “wasnotalaw. Both the kinetic and potential energies of a "system were functions of its configuration. Potential energy could not belong to a particle, but to a system. The president doubted whether Dr. Lodge’s scheme was more simple, natural, and logical, than the ordinary one. The statement in NATURE p. 62) that ‘‘strains were proportional to stresses ” was simple gh, but it was questionable if ‘‘ frequency of vibration is ‘independent of amplitude ” could be consideredso. The author appeared to ignore mass in comparison with force, whereas the idee of mass seemed to be the moresimple one. Dr. Lodge, in _ replyto Mr. Burbury, said two bodiesnever doattract one another ; " the thing which acted on either was the medium immediately in contact with it. Mr. Herroun had used metaphysical arguments against ether, but he (Prof. Lodge) thought it was a good thing to investigate ether. He agreed with what Prof. Minchin said about force and the first law of motion. orce was the more fundamental, but mass was best as a standard unit. As regards ether, he was prepared to say that it has no motion. Tt possessed electromagnetic kinetic energy, and probably all the stress energy that exists. Referring to the slipping body mentioned by Prof. Minchin and Dr. Burton he said that in speaking of the velocities of acting and reacting bodies being equal, he always meant that their velocities along the line of action were equal. The action between the sliding body and _ plane was a ‘catch and let go” one, like a fiddle bow and 4 On the second laws of thermodynamics he hoped to say something in a subsequent paper. -When he spoke of R being constant as the essence of Ohm’s law he meant constancy _ as regards terms which appear in the equation e =.R. _ Linnean Society, June 1.—Prof. Stewart, President, in the chair.—Dr. J. Lowe gave an account of a newly-observed habit of the blackcap, Sy/via atricapilla, in puncturing the petals of certain flowers (Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis and Adutilon frondo;um), specimens of which he exhibited, thus causing the exudation of a viscid secretion which proved attractive to in- ‘sects upon which the bird preyed. The observations in question ‘were made at Orotava, Teneriffe, during the month of March last—By way of introduction to a paper by Mr. W. B. ‘Hemsley on Polynesian plants collected by Mr. J. J. Lister, the latter gave an interesting account of the geology of the Tonga Islands, their volcanic nature, and the coral and lime- stone reefs with the soil formed chiefly of volcanic outpouriags, on which dense patches of bush were growing. Referring then to the bird-fauna of the Tonga group, Mr. Lister compared it with that of Fiji and Samoa, and showed that it had no special affinity with the avifauna of New Zealand, and exhibited very little specialisation. Mr. Hemsley then gave an account of the plants collected there, as also in the Solomon Islands.—Mr. A. 3. Rendle gave an abstract of a paper on fossil palms, in which hhis remarks were directed to a revision of the genus Vifadites, Bowerbank, and were illustrated by drawings of specimens from the London clay, Sheppey, from the Sussex coast, Selsey, Brussels, N.E. Italy, and elsewhere. The paper was criticised by Mr. Carruthers and by Mr. Clement Reid, who described the fiading of specimens im sit at Selsey.—The secretary then read a paper by Dr. Baur on the temperature of trees, from observations taken in Colorado.—Mr. W. M. Webb gave an abstract of a paper on the mode of feeding in 7es¢ace//a, illustrated by lantern slides prepared from original drawings o1 the living animal in various attitudes, Royal Microscopical Society, President, in the chair.—Mr. G. C. Karop read a letter ym Dr. R. L. Maddox on the subject of his rod illuminator. —A letter from Mr. W. H. Youdale, referring to some diseased heard-hairs, was also read by Mr. Karop.—Mr. C. Lees Curties exhibited and described a new form of camera lucida, made by Herr Leitz, of Wetzlar.—Sir David L. Salomons gave n exhibition with his projection microscope,—The President said they were extremely indebted to Sir David Salomons for 3 very admirable and interesting exhibition which he had n them, the value of which was not only on account of the raction phenomena, which had been so well shown, but of the advance which was indicated in the construction the apparatus, He could not help observing, as the exhibi- yn proceeded, that there was a ‘remarkable flatness of field not rally seen under similar circumstances. There was one t on which he should like to ask for information ; it some- NO. 1233, VOL. 48] ‘ ? May 17.—A. D. Michael times happened that great concentration of light produce also a great concentration of heat, and that consequently objects in bal-am, if exposed for too long a time, were apt to get spoilt through the softening of the medium. Was this difficulty got over in the present instance by using the electric arc light as an illuminant ?—Sir David Salomons said he obviated it very muchj by using lenses cemented with balsam. The customary alum and water he foundto be rather a trouble, andso he used simple distilled water, and found that it answered all the necessities of the case. Zoological Society, June 6.—Sir William H. Flower, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society’s Menagerie during the month of May, 1893, and called special attention to a young Water- Buck (Codus ellipsiprymnus), born May 4, 1893, being, so far as was known, the first antelope of this species that has been bred in captivity.—Mr. Walter Rothschild exhibited and made remarks on an egg of the Dackbill (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), taken from the pouch of the motber ; the leg-bones and egg of an extinct bird of the genus 42 pyornis from south-west Madagascar; and series of lepi- dopterous insects from Jamaica and from the Bolivian Andes.— Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks on some skins and skulls of mammals obtained in the Shiré Highlands by Mr. H. H. Johnston, Mr. B. L. Sclater, Messrs. Buchanan, and Mr. Alexander Whyte.—A communication was read from Messrs. F. E. Beddard and F. G. Parsons containing notes on the anatomy and classification of the parrots, based on speci- mens lately living in the Society’s Gardens.—Mr. Sclater called attention to two front horns of an African rhinoceros belonging to Mr. F. Holmwood, which were stated to have been brought by native caravans from the district of East Africa, south of Lake Victoria Nyanza. They were remarkable for their great length and extreme thinness.—A communication was read from Mr. R. Lydekker containing an account of a collection of bird- bones from the miocene deposits of St. Alban, in the Depart- ment of Isére, France. The more perfect specimens were referred mostly to new species (Strix sancti albani, Faleortyx maxima, P. grivensis, and Totanus majort), while others were regarded as undeterminable from their fragmentary condition. —Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a paper describing some new species of reptiles and batrachians, based on specimens lately obtained in Borneo by Mr. A. Everett and Mr. C. Hose. Paris. Academy of Sciences, June 5.—M. de Lacaze-Duthiers in the chair.—Note on the works of Comte P. de Gasparin, | y M. Th. Schloesing.— Researches on iron of Ovifak, by M. Henri Moissan. Three specimens of native iron, discovered by Prof, Nordenskidld at Ovifak, Greenland, were tested for any crys- tallised forms of carbon they might contain. The first specimen had a metallic lustre, and was nearly black. This was found to contain a small quantity of the kind of graphite which swells up in boiling sulphuric acid. It also contained ordinary graphite distinctly crystallised, which gave rise to graphitic oxide on being treated with potassium chlorate. Fused potassium bisul- phate dissolved all the.residue. The second specimen also had a metallic lustre, but a light grey colour, and weighed 18 gr. After treating with hydrochloric acid the residue showed frag- ments of schreibersite, an opaque white mass of irregular form, and a large number of highly refracting grains. On treating this residue with hydrofluoric and then with boiling sulphuric acid the volume of the carbon increased, showing the presence of swelling graphite. No ordinary graphite was found. The third specimen, which consisted of metallic globules dissemi- nated through a stony matrix, left after treatment with the three acids a residue containing some fragments of blue sapphire, which could be picked out with the forceps. Amorphous car- bon was contained in all the specimens, swelling graphite in two of them, and ordinary graphite in one. Neither black nr transparent diamonds were found in any of them. —On the genesis of natural phosphates, especially those which have derived their phosphorus from organised beings, by M. Armand Gautier.—On the multiplicity of homologous parts in its rela- tion to the gradation of vegetable species, by M. A. Chatin. The multiplicity of the homologous organs of a given apparatus is a certain sign of organic degeneration. The more numerous the homologous parts, the more they deviate from the verticillary type of floral organs and approach the spiral type. Their reciprocal symmetry is also less regular, and their position less stable, This view is confirmed by other incontestable signs 16S NATURE [June 15, 1893 4 of degeneration found to go together with multiplicity of homo- logous parts, and is illustrated by corresponding gradati n in the animal kingdom, where the myriapod is classed below the hexapod insect.—On the repeated application of Bernouilli’s theorem, by M. Jules Andrade.—On problems of dynamics reducible to quadratures, by M, Paul Staeckel.—Sketch of a new theory of electrostatics, by M. Vaschy.—On some phe- nomena exhibited by Natterer’s tubes, by M. Gouy.—Absorption of seleniuretted hydrogen by liquid selenium at high tempera- tures, by M. H. Pélabon. If selenium be melted in a tube containing hydrogen and then cooled, it is found to contain a large number of bubbles with a brilliant internal surface, which are absent in selenium fused in air. On reducing the mass to powder the characteristic smell of seleniuretted hydrogen is observed, and if the mass is broken up under water the latter is coloured red by the finely divided selenium liberated from the seleniuretted hydrogen by the oxygen of the air.—Organo- metallic combinations belonging to the aromatic series, by M. G. Perrier.—On the coccidia of the birds, by M. Alphonse Labbé. —On the Plankton of the Polar Sea, by M. G. Pouchet.—On pseudo-fecundation in the Uredinei and accom- panying phenomena, by M. Sappin-Trouffy.—On two cases of parasitic castration observed in Axautia arvensis, Coulter, by M. Molliard.—On the sedimentary strata of Servia, by M. J. M. Lugovic.—On the eclogites of Mont Blanc, by MM. L. Duparc and L., Mrazec.—On the employment of vine leaves for feeding cattle, by M. A. Muntz, In the south of France sheep are often let into the vineyards after the vintage and allowed to strip the vines of their leaves. The vines do not appear to suffer thereby in the least. Fresh vine-leaves contain 670 per cent. water, 18°5 extractive matter, 3 8 nitrogenous matter, and 2°3 per cent. fatty matter. When dried, the proportions are: extractive matter, 51 per cent. ; water, 15; nilrogenous matter, 11; cellulose, 8°5; and fatty matter, 5°5 per cent. In the various vineyards of southern France the amount of leaves per hectare (2°47 acres) varies from 2500 to 9500 kgr., or about the average yield of hay for the same area. Moreover, the leaves, instead of getting blown away by the wind and lost, are con- verted into manure by the cattle, and, in addition, the vine is much less sensitive to drought than the ordinary fodder crops.— On the effects of inoculation of human cancer or cancerous pro- ducts upon animals ; positive result in one case, by M. Mayet.— On the amplitude and mean duration of the extreme oscilla- tions of the barometer at Paris, by M. Léon Descroix.—On the density and alkalinity of the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, by M. J. Y. Buchanan. Along the entire south coast of Spain the water was of the same density as the Atlantic. Eastwards of Cape Gata, where the eastward current is no longer active, the denser water of the Mediterranean set in. The mean ratio of salinity and alkalinity was o’50 for the Atlantic, and 0°4875 for the Mediterranean, the difference being probably due to the abundance of calcareous rocks on the latter. AMSTERDAM, Royal Academy of Sciences, May 27.—Prof. van de Sande Bakhuysen in the chair.—Mr. Hubrecht gave a descrip- tion of phagocytic and vasifactive processes by which the tropho- blast of 7ufaya javanica attacks the maternal uterine epithelium and prepares congested surfaces against which the area vascu- losa and afterwards the allantois are applied. The placenta of Tupaja is double, and situated right and left of the foetus. The trophoblast of Tupaja was furthermore compared to that of Sorex and of Erinaceus, in all of which it displays a considerable degree of activity. It was more rigorously defined as being the epiblast of the mammalian blastocyst, after deduction of what is intended for the formation of the embryo and for the internal coating of the amnion. In conclusion, certain phylogenetic speculations concerning the trophoblast were brought forward. —Mr. Schoute exhibited three new thread-models of devel p- ables related to higher algebraical equations. The first is the discriminant of the general cubic «? + 3xu2 + 3yu + 2 = 0. It divides space into two parts, corresponding to pcints with 3 or I real roots. The ordinary twisted cubic forms its cuspidal edge. The discussion of the number of real roots situated between two given limits is facilitated by means of a certain tetrahedron, The second surface corresponds to the quartic ud + 6xu* + 4yu + 2 = 0. It divides space into three parts, containing points with 4, 2, or 0 real roots. By planes perpen- dicular to the x-axis it is cut in rational quartics with two cusps and one node. It possesses a parabolicnodal curve, And the third NO. 1233, VOL. 48] model realises the surface corresponding to the sextic «® — + 15xu? + 6yu + z= 0, Itdivides space into four parts, points admitting 6, 4, 2, or 0 real roots. Any plane p to the x-axis meets it in a rational sextic curve with four and six nodes. The cusps of the cuspidal edge are very r able points on this surface. In general the develo’ sponding to a likewise mutilated equation of the mth order w three coefficients x, y, z, will show rational sections of the order with the planes perpendicular to the x axis, admi nu —2 cusps and $(#” — 2) (# — 3) nodes, &c.—Mr. van de Waals gave a formula for the law of molecular force, F putting : pend Pac d ox -f£> for the potential of two material points, all the known lat molecular action may be deduced. In this formula A isa equal to the quotient of La Place’s Hand K. This law m explained by supposing (1) that the action of the point varies inversely as the square of the distance, (2) that the versal medium gradually does absorb the lines of force. _ BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVE [ Bcoxs.—Mensuration of the Simpler Figures: W. Briggs and T. Edmondson (Clive).—Science Teaching in Schools: H. Dyer (Blacki New South Wales Statistical Register for 1891 and Previous Years. Coghlan (Sydney, Potter).—Conquéte du Monde Végétal: L. Bourd (Paris, Alcan) —A eee History of Astronomy, edition: A. | Clerke (Black).—Problémes et Calcu's Pratiques d’ icité: A. V (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Captain Cook’s Journal, Wharton (E. Stock).—Bionomie des Meeres; Erster Theil—Ein! die Geologie als Historische Wissenschaft : J. Wal Pi It ena, ch Philosophical Transactions of the eg er = a x fe. echanical Equivalent eat: | A. PP. 361-504), The Value of the H. Griffiths (Kegan Paul). PAMPHLETS.—The Life-saving Society Handbook, 2nd edition —On the Early History of some Scottish Mammals and Birds : Prof. —From Holborn to the Strand: W. Robinson (Garden Office).—R Emr No oy re Darling: : H. J. Nekieer ane art f ydney, Potter).—Su Alcune Disposizioni Sperimentali per trazione lo Studio delle Ondul: oni Elettriche di Hertz: A. F (Roma). <4 Srriats.—Gazzetta Chimica Italiana, Anno xxiii. 1893, vol. 1, (Palermo).—Himmel und Erde, June (Berlin).—American Jou Science, Pha (New Haven).—Bulletin Astronomique, May ( Bulletin de Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, 1893, No. (Bruxelles).—Botanical Gazette, May (Bloomington, Ind.)—Journal of Chemical Society, June (Gurney and Jackson).—Zei ift fir Wiss schaftliche Z ologie, 56 Band, 2 Heft ( ; illiams and Norgate). CONTENTS. A PopulariAtlasinn: six inci Our Book Shelf :— Mivart: ‘‘ Types of Animal Life.”—C, Ll. M.. . . Dyer: ‘‘ Science Teaching in Schools” . ..... I cae Letters to the Editor :— Vectors and Quaternions.—Prof. C. G. Knott. . The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics.—Edwar DE MDAROM salt et a ee we Chemical Change.—V. H. Veley ........ Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham — Islands.—Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S..... 1 Linnean Society Procedure.—F. H. P. C. 3 The German Mathematical Association ..... 1 Relations between the Surface-Tension and Rela- — tive Contamination of Water Surfaces. (With — Diagrams.) By Agnes Pockels . . 3a Notes Our Astronomical Column :— Finlay’s Comet (1886 VII.) Determinations of Gravity... .....*.-. Solar Observations at the Royal College, Rome . L’ Astronomie for June... . + + Geographical Notes ...... The Royal Society Soirée ......... Thermometer Soundings in the High Atmosphere. —__ By W. de Fonvielle. ...... eine Disinfectants and Micro-Organisms ...... 1 The New Flora and the Old in Australia, By A.G. — Hamilton . : Societies and Academies ........- Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ...-. 1 By ba alee © 2.0 0a) 0 ee eo 2 NATURE 169 THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1893. oer THE THEORY OF FUNCTIONS. Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable. By Dr. A. _R. Forsyth. (Cambridge University Press, 1893.) W HAT is the theory of functions about? This ques- tion may be heard now and again from a mathe- ‘matical student; and if, by way of a partial reply, it be said that the elements of the theory of functions forms the basis on which the whole of that part of pure mathe- matics which deals with continuously varying quantity rests, the answer would not be too wide nor would it always imply too much. It cannot be denied that the teaching of pure mathe- matics in this country has followed curiously restricted lines. While in geometry and the theory of forms the student has for many years past had the advantage of excellent English text-books, the general theory of functions has been entirely unrepresented till the appear- “ance of the treatise whose title stands at the head of this notice. Of treatises on special classes of functions, if we omit those written purely with a view to applications, Cay- ley’s “ Elliptic Functions,” published in 1876, is the sole representative ; while till last year there was no work on the theory of numbers. The theory of groups, and its applications to the theory of equations, is still unrepre- sented in native English mathematical literature, though here we have thetranslations of Prof. Klein’s “ Vorlesun- gen iiber das Icosaeder,” and Herr Netto’s “ Substitution- entheorie,” published, the one in 1888, and the other last year. At Cambridge, and probably toa great extent in other centres, the teaching and the course of study of individual students have tended on the whole to follow the lines of the available English text-books, and where these have been incomplete or entirely wanting there has, tillvery recent years, been no sufficient introduction to the corresponding subjects. Why a subject of such fundamental importance for the advancement of pure mathematics as the theory of functions should have happened to fall into this latter class, it is not easy totell. It may be said to have been first put on a secure footing by Cauchy’s great memoir on integrals taken between imaginary limits, which was pub- lished in 1825. Many advances were made by a number of eminent mathematicians in the following years, and the study of the subject received a great impetus from the new and very fascinating method of presenting it which Riemann gave in his famous memoirs on the theory of functions of a complex variable (1851), and on the theory of the Abelian functions (1857). ‘Weierstrass and his pupils, again, developed their theory froma standpoint which is essentially distinct from that of either Cauchy or Riemann. The growth of the subject during the last thirty years has been remarkable, and it is probably safe to say that the foreign literature of the subject is now more extensive than that of any other branch of pure mathematics. The number of text-books that have been published directly on the subject is wonderful in itself, and more so when it is remembered that almost every foreign treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus contains some introduction to the theory of functions. NO. 1234, VOL. 48] If there is any justice in the preceding remarks, the want of a treatise on this subject has too long caused a serious gap in our mathematical literature; and it may be at once said that Dr. Forsyth’s book supplies that want so completely that it is not likely to be felt again for a long time to come. Among the large number of foreign treatises above referred to are several which, in their own line, it would be difficult to improve upon; but they all, or nearly all, deal with the subject from a single point of view, being indeed written with that intention. Dr. Forsyth, on the other hand, has aimed at giving a complete introduction to the theory; and it may safely be said that, with his book as a guide, the task of the student who wishes to enable himself to follow its various recent developments will have lost half its difficulty. The bringing of the various parts of the subject, and the different points of view from which they may be approached, into their proper connection with each other has here been done in the most masterly way; while though Dr. Forsyth expressly disclaims in the preface to have dealt at length with anything but the general theory, he has carried the developments of the subject in the direction of doubly-periodic and allied functions, Abelian integrals, and automorphic functions to a point from which the student can have no difficulty in passing on to the study of any recent work done in these branches. It is impossible in the limits of a short article to give any complete account of a book extending to over 700 pages, but some attempt may be made to describe the order of treatment. The first four chapters are devoted to the simpler properties of uni- form functions, their expansion in power-series and their integration. Chapters v., vi. and vii. deal with uni- form transcendal functions, giving the principal results of the investigations of Weierstrass and Mittag-Leffler. In this connection the very remarkable result due to Weierstrass is given, which is expressed by him in the following words :—“ Dass der Begriff einer monogenen Function einer complexen Veranderlichen mit dem Begriff einer durch arithmetische »Gréssenoperationen ausdriickbaren Abhangigkeit sich nicht vollstandig deckt.” The writer of a recent criticism in this journal would probably say that this statement deals only with the morbid pathology of mathematics; but the pure mathematician at all events should surely know, as far as possible, what is implied in the word function. Non-uniform functions are introduced in chapter viii. They are regarded, to begin with, as arising from the various continuations of a power-series, the most general | point of view that can be taken; Riemann’s method of dealing with algebraic functions and their integrals not being introduced till considerably later. The following | chapter deals with the integrals of non-uniform functions ; and from the particular examples given arise some of the simplest singly- and doubly-periodic functions, whose properties, when uniform, are discussed in Chaps. x., xi., and xii. This part of the subject aptly ends with a demonstration, due to the author, of the theorem that if J(u), fv), and /(“+v) are connected by an algebraical equation with constant coefficients, /(~) must be either an algebraic, a simply-periodic, or a doubly-periodic function of wz. The proof of this important theorem by I 170 NATURE [JUNE 22, 1893 4 Weierstrass, to whom it is due, has never been printed ; and the only published proof, besides the one which Dr, Forsyth gives, appears in a paper by M. Phragmen in vol. vii. of the “Acta Mathematica,” and is on entirely different lines. Whether either proof is entirely satis- factory is a point on which differences of opinion may conceivably occur, though of course there is no doubt as to the truth of the theorem itself. Chap. xiv., which is headed “ Connectivity of Surfaces,” is purely geometrical, and strictly has nothing to do with the theory of functions. It was however necessary for the author to introduce such a digression if the following chapters dealing with Riemann’s theory were to be under- stood, since there is no treatise to which reference could be made for the various theorems and results that have to be used. The chief properties of a Riemann’s surface, regarded as arising from an algebraical equation between the variables, are discussed in Chap. xv. Though there is no difficulty in conceiving the geometrical nature of a Riemann’s surface from a description, the relation between the surface and the set of functions (algebraische Gebilde) whose study it is intended to simplify is not so readily grasped at first by the student ; and it would not perhaps have been amiss to have dealt with this relation in one or two simple cases, at some length, as an intro- duction to this part of the subject. In Chap. xvi., the surface still being regarded as defined by a given equation, the properties of uniform functions on the surface, and of their integrals, is investigated. From this point to the end of the book we have to do, more or less directly, with the fundamentally new conception of Riemann which has been so wonderfully developed during the last ten or fifteen years. The Riemann’s surface, as defined by a given equation, affords a most convenient means of study of a system of con- nected functions. Suppose, however, the surface to be given quite independently of any equation. The possibility at once suggests itself that the surface may serve as the definition of a set of connected functions. Riemann’s own demonstration that this is the case has since been shown to be faulty, but the conception is an invaluable one, and it-has been placed ona secure founda- tion by Schwartz (and others), by means of the so-called existence theorem. Chap. xvii. is entirely occupied with the proof of this theorem, and in Chap. xviii. follow the investigations with respect to the form and nature of the integrals and uniform functions, so shown to exist, on a Riemann’s surface given arbitrarily. Chaps. xix. and xx. deal at length with the theory of conformal representation. This forms one of the most obviously interesting parts of the subject, and is also one of those which lend themselves most readily to the purposes of application ; and it is to be noted that, although owing to necessities of arrangement these chapters occur near the end of the book, the author suggests that, on a first reading, Chap. xix. should be taken at an early stage. The last chapter in the book gives an introduction to the theory of automorphic functions, the previous one being taken up by a necessary digression on groups of linear substitutions. Dr. Forsyth follows M. Poincaré in actually obtaining analytical expressions for the functions in the form of the ratio of infinite series, analogous to the expressions for elliptic functions as ratios of the theta- 234, VOL. 48] functions. These analytical expressions, though of ¢g interest, are too complicated in form to be readily used deducing the properties of the functions they repr so that their properties must be inferred from quasi-geometrical definition by means of a “fundamen region” ; and this is essentially the method of dealing with them used by Prof. Klein. In thus shortly stating the contents, or rather the he: ings, of the successive chapters some risk is run of rep senting the book as a mere compilation. Nothing cor possibly be further from the truth. From the nature o the case it is inevitable that the greater portion of thr book should be taken up with detailing the results of othe writers, but Dr. Forsyth has done this in a most in pendent way. The book is instinct all through with a original spirit ; in numerous instances, where clearn s or conciseness were to be gained, the author h modified or completely altered the usually-given proofs, while, as has been already stated, the various parts of subject have been brought together, and the m different ways of dealing with them have been used, such a way that the theory is presented to the reacier a connected and harmonious whole. Dr. Forsyth is be warmly congratulated on having brought to so suce ful a conclusion what must have been an extremel: arduous task. If it is not ungracious to “ ask for more” soon, we may express the hope that he will now go on t deal, as completely and successfully, with function defined by differential equations. : The book itself is beautifully printed and the figur many of which must have required careful drawing, ; well reproduced. The table of contents is sufficientl; complete to‘form a sort of fréczs of the whole ; and lastly we have to be grateful for three separate qidices first of these, an index to all the technical terms used j the book, whether English or foreign, is a most us addition ; especially for those who wish to use the bo without reading right through it. W. BURNSIDE. — TINCTORIAL ART AND SCIENCE. A Manual of Dyeing: for the use of Practical Dy. Manufacturers, Students, and all interested in thi Art of Dyeing. By Edmund Knecht, Ph.D., Chris topher Rawson, F.I.C., and Richard Loewenthal Ph.D. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 1893.) HE present work consists of three volumes, two ¢ letterpress, interspersed with illustrations of plan which run to over 900 pages, and a third volume taining specimens of dyed fabrics. It is a substa contribution to an important branch of technology, the authors have succeeded fairly well in meetin, requirements of the various classes of readers for use the work has been written. The first general | pression produced on looking through the volumes is ¢ of satisfaction that the subject is handled in a scientific way than has hitherto been the case in works. The only feeling of disappointment to w the consideration of the book gives rise is in no ¥ attributable to the authors, but is due to the circumsta that so little is known about the scientific relationsh between a colouring-matter and the fabric which is d ye thereby. All that is known about the theory of dyeing is ably stated in the introductory chapter, and one of tl JUNE 22, 1893] NATURE 171 s (Dr. Knecht) has himself made some very inte- investigations in this field. But, in spite of all s been written, the subject of dyeing has still to ught as an art rather thanasascience. Thecentres 1e tinctorial industry in this country, such as Leeds, chester, Bradford, and Huddersfield, are now pro- with Technical Schools, in which the dyeing ttment is made a special feature. If we might nture to offer a word of advice to those who are pro- ling for this industry, it is that adequate provision ld be made for the scientific side of the subject by the equipment of laboratories and the appointment of competent specialists for carrying on original investiga- tion in connection with dyeing. The dyeing depart- ments in those schools which we have had the oppor- tunity of visiting are admirably equipped for instruction in the principles of the art, but the instructor has to devote so much time to this part of the work, and the udents who attend are, as a rule, so ill-prepared in al scientific training that the instruction given cannot rise much above that handicraft level against which the writer has had so frequently to protest in con- nection with other branches of technology. Till this defect is remedied, the results achieved by our technical schools will not be commensurate with the endowment bestowed upon their equipment. Zo far towards placing the tinctorial art on a higher scien- ific level. It is not, as the authors state in the preface, “a mere ‘cookery-book,’ containing ‘rule of thumb’ ecipes.” A detailed analysis of its contents would be out of place in these columns, but a general idea of its scope may be given. The introductory chapter, as already stated, deals with the theory of dyeing. So far as wool and silk fibres are concerned, the authors consider that he evidence is in favour of a chemical as opposed to a ourely mechanical explanation :— “According to the mechanical theory, wool dyed with magenta, for instance, would simply absorb the unchanged hydrochloride of the dyestuff, and thus assume the same olour in the solution of the dyestuff. But experiment nas shown that this is not the case. It absorbs the colour base, which is, however, in itself colourless. Where then does the colour come from? We can come to no other ogical conclusion than that the colour base has combined chemically with some constituent of the fibre to form a coloured salt.” But this explanation does not enable us to see how the yed “constituent” is combined with the other con- tituents of the fibre :— “ This objection is easily met by assuming that what staken up zs in chemical combination with some in- soluble constituent of the fibre and is held by the rest of he transparent or translucent substance of the fibre in a state of solid solution.” Thus the theory advocated is partly chemical and artly in that debateable region where chemistry and ics have recently come into apparent collision. Re- Ps shes in connection with the theory of dyeing have pore than a purely technical value, and we hope that D Knecht will continue the good work which he has enced. With respect to cotton the authors state :— rpc the large numbers of direct cotton colours which aced at our disposal, and which are continually in- Teasing in number, the question becomes more and more YO. 1234, VOL. 48] The work which has given rise to these reflections will’ important from a theoretical point of view. It is not probable that it will ever be solved by vague theoretical speculations based on one or two known facts. In all probability the solution of the question will require much laborious work, including many quantitative determin- ations.” The technical part of the work begins with Part II., dealing with the textile fibres of vegetable and animal origin, such as cotton, flax, hemp, jute, China grass, wool, silk, &c., not omitting Chardonnet’s artificial “ silk ” pre- pared from nitrated cellulose. The third part is devoted to water from the dyer’s point of view, and the fourth part to washing and bleaching. Parts V. to VIII. deal with the materials used in dyeing. All these materials are classified into the three groups, Chemicals, Mordants, and Dyestuffs, and are described under the collective (and most objectionable) name of “drugs.” The acids and alkalies employed by the dyer are first treated of, then the mordants, which are discussed in a very thorough manner, no less than 150 pages being devoted to them. Three parts (VI., VII., and VIII.) are devoted to the natural, artificial organic, and mineral colours respectively. The machinery used in dyeing forms the subject of Part IX., the investigation into the tinctorial properties of colouring matters that of Part X.,and the concluding part treats of the analysis and valuation of the materials used by the dyer. There is an appendix of miscellaneous subjects such as weights and measures, thermometer scales, specific gravities, light and colour, &c. The foregoing synopsis of its contents shows that the work is well calculated to fulfil the object which the authors had in view, viz. to serve “as a book of reference or vade mecum to the educated dyer.” But it is not really for an individual class that this book is written ; it appeals to several distinct kinds of readers. It may safely be asserted that there are few, if any dyers, in this country, however “ educated,” who could with equal in- telligence follow every section of the work under con- sideration. The practical dyer who is most skilful in applying colouring matters to fabrics is generally hazy in his notions of chemistry, and absolutely ignorant so far as concerns the finer questions of the “constitution” of the complex products which chemistry has placed at his dis- posal. In order to understand properly the chemical portions of this manual a very sound foundation of chemical science must have been previously laid. Onthe other hand, a person who is thoroughly acquainted with the chemistry of dyestuffs would be worse than useless— he might be actually destructive—in the dye-house unless he had been trained in the application of colouring matters ona large scale. Weare sometimes told that the practical dyer need know nothing of chemistry ; that he would not do his work any better when possessed of such knowledge. There are still to be met with here and there so-called “practical” men who go further and assert that the pos- session of too much chemical knowledge would unfit the dyer for his work. But public opinion appears to be under- going a healthy change in this as in other departments of technology. It may be long before we produce the ideal technologist who is equally acquainted with the chemical nature of his materials and the mechanical methods of applying them. It appears, however, that this combin- ation of knowledge is just what is wanted in the industry. The joint authorship of the present manual perhaps 172 NATURE [June 22, 1893 supplies the best illustration of this principle that could be furnished. A word or two as to the illustrations, of which there are no less than 116 incorporated with the text. We notice with some regret the prevailing fault so common in tech- nical manuals : no scale of size is in any case given. This perhaps is of no consequence to the practical dyer who is already acquainted with the “ plant,” but as the work is also intended for students the omission is serious. Much of the machinery also is of foreign make ; it is to be hoped that this has not the same significance as the fact that by far the greater number of artificial colouring matters de- scribed in the seventh part are of foreign manufacture. In the art of dyeing this country still holds a very good position, and it is satisfactory to find that the authors have not had to go outside Yorkshire for the dyed patterns forming the third volume of their work. Perhaps the best recommendation that we can offer in favour of the present manual is that there is nothing which in our opinion calls for very serious criticism. The chemical formulze might, in many cases, have been more economically packed ; in some instances “bonds” have apparently dropped out (benzoflavine, p. 469 ; nile-blue, p- 486, and the oxazines generally ; anthracene, p. 577, &c.). The authors formulate the so-called “bicarbo- nates” on p. 68 on the type M’O(CO,).. The utility of the third volume would have been much enhanced if the pattern sheets had been paged and indexed separately, so as to have facilitated reference to any particular pat- tern. The appendix on light and colour (p. 881) wants amplifying in view of the importance of this subject to the tinctorial industry, and some account of Abney’s re- searches on colour should have been given. This section would also have been made more intelligible by the introduction of a few illustrations of absorption spectra and the practical method of mapping them. About seventeen years ago we had occasion to notice a work of a somewhat similar nature in these columns (vol. xiii. p. 283). No more striking illustration of the ad- vancement in the art of the dyer could be furnished than by comparing that work (Crace-Calvert’s “ Dyeing and Calico Printing,” by Stenhouse and Groves) with the “ Manual” of Dr. Knecht and his colleagues. Other works have appeared since that time, some of real value, others mere compilations pandering to the examination fetish. It would be invidious to institute comparisons; suffice it to say that the present work will compare favourably with any treatise in this department of applied science. R. MELDOLA. A NEW MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. A Manual of Bacteriology. By George M. Sternberg, M.D., Deputy-Surgeon-General U.S. Army. (New York: William Wood and Co., 1892.) A YOUNG and rapidly-growing science continually demands a series of new text-books for the use of those students who would keep themselves abreast of the times, and it is, perhaps, inevitable that, with the growth of knowledge, the text-books should assume more and more alarming proportions. The present work—a portly tome of nearly nine hundred pages—comes to us from across the Atlantic as the latest, the largest, and, let us add, the most complete manual ‘of bacteriology which has yet NO. 1234, VOL, 48] appeared in the English language. The volume in itself not only an account of such facts as are a established in the science from a morphological, ¢ and pathological point of view, discussions o abstruse subjects as susceptibility and immun also full details of the means by which these resi been obtained, and practical directions for the on of laboratory work. It is thus, as stated in face, at once a manual for reference, a text-b students, and a handbook for the laboratory. Ar the mind of the reader there may arise the qu whether the attempt to combine the three h resulted in a volume of somewhat too portentous a Dr. Sternberg is well qualified for the task he undertaken, Himself a well-known worker in bac! logy, and director of the Hoagland Laborat Brooklyn, his work is no mere compilation of the res of others, but embodies also the fruits of his own orig thought and observation. The amount of labour invo! in bringing together from the literature of countries the facts necessary for a manual of t may be estimated from the fact that the bibliogra alone fills over a hundred pages and contains 2 references. The illustrations are numerous, clear, accurate ; many of them are printed in colours, and are some good reproductions of microphotographs, — The work is practically divided into four parts, of these the first is mainly occupied by an accour methods and of practical laboratory work, preceded short sections on the history of the subject, on c as cation, and morphology. These are clear and the basis of classification adopted being practically of Baumgarten, in which the different genera are grot under the three main headings of ‘‘ micrococci,” “ and “spirilla.” The practical directions include stair methods, the preparation and sterilisation of c¢ media, and the various modes of cultivation, tog with directions for experiments on animals. These jects are dealt with very fully, and will be found brace all that can be required for laboratory w short section on microphotography concludes th Many English ears will resent the term “ stick- which is used as the equivalent of the German cultur’”’?; and, indeed, in other instances it wou been possible to employ more euphonious transla the original German terms. It may also be note in describing Chamberland’s filter that gentlema is incorrectly spelt in every instance. The second portion of the book deals with the and chemistry of bacteria, and the important su disinfection and antiseptics. Details are given modifi¢ations which may be artificially induced biological characters of bacteria, and especially « by which attenuation of virulence can be pathogenic species. The section on the products activity contains an account of the various ferm and decompositions known to depend on bacterial andis followed by one on the ptomaines and tox produced by certain species. The subject of dis is then treated at some length, embracing a descrif of the effects on micro-organisms of dry and moist of acids, alkalies, various salts, and coal-tar p which is fully up to date and leaves little to be d The whole concludes with a useful summary of me NATURE 173 tical disinfection, based mainly on the report of the mittee on Disinfectants of the American Public h Association. he third part, the most important division of the , deals with pathogenic bacteria in detail, and is | prefaced by a description of their modes of action, and of the ways in which they may gain access to the system. Here too we find a discussion on the difficult subjects of susceptibility and immunity, to which indeed Dr. Stern- tee ts elsewhere made important contributions. The ssion is lengthy and impartial, and well deserves careful reading. Relying on recent experimental evidence, the author reaches a guarded conclusion that acquired immunity depends on the formation of antitoxins in the bodies of immune animals. Subsidiary weight is given to the view, which he formerly upheld, that the cells of the body may acquire tolerance to the toxic products of pathogenic organisms, and also to the doctrine of phagocytosis, to which he gives a partial assent. A recent lecture by Metschnikoff on the latter subject is reproduced zz extenso. It is impossible here to follow in detail the descriptions of the different pathogenic bacteria. The order in which they are discussed is necessarily somewhat arbitrary, but is convenient, and follows the broad grouping into micrococci, bacilli and spirilla. Amongst the pyogenic organisms Fehleisen’s Streptococcus erysipelatos is frankly placed as identical with Streptococcus pyogenes, an arrangement with which many will not agree. Altogether no less than 158 organisms are described as pathogenic for man or the lower animals, and according to their relative importance the descriptions are in large or small print—an arrange- ment convenient for the student. A section follows on bacteria in diseases not clearly proved to be of bacterial origin, and the whole concludes with a classification of pathogenic organisms from a pathological standpoint. The fourth part of the book deals with saprophytic bacteria, special chapters being devoted to bacteria in air, in water, in soil, in or on the human body, and in food. The total number of saprophytes described is 331. The merit of a work of this kind depends less on the number of species described than on the clearness and accuracy of the descriptions, and Dr. Sternberg has spared no pains to make these as complete as possible. To facilitate the recognition of species a chapter on bacterio- logical diagnosis has been added, in which the different organisms are grouped according to their form, cultural characters, and other peculiarities. This section will be an important aid to the student in identification. A lengthy and well-classified bibliography brings the work to a conclusion, and the whole is well indexed. The author is to be congratulated on the success with which he has accomplished a difficult and laborious task. } TEXT-BOOKS OF ZOOLOGY. ‘ist der Zoologie. By Prof. Richard Hertwig, of Munich. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1891.) 4 iy of the Invertebrata. By Arthur O. Shipley, _ Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. (London: A. and C. Black, 1893.) JT is a difficult matter to say much that is readable 4 about text-books which are produced by teachers h a view to the limited requirements of their own NO. 1234, VOL. 48] pupils. Some text-books are, so to speak, obviously ad- dressed to the world—are intended by their authors to be consulted both by the advanced student who is himself a teacher, and by all serious followers of the science dealt with. Others have their justification in being epitomes of a professor's or lecturer’s teaching, suitable to his immediate pupils. The former class challenge criticism, and have a high standard of interest ; the latter class are hardly fit subjects for appreciation, and possess a very limited importance. Prof. Hertwig’s text-book of Zoology is one which will no doubt be found serviceable by his pupils, and by the younger students of German universities. It is con- structed on the usual lines, and contains nothing either in treatment or illustration which the author would probably wish to submit to his colleagues as novel or important. It has not the stamp of originality and fresh- ness which gives a character and significance to Prof. Berthold Hatschek’s unfinished text-book. It is well illustrated by the aid of the new “ process” methods, and must be estimated as much by the judgment dis- played in the omissions necessary in so condensed a work as by the actual statements which it embodies. The latter are, though not novel, sufficiently up to date. Mr. Shipley’s book on the -Invertebrata appeals to an even more limited circle than Prof. Hertwig’s. Pro- fessedly it is addressed to those who only wish to learn a © very little about zoology, and who will be content to dis- pense with all bibliography, and even with reference to the names of authorities for the statements and for the systems of classification which Mr. Shipley incorporates as accepted fact. Presumably Mr. Shipley’s book is in- tended for Cambridge students who take zoology in Part I. of the Tripos, and do not proceed to Part II. The book will-no doubt prove useful to these students. To others, a more critical, more comprehensive, and more authoritative treatment of the subject must be recom- mended. To those who are not acquainted with special circumstances which may have determined the author’s procedure, it must appear a matter for regret that when producing a volume so well printed and largely illustrated he did not make it more thorough. It is not possible to discuss the opinions adopted by Mr. Shipley upon several questions of interest, because he himself does not treat them argumentatively, but rather as matters of information. to be accepted by the pupil from his tutor. Zoology, when deprived both of history and of argument, is singularly uninteresting, and will perhaps in this shape gain approval as a subject of school-education, E. Ray LANKESTER. OUR BOOK SHELF. Das Genetische System der chemischen Elemente. Von W. Preyer. (Berlin: R. Friedlander und Sohn, 1893.) THE treatment of the material contained in this book is based on the idea that the elements have been produced from hydrogen, or ether, or primordial matter, by a pro- cess of condensation. The fourteen horizontal rows of the periodic table are regarded as representing fourteen different degrees of condensation of the initial substance, and the rows are then connected together so that they fall into five different groups, each of which group constitutes a generation. 174 NATURE g t [JUNE 22, 1893 The system works out in such a way that each element in the first row of the periodic table becomes the parent of all the elements in its own vertical series. Oxygen, for instance, is the root of the following genea- ogical tree :— J\\ Cr Ss fe) aS Mo | Se wh Pd \ Prd Te 7 | \ U Ww Pt Er r Chromium, nickel, and sulphur, in this way belong to the second generation. Molybdenum, paladium, and selenium to the third generation, and so on. The constants of the elements, such as atomic weights, densities, atomic volumes, specific heats, atomic heats, and their electrical and magnetic properties, their valency, &c., are then discussed with the view of justifying the mode of treatment adopted. It is here shown that on arranging the elements according to the author’s system, besides the well-known relations between properties and atomic weights, additional simple nume- rical relations are traceable between the magnitudes of the atomic constants themselves, and also between these magnitudes and the numbers denoting the degree of con- densation of the groups to which the elements belong. The use to which these may be put asa means of con- trolling the values of atomic weights and predicting the ‘properties of undiscovered elements is indicated. The second and not the least useful part of the book contains a collection of physical constants, from which the data used in the first part were chosen. The book is a suggestive contribution to the literature on a subject which since the time of Prout has been prolific of speculation, but which even yet seems slow to condense and take a form sufficiently definite to warrant its being raised to the rank of a theory. J. W. R. The Future of British Agriculture. By Prof. Sheldon. (London : W. H. Allen and Co., Ltd., 1893.) THE opening chapters of this little book are devoted to the solution of the questions, “‘ Will wheat-raising pay in Great Britain?” and “Is wheat to be no longer king?” After indicating the reasons which led to the enormous reduction of land under wheat—a decrease of something like 42 per cent. within the last twenty-five years—Prof. Sheldon comes to the conclusion, that, notwithstanding the importation of foreign wheat, and the fact that an ever-increasing demand for milk (of all farm products the least suitable for importation) necessitates larger areas of grass land, wheat-growing will not only continue, but may soon reach its former position, an event which he would not consider to be “a sign of unadulterated good.” In connection with the question of wheat-production in the United. States, there is one statement, made on the authority of leading American statistical experts, which we venture to think requires qualification, namely, ‘that in less than twenty years from Io to 15 per cent. of the people’s food will have to be zmported into the United States.” This is a point on which there may well be diversity of opinion, but, as pointed out by Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert in their recent paper on “Allotments and Small Holdings,” the conditions will be quite changed with increased population, rotation will gradually become general, yielding various food products for home con- sumption ; the soil will be better cultivated, yielding much larger crops of wheat where it is grown ; straw and manure will no longer be burnt or wasted ; and, lastly, there are still considerable areas of rich prairie land to be brought under the plough. So that it is probable that increased density of population will less rapidly diminish the NO. 1234, vou. 48] capability of production for export than may, at sight, be supposed. | Perhaps the most interesting chapters are dairy farming ; and it will afford a good deal of co to the dairy farmers of this country to learn that Sheldon believes “the competition of the United within measurable distance of its limit.” The book concludes with a chapter on a m portant subject—tenant farmers’ interests. The aut states his view of the matter in his usual clear ar d | cible manner, and incidentally refers to what h “exploded, impossible ‘ Protection’,” and to “t economic craze, ‘ Bimetallism’.” i) We welcome the book as a valuable contribution to agricultural literature, and as a useful guide to the branches in which the author is especially qu ified instruct. ‘ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opini. pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he u to return, or to correspond with the writers of, manuscripts intended for this or any other part of N& No notice is taken of anonymous communications. Mx. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Is I wriT£ a final line on this subject to express my regret I should have misunderstood Prof. Newton and attribu him (NATURE, p. 126 above) opinions in regard to the ship between Zrythromachus and Aphanapteryx which he not hold. On a point of accuracy, however, in regard to the confusion of dates,” allow me to say that I am sure no ons | admit more readily than he that this had oceurred, whi remind him ot his letter to me of December 22, 18¢2 (naw b me), in reply to a note of mine requesting him to be so go to repeat his suggestion in regard to the name for the new ge which I was about to describe, as I had mislaid his former n **T have no memorandum,” he says, ‘‘of what I suggested you, but only an indistinct recollection that it was Dia,hor teryx . . . or something like that.” This was, therefore, date of the re-suggestion, and not my visit to Cambriige « February 23, 1893. Déaphorapteryx was described as a genus in the Bull. Brit. Ornith. Cl., December 31, 1892. Henry O. Fort 66 gta The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics. A veRY brief reply to such of your correspondents as hi favoured my paper with direct or indirect criticisms will at present stage of the discussion be sufficient. : Referring first to Prof. Riicker’s letter on p. 126, I acq in the greater part of it—especially in its concluding p but it may clarify matters if I explain (1) that Ido not con! plate arts of the ether, but regard it as an absolute condi Not the slightest advantage is gained by pushing action distance back a step or two—it must be exterminated. (2 T have no faith in ‘‘ action at constant distance” oth distance zero. The reason such a phrase ever appeared papers is because that is all Iam able to deduce from sumption of the conservation of energy. It requires ic energy to prove absolute contact. Hence I prefer backwards, and, assuming universal contact action or the der of action at a distance, to deduce therefrom both the conser tion and identity of energy. : Prof. McGregor contradicts three statements in the Ri the meeting of the Physical Society (p. 117), a report usually admirably done, and which was well done in t Though not responsible I reply to his three points categort (1) He was understood to object to the Newtonian sta’ of the first law—not to the fact or law itself. (2) A reference to the first two pages of his paper February Phil. Mag. will show him, I think, that he h partially forgotten what he said on the second head. (3) It is to be admitted at once that the phrase ‘equ well,” not ‘‘well,” was employed. { NATURE 175 _ Now, turning to Mr. Dixon’s letter (p. 149), it does not seem me that he is perfectly candid. He accuses me in his con- ading paragraph of an unfair practice by omitting the word irect,” but no such word occurred in his letter on p. 103, to I was replying ; nor is what he now says consistent h the surface meaning and intention of the second paragraph his former epistle, so far as I can judge. A withdrawal of iat hasty and misleading paragraph is what I had expected from im. In the first paragraph to his recent letter he explains why he _ considers that the fact that potential energy belongs to a system is _ hostile to the idea of identity, but his proof does not appear to ¥ me valid unless the phrases ‘‘belongs to ” and ‘has no local habitation within” are considered identical. If he can show _ that a given portion of potential energy ‘‘has no local habita- tion within a system,” he will undoubtedly be usefully attacking the proposition that it possesses identity, but I do not see that he has even attempted such a proof at present. : OLIVER LODGE. Popular Botany. _ I VISITED Tyne Dock yesterday, in order to attempt to solve ae question put by Mr. A. W. Bennett in your issue of the Ist ___ The plants which caused the fatality grow in a small hollow close to a newly-opened road. The surviving child is but _ five years old, and therefore much too young for any evidencé of _ hers to be convincing. _ There seems little doubt, however, that the hemlock, Conzum _maculatum, brought about the death of the other two children. Large quantities of this, looking very attractive just now, are growing on the spot, together with smaller quantities of Heracleum sphondylium, Anthriscus sylvestris, and a very few plants of Buncum flexuosum at the margin of the hollow. No other umbelliferous plant is growing near. Yesterday, troops of children were gathering the young and pretty leaves of the hemlock, and making them up into bouquets with grasses and flowers. The children, who died from the effects of eating the plant were aged respectively four and five years, and probably, in common with thousands of others in the district, would not recognise cabbage if they saw it growing, which very likely they never did. Ihave met many very much older children here who are as ignorant of common garden and field plants. Gateshead-on-Tyne, June 12. Joun BrpGoop. py The Big and Little Monsoons of Ceylon. Ir is well known to all Anglo-Indians, even the least scien- tific, that the summer monsoon is ushered in by two periods of rain-burst, called respectively the chota and burra barsit. _ The former occurs sometimes in April or May, and the latter in et or July, the precise dates varying not only with the ity but with the year. The chota barsat only lasts a few days, and is looked upon as the advance guard of the burra barsat, or great rains. The conditions which tend to produce the chota barsat have not, so far as I am aware, been studied in detail, but are prob- ably similar in character though on a smaller scale, and more local than those which regulate the inception of the burst of the _ monsoon, as it is popularly termed. It can be readily under- stood that as soon as the solar rays are sufficiently powerful to heat upa portion of the land area, and by lowering the pressure to determine an inrush of surrounding marine air, condensation and precipitation will occur much in the same way as in the burra barsat when the air over the whole peninsula has become heated, and the saturated air from the equatorial Indian Ocean ‘rushes in in a large and continuous stream towards the low pressure area thus formed. In the former case the conditions are not only more local and ephemeral owing to the small nount of vapour formed over a comparatively cool sea, but ‘mixed up with the residue of the cold weather disturbances, ich are due to anti-monsoon conditions. Mr. Blanford, in his admirable monograph on the rainfall of ia, has compared the direct solar action which sets the mon- 1 in action to the pull of the trigger, by which the intrinsic t energy of the resulting air-stream is shot forth. Inthe of the chota barsit the comparison holds equally good the resulting charge is feebler. NO. 1234, VOL. 48] Now it has been recently maintained that while the distribu- tion of temperature anomalies in the Indian peninsula regulates the inception of the little monsoon and its accompanying chota barsat, 1t is only when the central Asian plateaux become warmed up so as to produce an inflow beyond the Himalayan barrier, which must consequently affect the upper as well as the lower atmospheric strata, that any general deep movement of the equatorial vapour-laden air occurs on a scale sufficient to produce general monsoon rains. That in fact there are two movements, one in the lower air, and the other in the air above the first 5000 or 6000 feet, and that it is only when the two occur coincidently that we get the grander phenomena which accompany the burst of the big monsoon, as they term it in Ceylon. Some such theory appears necessary to account, not merely for the peculiar suddenness of the burst, but also for its variable date of arrival in different years. Until, however, we know more of the meteorological conditions of Central Asia and Thibet, this hypothesis must remain in a tentative state. Meanwhile, however, it is undoubtedly valuable to find that these two periods of rain-burst are not only distinct enough to be referred to under separate names over a large part of India, but in Ceylon are considered so important as to have their dates separately recorded by the Marine Master attendant at Colombo. In the excellent Ceylon Mercantile and Planting Directory, edited by the late Mr. A. M. Ferguson, and now carried on by his successor, Mr. J. Ferguson, a list is given of the dates of commencement of the little and big monsoons, from 1853 down o 1892 inclusive. As a general result it is found that the average dates for the little and big monsoons are April 20 and May 109, and that when nothing particularly abnormal occurs, the big monsoon may be expected to follow the little one in about a month. ‘There are, however, considerable variations from this normal, the little monsoon date ranging through 52 days, and the big monsoon from May I to June 19, On looking over these variations it struck me that they would probably be found to correspond to some extent with the rain- fall of adjacent localities in India, especially the Carnatic, The result ofa comparison of the anomalies is shown below— CryYLon.} CarnatTic.? Date of arrival of the big monsoon, Mean rainfall ano- before or after its average date, May 20. maly in inches (40 + Before — after stations). days. Inches. 1864 15 ay 1865 —II - 5 1866 =— 2 -—4 1867 — 30 — 94 1868 —14 - 46 1869 — 28 - 03 1870 + 9 + 18 1871 sey, + 5°5 1872 +18 +11°5 1873 -— 4 — o'r 1874 +15 Tite 1875 -~ 8 — 5°2 1876 -17 —13'2 1877 ease + 4 + 83 1878 yes +1 ° 1879 : ° _ + 23 1880 + 5 : + 7'0 1881 - 9 - 2'1 1882 ° + 4°4 1883 +10 + 52 1884 + 5 +116 1885 —16 - I'l A mere glance at these figures shows at once a remarkable parallelism both in signs and numbers. Thus in eighteen years the signs are alike, neutral in three, and unlike only once. As it is well known that the rainfall of the Carnatic was found by Mr. Blanfordto vary in a cycle of eleven years, closely corre- sponding with that of the sunspots,*® the same ought to hold for the anomalies in the dates of arrival of the big monsoon at Colombo. Asa matter of fact the relation appears to be still 1 From the Ceylon Directory, 1892. 2 From the Rainfall of India, Part II., Indian Meteorologieal Memoirs, 1887. 3 Mr. Blanford computed the ee of such a cycle as compared to an invariable average to be as 6551. Indian Meteorological Memoirs, ‘ vol. iii. part 2, p. 244. 176 NATURE [June 22, 1893 stronger. Thus, excluding insignificant decimals from the sun- spot figures, and taking the mean of three and a half cycles for the Ceylon dates from 1854 to 1891, and from 1864 to 1885 for the sunspots in pairs of years from Wolf’s tables (the only sun- spot data I have available) we get the following comparison :— Ceylon! monsoon dates. Sunspots. Mean abnormals. Mean abnormals. 1856 ... 1867-"78.... — 7°5 min — 38 min. TT ea get gn ce -34 1858... 55 ot cone OL ORS = Baty} 1859 vas ” - 470 ;, +27 5; T86014¢5 rf PaO, +44 max 1861 ., 35 +100 max. a SY ogy 1862 ... 55 + 4°05, +26 5, 1863 44.0), + 30 ,, +9 45 1864 aan ” + 10 ;, ay ST) 1865... 55 - 40 ,,; a) a 1866... ” + o'0 ” BO aig Better sunspot data would certainly not invalidate the connec- tion. The lag behind the maximum sunspot data and the appa- rent tendency to precede the minimum has always been noticed in other phenomena. Moreover, from the analogy between the abnormals of the two elements compared both in quantity as well as sign the same remarks as to the reality of the cycle made by Mr. Blanford in his work (cited ante) p. 254 apply pari passu to that in the Ceylon dates. A similar relation holds good for the little monsoon which may be put into words as early dates in years with increasing sunspot numbers and late dates in years with diminishing sun- spot numbers, with a decided maximum of twelve days early in the year immediately succeeding that of maximum sunspots. Even the period between the two bursts shows symptoms of a similar relation to the sun’s condition, the mean maximum interval, forty-three days, corresponding to the year of minimum sunspots, and the minimum twenty days occurring two years after that of maximum sunspots. The relation, however, is clearest in the figures for the burst of the big monsoon and seems to show that apart from all indirect influences such as accumulation of snows on the Himalayan outer ranges, and unusual winter rainfall on the plains or the reverse, there is a real fluctuation in the dates of the burst of the big monsoon or burra barsdt connected with the sun’s condition which appears to be more direct than that exhibited by the amount of rain which falls during its continuance and appears to indicate, as indeed is borne out by what we know from other sources, that in years of many spots the conditions which usher in the summer monsoon rains are earlier developed, and, as the amounts show, probably continue more regularly than in years of few spots. : Granting this as a working hypothesis two important results ‘ollow. (1) The parallel march of the Ceylon dates and the rainfall of the Carnatic shows that the former could be employed to forecast the probable amount of monsoon rainfall about to be enjoyed in the latter district. (2) That by using the mean abnormal of the year in its posi- tion in the sunspot cycle as the true mean instead of the mean of the whole period, the true abnormal for the year can be better estimated and the probable general character of the weather foretold. As an example let us take the well-known diurnal variation of barometric pressure, whose amplitude in the tropics is so large that it bears a sensible ratio to the abnormal fluctuation pro- duced by a passing disturbance. In estimating the true abnormal at some particular hour of the day we must evidently compare the value with reference to the normal at that hour. Similarly for the sunspot period in the case under considera- tion. If there is reason to believe that the period exists we ought to treat it asa reality, and in constructing graphic abnormals take the curve of the progressive cyclic normal as our abscissa axis instead of a straight line representing an endless repetition of the mean of the whole period. The principle is adopted as regards varying locality in drawing synoptic abnormal charts. It should be equally imperative in cases where the element of time is considered. Thus in 1894, if the monsoon burst in Colombo twelve days before its time it would be abnormal to the extent of +2. On the other hand, if it were twelve days late, it would be abnormal le means wn, thed. 1 These figures are si NO. 1234, VOL. 48] to the existing mean to the extent of —22, and even to mean formed by incorporating this fresh value, to the ~ 16, and we might in such a case infer that some unusual: was in operation which would certainly bode ill for the Ma : agriculturists. I have put these facts and considerations forward si preliminary inspection of two phenomena which not only in Ceylon, but are more or less common to the Indian per and to show how conditions, the relations between which ¢ present only be exhibited in an empirical form, may | employed as a means of forecasting the character of a and also ultimately by further investigation help to e' the whole machinery by which the grand weather cha’ produced by terrestrial physical conditions in conjunctio! alterations in the state of the sun’s surface as well as its v declination. A large field on either side of the embracing one-fourth of the entire area of the world, from which observations are very much wanted to coi our knowledge of the causes of phenomena which, they are evidently closely related to action-centres (us Teisserenc de Bort’s significant expression) at some dista from the equator, are yet, probably to some considerab extent, dependent upon conditions prevailing over the e equatorial belt, which may, for all we know, fluctu stricter unison with solar changes than those which occ! higher latitudes. E. DouGLAs ARCHIBAL enna Singular Swarms of Flies. Wir the writer’s permission I send you herewith a le which I have received concerning the subject of my letter whit appeared in your issue of June 1. 7 a During the week following the date of my letter I repeate saw swarms of similar kind; but smaller and less rke seldom visible much more than fifty yards away ; always un similar atmospheric conditions, which were chronic duri period in question. The swarms always showed mu same slant from vertical (some 30° or so), the direction slope in plan being towards such slight draft of air as perceptible. R, E. Froupbe. Gosport, June 12. | a I FIND in NaTuRE, June I, an inquiry you make about forming clouds, resembling smoke. AG ; They are usually produced by the gnats called scient Chironomus, and have been often mentioned in entomok literature. I give below several references I can lay my hand on, there are probably many more recent ones, which I have noticed— , German, Magazin fiir Entomologie (in German), vol 134-140, 1813. Clapton, J. C. Dale, in Magaz. Nat. Hist., 1833, p. 54 (In Ireland and England.) ; aa Patterson, Ann, and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. x. 1842, 6-9. H (acts seen such clouds myself more than once. Ca: occurred when the smoke-like appearance has caused a fir to be sounded. C. R. OsTEN SAc Heidelberg, Germany, June 4. | 5 oat OFFICIAL CATALOGUE OF THE EX. TION OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE AT COLUMBIAN UNIVERSAL EXHIBITI CHICAGO. ERMANY, not unmindful that America is hei customer, will be worthily represented at Ch An elaborate catalogue, in the German languag already appeared, and an English translation will sho be published. We have been favoured with an adva copy of the latter, which is by no means a mere enum tion of exhibits. It contains a general introduction, a number of original articles by leading experts tended to supply for each department a concisely de: tive survey of its development and present conditi There is also, in German and English, a special Gi to the collective exhibition of the German chem NATURE 177 stry, containing historical and statistical notices of ry exhibiting firm. Generally the effort of the editor, ‘the commission which he represents, has been to ‘convey to the American people and to the world a faith- ful picture of a state of development of the industrial arts i any, which may well inspire,in the English reader, ssions of a mixed order, pleasure in the contempla- of a great national growth, based upon a true ception of the right methods, and regret that in our m country a similiar consummation still appears a ‘eat way off. The selection, as editor of this publica- tion, of the eminent chemist, Dr. Otto N. Witt, professor of technology at the great Berlin Polytechnicum, isin itself a forecast of its scope and purpose, and an evidence of the position which the man of pure science occupies in official Germany. To summarise in the briefest manner the work which he and his collaborators have given to the world would carry us far beyond the limits of this article. There are two points, however, of paramount interest, to which we desire to call attention, the one social-political, not to say socialistic, the other industrial—both of national importance. Among the provisions made and establishments created by the newly-founded empire avowedly in the interest of national industry and commerce, such as the Imperial Post Office, the Imperial Bank, the Imperial Patent Office, none bear the stamp of originality in the same de- gree as the great system of compulsory insurance, “the object being to secure for that portion of the population which is dependent upon the work of its hands, and is rarely in a position to save money or properly to ad- minister its savings, a provision for the days when through accident, sickness, or advancing age the worker is incapacitated from further earnings. Insurance is applicable in three different forms, In assurance against illness, introduced in 1883, the means are provided, two- thirds by the insured and one-third by their employers, in weekly contributions, to an amount not exceeeding 3 ie cent. of the average wage. It entitles the insured to ree peri medical treatment and a fixed allowance over a given seriod. It includes 7,000,000 persons in more than 20,000 clubs, and involves an annual expenditure of more than 100 million marks, The system of insurance against accident, which came into existence in 1884, is intended to transform the personal liability of the employer, in case of accident during the execution of work into an economical charge upon the entire trade concerned, to se- cure to the worker an indemnity zz a@// cases, and to put an end to troublesome lawsuits between employer and em- ployed. At the present time 15 millions of persons are insured, and Io millions of marks have been paid in in- demnities. The insurance against incapacity for work, and the old-age pension fund, inaugurated in 1891, com- plete this system of workers’ insurances. It insures an income to those unable to earn a living, without reference to age, and an old-age pension to septuagenarians, with- out reference to any capacity for earning which they may still retain. The necessary means, in addition to a Yeeuy Imperial contribution of 50 marks per income, are supplied in equal proportions by the insured and their mployers. ‘his form of insurance includes 12 uillions of persons, and has, up to the present time, in- yolved an outlay of 30 millions of marks. On the whole, there has been, in connection with the objects of the Vlei insurance, an expenditure of well-nigh half a milliard of marks, which has exclusively benefited the working lasses’ _ Thus, in the course of eight years, the German Govern- ‘men and people have given practical form to these grave ‘ocial problems, which, in our own country, are still aiting for solution. Whether the German system is based on sound principles it is not for the present writer ide. It is admitted that it imposes a heavy burden industry, and yet most of the exhibiting firms NO. 1234, VOL. 48] appear to bear it with equanimity. Nay, it is refreshing to note that the obligations imposed upon manufacturers by the Legislature have not in any way dried up the springs of voluntary charitable effort. Most of the large firms, in addition to the requirements of the law, make generous provision for their workpeople in the shape of baths, refreshment-rooms, dormitories, supplies of fuel at cost price, model cottages at low rent, allotments, and various funds in cases of sickness and death, funds for widows and orphans, &c., &c. It must be borne in mind, as a set-off to all this benevolence, that wages are low. The average remuneration in chemical factories, for example, is something less than £1 per week for a ten hours day. The other point suggested by a perusal of the cata- logue is the rapid and, in some cases, triumphant pro- gress of German industry. For our present purpose it will be sufficient to consider two departments of chemical manufacture—namely, the industry of general and fine chemicals and that of artificial colouring matters. They are typical of the spirit which pervades every branch of technical activity in Germany. The former, we are told, has developed to an extent- unknown in any other coun- try in the world. Imperial statistics show that in 1891 there were in Germany 521 factories engaged in the manufacture of chemico-pharmaceutical preparations, their 14,842 workpeople drawing 12,615,700 marks in wages. The exports in 1890 of chemical preparations, not specially named, exceeded the imports by 5000 tons, valued at more than 15,000,000 marks. If to these are added the chemicals quoted by name in the official list, we obtain a total excess of exports over imports amount- ing to 25,690,000 marks ; and as the home consumption must at least be equal, we arrive at a grand total of 52,000,000 marks annually. More remarkable still is the history of the great dye industry, which, as is well known, originated in England with the labours of Hofmann, Mansfield, and Perkin, closely followed in France by those of Verguin and Girard and de Laire. What has become of it? The chemical catalogue tells us that nine-tenths of the pro- duction of artificial dye-stuffs in the world must be credited to Germany. There are altogether some 20 factories belonging to this industry in Germany, nearly all of which can claim to be important. Three of the largest are represented at Chicago. One of them, with a capital of 6,000,000 marks, employs 600 men and 90 women; another, with a capital of 12,000,000 marks, occupies 1600 men with a tech- nical staff of 300, and produces nearly every known dye stuff, the alizarine dyes included. A third, with a capital of 164 million marks, is said to be the largest chemical factory in the world. It began twenty-eight years ago with a staff of 30 men, and now employs 4000. These three factories have played a conspicuous part in the building up of the industry of artificial colouring matters. To what causes must these great results be traced? Many minor causes are mentioned in the catalogue. Let us, however, go at once to the root of the matter. The two main factors are organisation and the conse- quent intimate connection between pure science and manufacture. When, at the beginning of the century, Germany lay crushed at the feet of Napoleon, it was felt by German patriots that nothing but the complete re- organisation of the country could lead to its emancipa- tion. Since those days, side by side with the military forces, the scientific forces of the country have been care- fully and patiently organised. At the instigation of Liebig, great State laboratories for pure scientific research were erected all over the country, and from these have issued an army of highly-trained workers, whose ser- vices manufacturers have vied with each other in securing. Nothing is more striking, in the special notices of the exhibiting firms, than the large number of competent and NATURE [June 22, 1893 often distinguished chemists employed in all the factories at all connected with the chemical trade. Firms with 40 workmen sometimes employ as many as 5 or 6 chemists, and the three great colour firms re- ferred to above employ together 178. In the words of Dr. Witt: ‘In chemical research the chemical industry of Germany possesses a never-failing helpmeet, and such is the intimacy between chemical research and chemical manufacture, that the periods of most rapid development of the one have always been epochs of prosperity with the other.” ‘And again: ‘‘It may be asserted that not only is the strength and productive power of German chemical industry based upon the intimate connection between science and practice above described, but that in that intimacy lies the surest safeguard that German industry will long continue to hold the prominent position which, with such strenuous exertion, it has ultimately achieved. When the question is asked why the chemical industry of other lands, still more favoured perhaps by nature, has in the end been surpassed by the German, the answer is that Germany has had the good fortune to call her own a number of the greatest intellects in the domain of pure scientific research, who have quickened the pace of theoretical chemistry. But, as before stated, it is the latter which constitutes the vital element of chemical manufacture. Only the country which, at any period, shall assume the leadership in pure scientific chemical investigation, will also be in a position to wrest from German chemical industry the palm to which it is at pre- sent entitled.” We do not shut our eyes to the fact that nations, like individuals, must work out their own character and destiny, nor do we for a moment inculcate a slavish copy- ing of the German model. We have in this country a great deal of science and a great deal of industry, and many attempts have been made to bring about an effective cooperation of these two cardinal elements of productive energy. We cordially recognise that particular industries and individual firms have, by private ent-rprise, developed themselves upon a thoroughly scientific basis, and we also welcome the fact that substantial additions have been made in recent years to the laboratories and insti- tutions where a scientific training can be obtained. At the same time we cannot escape from the admission that, in the friendly struggle for industrial supremacy, Germany has not only made astonishing progress both in the de- velopment of industries of long standing, and in the inception of new ones of enormous fruitfulness, but that she has been the first as a nation to solve the great problem of the cooperation of science and manufacture. ‘We leave it to more competent hands to point out the course which now lies before us. In our own humble opinion the days of /azsser faive have gone never to return, and the time has come when the Government of the country, backed by the country, must take—as is the case in Germany—a larger share than it has done hitherto in the systematic organisation of our scientific and industrial forces. A nobler and a more patriotic task could hardly be attempted. THE REDE LECTURE. a Cambridge, on June 14, the Rede lecture was delivered by Prof. Michael Foster, Sec. R.S., his subject being ‘‘ Weariness.” The lecture was illustrated by experiments, conducted by Dr. Shore, with the assist- ance of Mr. Hardy. The following report of the lecture is from the 7zmes :— Prof. Foster said that among the many shortcomings which limited the power, and so the usefulness, of the machine which we call the human body, two stood out prominent among the rest : these were, on the one hand, Anertia or laziness, the unwillingness to stir, and, on the NO. 1234, VOL. 48] other hand, weariness, the getting tired. He prop lay before his audience some account of such kno as the physiologists of to-day possessed, and it little, concerning the physical basis of this w which so greatly shortened the power of man. He with a simple yet illustrative case—the weariness y comes from the much repetition of a simple movemel a simple muscular act, as when a man lifts a with his hand. Analysing the act physiologica yy showed the changes which took place in the br. the nerve, and the muscle. Taking the muscle fi he showed that weariness of muscle comes, first place, from too rapid expenditure of capi secondly, from the accumulation in the muscl the products of the muscle’s own activity. There many reasons for thinking that this latter cause of we ness was at least as potent as the former. The force of our food was the measure of our muscular s but the one could become the other only through th of many other things which might be wholly emp energy, and the failure of these, no less than the ab of the former, entailed at first premature weariness, wards failure and death. The nerves and the shared in even the simplest and rudest muscular w The nerves themselves, the mere bundles of fibres wh carried the nervous impulses from the brain to muscles, were never tired. Coming to the brain, t lecturer showed by a simple experiment a case of fatigi demonstrating that the fatigue was in the brain and in the muscle ; a weariness of the particular part of nervous system which was called into play. By an illustration in colours he showed also how ness not only lessened work but bred error. The of the central nervous system had led, and was | physiologists to the conclusion that the ma changes on which its activity depended were analogous to those. taking place in a muscle, on! course, from a chemical point of view, not som And all they knew went to show that in the brain, : muscle, weariness was the result on the one hand expenditure of capital disproportionate to the ac: lation, and on the other hand to a clo; gging of machinery with the products of activity. The apparatus he had used might be successfully emp to illustrate general conditions as affecting wearine taking always the same weight, they counted the nur of times the weight was lifted and measured the to which it was raised each time in succession befor movement was stopped by weariness, they could ase how much work had been done before the machi so stopped. Proceeding in this way some inter results as to what hastened or retarded fatigue had obtained. Practice and habit, it was needless 1 were of prime influence. The depressing effects damp, muggy day, or the exhilarating effects of a b clear day, might in this way be measured in foot- of power lost or gained, as might also the low influence of a cigar and the heightening effect of a. of beer. One point perhaps he might dwell upon, ant was the influence of that part of the brain more immediately concerned with what was spoken ol mental work. An Italian professor determined, by of the apparatus of which they were speaking, the of work which he could on a certain morning do bef he was stopped by weariness. He then set hin two hours’ hard mental work, and the form of wo chose was that of examining candidates for their ¢ The professor, as soon as the two hours’ examin was over, went back to his apparatus and found thi power of bending his finger was enormously cut The nervous system was a candle which could not ably be burnt at two ends at once. When the work involved the activity, simultaneous or successive, of muscles of many parts of the nervous system, the se JUNE 22, 1893] NATURE 179 _ efforts by accumulation became prominent, and simple _ weariness passes into what was called “distress.” Here _ the result depended not so much on the direct effects of _ the work on the parts which were actively employed, not so much on the changes wrought in the muscles or in the nervous machinery at work, as on the suc- cess with which other members of the body came to the aid of those actually engaged in labour. The internal life of the body, no less than the external _ life, was a struggle for existence, a struggle between the ‘several members, a struggle the arena of which was the blood. And it would seem that the onset of distress was chiefly determined by the failure of the organs to keep the blood adequately pure. Something depended on the vigour of the muscles themselves, something on the breathing power of the individual, something also on the readiness with which the heart responded to the greater strain upon it ; but beyond and above all these was the readiness with which the internal scavengers freed the blood from the poison which the muscles were pouring into it. Undue exertion was exertion in which the muscles worked too fast for the rest of the body. The hunted hare died not because he was choked for want of breath, not because his heart stood still, its store of energy having given out, but because a poisoned blood poisoned his brain and his whole body. So also the schoolboy, urged by pride to go on running beyond the earlier symptoms of distress, struggled on until the heaped up poison deadened his brain, and he fell dazed and giddy, as in a fit, rising again, it might be, and stumbling on unconscious, or half conscious only, by mere mechanical inertia of his nervous system, falling once more, poisoned by poisons of his own making. All our knowledge went to show that the work of the brain, like the work of the muscles, was accompanied by chemical change, and that the chemical changes were of the same order in the brain as in the muscle. If an adequate stream of pure blood were necessary for the life of the muscle, equally true, perhaps even more true, was this of the brain. More- over, the struggle for existence had brought to the front a brain ever ready to outrun. its more humble helpmates, and even in the best-regulated economy the period of most effective work between the moment when all the complex machinery has been got into working order and the moment when weariness began to tell was bounded by all too narrow limits. If there were any truth in what he had laid before them, the sound way to extend those limits was not so much to render the brain more agile as to encourage the humbler helpmates, so that their more efficient cooperation might defer the onset of weariness. NOTES. From the 77mes we learn that a volcanic outbreak has occurred at Fukushima, in Northern Japan. Large volumes of dust and vapour have been emitted, and the country for miles around has been covered with volcanic ash. Landslips of great extent have occurred in the same neighbourhood, and are supposed to be caused by the volcanic action. _ Dr. H, J. Jounston-Lavis sends us the following informa- tion :—After many years in which the crater of Etna has been a solfataric state lava has again risen, and now occupies it. 7 his is a very rare condition of things in that volcano. Earth- quakes continue in the north of Sicily, but on the flanks of Etna there is marked quiescence, which might be expected when main chimney is free. IN June 13 a select committee of the House of Commons ed the hearing of evidence in connection with sea fisheries. Ray Lankester urged that a proper survey should be stituted round the coasts, in order to ascertain the movements habits of fish in the areas resorted to by fishermen, An NO. 1234, VOL. 48] adequate commercial return could be expected from such a survey, for new fishing grounds might be discovered. To carry on this work, the present Government Grant of £1000 a year, received by the Marine Biological Association, ought to be trebled, and a grant of £5000 should be made for a deep-sea vessel. Dr. Giinther expressed the opinion that hatcheries should be established for the protection and extended cultiva- tion of sea-fish, and Mr. Holt testified to the considerable depletion of the fisheries in the North Sea, to prevent which a size-limit for different kinds of fish was recommended, rather than an absolute close-time of four months in the year. A PHOTOGRAPHIC exhibition usually includes mechanical appliances and improved outfits specially designed to catch the eye of the artless amateur photographer. But there is to be a new departure in this, as in many other customs. In October next an exhibition of photographic pictures, to be called the ‘* Photographic Salon,” will be held at the Dudley Gallery, Piccadilly, and it will be concerned, wholly and solely, with photographs of pictorial merit, leaving the means by which such results can be obtained to be otherwise advertised. Those who desire to have their pictures hung in this academy of photo- graphic art should communicate with the secretary before the beginning of September. A NUMBER of lectures will be delivered in connection with the Gilchrist Trust, from September to December, in the Great Assembly Hall, Bethnal Green. Prof. V. B. Lewes will open the series with a lecture on ‘‘ The Atmosphere and its Relation to Life.” He will be followed by Sir Robert Ball, on ‘‘ Other Worlds,” Dr. Andrew Wilson on ‘‘ The Brain and Nerves,” the Rev. Dr. Dallinger on ‘‘Spiders: their Work and their Wisdom,” and Dr. J. A. Fleming on ‘‘ Magnets and Electric Currents.” Lovers of the piscatorial art will welcome the suggestion that the 300th anniversary of the birth of Izaak Walton, on August 9, shall be commemorated by some memorial. There is a marble bust of Walton at his birthplace, Stafford, and a statue at Winchester, where he is buried, but in London, the home of his adoption, his claim to have his name and work written on a memorial tablet has hitherto been neglected. Mr. Marston, of the Fishing Gazette, thinks St. Dunstan’s Church, Fleet Street, would be an appropriate building whereon to affix a mural decoration. In com- memoration of the tercentenary, a special edition of ‘‘ The Complete Angler ” will be published by Messrs. Bagster in Sep- tember. Mr. J. E. Harting, librarian to the Linnean Society, is editing the volume, and adding to it notes from the point of view of a naturalist. AN international anthropometrical congress will be held at Chicago, from August 28 to September 2, under the auspices of the World’s Congress Auxiliary of the Columbian Exposi- tion. It is requested that the titles and abstracts of papers on anthropology be forwarded as early as possible to Prof. C. Staniland Wake, Department of Ethnology, in order that the programme may be arranged. Mr. A. O. WALKER informs us that about 8.15 p.m. on June 15, three shocks in rapid succession were felt at Colwyn Bay. The shocks present the characteristic features of true earthquakes, but evidence from a wider area is required to decide the question. THE thunderstorms which occurred in some parts of our islands about the middle of last week were accompanied gene- rally by very little rain ; in parts of Kent, for instance, the total rainfall since the beginning of March has only amounted to about three-quarters of an inch, or 13 per cent. of the normal amount. The temperatures have been exceptionally high, the NATURE 180 [JUNE 22, 1893 maxima ranging from 80° to 88° in many parts of the king- dom, while on Monday the 19th instant, the temperature reached 91° at Greenwich. This is the highest reading which has occurred there in June since the year 1858, and it has not been exceeded in any part of the summer during the last five years. In the early part of the present week shallow depres- sions passed over these islands causing the recurrence of thunderstorms in many parts. These were accompanied by smart showers in a few places, and by a considerable fall in the temperature, the maximum in London on Tuesday being 24° lower than on the previous day. The Weekly Weather Report of the 17th inst. showed that the mean excess of temperature ranged from 3° or 4° in England, to 6° in Scotland, and to 7° in the north of Ireland. There was no rainfall whatever over the greater part of England and Scotland. TuHeEVatican Observatory has issued thethird volume of its Pd- blicasioni, containing xxiii + 442 quarto pages and thirty plates. The plan followed by Padre Denza is the same as in the pre- vious volumes, and the work is produced in the same excellent style. After quoting some historical documents relating to the observatory, an account is given of the last general meeting of the superintending Council and of the principal astronomical and astrographic researches carried on at the observatory. Although the magnetical and geodynamical sections are not yet in order, several papers of special interest in these important subjects are published. The meteorological section contains hourly observations and results for the year 1891; in this branch we specially notice a paper on the classification of clouds by Sr, F. Mannucci, photographic assistant at the observatory, illustrated by fourteen photographs taken at the observatory and neatly printed by Dujardin of Paris. The classification adopted is that proposed by Messrs. Abercromby and Hildebrandsson, and consists of ten different kinds of clouds, divided into five principal groups, according to the heights at which the various forms are usually found. ‘The last part of the work contains an account of the proceedings of the ordinary meetings held in the year 1892. PROBABLY few people are aware that there still exists in this country a manufactory of gun and tinder-box flints, yet such is the case. Mr. Edward Lovett, in the Z//ustrated Archeologist for June, gives an interesting description of the flint industry which has been carried on at Brandon, situated on the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk, since the Stone Age. The methods employed in the mining and fashioning of flints at that remote period prevail, with little alteration, unto this day. In order to break flint into pieces of convenient size, the worker places the mass on his knee, and, by a dexterous blow with a hammer, shivers it into fragments as easily as if it were chocolate. The pieces are then split into flakes, and these, in turn, are fractured into little squares which, with very slight trimming, become the finished gun-flints. Most of the gun-flints are exported to Zanzibar and other ports in communication with the interior of Africa, but, besides these, large quantities of flints for tinder- boxes are still made at Brandon. Tinder-box flints chiefly go to Spain and Italy for use in isolated districts. It is a curious fact, however, that the flint-and-steel method employed by pre- historic man in making fire is better than matches in uncivilised regions, and very moist climates. Afr arecent meeting of the Société Francaise de Physique a note from Dr. Stephane Leduc was read, in which the corre- spondant points out that the physiological effects of alternating currents obtained from electrostatic machines are very different to those up to now observed with ordinary alternating currents of high tension and frequency. Thus, if the ter- minals are held in the hands nothing is felt, although a con- tinuous stream of sparks is passing between the dischargers. If, however, the current is localised at one point on the skin by NO. 1234, VOL. 48] means of a rounded point, directly this point passes ove nerve, either sensory or motor, the nerve is excited throughou! all its length beyond the electrode. The sensation felt in th Sensory nerves allows of their distribution being accurately lowed, while the least displacement of the electrode « surface of the skin causes a cessation of all these effects. currents can in this way be used to localise the seat of r excitation with much greater accuracy than has been possible. THE results obtained by Blondlot in his extensive resea the capacity of polarisation have been confirmed by some experiments of M. Bouty (see Proceedings of the Frangaise de Physique). M. Bouty has chiefly studied th melted electrolytes, of extremely dilute solutions of sa! solid electrolytes, and his results have very conclusively that the initial capacity of polarisation (K) is indepen the direction of the polarising current. When a platinum: trode has been immersed in a melted electrolyte for twent hours it possesses, for a given temperature, a constant capacity of polarisation, which increases rapidly with tema ture, while the maximum polarisation decreases. In thec electrodes of platinum in concentrated solutions of most. (those of platinum excepted) the value of K is very ne same forall, and varies little on account of dilution, while appears to be no connection between the value of K an specific resistance of the solution. A curious optical illusion is described i M. Bourd the Revue Philosophique. If an object moves before < our e kept fixed, it undergoes, in passing from direct to indirect , an obscuration, a change of coloration; and the op effect occurs when the object comes into the field of vision. It is natural to suppose that this plays a part perception of motion, and one fact proving that it does so is, tha if we render a slow-moving object suddenly invisible, e.g. I means of a shadow, its velocity of displacement seems increased. M. Bourdon describes an arrangement in w long pendulum with white thread is swung from a cross t a vertical support, which is illuminated from a lamp, w screen is introduced to give a shadow (the order being, obs lamp, screen, vertical support, pendulum, dark wall). white thread in its swing passes into the shadow of the screen, and each time it enters or reappears its velocity increased considerably. It seems as if attracted into shadow, and as if it entered into the light with a sudden shox It is necessaty that the thread should cease to be visible whe it enters the shadow. With a red thread the illusion occurs, perhaps somewhat less vividly. A simpler pla the above is to hang a pendulum from the ceiling, siete a screen, A NEW method of determining the hardness, or rather the friability of substances, has been described by Hr. Rosiwal at a meeting of the Vienna Academy. The ments consist in comparing the losses of weight sustained bodies under investigation by scratching them with a weight of polishing material mounted on a metallic or g until the material loses its efficiency. The polishiagaa mi used were dolomitic sand, emery, and pure corundum. diamond was assigned its place in the scale of hardness b; paring its efficiency as a polishing material with that of corun It was found to be 140 times as hard ascorundum, _ Test this method, the constituents of Mohs’s scale have the folloy numerical values:—Diamond 140,000, corundum 1000, ce 194, quartz 175, adularia 59°2, apatite 80, fluorspar 64, calell 56, rocksalt 2°0, and talco‘o4. The great advantage o! : ‘method consists inthe ease with which the hardness of mi of minerals in the various rocks is determined. a | JUNE 22, 1893] NATURE 181 _ Pror. OBERBECK, of Greifswald, has been studying the _ spreading of oil on liquid surfaces on a larger scale than that of ordinary laboratory work. The experiments, which are described the current number of Wiedemann’s Annaien, were carried out the Bay of Riigen, upon which the Prussian university town ioe situated. The professor sailed out into the bay for a distance __of2km. or so, accompanied by an experienced mariner, and armed with bottles holding from one-tenth to half a litre of _ machine oil or rape-seed oil in measured quantities. Sitting in _ the stern of the vessel, he poured the contents of the bottles at _ intervals into the water ina thin continuous stream, the vessel meanwhile moving at a uniform rate in the same direction. After about an hour the oiled tracks were revisited. The brilliant colouring had disappeared, and the oil had spread out into well defined rectangular light-grey patches, easily distin- guished from the rest of the sea by the absence of ripples and ‘their consequent superior reflecting power. Their area was estimated, with the aid of the experienced mariner, by the time - occupied in sailing past. In the case of the half-litre bottle the patch measured 300 by 30 metres, thus giving an area of 18,000 ‘Square metres corresponding to one litre ofoil. A more accurate measurement was made subsequently by means of a line of buoys marking the deep-water channel. This gave an area of 18,857 square metres. Hence the thickness of the filmof oil was 53 millionths of a mm. It is, of course, possible that the oil had spread still further and had only ceased to influence the ripples on the surface. In that case the film must have been even thinner. THE applications of electricity to every-day life seem to be almost infinite; the latest development being an electrical horsewhip -described in Llectricité, This is said to be de- signed for the use of a ‘‘sportsman,” and consists of a celluloid handle containing a small induction coil, together with _a battery, the circuit being closed by means of a spring push. Two wires carry the current to the extremity of the whip, which is furnished with two small copper plates having points fixed to them of sufficient length to penetrate the coat of the horse, and yet not being sharp enough to inflict a wound. In a note contributed to the Accademia dei Lincei, Augusto Righi gives a short description of a form of apparatus he has used for producing Hertzian oscillations of short wave-length and exhibiting their properties to an audience. The oscillator consists of two rods furnished with balls at either end and placed between the discharger of a Holtz machine, leaving a gap of about 4 centimetres at each end, and one of about 3 mm, at the middle, The two rods pass through the sides of a glass vessel containing oil, so that the middle pair of knobs are sur- ‘rounded by oil. The resonator consists of a nearly complete circle of wire, the gap being filled by a Geissler tube. With the above apparatus the author has carried on a series of ex- periments on the reflection, refraction, and interference of these electrical waves. AN abstract ot a paper by C. H. Morse appears in the Zlec- trician, giving an account of the damage to the water-pipes in ‘Cambridge (Mass.), caused by the electrolytic action of the return current from the electric cars. Pipes composed of lead, iron, galvanised iron, brass, and rustless iron were in turn tried and found to deteriorate quickly. Such an amount of current ‘was found to be flowing along the pipes that, upon attempting to make a joint by putting oakum round the pipe, an electric "arc was formed and set the oakum on fire. The damage has to “a great extent been checked by connecting the gas and water- _ pipes together, and also to the negative pole of the dynamos _ which supply the power to the railway. = AT the beginning of this year (says the Revue Scientifique, June ___ 17) there were 1168 submarine cables in existence, of which 880 NO. 1224, vor. 48] belonged to different dominions and 288 to private companies. The former possessed a length of 16,652 miles, and the latter had a length of 144,743 miles, thus the total length was 161,395 miles. Fifty-four of these cables belong to the state in France, the length being 3979 miles; and Germany owns 46 cables, having a total length of 2025 miles. There are 14 Anglo-French cables, 10 Anglo-Belgian, 8 Anglo-Dutch, and 13 Anglo- German. Of the cables possessed by private companies the Eastern Extension, Australasia, and China Telegraph Co. head the list with 25 cables and a mileage of 18,205 ; the Great Northern Telegraph Co. follow with 24 cables, having a totil length of 6948 miles ; then come the West India and Panama Telegraph Co, with 22 cables extending through 5240 miles: and the Western and Brazilian Telegraph Co. with 15 cables stretching over 5408 miles. The French Society of Submarine Telegraphs possess 14 cables having a total length of 3754 miles. THE ‘‘shell-beds,” or shelly clays, inthe north of Scotland— at Clavia near Inverness, and on the east coast of Aberdeen- shire, have been investigated by Mr. Dugald Bell, and the results of his researches were communicated to the Glasgow Geological Society on May 25, under the title ‘‘ The alleged proofs of submergence in Britain, during the Glacial Epoch.” Mr. Bell holds that it is doubtful if this clay were really in place, as part of an ancient sea-bottom, during the glacial epoch. He thinks also that the ‘‘red clay’ of East Aberdeen- shire, described by Mr. Jamieson, cannot be accepted as a satis- factory proof of submergence, indeed, in some respects, its characteristics seem to be inconsistent with that theory. From the Pioneer Mail we learn that Mrs. J. S. Mackay has a superb snow leopard at Kulu, in the Punjab. Though the animal is nearly full-grown, he is practically free and lies about the house all day like a huge cat, or romps with his mistress. His ultimate destination is the Zoological Gardens of London. Should he be brought over alive he will be the only animal of his kind in Europe. IN a paper, ‘‘ Sulla presenza di batteri patogeni nella saliva di alcunianimalidomestici” (Fiocca : Annali dell’ Istituto a’ Igiene Sperimentale della R. Universit2 di Roma), an examination of the saliva of numerous horses, dogs, and cats is recorded. The saliva of the horse was found to contain diverse bacilli, also streptococci, staphylococci, and one spirillum. Amongst these organisms three were discovered which possessed pathogenic properties ; and one of these, a bacillus, was very frequently found, for out of fifteen different samples of saliva inoculated into guinea-pigs: it was only once absent. This organism is distributed in soil, and it is very possibly also frequently present on grass and hay, and hence its prevalence in the saliva of horses. The saliva of the cat presented a very different appear. ance from that of the horse, being very rich in.cocci and minute bacilli. A new bacillus (Bacil/us salivarius ‘felis), extremely characteristic of cats’ saliva, was isolated and found to be specially pathogenic to rabbits and guinea-pigs, these animals dying from its effects in twenty-four hours. The dog’s saliva was found to contain the largest variety of bacteria, amongst the pathogenic forms isolated being the B. pseudo-adematis maligni, and the Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, SoME investigations on the antagonistic effect produced by the Bacillus fluorescens liquefaciens on other organisms have been made by Olitzky (Ueber die antagonistischen Wirkungen des B. fluorescens liquefaciens und ‘seine hygienische Bedeu- tung, Bern, 1891). Cultures of this bacillus were either streaked on to nutritive agar-agar side by side with other or- ganisms, or the latter were separately inoculated on to culture material in which this bacillus had grown, but which before 182 NATURE — [JuNE 22, 1893. being used for the second time was re-sterilised, the growth being thus destroyed, but the Aroducts remaining. It was found that the tubercle bacillus and the pneumococcus of Fraenkel were quite unaffected, whilst the 2. prodigiosus only refused to grow in the re-sterilised culture material. On the other hand the Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, the anthrax bacillus, and the typhoid bacillus were greatly impeded in their development, and no growths whatever made their appearance in the re- sterilised culture material. The cholera bacillus and the B. pyo- cyaneus were also affected, but to a smaller extent. SHORTLY before his death, Mr. Darwin informed Sir J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., that ‘‘the difficulties he had experienced in accurately designating the many plants which he had studied, and ascertaining their native countries, had suggested to him the compilation of an ‘ Index to the Names and Authorities of all Known Floweriag Plants and their Countries’ as a work of supreme importance to students of systematic and geographical botany, and to horticulturists,” ‘* At his request,” adds Sir J. D. Hooker, ‘‘I undertook to direct and supervise such a work.” The Clarendon Press announces that Part I. of this ‘* Index Kewensis” is now ready, that Part II. is well advanced, and that the completion of the whole work may be expected next year, THE first part of Prof. A. Newton’s ‘‘ Dictionary of Birds” has just been published by Messrs. A. and C. Black. It extends from aasvogel to the gare-fowl, or great auk, and runs into 304 pages. The work is founded upon a series of articles contributed by Prof. Newton to the ninth edition of the ‘‘ En- cyclopeedia Britannica.” Important additions have been fur- nished by Dr. Hans Gadow, and for other contributions Mr. R. Lydekker, Prof. C. S. Roy (who has written an interesting article on ‘Flight ”), and Dr. R. W. Shufeldt are responsible. A commendable feature is the inclusion of many names of birds, such as the caracara, koel, and mollymawk, which are frequently found in books of travel but are not explained in an ordinary dictionary. Compound names of the crow-shrike and thrush- zitmouse kind have, however, been omitted. Mr. R. L, Jack, the Government Geologist of Queensland, has prepared a report on the Russell River Gold Field. The report is accompanied by a geological map of the district. WE have received a dissertation by Mr. E. M. Blake, in which he discusses the application of the method of indeterminate co- efficients and exponents to the formal determination of those integrals, of certain systems of differential equations, which are expressible as series. THE Harvard University Bulletin for May is a long list of accessions to the University Library. This list includes, in addition to recently-published books and pamphlets, a number of extensive and important works of earlier date. Nearly one hundred and fifty books in the list are concerned with science and the arts. MEssRs. MACMILLAN AND Co, have published a second edition of ‘‘ Lessons in Elementary Biology,” by Prof. T. Jeffery Parker. The whole of the book has been thoroughly revised, and two of the lessons have been largely rewritten. A number of new figures have also been added. Mr. W. H. Hupson, the author of ‘‘Idle Days in Pata- gonia,” recently reviewed in these columns, has completed a book called ‘‘ Birds in a Village,” which will be published in a few days by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. The book does not profess to be a serious contribution to ornithology, but is in- tended rather for the general reader. Among other chapters on bird-life in London. In the concluding portions of the bo the subject of bird-protection is dealt with at conside length. A REFERENCE list of the land and freshwater mollus New Zealand has been prepared by Messrs. C. Hedley Suter, and appears in the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Linnean of New South Wales,” vol. vii., December, 1892, The are of the opinion that as the New Zealand fauna b better known, its insular character stands out more prominent! Foreign genera, which have been imposed on the fauna, ha been eliminated one by one, and many genera which nig! have been expected to occur, since they are prevalent | neighbouring countries, have not yet been detected. Cros remarked that ‘‘ The terrestrial and fluviatile molluscan faui of New Zealand approximates more to that of New Caledoni in spite of the considerable distance that separates the t countries, than to that of Australia” (Jour. de Conch. xxvi p- 37), and the authors think his idea has hardly received t attention which it merits, . THE ‘‘ Tourist Guide to the Continent,” published for tl Great Eastern Railway Company, has reached its fourteent year of issue. It is edited by Mr. Percy Lindley, and include descriptions of things and places of interest in Hollanc, Ger many, Belgium, and Switzerland. , AFTER Mr, Francis Galton, F.R.S., had completed his 5 on ‘Finger Prints” he came into possession of the impres sions of the fore and middle fingers of the right hand of eigh different persons at Hoogaly, Bengal, made in the first ins’ in 1878, and secondly in 1892. These prints have afforded text for a discussion as to the persistence of patterns, and result of the decipherment is now published as a supplem t chapter to the above-named book. Though the prints were r obtained by the best means, a comparison of the reproductior of them shows clearly that the ‘‘sign-manual ” furnishes ut questionable evidence as to a person's identity, and further, tl testimony is of such a character that any juryman would be to appreciate its weight. WE have received a communication from ‘* Waterdale,” i which he calls attention to the fact that he subsequentl rected many of the errors pointed out in the review researches which appeared in vol. xlvii. p. 601. A CORRESPONDENT desires to know where to find any brated and artistic hedgerows of elms within about forty miles of London. Perhaps one of our readers will fu nis the required information. 4 MEssrs. FUNK AND WAGNALL, New York, have just issu a complete prospectus of ‘*A Standard Dictionary of the En lish Language,” a work that has been in preparation for sever: years, and is now nearly completed. The dictionary will co 280,000 words in about 2200 pages of medium quarto, an be embellished with more than 4000 illustrations specially pared for it. One of the many distinguishing features comprehensive provision that has been made for definitio! specialists in various arts and sciences. Handicraft terms. been gathered with great completeness and grouped un different trades, and by applying a similar system of g oup’ to the names of fruits, flowers, weights, measures, stars, & the facts concerning this class of words are given in a very. plete manner, For example, under constel/ation are given names of all the constellations, and under aff/e are foun names of nearly four hundred varieties. Judging from specimen pages, and the list of men eminent in science literature who are concerned in the compilation, the dictior will be the handiest, simplest, and most trustworthy publicat of interest is one on the introduction of exotic birds, and another NO. 1234, VOL. 48] of its kind, sixty coloured plates. NATURE 183 of Octacnemus, a deep-sea, Salpa-like tunicate. A memoir on the genus Salpa, by Prof. Brooks, will shortly be published. ; It will contain about three hundred and fifty quarto pages, with The memoir is based for the most part upon material collected by the United States Fish Commission. **ExLectric Light Installations and the Management of Accumulators,” by Sir David Salomons, Bart., has reached a seventh edition. This edition has been, to a large extent, re- written, and is now published by Messrs. Whittaker and Co. under the title ‘‘The Management of Accumulators,” as the first volume of a series dealing with electric light installations. Two further papers upon azoimide, N,H, are contributed to the current numberjof the Berichte by Prof. Curtius. In the first, a brief but important communication, it is shown that NH,, azoimide may be prepared directly from hydrazine, | : by the 2 action of nitrous acid. NH, N\ | + 0ON‘OH=||. NH + 2H,0. The NY It’s only necessary to lead the red oxides of nitrogen evolved from a mixture of nitric acid and arsenious oxide into an ice-cold aqueous solution of hydrazine hydrate until a vigorous evolution of gas, due to decomposition, commences. A dilute aqueous solution of azoimide is thus obtained with which{most of the re- actions of the substance can -be ‘performed. It is preferable, however, to first condense the red gaseous mixture by means of ice and salt, and to pour the blue liquid, a few drops at a time, into the cold hydrazine solution until the evolution of gas begins. The experiment is unattended by any danger, and is therefore admirably adapted for lecture purposes. Now that hydrazine is so well known and so readily obtained, the sulphate being already a commercial article, this mode of obtaining azoimide will doubtless be adopted by most lecturers for class demon- Stration, especially asthe reaction is one of such fundamental theoretical importance. In the second communication Prof. Curtius describes an in- | interesting new organic synthesis of azoimide. When hydrazine hydrate is caused to act upona salt of diazobenzene, a fugitive compound is obtained of the constitution indicated by the formula C;H;N: N.NH.NH,. This compound might be expected to decompose in two ways, breaking up either at the double linkage or at the single linkage between the NH and NH, groups. According to the former mode there would be a migration of two hydrogen atoms from two different nitrogen atoms to a third nitrogen atom with production of aniline and azimide, CsH;N : N.NH.NH, = C,H;NH, + N,H. Accord- | ing to the latter mode of decomposition one hydrogen atom | would migrate and form ammonia with the last amido group, leaving diazobenzene imide, thus: C,H;N: N.NH.NH, = C,H;N,+ NH;. As a matter of fact both decompositions occur, the latter somewhat predominating. It is quite easy, however, to isolate 10 per cent. of the theoretical yield of azoi- mide. Equi-molecular saturated aqueous solutions of hydrazine sulphate and diazobenzene sulphate are mixed and poured into 4 3 per cent. solution of sodium hydrate. A turbidity is at once _ produced, which eventually coalesces into an oil. This is ex- _ tracted with ether and ammonia, expelled from the aqueous _ solution by boiling. The liquid, which contains the sodium salt | ___ f azoimide, is then rendered slightly acid with sulphuric acid | NO. 1234, VOL. 48] and distilled, when azomide passes over along with the steam. The ethereal extract contains the aniline together with diazo- benzene imide produced according to the second mode of decomposition. Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. —The arrival of Midsummer renders desirable a summary of the re- cords which have been made in this paragraph during the past six months of the breeding seasons of marine animals at Ply- mouth. The records have approximately indicated the com- mencement of the breeding seasons ; but it should be premised that in the great majority of instances the period of reproduc- tion is prolonged throughout the summer months, and is already at anend only ina few isolated cases. The following have been recorded :—The Gymnoblastic Hydroids 7ubu/aria bellis, Clava multicornis and cornea, Eudendrium ra and capillare, together with the Anthomedusee Rathkea octopunctata (now over), Bougainvillea ramosa, Amphinema Titania, Sarsia prolifera and tubulosa, Podocoryne carnea and Corymorpha nutans ; the Calyptoblastic Hydroids Halecium (halecinum and Beanit), Plumularia setacea and pinnata, Antennularia ramosa and antennina, Sertularella (Gayi), Sertularia argentea and pumila, Hydrallmania ( falcata), Gonothyrea Lovéni, together with the Leptomedusz Ode/ia lucifera, Clytia Johnstoni, [rene pellucida, Phialidium variabile, Laodice cruciata, Thaumantias octona, Forbesti, and Thompsoni ; the Ctenophore Hormiphora plumosa ; the Actinians Cereanthus (Arachnactis,—now over), Halcampa chrysanthellum, Cereus pedunculatus, Bunodes verru- cosa, Urticina felina and Actinia equina ; the Nemertines Cephalothrix linearis and bioculata, Amphiporus dissimulans, Riches (= pulcher of previous record, March 30), Memertes Neesiz, and Lineus obscurus ; the Polycheta Phyllodoce ma- culata, Cirratulus cirratus, Polydora (flava ?), Sabellaria spinulosa, and various Terebellide and Serpulide. The Poly- noid larvee which swarmed in the Sound in the early Spring are nolonger to be obtained. The Mollusca, Crustacea, Echinodermata and Chordata will be summarised next week. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include three Peba Armadillos ( Zatusia peba, 3 2) from South America, presented by Mr. Woodbine Parish ; two Brazilian Cariamas (Cariama cristata) from Paraguay, presented by Mr. A. E. Macalister Hadwen ; five Spotted-billed Ducks {Anas pacilorhyncha, 461?) from India, presented by Sir E. C. Buck, C.M.Z.S. ; a Guillemot (Zomuia troile) British, pre- sented by Mr. T. A. Cotton, F.Z.S. ; two Chiff-chaffs (Phy/- loscopus rufus), two Yellow Wagtails (Motacilla flava) British, presented by Miss McGill; a Naked-necked Iguana (/guana delicatissima) from the Caicas Islands, West Indies, presented by Lady Blake ; a Lobed Chameleon (Chameleon parvilobus) from Barberton, Transvaal, presented by Dr. Percy Rendall ; two Capybaras (Hydrocherus capybara) from South America, purchased ; an English Wild Bull (Bos taurus, var.), a Burrhel Wild Sheep (Ovis burrhel, 2 ),a Derbian Wallaby (Hal/maturus derbianus, 2 ) born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. A NEw VARIABLE « CyGnus.—In photographing the region of a Cygni, Dr. Max Wolf (Astronomischen Nachrichten, No. +3168), on examining the plates, has found a new variable, its position for 1893’0 being R.A. 20h. 47’2m., Decl. + 45° 40’. The star, he says, is very easy to find, lying as it does in the south right-angle corner of aright-angled triangle, the stars in the other corners being B.D. stars + 45°*3300 and + 45°°3302. The brightness, as obtained from the plates, gave the following numbers :— m. 1890 Dec. 12 13 1891 June I 12 1891 Sept. 7 12 1893 May 14 12°5 184 NATURE [June 22, 1893 Fintay’s ComEtT (1886 VII.).—The following ephemeris for this comet is continued from Astronomischen Nachrichten, No. 3164 :— 12h. MT. Laris. 1893. R.A. app. Decl. app. hi cmeass 4 ; June 22 219 I +11 14'5 23 23 47 II 40°6 24 Hes 28 33 120 D°s 25 Se 33 19 12 31°6 26 a 38 4 12 56°5 27 42 50 13 21'0 28 47 35 te 13 45°1 29 52 20 : 14 8°7 The comet during this week lies towards the southern part of the constellation of Aries, passing near Aries 38 on the 26th. A Bricut ComeTr?—A telegram which we have received from Kiel contains the following data obtained on June 5 and 12 with regard to a probable comet :— 1893. R.A. Decl. hm. Soy June 5 9 57°! - +14 21 12 bee 10 4°3 +20 56 This object lies somewhere in the region of 7 Leonis, OBSERVATIONS OF NEBULA.—In Astronomischen Nach" richten, No. 3167-68, Dr. Rudolf Spitaler communicates the observations ot nebulz that he has recently made with the 27- inch Grubb refractor of the Observatory in Vienna. He also compares the brightnesses obtained by him with those in Dreyer’s new General Catalogue of Nebulz and Clusters. In addition to the mean places of these objects and of the compari- son stars employed for the years 1891 and 1892, he gives several notes and a plate illustrating many of the nebule. THE YERKES TELESCOPE.—Astronomy and Astrophysics for June gives some particulars about the Yerkes telescope, from which we make the following few notes. The great tube pier and clockwork are being built by Messrs. Warner and Swasey, the makers of the Lick 36-inch. The column will be made in five sections, each section except the base.one (which will weigh about 18 tons), weighing about 54tons each. The column rises 31 feet 4 inches from the base. ‘he pier head weighs 54 tons ; thus the total weight of the column and head reaches about 45 tons. ‘Ihe polar axis, which is of steel, is 15 inches in diameter, 13 feet long, and weighs about 34 tons, the declination axis measuring 12 inches in diameter and weighs 1} tons. The length of the sheet steel tube (exclusive of eye end) measures 625 feet, its greatest diameter reaching 52 inches, and weighs 6tons. The focal length of the objective 1s about 64 feet. All quick and slow motions and clamps can be operated either from the balcony, eye end, or floor, by hand or by electricity as may de required. ‘The floor will be an elevating one like that at the Lick. The telescope weighs in all 75 tons, and an idea of its size may be gathered from the fact that ‘* when the telescope is pointed to the zenith, the object glass will be 72 feet in the air, or about as high as a seven-story house.” THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING 1892.— Amorg the many interesting points to which Mr. S. P. Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, refers to in this report, we note the following: The Smithsonian Astro- physical Observatory still occupies the ‘‘ temporary wooden shelter on the grounds,” Although the money for the perma- nent building is in hand, the Institution is only waiting for the action of Congress to provide a site. With respect to the work that is being done and is proposed for the future, Mr. Langley makes a special reference. The branch of astronomy to which the resources of the Observatory will be devoted will be that of exploring the great unknown region in the infra-red end of the spectrum by the method recently improved by Mr.. Langley himself. The secretary refers also at some length to the recent gift of 200,000 dollars to the Institution:yby Mr. Thomas George Hodgkins, of Setauket, N.Y., the interest on 100,000 dollars of which is to be used for the general purposes of the Institution on the ‘‘increase and diffusion ei knowledge among men,” provided that the interest on the remainder be used in the inves- ligation of the properties of atmospheric air considered in its very widest relationship to all branches of that science. The report contains the result of several communications on the subject. At some length are treated also reports on the National NO. 1234, VOL. 48] Zoological Park, which, by the way, seems to bein a not v flourishing condition, on the financial aid given to Research, National Museum, Bureau of Ethnology, &c., which we pass over, as they do not appertain directly to the subject of t column. One point we must refer to is the proposed plan publishing a work on the moon which shall represent the pi knowledge of her physical features. The Institution is al: in communication with some of the leading observatories o world, and it is hoped that ‘‘a series of photographic represen tations of hitherto unequalled size and definition, which shall represent the moon’s surface as far as possible on a definite scale, and etirely without the intervention of the draught We heartily wish the co-workers in this scheme success, have we not now, with the present state of photograph fine instruments, a good basis to work upon. f ey) THE MORPHOLOGY GK: THE VERTEBRAI EAR. ode As THIS elaborate and important monograph monopolizes th first two parts of the sixth volume of the /oz Morphology. It is the second of a projected series o ‘Vertebrate Cephalogenesis.” Its predecessor was publi: in the same journal two years ago, and the instalment now un consideration has been anticipated by three shorter communics tions (Nos. 5, 7, and 8 of the literature cited) of a distinct! sensational character. The 320 pages of contents are illustrat by 26 simple woodcuts ; and by 12 magnificent folding plate: printed in colour, and bearing the charmed names of Werner and Winter. 2 Se The monograph is ‘subdivided into six sections, with a re- capitulatory one, and is based upon the morphological study of the ears of adequate representatives of leading classes and orders of vertebrates, and upon experimental observati chiefly involving the pig and cat. The author’s work every trace of extreme caution in manipulation, and he 1 much stress upon deceptive effects produced by the action reagents—for example, the knobbing and apparent collar-fo mation met with in the hair-cells of the avian basilar org In seeking to correct certain kindred errors which have during the work of his predecessors, the author concludes that Retzius’ ‘‘ nerve plates ” of the avian labyrinth are ‘‘ prodv: of the maceration process” ; (ii.) that the ‘‘ horseshoe figure which the same investigator attributed to the mammalian hai cell, is an ‘‘optical effect”; (iii.) that the continuit: tween the pillar-fibres and basilar membrane described by ‘does not exist ’’?; and (iv.) that the basilar membrane itsel defined as ‘‘a modified portion of the skin of the head whic forms first and last the floorupon which the sense organs rest’’ is not elastic enough ‘‘ to serve for the transmission of the deli undulations which it has been supposed to transmit.” _ \ denying the presence of ‘‘ spiral nerves ” in the cochlea, he cor cuudes that they ‘‘exist in the living condition as delicate walied but relatively large lymph channels” ; and concernin the very involved question of relationship between nerve fibres and hair-cells, he asserts that the ultimate ments are ‘continuations of the nerve into the hair process: The ‘‘membrana tectoria” of the mammal is said to but a ‘‘cupula terminalis-like structure produced by the ay together of the hairs of the sensory cells of the organ of Pe OL ee aT a a OO eT ee ee Se, Oe TSS RT ets ae ey ee detailed observations, before fully acquiescing in the be that ‘‘the membrana tectoria, the membrana reti Loewenberg’s net, and the three or four main trunks of the syst of spiral nerves of the cochlea” so-called, are one and artifacts. In the course of his inquiry the author has been led into re-examination of the detailed relationships of the audit nerves; and in this department he has done a lasting sery by sufficiently emphasizing Breschet’s long-recorded discovery that the auditory nerve of man is ‘‘ divided into two branches, each of which supplies semicircular canal organs” (¢.¢. th + 1 ‘*A Contribution to the Morphology of the Vertebrate Ear, with a pn consideration of its Functions.” By Howard Ayers, Director of the L Laboratory, Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A. 3 & JUNE 22, 1893] NATURE 185 r the posterior ampulla is innervated from the cochlear nerve), the unfortunate bearings of which upon certain much more recent physiological speculations he is not slow to point out _ (p. 148). The thanks of all teachers are similarly due to the author, for having introduced the peculiarly appropriate term “ama” for that second and non-sensiferous enlargement of the « canals met with in the lower and the highest classes of verte- brates, and for the substitution of ‘‘ external”’ for the misleading _ **horizontal”’ canal. ____ One very remarkable discovery, which the author deals with _ only too casually, is that ‘in many forms of Elasmobranchs the _ ear contains scarcely any crystals, and not unfrequently sand _ grains.” The interest of this, by analogy to Hensen’s well- nown experimental observations upon the Decapod Crustacea, will sufficiently kip to all zoologists ; and we sincerely hope the author will early furnish us with particulars concerning it. II. Revolutionary as may be some of the author’s conciusions above cited, the refrain of the major part of his morphological inquiry is, on the whole, no less so. It runs as follows :— “*There can be no doubt that the internal ear develops from superficial canal organs” ; that it is primarily subdivided into anterior and posterior portions ; and that a ‘‘ fateful distortion,” under which the great development of the cochlea drags the _ posterior half downwards, has ‘‘ perhaps more than anything else” deceived us and ‘‘retarded our progress in the knowledge of the significance” of its parts. Thus it is that the author gives definiteness to a view which, although it unconsciously dawned with Leydig’s recognition of structural similarity be- tween the auditory and tegumental-canal sense-organs of the Ichthyopsida, was first definitely formulated by Beard. He takes his stand upon Beard’s brilliant generalization, as modi- fied by the acceptance of Froriep’s interesting correction (p. 314), and by certain considerations arising out of his own in- miry. In the performance of this task the author has been shoulder to shoulder with Mr, Allis, co-editor and joint founder of the Fournal of Morphology, and author of one of the most remarkable papers which its pages have yet borne, viz. that upon ‘The Anatomy and Development of the Lateral Line System in Amia Calva,” duly noted in these pages (NATURE, ane: 29, 1889), and nothing is more apparent than that he has sought to extend the laws of growth which Allis discovered for the lateral line organs to the internal auditory one. His leading deduction that the last named Structure consists of ‘‘a symmetrical group ” of the organs in question chiefly rests upon the following discoveries and allega- tions, apart from any question of general structural resemblance between the two, viz. (1.) the lineally recurring (antero- posterior) poiaged of the parts of the labyrinth ; (ii.) the duplication of the endolymphatic ducts in Cyclostomes and some Elasmo- branchs ; (iii.) the double and repetitional nature of the auditory nerve—that being regarded as a derivative of ‘‘two distinct cranial nerves,” consisting of an anterior (utricular) fasciculus in anastomosis with the facial, and a posterior (cochlear) one, either in astomosis with the glossopharyngeal, or totally inde- pendent ; and (iv.) an attempt to show that the macula acoustica neglecta is an ‘abortive second horizontal canal organ.” Although inclined to accept the general tenor of the author’s broader morphological conclusions, we cannot concur in the last cited one. He formulates it almost entirely upon the study of nerve distribution ; and, by his own showing (pp.-28, 29) the sensiferous area in question might well have had an independent origin. The conclusion does not, however, materially affect the author's dictum, and in respect to it he seems to have been carried away by a bias in favour of Allis, which elsewhere reappears . 275, 277, and 283), and culminates in the unwarrant- le assertion (p. 308) that ‘‘the semicircular canals of the ear are simply remnants of the canal system of the surface” (p. 318) “not known to have any other function than the one inherited from their ancestors, viz, that of serving as mechanical pro- tectors of the sense organs,” and that they are to be classed with such structures as valves in the horizontal veins . . the vermiform appendix . . . andatavistic muscles” (sic). Having Sought to show that the ‘‘canal organ has been gradually losing round” during the progress of descent with modification, the author argues (p. 235) that the future human ear “ will not retain much else than the cochlea”! What of the adherents to the ; bagpipe? We would recommend a periodical examination of _ their ears to the author’s notice. Statements of the order here _ commented upon are indicative of haste and over-enthusiasm, _ while others, to the effect that (p. 47) ‘‘ the cells involuted with the NO. 1234, VOL. 48] sensory structures ‘‘ merely” serve asa lining of the auditory canal chambers,” and that the otoliths, which they secrete (p. 309 ‘* are to be considered as essentially foreign bodies . . toler” ated because of the impossibility of getting ridof them. . .- and the result of the secretive action of the ectoderm cells, which in ancestral forms produced the surface scales,” are little short of nonsensical. With Fritsch, the author regards the Savi’s vesicles of the Batoidei as derivatives of ‘‘the widespread open canal type” of organ; and by no means the least striking portions of his treatise are those in which he attempts to prove (i.) that the semicircular arch of A/y.xinze is ‘‘ composed of the anterior and posterior vertical canals of the Gnathostome vertebrate ear ””— deducing an argument in favour of the non-degeneracy of the Marsipfobranchit, and (ii.) ‘*that a comparison of the ears of Myxine, Petronnyzon, Dasyatis, Torpedo, and Man clearly shows the connection of the [endolymphatic] duct with the utricular and sacular chambers to be a fundamental condition, and not a secondary acquirement.” III. That the physiological aspects of the author’s inquiry might be expected to be no less sensational than the morpholo- gical ones, is sufficiently clear from his earlier surmise (pamphlet No. 7 of literature cited) that (p. 8) ‘‘ when one considers the truly wonderful auditory powers” of the mocking bird, ‘‘it be- comes evident that we must seek for some explanation which does not involve the piano-string hypothesis,” and that (p. 9) ‘itis perfectly obvious that we do not need an internal ear in the vertebrate organization for the perfect exercise of the function of equilibration, since in Amphioxus the organ is absent, and in higher forms the auditory nerves may be destroyed without des- troying this function.” Little wonder, then, that the author should denounce both the ‘‘statical” theory of Goltz, and the more recent ‘*dynamical” one of Cyon, Crum-Brown, and later experimentalists. His attitude towards the majority of his pre- decessors is best expressed in his remark that ‘‘all the pheno- mena following canal section in mammals and in birds are nothing more than the results of brain lesions such as are entirely inadequate to explain” them. Availing himself of the observations of Munk, that, whereas in the dog, destruction of the ear, which may lead up to fatty degeneration of its inner constituent, is ‘‘ always followed by dizziness and equilibrative disturbances, such disturbances do not appear when the cochlea is preserved,” and of others akin tothem he concludes that, provided the semi-circular canals ‘‘ have a func- tion, it is not either statically or dynamically equilibrative.” Reference is made to Steiner’s important observation that whether (in the shark) ‘‘the semicircular canals were removed or not,” disturbance of the otoliths covering the utricular sense organ, invariably instituted rolling movements, usually towards the side disturbed ; but the author is silent concerning Engelmann’s attempt to assign distinct functions tothe criste and maculz with theirs associated otolithic masses. Indeed, his opening statement (p. 237) that ‘‘ we have very slender foundation for forming final judgments of the functional relations of any parts of the internal ear, and that at present what we impera- tively need is not speculation, but exper¢mentation,” well defines our position to-day, when the sum of the author’s own experi- mental observations are taken into account. The physiological section of his work is much weaker and less extensive than its morphological ally. IV. The author is to be congratulated upon an unusually speculative treatise, embodying a substratum of solid work. As a ‘‘paper” it is, in its bulkiness, a sort of awful example fit to rank with that of his countryman Mark on the egg of Limax campestris (Bull, Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. vi., 445 pages in all). The publication of such voluminous treatises in any but book form, provided with an analytical index, is unjust to both author and reader. It is a gross mistake, and the author has but himself to thank if he escapes proper recognition in conse- quence. Much of the said bulkiness of the present treatise is due to the incorporation of needlessly lengthy citations from foreign writers, which, permissible in a book, are out of place in a ‘‘paper” intended for specialists pos- sessing a full knowledge of current literature. We could have wished, instead of these, a recognition and an explanation of topics untouched ; for example, of the circular condition of the posterior canal among the depressed Batoidei, which the author’s remarks on pp. 13, 16, 222, and 223 by no means sufficiently express, and which is inexplicable on his belief that ‘*the mechanical forms active in the modelling of the ear are 186 NATURE [JUNE 22, 1893 _ for the most part the inherited tendencies of cell growth acquired as legacy from the canal organs of the surface.” Among important topics which the author ignores, and upon which we could have wished his opinion, are Chatin’s alleged. discovery of all intermediate stages between the rod-bearing and ciliated cells of the Batrachian auditory epithelium, and the views of Engelmann, Chun, and Yves Delage, arising from the experimental study of the otoliths in Ctenophora, Mollusca, and Crustacea. The latter are by no means reconcilable with the author’s bold assertion that ‘‘ the functions of the otoliths are entirely unknown.” In dealing with the ‘‘chalk-sacs” of the amphibia, the author remarks (p. 21) that their ‘‘ morphological as well as physiological significance” is still unknown, He ignores the fact that Lenhossek has shown them to be tubular glands and named them; and this is very remarkable, as, while he makes no mention of that author’s paper, he acknowledges one by ‘Coggi, in which it receives ample recognition. Groat PERSPECTIVE AND COLOUR. [X Srain, Parts LXI. and LXII., which have just been published, occurs an interesting article by Prof. Einthoven (of Leyden) on the production of shadow and perspective effects by difference of colour. The following is an account of the phenomena :— Difference of colour may, under certain circumstances, be the cause of an apparent difference in distance.! To observe the phenomenon, it is only necessary to glue different coloured figures, such as letters of blue and of red paper, to a screen of black velvet and to look at them from a suitable distance. In the experiment about to be described, Roman capital letters of about eight by four centimeters were used, the screen being placed at about three meters distance from the observer.” Under these conditions it appeared, both to Prof. Einthoven and to others who he interrogated, that the red letters were nearer than the blue. Obviously, the phenomenon might be explained by difference in accommodation. In order tosee the red letters distinctly, a greater amount of accommodation is necessary than in focussing the blue ones, and the greater sense of effort might account for the notion of the red letters being nearer. This accommodation hypothesis, plausible as it seems, cannot how- ever be accepted asa satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon. Several observations tell against it, notably this: that there are about as many persons who see the blue letters before the red, as there are those who see red before blue. In the second place, the apparent difference in distance—so distinct to binocu- lar vision—disappears almost wholly with the closure of one eye. Looked at with one eye only, and for some length of time, the letters appeared to be lying in the same plane, but each time that the other eye was opened the difference in distance obtraded itself irresistibly. The amount of difference remains constant, and can be estimated with considerable accuracy, in the same way as in making a stereoscopical observation. The question therefore suggested itself, whether we had not here to deal with real stereoscopy? The answer to this question is an affirmative. Briicke® has shown by means of a simple experiment that the retinal images of differently coloured points are shifted with respect to one another. Looking with one eye at a narrow vertical strip on a black background, the upper and lower thirds of the strip being red and the middle third blue, Briicke ob- served that the blue part deviated to one side, the two red parts tothe other side. By covering either eye alternately, a deviation of the blue and red parts in opposite directions will be observed ; and, on both eyes being used, the notion of a difference in distance is proved by the combination of the two images in such a way that the parts that deviate to the nasal side constitute the nearer image ; the parts that deviate to the temporal side, the further image. The stereoscopical effect is, however, more distinct and convincing with the coloured letters than with the strip used by Briicke. The cause ofthe relative removal of the differently coloured images lies in the eccentricity of the pupil, as may be demon- 1 Donders. Wetensch. bijbladen. Med. Gasth. v. Ooglijders, 1868. 2 W. Einthoven, “ Stéreoscopie dépendant d’une différence de couleur.” Archives Neérlandaises. t. 20. 3 Vorlesungen fiber Physiologie Wien, 1884, 3 Aufl. B. 2, S. gs. NO. 1234, VOL. 48] strated experimentally. The a ae may be made highly eccentric by covering them partially. Partial covering on nasal side is equivalent to a removal of the pupil to temporal side, and conversely, covering the temporal si equivalent to removal to the nasal side. With a nasal e pupil a shifting of the differently coloured images in one di tion will be observed ; with a temporal eccentric pup shifting will be in the other direction. The effect of an artificial eccentricity of the pupil is su when both eyes are used. Anyone who sees the red before the blue has only to cover his pupils symmetrical the temporal side, when he will observe the red letters x and soon appear to be behind the blue. On covering his symmetrically on the nasal side, the red letters come forwa more and more, and seem at last (experimenting at a distar of four or five meters) to remain several decimeters in fron’ the blue. A person who sees the blue letters before the has only to cover his pupils on the nasal side, when he observe that the distances change, the red coming forward the blue shrinking back. Lately, however, Dr. A. D, Waller has found that or peating the experiment with a seemingly slight modificat he obtained the same effects with one eye alone. He used test object rings of blue paper on a red ground, or of red p: on a blue ground, and found that the nasal pupil of the le eye gives the same appearance of circular trenches or hillocks a does the temporal pupil of the right eye. oa This observation has been the motive to a more thor study of the phenomenon. i On looking with the right eye and a temporal pupil at rings on a blue paper, the rings appear as acer hi when the paper is held to the left, and also sloping in direction. One seems to be looking against the dark of a thick red ring fixed upon the blue paper. With a pupil the red rings appear as circular trenches. aig od The phenomenon is the more striking in proportion to purity of the colours used. The pupil must be made suffici eccentric and in a suitable direction by means of a black scree that covers it from one side, or betterstill, by means of a stenopz apparatus. The pupil must not be too narrow, and the who eye should be wide open and well-directed, so as to avoid partial covering by the nose, eyelid, or lashes. Lastly, it is desirable to keep the eccentricity of the pupil constant for mo than a brief period. For if one stares at the rings a long tin with unmoved pupils, all appreciation of distance is lost, as | so many cases where only one eye is used, and the rings m even seem to lie in a plane that intersects the plane of the paper perpendicularly. If, on the contrary, one s| screen or the stenopzeic apparatus now and then the rings appe to rise and sink, and, under the above-mentioned conditioi the rising will be with temporal pupil, the sinking with ni pupil, and in a way almost as striking as if they were st stereoscopically. fs Prof. Einthoven proves mathematically that the explana’ of the phenomenon is found in the appearance of shadows. THE FLORA OF GREENLAND. N 1891 Dr. William H. Burk accompanied, as botanis party which escorted Lieut. Peary to his winter quar McCormick Bay. A number of plants were collected and take to America, but’ they had hatey been determined : expedition was organised to search for Lieut. Peary, William G, Meehan was appointed botanist to it. just a year ago. Mr. Meehan was also fortunate eno obtain specimens, and a catalogue of the plants collected i cases was communicated to the Academy of Natural Science Philadelphia on April 11. Some idea as to the charac the catalogue will be obtained from the following introd to it :— oe The range of territory covered by Dr. Burk and Mr. i was between about latitude 63° and above 78° or betwee Godthaab and Littleton Island. a As nearly the whole collection was repeated by each collector, — it may be taken as a fairly complete flora of that portion of the territory of Greenland, Re: Before starting in their respective journeys, both Dr. B and Mr. Meehan were instructed to examine as far as possib JUNE 22, 1893] NATURE 187 _ the influence of. ice sheets on the geographical distribution of plants. Prof. Thomas Meehan, the father of the latter, in a _ Catalogue of Plants collected in July, 1883, during an Ex- cursion along the Pacific Coast in South-eastern Alaska,” } had iven reasons for believing that plants did not merely advance in the wake of retreating glaciers, or push into growth from material brought down in their advance, but that when caught under the mass of flowing ice, would remain for an indefinite period, retaining vitality, and push again into growth when the ice retreated. Prof. Meehan was led to this conclusion from finding no annual plants among those collected in the immediate wake of retreating glaciers in Alaska, while the actual number of species of perennials collected in such locations would be as great as if much time had been given for a floral advance. He ‘had but little opportunity for actual observation as to the plants brought down with the earth carried on the ice, but so far as this went only a: bigs latifolium and Dryas octopetela were found in this condition, and scarcely any plants were observed on recently deposited moraines. These and some other facts led to the hypothesis that the plants were not migratory, but had held their position through the whole icy period. _ These facts were supported by the determination of the ex- istence of much the same flora in isolated spots of land recently bared by the névé of the inland ice, as grow away from the margins of the ice sheet, while the finding of living willow trunks, grass, and perennial plants of many years’ growth close to the edges of retreating glaciers, seem to place the point beyond any reasonable doubt, especially when, after careful survey, through the construction and positions of the glaciers, there was the absolute certainty that the plants could not have been deposited by lateral, medial, or terminal moraines, though they might have been by ground moraines—a circumstance which would settle Prof. Meehan’s position affirmatively beyond dispute, since the ground moraines are borne under the flowing ice rivers. Abundant vegetation was also found in nunataks— peaks of land projecting above the glaciers or ice cap—but little significance was placed on this circumstance, since all such nunataks visited were within a reasonably close proximity to the main land masses, and the vegetation might readily have sprung from seeds blown there by the winds or brought by mud on the feet of birds. But the demonstration of aged living plants in the other situations named must have a strong bearing on the discussions involved as to the influence of the ice age on the distribution of plants over the surface of the earth. The abundance of lichens is characteristic of the flora of Green- land. Rocks supposed from a distance to be naturally coloured are found on closer inspection to derive their hue from a com- ~ plete investiture of some lichen. In this particular the crimson cliffs, beginning at Cape York and extending many miles north- ward, are a conspicuous example. These cliffs, rising sheer from the water’s edge to heights of from seventeen hundred to two thousand feet or more, though of grey granite, show no spot of the intrinsic colour even on being nearly approached, but present a uniform red appearance over their whole surface from a large orange red lichen which covers them. In view of Schwendener’s theory that lichens are but symbiotic forms of algze and fungi, it is to be regretted that the probably rich fields afforded by the latter named great families in this region have yet to be investigated. Mosses are even more abundant than lichens. They grow in such vast quantities in spots, that their light or dark greens are visible often for some miles away, brightening the otherwise bleak shores wonderfully. Their persistence in growth under parently adverse circumstances is also remarkable. No obstacle save the sea seems sufficient to stop their progress. Even dead glaciers have been and are being buried under the Steady march of these cryptogamous plants. Mosses fulfil the same duty in Greenland that other forms of plant life perform in more favoured climes, and the amount of rich vegetable matter being deposited by them may be of great value in the future of that great arctic island. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. _ _ THE Rey. Bartholomew Price, Master of Pembroke College, "has been added to the electors to the Savillian Chair of _ Astronomy on the present occasion. 1p dings of the Acad NO. 1234, VOL. 48] Sir Henry Howorrn, F.R.S., has had the honorary degree of D.C.L. conferred upon him by Durham University. Oxrorp ‘has conferred the degree of M.A. upon Dr. W. B. Benham, Aldrichian Demonstrator. . Mr. W. FISHER, late Conservator of Forests in the North- West Provinces of India, has been appointed Assistant Professor of Forestry at Cooper’s Hill. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American Fournal of Science, Jane.—Electro-chemical effects due to magnetisation, by George Owen Squier.—Nikitin on the quaternary deposits of Russia and their relations to pre- historic man, by A. A. Wright. A summary of the views laid before the International Congress of Archzeology in Moscow, 1892, by the Russian geologist, Mr. S. Nikitin, regarding the palzeolithic and neolithic epochs in European Russia, and their coincidence with the geological divisions of pleistocene and modern.—Rigidity not to be relied upon in estimating the earth’s age, by Osmond Fisher. A criticism of Mr. Clarence King’s estimate of the probable age of the earth on the ground of its assumed rigidity not being an established fact. The argu- ment derived from tidal action is fully discussed. Had the solid part of the earth so little rigidity as to allow it to yield in its own figure very nearly as much as if it were fluid, there would be very nearly nothing of what we call tides —that is to say, rise and fall of the sea relatively to the land—but sea and land together would rise or fall a few feet every twelve lunar hours. This would be the case if the geological hypothesis of a thin crust were true. This is the argument for tidal rigidity as enunciated by Kelvin. But this does not take into account the horizontal motion of the water. It rests upon the equilibrium theory of tides as against the canal theory. The latter has been symbolically worked out by Prof. G. H. Darwin. If the earth’s interior be assumed to be a liquid of small viscosity, the bodily tide at its equilibrium value will have a height of 1 feet. This will diminish the hydrodynamical tide by not more than a fifth of its value, and it is quite possible that the tides we actually experience may be tides thus diminished by the fluidity of the earth’s interior.—On the treatment of barium sulphate in analysis, by J. I. Phinney. The author shows that alkaline chlorides contaminate barium sulphate thrown down in the pre- sence of an excess of sulphuric acid, and that the process of purifying by hydrochloric acid is inefficient. The only good method for purification is either to fuse, according to Fresenius, with sodium carbonate, extracting and reprecipitating as sul- phate, or to evaporate from solution in concentrated sulphuric acid according to Mar.—On the nature of certain solutions and on a new means of investigating them, by M. Carey Lea. The solutions in question are those of sulphates which were tested for free sulphuric acid by a solution of iodoquinia, a very deli- cate and trustworthy test. Solutions of heavy metallic sul- phates, with the exception of ferrous sulphate, contain no free acid. All sesquisulphates examined were dissociated in solution. So were acid salts and alums, with the exception of chrome alum.—Also papers by Messrs. Fairbanks, Moses, Penfield, Johnson, and Pupin. Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, vol. ii. No. 8 [May, 1893, New York]. This number opens (pp. 175-178), with a review by Miss C. A. Scott of Prof. W. B. Smith’s ‘*Introductory Modern Geometry of Point, Ray, and Circle ” (see NATURE, vol. xlvii. p. 532). We endorse her closing remarks that the usefulness of the book would be greatly increased if he were to translate his work into ordinary mathematical English. —Prof. Echols contributes an interesting note, biographical and otherwise, entitled Wronski’s expansion (pp. 178-184). The expansion was presented by Héene Wronski in 1810, to the French Academy of Sciences, and is as follows :—/(x)=a,+ @,0,+ay0.+...ad infinitum, where f(x), w;, w,...are arbitrary functions of x, and a, a,,...are independent of x. The law of for- mation of the coefficients he calls ‘* laloi supréme.”—Dr. Cole, in a note on the substitution groups of 6, 7, and 8 letters (pp. 184-190), furnishes a list of over forty omitted groups supple- mentary to the lists given by Messrs, Askwith and Cayley in vol. xxiv. of the Quarterly Fournal of Mathematics. —The Ma- thematical Bibliography, byA. Ziwet (pp. 190-192) gives in some detail an account of the new Revue Semestrielle des Publications y of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1884, | Auathématiques, &c., issued by the Mathematical Society of 188 NATURE [JuNE 22, 1893 Amsterdam, to which attention has been drawn in our columns. The notice is on the whole favourable to this new venture. —The notes and new publications are well up to date. Meteovologische Zeitschrift, April.—On the hypotheses of the oscillations of the so-called maximum zone of the aurora, and the peculiarities of the development of the aurora in this zone, by A. Paulsen. In 1872 Prof. Fritz asserted that the winter minimum of the aurora diminished with increase of latitude, andin 1880 M. Tromholt endeavoured to show that the maximum zone isina state of continual oscillation, as it makes not only a yearly and eleven- yearly movement, but also a daily periodical change of position. Also that auroree are more frequent in the morning hours than in the evening, and therefore that the maximum zone shifts to the northward during the night. The object of Dr. Paulsen’s paper is to refute these assertions, and he quotes observations to show that the movement of the zone of greatest auroral display during the course of the night is not towards the north, and states that no single phenomenon exists that can be explained by a daily oscillation of the maximum zone, but that, on the contrary, all that we know about the daily range of the aurora points to the fact that no such movement can exist.—Relations of daily synoptic weather charts to the general circulation of the atmos- phere, by Kk. Herrmann. Starting from the point of view that the resultants of the forces of the earth’s rotauon and of centri- fugal force, in a stationary condition of the atmosphere, must be normal to the areas of equal pressure, the author shows how the normal distribution of pressure is solely a result of the difference of rotation of the atmosphere round the earth’s axis, and of the rotation of the earth itself. On the basis of the distribution of pressure acccording to Maury’s zones, there result three zones in each hemisphere :—An equatorial zone of easterly winds, a zone of westerly winds, and a polar zone of easterly winds, with corresponding changes of pressure. It follows from the decrease of temperature towards the pole that at a certain height the zone of westerly winds extends over the zone of easterly winds. The daily positions and extent of the zones are deter- mined by the distribution of pressure in all latitudes, and their existence is a necessary consequence of the principle of the pre- servation of areas, but applied to the whole atmosphere, and not to individual particles as Ferrelhas done. The author urges the importance of the continuance of synoptic charts, and of the desirability of telegraphic reports from Iceland and the Azores. Bulletin del’ Académie Royale de Belgique, No. 4.—The most interesting paper is one by G. Vander Mensbrugghe on negative hydrostatic pressure. It is well known that any horizontal layer of a liquid in equilibrium supports a hydrostatic pressure equal to the weight of a column of liquid, whose base is equal to the . area of the layer considered, and whose height is the vertical distance of the layer from the surface. The author investigates the pressures existing in layers lifted up adove the level, whether by atmospheric pressure, capillarity, or otherwise, In this case the hydrostatic pressure will be similarly calculated, but will be negative, so that it must be subtracted from the external pressure upon the surface of the liquid in order to obtain the true pres- sure on the layer. This conclusion is illustrated by a series of striking experiments. A test-tube was filled with water and withdrawn, mouth downwards, from the tank, leaving the mouth an inch or so below the level. A U-tube was closed with the thumb at one end, while the other was inserted in the test-tube. On releasing it, air was sucked into the test tube and the liquid reduced to the exterior level. A long cylindrical tube of paper, similarly filled with water and withdrawn, was flattened more and more towards the top, owing tothe atmospheric pressure exceeding that of the liquid inside. The same reasoning applied to cases where the liquid was raised by capillary action, the dis- tribution of pressure being the same as if the tubes had been closed at the capillary surfaces. A wide tube was provided with a closely-fitting cork, through which was passed a very fine tube. The liquid was held suspended in the wide tube owing to the capillary action of the surface in the thin tube, which was 4 cm. above the level. Oa introducing a U-tube as before, the water was again expelled by the air rushing in, and reduced to the ex- ternal level. Bulletin de la Société des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1892, No. 3. —Sources for the flora of the Kieff educational district (Kieff, Volhynia, Podolia, Tchernigoy, and Poltava), by Comte Bour- delle de Montrésor, being a full bibliography of all publications relative to the subject.—Contributions to the ornithology of the NO. 1234, VOL 48] Transcaspian region, according to the researches of M. Tho Barey, by J. Stolamann, M. Barey travelled in the region 1889-91 for the Branicki Museum of Warsaw. Of the species mentioned in the detailed list now given, 17 are new the region.—On the alkalies of the blood and the lymph, J. M. Syechenov. Blood being aot only the store for the materials of the organism, but also the medium for breathing, is desirable to ascertain the means of maintaining the compe tion of blood which is necessary for that purpose. The that the carbonate of sodium from the pancreatic and intest juice enters the b!ood, is considered as a process for feeding blood with necessary alkalies.—The Upper Tithonic depo of Central Russia; note by N. Krischtafowitch.—Glaciers Russia, by H. Trautschuld. Remarks against the glaciation middle Russia, based upon the old conception of only mounta glaciers being able to produce glacial effects. —The O/eost. nodiger zone near Milkovo in Podolsk, government of M by D. Stremoukhoff. New species, O. milkovensis, de: —Note on some special cases of the problem of several bod by Th. Sloudsky.—Short report upon geological and botanic excursions in Yaroslav and Vologda, by Dr. Zickendrath. the neurokeratin, by Dr. J. Ogneff. This substance, in sense established by Kiihne and his followers, does not ex! either in the peripheral nerves or in the brain ; when obta’ from the brain it represents a varied mixture of unsoluble mainders from the tissues composing the brain; the molecul; substance (retina, brain) on the one side, and the neurokeratin net in the peripheral nerves on the other side, cannot be von- sidered» as homological formations.—(é¢. No. 4). A list of mammals and birds from the Aral steppes, by A. M. Nikol: —New species, Astragalus uralensis, by Dr. Litvinov.—No on the cold of January, 1893, by B. Sresnewskij.—To | memory of N. J. Kokscharoff and A. W. Gadolin, by V. V nadsky. ‘ : SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Lonpon. : Mathematical Society, June 8.—Mr. A. B. Basset, F.R.S. vice-president, in the chair.—The chairman announced that: Council had unanimously made the fourth award of its De-Mor, gold medal to Prof. F. Klein, of Géttingen, on the ground of his many contributions to the advance of mathematical scien The following communications were made :—Complex i tegers derived from 6? — 2 = 0, and on the algebra integers derived from an irreducible cubic equation, by Pr G. B. Mathews.—Pseudo-elliptic integrals and their dynamit applications, by A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S. Writing the E Integral of the Third Kind in the canonical form— Tiseid set et Duets (¢ + x) J/Z Z = 4a(2 + x)? - {(y + 1)2 + 29}, then x and y are the quantities 'e nployed by Halphen in *« Fonctions Elliptiques,” t. i. p. 103. Putting where oh s+x=pu— py, where i 12pu = —(y + 1)? — 4x, and 2m + xX = pmv — pr, then 4+ x=0, Sgt x= 4, +x =Js z FP Fa *) v and so on ; and generally s,, + x is the same as Abel's . q L and 162 and + po by Hal- — # . an phen’s — x and — y ‘Abel’s ‘‘CEuvies Completes,” t. ii, 157, 163) Abel’s recurring equati n for 7», is now only anot form of this elliptic function furmula— if we replace Abel’s « by ts peu pv u— po)? pe-y? p(w + v) + p(w — v) = 2pu + G ak values of p June 22, 1893] NATURE 189 _ with « = (m — 1)v;and the continued fraction expansion em- iy ployed by Abel is not required, except, perhaps, for the deter- mination of P. The integral I is pseudo elliptic when the parameter v is an aliquot part of a period; and then p(z — 1)v = pz, or p(z — m)v = pmyv, __ expressed by ; Snip + X= O, n_1 = 2; Jn-g = 9, or 2n_m = %my Tn-m-2 = Tm The integral I can now, for odd values of x, be expressed in the form 2(z + x)iett lL = folle-3 4+ Bedle—5) 4+ Catl-7) 4 2} /Z + 2 {P2k"-)) + Qail’—l) + Rel-5 +} = HA/Z + iK, - where H and K are rational integral functions of s ; the circular form of the integral being chosen on account of its dynamical applications. When z is even, a factor z — a of Zcan be in- ferred by forming 2!* + x; and then if z — 4, z — ¢ denote the other factors of Z, the value of I can be expressed in the form (z + xyineil = {ein -2) + Beil?-4) + oe EA = b) (z - c) + 2 {Peilm-2) + Qeit-4 + 11 /(2 - a). The results for » = 3, 5, 7, 9 have been already given in the Proc. London Math. Society, vol. xxiv. pp. 7-10; thus for u=3,% =O; =4,7V=05;"*=5,vH=x=- C3 na=6, y= -¢,x= —c(I +0); n=7,¥ = —ci+c)nw= — cir +c); eS aE a tM ea et + 20)3 N=97=-—CI +e x= —c1 +eP(Ltce+ ec); GS a —¢(I +c) — c(t +c) (24¢e)(1-¢= ey 7 GroOC —¢-—¢)r But the next case of #2 = 11 presented difficulties, which were only overcome by the kind assistance of Dr. Robert Fricke, of G6ttingen, and a reference to his article in the Math. Annalen, t. 40, p. 478. It was found that the relation : 4, + * = 0, OF 25 = 2s, equivalent to Halphen’s y,, = 0, or (ay - 2 - ¥8) (y - #8 -ay(y-x - 7B =0, could be satisfied by ea -ertd(ttet+g), y= - tte) - 7, where gq +1) =c(1 +)’, or I+ 2g = J/(1 + 4c + 8c? + 4c), The relation between this c and the parameters 7 and 7’ em- ployed by Klein and Fricke (‘‘ Modulfunctionen, t. ii. p. 440) or the parameters n and W employed by Dr. Kiepert (A/a¢h. Ann. t. xxxii. p. 96), was finally found to be Ae ae Ne Tetth dak a alg RIN Stade Co ta 1 +c)? 27” = 4(n? + 6n — 16 + W). Given 7 and 7’, or 7 and W, the five roots of the quintic in c will correspond to the five parameters, (2, 4, 6, 8, 10) n _ Conversely, given c the values of ’ 6 8, nt p(2, 4, 6, 8, 10) © ean be found; as also the values of 7 and 7’, or 7 and W. According to Dr. Fricke’s theory (Math. Ann. t. 40) the case of z= 19 should have a solution similar to that of = 11. The general problem of the /sezdo-e//iptic integral is thus re- _ duced to the determination of « and y, considered as the coordinates of a point on the curve * fn + X= O, OF Zn m = Bm, or "nx = 0 (Halphen), as functions of a parameter ¢; and when this is effected the 2500 n NO. 1234, VOL. 48] can be found; and thence, in the manner of ares Kiepert, Klein, and Fricke, the various corresponding modular functions can be determined. In the dynamical applications to the motion of a top or gyrostat, the azimuth y can be divided into two parts, ~, and Y., where, according to the notation of Routh’s ‘* Rigid Dynamics,” Psi a edi A | I — cos @ dt cn re cos 0 6 denoting the angular distance of the axis of the body from its highest position ; and y,, ~. are thus two elliptic integrals of the third kind, having their poles at the lowest and highest posi- tions of the axis, the positions of stable and unstable equili- brium. In y, we may put the parameter a = fws, where w denotes the imaginary half-period, and g is a proper fraction ; he a ; ee ar - also , is pseudo-elliptic when A = —, where 7 and 7» are in- n tegers. When x is an odd integer, the value of y, can be expressed in the form (1 + cos 0) @e*.-A# = H,/@ + 7K, where EI and K are rational integral functions of cos 0, of the degree 4(” — 3) and 4(z — 1), and : 0 © denotes sin 6—., es But in y, the parameter is of the form i b= wy + 9% where , is the real half-period ; and to deduce a pseudo-ellip- tic expression for Y, corresponding to g = 2?" the factors of @ n must be known ; say cos @ — cosa, cos @ — cos, cos @ - cosh y, a and 8 being the inclinations between which @ oscillates. Then, when y, is pseudo-elliptic, (1 — cos @)ie"¥.- 224 = H’ ,/{(cos B — cos @) (cos @ -- cosa)} + 7K’,/(cosh y — cos 6), or = H’,/{(cosh y — cos @) (cos @ — cos a)} + 7K’,/(cos B — cos 8), where H’ and K’ are rational integral functions of cos@. By multiplication of these two’ equations for ¥, and y., we find an expression for (sin 0)%e##(¥—4) where f = 2; + fy; the values of the secular terms ~, and 2 being most readily determined by a differentiation and verifica- tion. Changing the sign of z in ¥., and denoting y, — y, by x, 21 — 2 by g, we should find, as a verification, (sin 0) *e24(x—g#) — [L/{(cos B — cos 8) (cos 6 — cos a)} + ZM4/(cosh y — cos 6)]*; where L and M are constants, corresponding to an elliptic integral of the third kind, with a parameter b-~a= ow, The cases of » = 3 and 5 are worked out at length in the paper. The pseudo-elliptic expressions for , are immediately available for the construction of algebraical herpolhodes, as the parameter in this mechanical problem is always of the form * @ + 9% 5 while the pseudo-elliptic expressions for y, can be utilised in the construction of solvable cases of the tortuous curve assumed by a revolving chain, Inthe herpolhode the case of 7 = 3is realised: when ‘‘the focal ellipse of the momental ellipsoid rolls on a plane at a distance from the centre equal to the difference of its semi-axes ;” and when # = 4, ‘‘the distance of the fixed plane is equal to the distance from-centre to focus of this focal ellipse.” By Prof. Sylvester’s theorems on correlated bodies, the motion of the bodies having momental ellipsoids confocal to this focal ellipse, can be “inferred immediately. In the equations of the Precession and Nutation of the earth, or of the motion of an elongated projectile in an infinite frictionless liquid, the function © will be composed of four linear factors; so that in the construction of pseudo-elliptic algebraical cases of this motion, a return to Abel’s original method may prove preferable, especially when # is an even number.—On the expansion of certain infinite products (II.), by Prof. J. L. 190 NATURE Rogers.—Note on some properties of Gauche cubics, by Mr. T. R. Lee. There are two principal theorems in the note, one being an analogue of the theorem of Desargues, and the other affording a test by which it may be determined whether a given line is a chord of a cubic or not.—Note on the centres of simili- tude of a triangle of constant form circumscribed to a given triangle, by Mr. J. Griffiths. Physical Society, June 9.—Prof. J. Perry, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—Mr. A. P. Trotter read a paper on a new photometer. The author has modified his illumination photometer, described Proc. I.C.E., vol. cx. paper No, 2619, so as to adapt it to the measure- ment of candle-power. The principle employed is to view a screen illuminated by one source through an aperture in a second screen illuminated by the other light, the aperture be- coming invisible when the illuminations are equal. After using perforations of various patterns, a series of narrow slits cut in thin paper were found to give the best result. The plain screen is mounted behind the slotted one in a box sliding on the photometer bench, and they are arranged so that the light falls on them at equal angles. The screens are viewed from a dis- tance of 6 or 7 feet through an opening in the front of the box, cords being provided for producing the traversing motion. Two ‘‘sights” set respectively at the middle of the length of the plain screen, and on the lower edge of the front opening, serve to show when the middle of the band of equal illumination is vertically above the pointer on the carriage. ‘The photometer is found to be particularly valuable when it is desired to determine the maximum power of a variable source. When lights of different colour are being compared—say a gas flame and an arc—one end of the screen shows blue strips on a yellow ground, and the other end yellow strips on a blue ground ; at the centre the colours seem to blend. Te facilitate the comparison of such lights, Mr. Crompton, who has been working at the subject simultaneously with the author, uses one screen tinted pale yellow and the other pale blue. Details of construction of the new photometer are given in the paper, and the accuracy attainable when comparing two equal lights of about eight candles, stated to be about 1 per cent.—Prof. S, P. Thompson, F.R.S., read some notes on photometry. The first note relates to the use of two overlapping screens as an iso- photal, and describes the evolution of the Thompson-Starling photometer. In this instrument a prismatic block with apex upwards rests crosswise on the photometer bench, and the in- clined sides are respectively illuminated by the two sources to be compared. In testing differently-coloured lights, coloured stuffs were placed over the surfaces of the wedge. In some cases notched and overlapping cards were used to form the overlapping surfaces; an inclination of about 70° between the two surfaces was found convenient. The second note refers to the periodic principle in photometry, and in it the author dis- cusses the various methods which have been, or may be, used for producing small differences of decreasing amount between the two sides of a photometer screen. By employing a device of this kind much greater accuracy of adjustment is possible. In one form of vibration-photometer worked out by the author, the paraffin blocks of a Jolly’s photometer are mounted at one end of a spring, the other end being fixed to the carriage. The act of moving the carriage starts the blocks vibrating, thus producing the.desired variations. In a third note the question of using the electric arc as a standard of light is dealt with. Since 1878 the positive crater has been used as a standard of whiteness, and last year both the author and Mr. Swinburne sug- gested that a given area of crater might be used as a standard of light. This proposal has since been carried out by M. Blondel. Since the intrinsic brilliancy of the crater is high, it necessi- tates very small apertures, or else the use of standards of large candle-power. Advantages of using powerful standards are pointed out in the paper. With a circular hole 1 m/m in diameter, a standard of about fifty-five candles could be obtained ; with such a source, benches longer than usual would be preferable. At the end of the note, the errors~which may be introduced by using as an arc standard a hole ina plate of sensible thickness, when viewed obliquely, are investigated, as well as those due to inaccuracy of setting the plane of a hole made in foil, perpendicular to the photometer bench. Major- General Festing, in opening the discussion on both papers, said reflection from the sides of the hole in a thick plate would tend to lessen the error calculated by Prof. Thompson. The ordinary NO. 1234, VOL. 48] impurities in carbon were not likely to alter the brilliancy of crater. Capt. Abney and himself had no reason to distrust constancy. Both the vibrating photometer and Mr. Trotter’ arrangement would be very useful.—Dr. Sumpner said his photo- metric experience had been obtained with the Bunsen, J and Lummer-Brodhun types. With the two former the accuracy arising from uncertainty of adjustment was about 4 p cent. Changes of about 04 per cent. (average) resulted fi reversing the screens. The Lummer-Brodhun instrument ( he described) was better than either of the other two, thea age error being about } per cent. Mr. Frank Wright though scientific men gave too little attention to the question of lig standards. Photometers could be relied on much more than any standard at present in use. The Methven screen was most practical standard yet devised, but in his opinion gaseous flame could bea real standard on account of the in ence of the surrounding atmosphere. Prof. Ayrton saw d culties in using long benches as suggested by Dr. Thompson. account of the serious atmospheric absorption which occurs wit light from arcs. Decreasing the intensity by dispersion or oth wise was preferable. In some tests on glow lamps now bein carried out at the Central Institution, a Bernstein lamp used : a standard was mounted on a spring and vibrated. Mr. Med! showed the vibrating standard referred to by Prof. A 1, any gave a series of numbers showing that with this device in con- junction with the Lummer-Brodhun photometer accuracies about + per cent. were obtainable. Mr. Swinburne Mr. Trotter’s arrangement was better than the ‘‘ wobbling photometer. As to the best length of bench, he was inclin to think the shorter the better, provided its dimensions we large compared with those of the standard light. He concurr with Mr, Wright in his remarks about the desirability of obtaii ing a better standard. Speaking of the arc as a standard, h said that only impurities less volatile than carbon would influence the brightness. An important factor was the emmisivity of th carbon, which might not be constant. Mr. Blakesley thou the accuracy obtainable with Mr. Trotter’s photometer had b underrated, and pointed out that by using quadrant-sha screens intersecting orthogonally on the axis of the photome instead of straight ones, the width of the neutral band could be — greatly diminished. Mr. Trotter, referring to Dr. Thompson's — paper, said he had found considerable difficulty in making pir holes suitable for arc standards. It was not an easy matter accurately measure the hole when made. In photomet measurements he had found it very important to reverse hi screens. Curved screens as suggested by Mr. Blakesley h been tried, but with little advantage. They also destroyed | approximate direct-reading property of the photometer. subject of changing the length of a bench and its effect on gradient of illumination was discussed. With short bench one had to guard against the departure from the inverse-squar law, due to appreciable size of the standard. Recent exp ments had shown that the light given out by I square m/m ¢ crater surface differed considerably from 70 candles.—A pa} on ‘‘ The Magnetic Field close to the Surface of a Wire cc veying an Electrical Current,” by Prof. G. M. Minc was taken as read. In this paper the author applies the solutic he gave in March last for the conical angle subtended by a circle at any point in space to determine the magnetic potential at point near the surface of a ring of wire of finite cross sec The shapes of the lines of force near the surface, for se’ laws of current distribution across the section, have also bee worked out. Chemical Society, May 18.—Dr. H. E. Armstrong, Pre- sident, in the chair.—The following papers were read :—Studi on the formation of ozone (ii.), by W. A. Shenstone and Priest. Using an ozone generator of the Brodie pattern, th authors have studied the effect of discharges of varying dif of potential upon the quantity of ozone produced, The maxi proportion of ozone that can be produced at a given tem) ture is nearly independent of the potential difference empleo provided that this be within 33 and 69 C.G.S. units and that the path of the discharge be not very short at any point in the — generator. When this latter case occurs the maximum quantity — of ozone that can be obtained has an inverse relation to the — difference of potential employed. The rapidity of ozonisation — is greater with a high potential difference than with a low one, and the maximum proportion of ozone is produced with a low — rate of discharge. A generator made of very thin glass, the — June 22, 1893] NATURE 19! " two tubes of which fit rather closely, gives the greatest yield of - ozone ; for the same potential difference an induction coil ozonises a larger proportion of oxygen than either a Wimshurst yr a Voss machine. The authors conclude from their experi- ments that the silent discharge acts by decomposing oxygen _ molecules into their atoms, which subsequently re-combine, to a greater or less extent, according to the conditions, to form the triatomic ozone molecules ; it would hence seem that ozone is not formed by the direct action of the discharge.—The relative strengths or ‘‘avidities” of some compounds of weak acid character, by J. Shields. The author has calculated the relative _ strengths of a number of compounds of weak acid character, ‘such as biboric and carbonic acids, hydrogen cyanide and phenol, from the rates at which salt solutions hydrolyse ethyl acetate. —The boiling points of homologous compounds. Part I. : Simple and mixed ethers, by J. Walker. The author finds that the boiling points of members of many homologous series may be very closely expressed by the relation T=aM’, where T is the absolute boiling point, M the molecular weight, and a and 4 are constants peculiar to each series. The formula may be stated in the following form :—The logarithm of the ratio of the absolute boiling points of any two members of a homologous series, divided by the logarithm of the ratio of their molecular weights, is constant.—The conditions determinative of chemical change, by H. E. Armstrong.—The nature of depolarisers, by the same author. Geological Society, June 7.—W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Dr. Johnston-Lavis, in referring to imens and microscopic slides showing eozoonal structure in ike ejected blocks of Monte Somma, exhibited by him, said that all the criticisms of Hozoon have so far been destructive, no analogous structure having been found in other localities under conditions that could explain the origin of so curious an arrangement of different minerals. These altered limestones from Monte Somma correspond in all details with those of the original Canadian specimens, and in many cases, on account of their freshness, exhibit some of the pseudo-organic structural details, such as the stolon-tubes, in far greater perfection than does the true so-called Zozoon canadense. He had been work- ing at the subject in conjunction with Mr. J. W. Gregory. The following communications were read:—The bajocian of the Sherborne district: its relations to subjacent and superjacent deposits, by S. S. Buckman. This paper is partly the result of excavations made by Mr. Hudleston, F.R.S., and the author at Sherborne, to determine the position of the so-called ‘‘ Sow- erbyi-zone.” The author used the term ‘‘ bajocian” to denote the lower beds of what has been called ‘‘ upper part of the in- ferior oolite.” He introduced a term emar (jap) as a chrono- logical subdivisionof an ‘‘age,” and considered that the bedsdealt with in the paper were deposited during 12emata, which he called, in descending order, fuscum zigzag, Truellii, Garantianum, nior- tense, Humphriesianum, Sauzet, Witchellia sp., discites, con- cavum, bradfordense, and Murchisone. A line from Stoford, Somerset, through North Dorset to Milborne Wick, Somerset, is the base-line of the district reviewed. Seventeen sections of laces close to this line were given to show the relations of the ds, with the different amounts of strata deposited during suc- cessive emata, and during the same emar at different places. By means of tables it was shown that the area of maximum accumulation receded eastwards in the earlier emata, and then proceeded westwards during the later emata. A similar and corresponding faunal recession and progression was pointed out, though the faunal headquarters always remain west of the great accumulation of deposit. Adding the various maximum deposits together, the author found as muchas 130 feet of strata deposited during the twelve emata = (practically) the ‘* Inferior Uolite of Dorset.” This is a far greater thickness than had hitherto been allowed to beds of this age in the district, but the fault lay artly in incorrect correlation. The Dorset strata are corre- ated with strata in other districts—namely, with those of Dandry and Leckhampton Hills in this country. Of these aaa gave sections, and pointed out the emata during 1 the strata of those localities were deposited, and made some alterations in their correlation. Passing to Wiirttemberg, the author showed thatthe equivalent of Waagen’s Sowerbyi-zone is exactly represented at Sherborne. Returning to Normandy, the results were compared with the recent work done by Munier- ‘Chalmas, who in some respects has made an even more detailed Subdivision of the strata. The corrrespondence between the divisions for Dorset and those of Munier-Chalmas in Normandy NO. 1234, VOL. 48] and Haug in Southern France was shown in a table. The President, Prof. Blake, the Rev. H. H. Winwood, and Mr. Marr took part in the discussion that followed.—On raised beaches and rolled stones at high levels in Jersey, by Dr. Andrew Dunlop. An account was given of the higher raised beaches examined by the author on the south-eastern and eastern coast, but probably found in other parts of the island also, as indicated by the existence of rolled stones, &c. These beaches seem to prove submergence (in the case of that at South Hill, to a depth of at least’ 130 feet below the present level) at the end of the “first glacier period.” The brick clay often lying on raised beach, and containing pebbles, was compared to loess by the author. He believed that Prof. Prestwich’s theory of sudden and rapid upheaval, with a resulting tumultuous sweep of water, may be applied to Jersey ; but also, if the sinking took place at the end of the Glacial Period, the peculiar conditions produced by melting ice may have played their part in producing the brick-clays. Subse- quent upheaval above the present sea-level is indicated by sub- merged forests, sometimes lying on the brick clay. No fossils have hitherto been found in the raised beaches; but a bone of Bos primigenius (?) has been extracted from the brick-clay. The President, the Rev. H. H. Winwood, and Mr. Monckton spoke on the subject of the paper. Entomological Society, June 7.—Mr. H. J. Elwes, Pre- sident, in the chair.—Mr. A. Cowper Field exhibited varieties of Smerinthus tilig, bred between 1890 and 1893, under varying conditions of temperature, those which had been exposed toa lower temperature being much darker than those which had been exposed to a higher. Mr. Merrifield made some observations on’ the subject, and remarked that, as far as his experience went, no hard and fast rule could be laid down with regard to the production of the lighter or darker colourings, as a high tem- perature sometimes produced dark forms.—Mr. W. M. Christy exhibited a series Zygena trifolit, including very many yellow forms, all, with one exception taken at one spot during the latter half of May, 1893, and belonging to one colony. Some ofthe specimens were more or less incomplete, both in structure and colour, and Mr. Barrett stated as his opinion that this was. due to their having been forced by the unusually fine weather. Lord Walsingham, Mr. Merrifield, and others took part in the discussion which followed. —The President remarked on the great abundance of Coleophora laricella in Gloucestershire, and stated. that they were committing great ravages among young larches. Lord Walsingham stated that he had seen young larches at Carlsbad completely bleached by this moth.—It was suggested by several Fellows of the Society that care should be taken to- observe the occurrence of second broods of insects during the year.—Mons. Wailly exhibited cocoons of various silk-producing Lepidoptera, and stated that the larva of Atfacus pernyi, whose fooi-plant is oak, had been reared in Trinidad on Zerminalia latifolia. ; Linnean Society, June 15.—Prof. Stewart, President, in the chair.—Mr, A. W. Bennett exhibited some curious examples of revivification in plants, and made some remarks on the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia and longifolia, specimens of which were exhibited under the microscope.—Dr. Stapf read a paper on the botany of Mount Kiua Balu, North Borneo, and exhibited some of the most characteristic plants. His remarks were criticised by Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, who regarded the paper as a valuable contribution to geographical botany.—Prof. W. A. Herdman, in continuation of a former paper printed in the Society’s journal, gave an interesting account of several species. of British 7xnztca/a, some of which were previously undescribed, his remarks being illustrated by figures projected on the screen by means of the oxy-hydrogen lantern.—On behalf of Miss A. L. Smith, Mr. George Murray gave an abstract of a paper on the anatomy of aplant brought from Senegambia by Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot, the affinities of which had rot been precisely determined, but which was referred either to the AZelastomace or Gentianacee. The author’s views, which were illustrated by means of the oxy-hydrogen lantern, were criticised by Dr. D. H. Scott.—In the absence of Mr. Scott Elliott, a paper was read on his behalf by the secretary, on the African species of the genus /icus.—Prof. F, W. Oliver, on behalf of Miss M. Benson, gave an abstract of a paper entitled contributions to the em- bryology of the Amentifere, illustrated by diagrams of sections made by the author.—With this meeting the session of 1892-93 was brought to a close. 192 NATURE [June 22, 1893 _ Paris. Academy of Sciences, June 12.—M. Leewy in the chair.— Baron von Nordenskidld was elected Foreign Associate.—On the theory of flow over weirs without lateral contraction, taking into account the variations undergone by the inferior contrac- tion of the falling sheet according to the height of fall, by M. J. Boussinesq.—On the heat of combustion of the principal gaseous hydrocarbons. by MM. Berthelot and Matignon.—The dif- ferences of the heat of combustion in the homologues of the formene series are sensibly constant and amount to about 157. —On the modulus function xo, by M. A. Cayley.—Photo- graphic study of some sources of light, by M. A, Crova.— Presentation of an iconographic monograph upon Axudbalus antiguus, Duvernay, by M. A. Pomel.—On a class of surfaces with rational generators, by M. G. Humbert.—On some sur- faces with several modes of generation, by M. G. Scheffers.— A general property of any field not admitting of a potential, by M. Vaschy. The distribution of the force (or vector) / at the various points of the field is identical with the distribution of the resultant of two fictitious forces 4, and f, defined as follows :— The force f, would be developed by a system of masses acting at a distance according to the law of universal gravitation ; Se would be developed by a system of ‘‘ vectorial masses ”’ acting according to Laplace’s law. The density p of the first masses and the components fx, My, Mz, of the density of the vectorial masses would be given by SOR Oy 4™p = Ox ye oy. F ae’ and equations of the type pene = OL. Le an. ay’ where X, Y, Z, are the components of f, and the “ vectorial mass’ ’ contained in an infinitely small volume do isudo, where w is the ‘‘dersity.”—On terms of a superior order in the deviation of the compass, by M, E. Guyon.—On a remark of M. Guyon relative to the calculus of stability of vessels, by M. Ch. Doyére.—On the photographic properties of the ‘salts of cobalt. Hydrated peroxide of cobalt dissolved in oxalic acid gives a solution of very unstable cobaltic oxalate, which is easily reduced to the cobaltous state by the action of light. This action may be utilised to produce photographic prints. A cobaltous salt is precipitated with sodium per- oxide ;: the cobaltic hydrate formed is carefully washed in hot water, collected, and treated in the cold with a saturated solution of oxalic ‘acid ; the reaction, which must take place in the presence of an excess of cobaltic hydrate, is finished in several hours, and gives a green solution with which gelatinised paper may be impregnated. Printing is done very quickly. After sufficient exposure the proof is developed by means of a 5 per cent. solution of potassium ferricyanide, and fixed by simple washing. The image obtained is pale red. It is intensified and given a more agreeable colour by treating with an alkaline sulphide, which converts the ferricyanide of cobalt into the sulphide. The process is distinguished by its simplicity, rapidity and cheapness.—On Stas’s atomic weights, by M. J. D. van der Plaats.— On chromodisulphuric, chromotrisulphuric, and chromosul- phochromic acids, by M. A. Recoura.—Action of oxygen upon sodammonium and potassammonium, by M. A. Joannis.—On soft sulphur moistened in the state of vapour, by M. Jules Gal.—On the estimation of manganese by the oxydimetric methods, by M. Adolphe Carnot.—On the product of asymetry, by M. Ph. A. Guye.—On ‘the alcoholic fermentation of Jeru- salem artichokes under the influence of pure yeasts, by M. Lucien Lévy.—On a new series of colouring matters, by M. A. Trillat.—On the assimilation of the gaseous nitrogen of the atmosphere by microbes, by M. S. Winogradsky.—Observa- tions thereon, by M. Berthelot.—On the doubling of carbonic acid under the influence of solar radiation, by M. A. Bach.—On Micronereis variegata, by M. Emile G, Racovitza.—On the oil of the eggs of the Algerian Pilgrim Cricket (Acridium jere- grinum), by M. Raphael Dubois.—Influence of moisture on the development of the nodosities of the Leguminose, by M. Edmond Gain.—On the concordance of the phenomena of cellular division in the lilies and in Spirogyras, and on the identity of the causes producing them, by M. Ch. Degagny.— On the specific gravities of isomorphous crystals, by M. Georges Woulf.—On the axinite of Oisans, by MM. Albert Offret and Ferdinand Gonnard.—On the eruptive rocks of Servia, by M. NO. 1234, VOL. 48] J. M. Lugovic.—On Polygonum sakhalinense, regarded fodder for cattle, by M. Doumet-Adanson.—On the toxici stereoisomeric acid tartrates, and a general formula for m r ing their toxic power, by M. C. Chabrié.—The electric brush discharge as a treatment for refractory cutaneous pruritus, ] ; M. H. Leloir. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIV 2D Booxs.—Semi-azimuths; a New Method of Navigation, Part 1: E. ¥ W Buller (Norie and Wil. ison). —A Dictionary of Binds Part 1: A. Newto (Black).—Lehrbuch der Petrographie, Erster Band: Dr F. Zitkel ( Engelmann).—Grundziige der Physiologischen_ LA? roms aptee W. Wundt (Leipzig. Engelmann).—Lessons in Jementary Bil edition: Prof. T. J. Parker (Macmillan).—The Protection of Woo H. Fiirst, translated by J. Nisbet (Edinburgh, ey. —An Intro to the study of Geology : Dr. E. Aveling (Sonnenschein!.—The G Eastern Railway Company’s Tourist Guide to the Continent, new (London).—Electric Light Installations. Vol. 1: The M ement cumulators, 7th edition : Sir D. Salomuns (Whittaker).— pamo Hawkins and F. Wallis (Whittaker). —Etude sur les rere, L. Vinot (Paris, Berger-Levrault).—E in Euclid, and Trigon rons P. A. Thomas (Macmillan).—Decip! Blurred Finger Prints: F. Galton(Macmilan).—An Elementary Treat Analytical Geometry : wW. J. Johnston (Oxford, Clarendon Press), of the Colony of Tasmania, 1891, Parts 1-8 (Hobart, Grahame Pampuiets.—Les Astronomes : A. tere ri —Preh H. Boe Naval Architecture of the North of Euro: —Report on the Bendigo Gold-Field : ahs Dunn (Melbourne, “Br ur I’Industrie Nati Annuaire Société d’Encouragement > agnetismo di Monte ve 'E. Oddone es l'Année 1893 (Paris) —Sul Reichel (Koma). oS pe Se ie tak “(Strassburg te ae eichslani sass-Luthringen im e 1891 (Strass View from Petersham Hill, Richmond: W. H. Oxley and E. =o tic mond).—Ueber die Entwickelung der Theerfarben-Industrie : Dr. Fi. (Berlin, Friedlander). SERIALS.—Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engin vol. xxii. (Spon).— Bulletin ot the Geographical Club of Phase No. x Ser nse te wt and Astro-Physics. J eg Pie Minn. ).—R ell’A delle Fisiche e Matema serie 2%, vol. vii. ti 5° (Napoli). «The Illustrated Arche ‘enon N (C. J. Clark).—Journal of the Franklin Institute, June (Philadelph Economic Journal, June (Macmillan).—Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical arpa Ine and October, 1892, and 1893 (Leicester).—Lucifer, Vol. xii. No. 70 (London). CONTENTS. The Theory of Functions, By Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S. Tinetorial Art and Science. By Prof. R. Meldola R.S Se ac Tar A New Manual of Bacteriology . . _ Text-Books of Zoology. By Prof. E. "Ray Lan- Kester, “FUR B20) oS eee Our Book Shelf :— a Preyer: ‘* Das Yr System der chemischen - Elemente.”—J. W. r 2 Sheldon: ‘‘ The Piva of British ‘Agriculture whl a. Letters to the Editor :— a Mr. H. O. Forbes’s Discoveries in the Chatham Islands.—Henry O. Forbes .. . “a The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics.—Prof, g Oliver Lodge, F.R.S... 2. Popular Botany.—John Bidgood Gee The Big and Little Monsoons of Ceylon. ot Dougias a Archibald .. a Singular Swarms of Flies. _R. E. Froude : ‘Baro ‘ C. R. Osten Sacken . ad: Official Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Germ: in Empire at the Columbian Universal Exhibitic in‘ Chicago es Serr pene The Rede Lecture NOOR Ae OA een ks any iether eee : Our Astronomical Column :— A New Variable «Cygnus. . . Finlay’s Comet (1886 VII.) ....% A ‘Bright Comet?; >) lun ae nas Observations of Nebule ....... The Yerkes Telescope . i The Smithsonian Report for Year ‘ending 1892 i The Morphology of the Vertebrate Ear, By G. Perspective and Colour. .... ah hee earn The Flora of Greenland ... a University and Educational Intelligence Scientific Serials . Fes a Societies and Academies . . . . : Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received . > See ae! a oa ve . . eee ita . . Cit Mae eas leet Mester bin Sa yoo NATURE 193 THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1893. se ELECTRO DYNAMICS. _ Dynamo Electric Machinery. Fourth Edition. Revised _ andenlarged. By Silvanus P. Thompson. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, 1892.) A COMPARISON ofthe size of the fourth edition ofthis ; book with that of the first, which appeared in 1884, “supplies a good illustration of the rate at which the use of dynamo electric machinery, and our knowledge of its laws, have advanced during the past eight years. The 408 pages in 1884 have grown to 832, with a collec- tion of twenty-nine excellent plates in addition at the end of the book, representing another 60 pages ; in fact, the book has now become so portly that it would have been well had the matter been put into two volumes. Each of the last three editions has been bulkier than _ its predecessor, but the increase of size of the second and third represented the simple adding of new material without the pruning away of antique and practically obselete matter which is so necessary in a text- book of a rapidly advancing industry. The last edition, on the contrary, has been rewritten, and the author’s well-known capacity for hard work and information collecting has enabled him to produce a treatise which contains the latest knowledge and the existing practice of the dynamo designer and the dynamo constructor of to-day. The book opens with a wonderfully complete collection of historical notes, but we fear that the author’s love of history has led him to give a little too much credit to the early workers. It is the fashion with some, and especi- ally with those of classical tendencies, to credit the Chinese with the invention of gunpowder, the compass, and a variety of other useful commodities ; to condemn Galileo, Columbus, and Harvey as plagiarists; and to extol Pliny or Aristotle, or other gentlemen of that some- what remote period, as having foreseen and foretold every scientific principle and device. But as these prophecies of the ancients were somewhat marred by their utter unsuggestiveness until the dis- coveries of the moderns had set the historian searching for a meaning which the writers of the prophecies were themselves probably quite ignorant of, we do not regard the trousered investigator as a dealer in second-hand articles. Nobody knows better than Dr. Thompson that a know- ledge of the properties of rubbed amber, or the discovery of the loadstone, was not all that was necessary to con- Struct a 1000 horse-power dynamo with a commercial efficiency of 93 per cent., but nevertheless he fails, we think, to sufficiently distinguish between a chance mention of some notion and the subsequent independent recog- nition of an important commercial principle. If fame could really be achieved by a person’s mingling a grain of wheat with a ton of chaff, what a temptation it would be to spend one’s time recording every notion that struck one (no matter how improbable it looked), in the hopes that a hundred years hence some indulgent historian _ would search through the weary waste, in the hope of discovering with his rosy spectacles an apparent anticipa- NO. 1235, VOL. 48] tion of some device that practice had then brought to a successful issue. The historical notes are in fact not critical enough, and show a desire to make things comfortable all round for everybody. For example, the conventional illustration of the Pacinotti machine is given, but the author does not point out, indeed we do not remember to have seen it pointed out, that the original illustration of the Pacinotti generator differed from the conventional illustration in that the collecting-brushes were placed in the worst position, so as to make the machine as powerless as pos- sible. May this have been the real reason why this machine “ fell into temporary oblivion ”? If another example were wanted, we might take the following sentence, which, although not occurring in the section called “‘ Historical Notes,” enters as a note of an historical character on page 59, in the section, “ Com- binations to give Constant Pressure.” The sentence is, “The combination of a permanent magnet with electro- magnets in one and the same machine is much older than the suggestions of either Deprez or Perry, having been described by Hjorth in 1854.” Undoubtedly that is true, only Hjorth used the combination because, not being aware of the instability of the magnetism in a properly designed dynamo, he thought permanent magnetism was necessary to start the magnetic excitation ; whereas Deprez and Perry superimposed what was practically a permanent field for a totally different reason and in a totally different way. The chapters on “ Magnetic Principles,” the “ Magnetic Circuit,” “ Forms of Field Magnets,” are excellent. We do not, however, see much advantage in the introduction of what the author calls the déacrztica/ current. The formule are thereby simplified, no doubt, but the simplification is effected at the sacrifice of accuracy ; for first, the per- manent magnetism in the field has to be ignored, and secondly, as there is no absolute maximum induction in iron, there can be no exact value of this dacritica/ current, which produces half the maximum induction. The author is not quite happy in his choice of symbols, E is defined as representing the entire electro-motive force in the armature, ¢ as the difference of potentials from terminal to terminal. Presumably, then, 4, é, &c., applied to the separate coils of the armature, represent the potential differences at the terminals of the several coils. But that is exactly what ¢, e, do not mean, for they stand for the electro-motive forces of the coils. The suffix m attached to the letter for current or resistance denotes field magnet coils, but only when these are series coils. If the coils be shunt coils, the suffix s is attached to the letter. S, however, stands not for the number of shunt coils, as one would expect, but for the number of series coils, the former being called by a different letter altogether, viz., Z. In fact, Dr. Thomp- son’s rules forthe use of suffixes have the precision that is possessed by the rules for the spelling of the English language, the delight of every foreigner who studies them, The description of ‘‘Combinations to give Constant Pressure” (pages 57, &c.), and of “‘Constant Potential Dynamos” (pages 277, &c.), might be well brought together, seeing that both parts of the book deal with the same contrivances, only a little mathematics is added when K 194 NATURE [JUNE 29, 1893 the subject is taken up the second time. The equations that are given were very useful.in the early days when the combinations were first worked out, as they showed what combinations were theoretically possible to produce the desired result. But it is questionable whether these equations are of much use atthe present time, or if they are given, it should be clearly explained why equations originally obtained on the assumption that the perme- ability of iron was constant led to conclusions distinctly valuable in the case of machines intended to produce con- stant pressure, but quite useless for suggesting a method of compounding a dynamo to produce constant current. The chapter on lap, wave, and ring winding of arma- tures is most instructive. The origina] idea of cross connecting the coils of a gramme ring,so as to only Fequire two brushes with a multipolar dynamo, the author attributes to Mr. Mordey, but we were always of opinion that Prof. Perry’s patent of 1880 contained the first sug- gestion of this now well- known arrangement. ‘ Chapters xiii., xiv., xv., xvi., xvii.,and xviil,.,on « Prac- tical Construction vee Arusnires hy Commutaipes Brushes, and Brush Holders,” ii Mechanical Points in Design and Construction,” “ Elements’ of Dynamo Design,” ‘“‘Arc Lighting - Dynamos,” and “ Examples of Modern Dynamos,” taken in conjunction with the twenty- nine plates at the end of the book, contain a wonderfully compressed, and most admirable, résumé of British and foreiga practice, and make one feel proud that they have been written by an Englishman. In Chapter xx.; on electromotors, the laws of maximum activity and maximam efficiency are carefully distin- guished, and it is pointed out that, while Jacobi, Verdet, Miiller,and even Weidemann stumbled, the true ideas of Thomson and Joule were put forth correctly by Achard in January 1879. In 1883 was advocated the proposal to. employ a forward lead of the brushes with a motor, and a backward lead with a dynamo, so that the magnetisation of the armature might help instead of opposing that of the. fields magnets. With reference to this idea the author says, “The fascinating notion of using the armature to’ magnetise has proved a failure in practice,” a, statement undoubtedly true historically, but lacking i in prophetic in- spiration, seeing that this proposal of May 1883, to utilise instead of counterbalancing the mignetism of the arma- ture is now warmly welcomed in May 1893, after Mr. Sayers has shown how the “ destructive sparking” can be annihilated. Chapter xxii.,on “The Principles of Alternate Cur- rents,” is much too meagre for. any one who does not already know more of the subject than is contained in, the chapter itself. A student reading the book would be inclined either to:skip this chapter altogether and go on to , the next, on “ Alternators,” or turn to some other book. for what Chapter xxii. professes to give. The account of the construction of alternating current dynamos_ ‘con- | tained. in Chapter xxiii. is as comprehensive as the- description of the principles i in the preceding chapter is , meagre. The abstract of Dr. J. Hopkinson’s investigation on the coupling of, alternators ‘is,clearly given. and easily understood, when, the, misprint, of NA for N Hy on» page 691 is,corrected. The (deyice..of commutating ; the current round the field of an alternate current motor, ‘ so that when; the motor synchronises the, »excitation, is J NO. 1235. VOL. 48] I produced by a pulsating direct current, is due origin to Prof. Forbes, and not to Mr. Mordey, as the auth states on page 702. The author is very perplexing in his naming of alternatis currents. He calls the current produced by an ordina: alternator a ‘wo phese current, but why we have At any one moment the current in all parts of the is in one phase; at different times the current course, every possible phase in succession. Thi must therefore be called a one phase current, or current having every possible phase in succession, author prefers that; but there is no more reason t such a current a fwo. phase current than to call twenty-two phase current. When again we arrangement devised by Ferraris, and illustra’ 455 (page 405), we have two distinct circuits, the currel in which always differ in phase. We have therefore two phase arrangement. The author however calls t “four phase transmission.” Lastly, however A are three circuits in which there are three d currents, the phases of which at any one moment, always all three different, the author, for some Teasor. content to call this a “three phase current” like mortals. 3 Chapter xxv., on alternate and diveck: current, formers, is ay but might be made a little fuller, that so very much work has been carried out on formers during the past few years. The methods testing transformers are becoming as important as for “ Testing Dynamos and Motors,” which subject of Chapter xxviii, The last at r experience, The table at the end of the book, beni and Amperage Table,” we have gazed at with feel ng’ admiration tempered with doubt. Admiration—becau if all the columns of numbers given in this table correct, then, while we have , Spent, much time ex menting and calculating in order ‘to obtain informa about the heating of one or two bobbins of wire tra by a current, the problem for bobbins wound wi kinds of wire to all sorts of depths up to 4h inches. some way or other been solved. Doubt—beca fear that, in solving: this problem, some sort of proportion may have taken the place of the complic mathematics which it is necessary to employ on a of the flow of heat taking place across many 1 copper and cotton interspersed. . p To say that this. book is the best on its subject English language is to say too little, since we know book in any other language on the same ‘subject th be compared withit, The few peculiarities,that we drawn attention to must be regarded less in the ligh blemishes than as giving the book individuality, we recognise our. best friends, when we. meet, the their characteristic peculiarities. Dr. Thompson’ s treat should be, nay, probably i is already, in the hands of e one who, deals with dynamo machinery, from an ed tional or from a manufacturing point of view. . ea) It i is interesting to, notice how. the, author, in 0 with other writers, is -ynconscjously searching fora § abbreviation for thei important, but somewhatcumberso i ess VG. ‘ +8 JUNE 29, 1893] NATURE 195 _expression—difference of potentials. Sometimes he calls it pressure, but he apologises for that, as he says it is popular. Sometimes he calls it potential, which we _ think is rather the expression to be apologised for, since it is wrong, the potential of ‘at body having years ago been defined as being the difference between its potential and that of the earth. Sometimes he calls it the volts, but to speak of the volts of a dynamo being too high is like telling your tailor that a coat has too “many inches when you mean it is too long. Volt- age again appears to us. as bad as amperage, a name which, by the bye, enters into the heading of the last table in the book. If we talk of the amperage instead of the value of the current in amperes, why not speak of the microfaradage of a condenser instead | of its capacity in microfarads, or of the feetage of | a tall man as being 64? The names current, resistance, capacity, &c., require a short analogous name for difference | of potential. Years ago Mr. Latimer Clark suggested | that the name fotency was going a-begging. How would this do as short for potential difference if the industrial name, pressure, be objected to? But, the shortest abbreviation of all is the initials of the words potential difference and our own, P. 2D. CAPTAIN COOK’S JOURNAL. Captain Cook's Fournal during his First Voyage round the World, made in H.M. Bark “ Endeavour,” 1768- 1781. A literal transcription of the original MSS., with notes and introduction. Edited by Captain W. J. L. Wharton, R.N., F.R.S., Hydrographer of the Admiralty. Illustrated by maps and facsimiles. - (London; Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, 1893.) “> APTAIN WHARTON has rendered excellent service 4 to naval and colonial history, and to geographical Science, by editing a transcript of Captain Cook’s journal of the voyage of the Endeavour, which was undertaken chiefly for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus across the sun’s disk, and which led to the founding of | the Australian Colonies by Great Britain. As is well known, the published accounts of that voyage are two, and neither of them satisfactory. The only very com- plete one is that compiled by Dr. Hawkesworth, from the journals of Cook, and of Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks, who accompanied the great navigator as a volun- teer, taking with him an eminent scientific man, Dr. | Solander, a pupil of Linné, two artists, and servants, all of his own providing. The other is a brief and defective | journal kept by Mr. Parkinson, one of Banks’s artists, who died before the expedition reached England. It con- tains rude illustrations of the scenery and peoples of the Pacific Islands, which, if faithful reproductions of the originals (which I doubt), would show that his artistic powers were contemptible. Parkinson’s narrative, which $ edited by his brother, was published surreptitiously. was suppressed by authority, and is, happily, not : quently ‘met with. — : _, Dr. Hawkesworth, on the other hand, has been severely _ and justly censured for the method he adopted, namely, | NO. 1235, VOL. 48] the fusion of the journals of Cook and Banks,! and for attri- buting to their authors inept reflections of his own, an oper- ation for which, even had it been advisable, he had not the ability, from his obvious want of appreciation of the distinctive labours of the navigator and of the naturalist.” The result is a narrative in which the performances of the actors are inextricably confounded, and the records of Cook, and doubtless also of Banks, in some cases garbled. With regard to the reflections, they are com- paratively of small account, and there is little difficulty in recognising and rejecting them ; they were in keep- ing with much of the literary style of the age, and Dr. Hawkesworth assures the reader that his whole work was before publication submitted to and approved by the members of the expedition then in England. Unsatisfactory as Hawkesworth’s account of the voyage is, it has the inestimable advantage of in some measure filling what would otherwise be a lamentable void in the annals of science, for strange as it must appear, not even a meagre life of Banks has ever been written, and but for Hawkesworth’s work and “ Cook’s Journal,” there is no published account of his indefatigable labours during the expedition. Banks,no doubt aided by Solander, kept a ‘full journal of many events that happened during the voyage, which the commander had not the opportunity of witnessing or recording ; and the admirable observa- tions on the physical features, populations, languages, economic products, manufactures, zoology, and botany, of the islands, and coasts visited, are presumably for the most part his. Cook, indeed, especially mentions’ the signal services which Banks rendered, especially in the management of the natives, in acquiring their languages, in provisioning the ships, and in collecting information and objects of interest ; and it needsno reading between the lines of his concise narrative to prove his apprecia- tion of his companion, who he invariably took with him wherever he landed. The materials for the reproduction of the journal of which Captain Wharton has availed himself with great judgment, area complete copy of “ Cook’s Journal” in the possession of the Admiralty ; another belonging to the Queen, that was transmitted to England from Batavia, thus containing everything of importance ; and thirdly, a duplicate of this last, which having been appro- priated by the Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir Philip Stephens, passed to his descendants, and from them by sale first to Mr. Cosens in 1868, and in 1890 to Mr. John Corner. The latter gentleman was arranging for the publication of his copy, with the view of devoting the proceeds to the restoration of Hinderwell Church, the parish church of Staithes, whence Cook ran away to sea, when he suddenly died, and the carrying out of his project devolved upon his son, who completed the arrangements which led to Captain Wharton’s under- 1 Sometimes alluded to as the journals of Mr. Banks and of Dr. Solander, though there is no reason to suppose that the latter individual kept any journal independently of that of Banks, of whom he was probably the amanuensis, as Mr. Orton (the ship's clerk) was of Cook. 2 A conspicuous example of this is Hawkesworth’s omission of thepassage in Cook’s journal (Wharton, p, 22) dwelling on the unaccountable absence of the cocoa-nut (except of its shells cast upon the beach) on the east coast of Australia, which is a most remarkable feature in the geographical distri- bution of that plant. A féw living specimens exist at Rockhampton and Keppel Bay, but in an unhealthy state, préducing no fruit, and probably introduced by Europeans. 196 NATURE [June 29, 189: taking the editorship. The latter informs the reader that the text is from Mr. Corner’s copy, so far as it goes, with additional matter, from the date of the arrival at Batavia up to reaching England, from the Admiralty copy. In an interesting chapter of fifty pages Captain Wharton gives a spirited sketch of Cook’s life and labours from his birth in 1728 tohismurderin1779. It contains a list of the antiscorbutics supplied to the Exdeavour, and an account of the preventive measures adopted to ward off sickness in his ship. It is not mentioned in it that this led to his election, after his return from his second voyage, to the Fellowship of the Royal Society ; before which Society he communicated a paper on the above measures, and another on the tides along the east coast of New Holland. Nor that for the former of these he was awarded the Copley medal by the President and Council, the highest honour in the gift of any scientific body, and the more honourable in the case of Cook, from the fact of the medal having been instituted as an award for dis- coveries or researches in experimental science. It is a melancholy fact that Cook’s departure on his third voyage prevented his receiving in person this the sole public recognition of his still unparalleled services. To dwell upon Cook’s professional labours would be out of place here, are they not written in hisown Report? which is a model of completeness and conciseness, re- calling in these respects the Wellington despatches. There is a reason for the minutest detail, down to the naming of islands, bays, straits, and inlets, with the re- sult of these being as appropriate as are Linné’s names of animals and plants, - Captain Wharton has further illustrated his work with valuable footnotes and facsimiles of some of Cook’s original charts, as of the Society Islands and New Zealand, making that of the Australian coasts specially inter- esting by placing on the same sheets parallel with Cook’s chart of 1770 one corrected up to 1890, and reduced to the same scale, thus showing the marvellous approximate accuracy of the former. It is to be regretted that no list of the charts and plates is appended to that of the chap- ters into which, for convenience, Captain Wharton has divided the Report. It is difficult to find some of these in a work printed on thick paper with uncut edges; and without such a list there is no assurance that a copy is perfect. In the preface, Captain Wharton says (p. vii) “that it has several times beenin contemplation to publish Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks’ Journal, but this has never been accomplished,” and again (p. xxvi) that the said Journal “ cannot at the present time be traced.” This was, till the other day, true. Captain Wharton had spared no trouble in his endeavours to trace it ; and the writer of this notice had, at intervals, for many years past pursued the same object, he having a personal interest in its discovery, as being one of the few persons living who had seen it. Its history he believes to be the following. On Sir Joseph Banks’ death, without issue, in 1820, his effects passed to the Knatcbbull family, with the exception of his extensive Herbarium, Library, and the lease of his house in Soho Square, which were left to the late eminent botanist, Mr. Robert Brown, who had been for many years Banks’ librarian,with the proviso that the Herbarium and Library NO. £235, VOL. 48] were to be eventually deposited in the British Muset The Banksian correspondence and papers, includi Report, were thereupon confided to Mr. Brown, the object of his writing a Life of Banks. Age and firmities interfered with the prosecution of the work; ; the materials were for the same object transferred, year 1833, to my maternal grandfather, Mr. D Turner, F.R.S., a naturalist, and man of high literary tainments, in whose house I aided in the collation copy of the Journal, which he had caused to be with the original. In Mr. Turner’s case thi the same fate as in Mr. Brown’s, and they were placed in the hands of the late Prof. Thomas secretary of the Royal Society, and who su Brown as President of the Linnzan, in the hope he would undertake a Life of Banks. After retain the materials for some time he declined the task, br before returning them (in 1857 or 1858) he submit ‘ them to Mr. John Ball, F.R.S., who also declin Nothing further was known to meor to Captain W of their history until last week, when (having pre been misinformed on this point) I ascertained tl original of all Banks’ correspondence and of his J of the Endeavour’s voyage, were in the MS. D ment of the British Museum, and the aforesaid c the Natural History Department of the same Insti It only remains to add the hope that this grati intelligence may lead to the publication of Banks’ Rep 1 uniformly with Captain Wharton’s admirable editi Cook’s. J. D. Hook OUR BOOK SHELF, The Soil in Relation to Health. By H. A. Miers, F.G.S., F.C.S., and R. Crosskey, M.A., D,P.H. don: Macmillan and Co., 1893.) ee THE attractive title of this little book speaks for it indicating that it is one of those numerous endeavot which are being made at the present day to supply it such an amount of information in several different scie as will satisfy the requirements of men engaged in sol particular department of practical life. In the case it is a combination of chemistry, geology, z teriology which is offered for the benefit of the officer. The task undertaken by the authors is ob a difficult one, and, if the book be regarded as outline stimulating the reader to more extend special study, they may be said to have accomplish task with a fair degree of success. Our knowl the chemical and biological changes taking place soil has, during recent years, been so much incr is in some respects so complete, that it might anticipated that much of this book would hav voted toa clear exposition of such matters as nitrii and denitrification, the micro-organisms of wat removal by filtration and other agencies, the purif of sewage, &c. Asa matter of fact, the account g nitrification is incomplete, whilst of the other s referred to above, and which are of such cardinal portance in connection with sanitary science, we hardly any mention whatsoever. On the other hi there are long passages devoted to such speculative ters as the causes of epidemic infantile diarrhoea connection between typhoid and the depression of grou water, the relationship between soil and the prevalence of cancer and phthisis, &c. In the chapter on water-supp} we are informed that the water from the magnesian lim 4 June 29, 1893] NATURE 197 ® stone is “too permanently hard to be a wholesome drink- _ ing-water,” whilst a few lines further on we are surprised to read that “the total solids rarely exceed 20 grains _ per gallon.” The chapter on the atmosphere makes no Bpention of the numerous investigations which have been made both at home and abroad on the aérial microbes _and theirdistribution. The authors almost apologise for the prominence they have given to the subject of micro- Organisms, but we think they might more appropriately have tendered some excuse for their unfortunate frontis- “piece, which endeavours to represent the microscopic _ appearance of the typhoid and anthrax bacilli ; for what- ever the excellence of the original illustrations may have been, the reproductions in the copy before us do little credit to British printing. Practical Astronomy. By P. S. Michie and F. S. Harlow. Second edition. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd., 1893.) ‘In this book the authors have brought together all those ‘astronomical problems which are required for field work, limiting themselves simply to these, and dealing with them at sufficient length for practical work. The volume _ is intended especially for the use of cadets of the U.S. Military Academy, and as a supplement to Prof. Young’s text-book, and several subjects not sufficiently discussed there for this special branch of practical work are here ex- panded. Aftera short discussion on the uses of the Amer7- can Ephemerts and Nautical Almanac, and a few words on interpolation, the authors launch out into the usual methods of determining Time, Latitude, and Longitude on Land, explaining them concisely and deducing the requisite reductions formule. Corrections for refraction, parallax, &c., also receive a good share in their respective places, while the instrumental errors are fully explained and discussed. Excellent illustrations of instruments. (those in use in the Field and Permanent Observatories of the Military Academy during the summer encamp- ment) are inserted and described. In addition toa set of tables collected together at the end, a few well- arranged forms, showing the methods of computing several problems, are inserted, which should prove a great help to those not accustomed to such calculations. We L. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] The Publication of Physical Papers. 1 HERE is little doubt that there is much to be done towards improving the machinery connected with the publication of papers on physical science. By publication of a paper I do not ‘mean printing and binding and sending it to libraries in incon- _yenient places, which are open at inconvenient hours, but bring- ing it under the eyes of those interested in its subject. It 1s hardly possible to discuss this matter without being personal tojounals and societies, so perhaps direct references may be allowed. The present position is that as societies we have the Royal Society, which nominally embraces all branches of science, and _the Physical Society, which is alone devoted entirely to physics, __ and several important general scientific societies scattered about _ the present kingdom. We have also some journals, Of these Nature must herebe put first, but NATURE is by no means purely a cl. and is a scientific newspaper, and not a collection of _ Scientific papers, and, owing to the nature of the case, incomplete ig'as — abstracts. The Philosophical Magazine, with its mp Pie id record, fills its place alone. It contains a certain propor- - NO. 1235, VOL. 48] tion of original papers, and a number of others communicated by the Physical Society, with which there is evidently an arrange- ment. Thereare also purely electrical paper like the Z/ectrician, which covers most branches of electrical work, and the Zvectrica? Review, which publishes filtrates of papers on electrolysis and kindred subjects editorially, with the names and references left out ; an annoying proceeding. Coming to the sccieties, the Physical Society is alone devoted to physics. The Royal Physical Society in Edinburgh need not be considered, as it indulges in ornithology and things of that sort. The Physical Society publishes well. Abstracts of the papers and discussions appear in NATUuRE and in most scientific or technical, and in some literary journals. The papers are often published in the PAz/osophical Magazine, and again in the Society's own Proceedings. No doubt in time this society will be to physics as the Chemical is to theoretical chemistry, but at present it does not command by any means all the most important physical papers. There is also some waste in republishing in the PhzJosophical Magazine and the Proceedings, though this does not cost much. The arrangement with the PAzlosophical Magazine prevents the immediate publication of a Physical Society paper in the scientific and technical journals at home and abroad. This isa source of weakness. A society which objects to its papers being published everywhere before appearing in its own journal does much to defeat its own ends. The Physical may be unable to help this, but in the Royal, or other wealthy institution, it is de- feating the main object of the society’s existence for the sake of selling a few odd copies of the Proceedings. To go back to the Physical, the result is that its papers are never reprinted either from the Philosophical Magazine or from the Proceedings. The Philosophical Magazine is not very cheap, and the Proceedings are, I think, not sold to non-members. The Royal Society gets physical papers. I believe they are sometimes read, but do not know, not being a Fellow. The best papers are published a long time afterwards in a form which is very expensive to buy, and those who are not Fellows generally know nothing about them until they find them by chance. Royal Society papers, again, are seldom reprinted in the journals. Then there are various other societies, like the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Cambridge and Dublin societies, which shroud valuable papers of all sorts in their transactions, and bury them in public libraries. The result of the present state of things is that an English physicist—it is difficult to get on without this curious word—has no simple means of following the progress of his own special study. There are several courses which would improve matters, but none of these is perfect. The most obvious is for all physical papers of any importance to be sent to the Physical Society, and published in its Proceedings. The advantages of this need hardly be enumerated. Of course the Physical Society would develop, and would at once become one of the most important in the world. The drawback is that if this principle were carried out in all branches of science we should have a number of special societies in London, and none anywhere else, which would be a very bad arrangement. Another plan would be for- the various societies to join, so that one journal, say that of the Physical Society, contained all the important physical papers read at the various societies. A society would communicate its best papers to the Physical Society’s Proceedings, these Pio- ceedings being controlled partly by representatives of all the other societies. The papers would, of course, also appear in the Proceedings of the societies to which they really belonged. One drawback to this would be that the Royal Society might object to communicating its papers to the Physical; and this might lead to competition between a special and a more power- ful general society. Another course would be for the Royal Society to act as the central body, This would be rather hard on the Physical, and would tend to reduce its standing, so that we would have no first-rate society devoted specially to physics in a country where an enormous amount of work is done in a disorganised way. There would be another difficulty. The Royal Society standard of papers is supposed to be very high, and though it occasionally publishes papers of no value, the high standard generally maintained would exclude many papers of great importance which were hardly good enough for the Royal Society. Then the Royal Society is specially devoted to pure—that is unapplied science, and there are very many papers on applied physics which are of the highest importance. 198 NATURE (June 29, 189 Still another course would be fora firm of publishers to bring out a purely physical paper. The stumbling-block here is the question of advertisements. According to Mr. Thiselton Dyer, scientificmen are supposed to beunbusiness-like, no doubt with- out reason; but it may be well to remind them that most journa's live on their advertisements, the reading matter being a necessary evil. . [t would thus be commercially impossible to run a purely physical paper, as there is no trade, except to a certain extent electrical engineering, which has much to do with physics. ; It might be better to abandon the idea of a central organ for physics, and to publish a complete set of abstracts. Abstracts to be useful must be very well made, and they must.be com- plete. It is very difficult to get good abstracts. The work is laborious and costly when efficiently done. Abstracts are only a developed index, and it would still be necessary that separate papers should be obtainable. Incomplete abstracting is a very common vice. It is not enough to have a few papers brought under a reader’s notice: that is good when one is reading for general information in an indolent way, but it is useless in the far more common case in which he wants to know either all that has been done on a given subject, or whether some discovery has been hit upon before. A scientifically worked out subject index is also essential, and, as said before, the abstracts must be practically complete. JAMES SWINBURNE, - 4, Hatherley Road, Kew Gardens, June 25. The Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes, I HAVE read with interest the discussion in NATURE on the **Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes,” and I feel constrained to write now, more especially as Mr. Wallace has cited Tasmania as a country, among others, where Alpine lakes are associated with ‘‘ palpable signs of glaciation.” Having recently, with Prof. Spencer, of Melbourne University, made a visit to the central lake district of Tasmania, a few words about the lakes may not be without interest in reference to the subject under discu-sion, The lake district of Tasmania is situated about the centre of the island on the great central greenstone plateau, which attains to a height of 4000 ft. above sea level in places. We camped on the shores of Lake St. Clair, and remained there during the whole month of January of this year. Lake St. Clair is about 2500 ft. above the sea, and is about 11 miles long by 2 broad. It occupies a narrow valley between the Olympus Range on the one hand and the Traveller Range on the other. A depth of 590 ft. is recorded. Its basin probably lies in sandstone (carboni- ferous ?), thé structure of the adjoining mountains being sandstone capped by greenstone (diabase). Both Prof. Spencer and myself, being believers in the glacier theory of Alpine lakes, had half expected to find evidences of glaciation, especially as we had heard of well marked signs being found on the west coast, some 50 or 60 miles to the north- west. However, we could not find the slightest trace of glaciay action. From the top of Mount Olympus, rising about 2350 ft. above the surface of the lake, we got a magnificent view of the country. The Traveller Range opposite is really the edge of a great greens‘one plateau, stretching away with a roughly un- dulating surface for miles beyond. ‘The surface of this plateau is studded all over with lakes and tarns of various sizes and at different levels. In other directions, too, lakes can be seen here and there nestling in the valleys. In all we counted between thirty and forty lakes and tarns from the top of Mount Olympus. Two small basins of water—the ‘‘Olympian Tarns ’—rest on the flanks of the mountain itself. On the opposite side of Olympus from St. Clair lies Lake Petrarch, occupying an oval basin and apparently of shallow depth. This lake is about 560 fr, above St. Clair. On the right shore of St. Clair occurs another small Jake (Lake Laura) 50 ft. above the former, and separated from it by a ridge about 3400 yards across. A characteristic feature of this district are the ‘* button-grass ” flats. These are open, marshy expanses covered with ‘‘ button- grass” (Gymnoschenus sphaerocephalus) and other plants, They are traversed by numerous little runlets of water, which usually unite into one or more main streams. Here and there in many of them masses of greenstone protrude. Between these “flats” -are generally low ridges of greenstone covered with Eucalyptus and Banksias, &c. Many of these flats or marshes —as, forinstance, those in the Cuvier Valley, at the head of which lies Lake Petrarch—reminded me very strongly of the NO. 1235, VOL, 48] moorland scenery in the Scottish Highlands, and the already referred to, with the lakes and tarns scattered surface, might be a scene in Sutherlandshire. But in wanderings we did not find the slightest sign of glaciati in the form of moraines or of striated rock-surfaces, not able to examine the lakes on the plateau menti from its configuration I am confident that evidences of g! do not exist. On the west coast, notably about th ‘River, signs of-glaciation are, I believe, abundant, and tarns and rock basins are associated with them. neighbouring mountains are not so high as those further and it was probably their proximity to the coast that cause, during the last glacial epoch, of glaciers being fori and not further inland. So then, though in Tasmania there are instances of r lakes being associated with undoubted evidences of gl: yet, as I have shown, the glacier theory will not account far the greater number of the Alpine lakes on the greenstone plateau. Ido not propose to put fo SE to account for these lake-basins, but have put down thea facts in the hope that they may prove of some interest ij question at issue, and to show that at least there are some e} tions to Mr. Wallace’s statement that Alpine lakes only glaciated regions. ing I may add that Lake St. Clair has been accounted f Gould, who explained it by supposing that a flow of basalt had dammed up the lower end of tiie valley in which the lake |i I am, however, much inclined to doubt the existence of t basalt. Though we traversed the end of the lake where to occur, we did not recognise any basalt. $ It may also be remarked about the ‘‘ button grass” flats ¢ swamps, that they really occupy rock-basins, and may perh be regarded as the analogues of the peat-bogs of Scotland an Ireland. All those occurring in the same drainage area seem be directly connected with each other, and I think there can} little doubt that many of them were formerly occupied byl Melbourne University, May 7. GRAHAM OFFICER, — ‘Tue Editor having given me the opportunity of readin Graham Officer’s interesting letter, I will make a few upon tt, 3 ie It seems to me that, without further informationas to the natu of the search for drift, erratics, or ice-worn surfaces, judgin from the statement that the plateau studded with lakes and ta ns was only looked down upon from an adjacent mountains we can hardly give much weight to the:positive statements, confident that evidences of glaciation do not exist,” and—**; I have shown, the glacier theory will not account for by far th greater number of the Alpine lakes on the great central green stone plateau.” Some light may perhaps be thrown on ¢ matter by the consideration that the undoubted marks | glaciation in many parts of Australia are believed to have caused by, comparatively, very ancient glaciers, since s the glaciated surfaces are overlain by pliocene depos others are believed to be of paleozoic age. If the T: glaciation was also of pliocene age, most of the superf dications may have been destroyed by denudation, o served, may be hidden by vegetation or by alluvial We must therefore wait for a much more thorough examin the district and of other parts of Alpine Tasmania before be positively stated that no evidences of glaciation exist. ALFRED R. Wa! Vectors and Quaternions, - I wou p like to ask Prof. Knott whether there any fatal objection to defining the scalar product of two as equal to the product of their tensors into the cosine angle between them, so that, if the vectors are ix, + fy + kr, and txg + fly + hBy the scalar product would be 4X, + Nin + % My and not : 721. 1%q + Jy +JIq + hr - hey If this is done, and, for the sake of associativeness of produc # is made equal to-— 1, the distributive or quaternionic — product of two (or more) vectors would be their vector product JUNE 29, 1893 | NATURE | mg9 znus their scalar product. The change suggested would enable udents to gradually accustom themselves to the notation of the calculus, which would «in fact then form an abridged. notation’ t the cartesian expressions and operations which enter into hysical investigations. ‘would ask Prof. Knott to give this suggestion his careful ‘consideration, as I am sanguine enough to believe that in it, "-simple‘as it appears, lies the possible reconcilement of the new school of vector analysts with the quaternionists. _ Possibly some _ «symbol other than S would have, at any rate at first, to be em- ployed for this new scalar product. Perhaps, with Prof. _,Maclarlane, it might be called the cos-product, though that a parieron properly belongs to the scalar product of two vectors only, ~ ‘and loses its significance if applied to the scalar product of three _or more vectors. No single letter symbol could be better than __ S,/as it is distinctive and quick to write. However, the first question is whether there is any possibility of the modification “being adopted. ~ : * The quaternionic product ofa vector by itself would be minus ‘its scalar square, but without any mystery attached to the fact. -For the product of two vectors = vector product ~ scalar pro- _ ‘duet, and therefore, if the vector product is zero, the quaterni- onic product = — the scalar product. Hence, instead of v (a + B) = a? + 2SaB + 62, : _we should have es S(a + B)? = S(a? + 208 + B°). _}Reciprocal vectors satisfy the equation 6 48=1, so that $818 = —.1, ze. 81, Bare oppositely directed vectors. - The quaternion ; : t pte SBr Vas — Sap _ = Vas Sap f ‘ Reiger 7 — SB? SB SB?’ ‘showing clearly that both the vector and scalar products of a8 + are opposite in sign to those of a8, as must, of course, be the case since 8-1 and 8 are oppositely directed vectors. This ‘fact is obscured with the orthodox notation: In fact, so far as I have been able to test the proposed change, I have found no drawbacks, but rather an improvement. ALFRED LopGE. ‘ ; Sagacity in Horses, From the window opposite, as I write, I have just witnessed an interesting performance on the part of two horses. Border- ‘ing the park is a strip of land, doomed to be built upon, but “meanwhile lying waste, and used for “common pasturage, on - which the horses under notice were leisurely grazing. A pony _ -in a cart, having been unwisely left by the owner for a time un- _ | attended on ‘the grass, suddenly ‘started off, galloping over the _ funeven groundvat the risk of overturning the cart. The two _~ horses, upon seeing this, immediately joined in pursuit with evi- dent zest. My first supposition, that they were merely joining __. in the escapade in a frolicsome spirit, was at once disproved by the methodical and: business-like manner of their procedure. _ They soon reached the runaway, by this time on the road, one on one side of the cart, and one the other; then, by regulating their pace, they cleverly contrived to intercept his progress by f ually coming together in advance of him, thus stopping him immediately in.the triangular corner they formed. Until the “man came up to the pony’s head they remained standing thus _ together quite still ; when the two horses, evidently satisfied that all'was now right, without any fuss trotted back again together _ to their grass. x _ The sagacious conduct of the horses, acting in such perfect __. cooperation, formed a pretty sight ; and it was apparent that, instead of making the pony more excited, they really pacified .and calmed him. Why should they not receive ‘ honourable mention ” as much as if they were proud human beings ? Se WILLIAM WHITE. _ The Ruskin Museum, Sheffield, June 20. 5 TERCENTENARY OF THE ADMISSION OF _ WILLIAM HARVEY TO GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. ;) BORN at Folkestone, and educated at the King’s _ + School, Canterbury, William Harvey was admitted Gonville and Caius College as a minor scholar in his teenth year, on May 31, 1593. The tercentenary of NO. 1235, VOL. 48] this event was celebrated by Harvey’s College on Wed- mesday, June 21; this being theearliest day after the date of his admission at which rooms were available for those coming from a distance. The guests were received:and ‘welcomed by the Master and Fellows, at five o'clock, in the large Combination Room, where tea was provided. ‘In the smaller adjacent room were exhibited a number of objects of interest connected with Harvey, including his pestle and mortar, from the Museum at Folkestone, a rubbing from.his mother’s tomb, an autograph letter of Harvey, lent by the Master of Sidney Sussex College, and a coloured drawing of Harvey’s coat-of-arms, re- cently discovered on the walls of the buildings of the University of Padua. The latter was presented to the College by the University of Padua, followed on the day of the festivity by a long congratulatory Latin telegram from the Rector, on behalf of the University, which ran as follows :—“ Universitatis Patavine que cum aliis Britannis discipulis tum Harveio Caioque gloriatur, ‘quorum alterius merita insigne Collegium vestrum + unc necolit nomenque ex altero invenit, festi in Harveii honorem indicti participem se profitetur et in renovanda cum celeberrima Universitate Cantabrigiensi vetere studiorum amicitiaque’ memoria summopere. lztatur, pro Academico Senatu, Ferraris Rector.” Also an auto- type of the panel-portrait of Harvey from Rolls Park, Chigwell, Essex, presented to the College by Sir Andrew Clark, as one of a series of eight, consisting of a central portrait of Harvey’s father, surrounded by those of his seven sons. Some early editions of the works of Harvey and of some of his more immediate predecessors and followers were also displayed, together with the admis- sion book of the College, containing the original record of his admission. At seven o'clock the guests assembled once more in the Combination Room, whence they pro- ceeded to dinner in the College Hall, led by the butler, bearing the original “caduceus,” as: used. by Dr. Caius when President of the College of Physicians. The dinner was presided over by the Master of Gonville and Caius College, the Rev. N. M. Ferrers, D.D., F.R.S., above whose chair were displayed a copy of the bust from the Harvey Memorial, crowned with a laurel wreath, and the much-prized portrait of Harvey from the Master’s Lodge. After dinner the Grace Anthem of the College, composed by Mr. C. Wood, was sung. The Master then proposed the usual loyal toasts, after which Sir James Paget pro- posed the toast of the evening, “‘ The Memoryof William Harvey.” He remarked that the reason why he had the honour of being asked to propose that toast was his relationship to his brother, who, he believed, made the proposal that there should be that tercentenary of the admission of William Harvey. He desired to remember that, and to speak as he thought his brother would have spoken if he had had the opportunity. He was sure that if he had been present he would have referred to the honour which was due to the college which Caius founded. He would have done that out of the deep sense of gratitude which he had for the College. For it was the Fellowship founded by Caius that led his brother to the study. of medicine, and, on the occasion of that Fellowship which he held becoming vacant, to give himself entirely to it. To that he owed a great part of the happiness of his life, and he hoped he (the speaker) would not be deemed wrong if he said that indirectly he himself was also deeply indebted to Caius College, tor it was through the large income which was associated with that Fellowship that his brother was enabled, out of his abundant generosity, to help him greatly in the study of his profession at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, of which Harvey was so great an ornament and honour. He wished that they knew more of the time and the work he did in Caius College. Indirectly Harvey owed to Caius himself the opportunity of being a student of the College. It was not, he thought, known whether Harvey 200 NATURE [JuNE 29, 1893 c was originally destined to be a student of medicine or physic, or whether he was led to it mainly by that which he found in that College, from the help and advantages given to the study of medicine and sciences. Harvey found there—and there alone, he thought, certainly amongst the Colleges of the University—a license for dissection. A license was obtained fromthe King to dissectin that College the bodies of criminals, and Dr. Venn, in the register of St. Mary’s parish, had found records of two who were exe- cuted here in Harvey’s time. The register said distinctly “They have been buried here after being anatomised in Caius College. He might add that the bodies were to be interred with great reverence, and the Masters and Fellows had to attend the funerals. From that College Harvey went to Padua, where he had the best learning from the best biological teachers of the time. He took the degree of doctor of medicine with the highest honour, and then he returned to the practice of his profession and the teaching of it in the University. Alluding to Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood, Sir James said he thought he might venture to say that that was the ‘greatest discovery in biological science ever made by one man. He thought there never had been any one man to whom biology was so indebted as to Harvey for that discovery, and that was in the early part of his life. He supposed they could not now think of what would have been the progress of biology but for that discovery, neither could they form any just estimate of the honour due to Harvey for that discovery, which was to them now so plain, so evident, that one might wonder how it could ever have been doubted, but was then sur- rounded by difficulties which it seemed impossible ever to overcome. It was marvellous, if one looked back at it, to think what must have been the power of observa- tion, the ingenuity, the constant, resolute industry of the man who could find that out, not only in the face of actual difficulties of inquiry, but in the face of those who were perfectly satisfied with their own opinions. He worked on and on until he brought out the best result he could obtain. He had shown by his discoveries, which had had even a greater influence on the progress of biological knowledge, the right method of inquiry. He had to find his results in the face of that full and per- fectly-satisfied belief that all truth in such a science as that of medicine could be deduced from general principles then prevalent, and from the physiological doctrines which few men then dared to doubt. Nothing could have proved more than Harvey’s results that the way to knowledge in biological science was through continual observation and experiment and recording. That was what Harvey showed, and it had never been forgotten. Again and again Harvey said in his works, and more especially in that admirable introduction to his work “ De Generatione,” that the way to knowledge was by observ- ing, experimenting, and recording, and not by thinking. The same thought was expressed by John Hunter, who said, “Don’t think; try.” Those were words he (Sir James) would venture to say every one pursuing biology might well bear in mind. Both of those men were most earnest and profound thinkers, This could be traced in all their works, but that in which they dis- tinguished themselves from other men of the same calling and the same pursuits was that they tried their thoughts. They tested them by every possible ob- servation and experiment. They thought, and thought, and thought, but they were never satisfied with thinking ; every thought they had was tried by experiment. When they remembered that Harvey was not only the greatest physiologist of the time, but the greatest physician, it was well to look and see as far as they could how much he himself followed that out, and he thought it would be found, .unhappily, they had scarcely any record of Harvey’s observations in practice. Repeatedly in his works that were published he stated that he intended to NO. 1235, VOL. 48] publish his medical observations. Now the whole those, he supposed, were lost, and yet his (the spe: brother pointed out there was no certain knowledg either of the time or of the manner in which they lost. Those observations would be of inestimable if they could be found. They might hope that so1 the younger Caius men would find out where those n scripts were. It would be wellif the MSS. could be pr lished in facs¢mzle, or in the same manner as the | done by the College a few years ago, when they at found Harvey’s lectures on anatomy and surgery. asked them to drink to the memory of Harvey, wis made discoveries surpassing those ever made by any man, and had showed the true and only sure methods which biological science could be increased. After the toast had been duly honoured the Co “ Carmen Caianum” was sung, the words of which wi written by the President, Rev. B. H. Drury, and set stirring music by Mr. C. Wood. An extra verse co memorative of Harvey and Glisson, also once a memb the College, was introduced into the song for this occasion. Dr. Clifford Allbutt (Regius Professor of Physic) pro- posed the toast of “ The Guests,” and in doing so read ; letter which had been received from the rector of Padua University, in which he expressed the pride of that Univer- sity at having been the place where William Ha do pursued his studies. Dr. Allbutt also referred to the sense of loss which was felt by all present at the death of Sir George Paget, who would, had he lived, have br the man of all others upon whom it would have b fitting that the duty of taking an important part in tl celebration should have fallen. ; Sir Andrew Clark responded, and said he desi the name of his more distinguished fellow guests to giv them his grateful thanks for permitting them to be p that evening. . Prof. Gairdner next proposed “ The University,” said that the toast needed nothing on his part to mend it. He could not conceive a greater eul upon the University of Cambridge than that it conta such magnificent representatives of ancient learnin their Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Peile; and at the same eminent representatives of what he would venture to call the modern scientific method as the Professor of Medli- cine, Dr. Clifford Allbutt and of Physiology, Prof. Michae Foster. The University was an institution founded up all that was best in human learning and in human expe ments, and it will go onand prosper to the end of time. Fi proposed the health of the University and coupled the name of their distinguished Vice-Chancellor, Dr. The Vice-Chancellor, in returning thanks, all the great development of studies and of buildings in th University during the past thirty years. He was sorry to say that their rapid development had almost caused alarm in certain most important quarters. He read other day one of the leading newspapers of Eng which called attention to their unsatisfied spirit of | vation. He thought that that must have referen some of their most recent developments of the engi ing tripos. Yet surely it might have occurred to any on that the sciences of engineering were most closely ci nected with the study of mathematics, which was thei chief glory in Cambridge. Possibly, also, it had re ence to the development of agricultural science. W agricultural science was a very excellent thing. It seeme to him that, after all, some of the greatest discoveries science had been made, not merely by students or by — lecturers, but by men who had been carrying on profes- i sional work and working purely with mercantile aims. — The duty of the University, he took it, was to apes those studies as well as others. But there wou always be a problem before them. At present the prob lem would raise the very, very old story—the limite means of the University. The problem was how far j JuNE 29, 1893] NATURE 201 & ey they encourage new studies, which could never r those who were following them to any great pecuniary ‘rewards, although they might lead them to the rewards of learning. He thought that was a _ great problem. ‘This year they had an examination in Oriental lan- guages. There was one candidate for it; they had four examiners, and the cost of that examination, he supposed, was £50 or £60 to the University, which was perfectly right. It was just those studies which could not pay their way, which could never be supported without the help of endowments. He did not think the problem was so serious as it might seem at first. Two years ago, when his predecessor, Dr. Butler, resigned his office, he pointed out some of the needs of the University. Dr. Butler’s clear and lucid statement brought forth one magnificent gift and nothing more. He (the speaker) in his turn, in the first year of his office, sent forth “a bitter cry” of the needs of the University. Yet that bitter cry brought forth nothing. Did it seem possible that after all a general cry might not be specially efficacious, while a request for special help might serve for | acry? He was happy to say that this seemed at last to solve the problem of how they could develop the newer _ studies with the help of those outside who were willing to support them. The engineering school had, by the labours of Prof. Ewing and Mr. Horace Darwin, received money, which he hoped would carry it on sufficiently. He be- lieved so ancient an institution as the Observatory of Cambridge was going to ask for a new telescope to carry on its work. That being so, it seemed that partially at least the problem was solved. The problem concerning agricultural science had been solved by the liberal aid of the County Councils. Those bodies had come to their aid in the most generous manner, and given them enough to carry on their work for at least some years. He hoped, as he said before, they would see their way, not merely to maintain and develop those old institutions which had been from all times the glory of Cambridge, but also to carry on those newer studies and newer de- velopments which would keep them in touch with the nation, and make them remembered for all times, and which, whatever developments might arise elsewhere, would make Cambridge one of our greatest centres of educational life. In proposing the “ Healthof the Masterand Fellows,” the Right Hon. T. H. Huxley, who was enthusiastically re- ceived, said he was charged with a very pleasant duty, and one whichcouldbe happily performed without either gifts of eloquence or even those of voice, in which unhappily he was at present sadly deficient, and he would not be withdrawn from the simple discharge of that duty by the invitation which had been addressed to him by a previous speaker to enter upon the field of controversy. In proper time and place he imagined that he could hardly be said to have _ shown any unwillingness for the discussion of contro- _ yerted questions, but in his judgment they were extremely inappropriate and out of place in a meeting of that kind, and he desired absolutely to abstain from that, and to confine himself to the business in hand, which was of a far more pleasant, and, he ventured to think, more profit- able nature: it was to propose to them the health of the Master and Fellows of that College. All those who were present would understand the gratitude which they all felt for the generous and gracious hospitality which they had shown to them on that occasion, but it was a traditional hospitality, and it went back to the time when that important corporation, of which they were the sent representatives, extended their hospitality to William Harvey, whose name and fame they were met to celebrate. He did not know whether the Master and _ Fellows of that time were aware of what they were doing _ in training and disciplining that young man—boy, indeed, _to them—to make the best use of the faculties with which ~~ -NO. 1235, VOL. 48] he was endowed, but he thought it lay to their credit that, from that time to this, the hospitality which they extended to science—to biological science especially, and to that branch of it which was called the science of medicine very particularly—that that had been. continued with unbroken openness and readiness. It was for that reason, he thought, that the large proportion of persons present in that room who were devoted to scientific studies would with the greatest possible cordiality drink the toast which he had to propose. For in this matter Gonville and Caius College occupied a position as isolated as it was honourable. He was aware that the studies of biological sciences, and more especially those which had relation to medicine, could not be cleared of the accusation then made against them of utility to mankind. He admitted to the full the charge that was made against those studies, but the present showed, and the future would show more strongly, that quite apart from the bearing of direct utility, it must be regarded as a happy instinct, if not as a purpose of intelligence, which had led that College for these 300 years to cherish and to promote those studies. It was on that ground they who were so deeply interested in its pursuits felt that they owed a debt of gratitude to the College, and he knew of no reason, except the fact that he once took an active part in those biological matters, which had led to his selection as proposer of the health of the College to them on that occasion. Sir James Paget had fully and exhaustively told them, in that admirable language which he had always at com- mand, the great claims of Harvey upon their respect and veneration. He had justly told them that Harvey regarded himself, not merely as a discoverer, but as a propounder and champion of a new method. Dr. Venn was good enough to tell him before the dinner of a fact of which he (the speaker) was entirely ignorant : that before Harvey’s time that College possessed what was called an ‘‘ anatomer,” a gentleman whose duties ap- peared to have been to dissect bodies, which were given over to him and others, to give the students of the College a practical contact with the nature of things. It wasinthatre- spect that modern science differed from ancient science; it was in that respect that Harvey was essentially modern. It was therefore to the wise provision of the founders of that College that they owed the beginning of that movement commenced in this country by Gilbert, followed up in Italy by Galileo, followed up conscientiously here by Harvey himself, which had led to the great modern de- velopment of scientific culture. They trusted that the hospitality which had hitherto been extended by that College to purely scientific investigations would be con- tinued upon the lines laid down by Harvey. It might be that Harveys existed among them now, and the only thing they had to hope for, and to wish for was, that those Harveys of the future might not be compelled, as the Harvey of the past, to obtain a higher scientific training by going to the University at Padua. They hoped that in this University men would have the opportunity of obtaining the highest scientific culture which was to be given. That he understood was the object and purpose and desire of the Master and Fellows of that College, in inviting persons like himself to take part in that great celebration ; he presumed they wished them to under- stand that they recognised Science as a fundamental branch of human culture, and that they would do what in them lay to promote that happy commemoration to which he ventured to allude. The toast was drunk with enthusiasm. The Master briefly returned thanks, and stated that it had given them very sincere pleasure to entertain so illustrious an assembly, and expressed his deep regret that Sir George Paget was not with them. The Rev. B. H. Drury proposed the health of the younger members of the College, saying that they were 202 NATURE [June 29, 189, the life-blood of their College to-day, the source of their vitality, without whom they would have really little cause for existence. Mr. Keeble, Natural Science Scholar of the College, made a short and graceful reply. At the conclusion of dinner a move was made to the ‘Combination Room, where friendly and animated inter- course was kept up for some time, and it was late before the last of those engaged in the celebration separated for the night: Breakfast was provided the following morning from eight to ten for those resident in College overnight, and by midday the guests had departed, leaving the courts once more to solitude, and to their hosts a keen feeling of satisfaction at the honour done to the memory of William Harvey and to the College by the recent presence of so representative and distinguished a gathering of visitors. SOME POINTS IN THE PHYSICS OF GOLF! III. [XN Part I] of this paper (NATURE, Sept. 24, 1891) the “ The only way ... following statements were made ;:— of reconciling the results of calcul- ation with the observed data is to assume that, for some reason, the effects of gravity are at least partially counter- acted. This, in still air, can only be a rotation due to undercutting.” “ And, as a practical deduction from these principles, it would appear that, to secure the longest possible carry, the ball should be struck so as to take on considerable spin ———.” nas these statements, and some of their consequences, have been strenuously denied, I must once more show at least the nature of the evidence for them. ¥ : It depends, in one of its most telling forms, upon the contrast’ between the length of time a well-driven ball remains in the air (as if in defiance of gravity) and the comparatively paltry distance traversed. Every one who thinks at all on the subject must see that, without some species of support, the ball could not pursue for six seconds and a half a course of a mere 180 yards, nowhere more than 100 feet above the ground. ‘In fact, if we assume the initial slope of the path to be 1 in‘4, as determined for the average of fine drives by Mr. Hodge with his clinometer (NATURE, Aug. 28, 1890) the carry of a non-rotating ball will be approximately (in feet) AgT?, where g is the acceleration due to gravity, T the time of flight in seconds, and A a numerical quantity depending on the resistance. The value of A varies continuously between the limits, 2 for no resistance, and 1 for infinitely great resistance. [It is assumed that the resistance is as the square of the speed. ] This formula gives, with the average observed value of T (65, see Part II.) carries varying from about 900 down to 450 yards/ The initial speed required varies from 416 foot-seconds upwards. The longest actually measured carry of record, when there was no wind, is only 250 yards, Unfortunately, in that case T was not observed, but analogy shows that it was probably much more than 7°. Even if we take it as 7° only, the “carry” ought to have been, by the formula (which is based on the absence of rotation), 522 yards at the very least! Lhave purposely, in this example, kept to the case of an initial slope of 1 in 4; because those (and they are many, some of them excellent golfers) who altogether reject the notion that undercutting lengthens the carry, would of course in consistency refuse to believe that a 1 Part of the substance of a paper on the Path of a Rotating Spherical Projectile, read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh on June 5. NO. 1235, VOL. 48] 7 long ball may sometimes start horizontally. But, tot who allow ¢hzs statement, the fact that the action gravity is occasionally largely interfered with, counteracted, is obvious without any numerical tions. In fact, from my present point of vi slope is of little importance :—except, of avoiding hazards. The want of it is easily m by a slightly increased rate of spin. P Another way of looking at the matter is to from Mr. Hodge’s data, 180 yards as a really fine. ce and thence to calculate by the formula the requisit of flight. It varies from 4°"I to 2°99 according a: sistance, and therefore the necessary initial : gradually increased ; the former from w7/ to infinil latter from 132 foot-seconds upwards. Thus the time exceeds that which is really required when no spin, by 6oper cent. at the very least! The necessity for underspin being thus dem onstra we have next to consider how its effect is to be intro in our equations. On this question I expressed what too despondent opinion in the previous par paper. A rather perilous mode of argument (w have since been able to make much more conclus suggested to me that the deflecting force, which i: pendicular at once to the line of flight and to the axi rotation, must be at least approximately propo: the speed and the angular velocity conjointly. tried (with some success) to verify this assumpti various experimental processes. These, as will led also to a numerical estimate of the magnitu deflecting force. [And I was greatly encour, work by the opinion of Sir G. G. Stokes, who wri think your suggestion of the law of resistance a able one, and likely to be approximately true.” quite as much as I could have hoped for.] First : by the well-known phenomena called toeing, and slicing, which are due to the ball’s about a vertical axis. I have often seen a well ball, after steadily skewing to the right through a 150 yards or even less, finally move at right angles initial direction, and retain very considerable spin. : it reached the ground. Neglecting the effects of the equations of the path should be, in such a casi s=- s as a o pe expressing the accelerations in the tangent, an the radius of curvature, respectively. If we in the inclination, #, of the tangent to a fixed line in plane of the path, the second equation becomes p = ko, sear showing tha: the time-rate of change of directi portional to the speed of rotation. The first gives, of course, ips. Asoo : $= Vera where V is the initial speed. "i The space-rate of change of direction, z.e, the c of the path,isthus ~~ de he REN hae increasing in the same proportion as that in whi speed of translation diminishes ; and, if we regard practically unaltered during the short time of flig intrinsic equation of the path is x Me (ei 1). A rough tracing from this equation is easily seen reproduce distinctly all the characteristics of the mot on JUNE 29, 1893] NATURE 203 _ of a sliced, or heeled, ball. And, by introducing an __ acceleration in the plane of the path, constant in magni- _ tude and direction, the path might be made to intersect _ itself repeatedly. ___Bythe statement made above as to the whole change _ of direction in the course of a well-sliced ball, and with 5° as the time of flight (for it, like the carry, is notably _ reduced by slicing) we have ; = F = = she. _ Thus it is clear that we may easily produce rotation _ enough in a golf-ball to make the value of £o as great as 03 oreveno'4. And this can, of course, be greatly in- creased when desired. This datum will be utilised later. The fact (noticed above) that the time of flight, and the carry, are both reduced by slicing, gives another illustra- tion of the necessity for underspin when the time of flight is to be long, and the carry far. Secondly : by a laboratory experiment which, I have only recently learned, is due in principle to Robins. (Az Account of Experiments relating to the Resistance of the Air. R.S. 1747.) Isuspended a wooden shell, turned 7 thin, by a fine iron wire rigidly fixed in it, the other end of the wire being similarly attached to the lower end of a vertical spindle which could be made to rotate at any desired rate by means of multiplying gear. Thin as was the wire, it was but slightly twisted in any of the ex- periments, so small was the moment of inertia of the wooden shell. The wire acted as a universal flexure joint ; and, by lengthening or shortening it I could make the ball’s mean speed, in small pendulum-oscillations, ‘vary within considerably wide limits. I verified this result by substituting for the shell a leaden pellet of equal * mass but of far smaller radius, as I feared that some part ' of the result might be due to stiffness of the wire, pro- duced by torsion. But with the pellet the rotation of the orbit was exceedingly slow. Thus w, and the average value of 5, could have any assigned values ; and from the elli,tic form and the rate of rotation of the orbit of the ball, the transverse force was found to be propor- tional to either of them while the other was kept constant. An exceedingly interesting class-illustration can be given by making the ball revolve as a conical pendulum, and while it is doing so giving it spin alternately with, and Opposite to, the direction of revolution. The effects on the dimensions of the orbit and on the periodic time are beautifully shown. This form of experiment could be easily applied to considerable speeds, both of the transla- _tion and of rotation, if the use of a proper hall could be secured. But it cannot be made strictly comparable with the case of a golf-ball; as the speed of translation can never much exceed that for which the resistance is _asits first power only. [Robins’ suspension was bifilar, and the rotation he gave depended more on the twisting of the _ two strings together than on thetorsion of either. In this mode of arrangement it is difficult to measure the rate of _Spinning of the bob, and almost impossible to vary it at pleasure. ] We must next say a few words as to the manner in which the spin, thus Zroved to have so much influence on the length of the carry, is usually given. I pointed out, in the earliest article I wrote on the subject, “The Unwritten Chapter on Golf” (Scotsman, Aug. 31, or NATURE, Sept. 22, 1887), that spin is necessarily pro- duced when ¢he direction of motion of the club-head, as it strikes the ball, zs not precisely perpendicular to the Jace. Now, even when the head is not purposely laid a little back in addressing the ball, (many of the longest __ drivers do this without asking Why) it must always become _ So in the act of striking if the player stand ever so little | _ behind the ball :—-especially if, as Mr. Hutchinson so _ Strongly urges upon him, he makes the path of the head | a striking as nearly straight as possible. Mr. Hutchinson _Bives a highly specious, but altogether fanciful, reason i NO. 1235, VOL. 48] | for this advice. We now see why the suggestion isa really valuable one. A “ grassed” club, and especially.a spoon, gives this result. more directly. As soon as I recognised this, I saw that it furnished an explanation of a fact which had long puzzled me :—viz. that one of my friends used invariably to call for his skort spoon when he had to carry a bunker, so distant that it appeared im- possible of negotiation by anything but a_ play-club. And, if the ball be hit ever-so little under the level of its. centre, with the upper edge of the face;.very rapid under- spin may be produced. This was probably at least one of the objects aimed at (however unwittingly) by the best club makers of last generation, for they made the faces of drivers exception lly narrow. Some time ago I proposed, with the same object in view, to bevel the face by deeply rasp- ing off both its upper and lower edges : thus in addition saving the necessity for the “bone.’’ I have neither leisure nor inclination to attempt (for the present at least) more than a first approximation to the form of the path under the conditions just pointed out. Anything further would involve a laborious process of quadratures, mechanical or numerical, only to be justified by the command of really accurate data as to the values of a and V. I shall therefore at once assume that neither gravity nor the spin affects the translatory speed’ of the ball. (If the spin have such an effect, it will be taken account of sufficiently by a slight change in the constant of resistance ; and the effect of gravity on a low trajectory is mainly to produce curvature which, in this. case, is to a great extent counteracted by the spin. It is easy to see that the effects of this ignoration of gravity, in the tangential equation of motion, are to make the path rise a little too slowly at first, then too fast; to make it rise too high, and descend at too small a slope.) Hence we may keep the first equation of motion above, and write the second as p=k—£ eee where ¢ is reckoned positive in the ascending part of the path ; and £ is written for Za, its dimensions being those of angular velocity. With the help of the value of 5, above, this becomes Thus the x coérdinate of the point of contrary flexure is found from the path is con- so that there must be such a point, Ze. : so little greater cave upwards at starting, if £V be ever than g. | Again Fi a d ha, = geo, = wae + yh -1I)- sya les - 1) where ¢ is the initial slope: vertex is found by putting yy = 0. ax Finally, the approximate equation of the path is 2 Bye ad yoens (a1 2)- Mes - To deal expeditiously with these equations I formed a table of values of the various factors in brackets, by the help of Glaisher’s data of natural antilogarithms (Camé,. Phit. Trans. xiii, 243). Next, I utilized in the equation The x céordinate of the Vi=a(ea—1) 204 NATURE | JUNE 29, 1893 the well ascertained data 6*'5 for the time of flight, and 540 feet for the carry, thus obtaining a general expression for V in terms of a. Then, in consequence of the want of accurate data, I chose three values of a, one considerably less than, the second nearly equal to, and the third con- siderably greater than, that which results from Bashforth’s experiments with iron spheres. Thus I found the follow- ing values :— a Vv 180 528 270 265°4 360 193. | considerable. fault. I regret this for the additional reason that I shoul have liked to add an illustration of an extremely exag ated path in which ¢is (say) zero, and # unity at thelea Under conditions of this kind there might be kinks int path! For a similar reason I cannot attempt to wor out the effect of wind with any attempt at precision, least in the case when the drive is against the wind the upward concavity of the path becomes in con quence much more prominent. It is easy in every to form the more exact equations, but the labour treating them even to a rough approximation would Next, with each pair of these numbers, and with the successive values },$,ando for e,I found & from the condition that y = o for x = 540. These values of & are of course greater as @ is less, and also as a is less. But all are found to lie between the limits derived, above, from the data for a sliced ball. All the constants being thus found, the curves were easily traced by a few points :-—and the position of the maximum ordinate was found as above. For contrast, I have put in (dotted) the paths of drives corresponding in all respects with the others, except the absence of rotation. Poorly as these show, they are probably unduly favoured at the expense of the others, as I have taken @ the same for each of the group; though it is probably reduced by the spin, so that rotation increases the direct resistance. The comparison of these with those in which rotation has a share shows that, though strength and agility are un- doubtedly of importance in long-driving, even a store of these qualities equalling in amount that of a full-sized tiger is comparatively inefficient as against the skill which imparts a sound undercut. For here, as elsewhere, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Craft beats Kraft all the world over! La Puissance ! ce n’est pas frapper fort, mais frapper juste ! From the very nature of the process I used in approximating, none of these curves can be quite trust- worthy, those giving the greater elevations being most at NO. 1235, VOL. 48] Iam engaged at present in endeavours to find som thing like a proper value of a, or of V, above; so as have reasonable confidence in my data before I eng in what promises to be a heavy task. Of course, if can obtain a satisfactory value of one of them, that of the other would follow. But independent determi tions of both would enable me to subject the Here | the most complete test imaginable. I am inclined think that the value of @ (280 feet), which I calculat from Bashforth’s data, is too large (¢.e. it makes the r sistance too small) for a golf-ball :—and thus that true path is intermediate in form between those of first and of the second series in the cut. For the ini speeds required, even with a = 270, to give a carry 540 feet without spin, are 462 and 653 foot-seconds slopes of 1 in 4 and 1 in 8 respectively :—the co sponding times of flight being only 3°°7 and 26. P. G. TAI . a t] ue NOTES. WE are glad to record that the Council of the Imperi University of Kasan has elected Prof. J. J. Sylvester honorat member of the University. THE Albert Medal of the Society of Arts for the present yea i has been awarded to Sir John Bennet Lawes and a like m : 4 June 29, 1893] NATURE 205 bier Mr. John Henry Gilbert ‘‘ for their joint services to scientific griculture, and notably for the researches which throughout a eriod of fifty years have been carried on by them’ at the ex- erimental farm, Rothamsted.” _ Pror. W. H. Pickerine, the Director of the Harvard College Mountain Observatory at Arequipa, is expected to be in London in the course of a few days. F _ THE distribution of prizes to the students of Charing Cross © Hospital Medical School will take place at the School on July 4, i at three o’clock precisely. The Right Hon. the Baron de Worms, " M.P., F.R.S., will occupy the chair. _ Tue Dental Hospital of London will hold a conversaztone at the Royal Institute Galleries, Piccadilly, on July 14. There will be a distribution of prizes at 8.30 p.m. by Prof. Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S. _ ACCORDING to Dalziel’s agency, a cyclone passed over _ Williamstown and its immediate vicinity on June 21. Its path __was six miles long by half a mile wide, and in this track not a _ house, barn, or tree was left standing. The wind-rush was _ followed by a terrific downpour of rain. About twenty persons _ lost their lives. Dr. NANSEN and the members of his expedition to the North - Pole sailed from Christiania on Saturday, and arrived at Laurvig on the following day. After taking on board two covered boats, to be used in case the members of the expedition are compelled to leave the “yam in the ice, the vessel pro- ceeded on her voyage. Reuter says that intelligence has been received from Siberia that twenty-six dogs, for service with the expedition, have been brought down to the mouth of the River _Olensk. Parties have been sent out to leave stores of provi- sions for twelve men at two places on the islands of Kotelnoi and Liakow. These depots will be inspected in 1894 and 1895. Sealers report that the sea around these islands was quite open in 1888, 1889, and 1890, while in 1891 and 1892 there was little ice in the vicinity. INFORMATION with regard to the social, physical, and mental ~ condition of children is being accumulated by the committee ap- "pointed by the International Congress of Hygiene and Demo- graphy. Nearly 30,000 children, chiefly in London Board Schools, have been inspected, and important facts have been obtained as to the variation of educational requirements of boys and girls, and the causes of low mental development. It is desired to extend the inquiry among 100,000 children before submitting the statistics toa complete investigation. For this purpose Sir D ovglas Galton, writing from the Parkes Museum, has made an appeal for financial help. The deep importance of the work is fully understood by educationalists, hence there should be no difficulty in obtaining sufficient funds to render the investigation _ as comprehensive as possible. ns A SPECIAL general meeting of the Royal Geographical Society will be held on July 3 in the hall of the University of London, _ Burlington Gardens, to consider the proposal that ladies should be admitted as ordinary Fellows. On the evening of the same day the Earl of Dunmore will give a paper on his ‘ Journeys ‘in the Pamirs and Central Asia.” Dr. ‘M. Masius, of Heidelberg, has been appointed ' or of the Botanic Gardens at Frankfort-a-M., and Dr. F, Director of the Botanic Garden at Breslau. ‘Tue French Academy has awarded the -Prix Desmaziéres M. P. Viala, for his researches on viticulture ; the Prix tagne to M. l’Abbé Hue, for his work in lichenology ; and > wo. 1235, VOL. 48] the Prix de la Fons Mélicocq to M. Maseleff, for his work on the Botanical Geography of the north of France. SOME interesting scientific documents changed hands at the sale this week of the library of the late Lord Brabourne. Among the lots was a quantity of the correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, to whom Sir Edward Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne’s father, was executor. An interesting autograph letter from John Hunter, dated 1792, appears to be one cover- ing the despatch to the Royal Society of his paper on the natural history of the common bee. He hopes Sir Joseph and his worthy council will think the results of twenty years of observation and experiment suitable for publication in the transactions, and details some of the obstacles which had pre- vented an earlier forwarding of the paper. About 1830 the Royal Society claimed and received from Sir Edward Knatch- bull the letters and papers of Sir Joseph Banks, referring to the society over which he so long presided, but evidently this par- ticular letter was overlooked. A document, apparently in the handwriting of Duhamel du Monceau, is an appeal to Sir Joseph on behalf of Dolomieu, the French mineralogist, imprisoned at Messina, by order of.the Neapolitan Court, as he was returning to Europe from serving on the scientific staff which accompanied Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt. It is signed by thirty-nine ‘| famous men of science of the time, including Cuvier, Lamarck, Laplace and Lalande. THE weather during the past week has been of a decidedly unsettled type. On Thursday, the 22nd inst., a depression advanced over Scotland and moved slowly to the North Sea and Norway, causing some rain over most parts of these islands; in the north-east of Scotland the fall amounted to 2‘2 inches in forty-eight hours, and a moderate gale blew from the north- west on our northern coasts. During the early part of the pre- sent week important depressions advanced over the western parts of the country from off the Atlantic, causing exceptionally heavy rain in the south of Ireland, the fall at Roche’s Point on Tuesday morning registering 1°1 inch, while the amount was very considerable in many other parts of the kingdom. During the first part of the period the temperature was from 25° to 30° lower than in the previous week ; the maxima rarely reached 70° in any part of the country, while in the north the highest daily readings were frequently below 60°, but on Tuesday the temperature rose considerably in most parts, and reached 80° at Cambridge. The Weekly Weather Report of the 24th inst. showed that the rainfall exceeded the mean in the east of Scotland only. Bright sunshine was above the average in Ireland and the greater part of England; the percentage of possible duration amounted to 77 in the Channel Islands. Mr. W. H. Preece, F.R.S., in giving evidence before the joint committee of Lords and Commons on Electric Powers Protective Clauses, is reported to have shown a series of dia- grams illustrating the effect upon the earth of the City and South London Electric Railway. That railway did not designedly use the earth, but the return circuit was made by means of the rails, and also by the tubes or tunnels. Currents were produced which had disturbed the observing instruments at Greenwich, and which had been traced as far as North Walsham, in Norfolk, Last year the disturbances began to increase, and his attention was called to the fact that in Clapham Road there was a chemist who had in his shop window an instrument for recording the passing movement of every train on the electric railway, the instrument being connected on one side with gas-pipes, and on the other with water-pipes in the house. He had caused the currents to be measured, and they were found to be sufficient to light a lamp or, as he had proved, to ring one of the division bells of the House of Commons. Another difficulty had occurred j connection with the railway block system. Some years ago 206 NATURE [JUNE 29, 189 the London and North-Western Railway lighted Holyhead Harbour by electricity. The effect of the five arc-lamps em- ployed was to break down the block signals in the district - within a mile. But the difficulty was removed by supplying _ metallic circuits to the signals. At Blackpool the disturbing currents from the electric tramway had lowered a block-signal on the railway and fired a time gun at the same moment, a _ minute or so before the time when the gun ought to have been discharged. In the recently published number of the Proceedings of the | Société Francaise de Physique there is an account of a standard condenser formed by two plates of silvered glass separated by three blocks of quartz accurately worked to the same thickness. The instrument almost exactly realises a theoretical condenser, as the central part is only separated from the guard-ring by a narrow line along which the silver has been removed. The only disadvantage is that the insulation is rather bad, and when the air is not perfectly dry there is a small current between the central disc and the guard-ring. To get over this difficulty the author (M. P. Curie) joins the electrometer to the contin uous plate of the condenser, charges the central disc of the other plate with the battery, and connects the guard-ring with the earth. Under these conditions the field of force between the plates is no longer uniform, but the charge of the condenser is the same as in the ordinary arrangement. With this arrange- ment the insulation is all that can be desired, as the quartz blocks are very good insulators, and little affected ye moisture in the air. A SIMILAR condenser to that described above has been em- ployed by M. Abraham in his determination of the ratio between the electromagnetic and electrostatic units (see Proceedings of "Société de Physique, p. 332, 18y3). The method employed for measuring the distance between the plates is as follows. In front of the space between the plates a finely-divided glass scale is placed with its plane perpendicular, and the lines of the graduations parallel to the plates. The silvered plates consti- tute excellent mirrors, and give a series of images of the divisions of the scale, the distances between which were measured by means of a microscope. This method gives the mean distance between the plates, which was found to vary each time the instrument was set up, and to differ slightly from the length of the quartz blocks employed to separate the plates. THE photographic study of sources of light by means of a carefully graduated series of exposures was first applied with great success by M. Janssen to, the investigation of the minute structure of the solar surface. M. Crova has applied a similar method to the study of the carcel standard and the electric arc. A contrast between the various parts of the magnified photo- graphic image of the carcel flame does not appear until the ex- posure is reduced to the minimum necessary to secure an impression, and to bring out this contrast the negative must be developed slowly and subsequently intensified. Four photo- graphs thus obtained were exhibited at a recent meeting of the French Academy. The axis of the flame appears dark, and the zone of combustion exhibits two bright lines representing the external and internal surfaces of combustion “of the hydro- carbons, with a dark line between them corresponding to the space where combustion is incomplete. Photographs of the flames of a candle, an amyl-acetate burner, and a bat’s- wing gas jet were also exhibited, showing analogous phenomena. ‘The same method applied to the arc light yielded some interesting results. As the time of exposure was reduced the arc gradually vanished, the negative carbon was reduced to a very small sur- face, and the positive carbon exhibited a surface riddled with NO. 1235, VOL. 48] tion consists in the cessation of the flow and the drying uy dark spots, and granulated like the surface of the sun Janssen’s photographs. These granulations could be violent motion on the ground glass screen of a camera ¥ lens sufficiently stopped down: It follows; that it is not sible to screen off all but a very small portion of the source in order to reduce the amount of light in. the se portion as the area of luminous surface. With very face elements both the amount of light and the temp hence also the tint of the light, may be constantly chai “HERR VON Lupin, of Munich, has recently called to two thermometer liquids as free from certain drawba the spirit thermometer. One of these is. sulphuric acid di with water. According to experiments by Sohncke, the: qu tity of water removed by distillation in the thermomet was a minimum even when the free end was surrou ice ; and (what is still more important) in a short time small quantity was reabsorbed. The, expansion of the liqu approximately constant. In a recent expedition by Herr V to Central Brazil these minimum thermometers were used, ¢ found to’act very well. The other liquid referred tois chlo calcium in spirit (10 to 15 per cent. of the anhydrous sa best). This is specially recommended for medical use, bec its pronounced colour enables it to be more easily read than the mercury thermometer. Here, too, there is no lation-error. A further advantage is that the thermometer! the body-temperature very quickly (in about three . The regularity of expansion between 0° and 50° C.is good, t not in the same degree as with sulphuric acid ; and th Op tion of calcium chloride is here influential. The sol that of sulphuric acid, does not solidify even in the 2 cold of evaporating carbonic acid snow ; and with the tion of salt given, no salt is separated out inthe bulb, To the current number of the Zeitschrift fir hays Chemie Herr Altschul communicates from Prof, © t laboratory a series of observations on the critical died some fatty and aromatic hydrocarbons. Unlike most obser in this field the author thus deals with chemically ent stances which have a comparatively simple structure. — the ascent of a homologous series it appears that ash temperatures increase and the critical pressures decrease at which gradually diminish. Chemical constitution also d the magnitudes of the critical values, the three n xylenes, for example, have different constants. From vations the author deduces the values of (a) and (4) Waals’s equation, Guye’s critical coefficient, &e., and relationships between their magnitudes. ; as Is colour-blindness a product of civilisation? An it tion described in Sctence by Messrs. Blake and Franklin, P sical Laboratory, Kansas University, favours an affir answer to the question. Of 159,732 persons tested in and America, nearly four per cent. were found to b blind. But when the ordinary . Berlin worsteds test the colour perception of a number of Indians, rep many tribes, only 3 in 418, or 0'7 per cent., were. deficient. These were full-blooded Indians, and all x appears, therefore, that, as with civilised peoples, centage of cvlour-blind males’is greater than that of fer . se THE peculiar phenomenon. sometimes observed ne Wetter Lake in Sweden, and called by the natives J/ trims stadnande, the standing still of the Motala river, has: b the subject: of speculation ever since the times when it be regarded as a miracle and a portent. The Motal emerges from the Wetter Lake, and the phenomenon in qu r the, bed, ‘accompanied by a retention of water within the lake & ~! - Jone 29, 1893] NATURE. 207 ing to Block, this is due to a sudden sharp frost, which the river to the bottom at a shallow place without allow time for the formation of mere surface ice. It is probable strong east wind is a necessary condition, and that the tion of the water is aided by the reeds growing near the itflow of the lake. A collection of records of the occurrence s been made by Herr Robert Sieger in a paper on the oscil- ms of lake and ocean levels in Scandinavia, which appears the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde.. He finds six ‘ tions during the sixteenth, twelve during the seventeenth, ind eighteen in the eighteenth century. He does not, however, ink that the general level of the lake is wecatay influenced oe eo aeee “Two organisms resembling the cholera bacillus have re- ‘anty: been obtained by Bujwid from water during an outbreak af cholera (‘‘ Ueber zwei neue Arten von Spirillen im Wasser,” Ce Walt fiir Bakteriologie, vol. xiii. 1893, p. 120). are designated as Bacillus choleroides a and B in conse- "quence of their ‘striking resemblance to Koch’s cholera organ- m. It is quite possible, however, that these forms may really identical with the original cholera spirillum, and that the ‘differences noted in cultures and microscopic specimens may be ‘ ply due to the modifications undergone by the latter after “Tong | residence i in artificial culture media, Finkelnburg (‘* Zur Frage der Variabilitat der Cholera bacillen,” édéd, p. 113) has “made careful comparative studies of .cholera bacilli obtained from different centres during the recent cholera’ epidemic. He found that whereas those obtained from Paris and Hamburg “respectively were practically identical, they presented slight But distinct deviations from the laboratory specimen of Koch’s _ spirillum originally brought from India, Finkelnburg points out as the result of his investigations that in the course of the many ‘years during which this organism has been cultivated outside the human hody and in foreign surroundings, it has apparently undergone a gradual attenuation, and that in this process of degeneration it has lost some ofits vital energy. Whether it has also suffered a diminution in its toxic properties Finkeln- burg has not yet determined, but concludes by emphasising the tance of such an inquiry as calculated to throw some light = possible future attenuation of the virus during its residence in Europe. Mr. F.C. SELous, who has spent beets years in South Central Africa, has now completed the book in which he de- ‘Seribes his experiences in the country. Messrs: Rowland Ward dnd Co. will publish the work inthe autumn, ijite BOOK’ by Capt. Hayes on “ The Points of the Horse,” and dealing chiefly with equine conformation, will be ag PACE next month by Messrs. Thacker and Co. Tue trustees of the South African Maseuis have issued their ‘Feport for the year 1892, Mr: Roland ‘Trimen, F.R.S., the rof the museum, reports favourably of the condition of e collection generally. The donations amount to 4857 a presented by go donors, as “against 4677 speci- is presented by 105 donors in the year 1891. For a long me extended accommodation has been needed, and we are to note that the Parliament granted the application for a sum 20,000 to satisfy the want. Designs for the new museum jing have been invited, and the work will be proceeded soon as possible. 7 THE proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Anti- Wu n Field Club, No. 4, contains an article by the Rev. H Winwood, on some deep-well borings made in Somerset and Ce two other counties. A description is given of the thick- d nature of the beds pierced in each case. NO. 1235. von, 48] ; | THE second part of ‘‘ Phycological Memoirs,” being researches made in the botanical department of the British Museum, con- | tains, among other papers, several notes on the morphology of | the Fucaceze, Mr. George Murray contributes a comparison of ‘the marine floras of the warm Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the Cape of Good Hope. A sertes of monographs dealing with the principal gold fields of Victoria are being prepared under the direction of Mr. A. W. Howitt, the Secretary for Mines. A report by Mr. E. J. Dunn, on the Bendigo gold-fields, forms one’of the number, According to Mr. D.inn, the primary features of this gold-field are that the mass of silurian strata which he investigated is made up of bands auriferous to varying degrees or barren of gold, and that the whole of the strata are bent along certain lines into anticlinal folds with intervening synclinals. The report is illustrated by numerous plans, séctions, and diagrams. THE Scientific Society of the University College of Wales has issued its first report. Natural history specimens collected during the excursions have been identified, and the results recorded in the report furnish some useful information with regard to Welsh fauna and flora. Ar the meeting of the Russian Chemical Society on March 16 K. D. Khroushchoff, who is well known for his remarkable synthesis of hornblende and other minerals, made a commini- cation to the effect that he also has obtained artificial diamonds . ina way similar to that of Moissan. He prepared a carbonide of silver, Ag,C, obtained by the heating of cuminate of silver. At’ the temperature of boiling, silver absorbs about six per cent, of carbon, which is given out on cooling. Cooling was effected rapidly, as by Moissan, so that a crast was formed which pre- vented the increase of volume of the metal, and produced a con- siderable interior pressure. It appeared that part of the dis-' sociated carbon had the properties of diamoni—the dust con- sisting of minute broken crystals and laminze, colourless and transparent, strongly refracting light, quite isotropic, and scratching corundum ; on combustion they give carbon dioxide, with an insignificant amount of ash. Diamond dust obtained in this way was shown to Prof. Beketoff the day after Moissan’s communication had been received at St. Petersburg. ° _ FURTHER interesting experiments with the electric furnace are described by M. Moissan in the current number of the Comptes Rendus. By attaching to the furnace a condensing tube of copper shaped like the letter U, and so’ constructed as to be surrounded by an outer jacket of cold water constantly changing under high pressure, M. Moissan has been enabled to distil ‘and condense most of the elements which have hitherto been found so refractory. When a piece of metallic copper weighing over a hundred grams was placed in the inner cracible of the furnace and subjected to the arc furnished by a current of 350 ampéres, brilliant flames shot forth from the apertures through which the carbon-terminals were inserted.. The flames were accompanied by copious yellow fumes, due to the com- bustion of the issuing vapour of copper in contact with the oxygen of the air. After the expiration Of five minutes nearly thirty grams of copper had been volatilised. Under the cover of the furnace an annular deposit of globules of métallic copper was found, and upon examination of the condensing tube a large proportion of the volatilised copper was discovered condenséd in almost a pure state. It has long been known that silver is volatile ; it is now found that at the temperature of an are of the above description silver may be brought to full ebullition in a few moments, and it distils with ease, condensing in the copper condenser in the form of smali globules, whose size varies from that of small shot to spherules of microscopic dimensions, and a certain proportion is usually deposited in the form of arbores: 208 NATURE cent fragments. Platinum fuses in a few minutes, and very soon after commences to volatilise, and condenses in the U-tube in brilliant little spheres and fine dust. Aluminium distils very readily, and condenses in the form of a grey powder, containing admixed spherules exhibiting brilliant metalliclustre. Tin like- wise distils with facility, and the condensed product usually contains a considerable proportion of a curious fibrous variety of the metal. The distillation of gold in the electric furnace is particularly interesting. Abundant fumes of a light yellowish green colour are emitted at the electrode apertures, and the metal is deposited in the condenser in the form of a powder, exhibiting a beautiful purple sheen. The powder consists of minute regular spheres which, when examined under the micro- scope, appear to reflect the usual yellow colour of gold. Upon the under side of the cover of the furnace three distinct annular deposits are observed, the inner one consisting of yellow globules of considerable size, round which is a metallic deposit of smaller spheres of such a size as to reflect a bright red tint, and outside this is an annular sublimate of a deep purple colour. Man- ganese is remarkably volatile ; a quantity of the metal weighing four hundred grams entirely volatilised in ten minutes. Iron is likewise readily distilled, and is deposited in the form of a grey powder, among which are interspersed numerous small particles exhibiting brilliant surfaces. Nor only are the metals capable of distillation at the tem. perature of the electric arc, Silicon rapidly volatilises and condenses in the copper condensing tube in minute spheres and dust. Carbon becomes almost immediately converted to graphite, which distils over into the condenser and deposits in the form of light semi-transparent plates, which by transmitted light exhibit a beautiful chestnut colour. Distilled carbon would thus appear to consist of the fourth variety of the element recently described by M. Berthelot. The refractory alkaline earths appear also to be capable of distillation in the electric furnace. The experiment succeeds best, however, with a more powerful arc. Employing an arc furnished by a current of a thousand amperes, M. Moissan has distilled one hundred grams of lime in five minutes, the vapour condensing in the copper tube like fine flour. Magnesia passes over somewhat more slowly than lime, but its distillation is one of the prettiest of these remarkable experiments, the tints assumed by the escaping fumes and the brilliance of the incandescent vapour being particularly striking. Notes from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—The following list completes the summary begun last week of the records given during the last six months of the breeding seasons of marine animals at Plymouth. branchs Littorins Jlittoralis, Nussa reticulata, Buccinum (un- datum), Purpura (lapillus), Murex erinaceus and Capuius hungaricus, the Opisthobranchs Lamellaria perspicua, Aplysia punctata, Philine aperta, many Nadibranchs, and the Cephalo- pod Loliga media ; among Crustacea, the Clalocera Podon and Evadne, various Cirripedia, the Leptostracan Wealia bipes, several Amphipoda, the Schizopoda Siriedla yaltensis, Lepto- mysis mediterran:a, Macromysis flexuosa and inermii, Schisto- mysis arenosa, the Cumacean Pseudocuma cercaria, the Macrura Crangon (vulgaris), fasciatus and sculptus, Palemon (serratus), Palemonetes varians, Pandilus annulicornis and brevirostris, Hippolyte Cranchii, Virbius varians, Pagurus levis and Bern- hardus, Galathea squamifera, the Brachyura Porcellana longi- cornis and platycheles, Carcinus (m@enas), Psrtunus depuritor, holsatus, arcuatus, marmoreus and pusillus, Cancer (paz,urus), Pilumnus hirtellus, Xantho floridus and rivulosus, Lurynome (aspera), Stenorhynchus phalangium and tenuirostris ; among Echinodermata, Zchinus miliaris, Asterina gibbosa, and Amphiura elegans; among Tunicata, Botryllus violaceus and Styclopsis grossularia ; and among Cephalochordata, Amphioxus NO. 1235, VOL. 48] Among Mollusca, the Proso- | lanceolatus, have been recorded. It should also be m that the following larvee have been townetted in large at certain periods:— Veligers, Cyphonantes, Nau Zoee@, and the various larvee of Echinoderms. : THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens d past week include two Mozambique Monkeys ( pygerythrus, 6 &) from East Africa, presented respec Mr. J. B. Tomkins and Mr. B, J. Travers; two | (Lama peruana,$@) from Peru, presented by Lady F.Z.S. ;.a Rose-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluce Moluccas, presented by Mrs. Bason ; a Greater § crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) from Australia, p by Mr. Lewis Baily ; a Cinereous Waxbill (Zstrelda cens), two Hooded Finches (Spermestes cucullata), a Weaver Bird (Zuflectes oryx) from West Africa, an Ams Finch (Zstrelda amandava), two Nutmeg Finches ( punctularia), a Black-headed Finch (Munia malacca) India, presented by Mr. W. L. Jeffrey ; two Greater t Woodpeckers (Dendrocapus major) British, presented by M Miriam A. Birch Reynardson ; two Alexandrine P (Paleornis alexandri) from India, presented by Mr. Wyn Gibbs ; two Brazilian Tortoises ( Zéstudo tabulata) from “ dad, W.I., presented by Mr. J. S. Toppin; an Oce Skink (Seps ocellatus) from Malta, presented by Col. C. | Rooke ; two Infernal Snakes (Boodon infernalis jv.) fre South Africa, presented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.§ two Emus (Dromeus nove-hollandie) from Australia, posited ; two Collared Fruit Bats (Cynonycteris collaris Burrhel Wild Sheep (Ovis burrheZ), born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Comer Finiay (1886 VII.).—The ephemeris for this for this week is as follows :— 12h, Paris. M.T. R.A. (app.) 1293. h. m. s. June 29 : 2 52 20 sag 30 it 257 5 aS July 1 wa 3 i AUAWD y fe} > iS) Seuins a9 eRe STARS HAVING PECULIAR SPECTRA.—On an examinatio the stellar spectra photographs taken at Cambridge (U.S.; and Arequipa it has been found (Astronomy and Astropi for June) that several of them have spectra which qualil designation as ‘‘ interesting objects.” am The following list we take from the note referred to R.A. Decl. Designation 5190: SBod: Mag. Description. . ml ta B.D. +49°"4r + O12'2 we +4944 ++ O'4 oe Type IV. B.D: —13°893 ++ -4.24°5 we —1317 o 5°B ove F line bright. A.G.C. 5429 oe 4.43°B oer — 30 23 vee «.. Type IV. A.G.C. 11890 © 8 42"4 ve —29.2T ov IV. — oe I5 27'O we — JI 32 ve A.G.C. 22838 ss 16 47°9 «++ 44 50 + 82 « Z.C. XVIIL.B 56... 18 3°3 + —63 38 + A.G.C. 26129 « 18. 59°7 «+ —38 17 B.D. —21°°6376 s.. 23 6°3 «. —21 32 ++ 90 » Type! All these stars, it will be noticed, with the exception first two, have a large southerly declination. Photographic charts of the region about Z.C. XVIL have confirmed the variability of this star. Among other resull photographs of U Virginis, V Boétis, S Geminorum, TCs siopeiz, R Piscis Australis et Geminorum, show that the stars give bright hydrogen lines. be Tue SuN’s MoTION THROUGH SPACE.—The methods have generally been adopted for determining the direction the sun’s motion have been based on the same general pri June 29, 1893] NATURE 209 and the position of the apex of the direction of motion has been Teatcees by analysing the proper motions of the stars. A new _ determination on different lines (a spectroscopic method ) appears in the Astronomical Fournal (No. 298), and in this Mr. A. D. steen, the writer, bases his method on the three assumptions ) that the stars used in the computation have no tendency to in any particular direction ; (2) that their absolute veloci- : do not depend upon their apparent positions in the heavens ; . (3) that their absolute velocities are not functions of their own Sere Another minor assumption is that the absolute velocity of a star is not a function of the star’s brightness. The anes he gets for the right ascension and declination are given ‘in the following table, in which we include those of Bischoff, Ubaghs, L. Struve, and Stumpe. R.A. Decl. Bischoff 285°2 + 48°5 . Ubaghs 262°4 26°6 L. Struve iva 273°3 cy (i ey Stumpe 285'1 36°2 Risteen 218°0 450 The value Risteen obtains shows that the method may prove a very valuable one in future when more stars can be included (here about 42 observation-equations are used), and the result he obtains shows that at any rate the vea/ity of the sun’s motion (the value he gets is 10°9 English statute miles per second), and that our present knowledge of the direction of this motion is at any rate approximate. AN ASCENDING METEOR.—Prof. von Niessl has been investigating the path of the meteor that appeared on July 7, 1892, and was seen both in Austria and Italy. The result of this computation has shown that, undoubtedly, the path of the meteor at the /atter end of its course (Waturivissen- schaftliche Wochenschrift, No. 26) was directed upwards. The length of its path measured t1co kilometres from its nearest approach to the earth surface (68 kilometres above the surface) to the point where it disappeared, which was ata height of 158 kilometres. This is about the first time that the path ofa rising meteor has been so accurately investigated. THE SATELLITES OF JUPITER.—In this column for March 30 of this year we referred briefly to the very important results that were being reaped by Prof. W. H. Pickering, with the help of Mr, Douglas, at Arequipa, with reference to the peculiar forms which the satellites were found to assume at different periods of their rotation. In the June number of Astronomy and Astro- physics we have before usa much more detailed account of these and later observations, which seem to have confirmed those made previously in nearly allrespects. In this article, which is of some length, the author deals first with the third satellite, the largest and most easily observed of the group. The results of twelve series of observations, taken on seven different nights, each series consisting of six independent observations, gave the value of —10°'5 for the position angle of the major axis, the satellite being on the eastern side of its orbit, and presenting an elliptical disc. The observations for the elliptical phase at the western side were not very satisfactory, owing to bad meteoro- logical conditions, but the results suggested that “they would imply a revolution of the axis about the line perpendicular to there seems to be a marking having the appearance of a fork, Sometimes e that the two axis are inclined at between 46° to 35° to one nother, The attempt to determine the direction and period of otation indicated that perhaps the period of rotation coincided that of the revolution of the satellite in its orbit. The urface features on the first satellite consisted of the bands lying M an approximately north and south direction, that on the econd of a small patch detected only upon one occasion, and shat on the fourth of a broad band (sometimes a narrow line), ind also a bright spot recorded several times at the North Pole wndonce near the south, Later determinations of the period of pots on of the second satellite confirmed the earlier value (41h. 24 ), but sometimes ga wera in the time of the flattening of the disc still occurred. The direction and period of rotation NO. 1235, VOL. 48] of satellite 4 has not been determined, but its disc has been recorded upon fourteen different dates as being shortened in the direction of the plane ofits orbit, and upon eleven other days as being circular in form. After summing up the main facts with regard to these satel- lites respecting their small density, directions of rotation, changes of shape, &c., Prof. Pickering shows how Laplace’s ‘ring theory” with the following premises, suits the facts :— (I) Jupiter was formerly surrounded by a series of rings simi- lar to those now surrounding Saturn. (2) The direction of rotation of these rings was direct, like that of the planet. (3) By some force, whose cause is not explained, they were shattered, their components uniting, but still retaining the same orbit. (4) Like the original rings, each satellite still consists of a swarm of meteorites, their consolidation having been prevented by the enormous tides produced in them by their primary. At the conclusion of this discussion, in which Prof. Pickering takes each point individually, he has drawn up a syllabus re- garding the points to which an observer can be most profitably directed in the case of each satellite, subdividing them into grades according to the difficulty of the observations. TURACIN: A REMARKABLE ANIMAL PIG- MENT CONTAINING COPPER. ‘THE study of natural colouring matters is at once peculiarly fascinating and peculiarly difficult. The nature of the colouring matters in animals and plants, and even in some minerals (ruby, sapphire, emerald, and amethyst, for example) is still, in the majority of cases, not completely fathomed. Animal pigments are generally less easily extracted and are more complex than those of plants. They appear invariably to contain nitrogen—an observation in accord with the compara- tive richness in that element of animal cells and their contents. Then, too, much of the colouration of animals, being due to microscopic structure, and therefore having a mechanical and not a pigmentary origin, differs essentially from the colouration of plants. Those animal colours which are primarily due to structure do, however, involve the presence of a dark pigment —brown or black—which acts at once as a foil and as an ab- sorbent of those incident rays which are not reflected. Many spectroscopic examinations of animal pigments have been made. Except in the case of blood and bile pigments very few have been submitted to exhaustive chemical study. Spectral analysis, when uncontrolled by chemical, and when the influence of the solvent employed is not taken into account, is very likely to mislead the investigator. And, unfortunately, the non-crystalline character of many animal pigments, and the difficulty of purify- ing them by means of the formation of salts and of separations by the use of appropriate solvents, oppose serious obstacles to their elucidation. Of blood-red or hemoglobin it cannot be said that we know the centesimal composition, much less its molecular weight. Even of hematin the empirical formula has not yet been firmly established. The group of black and brown pigments to which the various melanins belong still await ade- quate investigation. We know they contain nitrogen (84 to 13 per cent.), and sometimes iron, but the analytical results do not warrant the suggestion of empirical formule forthem, The more nearly they appear to approach purity, the freer the majority of them seem from any fixed constituent such as iron or other metal, It is to be regretted that Dr. Krukenberg, to whom we are indebted for much valuable work on several pigments extracted from feathers, has not submitted the interesting. sub- stances he has described to quantitative chemical analysis. I must not, however, dwell further upon these preliminary matters. I have introduced them mainly in order to indicate how little precise information has yet been gathered as to the con- stitution of the greater number of animal pigments, and how difficult is their study. : And now let me draw your attention to a pigment which I had the good fortune to discover, and to the investigation of which I have devoted I am afraid to say how many years. It was so long ago as the year 1866 that the solubility in water of the red colouring matter in the wing-feathers of a plantain-eater was pointed out to me. [One of these feathers, ; A sean delivered at the Royal Institution by Prof. A. H. Church, 210 NATURE [J UNE. 29, freed from grease, was shown to yield its pigment to pure water. ] 1 soon found that alkaline liquids were more effective solvents than pure water, and that the pigment could be precipitated from its solution by the addition of an acid. [The pigment was ex- tracted from a feather by very dilute ammonia, and then piecipi- tated by adding éxcess of hydrochloric acid.] The next step was to filter off the separated colouring matter, and to wash and .dry it, and cannot be shown ina lecture. But the product obtained was a Solid of a dark crimson hue, non-crystalline, and having a purple semi-metallic lustre. I namedit ‘‘turacin” (in a paper published in a now long defunct periodical, Zhe Student and Intellectual Observer, of April, 1868), The name was taken from ‘* Turaco,” the appellation by which the plantain-eaters are known—the most extensive genus of this family of birds being Zuracus. Toston From the striking resemblance. between the colour of arterial blood and that of the red touraco feathers I was led to compare their spectra. Two similar absorption bands were present.in hoth cases, but their positions and intensities differed somewhat. Naturally I sought for iron in my new pigment. — 1 burnt a por- tion, dissolved the ash in hydrochloric acid, and then added sodium acetate and potassium ferrocyanide. To my -astonish- ment I got a precipitate, not of Prussian blue, but of Prussian frown. ‘This indication of the presence of copper inturacin was confirmed by many tests, the metal itself being al-o obtained by vlectrolysis.. It was obvious that the proportion of copper present in the pigment was very considerable—greatly in excess of that of the iron (less than 4 per cent.) in the pigment of blood. Thus far two striking peculiarities of the pigment had been revealed, namely, its easy removal from the web of the feather, and the presence in it of a notable quantity of ¢opper. Both facts remain unique in the history of animal pigments. The solubility was readily admitted on all hands, not so the presence of copper. It was suggested that it was derived from the Bunsen burner used in the incineration, or from some preservative solu- tion applied to the bird-skins. And it was asked, ‘‘ How did the copper get into the feathers?’ The doubters might have satisfied themselves as to copper being normally and invariably present by applying a few easy tests, and by the expenditure of half-a-crown in acquiring a touraco wing. My results were, however, confirmed (in 1872) by several independent observers, including Mr. W. Crookes, Dr, Gladstone, and Mr, Greville Williams. And in 1873 Mr. Henry Bassett, at the request of the late Mr. J. J. Monteiro, pushed the inquiry somewhat fur- ther. I quote from Monteiro’s ‘‘ Angola and the River Congo,” published in 1875 (vol. ii. pp. 75-77) :—‘‘I purchased a large unch of the red wing-feathers in the market at Sierra Leone, with which Mr. H. Bassett has verified Prof. Church’s results conclusively,” &c., &c. Mr. Bassett’s results were published in the Chemical News in 1873, three years after the appearance of my research in the Phil. Trans. As concentrated hydro- chloric acid removes no copper from turacin, even on boiling, the metal present could not have been a mere casual impurity ; as the proportion is constant in the turacin obtained from different species of touraco, the existence of a single definite compound is indicated. The presence of traces of copper in a very large number of plants, as well as of animals, has been in- contestably established. And, as I pointed out in 1868, copper cau be readily detected in the ash of banana fruits, the favourite food of several species of the ‘‘turacin-bearers.” The feathers of a single bird contain on the average two grains of turacin, corresponding to ‘14 of a grain of metallic copper; or, putting the amount of pigment. present at its highest, just one-fifth of a grain. This is not a large amount to be furnished by its food to one of these birds once annually during the season of renewal of its feathers. I am bound, however, to say that in the blood and tissues of one of these birds, which I analysed immediately . after death, I could not detect more than faint traces of copper. The particular specimen examined was in full plumage ; I con- clude that the copper in its food, not being then wanted, was not assimilated. Let us now look a little more closely at these curious birds themselves, Their nearest allies are the cuckoos, with which they were formerly united by systematists. It has, however, been long conceded that they constitute a family of equal rank with the Cuculida. According to the classification adopted in the Natural History Museum, the order Picarize contains eight sub- orders, the last of which, the Coccyges, consist of two families, NO. 1235, VOL. 48] ‘the Hoopoes, te Trogons, the Woodpeckers. The The processes of washing and drying are tedious, |. —the pigment is absent. -turacin-bearers are found in the west sub-region, onei ‘more or less nearly related to the Musophagidee has mi “ment from the green feathers of 7uracus corythaix the Cuculidz and the Musophagide. To the same ord. eaters, or Mus phagidee, are arranged in six genera and twenty-five species. In three genera—Turacus, Gul Musophaga—comprising eighteen species, and followin; another in zoological sequence, turacin occurs ; from tliree a (seven species) —Corythzola, Schizorhis, and Gymnvosch [The coloured illustra ons | Schlegel’s Monograph (Amsterdam, 1860) on the ) were exhibited.] The family is confined to Afric: pht west, two in the south, two in the south-east, four two in the central, and-two in the north-east. It is that, in all these sub-regions save the south-east, tura are found along with those plantain-eaters which d: tain the pigment. Oddly enough two of the latter Schisorhts africana and S. zonura, possess white patel tute of pigment in those parts of the feathers which in bearers are crimson, These birds do not—I will not say —decorate these bare patches with this curiously con | ment. [Some extracts were here given from the N teiro’s book on Angola, vol-ii- pp. 74-79, and from ; Dr. B. Hinde. These extracts contained re‘erences to ¢ traits of the Touracos. ] MPRA. Usually from twelve to eighteen of the primaries or n digitals and of the secondaries or cubitals amongst \ feathers of the turacin bearers have the ny, pate! web. Occasionally the crimson patches are limited seven of the eleven primaries. I have observed this par with the violet plantain-eater (Musophaga violacea) cases the crimson head-feathers, which also owe their turacin, are few in number, as if the bird, otherwise healily been unable to manufacture a sufficiency of the pigment. here add that the red tips of the crest-feathers of mertani also contain turacin. - fee hl In all the birds in which turacin occurs this strictly confined to the red parts of the web, and is there: companied by any other colouring matter. It is the { that if a si: gle baib from a feather be analysed, its black and its black termination possess no. copper, while mediate portion gives the blue-green flash of copper cinerated in the Bunsen flame. .[A parti-coloured fe burnt in the Bunsen flame with the result indicated. Where it occurs turacin is homogeneously dist barbs, barbicels, and crochets of the web, and is ro! granules or corpuscles. A ape ere To the natural question, ‘‘ Does turacin occur in birds besides the touracos ?”’ a negative answer mus be given. At Jeast my search for this pigmentin sco success. In some of the plantain-eaters (species of 7 Gallirex) there is, however a second pigment closel; turacin. ‘It is of a dull grass-green colour, and turacoverdin by Dr. Krukenberg in 1881. I had o pigment in 1868 by boiling turacin with a soluti soda, and had figured its characteristic absorption b first paper (Phil, Trans., vol. clix., 1870, p. 6 product was, however, mixed with unaltered’ tur Kiukenberg obtained what certainly seems to be th them with a two per cent. solution of caustic soda ‘ever, that a solution of this strength dissolves, eve not only a brown pigment associated with turacove mately the whvle substance of the web. By usin, weaker solution of alkali (1 part to 1000 of wate result is obtained. [The characteristic absorption ban verdin, which lies on the less refrangible side of D, also the absorption bands of various preparations I have refrained from the further investigation o! hoping that Dr, Krukenberg would complete his stud, present I can only express my opinion that it is id the green pigment into which turacin when muvist by long exposure to the air, or by ebullition with so which seems to be present in traces in all preparations a turacin, however carefully prepared. Wy i A few observations may now be introduced on and chemical characters of turacin, It is a colloid of « And it enjoys in a high degree one of the peculiar prop ‘colloids—that of retaining when freshly precipitated, an proportion of water. Consequently when its soluti se S _ JUNE 29, 1893) NATURE 211 Aer rep 5 is precipitated by an acid, the coagulum formed is very inous. [The experiment was shown.] One gram of turacin capable of forming a semi-solid mass with 600 grams of water. nother character which turacin shares with many other colloids its solubility in pure water and its insolubility in the presence _ of mere traces of saline matter. It would be tedious to enumerate _all the observed. properties of turacin, but its deportment on ~ being heated, and the action of sulphuric acid upon it, demand . Pp lar attention. _ At 100° C., and at considerably higher temperatures, turacin suffers no change. point of mercury it is wholly altered. No vapours are evolved, Ta the substance becomes black and is no longer soluble in alkaline liquids, nor, whenstill more strongly heated afterwards can it be made to yield the purple vapours which unchanged turacin gives off under the same circumstances. This peculiarity of turacin caused great difficulty inits analysis. For these purple vapours contain an organic crystalline compound in which both nitrogen and copper are present, and which resists further de- composition by heat. [Turacin was so heated as to show its purple vapours, and also the green flame with which they bura.] This production of a volatile organic compound of copper is pethaps comparable with the formation of nickel and ferro- car . _ The action of concentrated sulphuric acid upon turacin pre- ‘sents some remarkable features. The pigment dissolves with a ‘fine crimson colour and yields a new compound, the spectrum of which presents a. very close resemblance to that of hemato- porphyrin [turacin- was dissolved in oil of vitriol ; the spec- trum of ansammoniacal solution of the turacoporphyrin thus produced was also shown], the product obtained by the same treatment from hematin; in other respects also this new derivative of turacin, which I call turacoporphyrin, reminds one ofhzematoporphyrin. But, unlike this derivative of hzematin, it Seems to retain some of its metallic constituent. The analogy between the two bodies cannot be very close, for if they were so nearly related as might be argued from the spectral observa- tions, hematin ought to contain not more, but less metal than is found to be present therein. The percentage composition of turacin is probably carbon 53°69, hydrogen 4°6, copper 7’OI, nitrogen 6°96, and oxygen 27°74. These numbers correspond pretty nearly to the em- pirical formula Cy9H,;Cu,N,Oy»; but I lay no stress upon this expression. [ have before said that copper is very widely distributed in the animal kingdom, Dr. Giunti, of Naples, largely extended (1881) our knowledge on this point. I can hardly doubt that this metal will be found intraces in all animals. But, besides turacin, only one organic copper-compound has been as yet recognised in animals. This is a respiratory, and not a mere decorative pigment like turacin. Léon Fredericq discovered this substance, called hemocyanin. It has been observed in several genera of Crustacea, Arachnida, Gastropoda, and Cephalopoda. I do not think it has ever been obtained in a State of purity, and [ cannot accept for it the fantastic formula— Cg67Hy3¢9CuS,O.;,—which has recently been assigned to it. On the other hand, I do not sympathise with the doubts as to its nature which F, Heim has recently formulated in the Comptes Rendus. It is noteworthy in connection with the periodic law that all the essential elements of animal and vegetable organic com- pounds have rather low atomic weights, iron, manganese, and copper representing the superior limit. Perhaps natural organic compounds containing manganese will some day be isolated, but at present such bodies are limited to a few containing iron, and to two—hzmocyanin and turacin—of which copper forms an essential part. If I have not yet unravelled the whole mystery of the occur- snee and properties of this strange pigment, it must be remem- bered that it is very rare and costly, and withal difficult to prepare in a state.of assured purity. It belongs, moreover, to a class of bodies which my late master, Dr. A. W. von Hofmann, quaintly designated as ‘‘dirts” (a magnificent dirt, truly !)— ces which refuse to crystallise, and cannot be distilled. ave experienced likewise during the course of this investi- ion, frequent reminders of another definition propounded by same great chemist when he described organic research as more or less circuitous route to the sink” ! [ am very glad to have had the opportunity of sharing with | audience in this institution the few glimpses I have caught NO. £235, VOL. 48] ot 7 When, however, it is heated:to the boiling. |. from time to time during the progress of a tedious and still in- complete research into the nature of a pigment which presents physiological and chemical problems of high, if not of unique, interest, Let my last word be a word of thanks, I am indebted to several friends for aid in this investigation, and’ Upellteen eee to Dr. MacMunn, of Wolverhampton, the recognised expert in the spectroscopy of animal pigments. -ARTIFICIAL IMMUNITY AND TYPHOID FEVER. "THE announcement by Metchnikoff of his beautiful theory of the ‘‘ mechanism,” as it were, of immunity, which he con- ceives as dependent upon the activity of the phagocytes or migratory cells of the body in the presence of disease germs, has called forth an immense number of researches in this direc- tion from all parts of the world. But whilst some bacterioiogists are engaged upon studying critically the experimental evidence which can be adduced in support of this theory, others are busy with the practical side of the subject and are devoting themselves to the investigation of what substances are capable of conferring immunity upon animals towards any particular disease, and hardly a month passes without some contribution being made to this important inquiry. The great discovery made by Behring that the blood serum of animals rendered artificially immune against a particular disease will, on being introduced into other animals, protect them from an attack of that particular disease, has been confirmed in the case of tetanus or lockjaw by Behring and Kitasato, and as regards diphtheria by Behring. In a more recent contribution Brieger, Kitasato, and Wassermann (‘‘ Ueber Immunitat und Giftfestigung,” Zeitschrift fiir Hygiene, vol. xii. 1892) have, amongst other investigations, succeeded in protecting and healing mice from the evil effects of inoculations with the typhoid bacillus by the introduction of serum obtained from a guinea-pig immune against typhoid. The further study of immunity with reference to this disease is the subject of two elaborate memoirs in the Annales del’ Institut Pasteur, November, 1892, by Sanarelli in. Siena, and Chantemesse and Widal in Paris, and the ground covered by these two investigations is to a great extent identical. Sanarelli selected guinea-pigs as the subjects for his experiments, these animals being, as is well known, more difficult to protect from the fatal results of typhoid inoculations than mice. He states that if 0°5 c.c. of therapeutic serum be simultaneously introduced with an otherwise fatal dose of a typhoid culture, these animals without exception develop no typhoid symptoms,’ whilst guinea-pigs inoculated with an equally fatal dose of typhoid, but without the curative serum, invariably die.’ hantemesse and Widal have pursued the inquiry still further, and have investigated the properties of serum taken from normal animals—that is to say, from animals which have not been infected with or rendered artificially immune fram typhoid. In- vestigations similar to those made previously by Stern have also been conducted with human serum obtained from patients who have recovered from typhoid fever and also from those who have never been attacked by this malady. ‘ Chantemesse and Widal state that whereas the serum derived from typhoid patients and from immune animals invariably con- fers protection upon infected animals, that obtained from normal animals and from people who have never had typhoid, only exceptionally exercises any curative power. These authors have also compared the degree of immunity induced in animals by the inoculation of curative serum and sterilised cultures of the typhoid bacillus respectively, This latter process is another method of protecting animals against infection, and was resorted to before the experiments with serum were made. It was found that whilst the serum acts rapidly, and confers immunity when administered in small quantities, its protective power only ex- tends overa short period of time, apparently disappearing in less thana month, The sterilised typhoid cultures on the other hand, although working more slowly and requiring to be introduced in larger doses than the serum, endow the animal with immunity over a longer space of time, animals having been found immune even after the lapse of two months. Finally, attempts were made to arrest the progress of typhoid fever in people by the inocula- tion of therapeutic serum obtained from guinea pigs. So far, however, these investigations have not been successful, and if it be remembered that one point of cardinal importance in the ~ 212 NATURE [JUNE 29, 1893, production of immunity or in healing the disease is the time which elapses between the infection and the protective inocula- tion, that the action of the latter is the more rapid and the more successful the sooner it follows upon the former, it is at once apparent where, at any rate, some of the difficulties lie in its successful application to human beings. Whereas the exact moment is known when theexperimental infection in the animal takes place, in the human subject days or weeks may pass between the infection and the declaration of the disease. THE CENTENARY OF GILBERT WHITE. THE wonted tranquillity of the little Hampshire village of Selborne was disturbed on Saturday by the invasion of a band of pilgrims who came to look upon the shrine of Gilbert White, and by the sight obtained a renewed love of nature. Drawn by a feeling of regard, members of the Selborne Society, and other disciples of White, congregated from all parts of the country, and paid homage to their master. Never within the memory of the oldest inhabitant had so many people been gathered together at Selborne, and we doubt not that the vil- lagers failed to realise what attraction there could be in a man whose characteristics, according to an old woman who remem- bered him, were that ‘‘he would walk about the lanes tap-tapping at the trees, and stooping every now and then to wipe the dust off his shoes,’’ But one thing marred the enjoyment of Satur- day’s meeting. A band of gipsies, with a terrible barrel-organ, and all the paraphernalia of a country fair, had installed themselves not a stone’s-throw from the house’in which Gilbert White lived his peaceful life. And, worst of all, they possessed a steam-syren, the shriek and screech of which penetrated every- where, even to the high Hangers, in which the Selborne naturalist supposed that swallows hibernated. The Earl of Selborne presided at luncheon, and, in propos- ing ‘‘ The Memory of Gilbert White,” dwelt upon the sterling qualities of the man, and the remarkable character of his books dealing with the natural history and antiquities of Selborne. “White’s life was devoted to observing and recording natural productions and phenomena. He was gifted with shrewdness of discernment, and that one essential qualification of a true man of science—the power of faithfully chronicling all and every observation. It was thought by some that the naturalist whose centenary they were commemorating had nothing elseto do but wander about, and observe the habits of birds, beasts, fishes, and insects ; but that was a great mistake. Ile had to perform ‘*the daily round, the common task” that falls to the lot of all, and diligently did he fulfil his duties. Mr. Darwin proposed ‘‘ Prosperity to the Selborne Society and its branches.” In responding, Mr. Otter, one of the founders of the society, dwelt upon the fact that their object was to inculcate and foster a love of nature, and to wage war in defence of her beauties, To them the ruthless field-naturalist and the sporting collector of specimens were enemies, Mr. Wakefield followed with a description of the good work done by the Thames Valley branch in preserving ‘‘ beauty- spots”’ from jerry-builders and their kindred. The Earl of Stamford, in proposing ‘‘ Prosperity to the Hampshire Field Club,” the members of which joined the London party at Selborne, remarked that he had found reason to believe that one of the figures shown in the quarto edition of White’s book is a likeness of the author himself, hence it could no longer be said that no portrait of him was in existence. Mr. R. H. White, however, was of the opinion that the evidence was not of a positive character. The question of a memorial to White was touched by the Earl of Selborne, but he thought that the best plan would be to ‘‘ Look not on the picture, but the book,” and leave that to be handed down to the end of time, for nothing more was needed to perpetuate the memory of the man. With this sentiment we by no means agree. A monument is not erected merely to prevent a man’s name and deeds from sinking to oblivion. It should show to the people that he was one whom men delight to honour. Weare apt to be far too prosaic in these matters, and to consider the raising of images and other memorials as more or less unnecessary conventionalities. This conviction has grown upon us because we have seen statues erected to comparatively obscure individuals time without NO. 1235, VOL. 48] number, while the works of men of science are unrecog: It does not say much for the naturalists of this country i centenary of Gilbert White is allowed to pass without ~~ Higigene: being given of their regard for of them all. q ’ INTERFERENCE BANDS AND T. APPLICATIONS. HE formation of the interference bands, known as rings, when two slightly curved glass plates are pr contact, was illustrated by an acoustical analogue. pressure flame B (Fig. 1) is sensitive to sounds which re: the direction EB, but is insensitive to similar sounds wh reach it in the nearly perpendicular direction AB. A isa ‘ call,” giving a pure sound (inaudible) of wave-length (; to about I cm. ; C and D are reflectors of perforated zi C acts alone, the flame is visibly excited by the waves from it, though by far the greater part of the energy is mitted. If D, held parallel to C, be then brought into the result depends upon the interval between the two reflectors. The reflected sounds may co-operate, in whi the flame flares vigorously ; or they may interfere, so flame recovers, and behaves as ifno sonnd at all were upon it. The first effect occurs when the reflectors are cli together, or are separated by any multiple of § ,/ 2. A; A \ Fic. 1. second when the interval is midway between those of the ab mentioned series, that is, when it coincides with an odd mul of } ,/2.A. The factor ,/ 2 depends upon the obl the reflection. The coloured rings, as usually formed between g lose a good deal of their richness by contamination w light reflected from the exterior surfaces. The reflec! the hindermost surface is easily got rid of by em : opaque glass, but the reflection from the first surface is le todeal with. One plan, used in the lecture, depends use of slightly wedge-shaped glasses (2°) so combine exterior surfaces are any to one another, but inclined t interior operative surfaces, In this arrangement the false is thrown somewhat to one side, and can be we de » suitably held at the place where the image of the is formed. * th Bi haad ice The formation of colour and the ultimate disappearane the bands as the interval between the surfaces increases, di upon the mixed character of white light. For each colo bands are upon a scale proportional to the wave-length for t colour. If we wish to observe the bands when the interv 1 Abstract of a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, on Fri March 24, 1893, by Lord Rayleigh, NATURE 213 JUNE 29, 1893] iderable—bands ‘of high interference as they are called— most natural course is to employ approximately homo- eneous light, such as that afforded by a soda flame. Unfortu- ately, this light is hardly bright enough for projection upon a ge scale. A partial escape from this difficulty is afforded by Newton’s rvations as to what occurs when a ring system is regarded through a prism. In this case the bands upon one side may ‘become approximately achromatic, and are thus visible to a rably high order, in spite of the whiteness of the light. r these circumstances there is, of course, no difficulty in obtaining sufficient illumination ; and bands formed in this way were projected upon the screen,! _ The bands seen when lizht from a soda flame falls upon nearly parallel surfaces have often been employed as a test of flatness. Two flat surfaces can be made to fit, and then the bands are few and broad, if not entirely absent ; and, however the surfaces may be presented to one another, the bands should be straight, parallel, and equi-distant. If this condition be violated, one or other of the surfaces deviates from flatness. In Fig. 2, Aand B represent the glasses to be tested, and C isa lens of two or three feet focal length. Rays diverging from a oda flame at E are rendered parallel by the lens, and alter eflection from the surfaces are re-combined by the lens at E. 'o make an observation, the coincidence of the radiant point andits image must he somewhat disturbed, the one being dis- ced to a position a little beyond, and the other to a position a little in front of, the diagram, The eye, protected from the flame by a suitable screen, is plates were seen grooves due to rubbing with rouge along defined track, and depressions, some of considerable regularity, obtained by the action of diluted hydrofluoric acid, which was allowed to stand for some minutes as a drop upon the surface of the glass. By this method it is easy to compare one flat with another, and thus, if the first be known to be free from error, to de- termine the errors of the second. But how are we to obtain and verify a standard? The plan usually followed is to bring three surfaces into comparison. The fact that two surfaces can be made to fit another in all azimuths proves that they are spherical and of equal curvatures, but one convex and the other concave, the case of perfect flatness not being excluded. If A and B fit another, and also A and C, it follows that B and C must be similar. Hence, if B and C also fit one another, all three surfaces must be flat. By an extension of this process the errors of three surfaces which are not flat can be found from a consideration of the interference bands which they present when combined in three pairs. vBut although the method just referred to is theoretically com- plete, its application in practice is extremely tedious, especially when the surfaces are not of revolution. A very simple solu- tion of the difficulty has been found in the use of a free surface of water, which, when protected from tremors and motes, is as flat as can be desired.!. In order to avoid all trace of capillary curvature it is desirable to allow a margin of about 14 inch. The surface to be tested is supported horizontally at a short distance (745 or #5 inch) below that of the water, and the whole is carried upon a large and massive levelling stand. By the aid placed at the image, and being focused upon AB, sees the field Fe st AL. Fic. 2. raversed by bands. The reflector D is introduced as a matter f convenience to make the line of vision horizontal. These bands may be photographed. The lens of the camera ukes the place of the eye, and should be as close to the flame possible. With suitable plates, sensitised by cyanin, the ex- osire required may vary from ten minutes to an hour. To get the best results, the hinder surface of A should be blackened, the front surface of B should be thrown out of action by the tposition of a wedge-shaped plate of glass, the intervening pace being filled with oil of turpentine or other fluid having rly the same refraction as glass. Moreover, the light should © purified from blue rays by a trough containing solution of romate of potash. With these precautions the dark parts of he bands are very black, and the exposure may be prolonged much beyond what would otherwise be admissible. The lantern slides exhibited showed the elliptical rings indi- ative of a curvature of the same sign in both directions, the rbolic bands corresponding to a saddle-shaped surface, and approximately parallel system due to the juxtaposition of telescopic “‘ flats,” kindly lent by Mr. Common, On other theory is given in a paper upon ‘‘ Achromatic Interference Bands,” of screws the glass surface is brought into approximate parallel- Fic. 3. ism with the water. In practice the principal trouble is in the avoidance o tremors and motes. When the apparatus is set up on the floor of a cellar in the country, the tremors are suffici- ently excluded, but care must be taken to’protect the surface from the slightest draught. To this end the space over the water must be enclosed aimost air-tight. In towns, during the : hours of traffic, it would probably require great precaution to avoid the disturbing effects of tremors. In this respect it is advantageous to diminish the thickness of the layer of water; but if the thinning be carried too far,.the subsidence of the water surface to equilibrium becomes surprisingly slow, and a doubt may be felt whéther after all there may not remain some deviation from flatness due to irregularities of temperature. With the aid of the levelling screws the bands may be made as broad as the nature of the surface admits; but it is usually better so to adjust the level that the field is traversed by five or six approximately parallel bands. Fig. 3 represents hands actually observed from the face of a prism. That these are not straight, parallel, and equi-distant is a proof that the surface deviates from flatness. The question next arising is to determine the direction of the deviation.” This may be effected by ob- serving the displacement of the bands due to a known motion of the levelling screws ; but a simpler process is open to us. vIt is evident that if the surface under test were to be moved downwards parallel to itself, so as to increase the thickness of the layer of water, every band would move in a certain direc- tion, viz. cowards the side where the layer is thinnest. What amounts to the same, the retardation may be increased, without touching the apparatus, by so moving the eye as to diminish the obliquity of the reflection. Suppose, for example, in Fig. 3, that the movement in question causes the bands to travel down- wards, as indicated by the arrow. The inference is that the surface is concave. More glass must be removed at the ends of the bands than in the middle in order to straighten them. If the object be to correct the errors by local polishing operations 1 The diameter would need to be 4 feet in order that the depression at the Mag., August 1889.’ NO. 1235, VOL. 48] Bi ig circumference, due to the general curvature of the earth, should amount to x ; bA. 214 NATURE [JuNE 29, 1893. upon the surface, the rule is that ¢he dands, or any parts of them, may be rubbed in the direction of the arrow. A good many surfaces have thus been operated upon ; and although a fair amount of success has been attained, further experiment is required in order to determine the best procedure. There is a tendency to leave the marginal parts behind ; so that the bands, though straight over the greater part of their length, remain curved at their extremities. In some cases hydrofluoric acid has been resorted to, but it appears to be rather difficult to control. The delicacy of the test is sufficient for every optical purpose. A deviation from straightness amounting to #, of a band inter- val could hardly escape the eye, even on simple inspection. This corresponds to a departure from flatness of 3 of a wave- length in water, or about 3; of the wave-length in air. Probably a deviation of ;45 A could be made apparent. For practical purposes a layer of moderate thickness, adjusted so that the two systems of bands corresponding to the duplicity of the soda line do not interfere, is the most suitable. But if we wish to observe bands of high interference, not only must the thickness be increased, but certain precautions become necessary.’ For instance, the influence of obliquity must be considered. If this element were absolutely constant, it would entail no ill effect. But in consequence of the finite diameter of the pupil of the eye, various obliquities are mixed up together, even if attention be confined to one part of the field. When the thickness of the layer is increased, it becomes necessary to reduce the obliquity to a minimum, and further to diminish the aperture of the eye by the interposition of a suitable slit. The effect of obliquity is shown by the formula ; 27¢(1 — cosé)=n”A, The necessary parallelism of the operative surfaces may be obtained, as in the above-described apparatus, by the aid of levelling. ‘But a much simpler device may be employed, by which the experimental difficulties are greatly reduced. If we superpose a layer of water upon a surface of mercury, the flatness and parallelism of the surfaces take care of themselves. The objection that the two surfaces would reflect very unequally may be obviated by the addition of so much dissolved colouring matter, ¢.g. soluble aniline blue, to the water as shall equalise the intensities of the two reflected lights. are properly made, the whole field, with the exception of a margin near the sides of the containing vessel, may be brought to one degree of vrightness, being, in fact, all included within a fraction of a band. The width of the margin, within which rings appear, is about one inch, in agreement with calculation founded upon the known values of the capillary constants. During the establishment of equilibrium after a disturbance, bands are seen due to variable thickness, and when the layer is thin, persist for a considerable time. When the thickness of the layer is increased beyond a certain point, the difficulty above discussed, depending upon obliquity, becomes excessive, and it is advisable to change the manner of observation to that adopted by Michelson. In this case the eye is focused, not, as before, upon the operative surfaces, but upon the flame, or rather upon its image at E(Fig. 2). For this pur- pose it is only necessary to introduce an eye-piece of low power, which with the lens C (in its second operation) may be regarded as a telescope. The bands now seen depend entirely upon obliquity according to the formula above written, and therefore take the form of circular arcs. Since the thickness of the layer is absolutely constant, there is nothing to interfere with the eng of the: bands except want of homogeneity in the ight. : But, as Fizeau found many years ago, the latter difficulty soon becomes serious. At a very moderate thickness it becomes necessary to reduce the supply of soda, and even with a very feeble flame a limit is soon reached. When the thickness was pushed as far as possible, the retardation, calculated from the volume of liquid and the diameter of the vessel, was found to be: 50,000 wave lengths, almost exactly the limit fixed by Fizeau, To carry the experiment further requires still more homo- geneous sources of light. It is well known that Michelson has recently observed interference with retardations previously un- heard of, and with the aid of an instrument of ingenious con- struction has obtained most interesting. information with respect to the structure of various spectral lines. A curious observation respecting the action. of hydrofluoric NO. 1235, VOL. 48] If the adjustments | ) acid upon polished glass surfaces was mentioned in cone! After the operation of the acid the surfaces appear to be co with fine scratches, in a manner which at first suggested th that ‘the glass had been left in'a specially tender conditio: had become scratched during the subsequent wiping. But it appeared that the effect was a development of scratches pr viously existent in a latent state. Thus parallel lines ruled a knife edge, at first invisible even in a favourable light conspicuous after treatment with acid. Perhaps the si way of regarding the matter is to consider the case of a with perpendicular sides and a flat bottom. If the acid ma’ shee sel oe eat in equally in all directions, the effect w to broaden the furrow, while the depth remains unaltered. possible that this method might be employed with advan t intensify (if a photographic term may be permitted) gratir ruled upon glass for the formation of spectra, peesicl FROST FREAKS. J) R.. LESTER F. WARD describes some remarkable ; figures in the current number of 7he Botanical Gazette says that on a bright frosty morning in December, 1892, Mr. Mason and himself observed some white objects looking icicles close to the ground, along the border of a pine A’ closer examination showed that they were in truth no but ice, but that instead of icicles they were veritable {1 of frost. Every one was firmly attached to the stem smal] herbaceous plant which had succumbed to the seaso still stood erect. The attachment was always close to the often at the very ground, sometimes an inch above, At a tance, the frost-works had the appearance of cylindrical m but one need not come very near to see that such was not case. In fact, they really consisted of several thin foils or from one to three inches in width, firmly attached by one to the stem of the plant, thus standing in a vertical posit ‘From this attachment each of these little ice sheets out horizontally or with a slight upward tendency, no! and stiff, but gently and gracefully curving or coiling beautiful conch-like roll at the distal margin. There always several of these, usually three, four, or five, all to the same vertical portion of the stem but at regular around it like the paddles of a flutter-wheel, but all cu the same direction after the manner of a turbine-wheel. _ where there were four they stood with each pair opposite, the figure, which represents a side view. The amount of ¢ ivaried considerably, and the coil filled up most of the it between the plates giving the object a compact appear: The ice was white, opaque, and singularly light, as if consi of congealed froth, but in all cases the scrolls bore horiz stripes like those of a flag, resulting from degrees in the ness, varying from alabaster to nearly transparent. These: added greatly to the beauty of these singular objects; In so cases the inner margin, instead of being straight, was sinu NATURE 215: fluted character to the base of the wing. Many other® ities were noted in these evanescent toys, but they soon here is the chief wonder. There grew in the same situa- ome dozen or twenty small herbaceous plants of about the eneral character which would all seem equally liable to such a phenom:non. There were species of ‘Aster, 0, Chrysopsis, Pycnanthemum, Polygonum, Ludwigia, ocarpus, &c.,and with these in considerable but not specially arked abundance, Cunz/a Muriana. The first frost-works seen attached to this plant, which was supposed for a while to n accident ; but soon it.was perceived that such was nt the ¢, and an examination of hundre.ls of cases revealed the fact it they. were exclusively confiaed to this species. No sign or lance of them could be found on any other plant. They e, therefore, so far as observation went, a specific char- acter, and it is this alone which prompted Mr. Ward to give the above account in the hope that others might be able to confirm or invalidate this induction by a wider one. ‘This plant persists after frost’ with all its branches, sere leaves, and empty seed vessels intact, so that its identity ss as complete as in midsummer, The bark, which re- r _firm -everywhere else, was seen to be longitudinally lit. into strips at the zone occupied by the frost-work, it could be seen between the several ice sheets, these rifts have been covered by their bases. In other. words, it can- » doubted that the liquid matter out of which they were rmed had passed through these longitudinal openings and been posited by molecular accretions: in the symmetrical forms ved. It was inferred from this that they might con- entirely of the juices of the plant, but on placing le on the tongue nothing distinguishable from pure stilled water could be detected.. As the upper part of the stems was dead and dry and the roots perennial, the conclusion was that the water had by some agency been pressed or drawn up through the cambium layer of the roots from the soil and forced out through these apertures in the bark. The action of frost in the ground might account for the required pressure, and the whole would be thus explainable on physical principles, But it explains too much, since no reason can be assigned why the phenomenon should not be universal and not confined to a single Wie making these observations Mr. Ward has been to some paigs to ascertain whether the phenomenon has been witnessed by others, but- so far.the-inquiry has proved futile. It séems ossible, therefore, that this is the first time that Cuni/a Mariana as been discovered to be a frost-weed. Helianthemum Canadehse, however, behaves in‘a similar’ way. That plant Mot common .in the -dittany and there. has not been f opportunity: to observe it at the proper season. ‘The ment in the first edition of Gray’s Manual, 1848, where the mame ‘‘ frost weed ” is given to this species, that ‘late in autumn tals of ice shoot from the cracked bark at the root, whence he! popular name,” repeated in all subsequent editions and copied into many other books, is doubtless founded on earlier ecorded observations, but is not found in Nuttall or Pursh. A frost-figure also. appears in Mr.-Wm. Hamilton Gibson’s recent »o00k entitled ‘‘ Sharp Eyes.”) This figure is somewhat fanciful, 2ing a vignette constituting the first letter of this. chapter of ‘his book and aiming to show all the parts of the plant in addition © the frost work. ‘ Although it is, according to this representa- tion, a.much less definite and less beautiful object than the dittany “* feost-flowers,” there can be no doubt that the principle on which it was formed is the same. The author’s description of it as ‘fashioned into all sorts of whimsical feathery curls and flanges ic ridges.’ indicates at once the inadequacy of his figure to do it stice aoe the-close analogy between it and the ‘‘ frost flower” s Mla, 2 + ‘ WR. ees Meaty ia ) SG 9: . UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL Pl areaey . INTELLIGENCE. ae JEP, M.P., in’presenting the prizes and certificates on ‘to the students who successfully passed the last Cam- gé local examination at Eas:bourne centre, observed that "ty years ago examinations were believed to be a panacea for ry educational defect. Nowa reaction hal set in; and some so far as to hold that success in examinations afforded no ‘worthy criterion of merit. The truth, of course, lay between ~™t New York, 1392. Article ‘* The Frost Flower,” pp. 210, 211. NO. (235 vOL. 48] ~ these two extremes. An examination was not an infallible test,’ and was more favourable to some temperaments than to others ;‘ but, when well managed, was a sound test. An examiner must have at least three qualifications: he must know a great deal’ more than the subject in which he examined, or he would not have a proper sense of intellectual proportion and perspective ; he must have a certain measure of acuteness to enable him to’ penetrate disguise or simulated knowledge ; and, above all, he‘ must have common sense in order to take proper account of particular circumstances of each case. The two older Universities, in the early part of the century, were said to be no longer in, touch with the nation, and were regarded rather as great schools * reserved for the education and, equally perhaps, the amusement’ of a select few ; but now they had spread a ne' work of examin- ation, and were diffusing their influence over the country, becoming what they were in the Middle Ages, really national, ° but national in the higher sense, in the desire that every one who sought it should bare the means of a liberal education, and that the best things which literature or science had to show should be placed within reach ofall. Mr. RosBerT HOLt?, late Assistant Lecturer in Engineering, at University College, Liverpool, has been appointed Professor , of Engineering at the People’s Palace, London. Mr. Holt has, held both Whitworth and National Scholarships, as well as one, of the research scholarships founded by the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851. :¥ AT a council meeting of the University College of Wales, Bangor, on June 21, a scheme for the supervision and residence of women students of the college next session was carried by a large majority. : Lorp HERSCHEL has been appointed to succeed the late Earl of Derby as Chancellor of the University of London. OxForRD has conferred the degree of D.C.L. upon Sir John B. Lawes, Bart., F.R.S. SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, May.—Rainfall probability. and cloud in the United States, by W. Koppen. The author has submitted the rainfall charts published by the United. States: Government to a thorough investigation. The following are. the generalised results as regards the distribution of rainfall :— (1) There is a district of continental summer rains, enclosed on both sides by littoral winter rains, which, corresponding to the contrast of the yearly oscillation of temperature, are mach mre. marked in the west than in the east. (2) ‘A district of isobaric’. summer rains, in the south-east, with equatorial sea-winds.in: summer, and -with anticyclonic weather in winter. (3) Transition: districts, in} which both rainfall maxima occur near, each other, ,while the minima occur in spring and autumn.) Maxima after the equinoxes are nowhere very well marked, but the April and-.May rains of Colorado and. Kansas and the: autumn rains on Lake Superior are indications of them. With regard to- the seasonal distribution in the tropical zone, the differences of temperature play only a small part compared to ‘that of extra-tropical regions ; this result naturally follows from the small variation of temperature in the tropics.—On the dynamics of the atmosphere, by M. Méller. This first part deals chiefly with the causes of the inversion of temperature with height, and with the cold experienced in the. centres of areas of high barometric pressure. He deals especially with three causes of inversion:—The cooling of the lower strata by radiation, the effects on the higher strata by dynamic heating or cooling analogous to those caused by: the action of Foéhn winds, and the transference of warm air to the higher regions by horizontal winds coming from warmer parts. Vari»us cases are separately considered from data afforded by mountain stations, such as Ben Nevis, and from discussiuns by; Dr; Hann and others. Particular attention is also given to the formation and motions of clouds, as furnishing visible evidence of the processes in action in the higher strata of the atmosphere, ) ’ SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. A onth Royal Society, June 8.—‘‘ Preliminary Report of the Joint Solar Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, and the Solar Physi¢s Committee on tHe 216 NATURE [JUNE 29, 1893 — te Observations of the Solar Eclipse of April 16, 1893.” Com- municated by Dr, Common, F.R.S. i This report merely states the work undertaken by the British observers during the recent total solar eclipse, and the number and kind of photographs that were obtained. This information has appeared, from time to time, in these columns. A more de- tailed report, giving the results of the discussion of the pictures will shortly be published, Paris. Academy of Sciences, June 12.—M. Leewy in the chair.— Experimental verifications of the theory of weirs without lateral contraction, the sheet being free below, by M. J. Boussinesq. — On a simplification introduced into certain formule depending upon the resisting power of solids by ‘introducing the greatest linear extension A which can be supported by the material, in the place of the corresponding elastic ge Ry, by M. J. Bous- sinesq. In formulz relating to the strength of elastic solids in motion, mechanicians asa rule introduce a quantity Ry denoting the greatest tension which a fibre can sustain upon unit sectional area without breaking, instead of the maximum elongation A which does not endanger the texture. M. Boussinesq shows that many formule may be considerably simplified by introducing 4, Thus the maximum velocity V which can be safely impressed upon an element of a solid under concussion is related to the velocity of sound in the solid and to A in a manner given by the formula V=4wA, where & is a constant depending on the figure and mass of the solid, and w is the velocity of sound in it. If V be the peripheral velocity of a flywheel in the form of a narrow ring with a large radius, the maximum safe velocity is given by the formula V=w,/q”.—On various methods of ob- serving the so-called anomalous focal properties of diffraction gratings, by M. A. Cornu.—On the extraction of zirconia and thorina, by M. L, Troost.—Study of some new phenomena of fusion and volatilisation produced by means of the heat of the electric arc, by M. Henri Moissan.—On_ Liouville’s linear element surfaces, and surfaces with constant curvature, by M. mile Waelsch.—On a general property of electric and mag- netic fields, by M. Vaschy.—Study of the filtration of liquids, by M. R. Lezé. A porous vessel containing the liquid to be studied was placed in a test-tube and subjected to very rapid rotation. By a comparison of the weights of the porous vessel and its contents before and after.rotation, the velocity of outflow through the porous walls due to centrifugal force was ascer- tained. Taking that of distilled water as unity, the figure for a five per cent. solution of sodium chloride was 1°023, for the nitrate 1'051, for ammonium sulphate 0993. The velocity of efflux for alcohol solution showed a minimum at 40°, where it was o’50. The numbers are those for a pres- sure of eight or ten atmospheres applied during ten minutes, during which the tubes travelled from 40 to 50 km.—On the combinations of molybdates and sulphurous acid, by M. E. Péchard.—On bromine-boracites ; bromine compounds of iron and zinc, by MM. G. Rousseau and H. Allaire.—On fluorides of copper, by M. Poulenc.—Action of electricity upon the car- burisation of iron by cementation, by M. Jules Garnier.—On the rotatory power of bodies belonging to an homologous series, by M. Ph. A. Guye. It is shown theoretically that if the schematic tetrahedron is slightly deformed, the rotatory powers of a homolo- gous series of bodies must pass through a maximum.—On the rotatory powers of the ethers of valeric and glyceric acids, by MM. Ph. A. Guye and L. Chayanne. This paper contains experimental evidence supporting the conclusions of the previous paper.—Heat of formation of some derivatives of indigo, by M. _R. d’Aladern.—On right-handed licareol, by M. Ph. Barbier.— A new apparatus for measuring the intensity of perfumes, by M. Eugéne Mesnard. The instrument is based upon the property of essence of terebenthine of extinguishing the phosphorescence of phosphorus when mixed with the surrounding air in a certain minimum proportion. The phosphorescent body is a small piece of starch dipped into a concentrated solution of phosphorus in carbon bisulphide. After once determining the quantity of essence necessary to extinguish phosphorescence, the quantity of essence contained in air may be ascertained by passing sufh- cient of the air through the apparatus to produce extinction. This air is mixed with other air containing a known quantity of the essential oil or other perfume to be examined, and the odoriferous power of the latter is given by the quantity required to produce a ‘‘neutral”’ scent.—On the fertilisation of the Puc- cinicei, by M. Paul Vuillemin.—Magnesian chalk of the environs NO. 1235, VOL. 48] of Guise (Aisne), by M. H. Boursault.—On_ the ca Boundoulaou (Aveyron), by MM. E. A. Martel and Riviére.—On the utilisation of the waste products of the yard, by M. A. Muntz.—Mode of action of the substan duced by microbes upon the circulatory apparatus, b Charrin and Gley.—On a soluble derivative of B-naphth« MM. Dujardin-Beaumetz and Stackler.—On morbid © currencies in sulphate of quinine fevers, by M. Alcide T: BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIV Booxs.—Primitive Music) R. Wallaschek (Longmen ie with Siberian Savages: B. D. Howard (Longmans).—Nineteen Charts of t! of vor ser Cor —_ sro een pe — — Bc an » H. Collins (Potter).— Photography 1 — der Zoologie, new edition: Dr. R.+Hertwig (Jena, Peder —Das Kk Botanische Practicum fir Anfanger, new edition: Dr, E. epemssites (Je Fischer).—Die Pilzgarten einig: d ikanischer Ameisen: A. M6 (Jena, Fischer).—Smithsonian Meteorological Tables (Washingto the Chemistry of the Blood: L. C. Wooldridge (K. Paul).—Walks in Ardennes, new edition: edited by P. Lindley (London).—On E PO HE (Nutt). Pampuiets.—The Condition of the Western Farmer: A. F. ee eons ite of the Trustees of the South African M Cape Joon BE, Terremoto a Roma del 22 Gennaio, — Dr. G. none (Roma).—The Brighton Life Table: Dr. A. Ne Ime (Brig Die Medicinische Elect hnik und ihre Physikalischen Grundlagen : | I: L. Hoorweg (Leipzig, ae ier eres x das Norian oder O aurentian von Canada: F. D. Adams (Stuttgart, Koch).—Geometri Constructions for Cutting from a Cone of Revolution: E. A. Eng! Louis). Serrars,—Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and An yprean Socn athematical Socie June (Pai cem ber, . Band, 6 Heft i iladelphia).— Bulletin CONTENTS. PAG Electro Dynamics. By P.,D. . . .0gitygesee aes ee Captain Cook’s Journal..By Sir J. D. Hooker, — KCA1, FR Sincics 5 : I Our Book Shelf :— Fi j Miers and Crosskey: ‘‘ The Soil in Relation to ~ Hlealth ssa) Wee we Sie Oe es eee Michie and Harlow: ‘‘ Practical Astronomy.”—W. — oe 8 8 ee ee ew ek oe eee a we enc oe The Publication of Physical Papers.—James Swin- Sagacity in Horses.— William White. ...... Tercentenary of the Admission of William Harvey ~ to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge . . . Some Points inthe Physics of Golf. III. (With — Comet Finlay (1886 VII.) ... . Stars having Peculiar Spectra... 1... 2 5 The Sun’s Motion through Space. . .. ++. - An Ascending Meteor . (00.0. So sss eee The Satellites of Jupiter. . . . Mere Turacin: a Remarkable Animal Pigment containing Copper. By Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S. Artificial Immunity and Typhoid Fever . The Centenary of Gilbert White ........-)5 7 Interference Bands and their Applications, (With — Diagrams.) By Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S, . a see) eae Via Frost Freaks. (With Diagram.) . 1... ese e University and Educational Intelligence .....- Scientific Serial (6s... ae eden we oe eee Societies and Academies . ... . S65 ss see wee Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... er “. Ss NATURE 217 THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1893. GREAT BARRIER REEF OF AUSTRALIA. Great Barrier Reef of Australia; its Products and stentialities. By W. Saville-Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Inst. 387 pp., 64 pls. (London: W. H. Allen Co.,. Limited.) HE first thought that strikes one in glancing through | this magnificently illustrated volume is the dili- ence and skill of the author in photography and the nterprise of the publisher. Never before has a semi- cientific work been illustrated with such a wealth of lates. The illustrations will go far towards giving a istic impression of some of the beauties of coral seas 9 the untravelled, and will awaken many recollections happy hours of exciting shore collecting in those who ve waded on coral'reefs and peered over a boat-side at he edge of areef. ~ ‘The objects of the author in writing this book are set own in the Preface as being manifold—primarily to lace before the reading public generally, and the jentific world in particular, more extensive and accurate nformation about coral-reefs as represented by the argest existing coral structure. Another prominent urpose is to lead to the industrial development of the marvellous resources” of the Great Barrier Reef. The book commences with a detailed description f over forty photographs» of reefs and corals. These vill well repay careful study, and to some naturalists they ill be the most valuable portion of the work. The lustrations are unique for beauty, truthfulness,. and umber, and the descriptions are short and to the point. wo photographic plates and three sketches illustrate ome groups of corals on the reef at Vivien Point, hursday Island, of which measurements are given to rnish some data concerning the average rate of growth f the more important reef-forming species. The umerous plates of reef-scapes may possibly give, the apression that coral reefs always present such scenes f interest and beauty, but the reader must be “warned at it is only at low spring tides that he will see reefs s here photographed. At ordinary low tide the exposed ace of a reef is ugly and comparatively uninteresting, he amount of exposure to the fierce rays of a tropical n which some corals can withstand will be surprising to ny zoologists. Ina few cases a future zoologist wil] able to compare the ad interim growth or modification f areef by the landmarks which appear in certain of r. Saville-Kent’s photographs ; but, unfortunately, little nformation of this kind is given, and it is still more to be gretted that the aspect of the area photographed is not orded, there being no indication whether it is on the de of the steady south-east trade-wind or subject to ne calms and storms of the north-west monsoon. It ould further be of great interest if one knew why one eef or portion of a reef consisted almost solely of the -Madrepora, while Porites characterises another or mixed corals a third. general reader is provided with the indispensable nt of coral reefs, their general structure and theories NO. 1236, VOL. 48] : of origin. This consists largely of appropriate quotations from other writers. i The third chapter is devoted “to a consideration of the general structure and most probable mode of origin of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia,” the more notable features of the reef being described in order; beginning with the most southerly end. The view is enunciated “ that coral-reefs are produced in the tropics, not with relation so much to the intrinsic reef-con- structing properties of the specific coral polyps, but with relation to the rule that reef consolidation (or the amalgamation of coral débris into a more or less solid, coarse or fine, concrete, or into a finer-grained, compact limestone) is associated only with the rapid evaporation of the lime-saturated sea-water on ainter-tropical, tidally exposed, coral banks or beaches.” The presence of dead specimens of reef. corals in Moreton Bay suggests two questions. Why ‘did they not’ form reefs or reef-rock when they were abundant? and why have they now all but become extinct? - Mr. Saville-Kent answers the first question by suggesting that the temperature of Moreton Bay is insufficient to produce the requisite rapid evapora- tion, and the second by pointing out that the increasing size of the three large islands which hem in the. bay has of the Great Barrier Reef Mr. Saville-Kent has quoted largely from Jukes’ “ Voyage of the //y” and_ thus tinguished naturalist.. With regard to the question of subsidence and elevation, Mr. Saville-Kent found at many stations throughout the Barrier region (notably at Albany Pass, Cape York) large expanses of dead brittle coral in situ between high-water mark and the living banks. These beds of dead coral are now exposed to atmospheric influences which are antagonistic to coral growth with’ every ordinary springtide, and hence he concludes the general upheaval of the area on which it grew ; additional evidence is given from the shallowing of a bay in Magnetic Island, near Townsville. “Tt is difficult,” Mr. Saville-Kent adds, “ to associate the phenomena described inthe foregoing record with . any other than a movement of upheaval; but, accepting this as proven,*and premising for the nonce that the whole length and breadth of the Barrier region exhibited” a similar testimony” of emergence, the amount raised, a foot or two only, would be as nothing compared with the latitude of movement in one direction or the other that is required to account for the construction of the Barrier’s mass. Had the Great Barrier been fashioned during a prolonged epoch of upheaval, substantial . evidence of such movement would be yielded by the strata of the seaboard which it skirts; but of this there is virtually none.” “Thus Mr. Saville-Kent supports the conclusion arrived at by Prof. Jukes ‘and by the’ Reviewer that this is not an area of recent elevation? the few big breaches in the Barrier’s outer rampart are opposite large estuaries, though at the present time too remote frem them to be influenced by their streams. These are to-be expected on the subsidence hypothesis. Mr. Saville-Kent further€laborates an argument for this theory on the fauna of Tasmania and N@éw.Guinea being L o latterly tended to freshen the bay in flood time, and this . has led to the destruction of the corals. In his description endorses the accuracy of the observations of that dis- : Mr. Saville-Kent refers to the well-known fact that All of ‘ 2, a a 218 NATURE [Juty 6, 18¢ essentially similar to that of the respective neighbouring coasts of Australia and a more remote connection between New Zealand and Queensland through “ Wallace’s Bank.” Mr. C. W. De Vis has recently identified some fossil bird bones from the Darling Downs (Queensland) as belonging to a true Moa (Dinmornis Queenslandi@ n.sp.) to an allied genus (Dromornis n.g.) and to a near ally of the Kiwi (Wetapteryx bifrons g.sp. nn.). This discovery is of such importance that it requires corroboration before it can be finally accepted by zoologists. It is unfortunate that on p. 137 occurs a foot-note in which the native name of an island in Torres Straits, “ Moa,” is associated with that of the extinct New Zealand bird. On the preceding page Dr. Wallace is quoted as saying that the complete disseverance of Australia and New Zealand was probably in the earlier portion of the tertiary period at least, and previous to this Mr. Saville-Kent himself says that “the very conspicuous racial distinctions between the human inhabitants of New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands, and the Australian Continent, indicate that the separation of the districts must have been accomplished in pre- historic times, probably in a middle tertiary epoch.” While this statement of Mr. Saville-Kent’s disproves his own suggestion, it cannot pass unchallenged. The Torres Straits Islanders are Papuans with probably, in some cases, an admixture of North Queensland blood, but anyhow, migration across Torres Straits is easy enough and does not require a land connection. “Corals and Coral Animals” have a chapter to themselves. The classification adopted is not to be commended, and the term Zoantharia is restricted to the Zoanthez, contrary to universal usage. Several new species of Actiniaria are,described in general terms, and one new genus, Physobrachia, is erected for a polyp having “ bladder-like apices of the tentacles.” There is no evidence to show that this is a sea-anemone at all, The most remarkable form collected by Mr. Saville-Kent is a zoanthean which grows on an erect zigzag tube, about which there is a division of opinion; some zoologists regard it as an example of commensalism between an unknown annelid and a zoanthus, but Mr. Saville-Kent believes that the tube is secreted by the zoanthean, which he names Acrozoanthus Australie. The Reviewer finds that anatomically and histologically the polyp agrees precisely with other species of the genus Zoanthus. A rough sketch is given of Platyzvanthus mussoides Nov. gen. n.sp. which is insufficient for accurate determination - this is almost certainly a Hexactinian and not a Zoanthean, and probably it is Rhodactzs bryoides H. and S., or an allied species. The section on the Madreporaria, or stony corals, is excellent, and the photographic illustrations of expanded corals are very valuable. The colours of the different species are described, and attention is drawn to the fact that not only may the same species, but in one case even the same individual varies in colour. The description of the Alcyonaria is valuable when confined to observations on the reef. The chapter on “ Pearl and Pearl-shell Fisheries” chiefly intended for those interested in the commercial aspects of this important fishery, the average annual value of which is stated to be £69,000. The profits of the fishery are made out of the pearl-shell only, for though pearls, and often very valuable ones too, are frequent, NO. 1236, VOL. 48] they largely form the illegal perquisites of th crews. Mr. Saville-Kent distinguishes two s large white shell Meleagrina margaritifera an black-edged form which he names M. nigro- Mr. Saville-Kent has proved that it is possible plant living pearl-shell, and his experiments oper prospect of the “shellers,” as they are local forming nursery beds to which undersized she transferred to be again taken up when they a grown. The shells from these beds could be under the superintendence of the owners, who secure the pearls. The author is inclined to th under favourable conditions a period not exceed years suffices for the shell to attain to the m size of eight or nine inches in diameter, and that’ shells of 5lb. or 6lb. weight per pair may Ne the or of five years’ growth. The account of the “ Béche-de-Mer Fidherie: of the most workmanlike sections of the book. first time we can associate such terms as “ pric! or ‘teat fish” with their appropriate scientifi Twenty species of Holothurians are popularly diag of which six are described as being new spezi only the fully-grown forms are found on the the reefs there is little fear of ne over-fishing. A long chapter is devoted to “ Oysters énd Fisheries of Queensland,” which is of more | commercial than of general interest. Several and numerous varieties of Ostrea are =— figured. Two coloured plates and six photographic a trate the chapter on ‘‘ Food and Fancy Fishes will be of considerable value to local naturalists new species are recorded. The concluding chapter is entitled « Poten and summarises in an able manner the vast ston and wealth which is furnished by the Great Ba and is still unappropriated. There can be but little doubt if a serious fishe dugong is undertaken that interesting sirenian become exterminated. It is not very evident “Great Barrier Reef sea-serpent” (Chelosauria L n. gen. and sp.) should be placed among the pote of the Great Reef. A detailed description and ske are given of a supposed enormous Chelonian, w like head and fish-like tail. Dr. Giinther, it appe offered “ £100 for the entire animal, £50 for p fair price for the head and neck sun-dried.” sive fishery at these prices—for doubtless other would be willing to purchase—may perhaps be as a possible, if improbable, source of wealth, The author puts in a plea for a federal A marine biological station at Thursday Island Straits, which should “look for the main m foundation and maintenance to Australian support and Australian private liberality.” The would like to add his testimony to the suita Thursday Island for this purpose. It is conveni every point of view, being easy of access, with mail and a telegraph, a safe anchorage, exten prolific reefs almost entirely surrounding the islan inexhaustible reefs in the vicinity. Mr. Saville-Kent NATURE 219 , as do also the series of papers by various experts, | are now being published by the Royal Dublin ty, that the fauna is one of extreme interest. A - biological laboratory is one of those institutions h, beyond all question, the interests of pure ) interwoven that there need not be any hesitation wing and supporting it by the most ‘practical “a individual or Government. [hereis evidence inthe shape of numerous misprints that author produced the book under stress of time. The matic zoologist has a right to complain of Mr. Saville- ’s practice of naming imperfectly diagnosed genera nd species. In hardly a single case is there an adequate escription of a new species. Being himself a zoologist, should have been more considerate to his colleagues. It i is difficult to criticise the sixteen coloured plates ch conclude the volume. They contain over two red colour sketches, selected out of a much larger rfrom the authors note books. This being so, may regard them as colour memoranda, taken on the and grouped as plates. Very few of them can be ded as drawings of the animals, since, as a rule, ritical points of form are omitted. The reviewer as checked the colours of some of the animals depicted y sketches made by himself of the same species, and finds that Mr. Saville-Kent’s colouration, or rather ne lithographer’s rendering of it, is accurate enough, there is no doubt that the plates are very crude. nartistic as they are, they serve to emphasise the glorious una of the coral seas. ALFRED C. HADDON. BACTERIOLOGY FOR THE PUBLIC. Manual of Bacteriology. By A. B. Griffiths, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., F.C.S. (Heinemann’s Scientific Handbook es). Small crown 8vo. Illustrated. (London: ‘Heinemann, 1893.) number of bacteriological text-books is still com- paratively so small, that each successive endeavour ) expound the principles of this new science attracts more eneral attention than is occasioned by the appearance of milar treatises in sciences which have already an abun- ance of such works in circulation. It might be supposed t because bacteriology is a science of such recent growth auld be more easy to prepare a text-book of bacteri- , than one dealing with a science the literature of hich extends over a much longer period of time. Asa hatter of fact, however, this is by no means the case, p Bepably in no other experimental science has so h to be taken on trust, owing to the impossibility of sati g investigations under precisely similar conditions, can = done in the case of physics and chemistry ; < hilst | again from the very juvenility of the science of acteriology, there has not yet been sufficient time and nity for many of even the most important points mly established through repeated observation by ent investigators. On this account there is the scope for the exercise of the judgment and critical y by the author of a work on bacteriology, and we f opinion that a heavy load of responsibility rests the shoulders of a writer who undertakes to present public a worthy treatise on this important subject. NO. 1236, VOL. 48] It is doubtless an appreciation of this grave responsi- bility which has deterred many well-qualified persons both in this country and on the Continent from publish- ing works dealing with more than comparatively small portions of this elastic and comprehensive science. The writer of the work before us plunges confidently into the task before him without even a moment’s misgiving or hesitation ; his preface does not contain a word which might betray any fear that the pages which are to follow may fail to do justice to “the important and far-reaching subject of bacteriology.’’ The table of contents indicates that the information to be imparted in this little book of 348 small crown octavo pages,which are well printed inclear large type, is to be of a most comprehensive character. We find first, an introductory chapter, upon which follow the ‘bacteriological laboratory and its fittings,” “methods of cultivating, staining, and mounting microbes,” “origin, classification, and identification of microbes,” “biology of microbes,” “‘ infectious diseases and microbes,” “microbes of the air,” “ microbes of the soil,” “microbes of water,” “ptomaines and soluble ferments,’ and lastly “ germicides and antiseptics.” To deal with this extensive material in such a small compass obviously requires that a very careful selection should be made of the matter which is to hand, in connection with each of the above divisions of the subject. The method of selection to be adopted in such a case must of course depend upon the kind of reader for which the book is intended, but this is a point on which we are not informed in the text nor on which have we been able to arrive at any conclusion from a perusal of the pages. The idea that the book is designed for the general reader is negatived by the fact that there occur long catalogues of bacterial species and of bacterial products, together with technical details which can only serve to increase the chaotic bewilderment in which the minds of most persons find themselves with regard to the subject of micro-organisms in general. On the other hand, for the serious student of bacteriology the information is as inadequate when detail is essential as it is discursive and wandering when terseness and precision are required. The entire work bears the impress of the hasty and pre- mature compilation of undigested reading. We come to this conclusion, as it is almost impossible to believe that the author is so ignorant as some of his statements would indicate. Thus it would be uncharitable to believe that the author had written the following passage except by oversight: ‘*Microbes may be simply divided into aérobic and anaérobic forms. Baczllus spinosus and Bacillus edematis maligni are examples of the former ; while Micrococcus candicans and Bacillus subtilis are examples of the latter kind.” We feel sure that Dr, Griffiths is as well aware as the most elementary student of bacteriology that the Bacillus subtilis is a type of the aérobic and the Bacillus edematis maligni a type of the anaérobic microbe. In the special description of Bacillus subtilis which follows in a later chapter we should be interested to learn on what authority this organism is described as “the hay-fever microbe.” The same paragraph furnishes another excellent illustration of the kind of loose illogical writing in which this book abounds ; thus, it is stated that “ the action of ozone on both the spores and bacilli is that they are completely 220 NATURE [Jury 6, 18 6 destroyed; this fact explains the absence of this and other microbes in the air at sea—the latter containing an appreciable amount of ozone.” Innumerable experiments have surely proved that the absence of microbes in sea- air would be anticipated on mechanical grounds quite irrespectively of the possible subsidiary effect of ozone. We believe that Dr. Griffiths is primarily a chemist, and a number of pages in this work are devoted to the chemical products elaborated by micro-organisms; in this connection we are informed that yeasts secrete a soluble enzyme which converts maltose into dextrose and levulose (szc), nor is it easy to believe that this is a /apsus plume, for the equation is given with the explanatory names beneath the formule, thus CoH 920 1+ H20 = Cg A206 + CoH 2%. [maltose] [dextrose] [levulose] Dr. Griffiths devotes a number of pages to the subject of hydrophobia, but in connection with the hitherto undis- covered vital cause of this malady we hardly think that either the public or the scientific world will feel much interest in the author’s statement that he has “ observed a micrococcus in the saliva of a woman suffering from hydrophobia,” notwithstanding the categorical assurance which follows that “this microbe does not occur in healthy human saliva.” In dealing with the much-vexed subject of the etiology of pneumonia, the author refers only to the_pneumococcus of Friedlander which has long been regarded as an ineligible candidate for the distinction of being the specific cause of this disease, whilst of the far more probable diplococcus of Frankel there is no mention whatever, nor indeed of the uncertainty which surrounds the entire question. Similarly, in connection with the bacillus of typhoid fever we find no mention of the closely-allied Baczllus coli communis, nor does the author appear to be acquainted with any of the modern methods which have been resorted to for its diagnosis, but contents himself with copying a long passage from Gaffky’s original paper of 1886 in which the statement is made that the well- known potato-test serves to distinguish this microbe from all others. Indeed, the transcription of long passages from the works of other authors is a striking feature in this book, and inasmuch as such extracts are not - printed in different type, the reader must be ever on the alert for the small inverted comma, in order to know whether he has before him the words of Dr. Griffiths or those of some more or less distinguished authority. We do not think that any useful purpose would be served in pursuing this criticism further, nor should we have referred to as many points as we have done but that we have such strong reason to believe that the circulation of works of this kind among some sec- tions of the public is fraught with no little danger. It is by no means uncommon for persons without any special qualification whatever, but with plenty of cheap assurance and a smattering of informa- tion gleaned from semi-popular works like the one before us, to perambulate the country under the auspices of county councils and other equally competent bodies, and to deliver discourses or even write books on sanitary and hygienic subjects; so that if the sources from which NO. 1236, voL. 48] these retailers of third-hand knowledge draw ar vously inaccurate, it requires but little imagina realise how serious may be the consequences. __ THERMODYNAMICS. Die Thermodynamtk in der Chemie. Von J. Laar. Mit einem Vorwort von Prof. Dr. J. H. Hoff. Pp. xvi.,and 196. (Amsterdam and_ Ls 1893.) ia Twenty years ago the first applica second law of thermodynamics to the chemical phenomena was published by Horst shortly afterwards the whole subject was inve by Willard Gibbs, but in a manner so general thi work failed to gain the recognition of physical cl for many years. Within the last decade, howe gress in this direction has been very rapid, and branches or special aspects of chemical thermod have received exhaustive treatment at the h van ’t Hoff, Le Chatelier, Duhem, Planck, and But if we except the novel and brilliant expositi new edition of Ostwald’s’ “ Lehrbuch der allz Chemie,” a general survey of the modern app of thermodynamics to chemistry has hitherto been ing, and it is to supply this want that Dr. van written the present volume. The first half of the book is concerned with thermodynamical principles and their application a behaviour of gases and saturated vapours. The ¢ tions from the laws of perfect gases are consider fully—indeed, at inordinate length. As Prof. van’ says in his preface, the work is alternately text-] memoir. Now, while this method of treatment have its advantages, it entails an utter absence of bi between the various parts of the work. It appe: instance, out of all proportion to devote a fifte of the whole book to the discussion of the formul the vapour pressure of a liquid. After making hi: through thirteen pages of infinite series, di equations, and determinants, the student f when judiciously modified, van der Waals’s equat be made to express exactly the relationship bet temperature and pressure of a vapour in contact liquid—a result (to the chemist, at least) quite mensurate with the trouble involved in arriving It is the second half of the work which is of interest to students of physical chemistry. Begi1 with the fundamental entropy principle of Gibb: author develops the various equilibrium e and gives a general proof of the important d log K/€T=Q/RT?*. Then come applications cases of dissociation and balanced action. The rature of transformation” of phases of consta position and the “triple point” are next fully dis and the last portion of the book is occupied behaviour of dilute solutions. Here the new th osmotic pressure and electrolytic dissociation are from the thermodynamical standpoint, many im) constants being calculated afresh. The depression < freezing point and of the vapour pressure in solution well as the question of affinity constants, all recei Ly 6, 1893] NATURE 22I >treatment. In discussing neutralisation, however, hor has fallen into a serious error. On page 178 d in italics the statement that “when a base and acid are mixed in equivalent proportions in aqueous ion they are transformed entirely, no matter how they may be, into a salt and water.” This is ubtedly@rroneous. A solution of potassium cyanide, xample, is never neutral, but always contains free and free prussic acid. The author has been led this error by assuming in the construction of his tions that water is a perfect non-electrolyte, ze. is at all dissociated into ions. ‘The chief defects of the book are the want of propor- ion already alluded to, and the too bare formal mode sf treatment. Fewer formulz and more text would better ait the requirements of the average student. The ypography and clear arrangement of the mathematical | ections of the work are admirable. It is to be regretted, however, that the text has not had the advantage of svision by a German proof-reader. The Dutch com- ‘or is presumably responsible for some quaint speci- 1ens of German, and oscillates in his spelling between iquated forms like “ dasz,” “ nahmlich,” and painfully ohonetic renderings such as “grafisch” and “ Kwadrat- vurzel.’? The book may be confidently recommended to those who already know the elements of thermodynamics and ure desirous to learn the applications of that science to he problems of general chemistry. J. W. OUR BOOK SHELF. Discussion of the Precision of Measurements. Ty Silas W. Holman. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner, and Co., Ltd., 1892.) His book deals with a subject that becomes more mportant every year, and its applications in nearly every science are both numerous and necessary. That our means of accurate measurement have reached a very fine stage, which is difficult to exceed, at any rate to a great xtent, is well known, but results can be made of far greater value when subjected to a thorough discussion. In astronomy one may, perhaps, say that such discus- sions are carried through to their fullest extent and solving problems by the methods of least squares—a means of obtaining the most accurate values for the quantities sought after—is the rule and not the exception. Yo be able to find out the precision with which measure- ments have been made, whether by means of a yard- measure, the circle of a meridian instrument, or any other neans, is at all times of great interest to the student of jience, and the present work is intended especially as a ‘ourse of study to engineers and for students of pure sci- mces, to present ina clear manner the principles on which such questions as, What accuracy is desired in the result ? Vith what accuracy must each individual measure be obtained? and How trustworthy is the final result when obtained ? &c., can be answered. The material here used is, as the author informs us, the outcome of several teaching of the subject, and a study of the volume indicates that he has presented it in a form that il commend itself to its readers. The book is divided ly into three parts. The first deals with the treat- t of direct measurements, the second with indirect, the third with the determination of the best magni- sofcomponents. Inthe beginning the various sources | NO. 1236, vot. 48] of error, in different kinds of measurement, are pointed out, and the reader is made familiar with determinate and indeterminate errors, deviations, general laws of deviations, &c., terminating with two fully-worked out examples relating to the balance and voltmeter calibra- tion. Part ii. gives in a clear way the methods of procedure with regard to indirect measurements, several examples being interpolated illustrative of the rules de- scribed. The third and last partis devoted to the solution of a certain class of problems, which deal more with the use of the instruments with which the observations are mae, than with the observations themselves. Thus, for instance, in using a tangent galvanometer to find the best angle of the needle which will give the least errors of reading. This and several other problems, taking the cases when there are one, two, three, or more components, are thoroughly worked out. The book concludes with a series of illustrative examples. Traité Pratique d’Analyse Chimigue et de Recherches Toxicologiques. Par G. Guérin. (Paris: Georges Carré, 1893.) TuIs book differs in several important respects from ordinary works on analytical chemistry. The first three parts are concerned with the ordinary processes of qualitative analysis—wet and dry reactions. the separation of group precipitates, &c. As special fea- tures of these sections it may be noted that coloured re- presentations of borax beads and of beads of microcosmic salt are supplied, and that the reactions of the rare metals and of acids such as bromic, selenic, butyric, malic, meconic, &c., which are but seldom introduced into text- books, are fully discussed. After a short section dealing with the qualitative analysis of gaseous substances, the author deals with spectroscopic methods of analysis. In this part are described the various forms of spectroscope, and the modes of obtaining and observing both emission and absorption spectra. A table is given of the characteristic rays in the emission spectra of the different elements arranged in order of their wave-lengths. In connection with absorption spectra, chlorophyll, salts of didymium and erbium, potassium permanganate, and blood, includ- ing the treatment of blood-stains, are considered. Both emission and absorption spectra are illustrated by means of coloured charts. © Part vi. which is by far the most extensive, is devoted to toxicology. The conduct of chemico-legal inquiries in cases of suspected poisoning by arsenic, phosphorus, hydrocyanic acid, chloroform, and chloral are first given in detail. Then are considered the general reactions and, where devised, the modes of separation of the vegetable alkaloids and the alkaloids of animal origin, the ptomaines and leucomaines. This section is com- pleted by a full and historical account of the charac- teristic chemical properties and physiological action of the principal alkaloids. Quantitative methods only find a place in the last part of the book, where the author introduces the examination of potable and mineral waters, and the estimation of clays, irons, and steels. In this part the apparatus and methods used in the bacteriological study of water are also included. An appendix relating to the preparation and concentration of reagents and a full index are supplied. The prominence given to the reactions of the rare metals, the introduction of spectroscopic methods, and in particular the chapters on toxicology, make the work a valuable addition to the literature on analysis. It may be noted, however, that when dealing with the constitu- tion of substances like the alkaloids, the author occasion- ally uses formule which are as yet far from being definitely established. 222 NATURE [Jury 6, 1 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The E.itor 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. Identification. PERMIT me to make in your columns a few remarks on the following topic :— It is now well known that the Council of the British Association have lately memorialised the Secretaries of State for the Home Department, Army, Navy, India, and the Colonies, expressing an opinion that the Anthropometric methods for Identification in use in France and elsewhere, deserve serious inquiry, as to their efficiency, the cost of their maintenance, their general utility, and the propriety of introducing them, or any modification of them, into the Criminal Department of the Home Office, into the Recruiting Departments of the Army and Navy, or in the Indian and Colonial Administration. In connection with this suggested inquiry I have some very recent information to give as regards the inclusion of finger prints among the records that almit of being usefully employed in der7/z/- /onage. Thisconvenient term has been coined to express the prin- ciple of the French system, invented and directed by Alphonse Bertillon, of s > classifying anthropometric records that each can be sorted into its own natural group, just as each surname falls into its alphabetical place in’ a common directory. There may be many Smiths, but every Smith will be found among the Smiths and not among the Browns. There may be doubt about the exact spelling, and the Smythes will have also to be searched, but the range of uncertainty as to where to look for the required name will always be narrowly limited. So it is with the ordinary anthropometric records ; so also it is with finger prints, which are as yet unused in the French system. Those who have read my book on the subject will recollect that the index letters for finger prints are limited to a, ~, 7, or w, as the case may be, for the two fore- fingers, and a, /, w, for the remaining eight digits. These produce such combinations of ten letters as xa/, w// ; wi, 7/, which are ar- ranged alphabetically. The test of the efficiency of this system lies, first in the sureness with which different (instructed) per- sons assign the same index letters to the same indifferently printed set, and secondly in the degree to. which the sets are differentiated by their classification. Now I possess and have examined some thousands of well printed sets of students and others at my laboratory ; but. until very recently I had no large collection of z//-printed sets of prisoners. This want has been at length supplied in the following mgnner, by which I am able to confirm previous conclusions. Lieut.-Col. Surgeon Hendley, whose energetic furtherance of science and art at Jeypore is well known, was in charge last year of the Maharajah’s magnificent contribution to the Imperial Institute, and, having visited my laboratory, became much interested in finger prints, arid promised to send me a collection taken from the gaols of Jeypore. It arrived not very many days ago, too late to be alluded to in my recently issued supple- mentary chapter on the Decipherment of Blurred Finger{Prints. It contains nearly a thousand cards, each card bearing the impressions of all the ten digits of a different person. They were printed by pressing the finger first on the pad used for inking the office stamp and then on the card. This method, as I have recently had occasion to point out, gives far inferior results to that of printers’ ink. So far as the Jeypore col- lection shows favourable results, a similar collection printed in the way always used in my laboratory would give still better ones. ; Consequently, the Jeypore collection is particularly serviceable for arriving at moderate conclusions ; moreover, their number is sufficiently large to justify them. My assistant marked the appropriate index letters on each card, and I compared them with my own independent determinations, The result was very favour- able ; our readings practically agreed, and although most of the prints were faint, or blurred, or otherwise imperfect, it was possible to classify nearly all of them, This affords a strong confirmation to my formerly expressed belief that the method of finger prints must, in time, come into use as an important and supplementary aid to dertillonage. The process of taking the impressions is ex- tremely simple after it has been learnt and the small but neces- sary equipment is at hand. At the same time, there is no NO. 1236, VOL. 48] Philosophical Magazine refuse to present gratuitous copie: undressing necessary, and nothing else of a humiliati to be undergone during the brief act of making the p I shall not here enter upon the unique and ext power of finger prints in enabling us to determine, of age and growth, whether two clear impressions ferent dates, were or were not made by the same fir does not depend on that general pattern of the print — the basis of classification, but upon the numerous other details in the ridges that compose the pattern: has been fully di-cussed and proved in my two books, nothing new to say, except that in my laboratory I upwards of 300 complete duplicate sets to work upon, members cf each of which were taken at times | by various intervals ranging between one and th These intervals are too short to be of much value, bu lection will increase in importance as the years a farther repetitions of prints from the same fingers s been made, ee My letter is already long, so perhaps you will permii another occasion to recur to the action of the Cou nc! British Association, and to indicate the character of the ‘ tion regarding the efficiency, cost, and utility of derdi that might be gained with little trouble officially, but w almost beyond the reach of any private person to obtai Francis G The Publication of Physical Papers. Mr. SWINBURNE in his letter on this subject has < to recognise the existence of a society which is older a as important as the Physical Society, I mean the Mathematical Society.” bs Gets rea For reasons which it is unnecessary to enter into, I an impression has unfortunately got abroad that the Mathematical Society is an institution which exists the advancement of fare mathematics. No greater be made ; for whatever may have been the case in t days of the society, the council for some years past hat fully alive to the importance of doing everything th encourage mathematical physics, and to induce j whether members of the society or not, to communica on mathematical physics. In short, the policy of th at the present time is to endeavour to hold the balance between the two branches of mathematics, and not to the one more than the other. oo : The policy of the society is still further exemplifn i fact that on the last two occasions the De Morgan been awarded alternately to a mathematical physicist pure mathematician; and during the discussion | place in connection with the last award to Prof. K members of the council expressed a hope that th would be followed in future years, ; # A scientific newspaper like NATURE is scarcely suit publication 7 extenso of papers relating to mat physics ; but it may be well to point out that the Mathematical Society presents contributors of : twenty-five gratuitous copies, whereas the proprietors remunerate contributors in any way whatever. Moreove: Proceedings of the Society can be purchased by the whilst (according to Mr. Swinburne) those of the Society cannot. Also abstracts of papers read at the of the London Mathematical Society can always, wishes it, be published in NATURE, and can thus be brought before the notice of the scientific public, _ It will thus be seen that the London Mathemati offers greater advantages to contributors than the Society or the Phzlosophical Magazine; and when thi once recognised I venture to hope that physicists will n aloof from the Society in the way that many of | hitherto done. AL Be A Simple Rule for finding the Day of the Wee sponding to any given Day of the Month and Mr. H. W. W., in Nature, vol. xvii. p. 509, simple rule for finding the day of the week correspo any given date. It seems that this rule could be mad more simple. Thus, let A = number of the given year. B = number of the day in the year. aa C = number of leap years from A.D, 1 to the beginnin ILY 6, 1893 | NATURE 223 given year—viz. (A—1)+4, neglecting the remainder. hese numbers together, and from the total subtract D = the of secular years, which were ordinary years (100, 200, &c.). The sum is then divided by 7, and the remainder lay of the week. nple: June 18, 1815. 1815 + 169 + 453—14 = 2423 + 7. mainder=1. Therefore the day is Sunday. “method holds good for any century according to the rian Calendar. For the Julian reckoning, the rule is the only we must omit the number D, and write — 2 in its . The rule is then good without any change for any a . xample : Oct. 14, 1066. 1066 + 287 + 266— 2 = 1617~ 7. remainder = o = 7th day, Saturday. C. Braun, schein, Bohemia, June 15. The Fundamental Axioms of Dynamics, Pror. Lopce (NATURE, p. 174) maintains, in opposition to my correction, that your report of his recent paper on dynamical axioms was accurate in making the following statement :— . MacGregor objects to the author’s definition of energy as me given to ‘work done,’ and contends that this defini- assumes conservation.” He cites in proof the first two s of my paper in the February number of the Phil. Mag. sé pages, however, contain no reference to this definition, discussion of his definition of energy as the effect of work The definition of energy as a name given to work done scussed on the fourth page, where the following will be ind :—‘‘ In asecond version of the above argument Newton’s ird law and contact action are the only assumptions made... he definition of energy in this argument is quite different from that of the earlier paper :—‘ Energy is that which a body oses when it does work ; and it is to be measured as numeri- cally equal to the work done.’ There is here no reference to ; -power. Loss of energy is simply a synonym for work by, and gain of energy for work done on.” J. G. MacGREGor. Society, Edinburgh, June 23. Artistic Rows of Elms, In your Notes,p. 182, June 22, you say that ‘‘a correspondent ; as know where to find any celebrated and alae bakes: ys of elms within about thirty or forty miles of Londo.” he will travel down to Sittingbourne, which is about forty- miles by rail, and five miles less by road, from London, n see some fine elms on the south and west bounds of the n Rectory Pastures, locally known as the Park. southern toll of elms is a triple row about 130 paces in the western toll of elms is on Gaze Hill, and is a double out 212 paces in length. These elms must have been before this century. Being on elevated land they are n from considerable distances in the neighbourhood. arly enough they do not belong tothe gl K tile ae be $= 46 0 494 a= 5358046 log. a = 0°5473335 12h, M.T. Faris. 1893 R.A. app. Decl. app. ‘ a“ ‘ a“ July 6 3 26 58°9 +16 49 2°9 7 31 39°4 17 8 33°7 8 cas 36 I9°1 17 27 33°! 9 Bs 4° 57°9 17 46 I'0 10) in 45 35°9 18 3 57°! Ir tis 50 12°9 Of 18 21 21°3 12 oes 54 48°9 ey 18 38 13°! 13 of 3 59 23°38 ee 18 54 32'8 A BricuT CometT?—In a note under this heading which appeared in these columns on June 22, we gave an interpreta- tion of a telegram from Kiel to one of the German Observa- tories. The message ran: ‘‘ From Boston probably bright comet photograph, Lewis, 5 June, 09571 ; Boston 26423, 07558, 43552; 12 June, 10043; Boston 27119, 06904, 44066. Ver- batim ventilate unpliable.” Unfortunately, after having translated the code on a separate sheet of paper, we set down the Boston times as the right ascensions, an error often liable to occur when one is used to reading right ascensions in hours, minutes, and seconds, and not in degrees of arc. This telegram was distributed only to a few observatories in order to substantiate the discovery, or otherwise, before the announcement was openly made, and it was in the endeavour to present our readers with this piece of news as early as possible that this clerical error was made. STARS WITH REMARKABLE SPECTRA.—In Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 3171, Mr. T. E. Espin continues his list of stars with remarkable spectra (Astr. Mach. 3090), the number amounting now to 736. The places are all brought up ap- proximately to 1900. THE PERIOD OF ROTATION OF VENUS.—It was hoped that the pure telescopic observations of the surface of Venus would settle the question of the period of rotation, but the results show that we are not yet in possession of the absolute value as can be gathered from a comparison of Schiaparelli’s work with Trou- velot’s, and Léschardt’s and Wislicenus determinations. A method, apparently not yet tried, is that suggested by Egon von Oppolzer (Astr. Nach, 3170), which involves the use of the spectroscope for the determination of the motion in the line of sight. By comparing the spectra of opposite points on the equator, he says it might probably be possible to determine the time of rotation. Cassini de Vico’s assumption involves a velocity for 240 NATURE [JuLy 6, 1893 and not the geographical equator, is really the dividing line between the currents of the northern and southern hemispheres. Paris. Academy of Sciences, June 26.—M. Leewy in the chair.— On the employment of Lagrange’s equations in the theory of impact and percussions, by M. Paul Appell.—Theoretical cal- culation of the inferior contraction in weirs with thin walls and sheets free below, when this contraction attains its greatest values ; with experimental verifications, by M. J. Boussinesq.— Formation of natural phosphates of aluminium and iron ; phe- nomena of fossilisation, by M. Armand Gautier. Aluminium phosphate was formed in the Minerva grotto by the action of ammonium phosphate, resulting from the destruction of a bank of guano, upon a subjacent layer of hydrargilite. This action is easily reproduced experimentally. It is even possible to form a small quantity of aluminium phosphate by the prolonged action of ammonium phosphate upon kaolin, Iron phosphates are produced by the action of ammonium phosphate upon spathic iron ore. This is probably the usual origin of vivianite. It is shown that the simultaneous formation of am- monia, sulphuretted hydrogen, and other products of slow bac- terian fermentation, with the action of the air dissolved in water, gives rise, in strata at the same time calcareous and fer- ruginous, to the simultaneous production of lime phosphates and of pyrites.—Note by M. Daubiée accompanying the pre- sentation, in the name of its authors, of the geological map of European Russia.— Observations of the planet Charlois (1893 Z) made with the 14-inch equatorial of the Bordeaux Observa- tory by M. L. Picart.-—On the maximum modulus which a determinant can attain, by M. Hadamard.—Experimental determination of the constant of universal attraction, and of the mass and density of the earth, hy M. Alphonse Berget.—On the third principle of energetics, by M. H. Le Chatelier. The laws of the conservation of mass, of momentum, of quantity of electricity, of the centre of gravity, &c., can be embodied in a single law as follows: The individual ‘‘ energy capacities” of an isolated system are constant, except that of heat (entropy) which increases in irreversible transformations. This ‘‘ energy capacity,” so termed by Ostwald, is made up of several factors of the type of those enumerated above.— On the employment of mercury in potential equalisers by flow, by M. G. Gouré de Villemontée.—Research on the dielectric constants of some biaxial crystals, by M. Ch. Borel. The principal constants of five rhombic and ten clinorhombic substances were determined by finding their axes of polarisation and measuring their periods of oscillation in a uniform electric field, and also measuring the attraction along each axis of polarisation. The crystals were cut in the shape of spheres. The attraction method was like that used by Boltzmann, except that his bifilar balance was replaced by a unifilar quartz fibre balance. Most of the sub- stances examined were double sulphates. A redetermination of the constants for rhombic sulphur showed a closer agreement with Maxwell’s law than Boltzmann’s results. —On a new method of directly transforming alternating into direct currents, by M. Charles Pollak. — On the combinations of oxalic acid with titanic and stannic acids, by M. E. Pechard.— Researches on the chlorosulphides of arsenic and anti- mony, by M. L. Ouvrard.—Action of carbonic oxide upon sodammonium and potassammonium, by M. A. Joannis.—On the combinations of boron bromide with the bromides of phos- phorus, by M. Tarible.—On the action of zinc and magnesium on metallic solutions and on the estimation of potash, by MM. A. Villiers and Fr. Borg.—Observations on a marine miocene randannite of the Limagne d’Auvergne, by M. Paul Gautier.— The duration of excitability of the nerves and muscles after death is much greater than is generally believed, by M. A. d’Arsonval. This may be shown by means of the myophone, a kind of microphone arranged so as to indicate small muscular contractions. The instrument gives indications of muscular excitability in a rabbit even ten hours after death._—Remarks on M. d’Arsonval’s paper, by M. Brown-Séquard. The fact thata muscle under the influence of complete cadaveric rigidity, re- maining perfectly inert under the influence of the strongest im- pulses provoking contraction, is capable of rhythmic motor actions when its nerve is excited, is one of the most interesting dis- coveries in the physiology of nerves and muscles.—Sketch of the principal anatomo-pathological types of adult chronic gastritis, by M. Georges Hayem.—Observations on ice, made during the cruise of Za Manche, by M. G. Pouchet. : NO. 1236, VOL. 48] BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED, : Bcoxs.—Elements of Psychology: Prof. J. M. Baldwin (Macmillan).— _ Everybody’s Guide to Music: J. Booth on).—A Handbook on the © Steam-Engine: H. Haeder, translated by H. H. P. Powles (C. te —Murray’s Handbook—Switzerland, Savoy, Piedmont, 18th edition (Mur- — ray).—University Correspondence College Calendar, 1392-93 (London).— — Worked peony in Co-ordinate Geometry (Clive).—A Biog ical Index of British and Irish Botanists: J. Britten and G. S. Hone West, New- man).— Foundations of the Atomic Theory (Alembic Club Reprints, No. 2) Dalton, Wollaston, and Thomson (Edinburgh, Clay).—Im Reiche Lichtes, Sonnen, Zodiakallichte, Kometen: H. Gruson (Asher).—Hourly — Meteorological Observations made at the Madras Observatory, January, — 1856, to February, 1861 (Madras). : . PamPHLets.—Sir J. B. Lawes and the Rothamsted Experiments: C. M. Aikman (Glasgow).—U.S. Department of Agriculture: Reports of Observa- tions and E iments in the Practical Work of the Division (Washington).— — Traces of Glacial Man in Ohio: W. H. Holmes (Chicagv).—Are As: E Traces of Manin the Trenton Gravels: W. H. Holmes (Chicago).—Di e bution of Stone Implements in the Tide-Water Country : W. H. Holmes raion 7 anions and Proceedings of the Ealing Microscopical and Natural History Society for 1892 (Ealing),—Yorkshire Carboniferous R. Kidston (Leeds). uy SERIA1.s.—Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. v. new series (Williams and Norgate) —Journal of the Royal Mi c June (Williams and Norgate).—Journal of the Asiatic Society of Vol. Ixi. Part 2, No. 3. 1892 (Calcutta).—Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, third series, Vol. 4, Part 2, No. 14(Murray).—The Botanical Gazette, June (Bloomington, Ind.).—Nyt Magazin for Natur- videnskaberne, 33te Binds, 4de og, ste Hefte (Christiania).—L’Astronomie, — July (Paris)—Himmel und Erde, July (Berlin).—Journal of Botany, July _ (West, Newman). z A CONTENTS. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia. Alfred C, Haddon Bacteriology for the Public. ..... Thermodynamics, ByJ.W....... Our Book Shelf :— Sat Holman: ‘Discussion of the Precision of Measure- ments” .. . 2a Guérin: ‘‘Traité d’Analyse Chimique et de Recherches Toxicologiques” . . Letters to the Editor :— Identification.—Francis Galton, F.R.S. . The Publication of Physical Papers.—A. B. Basset, ‘PAGE By Prof. ; iia + ce (05028 ee eee MacGregor’. ori ioe s Artistic Rows of Elms.—Rev. Alex. Freeman . . Soaring of Hawk.—F. C. Constable. . Carrier Pigeons. —F, W. Headley ....... A Method of obtaining Glochidia.—G. P, Darnell- pore | 52 SaSeeet mimes aren Pe foya ° A New Statue of Arago. (/ilustrated.). .+..+. Modern Mycology. By Prof. H. Marshall Ward, PRs are as : Daubrée on the Geological Work of High-Pressure Gas Notes (oe eile Our Astronomica] Column :— Comet Finlay (1886 VII.) .... A Bright Comet?. . .. Stars with Remarkable Spectra. . ... . . ‘The Period of Rotation of Venus. ..... The Newall Telescope ... +. ee ++ Johnston’s Notes on Astronomy . +... + + The Hodgkins Fund Prizes .... +++ Geographical Notes Museums Association. I. Fiower, KC, 8. 2 RiSai oe ee Marine Biological Association 236 The Conditions Determinative of Chemical Change. _ By Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, EURLS. sc 3 The Succe: sion of Teethin Mammals ......- University and Educational Intelligence .... . Scientific Serial Societies and Academies. .......:+-. Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ...-. Pie aa 78S, ans Ra pi Mie hy . ae eae 0 as lees este 9 et a OP ee Cee as Waar ees fae ira at . oe) 8 8 fe eh ee eee ee Tit pe SER NY GRY Pape le See ee Saber ele Ya Gries es Le wre wy BOOS a) eee oe oe NATURE 241 THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1893. ORDER OR CHAOS? HE question as to how the vast mass of scientific : work which is now annually produced can be most readily sifted and utilised is a matter of pressing import- “ance. There are two opposite types of scientific men who fail in achieving all of which they are capable, because _t hey respectively pay too much and too little regard to the work of their predecessors and contemporaries. The one class are pre-eminently students. Masters of the past history of their subject, they are familiar also with its latest developments, but in the effort to know what others * have done, they not unfrequently exhaust energies which might have been better spent in adding to knowledge. _ Tosuch men a well-ordered scheme for bringing the re- - sults of research into a small compass would be a most x ‘yaluable boon. Of the other type are those who declare, “J never read ; if 1 want to know a thing it is easier to - find out all about it in the laboratory than in the library.” "Whether this is so or not is largely a question of tempera-- ment, but there isno doubt that as matters now stand the task of repeating work which has already been doneis often less distasteful and scarcely more wasteful of time and energy than the effort to discover if the question has been ; previously attacked, and if so, by whom and with what _ results. In providing for the future it must be remembered that the art of scientific investigation is now taught at many ‘educational centres. Students are turned out by the score who are not only capable of using ordinary laboratory instruments to good effect, but who have taken part in original research. Within a year or two they settle down as masters in schools, mechanics’ institutes, or ‘‘ Poly- ; technics,” or are absorbed in some branch of technology. Whether or no they are to spend their lives in a dull routine of teaching or testing, falling gradually further and further behind the times, or whether they are to aid or even to follow the advance of knowledge depends largely upon the facilities for acquiring information which are afforded to them. They leave the University, or the University College, with its well-stocked library, and forthwith their touch or want of touch with the oiter world depends almost entirely on the periodic literature of the science to which they have devoted themselves. Such persons constitute a class which has only lately _ come into existence, which willincrease largely in the future. Their wants must be considered if any improvement _ in the organisation of our scientific publications is taken inhand. It follows naturally from the spread of scientific education that the results of scientific study must be made more accessible than heretofore. It isnot only the leisured amateur of the distinguished Professor who “knows the ropes” who are to be provided with ready access to knowledge. If a man who does not believe that his student days are over when he leaves college has the right of ev/rée to some first-rate library, and is free from the calls of business at the hours when it is open, he may study modern science there. If he re- members or can easily find out in what volume of the “Phil. Trans.” or Wiedemann's Annalen the paper | NO. 1237, VOL. 48| he requires was published, if he or his bookseller knows who to write to for a separate copy, and lastly, if he can afford the money to buy it, it is no doubt possible even when far from libraries to bring together the literature of any given subject. It is, however, contended that in allthis there is an unnecessary waste of time and trouble, that there ought to be a recognised index, in which refer- ences to all that was known on any particular point at some given date are collected, and that each science should be served by some single journal or group of journals with clearly defined functions, in which all that-is required in the description and publication of the results of later inquiry may be found. The letter from Mr. Swinburne, which we published recently, thus raises a larger issue than that with which he chiefly dealt. The Royal Society has for some decades published an admirable name index to scientific literature. The task is rapidly growing beyond the powers of a single society, or indeed of a single country. It is only by the munificence of a wealthy and public-spirited Fellow that it can be carried on at all. Has not the time come when there should be an International Bureau, engaged on a full subject-catalogue, divided into separate parts devoted to different sciences so that the student of any one of them might obtain at a moderate cost an index to past research on his subject ? As regards the question chiefly discussed by Mr. Swin- burne, viz. the publication of papers on Physics, it may perhaps be laid down that there are three classes of papers which require different treatment. First are those which should be published in full. They are at present found in the Philosophical Transactions and Proceed- ings of the Royal Society, in the Philosophical Magazine, in the Proceedings of the Physical Society, in the Reports of the British Association, and in the Transactions of the Cambridge and the Manchester Philosophical Societies. To these may be added the journals of the principal Scotch and Itish societies, with which for the present we do not deal. The same author not unfre- quently publishes the same facts several times over in several of these periodicals, or publishes fragments of what is practically one series of researches in different journals. No greater state of chaos can be imagined. Where a man publishes depends not upon the con- venience of his readers, but upon whether his paper is ready in March for the Royal Society, or in September for the British Association, upon whether he cares more for a discussion at the “ Physical” than for the honours of large type and quarto pages in the Transactions ; upon whether he dreads anticipation, or is content to make the leisurely announcements which prove that he has the field to himself. The second class of papers are those which are only worth publication in abstract. The Royal Society occa- sionally adopts this form of publication, but other societies for the most part either accept or reject a paper 2% foto. The third class of paper is that which is a criti- cism or discussion of what is known rather than a description of an original research. At present these appear chiefly in the Philosophical Magazine and in our own columns. It is, however, with regard to the first , two classes that the need for organisation is most keenly 242 NATURE [Jury 13, 1893 felt,and as Mr. Swinburne points out, the attitude of the Royal Society is of prime importance, Many would regret if the Society to which the “ Principia” was com- municated ceased to publish physical work, and indeed if we know anything of the feelings of English Physicists, we do not think that such a catastrophe is probable. On the other hand, it is impossible not to recognise the fact that the Royal Society is an obstacle to the realisation of a satisfactory scheme for the publication of English physical papers. The Physical Society was founded because at that time the Royal Society offered no facilities for the experi- mental illustration of communications made to it. The meetings of both the elder and the younger society are fully occupied with the work now undertaken, in spite of the fact that the discussions at the meetings of the Royal Society are short. If to-morrow all English physicists were to agree to send all their work to the Royal Society there would not be time to discuss it, and many of the papers thus offered, though worthy of publication, would be regarded as not of the type which the Society affects. Yet if there is to be organisation, if order is to succeed chaos, it can only be either by a friendly struggle between the Royal and the Physical Societies, which would not be likely to lead to any definite result at present, or by still more friendly co-operation between them, by which all that is desired might be attained in a few months. That going forward or standing still are alike difficult is un- deniable. It is obvious that the conditions which apply to physics apply to other branches of natural know- ledge. We shall be glad if those most closely inter- ested will try to smooth the way by discussion in our columns. THE CAUSES OF GLACIAL PHENOMENA. The Glacial Nightmare and the Flood: a Second Appeal to Common Sense from the-Extravaganuce of some Recent Geology. By Sir Henry H. Howorth, K.C.LE., M.P., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c., &c. (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1893.) T is not uncommon to find that men who have devoted much time and careful research to the elucidation of complex phenomena have experienced all the phases of thought through which a succession of previous observers have passed in bringing the subject to its then present stage. This is more usual in certain classes of inquiry than in others, and in such it isclearly helpful to dwell upon the history of the development of opinion upon the question. It is giving, as it were, the embryology of an idea in order to enable the reader to understand better the adult form. In the volumes before us Sir Henry Howorth has rendered this good service to students of glacial phenomena, The title of the book is unfortunate and may prejudice many against what is really a scientific work of great value. Sir Henry first gives a sketch of the views of the earlier writers who referred all the phenomena in question to the action of water; then he explains how by degrees the agency of icebergs was called in ; how it was next con- sidered that larger glaciers would account for most of the NO. 1237, VOL. 48] facts ; and how, after that, it was supposed that they to be explained only on the hypothesis of great i extending south from either pole, even to the according to some. These ice-sheets must, of course, be sccoonease exceptional agencies, such as secularly-recurring ai nomical combinations, in connection with which thea discusses the obvious inference that there must hay similar combinations and similar results in previ He then devotes almost the whole of another \ to the various incidental theories which haye gre round the theory of circumpolar glaciation, © necessary to it, and, finally, admitting a modera tension of glaciers, he sums up in favour of stronger generally admitted. As we read we cannot but Jearn to admire the observation of the older geologists, though the explanation of the phenomena had not yet been p forward. We see how the obvious suggestion tha) rushes of water would account for it all, set Von Hopkins to calculate what depth and velocity of would be required to obtain force necessary to tran the blocks perched on the hills ; and if there were dif cases which made some of the Champions of Wate such as Mierotto, De Luc, and Hall call in the aid of ic bergs, still there was the fact that a great deal of the dr appeared to be sorted by water, and that, in great floo boulders several feet in diameter have been hurried < the rocky bed of a stream with a noise like thunder ; thi large stones are often tossed by the storm. wayes to’ top of precipices on our western rock-bound coast, as 1 n be seen ona smaller scale where single stones are throw on to a pier or promenade, though the sea-wall 1 ma almost vertical. The gravel carried by a spate ove: i meadows is just like that found in the Esgairs, thrown up on either side of the torrent in long” There is no doubt that a great deal of what is inc! the drift, especially in Germany, is just like w carried by flood water. It would not be comfor' feel that the great old heroes of geology advocated impossible in physics and unsupported by obse: Whether better explanations may in many cases offered is another question. eal When it was once admitted that the glaciers wi formerly much more extensive, and the drift roun tain regions was referred to their agency, it is easy how the impossibility of accounting for the occurr glaciers in North Germany, where what was thou: similar drift was widely spread, led to speculati the possible extension of ice-sheets from high lat all over north-western Europe and north-eastern rica, and the views of Bernhardi and Schimper, involved an ice-sheet coextensive with the distri the drift began to be received with favour. After this was given up as the direct cause, it we held that its zzdérect effects would be very potent ducing extremes of climate alternately in the nor’ south hemispheres. The question now naturally aro: whether there were any recurring glacial conditions 1 past times, and evidence of such action was see rounded surfaces and striated stones from various anc rocks. JuLy 13, 1893] NATURE 243 ut most of the examples were from localities where e included fragments had been crushed against one aother by carth movements, the grooves running alike iss the included pebbles and the matrix in which they ‘imbedded. Or they were from the neighbourhood hat had been mountain ranges repeatedly through long ages. Even if we admit that some ancient con- glomerates appear to have derived their boulders from cial debris, that does not make the conglomerates ial, but only requires glaciers in the adjacent moun- tains thenas now. On the hypothesis of the geographical origin of glacial conditions, seeing that there must have been elevations and submergences over and over again, glacial phenomena should recur near the areas of up- heaval, only without that periodicity which is required by the astronomical theory. There is, moreover, in the fossil flora and fauna no evidence of the recurrence of widespread glaciation such as would justify our referring it to a glacial epoch. z The astronomical glacialists further hold that not only were there secularly alternating periods of cold and heat in either hemisphere throughout the ages, but that within each period there were shorter periods of greater and less intensity of cold, of which we find evidence in the so- jcalled interglacial beds of Britain, and in such deposits jas those of Diirnten, where glacially striated pebbles underlie lignite which is covered also by morainic debris. But all advocates of the geographical explanation sup- pose that the earth movements on which it depends were jdiscontinuous and subject to considerable oscillation, while the advance and retreat of glaciers, as a mere weather result, is so marked’ that we may safely admit that, as a climatic result of oscillations of level, it might to. Croll says that by far the most important of all the agencies, and the one which mainly brought about the glacial epoch, was the deflection of ocean currents, but he does not'show that it is not possible to account for this deflection by earth movements. ‘ There is one very important fact which does not seem to be generally recognised, namely, that the last glacial jconditions extended only over a limited area on either side of the North Atlantic, and that this limitation must be referred to geographical causes, so that, if these were sufficiently powerful to determine the area, they may account for the glaciation itself. ‘“ What is wanted, how- \ever,” our author remarks, “is not testimony to sporadic iglaciers or local ice action, but to widespread glacial |phenomena such as would witness an ice age.” . ‘The absurdity of the answer that percolating water ;must have removed ice markings from the surface of the |stones is sufficiently obvious to any one who has had his jattention called to the much finer markings on fossils, | &c., which have been preserved. } The grooved stones of Devonian Age in Victoria are worth about as much as the facetted stones from Gorplitz } by Barna, which are supposed to prove the great southerly extension of glacial action in Germany, but which more | probably owe their form and condition to blown sand. Several ingenious explanations have been offered of the occurrence of marine shells in stratified drift on the high ground of southern Sweden and northern England and NO. 1237, VOL. 48] be quite as great as required by any of the cases referred { Wales. The more obvious explanation is, of course, that they were left there as the shingly shore of the receding post-glacial sea. But this would have involved earth movements in comparatively recent times to so great an extent as would lend probability to the theory of such elevations as would account for glaciers in temperate regions, and of such submergences as would explain the widespread post-glacial sands: and gravels. Some there~ fore suggested that these masses had been scraped up from the sea bottom and been pushed up the mountains'to their present position ; that they were, in fact, part of a great terminal moraine of the polar ice-sheet. > ome got over the difficulty of explaining the even stratification and the ripple marks on the beds, as well as the non- Arctic character of the shells, by supposing that the sand and shells were pushed up in the ice from the sea bed in temperate regions, but that the deposit in which they are now seen was washed from the ice-foot at these several elevations by the: fresh water due to the) melting of the’ ice,and bearing away with it the mud, sand, and stones transported so far in the ice. Too much stress must not be laid upon stratification and lines of boulders in the drift, as this may be produced by iceberg loads being thrown down in-deep water; just as when a handful of mixed sand and grit of various form and different coarseness is dropped into a long glass of water, the larger grains will, ceteris partbus, reach the bottom first, and a rough stratification will be produced. The contortion of clays and sands can) often be explained by the loads of debris carried by icebergs and dropped upon’ them, squeezing the underlying plastic mass away, and rolling up the surrounding layers in every variety of fold and crumple. Our author lays great stress on the fact that there is now no polar ice-cap at all, and that all the evidence shows that the pole is not, and never has been, the centre of greatest cold or of greatest glaciation. The ice radiated from Scandinavia, not from the pole, and the pillars and prominent unglaciated rocks of Northern Asia show that there has been noice sheet there im recent ages. In his advocacy of a considerable submergence in comparatively recent times our author has the support of Prof. Prestwich, who,in the last number of the Proceed- ings of the Royal Society, has expressed the opinion that the’ masses of unstratified rubble commonly found resting on the slopes and terraces along the English Channel seem to be due to a force of propulsion for which the hitherto generally-suggested causes are manifestly inade- quate. He extends his generalisation over Western Europe and the coasts of the Mediterranean, and arrives at the conclusion that the loess was a sediment deposited from the turbid sea-waters during the submergence, while the superficial deposits called “head” he refers to the surface debris swept off by divergent currents during the sebsequent upheaval. Both of these movements he refers to periods of such short duration that large numbers of animals were simultaneously drowned and tke waters were rendered so turbid as to be unsuited for n arine life. Our author explains many of the phenomena of the later drift by reference toa great submergence, but, wish- ing apparently to imply that it was of a still more 244 NATURE [JuLy 13, 189 transient nature, speaks of it as a great flood. His flood deposits are not, however, the same as those referred to by Prof. Prestwich. Sir Robert Ball has pointed out that if the heat received in winter is distributed over thirty-three more days, instead of only over seven more, the result would be glacial conditions in the northern hemisphere, a result which has been somewhat modified by Mr. Hobson, who pointed out that the heat received over the regions within the Arctic circle should be omitted from the calculation. But the opponents of the astronomical theory are pre- pared to admit that when we are dealing with operations in which the effects are so obviously cumulative and the reaction of one on the other so important, we may expect in climate, as there are in what we call weather, times of such unstable equilibrium that, for instance, a slight pro- longation of the period of cold, which may be small in itself, may yet cause a local change, the effects of which may eventually become very far-reaching—as, in the case of weather, rain may be produced by the explosion of a small quantity of dynamite in the upper regions of the atmosphere. It is useless to deny the existence of such causes as those on which the advocates of the astronomical theory chiefly rely any more than we should deny the possibility of the detection of tidal action in one of the American lakes, because we are con- vinced that the real cause of the rise of six feet or so of water on one side is due to the gale which we observe blowing across the lake. Nor are we justified in reject- ing the possibility of more or less rapid submergences re- sulting in a rearrangement of surface debris or even in more cataclysmic action of the same kind, as was seen in the earthquake wave that rolled in on Lisbon. We do seem to require some simpler theory than that of the extreme glacialists to explain the :phenomena of the Pleistocene Age. If the north-eastern portion of America and the north western part of Europe were raised so as to get a snowy mountain range on either side of the Atlantic, sending ice-sheets down to the sea in the intervening depressed trough, and by the convergence of the axes of elevation deflecting the ocean currents and causing glaciers to creep down east and west from the mountain ranges—all the phenomena of the glacial epoch could be explained. Reverse the process; send up Greenland and lower the North American and Scandinavian chains even to below where they now stand, bringing in again the warm currents from the South, and the post-glacial submerg- ence takes its place. Let the Icelandic volcanic system play its part, and let there be earthquakes and jerks and oscillations, all part of the regular course of operations accompanying such movements, and we have the marine drifts all explained. The forms of life which have been driven away from the centres of ice dispersal will follow the receding glaciers back again. Observers will find in their own district evidence of land ice, or of icebergs, or of sea currents, or of glacier water, but in this less cumbrous theory there will be room for all. The conflict of views recorded in Sir Henry Howorth’s exhaustive work prepares one to believe that the matter may not be finally settled for some time, and, before public opinion comes to rest, we may expect many swings of the NO. 1237, VOL. 48] | potential differences between the terminals, the incli pendulum now far on this, now far on that side truth. But we welcome this protest against the e3 gant views of the extreme glacialists and this v. encyclopedia of the facts and arguments bearii glacial phenomena which must be in the hands of student of the subject. Our author is well kn his scientific treatment of literary subjects and f literary skill with which he presents his scientific Though he is an uncompromising advocate of commends itself to him as the right view, he has inc in no criticism which can be regarded as discourte the living or unfair to the dead. , DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINER Original Papers on Dynamo Machinery and . Subjects. By J. Hopkinson, M.A, D.Se, Fl (New York: The W. J. Johnston Company, Lim London: Whittaker and Co., 1892.) The Dynamo. By C.C. Hawking M.A., A.LE. Ei Wallis, A.I.E.E. (London: Whittaker and Co. F HERE is hardly any greater authority on the s of dynamo-electric machinery than Dr. Hop It was hewho, turning his attention to the Edison m first showed how the iron in the magnets should b tributed, how the magnetising coils should be and the machine built up so as to ensure its pos: the highest possible efficiency in every sense of This he did not attempt to do by mere theo speculation, though himself a great theorist, but stituting a very complete and exhaustive experiments on dynamo machines under practicz ditions, and graphically representing their results. device in the whole history of the evolution of dynamo has been of more general service than hi of exhibiting the results of experiments in the named characteristic curve of the machine. Thi the dynamo what the indicator diagram had lon doing for the steam engine, though not, of course, same way. ral With the most admirable simplicity this curve of elec motive forces as ordinates, and currents as absci just the information required regarding the action o machine. Thus, when the ordinates represented to the axis of abscisse of the line joining the any point gave the working resistance in the | circuit, corresponding to the current and potential ence defining the point to which the line was dray this resistance being known, gave the current and difference which the machine might be expected velop with this as the working part of the circuit. Then again, Dr. Hopkinson showed how the teristic curve could be used to give the conditions | which an arc lamp can be made to work. It is known that if the generating machine working on a lamp be run so as to give an electromotive force certain limiting value, the machine cannot be “keep” an arc. An explanation had been p given by Dr. Siemens ; but Dr. Hopkinson show all that was necessary was to lay down in the chara istic curve of the dynamo as already explained the Jury 13, 1893] NATURE 245 senting the medallic resistance R in circuit, then the tangent parallel to this line, and observe nether the ordinate corresponding to the normal work- current of the lamp falls on the right or on the left of the point of contact. If E denote the length of the ordinate in question, and C denote the current, we have in the former case and in the latter dE < RdC dE > RdC Thus in the former case the value of dE is smaller than the increment of electromotive force required to drive the corresponding increase of current through the metallic resistance, in the latter case it is larger than this. Consequently, in the latter case, there will be an excess of electromotive force which will go to increase the length of arc. Thus the arc will continually lengthen until the current suddenly fails and the light goes out. Hence the mere inspection of the curve settles the question as to whether the machine is running fast enough, or whether there is a sufficient margin of speed to ensure stability. In the paper on Some Points in Electric Lighting, a jlarge number of facts, now so well known as to have be- | come common places of practical science, are discussed. | But ten years ago, when the paper was read, many elec- tricians engaged in supplying electric light were them- jselves working very much in the dark ; and Dr. Hopkin- |son’s paper was to many of them exceedingly useful as |supplying facts, and especially hints as to graphical pro- cesses of investigating the behaviour of dynamos, whether used as a generator or a motor. The next paper is that by the author and his brother, Dr. E. Hopkinson, on Dynamo-Electric Machinery, which has become justly famous as that in which the enormously useful idea of the magnetic circuit was first applied in a complete and consistent manner to the dis- cussion of the results of experiment on different types of dynamo. In this a comparison between the characteristic curve of the machine, and the curve of magnetising force and magnetic induction, is made to give important infor- mation as to the proper disposition of the magnetic circuit, and the failure of the total induction to pass through the armature. Further, the effect of the lead of the brushes and of the current in the armature is fully discussed and graphically illustrated ; and the paper closes with what were most valuable at the time, a descrip- tion of the author’s method of testing the efficiency of dynamos, and numerous results of experiments on machines with armatures wound according to the Hefner Alteneck plan, and the unsymmetrical horseshoe arrange- ment of magnets, and on others with Gramme armatures and the Siemens rectangular symmetrical arrangement of magnets. In these efficiency experiments the ingenious plan of using two similar machines in the same circuit and having their shafts coupled, one acting } as generator, the other as motor, was first adopted. } The motor in great measure drives the generator which ' feeds it, and it is only necessary to supply by means of a | belt the balance of driving power required. Thus, uncertainty in dynamometric measurement of power transmitted has effect only on the estimation of this | balance. The power developed by the motor can be found NO. 1237, VOL. 48] electrically, as likewise the electrical energy developed by the generator, and thus all the data are obtained for estimating the efficiency of the machine. This idea has borne important fruit in the extremely valuable methods which have been invented by others for more conveniently carrying out similar dynamo ex- periments, and for testing transformers. Next comes the very valuable. continuation of this paper published only last year, which completes the dis- cussion of direct current machines. In this sequel the effect on the electromotive force of the machine of the current in the armature for a given lead of the brushes is experimentally investigated, and compared with its theo- retical value as given in the earlier part of the paper. The remaining portion of the book consists mainly of papers relating to the theory of alternating currents, and the testing of alternate-current machines and trans- formers, and concludes with an account of the author’s arrangements for applying the electric light to the light- houses of Macquarie and Tino. The first paper on alter- nating currents is the one which has been so much referred to in recent discussions on the action of alternators, and the possibility of running more than one in the same circuit. Though ‘the increased use of alternating currents has added much to our knowledge of the behaviour and capabilities of alternators, Dr. Hopkinson’s paper is, and will remain, one of the classics. of the sub- ject. But the last word of theoretical and practical explanation has not yet been said, and will probably not be said for a long time. In the meantime there is a possibility, now that the behaviour of iron in rapid mag- netic cycles can be studied completely in various ways, of our obtaining further information which may clear up some of the outstanding difficulties of the subject. Some results of a very interesting character as to rapid cycles are given in the paper on the Tests of Westinghouse Transformers. The curves showing the electromotive force and the current at different instants during a half period are plotted and come out very considerably different from the ordinarily assumed curve of series. The harmonic analysis, or the new analysing machine of Henrici and Sharpe, might with advantage be applied to them to reveal theircomponents. From these curves the dissipation loops are plotted and made to give the loss of energy due to local currents and hysteresis in the curves. Further description of these papers is unnecessary. They have already passed to a considerable extent into electrical literature ; but a great service to practical elec- tricians has nevertheless been done by their publication in a collected form. In Messrs. Hawkins and Wallis’s book we have little of originality; but what seems a_ straightforward, accurate, and fairly full account of dynamo-electric machinery. Beginning with chapters on the Magnetic Field, the Magnetic Circuit, the Production of an E. M. F., and Self-Induction, the authors enter on their main subject with a chapter on the Classifica- tion of Dynamos. The principal-types of machine are described and well illustrated, so far as the number and general nature of the cuts are concerned. But while the authors have been liberal with carefully made drawings and well considered diagrams, the execution and printing of the illustrations in the text 246 NATURE are here and there rather poor, and a higher general standard in this respect might easily have been attained. After a general analysis, so to speak, of dynamos, in which armatures, magnets, &c., are discussed, we come to matters relating to the action of dynamos, such as series, shunt, and compound winding, and sparking and angle of lead of brushes. Then follow descriptions of typical machines, illustrated by folding sheets, and the book closes with chapters on Dynamo-Designing, and the Working and the Management of Dynamos. We should have liked to have seen dynamo-testing worked out more fully, and a separate chapter on this important subject might easily have been given without burdening the book with matter properly belonging to works on general electrical measurements. Considering the compass of the book—520 small 8vo pages—the authors have succeeded in placing before their readers a very great amount of valuable information, well arranged and clearly expressed, and their work will no doubt be appreciated by students and workers in practical electricity. A. GRAY, OUR BOOK SHELF. Modern Microscopy: a Hand-book for Beginners. In two parts. 1. “The Microscope, and Instructions for its Use.” By M. J. Cross. 2. “ Microscopic Objects: how Prepared and Mounted.” By Martin J. Cole. (London: Bailli¢re, Tindall, and Cox, 1893.) THIS book, although only extending to 104 pages, is what it professes to be, and will prove thoroughly useful to beginners. The authors understand practically their respective subjects, and this has given the capacity, never otherwise possessed, to tell the beginner accurately and efficiently what it is needful for him at the outset.to know. It is highly to be commended that they have not rendered their pages incompetent by any pretence at an introduction to the optics of the instrument, or concerned themselves with any attempt at exposition of modern optical theory. They have done what affords a more genuine evidence of their appreciation of the importance of these subjects, having presented the results of the study of them in a practical form to the beginner, so that although his earlier efforts are not complicated with mathematical demonstrations and theory, he is nevertheless taught to work, on the highest results reached through these, so far at,least as they apply to his initial endeavours. The danger of extremely elementary books on microscopy is shallowness. They have often been a mere catalogue of two or three chosen instruments, with brief accounts of the apparatus affected by the author, and descriptions of pretty or pleasing objects. The former part of this book is much more than this; it gives the results of a practical knowledge of how to employ the instrument in such a way as to attain the finest results ; always remembering that it is beginners that are receiving the instruction. There are some thoroughly sensible things said on the microscope-stand. We may differ slightly from some of these, but they are written with a knowledge of the sub- ject, and those who follow them will not greatly err. We can commend also the chapter on “Optical Construction.” It is brief, but puts to the beginner exactly what he requires to know. The pages on ‘“*IHuminating Apparatus” are specially commendable because thoroughly experimental. In fact, the fifty-five pages devoted to modern microscopy will be a boon to every one of the many who are every year “ beginning ” with the use of the microscope. But the practical character of the book is seen even more clearly in the:second part of it, by Mr. Martin Cole. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] [JuLy 13, 1 He at once introduces the tyro to the art of prep mounting his own objects. Here again it is not a r repetition of what has been obtained from othe that is presented, but Mr. Cole’s long experi mounter is given to the reader unostentatiously pleasant and useful brevity. Pe There are some who, glancing at this little will at once conclude that the thirty-six pag to the subject must leave it inefficiently treat beginners. We advise such to read the pages; some years of practice in most of the dep mounting referred to and explained, we can only they present in a brief but a very efficient ma facts required to enable the earliest efforts of an- amateur to become so successful as almost cert secure his interest in the subject, and cause him to telligently pursue his pleasure and instruction, aim at scientific work directed by more e treatises. W. H. Dati Lectures on Sanitary Law. By A. Wynt M.R.C.S., L.S.A. (Macmillan and Co. 189: THIS work presents a general view of the i: duties of Local Authorities in relation to publi and since the material has been compiled by one while he is a prominent sanitarian is also a barrister. law, the fact that the work is good and trustworthy, leaves but little to be desired, goes without saying. — only point upon which there is any scope for adv criticism is that the review of sanitary legislation ap} to be, in places, a little too cursory, and quence some important material is a trifle too passed over. To indicate one such instance :—! is some important material contained in the D, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Orders of 1885. which is not given, and with which the health- directly concerned. Sections 10, 11, and 12 of Order are omitted ; and no one will question their 1 to be fully included within any serviceable abstr the Crder, since they deal specifically with certain recognised sources of contamination, against which necessary to guard the milk in those pl vher stored or kept for sale. eG Nothing need be more inclusive or better than the majority of the work, and when in one or places the information is a little more extended, ar statutes specially dealing with the inspection and exz ation of food (which are now given zm exfenso appendix) are incorporated in, say, another two chap the book will be rendered even more. acceptable at present to those desirous of obtaining in a rea concise form a good knowledge of sanitary leg The scope of the book embraces the enti public health legislation, and ‘the volume is embodiment of a series of lectures which have been given by the author. The first chapter constitution of Sanitary Districts and Authoriti cludes the definitions of certain terms employ: Sanitary Acts. Lecture ii. deals with the visions regarding nuisances ; and the next thi are concerned with the legal aspect of sewer drainage, water-supply and sanitary applianc lations and bye-laws; port sanitary law, can Metropolitan sanitary law, the Housing of th Yr Classes Act, 1890, are all dealt with in subseq chapters ; and the statutory provisions which deal the prevention of disease are particularly well and mapped out in Lectures vi. and vii. The book ce nearly 300 well-printed pages, and it is neatly serviceably bound. te The author must be congratulated upon ha sented a rather heavy and unattractive subject in the concise and readable form—consistent with genera fulness—of any in which it has hitherto appeared. NATURE 247 Jury 13, 1893] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other partof NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.) The Royal Society. _ THE article on the Royal Society, published in NATURE of une 8 by my friend Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, contains very little Statement of fact to which I, or any one acquainted with the “history and traditions of the Society, could wish to take exception. It does, however, seem to me to be important to point out ot thing Mr. Thiselton-Dyer has omitted to do) that the ten- - dency of the development of the Society has been to restrict its ordinary membership to those who have done valuable work in “‘the improvement of natural knowledge” either by the exer- cise of their own mental gifts, or by assisting in some marked way—by the wise application of money or other direct influence —the efforts of others tothat end. When, some thirty-five years ago, the annual number of elections of ordinary Fellows was ically restricted to fifteen by the limitation to that number of the list recommended by the Council, the chance of admission to the Society for ‘‘a member of the legislature with the keenest _ sympathy for science” (to quote Mr. Thiselton-Dyer’s words) _ became small; and as the years rolled on, and the number of ~ serious workers in science increased in unexpected proportion, it became less and less. Accordingly, not many years ago, it was de- termined by the Society, in order to meet this undesirable state of things, that members of the Privy Council should be eligible time as Fellows of the Society without reference to the annual list of fifteen prepared by the Council, Apparently the intention of this measure was to relieve the ordinary annual list of fifteen candidates for Fellowship: from the presence of a cer- tain number of members of the legislature with keen sympathy for science, and other such aspirants, and to reserve it for those for whom it could be claimed that they had done something ‘tangible for ‘‘the improvement of natural knowledge.” It seems to me that the selections made by the Council since that date confirm this view. Mr. Thiselton-Dyer makes a mistake in confounding the real services to natural knowledge rendered by Sir John Kuk, Sir George Naves, and Sir Charles Warren, with the ‘‘sympathy for science” of amiable members of Par- liament. : _ There is another aspect of the question recently discussed which seems to me to be important. Does. the Royal Society _ propose, or does it not, to include in its annual elections persons -emincnt in historical study? If it does, surely Freeman, Stubbs and Gardiner would have been Fellows of the Society. The examination and exposition of documents when they relate to an Asiatic race cannot be regarded as more akin to the jnvestigations of the improvers of natural knowledge than is the study of the inscriptions, camps, and pottery of European peoples. Does the Royal Society explicitly or im- T. recognise claims which would give their possessor a rst place in an Academy of Inscriptionsorof Historical Science? I should venture to reply to this question: ‘* Certainly not ; by most definitely expressed intention such studies as those of the historian were excluded by the founders of the Society from their scope. And further, were such studies to be embraced by the Society as a new departure, it would be necessary to make special provision for them by increasing the annual number of ctions, and by securing seats on the Council for one or two _persons acquainted with those studies and the merits of those _who pur:ue them.” _ I believe that the Royal Society is honoured and trusted by the British public as being the leading society ‘‘for the i ovement of natural knowledge.” [ts original and de- Tiberately chosen motte, ‘* Nullius in verba” is a distinct on of its purpose to appeal to experiment and the observation of phenomena, rather than to encourage the dis- ‘quisitions of the bookman and compiler of history. Bey it may well be urged that such a body as ‘the Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge ” is wise in offering a kind of honorary membership on special terms to those who are a power in the State, there seems to be no ground for maintaining that the Fellows (as Mr. ‘Thiselton-Dyer declares) ‘‘display them elves as reasonable, if hard-headed, men of the world” when they sacrifice one of NO. 1237, VOL. 48] their fifteen ordinary annual fellowships for the purpose of enrolling among their number an isolated example of the numerous body of historiansand essayists who have attained some distinction in subjects and methods remote from thuse professedly pursued by the Society.? Were the Royal Academy of Arts to assign ome of its As- sociateships to, let us say; a distinguished botanist who is known to have a keen sympathy for Art, the world would, I venture to maintain, consider that the Academicians had not ‘* brought themselves into touch with another field of national life,’ nor ‘* displayed themselves as reasonable or hard-headed men of the world,” but had simply stultified themselves whilst conferring no real honour upon their nominee. The Royal Academy in- cludes'a small number of laymen as honorary members, but it is recognised that the Academicians shall only confer their regular membership upon those of whose work they are competent judges, and consequently upon those who are really honoured by the selection, namely, artists. It seems to me that mutalis mutandis much the sameis true of the Royal Society. The Society has gained in the past, and will retain in the future, public esteem, and increasing oppor- tunities for usefulness by aiming with singleness of purpose at ‘the improvement of natural knowledge.” ‘To confer honour on those who have improved natural knowledge is its privilege and its duty. The appreciation of historians and of ‘‘ sympathetic legislators” is a function which the Society is incapable of per- forming, and moreover one which few, if any, persons desire it to attempt, since it must lose dignity by assuming to adjudicate in matters in which it is incompetent. Oxford, June 26. ALTHOUGH my friend Prof. Lankester finds that the ** tendency of the development” of the Royal Society has heen to restrict the area from which its members are select l—a conclusion in which I am not disposed to agree— I do not find that he seriously impugns the account which | attempted to give of what appeared to me to be the traditional practice of the Society in the matter. In fact in one respect he goes much further than I should myself be inclined to do in admitting as a qualification for men.ber-hip ‘‘the wise application of money.” I must confess that I should be disposed to regard this, for obvious reasons, with very close scrutiny. Apart, however, from this it is evident that Prof. Lankester and those who agree with him would like to make the Royal Society much more professionally scientific (for there are very few scientific men nowadays who are not in some sort or other professional). If they succeed I am disposed to think that it would be a very much less influential body than it is at present, And I find that no inconsiderable body of the existing Fellows are of the same opinion, W. T. THISELTON-DYER, Kew, July 1. E, Ray LANKESTER. Ice as an Excavator of Lakes and a Transporter of Boulders, I HAVE devoted a considerable space in a work I have rec«ntly- published in which I have criticised the extreme glacial vicws of some writers to an issue which underlies a great deal of their reasoning, and which, it seems to me, it is absolutely necessary we should determine before we are entitled to make the deduc- tions habitually made by them, ‘ Before a geologist is justified in making gigantic demands upon the capacity and the power of ice as an excavator or as a distributor of erratics and other debris over level plains it is essential that he should first ascertain whether it is capable of the postulated work or not. It is not science, it is a reversion to scholasticism to invoke ice as the cause of certain phenomena unless and until we have justified the appeal by showing that it is competent to do the work demanded from it. This pre- liminary step is not a geological one at all. It is a question of physics, and must be determined by the same methods and the same processes as other physical questions. So far as we know the mechanical work done by ice is limited to one proces:. The ice of which glaciers are formed is shod with boulders and with pieces of rock which have fallen down their crevasses. These 1 J have addressed my remarks mainly to the contentions of Mr. Dyer’s article. I should wish to avoid discussing the merits of a particular election which in my op:nion cannot now and never could legitimately be a subject for public comment. I wish, however, to'state that 4 am not unacquainted with the interesting essays on the history of geological theory which we owe to the hero of that election. 248 NATURE [JuLy 13, 189; pieces of rock abrade and polish and scratch the rocky bed in which they lie when they are dragged over it by the moving ice. Without this motion they can of course effect nothing either as burnishers or as excavators. This motion has been shown by recent experiments to be very largely if not entirely a differential motion due to the viscous nature of ice, as Forbes long ago argued on 2 fréoré and other grounds that it was. The viscosity of ice is different at different temperatures. It differs also greatly when it is in the form of granulated ice, such as a glacier is composed of, from ice formed in a laboratory or directly frozen from water ina pond, but in any case it is slight, and it needs a considerable and a long-applied force to make it shear. The consequence is that when it rests on a level or nearly level surface, where gravity does not work, it ceases to move at all. In order that it should acquire motion sufficient to drag stones, &c., along, it is necessary that there should be some ws a ¢ergo. Either the ice must rest on a slope sufficiently inclined to generate a gravitating movement in it, as a whole, or the slope of its upper surface must be sufficiently great to cause the movement of its surface layers to be continued down to and to remain effective inits nethermost parts. Every attempt made by Croll and others to invent for, and assign to, ice molecular movements capable of causing lateral motion in the stones beneath it other than those induced by gravity, seems to me to have utterly failed. The cause—the only cause which is competent to make it move is gravity acting either in one or the other way above specified. This seems to be the inevitable conclusion whenever the pro- blem is tested as it ought to be tested, by empirical tests. If so, it seems to put out of court the continual appeals made to ice as the distributor of debris over hundreds of miles of level plains, and as the excavator of basins and lakes at a considerable distance from mountain slopes, In the first place, the modulus of cohesion of ice being what it is, it has been shown by Mallet, Oldham, and Irving that thrust cannot be conveyed through it for more than a short dis- tance, since it must yield and eventually crush. This @ priori view is supported by the actual observation of glaciers in which we find that the rate of motion is very largely a function of the slope of the bed, and when a glacier leaves the slope on which it rests and gets on to level ground it very soon ceases to move altogether. It has been argued that in the Ice Age the ice was piled up in dome-shaped ice sheets, and that the distribution of the boulders and the excavation of mountain lakes was due to the results of the efforts of the viscous mass to reachastate of equilibrium by hydro- static movement, or by rolling over itself. But this ignores the very slight viscosity of ice which would require avery high slope in its upper layers to induce movement in its lower ones at all. | It is impossible to see how this high slope could be secured, since the effort to restore equilibrium would be continuous, and the potential movement involved in every fresh fall of roi would at once be dissipated instead of being accumu- ated, I cannot see, therefore, how under any circumstances it is _ possible for ice either to travel over long distances of level ground, or to excavate hollows such as the great majority of mountain lakes are. I have not in this letter referred to the geological difficulties of such an hypothesis, which are manifold. I have limited my- self to the physical difficulties alone. They seem to me to underlie the whole problem, and it is useless to discuss it until they have been solved, yet they are persistently ignored by the ardent champions of ice. That ice can doa good deal when allied with gravity is true enough, but the problem, as pre- sented by Mr. Wallace, Prof. James Geikie and others requires that it should continue to do portentous work when no longer allied with gravity. Is it too much to ask that some justifica- tion should be offered (and nowhere better than in your catholic page) for such an enormous unverified postulate ? Atheneum Club, July 1. Henry H. Howorru. Abnormal Weather in the Himalayas. ON May 26 I walked from Changla Gali (about 9000 feet) to Dungar Gali (under gooo feet) by the ‘‘ pipe” road. On the way we passed (the road is cut along the side of the steep moun- tains) a narrow valley filled with snow to about a height of 100 feet. The width of the hard snow on the road was 20 feet. On the 28th I walked back to Changla Gali by the main road. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] Here we saw a great deal of snow. A bridge spanned a: row valley, a mass of flat snow, perhaps 15 feet thick, fill valley to the bridge. No snow ran up the valley. Th came on two valleys converging into one at the point wher road passed. Both valleys above and the valley belo filled with snow, and the road for 150 feet was cut on the f. the snow. si In t-e first week of May terrific storms burst over M we had onstant storms at Dungar on the night of the 26th 12 a.m. on the day of our leaving, the 28th. Oa the 28 last ts miles of the road into Changla were simply carp with leaves and twigs broken off by a violent hailstorm. sides of the road, sometimes the road itself (four how storm), were covered with drift and massed hailstones of hig marbles (ice with the usual whitish centre), Thi; continuance of snow and this stormy weather is be altozether abnormal. F. C. Const Changla Gali, May 29. Peculiar Hailstones, A FRIEND of mine writes me from Peshawar about curious phenomenon which I think is worth notice in columns. The monsoon has set in this season earliei for some years past. A few days ago in a village n Daduzai (a tehsil in the Peshawar district) rain fell, prec: by a wind storm, and with the rain came a shower of hails which lasted for a few minutes. The most curious part of occurrence is that the hailstoneswhen touched were not at ali ¢ and when put in the mouth (as is the custom in this hot co tasted like sugar. I am further told that these hailsto: extremely fragile, and as soon as they reached the they broke in pieces. These pieces when examined like broken sticks of crystallised nitre. My : tasted them, and was struck with their purity and swe: A few pieces were also sent to the Deputy Commissioner o! district. The phenomenon has been duly reported in ine ing newspapers of the province, and the A#Adar-i-Am it in its leading columns. KANHAIYAL Lahore, June 20, Pi +: nfo Crocodile’s Egg with Solid Shell. DuRING the year 1885 I was stationed at Trincomal it was my luck to find a large crocodile’s egg near Kin tank. On showing the specimen to several friends who I: more about natural history than I did, they expresse astonishment at seeing a nard-shelled egg, as the concensu opinion was that such eggs were invariably surrounded w soft parchment-like covering. = I made a hole in the top and bottom of the egg and bley the contents. The shell is still in my possession, and rese more the hard enamelled-like egg of the ostrich than any else I have seen. : The above facts may interest those who take a plea: objects of natural history. J. BATTERSB! Murree Hills, June 7. vie % f: UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL ED MENT IN AMERICA. ~ Hla statements in the following extract are markable that I think they deserve a publicity than they will probably receive in the p a Parliamentary paper. One may hope that the reconstructed Univ London will make provision for post-graduate stud; the advancement of knowledge in the greatest world. It must be admitted that this cannot | without the expenditure of a good deal of money. — one hope further that the cause of the higher edu will find friends amongst us in London as munific university and technological studies have found of the newest of the world’s cities ? Kew, June 30. ee W. T. THISELTON-DYE Jury 13, 1893] NATURE 249 elract from ‘* Report for the year 1892 on the Trade of the sular District of Chicago.” (F.O. Annual Series, 1893, Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No. 1233.) ‘IVE years ago the University of Chicago was not thought ‘of, and now there are twelve fine buildings of English Gothic architecture, either finished and occupied or in course of con- truction, on twenty-five acres of land owned by the University in the neighbourhood of Jackson Park, near the Exhibition grounds, where three years ago was a marsh. The University s now a large s‘aff of professors, selected from other institu- ns in the country and Europe, and about tooo students. Its ‘origin and rapid growth are greatly owing to the generosity of Mir. Rockefeller, who in 1889 offered an endowment of £120,000 if a committee could raise the sum of £80,000 ; this sum was quickly raised, and about the same time a merchant of Chicago presented the University with twelve acres of the ground on which the buildings now stand. Further gifts came in, and up to the present time the total donations amount to £1,284,000, of which Mr. Rockefeller alone has contributed £754,000. The sums given in 1892 amounted to £711,500, and among the gifts was the offer of a telescope, to be the largest and most powerful in the world, which, with the observatory in which it will be placed, will cost more than £150,000, The University was opened last October with a faculty of 115 professors, men and women, One of the features of its regular work will be univer- “sity extension and a system for the education of the masses. A magnificent gift was last year presented to the city, and entitled the Armour Institute, after the patriotic and public benefactor of that name. It consists of a large and handsome building already completed, and fitted interiorly with marble wainscoting on every floor, marble arches and marble bath rooms, and the gift was accompanied with an endowment of £289,000, It is to be used asa manual training school and an institute for every branch of science and art ; it is fitte1 with laboratories, forges, gymnasium, and library, and contains electrical, lecture, and other rooms for domestic sciences. It is intended as a benefit to young men and women of every class to be within the range of the poorest, and is taking the form of a school of technology. ANTIPODEAN RETRENCHMENT. AST week a brief reference was made in these * columns to the decrease in the grant to the Univer- sityfof Melbourne—acurtailment only justifiable under very special circumstances, and one that may bring reproach on the Colony that adopts it. Since then we have seen a letter in the Journal of Education for July by Dr. E. A. Abbott, late Headmaster of the City of London School. The letter is as follows :— I venture to ask space for the following extract from a letter T received to-day from the Professor of Mathematics in Auck- land College, New Zealand. Prof. W. S. Aldis was Senior Wrangler and First Smith’s Prizeman in 1861, and subse- Pa sanadgiog’ several years, Principal of the College of Physical cience in Newcastle-on-Tyne. The failure of his wife’s health induced him, about ten years ago, to accept the Auckland Pro- fessorship, at some sacrifice of income, on the understanding, of course, that he was irremovable as long as he could do the work. After nearly ten years of service, here is the result, as stated in the extract, which bears date May 19. I give it with i, mere suppression of the name of the chief mover in this ness. _ ‘Last Monday succeeded in getting a majority of the Council to give me six months’ notice of the termination of my engagement, on the ground that the amount of work I did could be perfectly well performed by plenty of men who could be got for a much lower salary. . . . No charge of incompetence or neglect of duty has been made against me, unless by slander behind my back. I have never been asked to meet the Council ; the debates were held with closed doors; and, before I even knew what was being proposed, I was allowed to read the result of their discussion in the Mew Zealand Herald.” _ Those who know my old schoolfellow, Prof. Aldis, as a man aepstle of direliction of duty or exaggeration of fact, will think that the only way of meeting the necessities of the case is NO. 1237, VOL. 48] to rescind the resolution. Others may reasonably defer their final judgment till they hear what is to be said on the other side ; | but meantime I would appeal to all University men to defer applying for the professorship. For the present, to succeed a professor thus arbitrarily dismissed by the Council involves not only the possibility of being similarly treated, but alsb the cer- tainty of contributing to what Sir Robert Stout has justly described as *‘a grievous injury to higher education.” Many teachers, and many University men who are not teachers, will, perhaps go with me still further, and agree that, if Prof. Aldis’s statements cannot be denied, no one can take the post without some forfeiture of self-respect. Dr. Abbott puts the case plainly and fairly enough, and, lacking an explanation from the Council concerned, we conclude that this is another example of the reactionary policy of retrenchment which now fills the minds and dictates the deeds of Colonial officials. Let them re- trench by all means, but in the right direction. There could hardly be a more short-sighted and mistaken policy than that of curtailing educational grants in order to redeem a position lost by extravagant expenditure. Wealth-producing power and facilities for obtaining knowledge go hand in hand. Inthe past many of the . Colonies have proved that they recognised the prime importance of their Universities and similar establish- ments. Indeed, they have often shown the way to the authorities at home. Apparently, however, this wisdom is departing from Colonial Councils, for healthy branches are being lopped off indiscriminately, while obtrusive suckers at the roots of the constitution are left untouched. However, it is not too late to rescind the measures that have been taken—measures that are derogatory both to the good sense and dignity of Colonial Governments. We trust that the next mail will bring us news of the reinstatement of+ Prof. Aldis and the restoration of University grants. SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. THE July magazines contain a few papers of scientific interest. In the Mew Review Mr. E. R. Spearman writes on “ Criminals and their Detection.” This article is a vigorous protest against the crude methods of identification employed at Scotlard Yard. In spite of the thousands of blunders that have been made, our police authorities are stolidly indifferent to their imper- fections, and look upon the Bertillon system as a “scien- tific fad.” But this is the way in which the official mind usually views matters of scientific importance. To show the absurdity of the position taken up, Mr. Spearman gives a full description of the Bertillon process o measurement, with the results obtained since the method was adopted in France, and compares it with the hap- hazard system of identification used in our prisons. But for the fact that officialism never acknowledges itself to be in the wrong, der¢i//onage would have been established in England long ago. The Bertillon system, says Mr. Spearman, is fast circling the globe. Our great Indian Empire has taken it up, the whole pro- vince of Bengal being recently put under its protection, and still more recently the island of Ceylon. Even in still more Eastern Asia, Japan has borrowed M. Bertillon’s scheme. In Eastern Europe, Russia (St. Petersburg and Moscow) and Roumania are using the system, which is also practised in Norway and Switzer- land. In North America the United States Government has suc- cessfully applied anthropometry to deal with deserters in the army and navy ; while Chicago not only uses the system for its own purposes, but is the centre of a large field of operations in the States and in the adjoining portions of the Dominion of Canada, Beside this, on the Pacific coast it was successfully used to enforce the Chinese immigratioa law, the Celestials being able to use each other’s permits with impunity, all being alike as two peas to the casual Caucasian glance, but not to the Ber- tillon compasses. In South America the Bertillon system has also penetrated, the Argentine Confederation making use of it. 250 NATURE [JuLy 13, 1 The anthropometric system could be established in England at the present time, for Mr. Spearman points out that in the Penal Servitude Act, 1891, it is enacted - that The Se¢retary of State shall make regulations as to the meas- uring and photographing of all prisoners who may for the time being be confined in any prison, and all the provisions of section six of the Prevention of Crimes Act, 1871, with respect to the photographing of prisoners, shall apply to any regulations as to measuring made in pursuance of the section. Dr. S. S. Sprigge has an article on “ The Poisoning of the Future.” He says :— There are two directions which the poisoner of the future may take in an intelligent attempt to use superior knowledge in the accomplishment of undetected crime. One of them is the bring- ing of the older methods of poisoning to perfection by the exhi- bition of subtler drugs. The other, and by far the more terri- fying, is the employment by the poisoner of the results of recent biological research. Neither of these methods is likely to be very successful, for those who understand the power of such deadly essences as strychnine, atropine, digitalin, and aconitine, or know how to isolate, cultivate, preserve, and inoculate the germs of a malignant disease, will be comparatively marked men, inasmuch as they will belong to a limited class. The Humanitarian appears this month for the first time as a magazine. In it M. A. Bertillon gives a de- scription of the anthropometrical measurements made in France under his direction. The measures taken are (1) height, (2) length of head, (3) maximum breadth of head, (4) length of middle finger of left hand, (5) maxi- mum length of left foot, (6) maximum length of arms extended, (7) colour of the eyes. M. Bertillon describes in detail all the operations, and shows how the measures are classified so that the question as to whether a prisoner has been arrested before or not can be irrevocably settled in a few minutes. In the Contemporary Review Mr. G. J. Romanes, F.R.S., furnishes a postscript to his article in the April number in support of Weismannism against Mr. Herbert Spencer. The points touched upon are (1) the principle of Panmixia, or cessation of selection; and (2) the influence of a previous sire on the progeny of a subsequent one by the same dam. Mr. Spencer briefly replies to Prof. Romanes, and Prof. Marcus Hartog follows with a short description of the works of Weismann, from the publication of the essay on “ Heredity” in 1883 to the last conception of the germ-plasm and the theory of variation at present held by the great zoologist of Freiburg. : Prof. Thorpe, F.R.S., contributes to the Fortnightly Review a descriptive account of the recent solar eclipse in the form of a reprint of a discourse delivered at the Royal Institution. As the article contains no information of scientific moment that has not been chronicled in these columns, further comment upon it is unnecessary. The Century Magazine contains an article by Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton on “ Mental Medicine,” or the treatment of disease by suggestion. - Though a vast amount of quackery is carried on in connection with hypnotism and mesmerism, there is no doubt that many cases have been successfully treated. It is only within the past few years that scientific men have really adopted suggestion in a rational way, and the advances in phychology and psychopathology have paved the way for the use of a most potent agent. Our knowledge of disorders of motility and the disturbance of the governing coordinating faculties permits us to determine the pathology of certain convulsive and spasmodic conditions, which until recently were simply looked upon as vague symptomatic states. Writer’s cramp, which is a diseased automatism, has been repeatedly cured by suggestion made during the hypnotic state. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] I have ! seen forms of persistent tremor, chorea, speech defects, other motor disturbances very much ameliorated, if not ; cured, by the methods of Luys and Bernheim. and elsewhere suggestion has been used for the correctio: tain mental states manifested in moral perversion, dipsomania and certain varieties of infantile viciousness f and my own experience has convinced me that in son sanities it is certainly a most valuable means for the development of delusions, and in restoring the of an unbalanced nervous system. ; “The Galaxy” (seen through a telescope subject of a short poem by Mr. Charles J \ He finely describes the Milky Way in the lines — ** Luminous archipelago of heaven ! eee) Islands of splendour sown in depths of night.’ ; ' In McClure’s Magazine Dr. H. R. Mill des Arctic Expeditions of Nansen and Jackson un title “ The Race to the North Pole.” The former dition started from Christiania a few days ago, b Jackson will not leave England with his co until about the middle of July, or perhaps the of August. He intends to approach Franz-Jo: [ which will be a comparatively easy task, and the advance over the ice in sledges, trusting that t ice stretches northwards to the immediate hood of the Pole. If, however, Franz-Josef — proves not to have a great northerly extent, an acy may be made on the sea-ice, carrying boats for cro open water. Mr. C. Moffett summarises the pi of Lieut. Peary’s expedition, pointing out s portant considerations which make it probabl expedition will attain a considerable measure of su It remains to be seen whether any or all the exy will reach the goal. The race is a long one, and w to the utmost the energies and pertinacity of have elected to run. = “An Expedition to the North Magnetic Pole” is theme of an article by Colonel W. H. Gilder. 2 three years ago Prof. Mendenhall wrote to the Serr of the United States Treasury as follows :— ‘The importance of a redetermination of the position of the North Magnetic Pole has long been by all interested in the theory of the earth’s magn application. The point as determined by Ross in part of this century was not located with that degree of racy which modern science demands and permits, and, be it is altogether likely that its position is not a fixed knowledge of the secular variation of the would be better increased by better information con Magnetic Pole, and, in my judgment, it would be the Government to offer all possible encouragement to ably organised exploring expedition which might seek for this information.” ‘ Acting upon a further recommendation, the Secretary Treasury requested the President of the National Acads Sciences to appoint a committee of its members “‘ to f a plan or scheme for the carrying out of a system the North Magnetic Pole and kindred work,” and | mittee was subsequently appointed, with Prof, 5. Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as Chai! The observers will be selected from among of the United States Navy attached to the C who have had special training in magnetic f and a scheme of the observations to be drawn up by Prof. C. A. Schott. It is proposed to charter a steam whaler to tak from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to the northern part Bay, which, being directly connected with Hudson’s the nearest point to the Pole, containing area that is +. any year, There a permanent station is to be erected, regular observations will be continued all the time, which each spring a field party (perhaps two) will start t the geographical position of the Pole. . Jury 13, 1893] NATURE 251 NOTES. Tur annual meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects menced at Cardiff on Tuesday, when an important paper m ‘‘Fast Ocean Steamships” was read by Dr. Elgar. ving to the rough weather, Lord Brassey, the president, was ¢ to be present, his yacht being prevented from reaching fort. : THE forty-second meeting of the American Association for ‘the Advancement of Science will be held during August at “Madison, Wisconsin. The local secretary is Prof. C. R. ~ Barnes, of the State University. = THE second annual meeting of the International Union of Photography will be held in Geneva from August 21 to 26. The - headquarters of the Union are at 33, Rue Rembrandt, Antwerp. i ARRANGEMENTS have been made for a visit of the Geologists’ Association to Ireland from July 24 to 29. The directors of the excursion are Profs. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., and Grenville : A, J. Cole, and a very attractive programme has been provided. _ In addition to the serious work, more than. one social gathering ~ is promised, so the trip will doubtless be enjoyed by all who undertake it. A geological map of the district to be visited, "prepared by Prof. Cole, is printed in the special circular Assued for the excursion by the Association, and Prof. Sollas’s paper on the geology of Dublin and its neighbourhood, read before the Association on the 7th inst., is now in the press, and will be published the day before the party leaves London. As it is important to obtain an early estimate of the probable number of the party, all members who propose joining the ex- eursion should apply at once to the Secretary, Mr. Thos. Leighton, Lindisfarne, St. Julian’s Farm Road, West Norwood, SE, a. A copy of the report of the Zoological Society that has just been printed has been received. Its contents will be sum- marised next week. _ Tue fifth Congress of Archeological Societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries was held on Tuesday at Burlington House, Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., being in the chair. About forty delegates were present, including Lord Hawkes- bury, Mr, Stanley Leighton, M.P., Profs. Flinders Petrie, and E. C. Clark, &c. It was announced that progress had been made with the archzeological maps of Essex, Derbyshire, Sussex, and Surrey. Several papers were read, one on ‘‘A Photo- graphic Record of Archzeological Objects ” exciting an interest- ing discussion. : Tue Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association at Plymouth has still-a few tables unoccupied for the summer vacation. Applications for permission to work there should be sent in without delay to the Director, _ Writ1NG from Murree, on June 7, Mr. F, C, Constable says ‘thar, during a recent hailstorm, corrugated iron roofs were in many cases perforated by the hail. He measured one hailstone four hours after the storm, and found it to be 4} inches A VIOLENT thunderstorm occurred on Ben Nevis last week from 11 p.m. of Friday to 2 a.m. of Saturday, St. Elmo’s fire appearing there at the same time. During another thunder- Storm on Saturday afternoon flashes came off from the telegraph _ wire connections inside the observatory ; and about the same time a fire-ball was seen to strike the ground near the foot of } the hill. The hygrometric fluctuations at the time were re- markable. + NO. 1237, VoL. 48] DuRINnG the past week sharp thunderstorms have occurred in many parts of the British Islands, accompanied by hail and very heavy rain. Between the 7:h and gth the fall within twenty- four hours exceeded an inch at several places inthe north of England and in parts of Scotland, and in the north of Ireland on Sunday it amounted to 2°81 inches, a fall more than double the total for the month of June this year. The temperature was also exceptionally high in the southern parts of England during the first part of the period, the maximum reading being 89°*9 at Greenwich on Friday and Saturday, a temperature which was not equalled in any part of the summer during the five years 1888-92, and at Cambridge the shade reading on Saturday registered 92°, S1ncE February, 1892, a Richard thermograph has been in- stalled on the summit of the Obir, at a height of 2140m., or about 100om. below the level of the Sonnblick Observatory, The records of temperature up to February, 1893, as shown by this thermograph, were communicated and discussed by Director J. Hann at a recent meeting of the Vienna Academy (June 12), They afford a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the daily changes of temperature in the higher regions of the atmosphere. A comparison with the cor- responding temperatures registered on the Sonnblick shows an almost identical course of changes, except that in summer the range on the Obir was perceptibly larger. During eight months, from October to May, hardly any daily variation is re- corded in the decrease of temperature with height between the Obir and Sonnblick. In the summer months, the most rapid. decrease was found to occur at I p.m., being 0°74 per I00m., he least rapid at 11 p.m., being 0°°61 per Loom, The mean decrease per 100m. for the summer months was 0°°67, for winter o°'54, and for spring and autumn 0°'56, A NEW determination of the mass and the density of the earth has been made by M. Alphonse Berget, who describes his method in the current number of the Comptes Rendus. It con- sisted in altering the level of a lake by 1 m,, and noticing the effect produced upon a hydrogen gravimeter such as was used by Boussingault and Mascart to determine the diurnal variation of gravity. The lake was that of Habaz-la-Neuve, in Luxem- burg, of 79 acres area, belonging to M. Francois de Curel. The level could be raised or lowered ina few hours. The vati- ation of the column of mercury was minutely observed by means of Fizeau’s interference fringes, produced in vacuo be- tween the surface of the mercury and a piece of plane-polished glass at the bottom of the observing tube. Two series of read- ings were taken, the one on lowering the level of the lake by 50 cm, and I m., the other on raising it by the two correspond- ing amounts. The displacement of the column for a change of level of tm. was 1'26x10%cm, The value for K, [the- constant of gravitation, z.¢. the attraction in dynes produced by amass of 1 gr. upon another placed 1 cm. from it in air, was- found to be 6°80 x 10°, The mass of the earth was found to be: 5°85 x 1077 grammes, and its density 5°41, which is in fair agreement with results hitherto obtained. DuRinc the cruise of the A/anche in the neighbourhood of Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen, M. G. Pouchet made some inter- esting observations of the various kinds of ice to be found on. those barren Arctic islands. In the northern lagoon of Jan. Mayen, which was partly covered with ice on July 27, the ice, according to a description in the Comptes Rendus, was. formed of irregular vertical prisms about 10 mm. thick separated: by spaces of about 1 mm. and joined at the upper surface by: a uniform layer of semi-transparent ice 1 to 2 mm, thick, At 252 NATURE [Juty 13, 189 Research Bay, Spitzbergen, the gigantic front of the two glaciers which flow into the sea presented three different tints. At the base some parts were quite dark, suggesting deep caves, but really consisting of pure homogeneous, compact ice. The middle region was greenish-blue, and the upper, consisting of snow- ice, was white. The ice-floes were either white or greenish- blue, or of an extremely intense emerald green. Ontaking one of the latter out of the water it was found to consist of homo- geneous limpid ice, absolutely colourless to the thickness of 1 m. orso, The deep green colour was due to its illumination by the green water of the bay, which, like that of the Isfjord, is of an intensely green colour. AN important paper by Messrs. Sarasin ani De la Rive is published in the Archives des Sciences Physique et Naturelles and -ontains an account of a series of experiments on the interference of electrical waves after reflection from a metallic screen. The authors being of opinion that the results obtained by Her‘z and themselves in a former investigation were vitiated on account of the reflecting surface being too small, undertook this series of experiments, using as a reflecting surface a sheet of zinc 16 metres Jong and 8 metres high. The arrangement employed was almost the same as that used by Hertz, the spark-gap of the oscillator, however, being surrounded by oil. The resonators were circular, and had been used in a previous series of experi- ments on the propagation of electrical waves along conducting wires, in which it had been found that each resonator re- sponds to waves of a definite wave-length, and to these only. A series of observations, made with a view of ascertaining the minimum size of mirror, which gives consistent results with resonators of different sizes, showed that for a resonator of 75 cm. in diameter the reflecting surface must have a length of from 12m. to 14 m. andaheight of 8m., while for a resonator of 35 cm. in diameter a mirror 5 m, long and 3 m. high is sufficient. The results obtained may be summed up as follows :—(1) A circular resonator has a constant wave-length to which it responds, whatever be the dimensions of the oscillator, the strength of the induced spark only varies, attaining a maximum value fora certain length of the oscillitor, which gives waves in unison with theresonator, (2) The quarter wave length of a circular resonator is approximately equal to twice its diameter. (3) In the case of normal reflection from a metallic mirror the first node coincides exactly with the surface of the mirror. (4) The velocity of propagation of the electrical waves is the same in air as along conducting wires. WE have received a copy of a calibration curve of one of Prof. Perry’s new electric current meters, which are now being con- structed for practical work by Messrs. Johnson and Phillips, This meter, as some of our readers may know, consists of a copper bell (with open neck) which rotates about its axis in a radial magnetic field formed between an inner cylinder and an outer surrounding cylinder, both of iron, and magnetised by a coil surrounding the inner, As the surfaces of these cylinders are furnished with teeth projecting towards one another, leaving just sufficient clearance space for the bell, there are, alternating with one another round the bell, places of maximum and mini- mum field intensity. The bell is immersed in mercury, and being covered with varnish, except at the lip and at the neck, where it receives and gives out current, is the seat of a current sheet running from the lip to the neck. Thus the bell rotates about its axis with a speed depending on the current flowing and the intensity of the magnetic field. By the ingenious de- vice of ren tering the field non-uniform, the resisting couple due to solid and fluid friction is made small in comparison with that due to Foucault currents; and as the latter is proportional to the square of the maximum field intensity multiplied by the speed of rotation, and the driving couple to the product of the NO. 1237, vot. 48] field intensity and the current, a working formula is obtai which the curreat is proportional to speed and to field inte By making the field sufficiently intense, the speed can be as slow as may be desired, and error from neglect of fr propo-tionately diminished. The meter is thus very and unlikely to get out of order, or to be inconstant or worthy in action. It is claimed, further, that the temp errors balance one another, and this is borne out by thei that the calibration curve is a straight line from the first ¢ marked, 2°5 ampéres, to the highest, 60 ampéres. The in: ment must therefore, within the range of currents for is designed, work with great accuracy. THE Philosophical Magazine for July contains a note b Messrs, Harvey and Hird on some differences they hay observed in the behaviour of positive and negative electr high frequency discharges. They find that, when a brush charge takes place in air between a point anda plate, the p always positively charged, althouzh the discharge is oscil In the case of hydrogen, however, the plate becomes negative electrilied. Thus in the case of a brush discharge in a oxygen the positive electricity passes more readily than neg from a point into any neighbouring conductor, whil hydrogen the reverse takes place, negative electricity pass more readily. WEBER showed some’years ago that the eggs of the comm pike could be caused to produce double monstrosities if recently fertilised ova were violently shaken. Mr. John . 4 Ryder has recently comnunicated a paper to the demy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, which leads to t belief that the Japanese produced their singular breed double-tailed goldfishes by taking the eggs of the normal of goldfishes and shaking them, or disturbing them in some waj as Prof. Weber did with the eggs of the pike. They would th obtain some complete double monsters, some with two and a single tail, and some with double tails. Those most lik to survive would be those with only a duplication of the tz These being selected and bred would probably hand do tendency to reproduce the double tail, a tendency which become fixed and characteristic if judicious selection were tained. Mr. Ryder thinks that his investigation warrai conclusion that the regenerative power of organisms disa as we rise in the scale of organisation, last of all in the p pheral extremital parts. He further observes that the pow produce monstrosities or cogenital aberrations of deve due to external disturbances of segmentation, during g' diminishes in the highet forms sari passu with the adv development. In a number of papers communicated to the Ame Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Att Sciences, and the Boston Society of Natural History, Mr. Packard gives the results of studies on the life-history 0 Bombycine moths. He has worked out the transform several of the lower Bombyces, and has arrived at some results. He has treated the larve as though they adult, independent animals, and has worked out their and generic as well as family characters, The origin of and protective characters has been traced, and thi larval life when they are assumed ascertained. This in astudy of the development of the more specialised setae, S| is tubercles, lines, spots, and other markings. Facts have been obtained with regard to the ontogeny of American 5 and genera, which, when compared with the life- histories | z European, Asiatic, and South American Bombyces, may ] to a partial comprehension of the phylogeny of the high Lepidoptera. NATURE 2x3 _ Jury 13, 1893] wz Essex Naturalist, No. 4, contains an address on dicity in organic life, delivered by Mr. Henry Laver tiring President of the Essex Field Club. Reasons are n for the belief that plant and animal life periodically etuate in richness and scarcity. _ Ar Trenton, and the Delaware Valley, and Ohio, flints have been found in ice-age drift and described as implements of Ppalzolithic man. In three papers received from Mr. W. H. Holmes this interpretation is disputed, and the ‘‘finds” are said to be of Indian manufacture—a view which, if accepted, tells against the existence of glacial man in America. Prors. L. Ciccone and F. CAMPANILE have prepared a set of tables showing the intensity of gravity, in C.G.S. units, for every ten minutes of latitude (Aivista Sctentifico-Indus- triale). They also give the value of gat all the principal ob- serving stations in the world. Owinc to the delay in the publication, by the U.S. National Museum, of a ‘‘ Monograph of the North American Bats,” by Dr. Harrison Allen, the introduction to the Bulletin has been issued in advance. Judging from it, the coming memoir will be of an important character. Messrs. FRIEDLANDER AND SON, Berlin, have issued their Natural History News, No. to. | Tue ‘' Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philoso- | phical Society,” vol. ii., part 12, contains a paper on stings jand poison fangs, by Mr. G. T. Mott, and a number of ‘notes on some East Anglian birds, by Mr. L. Creaghe- | Haward. A VOLUME has just been published containing the results of jrain, river, and evaporation observations made in New South | Wales during 1891, under the direction of Mr. H. C. Russell, \C.M.G., F.R.S , the Government Astronomer of the colony. | In Dis Wetter for May G. Falkenhorst gives an account of the various plants which are affected by weather, including the |paternoster-pea (Adrus precatorius), or ‘‘ weather plant,” the claims of which as a prognosticator of coming weather were shown to be groundless in the Kew Bulletin of January 1890. He points out that the indications of these hygroscopic plants, however worthy of study from a botanical point of view, only jrefer to simultaneous changes of weather. THE Royal University of Ireland has issued its calendar for j\the year 1892. The papers set at the examination held during |the year are published in a separate volume as a supplement to | Tue ‘Matriculation Directory” has been published by ithe University Correspondence College Press. It contains jsolutions to the questions set at the matriculation examination ‘jof London University last month, and articles on the special ‘subjects for January and June next year. “Diz MEDICINISCHE ELECTROTECKNIK,” by Dr. J. L. /Hoorweg, is a little book, dealing chiefly with elementary facts jand principles more or less connected with medical electricity. Magnetism, statical electricity, voltaic electricity, and electrica} |measurements are the subjects of four separate chapters, and H action of electricity upon the human body, electro-medical "japparatus, and various methods of electrification. The text jis illustrated by seventy-seven cae and diagrams. from Messrs, Simpkin, Marshall and Co. It is entitled ; “Foundations of the Atomic Theory,” and contains reprints of ‘papers by Dalton and Wollaston, and an extract from Dr. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] Thomas Thomson’s ‘f System of Chemistry,” in which book the earliest printed account of Dalton’s views was given. A NEw acid containing chromium and sulphuric acid, possess, ing somewhat remarkable properties, is described by M. Recoura in thecurrent number of the Comptes Rendus. It is related to pyro- sulphuric acid, H,S,O,, in a manner somewhat similar to that in which the chromosulphuric acid, (SO,4).Cr.(SOsH),, previously prepared by M. Recoura, is related to ordinary sulphuric acid. Its constitution is represented by the formula (S,O,;H),Cr.(OH).. Its most remarkable property is that the two atoms of hydroxylic hydrogen are readily replaceable by metals to form salts, the whole of which, even those yielded by the introduction of the metals of the alkalies and of ammonium, are completely insoluble in water, although the acid itself is readily soluble. It has been termed chromopyrosulphuric acid. In order to prepare it a solution containing one molecular equivalent of chromic sulphate, Cr,(SO,)3;, and five. molecular equivalents of sulphuric acid is evaporated over a water-bath, when a syrupy liquid of a deep green colour is eventually obtained. This liquid is then further heated to a temperature of 110-115° for a couple of days, which treatment induces a complete change of character and transparent tabular crystals of the new acid, possessing a vitreous lustre and a bottle-green colour, are deposited. Its formation is represented by the following equation :— Cr2(SO,)g + 5H,SO,=(S,0,H),Cra(OH), + 2H,0. THE properties of chromopyrosulphuric acid differ widely from those of chromosulphuric acid. It is readily soluble in water, forming an opaline yellowish-green solution. This solu- tion yields precipitates with the solutions of all commonly occurring salts, those of the alkalies not excepted. It may be generally stated that upon the addition of the solution of any metallic salt whatever to a solution of chromopyrosulphuric acid, a flocculent precipitate, more or less green in colour, is obtained. The precipitate, however, is not chromopyrosulphuric acid in which merely the hydroxylic hydrogen is replaced by the metal of the salt employed. One half of the pyrosulphuric acid is detached, and in contact with the water present produces four molecules of free ordinary sulphuric acid. The salt preci- cipitated is thus derived from the acid (S,0;).Cr.(OH).. For instance, when a solution of potassium chloride is added to a solution of chromopyrosulphuric acid the following change occurs :— ($,0,H),Cr,(OH). + 2KCl + 2H,O = (S,0,)sCra(OK), + 2HCl + 4H,SO, Similarly copper sulphate solution produces a pale green pre- ie fe) cipitate of the salt (8,07),CrxC pe Solutions of caustic alkalies act like salts. Thus, when a solu- tion of caustic soda of known strength is slowly added a pre- cipitate of the sodium salt (S,0;)Cr(ONa), is thrown down, and the solution attains its neutral point when ten molecular equivalents of soda have been addej, the amount required to form the above salt and to neutralise the four molecules of sulphuric acid liberated. M. Recoura has also isolated the acid itself from which these salts are derived, and promises a de- scription of its properties in a subsequent memoir, NoreEs from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. — Last week’s captures include the Nemertines Prosorhochmus Clagaredii and Carinella linearis, numbers of the Polychete Myzost on Antedon rosacea, various species of the Pantopod genera Phoxichilus, Nymphon and Ammothea, the Isopod Apseudes talpa, the Schizopod Heteromysis formosa, the Brachyuran Acheus Cranchii, and the Nudibranchiate Mollusca A@olidiella glauca and Galvina cingulata. The chains of the 254 NATURE Salp Thalia democratica-mucronata have now for the most part broken up, and the detached sexual forms, each with a con- tained embryo, have been taken‘in considerable numbers. The floating fauna has also included Cirripede and Copepod Nauplii, Polychzte trochospheres and Molluscan veligers. Among Leptomedusz C/y¢ia Johnustoni and small Odelie have been abundant; and among Anthomeduse Sarsia eximia has been | observed, together with numbers of an apparently undescribed species of Dysmorphosa, resembling Rathkea oclopunctata in its power of budding from the manubrium. The Molluse Galvina cingulata and the Tunicate Thalia democratica-mucronata are now breeding. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include an American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) from Canada, presented by Mr. Joseph Politzer ; a Hawk’s- billed Turtle (Che/one imbricata) from the West Indies, pre- sented by Mr. C. Melhado; two Common Buzzards (Buteo vulgaris) European, deposited ; two Australian Crows (Corvus australis) from Australia, purchased ; a Thar (Capra jemlaica, ¢), a Triangular-spotted Pigeon (Columba guinea), a Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinalis virginianus), two Hybrid Pied Wagtails (between Moracilla lugubris, §, and Af, melanofe, 2) bred in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. A New Comet, —A telegram received from Prof. Krueger announces that a comet with a bright tail was discovered by M. Quenisset at M. Flammarion’s observatory, Juvisy, on July 9, its approximate place being R.A. 7h. 50m., N. Decl. 48° 10’. The comet is therefore in the constellation Lynx. In Zdinburgh Circular No. 38, Mr. Heath says that a second telegram from the same source states that the comet was again seen on the foth, at 12h. 59°3m. M.T. at Kiel, its place being then R.A, 8h. 29m. 45°7s., N. Decl. 46° 59’ 29”; daily motion, + 34m. 48s. and — 1° 24’, ComeT FINuay (1886 VII.).—A contingation of M. Schul- hof’s ephemeris for the ensuing week is as follows :— 12h. M.7. Paris. 1893 R.A. app. Decl. app. July 13 aa 3 50 23 84 +18 54 32°8 it: paket aoe 4 3 57°6 19 10 20'2 15 30°2 19 25 35°4 16 dae 13 169 19 40 18'4 Ly Be ets 17 31°83 19 54 293 18 ie 22 0°65 20.8 53 19 ae 26 28°11 a 20 21 15"4 20 4 30 54°16 ee 20 33 510 In the above ephemeris we have corrected the error made in the Astronomische Nachrichten (No. 3171), where the 16th is inadvertently printed 14th, METEOR SHOWERS THIS MONTH.—In the list of the radiants of the principal meteor showers which Mr. Denning gives in the companion to the Odservatory the following are visible this cae that occurring on the 28th being defined as ‘‘ most rilliant ” :— Date. Radiant. Meteors. a July 19 314 +48 Short, swift. 20 269 +49 i Swift. 22 16 +31 Swift, streaks, 2 48 + Swift, streaks. 2 339 — is Slow, long. 30 6 +35 Swift, streaks, L’ASTRONOMIE FOR JULY.—The current number of this journal commences with an article by M. Tisserand on the in- auguration of the statue of Arago, which was referred to in these pages Jast week. M, Deslandres briefly refers to some of his results as shown by the photographs taken by him at the late total solar eclipse, to which are added the observations of NO. 1237, VOL. 48] several other observers, and several illustrations of the ments employed. M. Denning contributes three dray comet Holmes (made on November 9, 16, and 19 | ing its change of shape from the circular to the p form, Other articles of interest refer to m teoro statistics, atmospheric phenomena, earth tremblin the notes some recent measures are given of the di; Mars, and of the snow caps, the former made by M, Campbell at the Lick Observatory, and the latter by M. Hall at the Washington Observatory. mat HIMMEL UND ERDE FoR JuLy.—In this number Dr. concludes his interesting article on the diamond, having the ground between the first observations made at F 1694, and M, Moissan’s recent researches. Dr. Wil continues his chapters on the physical condition of Mars after the evidence of eminent observers, while gives us his fourth chapter on the mechanics of the dealing with the new researches by G. H. Darwin fluence of tides on the movements and form-propor' heavenly bodies, embracing particularly the earth: Among the notes that on variable stars calls for at MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION? II. i "TBESE are the principles of what may be called t} Museum idea as applied to national museums o history. It is a remarkable coincidence that since th enunciated, and during the time of their discussion, bi had met with anything like universal acceptance, t nations of Europe almost simultaneously erected in spective capitals—London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin new buildings ona costly, even palatial scale, to r natural history collections, which in each case had quite their previous insufficient accommodation. In the con of neither of these four edifices can the guardians of the purse be accused of want of liberality. Each building monument in itself of the appreciation of the govern country of the value and interest of the natural histe So far this is most satisfactory. Now that each is mo completed, at all events for the present, and its contents way towards a permanent arrangement, it may not be Wi interest on the present occasion to give some c account of their salient features, especially with a certain whether and to what extent their c arrangement have complied with the requirements of the 11 idea of such institutions. Fevenn | It may seem ungrateful to those who have so iiber sponded to the urgent representations of men of science viding the means of erecting these splendid buildings, that if they had all been delayed for a few years the r have been more satisfactory. The effects of having | in what may be called a transitional period of muse more or less evident in all, and ail show traces of or rather adaptation to new ideas of structures avow for old ones. In none, perhaps, is this more strikii than in our own, built, unfortunately, before any of th and so without the advantages of the experience that been gained from their successes or their shoricomin a building of acknowledged architectural beauty, ar excellent features, it cannot be taken structurally museum, when the test of adaptation to the purpose is devoted is rigidly applied. But to speak of its. ungracious and uncongenial task for me. If it w me too far away from my present subject I would r of the admirable manner in which the staff are en: carry out the new idea under somewhat di ci! cumstances, The new zoological museum in the Jardin des Pl; is a glorification of the old idea pure and simple. of one huge hall, with galleries and some annexes, 1 every specimen is intended to be exhibited, more or | fectly, on alternate periods to students and to the gen The building and cases are very handsome in style, a are endless rows of specimens of all kinds neatly me uniform manner. There are no storerooms, no lab no workrooms connected with the building. These 1 Continued from p. 236. ie * Jory 13, 1893] NATURE 239 her more or less distant parts of the establishment, separated a it in most cases by the whole breadth of the garden. Of ourse this can only be looked upon as a temporary condition ‘affairs. Fortunately there is still room on the site of the old um behind the new building, and if this is utilised by erect- upon it a commodious set of workrooms, laboratories, poms for reserve collections and administrative offices directly n connection with each other and with the main building, which might then be emptied of a considerable portion of its contents, an extremely good working museum may be evolved. But if this space, as 1 believe was the original design, is used _ for the further extension of the already over large public galleries, the opportunity will be lost. _ The new museums at Vienna, the one for natural history, the | other for art, placed one on each side of a handsome public Bs in one of the most important quarters of the city, exactly alike in size and architectural features, are elegant buildings, and present many excellent features of construction. ‘The natural history museum, which was alone finished when I visited Vienna three years ago, is a quadrilateral structure with a central court, and consists of three stories and a basement. Each story is divided into a number of moderately-sized rooms, opening one into another, so that by passing along in the same direction, the visitor can make an inspection in systematic order of all the collections arranged in each story, returning to the _ point from whence he started; or, if need be, breaking off at _ the middle where a passage of communication runs across the central court. An admirable feature in the design of this museum, is that the public galleries of each story, lighted by windows from the outside of the building, have on their inner side other rooms communicating with them, and lighted from the court within, which are devoted to the private studies of the curators and to the reserve collections belonging to the same series as the exhibited collections in the public galleries with which they are in connection. Thus the public collections, the reserve collections, and the officers in charge are are in eachsection of the museum brought into close relation— .. advantageous arrangement—and one greatly facilitating the new museum idea. The only drawback is that these rooms, occupying the inner side of the quadrangular range of galleries, are necessarily small, and asthe collections grow, will be found insufficient for the purpose. This has, in fact, already proved to be the case in several departments, and a remedy has been found by devoting the whole upper story of the building to the reserve collections of insects, shells, and plants, and the work- ing library of the institution, an arrangement which gives excel- lent accommodation for these important departments, at all events forthe present. Another great future difficulty will arise, owing to the building being externally architecturally complete and visible on all four sides from the public grounds in which it stands ; it therefore admits of no extension,and the public galleries y contain as many specimens as can possibly be placed in them with any advantage. These are in most sections, especially the invertebrata, displayed in an extremely tasteful and instruc- tive manner, but the series is by no means over large for a national museum. The limitation of space is partly due to the somewhat singular division which has been made between the art and the natural history collections. Instead of taking the dividing line adopted at the British Museum between specimens in a state of nature, and those fashioned by man’s hand, the ures, the splendid collection of European medizeval armour, ‘the classical and Eeyptian antiquities are treated as works of vart ; but the so-called ethnological collection, containing the Specimens of Mexican, Peruvian, Japanese, Chinese, Poly- nesian, African, and prehistoric European art, are placed in the Natural History Museum, taking up a large portion of the spac » Which the curators of the zoological, mineralogical, and ical departments hoped to have had at their disposal for of their specimens. Whether room could be found t them in the Art Museum or not I cannot say; but certainly their actual aba is incongruous, and it is difficult to under- a ‘stand ak eruvian mummy should find its place in a building ‘ devoted to natural history, while the preserved adh an ancient Egyptian are treated as works of art. | _ Before leaving Vienna I should like to refer to the splendid “Specimens of taxidermy by the artist Hodek, the choicest examples of whose work are contained in a special collection, atti a small separate room, consisting of sporting trophies | of the late Crown Princ? Rudolph. Otherwise the general level of the specimens in the galleries is in no wise remarkable. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] The birds have the advantage of being mounted, not upon turned wooden stands of uniform pattern as in Paris, but upon pieces of natural tree branches, fixed in square or oblong oak stands. The exhibited specimens of vertebrate zoology include :keletons, but no other anatomical preparations, of which there is a distinct collection in the University Museum. The exhibited fishes and reptiles are exceedingly well preserved and mounted in spirit. In the Mollusca, Articulata, Echinoderms and Corals great care has been taken in setting the specimens off to advantage by selecting appropriate colours for backgrounds. Specimens in spirit are interspersed in their proper places. All have printed labels. The cases in which they are displayed are of oak, and of very handsome and even ornamental construction. The arrangement of all these collections displays a most intelligent appreciation of the needs of the ordinary visitor. Thus in the room appropriated for the exhibition of insects there are three distinct series, a general systematic seiies, a morphological series, and a very fine special collection of the insects of the neighbourhood of Vienna. The other rooms are arranged more or less on similar principles The main collec- tion of insects, is, as I have mentioned before, entirely apart in rooms very well adapted to the purpose in the upper floor of the building, and kept as usual in drawers in cabinets. The zoological portion of the new museum for ‘‘ Naturkunde,” in Berlin, situated in the Invaliden Strasse, is a remarkable il- lustration of the complete revolution of ideas on museum arrangement, which took place between its commencement and its completion. ‘The building, entirely designed upon the old system, came empty into the hands of the present director, who has arranged the contents absolutely upon the new method. It consists ofa fine glass covered hall, and three stories of galleries, all originally intended for a uniform exhibition of all the various groups of specimens which had accumulated in the crowded rooms of the old museum in the University. When Dr. Mobius succeeded to the directorate he conceived the bold plan of limiting the public exhibition to the ground floor, and devoting the two upper stories entirely to the reserve or working collections. This was a step which required some courage to take, especially as the two great staircases, which are the principal ornamental architectural features of the building, have by it become practically useless. Except, of course, for certain inconveniences always resulting from adaptation of a building to purposes not originally contemplated, especially local disjunc- tion of different series of the same groups, the result has been eminently satisfactory, and if the arrangement is completed upon the lines laid down by the Director, as explained to me on my last visit, this will be the most practical and conveniently ar- ranged museum of natural history at present existing. As much attention appears to be bestowed upon making the ex- hibited portion attractive and instructive, as on making the reserve collections complete and accessible to workers, In the former, the characteristics of the native fauna were being specially developed. For instance, the fish collection (of which the individual specimens are beautifully dis- played, fastened on to glass plates in flat-sided bottles) consists of a general representative systematic series, and three special: faunistic collections, one of the German fresh-water fishes, one of the north and east sea fishes, and one of the Mediterranean fishes. One room is devoted to German mammals and birds, and the recently added specimens show indications of an improvement in taxidermy which would have been impossible in the old days of wholesale bird-stuffing. Excellently pre- pared anatomical specimens, diagrams, explanatory labels, and maps showing geographical distribution, are abundantly intro- duced among the dried specimens of which such collections are usually composed, and a commencement has been made of iflus- trations of habits and natural surroundings. On the other hand, in marked contrast to Vienna, everything in the way of architecture and furniture and fittings is severely plain and practical, and a uniform drab colour is the pervading back- ground of all kinds of specimens. All danger from fire seems to have been most carefully guarded against. The floors are of artificial stone, the cases, and even the shelving, are constructed of glass and iron. Wood is almost entirély excluded, both in the structure and fittings. The ground floor, as I have said, is entirely devoted to the public exhibition, the first story to the reserve collection of vertebrates, and the upper story to the invertebrates ; and the basement contains commodious rooms for unpacking, mounting, preparing skeletons, &c. The con- struction of the building allows of considerable extension back- 256 NATURE [JuLy 13, 18 wards, whenever more space will be needed, at small cost and with little interference with existing arrangements. I should also mention that the zoological department of the University, with its admirably appointed laboratories and lecture-room;, and excellent working collection for teaching purposes, is in immediate contact with the museum, and the two institutions, though under different direction, are thus brought into har- monious cooperation. Any one who wishes to compare and contrast the two systems upon which a national zoological museum may be arranged cannot do better than visit Paris and Berlin at the present time. He will see excellent illustrations of the best of both. Of the museums of the United States of America much may be expected. They are starting up in all directions untram- melled by the restrictions and traditions which envelope so many of our old institutions at home, and many admirable essays on museum work have reached us from the other side of the Atlantic, from which it appears that the new idea has taken firm root there, In Mr. Brown Goode’s lecture on ‘* The Museums of the Future” (Report of the National Museum, 1888-89) it is said ‘‘In the National Museum in Washington the collections are divided into two great classes. The exhibition series, which constitutes the educational portion of the museum and is exposed to public view with all possible accessions for public entertainment and instruction, and the study series, which is kept in scientific laboratories and is scarcely examined except WINDOWS In the first place, I have endeavoured to work out in de! its application to natural history, that most original and theor cally perfect plan for a museum of exhibited objects in wh there are two main lines of interest running in different dire tions and intersecting each other, which we owe to the ingenuit of General Pitt-Rivers. This was explained in his addi President of the Anthropological Section of the British tion at Bath in 1888, and again in a lecture given about years ago before the Society of Arts. Upon this plan museum building would consist of a series of galleries form of circles, one within the other, and communicating at fi quent interval-. Each circle would represent an epoch world’s history, commencing in the centre and finishing : outermost, which would be that in which we are now liv The history of each natural group would be traced in radi lines, and so by passing from the centre to the circumfe its condition of development in each period of the world’s tory could be studied. If, on the other hand, the subje investigation should be the general fauna or flora of an: ticular epoch, it would be found in natural association by + fining the attention to the circle representing that 16 such an arrangement that most desirable object, the unioa palzontology with the zoology and botany of existing form one natural scheme, could be perfectly carried out, as both structural and the geological relations of each would be pi served, as indicated by its position in the museum. Sw WINDOWS aS ESorascac: BOARD ROOM DIRECTOR AND SECRETARIAT Prd Phys —<-s REFRESHMENT ROOMS &TC LIBRARY AND LECTURE ROOM PUBLIC by professional investigators, In every properly constructed museum the collections must from the very beginning divide themselves into these two classes, and in planning for its ad- ministration, provision should be made not only for the ex- hibition of objects in glass cases, but for the preservation of large collections not available for exhibition to be used for the studies of a very limited number of specialists.” : The museum of comparative zoology at Harvard, founded by the late Louis Agassiz and now ably administered and extended by his son, Alexander Agassiz, is a conspicuous example of the same method of construction and arrangement. But as I can say nothing of these from personal knowledge, I am obliged to leave out any further reference to them on the present occasion, From what has just been said it will be gathered that in Europe at least an ideal natural history museum, perfect in original design, as well as in execution, does not exist at pre- sent. We have indeed hardly yet come to an agreement as to the principles upon which such a building should be constructed. But as there are countries which have still their national museums in the future, and as those already built are susceptible of modifications, when the right direction has been determined on-I should be glad to take this opportunity of putting on record what appears to me, after long reflection on the subject, the main considerations which should not be lost sight of in such an undertaking. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] | building would undoubtedly offer difficulties in pra ENTRANCE struction, but even if these could be got over, our imperfect knowledge of the past history of animal and would make its arrangement with all the gaps and ir that would become evident, so unsatisfactory, that I canse hope to see it adopted in the near future. i I have therefore brought before you a humbler plan, but | which, I think, will be found to embody the practical p: necessary in a working museum of almost any des or small. - The fundamental idea of this plan is that the whole building should be divided by lines intersecting at right like the warp and the woof of a piece of canvas. } The lines running in one direction divide the differe sections of which the collection is composed, and wh convenient to keep apart ; the lines crossing these sepa portions of the collection according to the method o or conservation. Thus, the exhibited part of the whole co will come together in a series of rooms, occupying natu front of the building. The reserve collections wi another, or the middle, section, and beyond these w working rooms, studies, and administrative offices, all ia to each other, as well as to the particular part of the coll to which they belong. A glance at the pie will show at the great convenience of such a system, both for the pabl still more for those who work in the museum. JuLy 13, 1893] NATURE 257 This plan, of course, contemplates a one-storied, top-lighted iiding as far as the main rooms are concerned, although the -ooms and studies will be intwo or more stories. The main should all have a good substantial gallery running round m, by means of which their wall space is doubled. There is question whatever that an evenly-diffused top-light is far the est for exhibition rooms. Windows not only occupy the aluable wall-space, but give all kinds of uncomfortable cross hts, interspersed with dark intervals. Oa the other hand, doing any kind of delicate work, a good north light from a dow, as provided in the plan, is the most suitable. The avenience of having all the studies in relation with each other, and with the central administrative offices, while each one is also “in close contiguity with the section of the collection to which it belongs, will, I am sure, be appreciated by all who are ac- -quainted with the capriciously scattered position of such rooms in most large museums, notably in our own. Among other _ advantages would be the very great one that when the daily hour of closing the main building arrives, the officers need no longer, as at present, be interrupted in whatever piece of work they may have at hand, and turned out of the building, but as arrangements could easily be made for a separate exit, they could continue their labours as long and as late as they find it convenient to doso, without any fear for the safety of the general collections. F It will be observed that provision is made for a central hall, which is always a good architectural feature at the entrance of a building, and which in a museum is certainly useful in pro- viding for the exhibition of objects of general interest not strictly coming under any of the divisions of the subject in the galleries, or possibly for specimens too large to. be conveniently ex- hibited elsewhere. There is also provision in the central part of the building for the refreshment-rooms, and also for | the library and a lecture room; the first being an essential, and the latter a very useful adjunct to any collection intended for popular instruction, even if no strictly systematic teaching should be part of its programme. _I may point out, lastly, as a great advantage of this plan, that it can be, if space is reserved or obtainable, indefinitely ex- | tended on both sides on exactly the same system without in any way interfering with the existing arrangements, a new section, Seg ening exhibition and reserve galleries and studies can be as required at either end, either for the reception of new departments, or for the expansion of the old ones. With a view to the latter it is most important that the fittings should be as | little as possible of the nature of fixtures, but should all be so constructed as to be readily removable and interchangeable. This is a point I would strongly impress upon all who are con- cerned in fitting up museums either large or small. _The modifications of this plan to adapt it to the requirements of a municipal, school, or even village museum will consist } mainly in altering the relative proportion of the two sections of the collection. The majority of museums in country localities require little, if anything, beyond the exhibition series. In this primary arrangement to be aimed at is first, absolutely to separate the archeological, historic, and art portions of the | collection from the natural history, if, as will generally be the | case, both are to be represented in the museum. If possible they should be in distinct rooms. The second point is to divide each branch into two sections: 1, a strictly limited general or type collection, arranged upon a purely educational plan ; 2, a local collection, consisting only of objects found within a cer- tain well-defined radius around the museum, which should be | as exhaustive as possible. Nothing else should be attempted, and therefore reserve collections are unnecessary. Even the ; insects and dried plants can be exhibited on some such plans as | those adopted for the Walsingham collection of Lepidoptera in the Zoological Department, or the collection of British $ in the Botanical Department in our Natural History m, q have elsewhere indicated my views as to the objects most for, and the best arrangement of them in, school museums,'so I need say nothing further on the subject now. Indeed I fear I have exhausted your patience, so I will conclude bp an earnest hope that this meeting may prove a i us to all of us to continue heartily and ehecolgily at our j work, which I need not say is the only way to ensure that 1 recognition of it which we all so much desire. 1 Narurg, yol. xli. p. 177, December 26, 1889. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] At the close of the address a vote of thanks was moved by Sir James Paget and seconded by Sir Henry H. Howorth. The meeting was largely attended by delegates from various pro- vincial museums, as well as by representatives of a number of museums and scientific societies in the metropolis. Among those present were Sir Joseph Fayrer, Dr. Jonathan Hutchin- son, General Festing, Lady Flower, Dr. Giinther, Dr. Sclater, Dr. Henry Woodward, Mr, L. Fletcher, Mr. and Mrs. Cuthbert Peek, Mr. W. Topley, Mr. E. F. Newton, Prof. Jeffrey Bell, Mr. Osbert Salvin, Mr, F. W. Rudler, and others. The following museums were represented :— Bootle, Bolton, Brighton, Cardiff, Chester, Dublin, Glasgow, Maidstone, Manchester, Nottingham, Parkes Museum, Saffron Walden, Sheffield, Southampton, Stockport, Sunderland, Warrington, and York. At the conclusion of the proceedings Sir William and Lady Flower held a reception in the library of the Zoological Society. July 4, 5, and 7 were occupied by the business of the Associa- tion. As‘on previous occasions, papers were read and discussed | and general business transacted during the mornings ; while the afternoons were devoted to the inspection of museums. The Association owes a debt of gratitude to several societies and individuals for courtesy and hospitality. The convenient rooms of the Zoological Society, at 3 Ilanover Square, were kindly placed at the disposal of the Association by the Council of the Society, and the Anthropological Society kindly gave the use of its library. The Council of the Royal College of Surgeons invited the members of the Association to the conversazione held at the Museum on July 5. The Royal Society and the Geological Society allowed members of the Association the privilege of inspecting their collections, and the officers of the British Museum (both at Bloomsbury and at Cromwell Road), and of the Museum of Practical Geology, conducted the members over the departments under their charge. Dr. and Mrs. Wood- ward held a reception at 129, Beaufort Street on July 6, and Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson entertained a party at Haslemere on July 8, and exhibited his educational museum to his guests. THE DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE FLORAS. ey Phycological Memoirs, Part II., May 1893, Mr. George Murray gives a comparative table, showing the marine floras of the warm Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the Cape of Good Hope. : Preceding the comparison, he says:—‘‘In delimiting the above regions I have been guided by what may fairly be taken to be their natural boundaries. The warm Atlantic is the tropical Atlantic, with a slight northward extension, to in- clude Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda in the track of the Gulf Stream, and also Madeira and the Canary Islands, washed by that branch of the same stream which trends off backward to the south, the north equatorial current. Ihave not included the Azores, since they are not sufficiently under this influence, and their marine flora, so far as we know it, appears to be more akin to that of the north temperate Atlantic. On its southern boundary on the African coast the Cape region is permitted to come slightly within the tropics, so far as Wallfisch Bay, on account of this coast being swept by a cold current from the south, bringing with it up to this point at all events such temperate forms as Laminaria, recently recorded from that place. The Indian Ocean similarly is the tropical Indian Ocean, but includ- ing the whole of the Red Sea, and extending to the south slightly outside the tropics down the coast of Africa,and including the whole of Madagascar. I am justified in this by the course of the warm Mozambique current. I do not include on the east Sumatra, which appears to belong to another region, though I have included a few forms from the Andaman Islands and Mergui. The Cape of Good Hope region has already been in- directly described, and, as has been said, extends for the reasons given, slightly into the tropics on the west coast, and recedes slightly from that boundary on the east coast.” The table shows that the warm Atlantic has the largest recorded flora, viz. 859 species in 162 genera. I may explain that, out of this total, no less than 788 species in 150 genera occur in the West India region, and that the rest of the warm Atlantic furnishes only 71 species in 12 genera not occurring in the West Indies out of a much smaller total flora. Allowing for the un- doubted fact that a large number of West Indian species are 258 NATURE ({juLy 13, 189 bad species, there still remains a large balance in its favour. It has been better examined than any other part of the warm Atlantic, but still we may attiibute this preponderance mostly to the favourable natural conditions, principally the coral forma- tion of large portions of its island shores. On the coast of Africa there is not only nocoral, but league after league of muddy shore, making a marine desert so far as Alge are concerned. The Indian Ocean comes next, with 514 species in 139 genera. It possesses an enormous coast line, to a considerable extent favourable to the growth of Algee (though including long desert stretches) ; but the bulk of the records are from Ceylon, Mauritius, and the Red Sea, while a very large proportion of the region is unexanined. As in the West Indies, there is also here a consideraLle proportion of bad species, principally Sargassa, from the Red Sea. From the Cape we have 429 species in 14% genera. This remarkable total, from so short a coast line, is obtained from Miss Barton’s list in the Journal of Botany, 1893. The flora previously recorded in books:amounted only to 242 species in 99 genera, and this addition to its flora has resulted from her examination of the British Museum Herbarium, and her naming of the admirable collection made by Mr. Boodle, aid also vhose made by Mr. Scott Elliot and Mr. Tyson. The most noteworthy observation on these aggre- gates is the proportion uf species to genera. Inthe warm At- lantic the genus averages well over 5 specics; in the Indian Ocean the proportion is nearer 4 than 3 species to the genus; while at the Cape it is almost exactly 3. This is instructive when we remember, as I have elsewhere pointed out (Trans. Biol. Soc. Liverpool, vol. v. p. 177), that whilethe Arctic Algz average slightly more than 2 species only to the genus, the West Indies and Australia average rather more than 5 and less than 5 respectively. lLestimate that the north*temperate At- lantic yields an average of about 44 species to the genus, and the difference between this and 3 species per genus found at the Cape is to be attributed primarily to the short coast line of the Cape, and in a less degree to its Algee being less known. The calculation of such averages and proportions appears to me to be justified only when applied to the whole flora, and becomes more dangerous and apt to mislead when applied to portions of it, since particular groups in all the flo: as have been subjected to unequal treatment by collectors and describers, and we may perhaps trust to these personal errors neutralising each other when the complete totals are compared. The warm Atlantic and Cape have 85 genera and 114 species in common, while :he Indian Ocean and Cape have 86 genera and 89 species in common. That the number of genera in common should be so nearly exactly similar is interesting, and to discover whether they are the same genera in many cases it is only necessary to turn to the last table, where the Alyze com- mon to all three regions are given to find that 72 genera are common toall three. Some years ago I hazarded the speculation that, while the genera of the t:opical Atlantic and those of the Indian Ocean were largely the same, the species were, in a high proportion, different (*‘Catalogue of Marine Algz of the West Indian Region”), We can now see that they have no less than 103 genera in common out of a total of 139 occurring in the Indian Ocean and 162 in the warm Atlantic. They have certainly more species in common, viz. 173, but these must be considered relatively to the two totals of 514 in the Indian Ocean and 859 in the warm Atlantic, when my expectation will appear to be fairly borne vut. Nevertheless, I confess to having anticipated an even greater diversity of species. That the absolute number of genera occurring at the Cape should be by two greater than those of the Indian Ocean com. pletely puzzles me. I cannot fully account for it on any theory. While the number of species in common between any two of the floras is greater than the number of genera (thoughin one case only three more), the number of species, as might be expected, in common. to all three—viz. 59—is less than the genera—viz. 72. Again I should have expected to find rela- tively fewer species in common. When one comes to analyse these totals, the process must be earried on. in a more guarded fashion. One expects, as shown above, to find fewer species to the genus at the Cape than in the tropical floras, but one hardly expects to find that the genera of Floridee at the Cape are by five more numerous than in the warm Atlantic, and by 15 more than in the Indian Ocean. There areno less than 95 genera of FYortdee at the Cape, with 295 species, while the go of the warm Atlantic contain nearly 200 more species ! Matters are much the same inthe case of the Pheo- NO. 1237, VOL. 48] where (Tians, Biol. Soc. Liverpool, vol. v. p. 178) phycee, and we have come to the Chlorophycee to redress balance in the case of the warm Atlantic, They just fe bring it level in the case of the Indian Ocean. It has bee marked above that the genera which the two tropical flors in common with the Cape are almost identical in num analysis shows that the figures are very steady, viz. 58 Floridea, 14 and 15 of Pheophycca, 11 each of Chi and two each of /rotophyc:e, The table shows the character of such a group as the Siphonce very markedly, “ are 99 species in 23 genera in the warm Atlantic, 72 spec 16 genera in the Indian Ocean, and only 20 species in 7 { atthe Cape. It is interesting to observe that the 16 genera of Stphonce in the Indian Ocean are: the warm Atlantic. It has no peculiar generic type in this tropical group. While the genera of this trop’ are thus practically identical, the species are in a very portion different. Only 29 are possessed in common o two totals of 99 and 72. In the comparison of the two floras there is the coincidence that the genera and spe Siphonee agree exactly in numbers, viz. 16 and 29, with of all the Pheophycce—a thing without significance, howev The interest that is attached to the above comparison is mi this. We have here two tropical marine floras cut off fr other by a permanent continental area, and communic: vid the Cape. That these floras have been periodical! at the epochs of warmer climate at the Cape seems a r conclusion with regard to a group of such antiquity as thi ‘and the proportions of species in common and gen’ mon between the different regions, and among all three have a significance in this respect to students of distributic the totals of Sifhonea, a peculiarly tropical order). I have 3 on the fact that, ‘while in the Arctic and Australian the Pieophycce far outnumber the Chlorophyca, in the’ West Indian flora the proportion is very ae reverse the green Algze cutnumber the olive-brown. One to put this down to the strong illumination of the tro but another reascn is to be found in the fact that a. Antilles rickest as regards Algz are subject to irrupt and brackish water ficm the Orinoco flocds—a « would operate in the same direction.” We cannow ch speculation hy a comparison with the figures for tl Ocean, mainly derived from such localities as the Ceylon, Mauritius, &c., in no case affected by the jue fresh-water floods. The figures for the Indian Ocean tn nearly the same for both groups—24 genera and 117 Pheophycce, and 26 genera and r2t species of Chior thus showing indirectly that the irruptions of fresh water: all probability, potent in the case of the West Indian One is much struck by the strength of illumination of in a shallow coral sea, Lut the filtering action the rays of light, and the interception first of those most efficient in the work of assimilation—conditions m: the pigments of Algze—ate the same in all seas.? “ cally tideless character of the Antilles would also preponderance of green over olive-brown forms. — + INTELLIGENCE. THE Bristol Medical School, which was est rT this century, has, since the establishment of Universi! Bristol, about seventeen years ago, been affiliated remained under the direction Within the last few months amalgamated and placed under one Ccuncil, an School now constitutes the faculty of me College. THE Council of University College, Bristol, h the status of Professor, in the Faculty of Arts’ Mr, F, R. Barrell, Lecturer in Mathematics, A. P. Chattock, Lecturer in Physics, and have Dr. Edwaid Fawcett, late Senior Demonstrator of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, to the Professorship in the Faculty of Medicine, 1 Recent research on other pigments by Prof. Marshall appear to me more prubable that, in the case of the marine ments are rather shields against the excess of blue rays than adap heighten the susceptibility of chlorophyll to the diminished others. ae JuLy 13, 1893 | NATURE 259 HER Majesty’s Commissioners for the exhibition of 1851 have ude the following appointments to science research scholar- ips for the year 1893, on the recommendati »n of the authorities 'the respective Universities and colleges. The scholarships are he value of £150 a year, and are tenable for two years (sub- ct to a satisfactory report at the end of the first year), in any [niversity at home or abroad, or in some other institution to be pproved of by the Commissioners. The scholars are to devote yemselves exclusively to study and research in some branch of science, the extension of which is important to the industries of country. The list of scholars and of the nominating insti- ions is as follows :—Herbert William Bolam, University of dinburgh ; George Edwin Allan, University of Glasgow ; ames Wallace Walker; University of St. Andrews; Arthur Lapworth, Mason College, Birmingham ; John Ellis Myers, Yorkshire College, Leeds ; Arthur Walsh Titherley, University College, Liverpool ; Edward Chester Cyril Baley, University College, London ; John Cannell Cain, Owens College, Man- chester ; Ella Mary Bryant, Durham College of Science, New- castle-on-Tyne ; James Darnell Granger, University College, Nottingham; Mary O’Brien, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth ; Frederick George Donnan, Queen’s College, Belfast ; James Alexander M’Phail, M’Gill University, Montreal; Norman Ross Carmichael, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada; William Henry Ledger, University of Sydney. ~ Miss Maria M, OGILvik, daughter of Dr. Ogilvie, of Gor- don’s College, Aberdeen, has passed the final examination for the degree of Doctor of Sciences of London University. The sub- ject of her thesis was the ‘‘Geolozy of the Wingen and St, Cassian Strata in Sovthern Tyrol,” published in the Quarterly Fournal of the Geological Society for February. Tue electors to the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy will proceed to the appointment of a successor to the late Prof. Pritchard, in the couse of the ensuing Michaelmas Term. The duties of the Professor are defined'by the following provisions of the statutes :—The Savilian Professor of Astronomy shall lecture and give instruction on theoretical and practical Astro- nomy. ‘‘ Ne alia quapiam professione eodem tempore fungatur professor ; nec munus observatoris Radcliviani, nec officium prelectoris alicujus in quovis collegio publice legentis cum munere suo conjungat.” The Professor shall reside within the University during six months, at least, in each academical year, between the first day of September and the ensuing first day of July. He shall lecture in two at least of the three University terms. His lectures shall extend over a period not less in any term than six weeks, and not less in the whole than fourteen weeks, and he shall lec'uretwice at least in each week. The Uni- ay Observatory shall be open for eight weeks ineach term, nd at such other times and for such hours as the University may by statute determine. The Savilian Professor of Astronomy shall have the charge of the University Observatory, and shall undertake the personal and regular supervision of the same, and of the several demonstrators and other assistants employed therein, and shall be responsible for all the work carried on there. The emoluments of the Professorship as determined by statute are as follows :—He shall be entitled to the emoluments now assigned to the Professorship and derived from the bene- faction of Sir Henry Savile, Knight, or from the University ) Chest ; and shall receive in addition the emoluments appropri- ated to the Professorship by the statutes of New College. ‘The total amount of all these emoluments is at present £850 a ) year. Applications, together with such papers as the candi- date may desire to submit to the electors, must be sent to the aie of the University, Clarendon Building, Oxford, on or re October 31, 1893. { ARRANGEMENTS have been completed for the seventh session ite eaintey’ Summer Meeting, which begins on July 31, | and lasts throughout August. Among the better known lecturers } are:—M. Edmond Demolins, M. Paul Desjardins, Prof. Patrick | Geddes (who will treat of contemporary social evolution), Prof. sees hone (giving a course of comparative psychology— i Vs haps the first of its kind in Britain),and Mr. Arthur Thomson, } discussing bionomics and evolution. A course on the history _ and principles of the sciences will be conducted by Prof. Cargill Knott, Dr. Charles Douglas, and others. A characteristic feature will be the series of studies entitled ‘‘ A Regional Survey of } Edinburgh and Neighbourhood.” Among other subjects are Physiology, Modern ‘History, Education and Elocution, and | there will be practical classes in Botany, Zoology, and Geology. NO. 1237, Vou. 48] Work will be continued in the seminars and the studios, and a rew departure is the course of Sloyd. While the student is obviously invited to serious work, a pleasant relief is promised in the shape of excursions. THE New York Mation says that on June 14, at the Univer- sity of Virginia, for the first time in its history, a certi- ficate of attainment qualifying for graduation (in the School of Pure Mathematics) was given to a woman, Miss Caroline Preston Davis. Miss Davis, while excluded from the lectures, had taken successfully the same examinations on the same day with the male students, but ‘‘in a separate room” ; and, at the request of the Chairman of the Faculty, the graduating class in a body handed the certificate to her. SoME years ago (writes the Allahbad Pioneer Mail), the Senate, or the Syndicate, of the University of Madras promul- gated a rule that any examiner who failed to send in his marks by a certain fixed date would be fined 20 rupees for each day’s delay. The Syndicate, however, refrained from acting on this remarkable rule until this year, when its sense of humour was too strong for it, and it determined to carry its little joke to its conclusion. A number of examiners were accordingly fined. One gentleman earned a fee of 210 rupees, but he was fined 200rupees, and received a pay billfor1o rupees. Entering into the spirit of the thing, he returned this amount to the Registrar as a present to the University, and possibly it will be invested, and the proceeds devoted to the purchase of an infinitesimal medal, as the custom is. But, seriously, it is most regrettable that the Syndicate should deliberately degrade its examiners in this way. Surely it is possible to find a sufficient number of gentlemen who can be trusted to do their work with such promptness as is compatible with fairness to the candidate, and more than this the Senate cannot desire. If an examiner is guilty of great delay, the remedy is simple—do not appoint him again. But to treat an examiner like a careless domestic is as insulting to him as it is undignified on the part of the University. Mr. F. W. GamBLe, B.Sc. (Victoria), formerly Bishop Berkeley Research Fellow in Zoology, has been appointed to the post of Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator in Zoology in the Owens College, Manchester BisHop BERKELEY Research Fellowships has been awarded by the council as follows :—H. B. Pollard, M.A. (Oxon.), in Zoology; Albert Griffiths, M.Sc. (Vict.), in Physics ; i A. Harker, D.Sc. (Tiibingen), in Physics; Bevan Lean, B.A., B.Sc. (Lond.), in Chemistry ; and a Fellowship has been re- newed to Stanley Dunkerley, M.Sc. (Vict.), in Engineering. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, Vol. ii. No. 9, June, 1893.—The mechanics of the earth’s atmosphere is a collection of translations by Cleveland Abbe (published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1891, 324 pp. 8vo). Anaccountof itis furnished by R. S, Woodward (pp. 199-203). The volume con- tains twenty papers, all but two of which were published origin- ally in the German language. The opening paper is by Hagen (1874), then follows the classic memoir by Helmholtz (1858), with five others by the same author. Then comes the ‘exten- sion of one of the last cited papers by Kirchhoff (1869) ; we then have five memoirs by Oberbeck, a paper by Hertz. (1884), three papers by Bezold (1888-1889), a paper by Lord Rayleigh (1890, on the vibration of the atmosphere), and papers by Margules (1890) and Ferrel (1890). It will be readily inferred from this outline that Mr. Abbe has performed a work of prime import- ance to mathematical meteorologists. Dr. T. S. Viske (pp. 204- 211) also gives an outline sketch of mathematical investiga- tions in the theory of values and prices, by Dr. I. Fisher (reprinted from the Transactions of the’ Connecticut Academy, July, 1892). The number closes with a few brief notes and a list of recent publications. Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 6.— On the determination of electrical resistances by means of alter- nating currents, by F. Kohlrausch. This is a minute study of the errors involved in measuring liquid resistances with alter- nate currents and the telephone. For potassium chloride solu- tion between clean platinum électrodes, the error by which the resistance of the liquid was found too great remained below 1 per cent. so long as the product of the resistance in ohms and the surface of the electrode in sq. cm. did not fall below 250. In cases of high resistance, say 100,000 ohms, where MM. 260 NATURE [JuLy 13. 1893 Bouty and Foussereau failed altogether to obtain consistent results, these-may be secured by using certain precautions, such as placing the induction coil at a sufficient distance (1 m. at least) from the bridge, directing its axis perpendicular to that of the rheostat, and placing the telephone perpendicular to the lines _of force of the induction coil. In the case of water and very dilute solutions the electrostatic capacity of the containing cell is asource of disturbance, which may, hcw ver, be obliterated by introducing a small condenser of adjustable capacity.—The temperature coefficient of the dielectric constant of pure water, by F. Heerwagen. This was investigated with a kind of differ- ential electrometer, in which two needles were suspended by one wire in two electrometers arranged vertically one above the other. The needles, the vessel, and one pair each of the quadrants were joined to one pointin a constant voltaic circuit, and the other pairs to two other points. The lower electro- meter was alternately empty and filled with pure water. Under these circumstances the ratio of the sensibilities was inversely as the ratio of the squares of the differences of potential. The value obtained for K was 80°878 — 0°362 (¢ — 17), where ¢ is the temperature of the water in degrees centigrade.— Polarising effects of the refraction of light, by K. Exner. Glass gratings, necessary in order to obtain a sufficiently large angle of diffrac- tion, have the disadvantage of producing polarisation effects due to change of medium in addition to those due to diffrac- tion. This difficulty was overcome by attaching the cut surface to a semi-cylinirical lens by a drop of oil of the same refractive index. The polarisation effects show a fair agreement with Stokes’s cosine liw. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Royal Society, June 8.—‘‘ The Process of Secretion in the Skin of the Common Eel,” by E. Waymouth Reid, Pro- fessor of Physiology in University College, Dundee. By special attention to the condition of the fish at the time of fixation of their skins for histological investigation, the author has succeeded in obtaining pictures of the various phases of secretory action. The /owest phase of activity was obtained by rendering hybernating fish suddenly motionless by a successful transfixion of the medulla, and then removing skin before re- covery from ‘‘shock”’ admitted of reflex secretion. The highest phase of secretory action was produced by artificial stimulation of the intact animal by the vapour of chloroform, by faradisa- tion, or by simply allowing a pithed summer eel to ‘‘slime” after recovery from the primary ‘‘shock.” The following are the main conclusions :— (1) The secreting elements of the epidermis of the common eel consist of goblet cells and club cells, both direct descend- ants of the cells of the palisade layer. The former supply a mucin, the latter threads and a material appearing as fine granules in the slime. (2) The goblet cells contain mucin granules, and, after reach- ing the surface and discharging their load, are capable of undergoing regeneration by growth of the protoplasmic foot and re-formation of mucin, (3) The threads of the slime resemble those of AZyxine glutinosa, but are usually of finer texture. As in AZyxine, they are developed from the club cells, but there are no special glandular involutions of the epidermis. The club cells of Petromyzon fluviatilis also supply slime threads. (4) The granular material of the slime is the contents of vesicular spaces developed in the club cells in the immediate neighbourhood of their nuclei, and is set free enclosed in a lattice work developed by vacuolation of the surrounding material, and finally extruded, carrying with it the original nucleus of the club cell. (5) The remainder of the club cell, after extrusion of its vesicle and nucleus, becomes a spirally coiled fibre, which finally breaks up into the fine fibrils of the slime. (6) Severe stimulation, especially by the vapour of chloroform applied to the intact animal, causes so sudden a development of the coiled fibres from the club cells that the surface of the epidermis is thrown off and the secretory products set free ex masse. This process is of reflex nature, for similar excitation applied to excised skin is without effect. (7) A system of connective tissue cells, distinct from chroma- tophores, exists in the epidermis developed from cells which are NO. 1237, VOL. 48] direct descendants of leucocytes, and which can be traced the blood vessels of the corium through the basement n brane into the epidermis, The number of these wanderi cells in the epidermis is greatly increased by stimulation, bably with a view to providing subsequent support to secretory elements during regeneration. “s as paper was illustrated by photo-micrographic lant slides, é June 15.—‘‘On the Ratio of the Specific Heats o Paraffins and their Monohalogen Derivatives.” By J. Capstick, D.Sc. (Vict.), B.A: (Camb.), Scholar and Trotter Student of Trinity College, Cambridge. Commun by Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S. The object of the experiments was to throw light on scure point in the kinetic theory of gases, viz. the dist of energy in the molecule. : From the ratio of the specific heats we can calculate the tive rates of increase of the internal energy and the ener. translation of the molecules per degree rise of temperature, the well-known formula, 8 + 1 = regia where ¥ is the of the specific heats and £ the ratio of the rate of increase internal to that of the translational energy. ! In order to make the results comparable it was decide keep the translational energy constant by working at a cor temperature—the temperature of the room, | The ratio of the specific heats was calculated from 1 velocity of sound in the gases. This was determined © Kundt’s method, a double-ended form of apparatus simi that described in Pogg. Ann. vol. cxxxv. being used. The calculation requires the density of the gas to be kn a circumstance which makes the method very sensitive to amounts of impurity. Regnault’s value of the density w for methane and the theoretical value for ethane, an analy the gas being made after each experiment to determine th rection for the air that was unavoidably present. All the gases were freed from air by liquefaction immediately being admitted into the apparatus, and the vapour den the material in the state in which it was used was dete: by a modified form of Hofmann’s apparatus, which gave r concordant to one part in a thousand. 7 The formula used in calculating the ratio of the specific h was Z I y= 1408 x px (5)(1 +5 5h?) )s ' the last factor bre | added to the ordinary formula to correct the divergence of the gas from Boyle’s Law. The correction is obtained at once by putting in the dp dp\ .. 4 Sa At ae ; w= — yv ( ), the value of ( ? )-given by the ah et ae From the vapour density determinations a curve is structed giving Zu in terms of v, and the slope of this at any point gives the value of fe (£2) in arbitrary units. | ing by the corresponding value of in the same units, w the amount of the correction. The correction increases the ratio of the specific hea I to 2 per cent. in most cases. Observations varying in number from three to made on each gas, the extreme range of the values b cent. for marsh gas, 14 per cent. for methyl iodide, cent., or less, for the rest. The mean values of the ratio of the specific heats are in the following table :— Methane gee CH, +e ee Methyl chloride ... CH,Cl ee | Methyl bromide ... CH,Br Re Methyl iodide CH,I ee: Bthene Oy eae ee? Oakey cs | Ethyl chloride... «) CaHgCl: Ae Ethyl bromide C,H, Bru ae Propane | ieee es C3H, BRS Normal propyl chloride eC shel eee Isopropyl chloride iCgH Cl.” ts rae Isopropyl bromide iCsH Br” Jury 13, 1893] NATURE 261 From this table we have the result that the gases fall into groups, the members of any one group having within the of experimental error the same ratio of the specific _ These groups are— a I. Methane. : II. The three methyl compounds. IIL. Ethane and its derivatives. IV. Propane and its derivatives. If the members of a group have the same ratio of the specific s, we know that the ratio of the internal energy absorbed by the molecule to the total energy absorbed, per degree rise of temperature, is the same for all. ILence we have the result that, with the single exception of marsh gas, the compounds with similar formule have the same energy-absorbing power, a result which supplies a link of a kind much needed to connect the graphic formula of a gas with the dynamical properties of its molecules, From the conclusion we have reached, it follows with a high degree of probability that the atoms which can be interchanged without effect on the ratio of the specific heats have themselves the same energy-absorbing power, their mass and other special % oleae being of no consequence. Further, the anomalous haviour of methane confirms what was clear from previous determinations, namely, that the number of atoms in the mole- ~ cule is not in itself sufficient to fix the distribution of energy, and suggests that perhaps the configuration is the sole deter- mining cause. f If this is so, it follows that ethane and propane have the same configuration as their monohalogen derivatives, but that methane differs from the methyl compounds, a conclusion that in no way conflicts with the symmetry of the graphic formule of methane and its derivatives, for this is a symmetry of reactions, not of form. **On Interference Phenomena in Electric Waves passing through different Thicknesses of Electrolyte.” By G. Udny Yule. Communicated by Prof. G. Carey Foster, F.R.S. In the spring of 1889 Prof. J. J. Thomson published! a_ description of some experiments made by him for comparing the resistances of electrolytes tothe passage of very rapidly alternat- ing currents, the method consisting in comparing the thicknesses layers of different electrolytes which were equally opaque to Hertzian radiation. During last winter I made trial of an arrangement identical in principle but more completely analo- gous to Hughes’ induction balance. The method seemed, how- ever, to offer several difficulties and disadvantages, and finally I adopted another, also, one may say, analogous to Prof. Thom- son’s, inasmuch as it measures transparencies, but in outward appearance completely different from his. The wires B, F, D, about 1 mm. diameter, were spanned 6 cm. apart. If these wires be made too short, a wave-train emitted from B, B’ may reach the electrolyte .x,, or the bridge D, be reflected, and return to B before the primary has practically done oscillating. If this occur, the state of the secondary may affect the primary as in an alternate current transformer. If, however, B.x, be made longer than half the effective length of the wave-train, the reflected waves will not reach B until the primary oscillations have practically come to rest, and under these circumstances the latter will know nothing about any alternations in the secondary at or beyond x,. This reaction of the secondary on the primary had been first noticed, and to a serious extent, by Herr J. Ritter von Geitler! with an exciter of the type used by Blondlot.? In the actual apparatus the wires were at F, run out through a window ina loop of about 50 m. circumference round the laboratory garden. They re-entered the room at F, and were then run vertically through the vessel for containing the electrolyte. The circuit was completed by another loop, F3F,, 50 m. long, round the garden, re-entering the room at Fy, connecting to the electrometer at E, and bridged at D, 2°25 m. = 4A from the electrometer. According to the researches of Bjerknes (/oc. cit.) these dimensions should be sufficient, with the present apparatus, . to prevent any sensible reaction. The electrometer was the same one as that used by Bjerknes in his researches in the same laboratory. It is a simple quad- rant electrometer with only one pair of quadrants and an un- charged aluminium needle of the usual shape suspended by a quartz fibre. One quadrant is connected to each wire. The needle taking no account of sign, elongations are simply pro- portional to the time integral of the energy: first throws, not steady deflections, are read. ‘Various glass jars were used for holding the electrolyte. The wires were run vertically through holes drilled in the bottom of the jar, into which they were cemented. Several trials were made of this apparatus with dilute solutions of copper sulphate. Readings were taken in pairs alternately, with no solution in the jar and with some given thickness ; usually about ten readings at each point. The ratio of the trans- mitted intensities so obtained was determined for several points and plotted as a curve. Some 5 or 6 cm. of electrolyte was the maximum thickness that could be used in these first experiments. The curves so obtained for these badly-conducting solutions always differed sensibly from the log-arithmic, and the more so the more the solution was diluted. If the mean log. dec. over the whole thickness was taken, the corresponding value of the specific conductivity appeared extremely high. It appeared likely that these irregularities might be due to interference effects analogous to Newton’s rings (by transmission), or the phenomena of ‘‘thin plates,” particularly in view of the AB’ ae | Oat fe |----L----- kK E ; ty fs Fic. x. Let ASA’ bea Hertz exciter, and B,B’ secondary conductors } similar to the primary from which a pair of long wires, stretched | parallel to each other, are led off to a considerable distance. } One may regard the wires simply as guides for the radiation, which then travels straight up the space between them. If we | run these wires for a certain length, /, through an electrolyte, | the radiation will have to traverse this and will be partly ab- } sorbed. If an electrometer be connected at E, a quarter wave- . Pe from the bridge at the end of the wires, readings taken _ various thicknesses of electrolyte should, according tomy expectations, give a logarithmic curve, from which the specific | resistance would be at once calculable. ' The actual dimensions of the exciter, &c., erected were the } same as those use by Bjerknes.? A, A’, B, B’ circular zinc plates, diameter . Euinanee ron AtO Ds)... Length of wire ASA (2 mm. diameter) . . pWave length An ies. se 40 cm, 30 ” 200 5, g00 a” B64 . Soc. Proc.,’’ vol. xlv. p. 269, 1889. 2 Wiedemann's Annalen, vol. xliv. p. 513, 1891. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] results obtained just previously by Mr. E. H. Barton in the same laboratory. I consequently desired to investigate for such inter- ference phenomena over as great a thickness of electrolyte as the absorption would permit of using. Distilled water offzred itself naturally as the best electrolyte for this purpose. For the containing vessel a glass cylinder 114 cm. high was used ; the internal diameter varied somewhat, but was about 12 cm. at the narrowest. With this apparatus a series of observations were made for various thicknesses of distilled water. To cover, as far as possible, irregularities in sparking, readings were now taken in pairs alternately at the point to be determined and some other point taken for the time as the standard; it would have caused too great delay, and consequent irregularity in the effectiveness of the sparks, were all the water to be siphoned out between each pair of readings. As before, ten or twelve readings were usually taken at each point. The throw obtained with no liquid was also always taken as unity. Asa specimen of the usual spark variations, the following 1 Doctor-Dissertation, Bonn, Jan. 1893, p. 22. 2 Compt. Rend., vol. cxiy., p. 283, Feb. 1892. 262 NATURE [JuLy 13, 1893 series of readings for the determination of the throw with 55 cm. water with reference to 40 cm. will serve. The series is taken quite at random from the others. 4ocm. 55 cm. 4°6 11*4 49 Il 4 570 Ir 4°2 Ir’9 43 Il'5 39 11'2 40 11°6 4°3 TI"4 46 10°4 4°4 sh | 45 10"4 fOr: as ae ie Be eg The readings. are grouped separately, but it. will be under- stood that they were taken in pairs alternately. The complete results are given in the curve (Fig. 2).. It is seen that for such a poor conductor as distilled water the inter ference completely masks the absorption effects. The intensity of the transmitted ray does mot steadliy decrease; on the con- trary, far more may be transmitted through a thick than through athin layer of the absorbent medium. Thetransmission follows. the same general law as for light with a thin plate ; we are, in fact, dealing with a ‘‘thin” plate—a plate whose. thickness is comparable with the wave-length. The intensity of the trans+ mitted ray is a minimum for a plate $a thick, a maximum for $A thick, a minimum again for 7A, and so on. The points on the curve round the maximum at 4a are. some- what irregular, and the two maxima do not absolutely agree. — | oe Pp | Taking the mean, we may say the wave-lengths in air and water are respectively :— : Aa = 900. A» = 108 cm. This gives us for the coefficient of refraction and the dielectric constant— i =8"33) « = 69'S. The following are the values of K found by previous investi- gators, all that are known to me :— Method used. Authority. Kk Heerwagen! 79°56 Alternated currents } Rosa? mee fate Ros re | 70°00 oi inate ER | erst seis le : | Cohn and Arons 4 76 00 Ruhmkorff coil. ... } | Teresotiin 5.2; 83°80 : \ } CODM ST eho: 73/50 Hertz oscillations ..; | Ellinger? .., 81°00 | | Itschegtiaeff ® 1°75 1 Wied. Ann., vol. xlviii. p. 35, 1893. 5 Tbid:, vol. xx~vi. p - G ¥ i ; fi 2 - P- 792, 1889. 2 Phil. Mag., vol. xxxi. p 200, 1891. § lbid., vol. xlv. -p. p. 370, 1892, 3 [bid., vol. xxxiv. p. 344, 1892. 7 Lbid., vol. xlvi. p. 513, 1892. 4 Wied. Ann.,, vil. xxxili. p. 13, 1888. NO. 1237, VOL. 48] 8 Phil. Mag., vol. xxiv. p. 388, 1892. | Excluding the Russian physicist as a negligible majority, will b2 seen that’ my value of « is somewhat low. The caus may lie in the fact that not the whole of the field surround the wires lies in the water. ; The uncertainty due to this stray field might be easi avoided in one way, namely, by making one wire into tube surrounding the other, and using this tube also as th jar for the electrolyte. This was, in fact, the arrangemen originally intended to be adopted. Several disadvanta attended it, however, and led toits final rejection in favour of simple wires and glass jar. First, such a condenser refi under all circumstances a considerable portion of the incid energy.! Secondly, the variation of the position of the top” surface of the electrolyte relatively to the top of the jar wo introduce fresh interference phenomena. This appeared dire from the work of Mr. Barton to which I have already had occasion to refer. Lastly, the large surface of metal im contac with the liquid would render distilled water rapidly impure. This investigation wasicarried out in the Physical Institute of the Univer-ity of Bonn. I desire particularly to express n thanks to Prof. Hertz forhis most useful advice and suggestion Chemical Society, June 1.—Dr. Armstrong, President, i the chair. The following papers were read:—On az)- pounds of the ortho-series, by R. Meldola, E. M. Haw and’ F, B. Burls. The constitution of the orthazo-compounds still unsolved owing to the contradictory results obtained different investigators using different methods. The azo- naphthol; have been represented by the formule X. NH. & C,H, : O'and X.N,. C,;,H;. OH. The principal evide in favour of the former hydrazone formula was furnished b Goldschmidt and Brubacher; it is, however, rendered in pa by the authors’ experiments. On reduciny an acetyl derivat of the form X . Ng. CyyHg. OC,H,O or X . N(C,H;0) . CioH, : O with zinc dust and acetic acid, four products re viz, :—X . NH. C,H,0, C,)H,(NH.. C,H,0). OHB, X. NE and C,)H,. NH, . OH8.—The production of a fluorescein frot camphoric anhydride, by J. N. Collie. On heating camphot anhydride with resorcinol and a small quantity of zinc chlo at 180°, a fluorescein is obtained having the composi Cy.H.0;3; it is a reddish powder with a greenish lustre shows a. beautiful green fluorescence in dilute aqueous soli —Researches on the terpenes, III. The action of phos pentachloride.on camphene, by J. E. Marsh and J. A. Camphene and phosphorus pentachloride interact ait ordii temperatures, yielding a compound of the compe CyoHjsPCl,; on treatment with water a product is obtain from which two crystalline isomeric camphenephosphonie acid: C,)H,;PO3H,, have been isolated. On heating camphene phosphorus pentachloride, a crystalline substance, Cj>H, is obtained; on treating this with sodium carbonate, a the composition C,)H,,CIPO,NaH results, whilst on oxida it yields chlorocamphenephosphonic acid, C,)H,,CIPO,H, The composition of a specimen of jute fibre produced in Engl by A. Pears, junr.—Noteon the combination of dry gases. W. Ramsay. In connection with the results recently obtain by Baker, the author states that in 1886 he recorded the fa that dry hydrogen chloride does not combine with dry ammonia, even in presence of solid ammonium chloride.—Ortho-, pa and peri-disulphonic derivatives of naphthalene, by H. E. Arm= 1 J. Ritter von Geitler, Doctor-Dissertation, Bonn, Jan., 1893. a Jory 13, 1893] NATURE 263 ng and W. P. Wynne. By displacing the amido-group in a nthylamine derivative by SH and oxidising the resulting thioderivative, a sulphonic group enters the position previously supiel by the amidogen. By means of this reaction the hors have prepared and characterised the 1: 1',1: 2 and 4 naphthalenedisulphonic acids ; nine out of the theoretically ble ten of these isomerides are hence now known. The : 2’: 3’ naphthalenetrisulphonic acid has been prepared by a * method. The corresponding sulphonic chlorides and derivatives of the above acids are also described. —Supple- ary notes on madder colouring matters, by E. Schuack Marchlewski. In 1853 Schunck obtained from madder ellow colouring matter which he termed rubiadin ; it is now ywo that madder contains a co agumgene of rubiadin, having the { yosition Cy,H,.O%. It yields a pentacetyl derivative, and on hydrolysis, is converted into rubiadin and dextrose. Cy, Hy)0y + H,O = C,;H,,0, + CsHj,05.—The constitution of rubia- din glucoside and of rubiadin, by L. Marchlewski. ~The author fio cecaas formula for rubiadin glucoside, and notes that on ating a mixture of symmetrical metadihydroxybenzoic acid, paramethylbenzoic acid, and sulphuric acid, he has obtained a substance isomeric with and closely resembling rubiadin, but melting at a iower temperature. rt sical Society, June 23.—Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. F. H. Nalder exhibited a bridge and commutator for prs tts resistances by Prof. Carey oster’s method, the chief features of which are simplicity, compactness, long range, and great accuracy. The commuta- tion of the coils to be compared is effected by mercury cups, the eight holes necessary for this purpose being arranged in a circle, An ebonite disc carrying the four connectors is mounted ona spindle in the middle of the circle, andthe positions of the coilsare Troe te by rotating the disc through 180°. A large range jis Secured by providing a number of interchangeable bridge wires, anda fine adjustment for the galvanometer key enables great accuracy to be attained.— Mr. W. R. Pidgeon and Mr. J. Wimshurst each read a paper on an influence machine, and ex- jhibited their machines in action. In designing his machine, Pidgeon has endeavoured—first, to make the capacity of sh sector large when being charged, and small when being ischarged ; second, to prevent leakage from sector to sector as they enter or leave the different fields of induction ; and third, to increase the capacity of the machine by making the sectors large and numerous. The first object is attained arranging fixed inductors of opposite sign to the sectors near the charging points, and of the same sign near the places of discharge. Objects 2 and 3 are secured by embedding he sectors in wax, run in channels in the ebonite discs which orm the plates of the machine, and carrying wires from each pector through the ebonite, each wire terminating in a knob. n this way the sectors can be placed much nearer together than otherwise without sparking back, By setting the sectors skew with the radius they are caused to enter the electric fields more gradually, consequently the potential difference between adja- pent sectors is kept comparatively small. Experiment showed hat the use of the stationary inductors at the charging points nereased the output threefold, and as compared with an prdinary Wimshurst, the output fora given area of plate passing he conductors was as 5°6:1. The recovery of the machine fter a spark had occurred was particularly rapid. Mr. Wims- urst’s new machine consists of two glass discs 3 feet 5 inches iameter, mounted about 4” apart on the same spindle. Both lates turn in the same direction. Between the discs are fixed bur vertical glass slips over 4 feet lon’, two on each side, and ach covering about gth of adisc. Each slip carries a tinfoil nductor, which has a brush touching lightly on the inside of the }djacent disc on its leading edge. Collecting and neutralising brushes touch the outsides of the discs, and the few metallic ectors attached thereto. An account of some experiments nade to determine the efficiency of the machine was given. The hor also showed that when all the circuits of the machine ere broken, it still continued to excite itself freely, and sparked om the discs to the hands whea brought near. In a written ynmunication, Prof! O, Lodge said his assistant, Mr. E. E. obinson, constructed a machine on lines similar to Mr. fidgeon’s a few months ago, and had now a large one nearly jompleted. Mr. Robinson’s fixed inductors are carried on a ir plate fixed between the two movable ones, The sectors jre quite small, and neither they nor the inductors are ymbedded. On close circuit the machine gives a NO. 1237, VOL. 48] current (roto ampere), and on open circuit exceedingly high potentials. In Dr. Lodge’s opinion, Mr. Pidgeon attaches too much importance to his sectors and their shape. Mr. J. Gray wrote to say that stationary inductors enclosed in insulating material would probably give trouble at high voltages, because of the surface of the insulator becoming charged with electricity of opposite sign to that on the inductor. He sug- gested that this might explain why Mr; Pidgeon could not ob- tain very long sparks. Prof. C. V. Boys inquired as to how far the wax made insulating union with the ebonite, for if good, glass might possibly be used instead of ebonite. He greatly appreciated the design of Mr. Pidgeon’s machine, After some remarks by the president on the great advances which had been made, Mr, Pidgeon replied, and Mr. Wimshurst tried some further experiments with a small experimental machine.—A paper on a new volumemometer, by Mr. J. E. Myers, describing the developed form of Prof. Stroud’s instrument, was, in the absence of the author, taken as read.—Mr. R. W. Pan! exhibited a compact form of sulphuric acid voltameter of small resistance. The voltameter is a modification of a pattern designed at the Central Institution, in which the rate of dec »m- position is determined from the time required to fill a bulb made in the stem of a thistle funnel. He also showed a handy form of Daniell cell devised:by Prof. Barrett. When not in use, the porous pot containing the zinc is removed from the copper sul- phate solution and placed in a vessel containing zinc sulph tte or sulphuric acid. A paper on long-distance telephony, by Prof. J. Perry, F.R.S., assisted by H. A. Beeston, was read by Prof. Perry. The case of a line of infinite length, having re- sistance capacity, self-induction, and leakage, is taken up, and the state of a signal as it gets further and further away from the origin is considered. Taking the shrillest and gravest notes of the human voice to have frequencies of about 950 and 95 re- spectively, the distance from the origin at which the ratio of the amplitudes of these high and low frequency currents is lessened by 1/vzth of itself, has b2en determined when m = 4 for different values of leakage and self-induction; and un ler similar conditions the distances at which the relative phase of the two currents become altered by 1/#th of the periolic tim: of the most rapid one, have been worked out for” = 6. The results are given in the form of tables, from which it appe.rs that if there was no self-induction, increasing the leakage in- creases the distance to which we can telephone, whilst if there was no leakage increasing the self-induction increases the dis- tance. When self-induction and leakage are not to> great, in- creasing either increases the distance, and for particular values the distances become very large. At the end of the paper tables of general application are given, from which the limiting distances for any line can be readily found by multiplying the numbers by simple functions of the constants of the line. “Mr. Blakesley said that some ten years ago he discussed the subject, when capacity and resistance were alone considered, and now pointed out that when self-induction and leakage were intro- duced the equations were still ‘of the same form. He als» suggested how terminal conditions on lines of finite length might be easily taken into consideration. Prof. Perry, in reply, said the introduction of self-induction and leakage rendered the calculations very laborious, and that the terminal conditions were much more complicated than Mr, Blakesley supposed. Zoological Society, June 20.—Sir William H. Fluwer, K.C.B., F.R.S., President, in the Chair.—The Secretary exhibited and made remarks on two eggs of the Cape Coly (Colius capensis) laid in the Society’s Gardens. —A jhead of a rhinoceros from Northern Somali-land was shown by Mr. Walter Rothschild; also a Caspian seal, believed to be the only specimen of this:seal in England ; and aseries of skins of parrots of the genus Cyanorhamphus from New Zealand and other islands of the South Pacific. Mr. Rothschild proposed to refer the specimens of this group from the Auckland Islands to a new species to be called C. fordesi.—Other objects exhibited and remarked upon were a specimen of the foot of acalf, in which there were three toes springing from a single cannon-bone, by Mr. W. Bateson, some teeth of a ray (J%jZéobatis) from the Lower Tertiaries of Egypt, remarkable for their enormous size, by Mr. A. Smith-Woodward, and a fragmentary skull of a lemuroid mammal from south-east Madagascar with very remarkable characters, by Dr, Forsyth-Major.—A communi- cation was read from Messrs. Hamilton H, Druce and G. T. Bethune-Baker, containing a monograph of the butterflies of the genus 7%ysonotis, This included a revision of the synonomy 264 NATURE [JuLy 13, 1893 of the species, descriptions of several new species and varieties, a complete table showing the distribution of the genus, and de- scriptions of the genifalia.—Among other communications was one from the Rev. H. S. Gorham, containing a list of the Coleoptera of the family C/erzd@ collected by Mr. Doherty in Burmah and Northern India, with descriptions of new species ; and an account of some species of the same family from Borneo, Perak, and other localities, in the collection of Mr. Alexander Fry. Twenty-eight species were described as new.—Prof. G. B. Howes read a paper on the coracoid of the terrestrial verte- brates. Prof. Howes first spoke of the terminology of the bone commonly called ‘‘ the coracoid,” and then proceeded to the discussion of the mammalian coracoid in particular. He came to the conclusion that it would be best to call the whole ventral coracoidal bar the ‘‘coracoid,” and to distinguish the doubly ossified type as ‘‘bicoracoidal” from the singly ossified or *unicoracoidal ” type.—Lieut.-Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S., read the descriptions of some new species of land- shells of the genus Adyceus from the Khasi. and Naga Hill countries, Assam, Munipur, and the Ruby Mine district, Upper Burmah.—This meeting closed the present session. The next session (1893-94) will commence in November. 3 PARIS. Academy of Sciences, July 3.—M. Loewy in the chair. — Tidal and atmospheric waves due to the action of the sun and of the moon, hy M. Bouquet de la Grye. The results are given of a series of determinations of the tides, barometric pressures, and winds made by a French commission at Orange Bay, Cape Horn, ranging at half-hourly intervals from November 1, 1882, to August 31, 1883. A first study of these results confirms the facts, announced previously, relating to luni-solar influence upon the atmosphere. This action is very apparent at Cape Horn, since the water and air at lat. 56° south have a uniformtem- perature at any given date, and the annual range of temperature is very small.—On the successive deformations of the front ofan isolated air wave, during the propagation of the wave along an indefinitely long empty water-pipe, by M. J. Boussinesq.—On birational transformations of algebraic curves, by M. H. Poincaré. —On the observation of the total eclipse of the sun of April 16, made at Joal (Senegal), by M. A. dela Baume Pluvinel.—Ona self-registering hydrokinemometer, by M. Clerc. This consists of two vertical cylinders communicating with the water at the stem and the stern of the vessel respectively. The difference of level in the two cylinders is proportional to the square of the velocity with which the boat is travelling. The cylinders are provided with floats, each of which takes a share in actuating the recording pencil, with which they are connected by strings passing over pulleys, disposed in such a manner as to let the record be unaffecting by any heeling or plunging of the boat.— Experimental researches on shipbuilding material, by M. F. B. de Mas.—Radiation of different refractory bodies, heated in the electric furnace, by M. J. Violle.—Auto-conduction, or a new method of electrifying living beings ; measurement of magnetic fields of high frequency, by M. A. d’Arsonval.—Additional remarks by M. Cornu,—On chromopyrosulphuric acid, by M. A. Recoura, After showing that the molecule of chromic sulphate can be combined with one, two, or three molecules of sulphuric acid, M. Recoura has succeeded in combining the sulphate with a larger quantity of acid, and has ob- tained new compounds presenting properties completely different from those of the three former acids, and characters not found in any other chromium compounds. One of these, ‘*chromopyrosulphuric acid,” contains five molecules of sul- phuric acid.—Constitution of the colouring matters of the fuchsine group, by MM. Prud’homme and C. Rabaut.—On cinchonibine, by MM. E. Jungfleisch and E, Léger.—On mercuric salicylates, by MM. H. Layoux and Alexandre Grandval.—On metallic combinations of Gallanilide, by M. P, Cazeneuve.—On topinambour carbohydrates, by M. Ch. Tanret.—On essence of lavender (Zavandula Spica), by M. G. Bouchardat.— Heat of combustion of oil-gas and its relation to illuminating power, by M. Aguitton.—On the genus Homa- logyra, a type of gasteropod prosobranch molluses, by M. Vayssi¢re.—On certain physiological effects of unipolar faradi- sation, by M. Ang. Charpentier.—Experiments on the trans- mission and evolution of certain epithelial tumours in the white mouse, by M, Henry Morau.—Observations on the preceding note, by M. Verneuil.—Laws of evolution of the digestive functions, by M. J. Winter.—On the histological structure of NO. 1237, VOL. 48] yeasts and their development, by M. P. A, Dangea —On anew process of Champignon de couche o by MM. J. Costantin and L. Matruchot.—On the glaciers Spitzberg, by M. Charles Rabot. Bea BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECE ir» me University of Ireland Calendar for 1893 (D —The Law of Cremation: A. Richardson (Reeves and Turner).— Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften, Nos. 41 and 42 I mann).—The Points of the Horse: M. H. Hayes (Thacker) a Butterfly: S. H. Scudder (New York, Holt).—Briet Gui moner Butterflies of the ite pes ans States and i es ul i uly (Stanford). — Natural a eh Chimica Italiana, Anno xxiii., 1893, Vol. 1, Fasc. vi. servatory, July (Taylor and Francis).—Geologi agazine, Jul Paul).—Journal of the Chemical Society, July (Gurney and J - cyklopadie der Naturwissenschaften, Dritte Abthg. 14 und 15 Lie (Williams and Norgate).—Goldthwaite’s Geoganis in ay-J (New York).—Journal of the Anthropological Institute, May ( Mind, July (Williams and Norgate).—Essex Institute Historical Co tions, October to December, 1897, January to ember, 1892 (: Mass.).—Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. xxvi., (Calcutta).—Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, June (S American Journal of Science, July, New Haven).—Quarterly Journs Microscopical Science, July (Churchill).—Bulletin de la Société Impér des Naturalistes de Mosccu. 1893 No. 1(Moscou).—F hysical Revie (Macmillan).— Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural His! 4, 1892 (New York). CONTENTS. Order or Chaos? ... The Causes of Glacial Phenomena, McKenny Hughes, F.R.S. ap | eee Le Bee ey ee ae Dynamo-Electric Machinery, By Prof. A. Gray Our Book Shelf :— : Cross and Cole: ‘‘ Modern Microscopy : a Handbook for Beginners.”—-Dr. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S. , Blyth: ‘‘ Lectures on Sanitary Law”... 2... | Letters to the Editor :— The Royal Society—Prof. E. Ray Lankeste: F.R.S.; W.T.Thiselton-Dyer, C.M.G., F.R. Ice as an Excavator of Land and a Transpoite: Boulders.— Sir Henry H. Howorth, M.P.,F.5 Abnormal Weather in the Himalayas.—F, C. Con stable ait oh, Delete CNP eal Peculiar Hailstones.— Kanhaiyalal. ......., Crocodile’s Egg with Solid Shell.—J. Battersby . | University and Educational Endowment America, By W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, C,M. ERS ers pe tal ol SRE hae ee aaa ae . he Antipodean Retrenchment ..... os ea Science in the Magazines. ......... NOS fs oS a pel Posie, Delbe 9) Deis er ee ae Meteor Showers this Month L’ Astronomie for July... ..... Himmel und Erde for July... Museums Association. II. By Sir William | Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S. (With Diagram.) . . The Distribution of MarinerFloras ...... University and Educational Intelligence ... Scientific Serials). j:05 0, oii ahis oes et ane Societies and Academies . . . ; Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ... a dd Sat NATCRE 265 THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1893. a VERTEBRATE EMBRYOLOGY. Vertebrate Embryology. By A. Milnes Marshall. _ (London: Smith, Elder, 1893.) ‘THIS is an eminently practical treatise, designed to assist the senior university student in his labora- tory work so as to enable him to gain a thorough know- edge of the successive appearances of the embryos of amphioxus, the frog, the chick, the rabbit, and man, |) during their course of development from the egg to the adult form. The student is supposed to pursue his studies by the aid of the most modern methods, and he has here placed before him by means of clear methodical " description and clever original drawings exactly what he ought to see and identify in his series of microscopic sections. The book will be extremely useful, as are the author's other treatises, to all teachers and students of Biology. It should be pointed out that very consider- able pains has been taken by Prof. Milnes Marshall to give accuracy and reality to his statements. Especial ' care has been given to the account of the embryology of the frog, which is illustrated by admirable original drawings and may be ‘regarded as a critical revision of the subject based upon original work carried _ out by the author and his pupils. Most of the novel features in the chapter on the chick are derived from the work of Duval, but in the later stages of the rabbit's development Prof. Marshall again relies on his | own observations and drawings. The account of the _ human embryo is based upon that of Prof. His with some | judicious additions. : I have said that the work is eminently practical, and _ by that I mean not only that the book is one for the - laboratory, but that the author whilst giving the greatest care to accuracy of statement and presentation of fact, has dealt very litthe—I may even say has avoided deal- _ing—with theoretical questions of wide interest. An _ introductory chapter in some thirty pages gives a brief and general sketch of the structure of the animal egg, its and the germ layers, theories of fertilisation and re- capitulation and the origin of sex, and then we settle down to our “ types.” I do not doubt that the plan of teaching by “types” has its merits, and has served a very useful purpose; also 1 cannot doubt that the plan of describing all the phases of an animal’s growth (except the adult phase) in order, one after another, has advantages, and perhaps _ such descriptions constitute—if such a study can really be - distinguished and recognised—what is known as “em- _ bryology.” But it becomes daily more obvious that the histology, morphology, and physiology of the organism must also be considered and treated without regard to _ the arbitrary separation of adult and embryonic con- | ditions,and without that exclusiveness which the selection _ of “types” involves. Morphology is essentially com- parative ; it involves the consideration alike of embryonic and adult structure, and must avail itself of the facts of Structure exhibited in any and all forms, without being estricted to certain types. It is a consequence of the NO. 1238, VOL. 48] - maturation, its fertilisation, the segmentation of the egg method of treatment adopted by Prof. Marshall that many interesting morphological problems are not dis- cussed by him. It clearly was not his purpose to con- sider these problems, but rather to furnish the student with a sound basis of observed fact. At the same time it is a little disappointing—on looking up, in the successive chapters on frog, chick, and_ rabbit, the account of the development of the urinary and genital ducts—to find no discussion or decisive statement on the authors part as to the morpho- logical relation of these structures, or any suggestion as to the explanation of the divergences in the develop- mental history of the Miillerian and Wolffian ducts in these “types” respectively, and in other vertebrates. In a work on vertebrate embryology one might reason- ably expect such a comparative treatment. Similarly, the question of blastophore and primitive streak and “sickle” is but lightly touched, whilst the conflicting and bewildering accounts of the germinal layers of the mammalian blastoderm are left without further remark than that the account adopted from Rauber and Kélliker, as to what takes place in the rabbit, “is difficult to reconcile with the course of development in other mammals ; and further investigation is much needed on these points.” It could not be expected that Prof. Mar- shall should settle in the present treatise all the knotty points of vertebrate embryology, but would itnot have been well had he pointed out in some detail the difficulties of reconciliation to which he briefly alludes, and given some indications of alternative solutions of the problems in- volved? These reflections are by no means to be regarded as depreciation; they are rather intended to illustrate the special lines within which the author has confined his treatise. These being given, it isnot too much to say that he has produced a most valuable, clear, and masterly exposition of the known facts of the develop- mental history of leading types of vertebrata. Before concluding I. may venture to point out two matters which might be amended in a new edition of the book, as well as in the same author’s “ Practical Zoology.” The word “stomatodzum” occurs in several places. There is no reason that I know of for altering» the more elegant form ‘‘stomodzeum” in this way: the one is as “correct” as the other. Being the father of the word “stomodzeum” and its twin ‘‘proctodaum,” I should prefer that those who use it would not delude themselves into the notion that I have inadvertently or ignorantly omitted a necessary syllable in its composition. The second matter is as to Prof. Marshall’s figures of trans- verse sections of adult Amphioxus (Figs. 12 and 13). These require (and have for some time required) cor- rection. The clear space below the black undulated line representing the plaited epithelium of the ventral surface of the atrium should be filled in with shading. It is nor a space, as it was at one time thought to be, but is a solid mass of gelatinous connective tissue. Moreover, the dotted area marked S in both the figures is not, as the explanation of the figure has it, the cardiac aorta. The space so marked is the sub-endostylar ccelomic space, and the cardiac aorta, which is a relatively small vessel lying within it, is not represented in the figures at all. 3 “-E. RAY LANKESTER, oil Oy” 7a eee 266 NATURE w RURAL HYGIENE. Essays on Rural Hygiene. M.D., F.R.C.P. Co, 1893.) IGHT of the chapters of this work have been, in whole or part, previously published ; to these the author has added five others, and the result is a welcome volume, which appeals to all those who take an interest in problems of health. To the lay reader the book will probably carry con- viction upon every one of the many sanitary points which are raised and dealt with, for the writer has a style which is at once clear, incisive, and convincing ; and he builds up his conclusions upon good, sound, scientific, and logical bases. Many professed sanitarians wiil, however, cull here and there from among much which they are un- hesitatingly prepared to accept, a little which is not in entire accordance with their own tenets and experience, but which is none the less acceptable as affording much food for thought and speculation. The keynote struck throughout the work has a genuine ring, for the dominant principles of rus zz urbe and urbs in rure resound through every chapter. The first chapter deals with the concentration of popu- lation in cities, and the author very justly finds great fault with the overcrowding on space that now obtains, and he indicates, upon sound sanitary lines, the conditions which should be imposed to obviate this evil. The advice, however, comes too late for many of our large towns, in which, alas, at the present day, hygiene must needs make way for measures of expediency. Later on, in a capital chapter on “Air,” the author resumes his diatribe against overcrowding, and even goes to the extent of facing it in our conventional “at homes.” He writes: ‘‘ Perhaps the day will dawn when it will be con- sidered ‘ bad form’ to give your guests far less than one- twentieth of the fresh air which is allowed to criminals.” One is not prepared to unreservedly accept the view that water under pressure and the laying down of sewers have been mainly instrumental in causing overcrowding on space. There can be no gainsaying that our towns, long before the era of the introduction of these two systems, were miserably overcrowded ; and there is no reason to doubt that, apart from either of these innovations, the towns would have continued to spread with little or no improvement in this respect, and that, despite the ab- sence of water under pressure, the value of land over certain favoured areas would have insured the appearance of the modern high buildings. The following principles are powerfully advocated throughout the book: The shallow-earth burial of dead bodies ; the payment of water by meter on a sliding scale of charges, giving the “water of necessity” at a low rate, and charging more for the “water of luxury”; that each individual should have at least two-thirds of an acre of land, so as to secure an adequate supply of fresh air, and to provide that all refuse of every kind might be returned to this land in order to maintain and increase its fertility. The two chapters that deal with personal experiences in a country town are extremely interesting and instruc- tive, as giving the author’s experience of a small estate NO. 1238, VOL. 48] By George Vivian Poore, (London: Longmans, Green, and [JuLy 20, 1893 | of his own, upon which about a hundred people a’ housed, and in which he endeavoured—with no measure of success—to realise his Utopia, 7.2. a where there are no sewer pipes; where every cottage around it an allotment sufficient to be fertilised by, a to purify, all the waste products furnished by the inn and in which the waste waters should run “clear crys‘al in open channels without needing so-cal ventilation.” ad Throughout the book many interesting agri points are raised and treated ably by one evidently able to bring considerable practical exp in harmony with theory. - To sum up :—The book is eminently interestin instructive and furnishes much food for the mind, and as such its perusal may be con recommended to one and all. OUR BOOK SHELF. Die Klimate der Geologischen Vergangenheit und i/ Beziehung zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der S Von Eug. Dubois. (Nijmegen: H. C. A. Leipzig : Max Spohrr, 1893.) THIS pamphlet is a translation, with additions, of a pay originally published in the Journal of the Dutch Ez India Company. It consists of two portions of somewh unequal value and interest. In the first section of the extending to thirty-six pages, a short but clear sumn given of the evidence bearing on the question of the clir of former geological periods. The references and n display complete familiarity with the very large literati which is now in existence in connection with this subje The second and larger half of the pamphlet, exte: to nearly fifty pages, is a well-reasoned developme the theme that the variations in the temperature earth’s surface during successive geolozical periods the result of changes in the heat of the sun, and that | sun is in fact a variable star. Anyone wishing to beco acquainted with all the recent facts and argumel bearing on the question of the climate of former gé logical periods, and to find them carefully summaris with abundant references to original sources of info tion, will in this little pamphlet recognise a work adr ably adapted to his needs. i Polarization Rotatoire, Réflerion et Réfraction 1 Réflexion métallique. Par G Foussereau. Georges Carré, 1893.) Tuts volume consists of a series of lessons Sorbonne in 1891-92 to candidats a lagrégation. Under natural rotatory polarisation the auth with the fundamental phenomena presented et when traversed by polarised light parallel to the axes, and discusses the theories of Fresnel and relative to rotatory polarisation. The relations | activity and crystalline form, the rotatory po liquids, and the behaviour of quartz when traverse light in a direction inclined to the optic axis, are treated in this section. Magnetic rotatory polarisation in singly- and refracting media is discussed in the second part. both of these sections the effects of the various upon which the magnitude of the rotatory power ¢ —wave length of the light employed, temperature, and chemical nature of the medium, &c.—are br stated. Bi In the last part is founda discussion of the Cy hypotheses advanced in connection with the phenom > | Juty 20, 1893] NATURE 267 of vitreous reflection and refraction and of reflection at metallic surfaces. : ~ The book contains a clear account of the theoretical pects of the above questions, the mathematical treat- ment being as elementary as is consistent with the nature of the subject. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. ¢ 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 Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters. __ I wis to call the attention and elicit the opinion of natural- je as to the interpretation of certain facts bearing upon this question. ; In my article in the Fortnightly Review of May last, p. 664, _ I give what appears to be a new interpretation of facts which _ have been often quoted, as to the change in the external characters _ of a Texan species of Saturnia when the larve were fed upon 3 asians regia, its native food-plant being /uglans nigra; and the somewhat analogous facts as to Artemia salina being changed into 4. A//hauseniz (the former living in brackish, the latter in salt water) when the water became gradually more salt ; _ the change in this case being progressive, year by year, and proportionate to the change in the saltness of the water. The _ reverse change was also effected by gradually reducing the salinity of the water inhabited by 4. Milhausenit. As regards the former case I remarked in my article as follows :— _ ‘*Prof. Lloyd Morgan (in his ‘ Animal Life and Intelligence,’ pp. 163-166) clearly sees that this and other cases do not prove _ more than a modification of the individual ; but it seems to me to go further than this. For here we have a species the larvee of which for thousands, perhaps millions, of generations have fed upon one species of plant, and the perfect insect has a definite set of characters. But when the larve are fed ona distinct but allied species of plant, the resulting perfect insect differs both in colouration and form. We may conclude from this fact that some portion of the characters oF the species are dependent on the native food-plant, /uglans nigra, and that this portion changed under the influence of the new food-plant. Yet the influence of the native food-plant had been acting un- _ interruptedly for unknown ages. Why then had the resulting characters not become fixed and hereditary? The obvious ‘conclusion is, that being a change produced in the body only by the environment, it is not hereditary, no matter for how many generations the agent continues at work ; in Weismann’s phraseology it is a somatic variation, not a germ variation.” I then referred to the marked difference between somaticand germ variations in plants, the former disappearing at once, the Jatter persisting, when cultivated under abnormal conditions ; and also to the cases of many closely allied species of animals and of the races of mankind, which preserve their distinctive characteristics when living and breeding under very different conditions. The above seems to me a perfectly valid and logical argu- ment, and I was interested to see how it would be met by Lamarckians, who have frequently referred to the same facts as being obviously in their favour, though without any attempt to show how and why they are in their favour. I was therefore rather surprised to read, in the July issue of the Contemporary Review, a paper by Prof. Marcus Hartog, in which he charac- terises my argument as a very bad kind of special pleading, and adds that it amounts to this : ** Any change in the offspring produced by altered conditions in the parent is limited to characters that are ‘ not fixed and inherited’ 3 for fixed and in- herited characters cannot be altered by changed conditions in _ the parent ; therefore no experimental proof can be given of the transmission of acquired characters.” The above is of course simple reasoning in a circle, and I cannot recognise it as my reasoning. I have made no general roposition that ‘‘fixed and inherited characters cannot be ae by changed conditions in the parent,” or that ‘no ex- Bes rimental proof can be given of the transmission of acquired % NO. 1238, VoL. 48] characters.” But I argue that when a decided character is immediately changed by changed conditions of the individual, asin Saturnia, it is not ‘‘fixed and inherited.” ‘The experi- ment itself shows that it is not a fixed character, and there can be no proof that it is inherited so long as it only appears under the very same changed conditions that produced it in the parent. ; f As to experimental proof I believe it to be quite possible. There is one case, which I do not remember having seen re- ferred to, in which nature has tried an experiment for us. I was informed by the President of the Deaf-Mute College at Washington that the male and female students frequently marry after leaving the college, and that their children are rarely deaf- mutes. But the point to which I wish to call attention is the admitted fact that there is usually no disease or malformation of the vocal organs in a deaf-mute. Now, before deaf-mutes were taught to talk as they are now, they passed their whole lives without using the complex muscles and motor-nerves by the accurate coordination of which speech is effected. Here is a case of complete disuse, and there must have been some conse- quent atrophy. Yet it has, I believe, never been alleged that the children of deaf-mutes exhibited any unusual difficulty in learning to speak, as they should do if the effects of disuse of the organs of speech in their parents were inherited. Here is at all events the material of an experiment ready to our hands. An experiment to show whether the effects of use and disuse were inherited might also be tried by bringing up a number of dove-cot pigeons in a large area covered in with wire netting so low as to prevent flight, at the same time encouraging running by placing food always at the two extremities of the enclosure only, or in some other way ensuring the greatest amount of use of the legs. After two or three generations had been brought up in this way, the latest might be turned fout among other dove-cot pigeons, at the age when they would normally begin to fly, and it would then be seen if the diminished wing- power and increased leg-power of the parents were inherited. No doubt many better experiments might be suggested ; but these are sufficient to indicate the character of such as do not require that the offspring be submitted to the same conditions as those which produced the change in the parents, and which thus enable us to discriminate between effects due to inherit- ance and those due to a direct effect of the conditions upon the individual. The cases of the Saturnia and the shrimps are of the latter kind, and in their very nature can afford no proof of heredity. ALFRED R, WALLACE. The Conditions Determinative of Chemical Change: Some Comments on Prof, Armstrong’s Remarks. In a paper (NATURE, vol. xlviii. p. 237, Proc. Chem. Soc. 1893, 145) bearing the above title, Prof, Armstrong discusses the phenomena of contact action, particularly those of the kind described by Mr. H. B. Baker. The whole discussion appears to us to be based on erroneous conceptions and to call for some criticism, first, on the general position assumed by him and, second, of the details which he brings forward to support that position. -Eight years ago Prof. Armstrong defined chemical action as “reversed electrolysis,” It is not clear from his remarks whether this is one of the views which recent observations have led him to modify ; but, assuming that he still holds that belief, it may be pointed out that it by no means follows that because an electric current can effect a chemical change, every chemical change is due to or accompanied by electric action. It might as well be argued that because a stone let fall on a glass plate can shiver it, a shivered plate glass always implies a falling stone as its cause—it could be broken by irregular rise of tem- perature, or by loading it with a too heavy weight, phenomena which imply no expenditure of kinetic energy. Yet the state- ment contains a germ of truth, but only when so qualified as to amount to something very different. Electrical energy may be absorbed in effecting chemical decomposition ; when chemical combination occurs some form of energy is made manifest. The facts, apart from theory, as we know them, appear to be these. A certain fraction of some definite amount of electrical energy may be absorbed in producing chemical decomposition, and that fraction will be quantitatively converted into chemical energy ; the electrical energy disappears as such, and elements may be liberated from a compound, containing, as elements, the equivalent quantity of chemical energy. These elements may part with their chemical energy, which will then cease to exist 268 NATURE [JuLy 20, 18¢ 3 as such, but will appear in various forms: some of it may be evolved as heat, some as volume energy, some as kinetic energy, and it is even possible by an appropriate contrivance to obtain a large portion of the chemical as electrical energy. But to state that the energy always passes through the electric stage on its way to other forms in which it manifests itself to us is some- thing altogether different. The question that Prof, Armstrong tries to answer by the sup- position that the presence of an electrolyte is required in order to bring about chemical change admits of a very different reply. We conceive it to be this: In most exothermic combinations the heat evolved is sufficient, provided the change were to pro- ceed adiabatically, to resolve the compound into its constituents, Why, then, should they react? To take a concrete instance :— Why should ammonia and hydrochloric acid combine at ordinary temperatures when the heat evolved by their union is sufficient ( provided none escape) to raise the reacting molecules to the temperature at which they refuse to combine? For con- venience sake the question is stated in terms of heat, since that is the usual form in which the loss of chemical energy manifests itself to us ; but it is advisable to keep the statement of the question quite general. . It appears to us that the answer is :— because the reaction is not adiabatic. Some substances must be present—the walls of the containing vessel, some compound capable of dissociation, some solid body, such as spongy plati- num, which will absorb a portion, perhaps an exceedingly smali portion, of energy, and so give the bodies present a chance of interacting without liberating so much energy by their inter- action as would decompose the prospective compound. These views, it may be contended, are speculative. It istrue: but we venture to think that they are legitimate speculations, involving a complete survey of the circumstances, and not one-sided and partial like those of the paper we are criticising. Assuming the correctness of Prof. Armstrong’s main idea, there are still one or two matters of detail where the assumption scarcely seems in harmony with known facts, He assumes that because hydrogen chloride when dissolved in water forms a composite electrolyte, a gaseous mixture of hydrogen chloride and water will also be an electrolyte. This by no means follows, and indeed experiments which have been made in this direction point to the contrary conclusion. The same holds good of his argument as to the combination of nitric oxide and oxygen—water vafour is not known to form a composite elec- trolyte with gaseous nitric acid. With regard to the regularity displayed by iodine and hydro- gen compared with the irregularity of the results obtained by Victor Meyer with chlorine ard hydrogen, it.is altogether im- possible to understand Prof. Armstrong’s attitude. In one sentence he assures us that ‘‘ this is not surprising,” and in the next that *‘there is a significant [of what ?] difference in the behaviour of the two mixtures, as hydrogen iodide should be- have as hydrogen chloride.” He suggests that some special electrolyte may be active in the case of chlorine and hydrogen ; but he is inclined to account for the difference observed from the fact that only one of the reactions is reversible under the conditions of experiment. We quite fail to understand the influence which the reversibility of the reaction would exert. on its regularity. In fine, still assuming for the sake of argument the notion of ‘*reversed electrolysis,” we would ask :—In a mixture of hy- drogen and oxygen, are the ions there, or are they not there ? If not there, will the presence of a vapour bring them into exist- ence? If there, what is the need of a so-called impurity? Is it supposed that the impurity will discharge them? Why, then, does not the presence of one or of two conducting wires of the same metal in an electrolyte cause combination of the ions? University Colleze, London, July 8. W. Ramsay, JAMEs WALKER. The Corona Spectrum, In the preliminary account by M. Deslandres of the main results of the eclipse photographs obtained by the French astronomers at Fundium, as reported in this journal on May 25 (vol. xlviii. p. 81), it is stated that many new coronal lines have been photographed, and that a displacement of the lines in the light from opposite points of the corona in the solar equatorial plane proves a rotational movement nearly corresponding with that of the surface of the sun itself, In the absence of fuller details it is perhaps a little difficult NO. 1238, vou. 48] =~ to accept without reserve these interesting statements, larly when one considers the somewhat unfavourable condit under which the photographs were obtained. In the first one would like to ask by what means have these new 1 lines been identified as belonging to the corona, see owing to the hazy condition of the air at the above brilliant chromospheric radiations were apparently reflec a considerable area of the sky in the sun’s neighbc forming, as it were, a kind of false corona with a brigh' spectrum. So obvious, indeed, is this atmospheric spread the chromosphere lines in the spectrum photographs o by the English astronomers at the same station, that mai are shown as clearly on the moon’s disk as in the ¢ regions ; the calcium lines ‘‘H” and ‘‘K,” which ar brilliant chromosphere lines, are in these found to exten siderably above the limits of the true corona, as d continuous spectrum, and are also found equally bright the dark moon. ‘ From the above considerations one is inclined almost to whether, after all, any true corona lines have ever been to exist, excepting perhaps the line 1474 (K), which ordinarily a brilliant line in the chromosphere, and would fore not be easily seen by atmospheric reflexion ;! and it y seem possible, if not probable, that this beautiful solar dage, with its dark rifts and curving streamers, shines by continuous light. Definite information on this point would, however, be welcomed by those who are endeavouring to photograp corona without an eclipse. We would, in fact, clutch straw, inthe shape of a bright line, in the hope of eee a true image of the coronal forms, and it was hoped tha recent eclipse would furnish evidence which would settle question. “ae With regard to the second point, namely, the displace: of lines in the coronal spectrum. This is said to be equ a velocity in the line of sight of 5 to 7 kilometres per se (I presume for the total difference of position of the | 3 kilometres for the speed of approach or recession at tance from the solar limb equal to two-thirds of the dia: This is certainly a very striking result, and if conf further study would in itself go far to prove the true nature of the line measured. A displacement is conceiy it is true, under certain conditions, on the assumptio L the light is reflected chromospheric light, but this would exceed a velocity of 1°87 kilometres, whilst e re comes not far short of an angular rotation equal to the disk itself. A point at the distance named would connected with the sun, alternately approach and speed of about 4°35 kilometres per second. yi It would be interesting to know, however, what ai of error in these measurements. I gather that a hig’ sion was not employed, and it would seem, therefo: large uncertainty may be expected ; supposing, for ins! in the original negative the lines H and K are depicte' apart, the total displacement corresponding to 7 per second will only amount to 09 mm. ; anerror, th sy Mm., or ys5 Of an inch (corresponding to over metres) would materially affect the result ; and to co this limit would require unusually fine definition in measured, In view of the novelty and great importance of clusions arrived at by the leader of the French eclions to Senegal, students of solar physics willtawait wit! terest, not to say impatience, the publication of a fu discussion of the results obtained. J. Kenley, Surrey, July 2. th. Lord Coleridge and Vivisection, My attention has been called to a letter which — Chief Justice has written in support of an endeavour being made by a section of the Society for Promoting Chr Knowledge to withdraw from circulation my little wo Secret Friends and Foes,” recently published in their ** R of Science Series.” Until the Publication Committee 1 It seems pretty certain, however, from the clearly-defined ‘tyings”’ seen by Prof. Lockyer and others at former eclipses by an objective prism, that a more or less unifurm gaseous extension exist far above the chr phere and promi ; but is this the proper? JULY 20, 1893) NATURE 269 ciety, in which I have every confidence, takes any action in matter, I have no wish to participate in the controversy, and ve but little doubt that the simple publication in your columns the enclosed correspondence, without any comment from me, ill be quite sufficient to enable the readers of NATURE to form | correct opinion as to the manner in which my book has been de to serve the purposes of the Victoria Street Anti-Vivisection ciety. Percy F. FRANKLAND. University College, Dundée, July 15. The committee of the Victoria Street Anti-Vivisection Society have issued the following protest to the members of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge against a work re- cently published by that Society, and concerning which the Lord Chief Justice has written the letter appended :— 20, Victoria Street, London, S.W., Fuly 1893. Sir (or Madam),—The attention of the Committee of the above society has lately been drawn to a book issued by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge entitled ‘“‘ Our Secret Friends and Foes,” the author of which, Dr. Percy _ Faraday Frankland, held a license last year as a practical vivi- -sector. ___ My committee consider that the following extracts sufficiently _ show that the book is calculated to encourage the unjustifiable _ and demoralising practice of experimenting on living animals :— - _ ** Nicolaier was the first to discover that certain bacilli, widely distributed in the superficial layers of soil, were capable when _ subcutaneously inoculated into mice, guinea-pigs, and rabbits, _ of setting up symptons typical of tetanus from which they subse- quently died.” (Page 123.) __ * Rabbits and guinea-pigs inoculated with some (spider’s) web .« . +. died under particularly well-defined symptoms of teta- nus.” (Page 126). nature, must involve great torture of animals, we read :— ____** Numerous investigators have succeeded in calling forth many of the symptoms of a disease by injecting the products of these isms*’ (Page 140.) _ On page 148 there is the following passage referring to the establishment of Pasteur Institutes :— _ ** Such institutions have been established in Russia, Hungary, Italy, Sicily, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, the United States, and Roumania, whilst in Great Britain, to our unutterable disgrace, we are in this respect behind the unspeakable Turk, and the ‘semi-barbarous subjects of the Czar.” ___ That a Pasteur Institute has not yet been established in England, in spite of repeated efforts on the part of the vivisecting _ school, is greatly to the credit of this country, for such an insti- ‘tution would result in an enormous increase in the number of painful experiments on God’s innocent creatures. - My committee are of opinion that the teaching of this book is opposed to the objects of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and 1 am directed earnestly to urge you, if you con- sider the objections to the book are valid, to write the Secretary, Editorial Department, S.P.C.K., Northumberland Avenue, London, W.C., and protest against the continned publication of it.—I am, Sir (or Madam), your obedient servant, BENJN. BRYAN, Secretary. The following is the letter from the Lord Chief Justice of England :— 1, Sussex Square,W., Fune 27. Madam, —I have signed this paper, not exactly with pleasure, for the whole subject is utterly odious to me, but with great willingness, I have never seen any reason to change or qualify ‘the opinions I expressed many years ago in an article on vivisec- tion which your society reprinted. Should the book in question not be withdrawn by the Society for Promoting Christian Know- ledge, 1 shall at once withdraw myself from it, as it will, in my judgement, become a Society for the Promotion of Unchristian wledge. Very good men, I am quite aware, take a different view, and will continue to support the society ; but a man, how- “ever obscure, must act upon his convictions, especially when : Aa not been hastily taken up and are not quite ignorantly = tained.—1 am, Madam, your obedient servant (Signed) _ COLERIDGE. Miss Monro. Oyster-Culture and Temperature. Ir may interest some of your readers to know that there has been an unusually heavy deposit of oyster spat just now on the llectors (tiles) along this west coast of France. Some of the i < NO. 1238, VOL. 48] Again, with regard to the Pasteur methods, which, from their | tiles I have seen during the last few days have been very densely crowded over with the little amber-coloured scales. The oyster breeders both at Arcachon and at Point de Chapus, men of long experience, attribute the special abundance of the spat this season to the continuous hot weather. The calmness of the sea at the time when the embryos were set free may also have had something to do with an unusually large number passing safely through the*critical larval stages, The temperature of the sea on various parts of the oyster ‘*pares ” at Arcachon last Monday was from 80° to go° F., and out in the open to-day, half-way between the islands of Oleron and Ré, I find it is 72° F. However, it may be hoped that although temperatures like these may be favourable, they are not necessary for successful oyster breeding. W. A. HERDMAN. St. Pierre Ile d’Oleron, France, July 7. The Diffusion Photometer. In the discussion before the Physical Society of June 9, a photometer made of paraffin blocks is mentioned as ‘‘ The Jolly Photometer.”’ I think, however, that this is the photometer de- scribed by me in the Phz/osophical Magazine some two or three years ago ; also in the proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, and exhibited before the British Association on the occasion of their meeting at Bath. I cannot now give exact references, but I must be pardoned for calling attention to the mistake, as it has been made before by a high authority, and seems likely to be perpetuated in England. It is correctly described in Wiedemann and Ebert’s ‘‘ Physi- kalisches Praktikum,” recently published (p. 217). ‘ Bonn, July 12. J. Jory. ‘ P.S.—I have no objection to the prefix if written with a small etter. [We followed the spelling of the word contained in the official report of the Physical Society. —Ep. ] ALPHONSE DE CANDOLLE, A this notice is somewhat belated, the passing away of a figure so conspicuous as De Candolle in the European world of science cannot be permitted to receive no more sympathetic notice than a bare record of the fact. Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus de Candolle, to give him his full name, died on April 4 at his house in the Cour de St. Pierre at Geneva, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. If his bodily vigour had of late somewhat failed, he preserved his scientific interests and mental activity up to the last. Only the week before his death I received a letter from him, in which there was no indica- tion of failing vitality, and in which he wrote without anxiety of the work that he had in hand. So many of us have grown up under the shadow of De Candolle, that it seems almost a kind of impiety to sit down and coldly measure his stature. To me it seems that in a manner his death closes an epoch. With him passes away the last great representative of the French School of Botanical Taxonomy—to which, through Bentham, the English was in a great measure affiliated— and which had its root in Lamarck, whom the world in general scarcely realises as a botanist. Geneva has long been remarkable as the home of a number of families whose members have cultivated science with distinction. These are for the most part descendants of French Protestants who have emigrated from the south of France. Amongst these the De Candolles stand out in pre-eminence ; the third gener- ation still sees them in the front rank of the scientific world. Alphonse de Candolle’s father, Augustin Pyramus, was a man who would have been remarkable in any age. Gifted with astonishing energy and enthusiasm, a singular power of grasping and co-ordinating large masses of detail, and indefatigable industry, his buoyant charm of manner in- spired even the citizens of Geneva with interest and con- viction in the supreme importance of taxonomic studies. 270 NATURE I know nothing in scientific literature more entertaining and instructive than his J/émozres and Souvenirs. They supply a striking instance of his irresistible influence. The return of an important collection of original drawings of Mexican plants was demanded by the lender. De Candolle roused the whole of Genevan society to his aid ; the city was almost ima ferment till by united co-opera- tion every one of the 1200 drawings had been copied. The facts to be told of Alphonse de Candolle’s life are simple. Born October 27, 1806, at Paris, he took the degree of Bachelor of Science at Geneva in 1825, and of Doctor of Laws with great distinction in 1829. The influence of his legal training probably gave an impress to his work and character all through life. In 1831 he began to assist his father in his duties as Professor of Botany, and he suc- ceeded him in the chair in 1835. He held it till 1850, when he left it, owing to political events. The remainder of his life he passed as a private man of science. But during middle life he fulfilled with dignity, and not with- out influence, the duties of a citizen which his character and social position in some sort imposed upon him. After serving as a member of the Representative Council of Geneva, he was a member of the Grand Council from 1862 to 1866. He was the first to advocate the “ referen- dum” in political affairs; he exerted himself to effect numerous reforms in economic and sanitary matters ; and by obtaining the use of postage-stamps for his Canton he appears to have paved the way for their general intro- duction into Switzerland. The earliest and perhaps the best of De Candolle’s botanical works is his Monograph of the Campanulacee, published in 1831. It has stood its ground more solidly than is often the case with the taxonomic work of the time, and its conclusions have been in the main adopted in the later revision of the order by Bentham and Hooker. In 1841 De Candolle’s father died. He had com- menced the publication of the Prodromus in 1824. The object of this vast undertaking was to give brief diag- nostic descriptions of all known plants. Its publication finally settled the question which had long agitated the scientific world as to the supersession of the artificial Linnean system by a natural one. What is called the Candollean sequence is still in general use, though it is con- fessedly in some respects itself artificial, and only an approximation to a truly natural arrangement. The father had published seven volumes of this classical and indispensable work. The son carried it down to the completion of the Dicotyledons in the seventeenth volume, published in 1873. He saw that no one man could carry out the task single-handed. While formulating a uniform plan and method of procedure, he managed to summon to his aid the systematic botanists of all Europe. In 1847 he was able to claim that he had contri- butors from England to the Tyrol, and from Montpellier to the Baltic. He took himself no mean share of the work, and if this kind of research affords comparatively little opportunity for the display of genius, Alphonse de Can- dolle’s work is always characterised by qualities of work- manlike accuracy and scholarly finish. In early life the writings of Humboldt inspired De Candolle, as they have done many young men, with the impulse to travel. Family circumstances, however, forbad it. But the fascination of phyto-geographical problems had taken possession of him, and the vast assemblage of specific forms which continually passed through his hands must have supplied him with inexhaustible food for reflection. In 1855 appeared his Géographie botanique ratisonnée, which was the most important work of his life. It would be impossible ina short spaceto appreciate thisjustly. Ithas been complained that it led to no direct conclusion ; and it is all but inexplicable that the author missed seeing that the immense mass of facts he had collected really NO. 1238, vor, 48] [Juty 20, 1893 pointed directly to evoiution as the key to its expla i But the character of the manis an element which not be overlooked. Essentially in method a statistic’ he believed these facts, properly marshalled, would eve their own law. But scientific method, like other calc lating machines, will not evolve more than is impl put into it. De Candolle, it must be admitted, n possessed nor had much sympathy with that to imagination akin to inspiration, which by some conscious cerebral integration sees an even wider prir ciple underlying the facts which are contemplated by any method of manipulation can be educed from the But it may be doubted whether a study of the Distribt tion problem would ever have led to evolution direct The essence of the Darwinian theory was the disco of a possible, at any rate conceivable, modus opera: This was the result of an attack from the biological The phenomena on a large scale which geograp distribution present are too remote from their ul: cause to immediately suggest it; yet when the princip is grasped they are immediately susceptible of deductiv explanation. ag Nevertheless,.I cannot but regard the Géographie, not as an actual precursor, yet as one of the inevitabl foundation-stones of the modern evolution-prinz In the first place, De Candolle dealt more than heavy blow to Lamarckism. Botanists were impregnate with the idea that plant-distribution was a mere matte of temperature. Adanson had supposed that ther was a simple numerical relation between it and growt Boussingault had gone further and stated that the produc of the period of growth multiplied into the mean temp erature was a constant. That within limits there } truth in these statements, I myself believe, and | cultural staples the problem is still worth fresh investig tion. But the facts will not bear generalisation, a: the field of nature De Candolle saw that they expla little. Other factors, such as light and moisture, mu also be taken into account; if he had gone a litt further he would have met the “ Struggle for Existence But De Candolle’s most fertile conclusion was derivative nature of existing floras, and he cites approval the classical speculations of Edward Fo on the flora of Western Europe. De Candolle at rate brought together a mine of accurate informatio collected with vast labour without prepossession an marshalled with consummate judgment. He has furnis| an armoury from which it will be long before successi students of the subject cease to draw their Had he taken narrow and pedantic views of s limitations, he would have left the subject more co than he found it. But by treating, for example, aquatic Ranunculi as a group of variable forms single species, Ranunculus aguatilis, he supplies in a shape at once available for the Darwinian student. De Candolle met Darwin in 1839, and though he m tained a correspondence with him, they did n again till 1880, when the former paid a visit Of this he published a touching and in some pathetic account in 1882. He makes his submiss the inevitable. I will translate a few words :— “The existing distribution of species, especial; islands, compelled me to admit, as early as 1855, four before the appearance of the “ Origin of Species, creation, in certain cases, of new specific forms derive from older ones. I proved to demonstration that | majority of species ascend to periods far more remote tha is generally supposed, and that they have passed thr both geological and climatic changes. Lyell accusto geologists to consider small causes, operating thro long periods, as competent to produce large effects. astronomical conception of indefinite time had penetrat natural science. Five or six thousand years counted little in the history of organised beings. . . . Uncertainty Juty 20, 1893] NATURE 271 was everywhere. The facts of Classification, of palzeont- ology, of geographical distribution, of organogeny ceased to be intelligible. It was necessary to tread through the barrier of a limited time, and of the belief in the per- manence of specific forms. Alors parut Darwin.” _. The influence of Darwin was conspicuously shown in the remarkable book which De Candolle published in 1873, under the title of “ Histoire des Savants.” Helays botany aside, and going back to the studies of his academic life, starts afresh under the inspiration ofthenew _ ideas. But he does this with the same reserve and almost sceptical spirit which characterises all his writings. The facts must evolve their own consequences He is re- ported to have said that “ he was a botanist by inheritance cand a statistician by birth.” But he applies to the treat- ment of his data a statistical method which is positively fascinating in the skill with which it is employed, and the interest of the results to which it leads. 1 must content myself with a single conclusion, the undoubted validity of which, it seems to me, is often overlooked. “Heredity neither gives scientific men special nor _ extraordinary powers ; but only that combination of moral _ and intellectual qualities which may be directed accord- _ ing to circumstances and the choice of the individual to scientific study or to any other serious or definite object.” If we slightly enlarge this conclusion by regarding extra- ordinary aptitude for particular branches of scientific discovery (or any other field of intellectual or artistic activity), as a sort of exceptional sport from an already specialised race, it appears to me that we have the whole root of the matter. A very distinguished man of science has been known to hazard the opinion that if he had turned his attention to law, he would probably have become Lord Chancellor. I think that he only erred on the side of modesty, and that he would equally likely have been Prime Minister. But I must pass on. In 1880 De Candolle published his Phytographie. This is a useful book, indispensable to the taxonomic workshop. It elaborates and enforces the admirable principles of plant descriptive work laid down by Linnzeus, which make the study one of no small value as an educational discipline. The book will always have its value as keeping alive an admirable tradition. Would that its example and precepts were more taken to heart by many modern botanists who fail to see that a description is one thing, a luminous and logical diagnosis a totally different one! Finally, in 1883, De Candolle published his “ Origine des Plantes Cultivées.” This sprang from his prefatory studies for the Géographic. It is an altogether admirable booki: not perfect certainly, or complete, and faulty per- haps more especially in the difficult matter of handling the philological evidence. Yet I know of no one who could have put together the material in a more masterly way, or who could have presented the conclusions de- rivable from it in a form more likely to carry conviction. Here I must close. As I began by saying, a great figure has passed away. Distinguished in appearance, his manners though reserved, were always exquisitely urbane, If he lacked enthusiasm of a demonstrative sort he made up for it by extreme sobriety of judgment and inexorable persistence. He was singularly kind to all who were disposed to engage in botanical work ; and would spare no pains to help and even aid, with his own accumulated materials, those who were willing to undertake a research. He died beloved by his family, revered by his countrymen, and loaded with distinctions. He was a Foreign Member of the _ Royal Society,a Gold Medallist of the Linnean Society, a D.C.L. of Oxford, and an LL.D. of Cambridge ; and the possessor of the order which perhaps confers the reatest distinction on a scientific man, the “pour le mérite” of Prussia. W. T. THISELTON-DyEr. NO. 1238, VoL. 48] CARL SEMPER. A GREAT investigator has left us, and one more vacant tablet of the Hall of Fame has received its inscription. Carl Semper, born July 6, 1832, at Altona, near Ham- burg, a son of the celebrated architect, Gottfried Semper, at first destined for the Royal Navy, but afterwards student, graduate, Privat-Docent, and for twenty-five years Professor of the University of Wiirzburg, has merited eminence as a traveller, a zoologist, a teacher, and an investigator. The range of his “ Thun und Schaffen ”—his doing and making—is so wide that but scant justice can be paid to his labours within the short space of this article. As that of a travelled naturalist and the writer of important works of travel his name is honourably known to the geographer, while his investigations in pure zoology are among the most brilliant and weighty of the past thirty years. Even. in this field of science there was a many-sided- ness about the observer, impelling him to work for the increase of knowledge in systematic zoology, comparative anatomy, embryology, comparative histology, and physiology. His travels in the Philippine and Palau or Pelew Islands, for which he expended nearly the half of the large fortune inherited from his father, resulted in many valuable memoirs on various groups of invertebrata, the joint work of himself and others. Semper’s “ Holothuria,” and his special studies of mollusca—a group in which he was a leading authority—may only be mentioned. His book on the “ Palau-Inseln im Stillen Ocean” is un- fortunately less known—at least, in this country—but -in the opinion of good authorities there are few more de- lightful works of travel, and fewer still in which the observational powers of the naturalist find as full play. Of Semper’s molluscan work only a specialist can speak as it merits. I know not if he completed all that he intended to do, but I have a lively remembrance of the immense stores of material and drawings which he possessed ten years ago. To experimental physiology he made many contri- butions in the Lxvstenz-bedingungen der Tiere and elsewhere. But the works of all others which established his reputation as a university professor were undoubtedly those on comparative embryology. Among these, “Das Uro-genitalsystem der Plagio- stomen” is preeminent. In this and other priceless memoirs was laid the solid foundation on which the ten volumes of the Arbeiten aus dem Zoologisch- sootomischen Institut zu Wirzburg were gradually built up. The intensity and ardour with which he devoted himself to the problems of embryology also laid the be- ginnings of the long years of ill-health which have just closed with his death. Though his work cannot be described as having escaped unscathed from the fierce embryological battles of recent years, most of it still stands intact, and is destined to re- main, associated with the name of Semper, as part of the classic literature of vertebrate morphology. With recapitulation embryology he had no sort of sym- pathy, and his polemics against Haeckel clearly defined his position as an opponent of the so-called “Law of Ontogeny.” He was of those whose embryological work is based rather on the idea that organs, not organisms, repeat parts of their ancestral history in their develop- ment, Of the departed master—* Der Chef,” as his students affectionately termed him—a pupil cannot write without feeling. Long before his death the great number of his pupils, who had become occupants of University chairs, pe NATURE [JuLy 20, 1893 testified to the success of his training. Profs. Ludwig (Bonn), Braun (K6nigsberg), Spengel (Giessen), Kennel (Dorpat), Kossmann (Heidelberg), Carriére (Strassburg), and Fraisse (Leipsic), and the Privat-Docenten Ludwig Will, Biehringer, Voigt, Schuberg, and others, stillrepresent the old Wiirzburg Institute in more than half of the Universities of Germany. Pupils came to him from all parts of the world. Of his contemporaries only two, Albert von K@lliker and Rudolf Leuckart, can claim a longer array of scholars, and none have trained more successful investigators. Among those who pride them- selves on their studies in the quaint old rooms overlooking the Neubaustrasse are R. S. Bergh, C. S. Minot, H. Jungersen, Sharp, Strubell, Goronowitch, Grassi, and the cousins Sarasin. From Great Britain came but two, the late Philip Carpenter and the writer. The peculiarity of Semper’s training consisted in this : —The budding zoologist was first thoroughly grounded in comparative anatomy and histology, and then only, after a preliminary trial on some well-worked theme, might he commence independent investigation. The work. once begun, the student received abundant criticism but no help, and thus while Semper guided the worker, he never performed the task himself. In this way the memoirs of his pupils came to be not the work of a school in which the master alone was in evidence, but a series of papers dealing with widely divergent questions, and having only this in common that they were built on the same solid basis of elementary knowledge, Semper was above all the close friend of his pupils, and with them he formed a small “ Verein,” in which he took considerable pride. The evenings—which usually became early mornings—spent in the little “ Alt-deutsche Stube ” of the “ Zoological Garden ” down the Main will not readily fade from recollection. Then it was that the conversation—French, German, and English—more fre- quently turned to zoological travel, and discussions on current zoology gave place to little lectures on the Philip- pines and Palau Islands, on Heligoland and the Riviera, on tropical animals and plants. The educational im- portance of travel to the young zoologist was an ever- recurring topic with Semper. The advice usually had good effect, for most of his pupils have at one time or another made zoological journeys to distant parts of the world—to Ceylon, to Trinidad, to Greenland, the Celebes, and other places. One of Semper’s ideals was a new laboratory with a tropical house for animals. After long treaty with the Government he was happy in obtaining the completion of his wishes—the new Zoological Institute, a building worthy of the architect-zoologist. Three short years ago we who were his old pupils rejoiced with him on the opening of the new abode. Now, as he would bid the fleeting moment stay, he is taken fromus. The director’s room is vacant, our chief and our “Studentenzeit” are alike memories, on both of which we can only dwell with fondness and affection. J. BEARD. NOTES. WE regret to record that M. Marié Davy died on July 16, at Clamecy, Niévre, at the age of seventy-seven. M. Davy was at one time at the head of the physical-astronomy service of the Paris Observatory, and took a leading part in the protest against Le Verrier’s administration in 1870. He published a large num- ber of papers on electrical and astronomical subjects. Pror. S. P. LANGLey, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, announces that the Institution has secured a table at the Naples Zoological Station for the use of American investigators. The table will be known as the Smithsonian table. Publications resulting from its use will bear the name of NO. 1238, VOL. 48] _ the Smithsonian Institution, and such of them as are of suffi importance will be printed in the ‘‘ Smithsonian Contribu to Knowledge.” THE munificent gifts of the legatees of Sir Joseph worth to Manchester are to be increased by a sum of £50, The amount previously given by them to carry out the sche: the Whitworth Institute was £105,000. The legatees cor however, that even their additional donation will need su menting by the public if the institute is to attain its due portance. cies eS THE International Maritime Congress commenced its meeting on July 18 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, wi the presidency of Lord Brassey. A large number of Britis foreign representatives of maritime interests were present, the outcome of the week’s conference will doubtless be of siderable importance. Lord Brassey took for the text presidential address the construction and use of break and the works that have been undertaken for the improve of the entrances to ports. Mr. Mundella, M.P., followed. a description of the growth of the mercantile marine servi Great Britain. The Congress then divided into sections for tl reading and discussion of papers. Lord Swansea presided ov the section dealing with questions relating to the constructic of harbours, breakwaters, and general sea-works ; and Admir Colomb is the president of the section devoted to signal lights, and buoys. The papers read before these two were chiefly of a technical character. i AT the recent Congress of Archzeological Societies a : that elicited an interesting discussion was the ‘‘ Continv the Archeological Survey of England.” It was ann that the archzological maps of Essex, Lancashire, Ch Surrey, Sussex, and Derbyshire had been considerabl; vanced since the meeting of last year. Maps are being pared by societies in Herefordshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, on which all interesting antiquities are indi cated. A series of symbols has been devised by the Standin Committee for the diagrammatic ‘representation of antiqi objects and sites, and a resolution was passed expressing a | that all societies participating in the survey will adopt symbols and so ensure uniformity. Mr. H. S, Pearson, 0 Birmingham and Midland Institute Archeological So gave a detailed description of a photographic survey county of Warwick. Each photographer who took part work was assigned a district of about six square mi their pictures were subjected to the criticism of a commii order to determine whether they were ‘‘ worthy of accept: Up to now about 1,700 excellent photographs have been and permanent prints of them have been well mou presented to the Birmingham Free Library, so that they be referred to at any time, Mr. Pearson’s paper was received, Sir John Evans expressing his warm appr bidding all archzological societies throughout the c ‘*Go and do likewise.” The Archeological Instit held its annual meeting last week. There was a the Guildhall, several excellent luncheons, with pleasurable 4 doubtless profitable excursions, and a conversazione Mansion House, so the meeting was a decided success, no papers were read or discussion raised of scientific mom AT the annual meeting of the Wilts Archeological Society, to be held at Warminster on July 25 and two following da. the President, General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., will give an ac! of some excavations he has been recently making in an e camp in Cranborne Chase, near Rushmore, Salisbury, and jacent to the group of tumuli of the Bronze Age, which \ investigated by him in 1880 in conjunction with the late P 4 JuLy 20, 1893] NATURE 275 ston. The address will be illustrated by plansand sections, two models will be exhibited showing the entrenchment ore and after excavation. A NUMBER of water-colour drawings, executed by the artists f the Archeological Survey of Egypt, are being exhibited at residence of the Marquis of Bute, K.T., 83, Eccleston quare, S.W., and will remain on view until Saturday next. collection of drawings comprise sketches by Mr. Percy Buckman of various sites of historical interest in the provinces of Minich and Assint, a large number of facsimile drawings of ~ wall paintings in tombs of the ancient and middle kingdoms in the same province by Mr. Buckman, Mr. Blackyen, and Mr. Howard Carter, as well as many architectural drawings from the tombs by Mr, John Newberry. Cards for admission to the ex- _ hibition may be had on application at the offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 37, Great Russell Street, W.C. THE new laboratories at Guy’s Hospital were opened on July 17 by Sir Jolin Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., a number _ of men of science being present. In the course of his remarks Sir John Lubbock said that great and brilliant as had been the discoveries in science during the last fifty years, that of the next ould be grander still, He based his belief on three grounds. First, because while knowledge was finite science was infinite; secondly, because new processes and inventions were constantly being applied to research ; thirdly, the number of investigators _ was greater and would go on increasing. He hoped that in the laboratories opened that day new steps would be taken in _ the triumphal progress of science. Sir John Lubbock subse- ' quently presented the scholarships, medals, and prizes, to the successful students, and delivered an interesting address in ‘which he pointed out the necessity of administering kindly advice and sympathy ‘‘to a mind diseased” as well as medicine to the body. Mr. R. LYDEKKER is about to visit the museums of Buenos Ayres and La Plata in order to examine the collections of fossil mammals and birds, a grant for that purpose having been made to him by the Royal Society. __ THE Japanese section of the Cornwall Counties Fisheries Ex- hibition, shortly to be held at Truro, is being organised by a com- mittee of the Council of the Japan Society, and promises to be attractive and interesting. Numerous exhibits, illustrating the fisheries of Japan, are now on their way to England, and many collectors of Japanese works of art have promised to lend objects representing fish and fishing, THE British Consul at Porto Rico has reported to the Foreign Office that it is proposed to hold an exhibition in that city in November next to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the island of Porto Rico. The exhibits will include agricultural and industrial implements and machinery, and other objects that are or may become articles of commerce. Space will be granted to exhibitors free of charge, and must be applied for by September 1. All exhibits will be admitted free of customs duty. _ From September 3rd to 6th a meeting will be held at Lausanne in connection with the Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles, There will be a general assembly of the Swiss geological, botanical, and entomological societies, and also various geological and zoological excursions. A detailed _ programme of the excursions can be had on application to one of the Secretaries, Prof, E. Bugnion, or M. A. Nicati, Lausanne. | THE Socidtd de Topographie de France intend to erect a ‘statue of Cassini, the author of the first topographical map of NO. 1238, vor. 48] France, in the town of Clermont-en-Beauvais (Oise), not far from Thury. It is a remarkable fact that the family of Cassini had, in a century and a half, five representatives as Members of the Academy of Sciences, of which four were directors of Paris. Observatory, the third of them—César Francois Cassini, of Thury aaa the one whose memory will be honoured. A REUTER’s telegram reports that the steamer Falcon, with Lieut, Peary and the members of the American Polar Expedition, sailed on July 15 from St. John’s, Newfoundland, for Bowden Bay, the autumn quarters of the expedition. THE arrangements are now completed for the celebration of the jubilee of the Rothamsted agricultural experiments at the Laboratory, Harpenden-common, on Saturday, the 29th inst., at 3 p.m., under the presidency of Mr. Herbert Gardner, M.P., President of the Board of Agriculture. The proceedings will commence with the dedication by Mr. Gardner of a granite memorial, erected in front of the Rothamsted Laboratory, to commemorate the occasion. Addresses of congratulation will then be presented to Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert on behalf of the subscribers to the Rothamsted Jubilee Fund and various learned societies, including the Royal, Royal Agricultural, Chemical, Linnean, and other leading scientific institutions, Sir John Lawes will also be presented with his portrait, which has been painted by Mr. Hubert Herkomer, R.A., for the subscribers to the Jubilee Fund. Afterwards there will be a reception at Rothamsted by Lady Lawes. The Rothamsted Laboratory, where the ceremony will take place, adjoins Harpenden-common, and is distant about half a mile from the Harpenden station of the Midland Railway Company. Ir is reported that disastrous floods and landslips, caused by heavy rains and cloudbursts, have occurred in Tyrol, the principal scene of destruction being the upper and lower Inn Valleys, the Oetzthal, and the Zillerthal. Many houses have been swept away, together with the inhabitants and their cattle, while others have been buried by landslips. Soe very heavy falls of rain occurred in the southern part of England on Saturday and Sunday last, owing to the passage of a small and shallow cyclonic disturbance, which travelled quickly to the eastward. The amounts recorded in several localities exceeded an inch within twenty-four hours, while at Eastbourne the fall was from two to three inches, or more than the average amount for the month of July. The accumulation of water at the latter place was due to the intensity of the fall during a short period ; the amount recorded during the whole day has fre- quently been exceeded at other places. IN a recent number of the new Russian journal (Archives des Sciences Biologiques publide par l Institut Impérial de Médecine Exptrimentale a St. Pétersbourg, vol. i. no. 5) an account is given of the latest endeavours to secure protection against glanders. It would appear from the experiments here recorded: that as a means of diagnosing glanders the ‘‘ malléine” (ex- tracted from cultures of the glanders bacillus) is of great value. On being inoculated into horses suspected of having glanders, and into healthy animals or horses suffering from some other disease respectively, the different effect produced was constant and very clearly defined. Inthe case of the former, the exist- ence of glanders was indicated by a distinct rise in tempera- ture, from 1°'5 to 3° C., and the formation of a tumour, whilst in the latter the temperature did not rise, or only very slightly, and an insignificant tumour, or none at all, was produced at the place of inoculation. Innumerable experiments on horses by various investigators confirm these results, and as a proof of the importance which is attached to these researches, it may be men- 274 NATURE {JuLy 20, 1893 tioned that only last September a circular was addressed by the German Government to the commanders of cavalry, ordering the injection of ‘‘ malléine ” into the horses of those regiments where cases of glanders were proved to have occurred. THE fact that some micro-organisms may stimulate or depress the vitality or virulence of others has been taken advantage of by both Sanarelli and Chantemesse and Widal in their recent researches on immunity and typhoid fever (Azmnales de 7’ Institut Pasteur, 1892). The typhoid bacillus very rapidly loses its pathogenic properties when cultivated for any length of time outside the living body. Its virulence may, however, be revived by introducing it into an animal along with sterilised cultures of some special organisms. Sanarelli used sterilised cultures of the 2. coli communis, beginning with 10-12 cc., and gradually diminishing the dose, until the typhoid bacillus, as taken from the last animal, proved virulent without any addi- tion. Sterilised cultures of the Proteus vulgaris may, according to Sanarelli, be also used. Chantemesse and Widal obtained the same results by employing sterilised cultures of the Strepto- coccus pyogenes, it having been found by Vincent that in the most serious cases of typhoid fever which he examined the latter was present along with the typhoid bacillus. THE true origin of contrast colours is still a much-debated question among physicists. The Young-Helmholtz hypothesis of colour sensation assumes that the perception of a contrast colour by which, for instance, a shadow cast by a candle in day- light appears blue, is due to an error of judgment brought about by falsely taking the candle as representing white light and “dividing the difference of tint between the various portions of the surface equally between them.” Mr. Alfred M. Mayer, in the American Yournal of Science, attempts to show by a series of experiments that the perception of contrast-colour is due to purely physiological, and not to psychical causes. Some careful chronograph experiments showed that the perception of a contrast colour did certainly not require more than one-fif- teenth of a second. A spark from a Holtz machine, lasting a millionth of a second and 8cm. long, made a grey ring on an emerald green ground appear a bright pink. The spark was also passed between brass knobs placed in front of a piece of silvered mirror half covered with a piece of green glass. The path of the spark presented a remarkable appearance. The portion reflected from the mirror only was white, while the other portion consisted of two images reflected by the green glass and the mirror respectively. The former appeared red by contrast, and the latter was coloured green by transmission through the glass, Thus a white source appeared both white and red at the same instant. The hypothesis of a knowledge of the real whiteness of the surface illuminated partly by a candle and partly by daylight influencing the perception of con- trast colours was refuted by arranging such a surface behind a screen and letting two independent observers view it through a tube showing two semi-circles in juxtaposition. They were misled as to what to expect, but they both immediately described the patches as yellow and sky-blue respectively. These experi- ments tend to confirm Hering’s hypothesis, which assumes that when a portion of the retina is stimulated, adjoining portions are affected by a sort of inductive action producing comple- mentary perceptions, AN interesting note on the variation of the earth’s magnetism in the neighbourhood of a hill containing magnetic rocks, by Messrs, Oddone and ‘Franchi, has appeared in the Annali dell’ Ufficio Centrale di Meteorologia e Geodinamica (vol. xii. part 1). The hill was composed of serpentine, and had, roughly speaking, a lenticular shape, being 1500 m. long and 500 m. broad, with its greatest length north-west and scuth-east.. The declination is the only element up to now observed, and the variation of | Sheldon and G. M. Downing write on the critical cw NO. 1238. VoL. 48] this element along certain lines has been determined by r of a large compass, to which a telescope, moving in a verti plane, was attached. The needle, about 16c.m. long, fine pointer attached, and its position was read by means of scale engraved on looking-glass. A preliminary series observations, made on ground where there was no disturb: showed that this instrument could be depended on to wit! one or two minutes of arc. The method of observing foll was to set up the instrument, and, looking through the scope, note a series of points, all in a straight line with so distant object, then to clamp the horizontal. scale to the scope support, and read the ends of the needle. The instru ment was then transported to the points which had been noted and the telescope directed to the distant mark. Then differences in the readings for the needle gave the diffe in the declination at the stations along the line. As an exam of the magnitude of the deviations obtained we may give following set of readings (corrected for diurnal variati along a line running north-east from the hill. At the out of the serpentine the reading for the needle was 11° 20’; ab 100 m. away, 10° 35’; about 500 m. away 9° 56’ 30”; whili a distance of 700 m. it was 9° 50’ 30’. In every case the obtained an attraction of the north pointing pole of the nee towards the serpentine, thus indicating that the mass of was magnetised with its upper end a south pole. M. FELIx Leconr«s has invented a simple form of auto cut-out, consisting of a cylindrical metal vessel containing m cury and closed at the bottom by a plate of iron held up | springs. A copper rod dips into the mercury and forms on terminal, the current passing through the mercury to the met cylinder, which forms the other terminal. Beneath the pie of iron an electro-magnet is placed, which is connected wi electric battery, whose circuit is closed at any pre-arrangé time by a contact fixed toa clock. When this contact is made the electro-magnet attracts the iron, allows the mercury t escape, and thus breaks the main current. A MEMOIR on prehistoric naval architecture of the no Europe, by Mr. George H. Boehmer, has been issued by U.S. National Museum, ’Tis ‘‘a tale of the times of old,’ therefore full of interest to the student of history. Fu more, it is written with technical knowledge, and brist references, and therefore commands the respect of the scie ally-cultured mind. Inthe memoir the build of thirty sl discovered in various places, is explained by text and tion. And the whole discussion indicates that the explorations of the people of the south, the Pheenicians, influence the character of the naval structures of the ancient inhabitar of Scandinavia. Of all the boats that have been excay none seem to excel in beauty that found at Gokstad, N in 1880, and now in the Archeological Museum of the Frederichs University at Christiania. In the opinion of this boat is a masterpiece of its kind, not to be surp aught which the shipbuilding craft of the present age produce. WE have received the first number of Zhe Physical R journal of experimental and theoretical physics cond Mr, G. L. Nichols and Mr. E. Merritt, and published for Co nell University by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. The new p lication is on much the same lines as the Philosophical Maga It contains five papers on physical subjects, a few notes, critical articles on several new books. Mr. Nichols writes the transmission spectra of certain substances in the infra and Mr. B. W. Snow on the infra-red spectra of the alkalies The relation between the lengths of the yard and the met form the subject of a paper by Mr. W. A. Rogers. Messrs. ; JuLy 20, 1893] NATURE 275 density of copper deposition, and the absolute velocity of "migration of the copper ions, and Messrs. F. Bedell and A. C. hore give a geometrical proof of the three-ammeter method f measuring power. We wish the venture the complete s ccess that its high character merits. WE have received a copy of ‘The Brighton Life Table,” based upon the mortality of the ten years 1881-90, by Dr. Arthur Newsholme. No previous life-table has been con- ‘structed for Brighton, so the vital statistics of 1881-90 could not be compared with those of any preceding decennium, Dr. Newsholme has, however, compared his figures with those for the whole of England and Wales between 1871 and 1880, and also with the 1881-90 life-table of Manchester. The com- _ parison indicates that the probabilities of life among both maies "and females are at most ages greater in Brighton than elsewhere —a result that might have been expected. WE learn from the Victorian Naturalist that Mr.D. M‘Alpine, pathologist to the Victorian Department of Agriculture, is pre- paring for publication by the Department a Systematic Census of Australian Fungi, together with a host-index and list of works on the subject. He is desirous of making the list as ‘complete as possible, and will be pleased to receive from workers any published papers, &c., especially on the microscopic forms. It is proposed to continue the list in annual supple- ments. LeSeraR es THE 1892 xeport of the Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, has been received. The experiments in- stituted by the Government having shown that tobacco of a suitable character for making good cigars can be grown in _ Trinidad, enterprising planters are beginning to cultivate a sufficient area to make the crop remunerative. Mr. Hart reports that the quality of the product of the district (always a tobacco producing one) in which the operations were conducted, has much improved. The native cultivators have partially adopted the methods employed by the skilled cultivator, hence it is anticipated that the industry will continue to make progress during future years. Mr. M. Dunn, of Trevagissey, has sent us a paper by him on ‘‘ The Migrations and Habits of the Pilchard,” which appears in the annual report of the Royal Polytechnic Society for 1892, Messrs. LONGMAN will shortly publish a work entitled and specially devoted to ‘‘The Micro-organisms in Water,” by Prof. and Mrs. Percy Frankland. It will deal not only with the presence and significance of bacteria in water, but also with the various means of effecting their removal, and an account will be given of what is known concerning the vitality of patho- genic microbes in various waters. A tabulated description of the micro- and macroscopic characters of all the micro-organisms, both pathogenic and non-pathogenic, hitherto discovered in water will be appended, whilst a special part will be devoted to the methods involved in the bacteriological examination of water. The work is intended to serve as a handbook for all interested in the sanitary aspects of water supply. A CATALOGUE of books issued by Mr. Charles Lowe, New- street, Birmingham, contains the titles and descriptions of a number of scientific works for sale and wanted. A CONSIDERABLE number of metallic salts of sulpho-phos- _ phoric acid, H,PS,, have been obtained in a pure state by Dr. Glatzel of Breslau, and are described in the current number f the Zeitschrift fiir Anorganische Chemie. They are pre- pared by heating an anhydrous mixture of the chloride or sul- NO. 1238, voL. 43] phide of the metal with phosphorus pentasulphide, being produced in accordance with the equations :— 3RCI + P.Ss = RPS, + PSCl;, 3R.S + P,S; = 2R3PS; The metallic chloride or sulphide requires to be perfectly dry, if possible being fused previous to the experiment. When cold it is finely powdered, intimately mixed with excess of anhydrous pentasulphide of phosphorus and the mixture heated in a small retort, at first slowly and carefully, finally to low redness. If the chloride of the metal is employed, thiophosphoryl chloride distils over and is condensed in a receiver, The excess of phosphorus pentasulphide sublimes into the neck of the retort, leaving the metallic sulphophosphate behind. The latter is purified from any undecomposed metallic chioride or sulphide by washing first with dilute hydrochloric acid, and afterwards with water, filtering and drying. In this manner the normal sulphophosphates of manganese, zinc, ferrous iron, nickel, cad- mium, lead, thallium, tin, copper, silver, mercury, bismuth, antimony and arsenic have been obtained ina pure state. In addition to these, normal potassium sulphophosphate K,PS, has also been obtained, but it was found impossible to separate it entirely from phosphorus pentasulphide ; efforts to prepare normal sulphophosphates of sodium, ammonium, barium, strontium and calcium have not yet been successful. The nor- mal sulphophosphates of manganese, zinc, ferrous iron, nickel, cadmium and copper were obtained in the form of crystalline powders, the others as fusible solids, which crystallise upon re-solidification. The zinc and cadmium salts are white, the manganese salt green, the iron, nickel, lead, tin and bismuth salts vary from dark brown or grey to black; the thallium, copper, silver, antimony and arsenic salts are yellow ; and mer- cury sulphophosphate is red and very sensitive to light. The whole of them, with the exception of the potassium salt, are in- soluble in water and organic solvents, but are slowly attacked by dilute acids with evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen. The potassium salt is decomposed by water alone with liberation of the same gas. It would appear, indeed, that the more negative metals, such as bismuth, antimony and arsenic form sulpho- phosphates with the greatest facility. The bismuth salt BiPS, remains in the retort after distilling a mixture of bismuth chloride and phosphorus pentasulphide as a dark-coloured liquid which solidifies to a grey mass upon cooling, and yields upon pulverisation a powder of the colour of red phosphorus. Antimony and arsenic form similar crystalline sulphophosphates of a yellow colour, which are more volatile, however, and, moreover, may be distilled without decomposition. The arsenic salt solidifies in the receiver in a transparent form resembling amber. In attempting to prepare a ferric sulphophosphate by the action of phosphorus pentasulphide upon anhydrous ferric chloride, an unexpected artificial synthesis of iron pyrites, FeS,, in crystals identical with those found in nature, was effected. The reaction occurs as represented by the equa- tion :— 3F e,Cly + 2P.S5 = 3FeCl, + 3F eS, + 4PSCl,. The crystals of iron pyrites were formed as a beautiful glisten- ing sublimate just above the heated portion of the retort. They possessed the usual brass-yellow colour and brilliant lustre, and consisted of pentagonal dodecahedrons and cubes or combina- tions of these forms, together with faces of the octahedron and of the more complicated forms of the cubic system. Moreover, the same mode of striation was observed as is so characteristic of natural crystals. Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Polychaeta Staurocephalus rubrovit- 276 NATURE [Juty 20, 1893 tatus and Spherodorum peripatus, the Isopod Apseudes La- treillii, the Schizopoda JZysidopsis gibbosa and Hemimysis Lamorne, specimens of the Brachyuran Ayas coarctatus decked with weeds and compound Ascidians, the Lamellibranch Arca tetragona, and the Ascidian Perophora Listeri. In the floating fauna little change has been observed, but numbers of the Leptomedusan Laodice cruciata have been taken on the beds of Zostera, The following animals are now breeding :—The Hydroid Coryne vaginata, the Polychete Polyctrrus auran- tiacus, the Amphipod Corophium Bonelli, the Decapod Palemon squilla ani the Lamellibranch Arca tetragona, THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Macaque Monkey (Aacacus cynomolgus, 2 ) from India, presented by Capt. R. D. Arnold; a Leopard (Felis pardus), a Striped Hyena (Hyena striata) from India, presented by Capt. Currie ; a Malayan Bear (Ursus malayanus) from Malacca, presented by Mr. M. O. N. Rees-Webbe ; four Prairie Marmots (Cynomys ludovicianus) from Texas, four ‘Orbicular Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma orbiculare) from Cali- fornia, presented by Mr. G. B, Coleman; a Harnessed Ante- lope (Zragelaphus scriptus, 6) from West Africa, presented by Mr. A. L. Jones ; four Galapagan Doves (Zenaida galapagensis) from the Galapagos Islands, an Auriculated Dove (Zenaida auriculata) from Chili, presented by Capt. Hedworth Lamb- ton, R.N.; a Guilding’s Amazon (Chrysotis guildingi) from St. Vincent, W.I., three Boddaert’s Snakes (Coluber boddaerti), three Carinated Snakes (Herpetodryas carinatus) from Grenada, W.1I., presented by the Hon. Sir Walter F. Hely-Hutchinson, K.C.M.G. ; two Red-tailed Buzzards (Buteo borealis) from Jamaica, presented by Mr. Charles B. Taylor; a Crested Porcupine (Aystrix cristatus) from Africa, an Australian Casso- wary (Casuarius australis) from Australia, two Blyth’s Trago- pans (Ceriornis blythi, 6 2) from Upper Assam, deposited ; two African Tantalus (Pseudotantalus ibis) from West Africa, _ two Demoiselle Cranes (Grus virgo), six Moorish Tortoises «Testudo mauritanica) from North Africa, a Secretary Vulture (Serpentarius reptilivorus) from South Africa, two Common Rheas (Rhea americana, 2) from South America, two Cabot’s Tragopans (Ceriornis caboti, 6 =) from China, four Crested Pigeons (Ocyphaps lophotes) from Australia, purchased ; a Mule Deer (Cariacus macrotis, ), a Martineta Tinamou (Calodromas elegans), seven Summer Ducks ((Zx sfonsa), seven Mandarin Ducks (2x galericulata), three Australian Wild Ducks (Azas superciliosa), six Magellanic Geese (Bernicla magellanica), three Peacock Pheasants (Polyplectron chinguis), three Cheer Pheasants ( Phasianus wallichit), six Gold Pheasants (7haumalea picta) bred in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. EPHEMERIS OF THE NEW COMET.—Prof, E. Lamp gives the following elements for Quénisset’s comet in Astr. Nach., No, 3173 :— 7 = 1893 July 7°3140, Berlin Mean Time. o= 47. 6°72 eS = 337 20°93 » 1893°0 t= 160 1°88 log gy = 982948 From these elements the following ephemeris has been computed by Dr. Kreutz :— 1893 R.A. app Decl. app. h m s ° ‘ July 21 II 27 28 +25 I9'1 22 Il 32 44 a 24 «10 23 II 37 19 ty 22 49°8 27 II 50 50 18 59°8 31 II 59 24 16 12°8 Aug. 4 12 5 18 14 6'2 The comet is decreasing in brightness. NO. 1238, VOL. 48] The following communication has_been received from So Kensington :— ‘*The comet was observed by Mr. Shackleton as July 11, before any notice of it had been received, but ow to the unfavourable state of the sky he was unable to perf satisfy himself that it was a new object. Although the sk: partially clear on July 14, the comet could not be seen : Observatory as it was unfortunately very low in the north-wes! and fell within the glare of the illuminations of the Im Institute. On Sunday, July 16, the sky was much cleare the comet was easily picked up with a small telescope. Ob tions with the equatorial, however, were impossible. — Its p tion was roughly estimated as R.A. 10h. 41m., Decl. 33° N., an it was about equal in brightness to a fourth magnitude star. O; July 17 the sky was clear, and the comet was observed by Shackleton with a 6-inch telescope temporarily erected elevated position ; a faint tail was then observed, extendin further on the southern than on the northern side of the ax Owing to the absence of an equatorial mounting to the tele employed, spectroscopic observations were very difficult, but bright bands—probably the well-known bands of carbon so frequently appear in cometary spectra—were recogn There was only a very feeble continuous spectrum.” ComeET FINLAY (1886 vit.).—The ephemeris of this ec for the ensuing week is as follows :— Raa: ; 12h. Paris. MT. R.A. (app.) Decl. (app.) 1893. h, ms. rare July 20 4 30 54°16 iis +20 33 510 21 Be 35 18°76 Vir 20 45 5 22 con 39 41°86 “ye 20 5 23 Sa 44 3°43 $5 21 24 iss 48 23°42 oars 2119 3° 25 te 52 41°80 is 21 29 4°9° 26 bas 4 56 58°53 6 21 38 37'0 27 me Cee We sf ie 21 47 39° OBSERVATIONS OF THE PLANET VICTORIA.—Obs tions of this planet were specially undertaken in 1889 to d mine the mean horizontal parallax of the sun, and afterwards compare the calculated with the observed places of the with the object of proving the existence of a short periodic turbation, as would occur if, for example, an erroneous > for the lunar equation had been adopted. The observa (Bulletin Astronomigque, tome x., June 1893) were of kinds, as Dr, Gill in this note informs us—(1) meridian obser tions of the planet and comparison stars, made at twenty-c observatories during the opposition in 1889; (2) heliomel triangulation of comparison stars, consisting of measures of | distances of the stars less than 2° apart and measures of angles of position (these observations were made at the o tories of Yale College, Gottingen, Bamberg, and at the during the year 1890); and (3) heliometric observations | angular distance of the planet from two comparison s above and the other below the apparent position of the plat in the sky. This work was accomplished by the same obser tories with the addition of that at Leipzig. ; a In this preliminary note, Dr. Gill refers only to the ge results of the discussion. The following table shows the for the mean horizontal parallax of the sun as dedvu the discussion of the observations in groups :— | obser Limit of M.S. Rel. te Group. groups. parallax. aes c=0. Les ei Jute 20-22... 8723-55, Orne “— TEs seas ESTED: Loteee) | SOG Ns? Site Oe TI... 4). ,19-26)..,. 828... 15*4: ... Oa IV. ....,,. 26-July 3... 872.... 20°2... —OO25 V. ... July 3-9 Peat (:{> eroding: fr. yp otar eS eo MT see, 59° | Or8e 857 ... 17°5 «.. +0709 ... WEL ais yy 1R=20 793 «-. 19°5 ... +0°07 ... VITEY 285, “20-23 809 ... 20°0 ... —O°05 ... TX, x 99 423-2 742 14'0 ... — 0°03 .<5 p. te 1 25-2) 06 II‘2 .., —0°O7. ame XL. », 28-Aug.4 777»... 33°4 -.. $O'OF ... XII Aug. 4-10 826... 20°0 1... +OURF «2 XIIL », 10-17 816 ... 26°0 ... —0°05 ... EN 3 ae ngs kn 819 ... 19°9 ... +0°04 ... XV 33 22-27 8°738 ... 13°3 ... —0'04 ... + The mean of these gives the value i: m = 8"'809, witha probable error of + 0'”°0066. JuLy 20, 1893] NATURE 277 _ The observed and calculated positions agree only in the limits of the errors of observations on the assumption ‘‘ ofa periodic term, the period of which is nearly identical with that of the lunar riod, and whose maxima and minima occur at epochs when be longitude of the moon differs by 90° from that of the planet. Adopting 6:40 in place of 6"°50 for the lunar equation, the residuals obtained from the corrected ephemeris and the ob- servations are made very small, as can be seen from the last two columns of the above table. The correction of —o”*r in the lunar equation demonstrates, as Dr. Gill says, that the value adopted up to the present for the _ dunar mass ought to be diminished by one-hundredth. DIFFERENCE OF LONGITUDE BETWEEN VIENNA AND GREEN- wicH.—In the fourth volume of the ‘‘ Publicationem fiir die ‘Internationale Erdmessung,” entitled ‘* Astronomische Arbeiten des k.k. Gradmessungs-Bureau,” by Theodor v. Oppolzer, and after his death by Prof. Weiss and Dr. Robert Schram, we are presented with the results of the determination of the difference of longitude between Vienna and Greenwich, and with the Berlin time determinations and the personal equations of the separate observers relating to other longitude determinations, those between Vienna—Berlin—Miinchen—Greenwich. We ‘may mention here that, with regard to the first-mentioned de- termination, another one, between the same places but after a method due to Déllen, by observations in the vertical of Polaris, will appear in a later volume. fare The observations for the combined longitude determination _ ‘between the above-mentioned places were commenced on July 7, 1876, and were completed on September 26 of the same year. Not only was the usual method of procedure adopted but also that which we owe to Dollen, the instruments used being, for the former method those by Repsold, and for the latter those by Herbst. In the Vienna—Greenwich longitude determination at the beginning and at the end of the observa- tions, time signals, both from Vienna and from Greenwich, were changed with Berlin ; in the middle observations Vienna —Greenwich interchanged time signals ; and towards the end Miinchen was included. In the following table, which gives the results for the single evenings, AL represents the longitude ‘between the points of observation and ¢dAL the deviations from the most probable value of the longitude difference :— eerie, = | Date. AL. daL. i. Mm. Ss. s. 17 July, 1876 I 5 21°037 +0°043 FY sepa ys 21°028 +0°034 22 ;, 20°995 +0°00I pare, 20°955 —0'039 5 Aug 20°832 - 0'162 + flee 21°07 +0°113 AeA 21°146 +0°I52 2I 20°845 —o'l49 27» 21°016 +0°02z 5 Sept 21'037 +0°043 aL sy 21025 +0031 2r |, tee I 5 20°902 Sas - 0°092 The result obtained, when the points of observations are reduced respectively to the centre of the Greenwich Transit Circle and to the centre of the large dome of the Vienna Ob- servatory is th. 5m. 21°421s. + o’o2Is. PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MILKY Way.—Prof. E. E. Barnard, who has recently been on a visit. to Europe, has brought with him some wonderful photographs of the Milky Way, which. are simply a revelation to many of us. These photo- > fea (The Observatory, No. 203) were taken at the Lick bservatory with alens made by Mr. Willard of New York in 1859, which is one of large aperture (6 inches) and short focus (31 inches). Such a lens tends to compress as well as intensify the characteristic features of these stellar clouds, the dJarge field allowing one to embrace any of these forms as a whole, and not in detail, as is the case when they are viewed with a telescope. The first photographs, showing the cloud forms, were taken in August of 1890, the portion of the sky being that situated in Sagittarius, and the exposure 3h. 15m. __ A most interesting picture is that of a section of the constella- ___ tion of Cygnus, near yy Cygni; this photograph shows some of i those curious and almost weird dark spots and dark lanes the origins of which are very doubtful. Mr. Ranyard supposes them to be due to an obscuring medium between us and that | r NO. 1238, voL. 48] part of the Milky Way, but Prof. Barnard’s opinion is that they are real holes in the cloud structures themselves. Two photographs with different Jengths of exposures (2h. 45m. and 4h, 30m.) of the region about M. 11 in the constellation of Sobeski raises an important point as re- gards the different structure of the Milky Way. The second picture exhibits details which considerably altered the con- figuration, not at all brought out in the first one. Not-only in these photographs, but in several others of the Milky Way, this fact has beeu noticed, and Prof. Barnard suggests that there may be different orders or kinds of cloud structure implying distance or nearness, or possibly an entirely different order of stars in point of actual size. THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS. THE summer meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects was held last week in Cardiff. This is only the fifth pro- vincial meeting held by this Society since its foundation. The first was in Glasgow, the next in Liverpool, and the third in Newcastle. The fourth was held again in Glasgow. All these meetings were eminently successful, and it is somewat strange that the Council should not have made a point of holding a country meeting every year, We believe, however, that it is now the intention to follow that course, and certainly the great success of the meeting held in South Wales last week will sup- port those who advocate two meetings a year. We propose in our report dealing only with the sittings held for the reading and discussion of papers, but it may be stated that the excursions were very successful. Some of these were of a purely recreative nature, such for instance as that which occupied the whole of the last day, Friday, the 14th inst., when members were taken from Cardiff to Iltracombe and back by the steamer Zornxa Doone. The visit to Caerphilly Castle, with the luncheon in the ancient banqueting hall, could not by any means be construed as ‘‘ business” for naval architects, and the same might be said of the visit to Lord Windsor’s grounds at Penarth, illuminated for the occasion. Mixed with these junkettings, however, there wasa good deal of a more serious nature, as the following list of papers read, will show :— (1) ‘‘ On points of interest in the construction and repair of vessels carrying oil in bulk,” by B. Martell, chief-surveyor of Lloyd’s Registry of Shipping. (2) ‘On fast ocean steamships,” by F. Elgar. (3) Some experiments on the combination of induced draught and shot air, applied to marine boilers fitted with serve tubes and retarders,”’ by J. D. Ellis. (4) ‘* On wear and tear in ballast tanks,” by A. K. Hamilton, of Lloyd’s Registry. (5) ‘‘ On the transmission of heat through boiler plates,’ by A. Blechynden, Barrow, (6) ‘On water tube boilers,” by J. T. Milton, chief-engineer- surveyor to Lloyd’s Registry. (7) ‘On the theory of thin plating and its applicability to calculations of the strength of bulkhead plating and similar structures,” by G, H. Bryan, of Cambridge. The last paper was not read, but distributed at the meeting, the discussion being deferred until the spring meeting of next year. On the members assembling at the Town Hall, Cardiff, on the morning of Tuesday, the 11th inst., they were welcomed by the Mayor of Cardiff, and the chair was then taken by Sir Nathaniel Barnaby (late Director of Naval Construction), the President, Lord Brassey, not having arrived. Mr. Martell’s paper dealt with various details involved in the construction of oiltank steamers. It would seem at first sight a simple matter to construct a steel vessel capable of carrying oil in bulk; but this is by no means the case, and in trying to solve the probtem involved naval architects have been met by some alto- gether novel problems. One of these is the arrangement of riveting, and with this feature the author dealt at some length, going into details in the thorough manner which his unique posi- tion enabled him to do. Without diagrams it wou!d be im- possible to follow the author in his various lines of reasoning, more especially in the matter of arrangement of tanks, the dis- position of stringers, brackets, and other parts of a ship’s struc- ture. We will therefore refer those of our readers interested in 278 NATURE [JuLy 20, 1893 this matter to the Transactions of the Institution for details, which were fully set forth by the author. Dr. Elgar’s paper was largely of an historical nature. The author, who was until lately the Director of Dockyards, is now the chief technical and scientific adviser to the Fairfield Ship- building Company of Glasgow, the largest shipbuilding corpora- tion in the world. This firm has recently constructed the Atlantic liners Campania and Lucania, at present the biggest ships afloat. The paper drew a comparison between the Great Eastern and these modern vessels, which more nearly approach in size the monster ship of nearly forty years ago than any vessels ever constructed. The following table is interesting as drawing a comparison between the past and present :— Great Eastern. Campania. ft. in. ft. in. Length over all 692 0 622 0 Breadth moulded ___... oe 82 2 65 0 Depth moulded to upper deck 58 o 41 6 Load draught ... she ac 30 0 29:0 Indicated horse power 8,000 30,000 Gross register tonnage ... 18,915 tons 12,950 tons Knots, Knots. Speed at sea (full power) . 14 to 144 22 to 23 These figures show at once the advance in marine science and the extent to which the past naval architects more than antici- pated the work we have yet done in the size of ships built ; and it must be confessed the honours appear to rest with the engineer. The Great Eastern was fitted with both screw and paddle wheels, an arrangement which proved a costly mistake. It should be said, however, that the marine engineer has an al- most unlimited field for the exercise of his ingenuity, whilst the naval architect is fettered and bound in the most vital element of design, namely, the draught of water. It is useless to build a ship which can never enter the great ports of the world, and here we have reached a limit of 27 feet. The ship designer waits for the civil engineer to improve the chief harbours of nations before he can exercise to the full the resources which modern science has otherwise placed at his disposal. An addition of another 5 feet to the depth of some of the chief commercial ports would mean an advance in ship construction before which the growth of the last twenty years, great as it is, would be far eclipsed. For this reason it is likely that the bulk of the Great Zastern will be unapproached for very many years. Her length, great as it was, was a smaller proportion to her breadth than in modern ships, and to equal her dis- placement on the proportions of beam and length which are now considered desirable, a modern ship would require to be considerably longer than was the wonderful craft which was the embodiment of such high ambition forty years ago, and which found her most profitable employment in her last days as a show for trippers to the Liverpool exhibition. Mr. Ellis described in his paper trials made at the steel works of John Brown and Co., of Sheffield, to show the ad- vantage of a combination of features which the author considers desirable in the generation of steam. He uses induced draught, heating of the air supplied for combustion, and Serve boiler tubes. We have never been able to see what ground the sup- porters of induced draught have for claiming the great virtues supposed to exist in drawing the air through the furnace by means of a fan in the chimney, rather than driving it through by a fan in the stokehole. It is easier to grasp the advantages of heating the air supplied for combustion, supposing it is done by heat that would otherwise be wasted, but it is an open ques- tion whether this regenerative process could not be beneficially replaced by heating the feed water to be supplied to the boiler. It is certain that heat from the waste gases or products of com- bustion will be more readily absorbed by water than by air, In regard to the part of the system involved in the use of Serve tubes, there is perhaps less room for doubt as to the advantages to be reaped. The Serve tube may be described as an ordinary boiler tube, having on its interior a number of metal ribs which are formed in one with the tube itself, The object of these is to penetrate the stream of hot gases, often flame, passing from the furnace to the chimney, and thus act as collectors for the heat to be transferred ultimately to the water in the boiler, The principle may be: described as that of the Constantine stove inverted. The device appears logical and we can accept the statement that whatever heat is taken up by the metal is readily transferred to water surrounding the tubes ; or, as one NO. 1238, VOL. 48] speaker during the discussion put the matter, ‘‘if we look a the absorbing surface, we know the distributing surface look after itself.” That is true so long as the distributing face is clean, but it is to be feared such a desirable state of thi B: is not often present in steam boilers. Later in the meeting Mr. Blechynden, in his paper, pointed out how even wiping a pla surface with greasy waste on the water side caused the rate o! transmission of heat to fall off, and Mr. Durston some mot back told us how bad is the inner side of tubes and plates in marine boiler. However, the Serve tubes appear to have m a favourable impression upon engineers in spite of the diffic ties in the way of sweeping, &c., which threatened them first. The problem of their introduction appears largely to ha established itself on a commercial basis, Th the tables attach to his paper Mr, Ellis gave details of the trials made. From 1 to 103 lbs. of water were evaporated per lb. of coal from at 212° Fahr., burning 40 to 45 lbs. of coal per sq foot of grate per hour. The temperature of the gases in th smoke box was from 653 to 692° Fahr., whilst after p ing through the apparatus used for transferring the heat of gases to the air supplied for combustion the chimney g 386 to 391° Fahr., the difference between the two re senting the arrestation of heat units by the regenerative appa ratus, less accidental loss. An analysis of the chimney gases would form a valuable addition to these details, as was pointe out at the meeting. In any case, however, the boiler tested hz a much better chance at Messrs. Brown’s works than it wou have had on ship-board; nevertheless, the results may be s to be encouraging. Mr. Hamilton’s paper on wear and tear in water-ball tanks was of a very special character, although a most imp ant matter to shipowners. The moral of his investiga may be summed up in keeping boilers well off the bottom, ing tanks right up, and applying good paint properly at sufficier intervals. If it could be managed to thoroughly dry the t when empty it would be of more importance than anyth else, but it is difficult to see how this is to be done. ; Mr. Blechynden’s paper was also of a special character, gave the results of some very pretty experiments made to dete! mine the problem referred to in the title of hispaper. It wi be difficult, without illustrations, to describe the experime! but the broad general fact brought to light was, as the author stated, “‘ that the units of heat transmitted through any of the plates per degree of temperature between the fire and water are proportional to the difference.” The inference might be al drawn from the results that the steel plates lowest in carb were also lowest in conductivity ; but the experiments, as the author said, should be extended to confirm this. Mr. Milton’s paper on water-tube boilers dealt with the su! ject of the hour, at any rate from a marine engineer's point 0 view. The paper described the most prominent types of tube boiler now on trial before the engineering world. By triple and quadruple compound engine we have placed the mote so far ahead of the steam generators that marine engineers mt perforce turn their attention to the first source of power board ship. The introduction of corrugated furnaces gave hi boiler a considerable step in advance, and, together with th use of steel as a material for construction, made the advances i marine engineering so well illustrated by Dr. Elgar’s comp son ofthe Great Eastern and Compania, atall possible. al tubes, however, have set us all back again, and the convicti is growing among engineers that an entirely new departur required in boiler design. The only thing that offers water-tube system, in which steam is generated in a seri pipes containing water and surrounded by hot gases, r: than in a cylindrical shell through which tubes run to conve products of combustion through their interior from the to the chimney. The water-tube boiler is almost as old as the ordinary multi-tube (fire-tube) boiler ; but unhappily the la able failures ofa generation ago—in which several lives were lo threw such discredit on the system that it has been tabooed e since. We are now beginning to see how to get over the errors” of the past, and the great feature now to be solved is the ques- tion of durability. That can only be settled by time; and it — seems possible that the water-tube boiler may creep fro smaller to larger vessels until the shell boiler becomes a thing — of the past on shipboard ; at least that is the opinion of some marine engineers whose word is entitled to the highest respect. Possibly in the meantime a practical way may be found of generating power in the motor itself without the intervention of Juty 20, 1893] NATURE 279 steam and the apparatus for generating it. Before that time arrives, and some form of gas engine (including oil engines) arrive, a distinctly new departure will have to be made equiva- lent to that of the separate condenser of Watt. The last paper in the list, that of Mr. G. H. Bryan on bulk- heads, was in some respects the most promising and most sug- gestive of the meeting. The bulkhead question has been troubling the most thoughtful of our naval architects for some time past. Dr. Elgar attacked the question some time back in a paper he read before the Institution, and Mr. Martell also read a memoir on the subject. Some time ago a strong Government committee was appointed to consider the problems involved in this matter, and a report was issued. Rightly or wrongly, some naval architects are not satisfied with the position in which the report left the question. It is considered by many of the more thoughtful that a more scientific method of dealing with the problem should be evolved. Mr. Bryan, who is a Cambridge mathematician of high reputation at his University, has been led to take the matter up, and the present paper is an effort to bring higher mathematics to the aid of the solution of the question. The paper, however, contains nothing that need appal any naval architect or engineer who can lay fair claim to the title, and it is eminently practical. The similes selected by the author are of the simplest nature; indeed, the memoir reads more like a contribution from the pen of the late Mr. Froude, who was a very prince of lucidity and simplicity. We are reluctantly obliged, through want of space, to treat this paper as we have the others read at this meet- ing, and only give a suggestion ofits scope, referring our readers to the Transactions of the Institution for fuller details. Mr. Bryan attacks the theory, still held by many engineers, that the plate may be regarded as consisting of a series of parallel strips supporting pressure by their tensions. Euler’s and Bernouilli’s early theories have been abandoned by mathematicians, and Mr. Bryan is now trying to persuade engineers to do the same in effect in giving up the ‘‘ parallel strip” illustration. The matter affords an excellent «example of the manner in which the student of higher mathematics may assist the engineer. We may add that it is proposed to discuss the subject at the next meeting of the Institution to be held next spring, and doubtless Mr. Holmes, the secretary of the Institution, would forward a copy of the paper to any one wishing to take part in the dis- pas The address of the Institution is 5, Adelphi Terrace, Strand. SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. THE Annual General Meeting of the Society of Chemical In- dustry was opened at University College, Liverpool, on July 12, when Sir John Evans, K.C.B., Treas. R.S., delivered his Presidential address as follows :— ‘*When I look at the list of those who in past years have occupied the Presidential chair of this Society, all of them men eminent in the departments of either theoretical or practical chemistry, or, indeed, of both, I cannot but feel my own insuffi- ciency to succeed them in worthily fulfilling the duties of this post. Iam, indeed, tempted to inquire how and why it was, that, in accordance with the pressing invitation of some mem- bers of the Council, I ever consented to allow myself to be placed in nomination as your President. It certainly was not on the grounds of any fancied chemical attainments ; nor was it from my having been in former years associated with any in- dustry that is usually regarded as being specially connected with chemistry, Far less was it in the hope that any remarks that I might be called upon to make while acting as your President could be of any particular interest or value to those who, in all probability, are far better acquainted than I can pretend to be with any subject that properly comes within the scope of such a Society as ours. I believe, however, that the main reason that I had for allowing myself to be brought forward is one that will, to a great extent, palliate my shortcomings in so many of the essential requisites for such an office. It was the hearty and entire appreciation that I felt of the work and aims of such a Society as that of Chemical Industry, that was the prime mover in the case. Whether I regarded the organisation of the Society, with its sections at all the principal centres of chemical opera- tions, each to acertain extent independent, but all working har- moniously together, and forming one powerful and important body, with high objects and aspirations before it ; or whether I NO. 1238, VOL. 48] looked at it as presenting a bond of union between industries apparently unconnected, while, at the same time, furnishing in- formation of the most useful character to each and all, I could not-but recognise it as a body in the highest degree conducive to the public welfare ; so that on these, if on no other grounds, I should have been wanting in public spirit had I stood aloof when others urged me to accept the post of your President. ‘Tt is, I firmly believe, only by some such cordial co-operation among the different industries of this country as that which our Society has inaugurated, that the commercial position of Great, or Greater, Britain is to be maintained ; and the more fully the interdependence between one branch of manufacture and another is recognised and acted upon, the more likely are we, as a whole, to maintain our place in the keen race of competition with other countries. ‘4 merely cursory glance at our Journal will at once show how numerous are the departments of British industry that are more or less dependent on chemical knowledge, the information given on current literature and the specifications of new patents being arranged under no less than three-and-twenty different heads, many of them embracing several varying occupations. Nota few of these headings would, within my own memory, have conveyed but little meaning even to experts. I need merely carry back the minds o! some of the elder members of the Society, not only to the days when aniline colours were not and Dr, Perkins was com- paratively unknown, but to the time when lucifer matches hail not been invented, when photography was practically non-exis- tent, and when in most of ‘those industries in which a know- ledge of chemistry is now regarded as indispensable, the ‘ rule of thumb’ reigned absolute. ‘*T can speak of those old times with some personal feeling, as it is now upwards of fifty years since, that having presumably completed my education, I first entered a paper-mill in order to learn the art and mystery of the manufacture of paper, with which the name of the firm of which I was until lately a member—that of John Dickinson and Co,—has been so long, and, I may ven- ture to say, so honourably connected. It was, of course, recognised that some knowledge of chemistry was a requisite in such a manufacture, but I must freely confess that our methods were of the rudest, and that it was only as years rolled on, and first esparto fibre, and then the different kinds of wood pulp were introduced into the manufacture, and the various methods and results of sizing studied, that a thorough acquaintance with chemical laws became a ste gua non for those who hoped for success in this branch of industry. ** At the date that I have in view—say 1840—although rags were the staple material for the manufacture of paper, our con- sumption of them was but small, and they were principally used by us in producing paper for copper-plate work—steel plates at that time being rarely used—and for the highest class of printing papers. We consumed, however, a large quantity of raw material in the shape of the waste arising in the manu- facture of linen and cotton goods, and we had collecting agents at Dundee, Belfast, Bradford, Leeds, and Manchester, who bought the waste upon the spot. At Manchester we had a mill, in which the cotton-waste was cleaned, boiled, and converted into what is known as ‘half-stuff,’ which was finally bleached and made into paper at our Hertfordshire mills, In that county we had another ‘half-stuff’ mill, at Rickmansworth, where the linen waste was treated. The boiling was carried on in open keirs, or such as were partially closed, and always at a low pressure, as high pressure boilers for such materials were prac- tically unknown. Most of the waste was twice boiled, first with caustic lime, and secondly with a small amount of soda. The ‘shieves,’ or woody particles, that were unreduced by the boiling, were got rid of by a long process of screening, or ‘devilling,’ after the ‘half-stuff’ had been dried so far as possible in hydraulic presses. The material was then bleached in stone chambers by the direct action of chlorine gas, produced on the spot in retorts. At the mills, however, where the ‘half-stuff’ was converted into paper, the remains of the chloiine had to be washed out, and the final bleaching of the stuff to be effected with bleaching salts. No process for the recovery of the soda used in Loiling was then known, and, indeed, the quantity used was so much less than that which is now necessary with esparto, that it would not have paid to recover it. I remember, however, being engaged in some ex- periments for the recovery of the manganese from the spent liquor of the retorts. Even when first Mr, Routledge intro- duced the use of esparto fibre no evaporating or recovery 280 NATURE [JULY 20, 1893 process was employed, but the double advantage was soon seen of avoiding the nuisance of polluting the streams into which the waste liquors were allowed to flow, and of regaining a quantity of soda at a small cost. With the general adoption of esparto as a material a radical change in the manufacture of paper was effected, and the difficulties in which the industry had been placed by reckless commercial legislation with regard to foreign rags in a great degree removed. ‘ ** What has taken place in the manufacture of paper has been paralleled in numerous other departments of commercial enter- prise, and not the least in those connected with the manufacture of chemical products themselves, in many, if not indeed in most of which a complete revolution has been effected within the last fifty years, or even less. It would be’a hopeless task to try to indicate the whole of the advances in chemical knowledge that have been made within that period, and yet I am tempted to give some few reminiscences of the condition of the science as exhibited in Brande’s' Elements of Chemistry, published in May, 1841, exactly twelve months after my first introduction to business, when compared with our knowledge’ at the present day. if Chemistry at that time was by no means in its infancy. Its foundations had been securely Jaid not only on the Continent, but in this country, and the names of Priestley, Cavendish, Scheele, Lavoisier,, Davy, Wollaston, and other English inves- tigators were already household words. There were, in 1841, twelve simple non-metallic substances known, from oxygen to boron, including selenium, and forty-three metals from potas- sium to silicium, including lantanum and thorinum. For all fifty-five, symbols had been arranged, but these were in many respects different from those which are now in universal use. C, for instance, stood for chlorine and not for carbon, while B symbolised bromine and not boron. Potassium was designated by Po and not by K, and sodium by So and not by Na, while uranium was known as Urnm and not as U. ‘* The atomic weights of the various substances had been approximately determined, though modern investigations have in some instances materially changed their ratio. Though hydro- gen has retained its place as the unit, oxygen is no longer represented by 8, but by 15°96, or even less. Sulphur that was then 16 is now 31°98. Selenium, instead of 40, has now 78 assigned to it; while the number for tellurium has been in- creased fourfold from 32 to 128, and phosphorus has gone up from 16 to 30°96. Whether all our present figures will stand the test of time remains to be seen, and indeed recent researches have shown cause to doubt the accuracy of some of the figures that I have quoted. For myself, as a somewhat profane out- sider, I must confess that it would be a source of satisfaction if future investigations should show that the figures now having three or four places of decimals attached to them might more properly be converted into integers, and oxygen came out boldly as 16, and sulphur as 32. This is, however, a digression. “‘Turning to the simple substances and metals of which, as already stated, 12 and 43 respectively were known in 1841, we find them now slightly increased. Of non-metals we reckon 15, and of metals 48. Some metals, like columbium and glucinum, have dropped out of our list, the latter having now become beryllium, while others, like cesium, didymium, erbium and rubidium, have come in. ‘*On the whole, the changes and advances in inorganic chemistry have not been extreme. It is in organic chemistry that what cannot be regarded as anything short of a revolution has taken place. It is not a matter on which I can dilate, but as indicative of what has been going on I may mention that while three volumes have sufficed to Roscoe and Scholemmer for inorganic chemistry, no Jess than six have already appeared in continuation treating of organic chemistry, and more are to follow ; so that the proportions have been reversed which pre- vailed in the days of Brande, who devoted 367 pages only to organic chemistry, and 1042 to introductory matter and inorganic chemistry, ‘*But whatever may have been the advances in chemistry within the last fifty years, whether as a pure or an applied science, the extension of its boundaries towards physics in the one direction, and biological studies in the other, is at least as remarkable. While the study of spectrum analysis has rendered most valuable assistance in the chemistry of the constituent substances with which we are familiar upon earth, it has enabled the astronomer to carry his speculations not only to the constitution of the sun and stars, but to that of nebulz, comets and meteors, NO. 1238, VOL. 48] and in the hands. of Mr. Norman Lockyer and Mr. Hug; may yet lead us to travel with some degree of confidence paths hitherto untrodden. In the domain of electricity hard to say whether that science does not owe nearly as mt to chemistry as chemistry does to it, In the practical appli of electricity to lighting purposes, chemistry has still to be cal on to produce some improved form of secondary battery, some portable form of primary battery which shall prove ready application by our miners. It is needless to recall much our underground workers are indebted to chemistry their comparative immunity from danger from fire-damp, — danger which the efforts now being made by chemists will, hope, still further diminish. Electricity has also placed at the command of chemists greater intensity of heat than can | derived from ordinary sources. 2 ae ai *«« The study of heat, irrespective of electricity, has larg: acted on chemistry, and while the Bessemer process has entir revolutionised the manufacture of steel, and almost annihil: the distinction in yalue between that and other forms of iro the Siemens and other furnaces have led to unprecedent economies in the expenditure of fuel, and at the same time h: facilitated the application of heat in various chemical processes. In the other direction—the absence of heat—Prof. Dewar has, during the present year, made most important advances, Although air had previously been liquefied, he has now been able, by means of intense cold alone, to reduce. atmospheric ; to the liquid condition. His further results, by a combinati of enormous pressure and extreme cold, are well known, an now that oxygen and nitrogen have yielded themselves to the — advances of science and have been obtained in quantities in a — liquid state, it is hard to say that hydrogen is destined always — to remain intractable. What may be the ultimate result of the investigations that can now be carried on at temperat ranging from 100° to 200° centigrade below the freezing poi! of water, it is impossible to foresee. From researches alr made in this country and in France, it would appear that m substances under extreme cold are, so to speak, dead, and th their ordinary affinities are in abeyance. Possibly what be termed ‘glacial chemistry’ may eventually enlarge views as to the various properties of matter. ; **As to the advances in our knowledge of the chemistry of ligh the present condition of photography may testify. : can take the image of a bullet flying at the rate of 3,000 feet per second, with its accompanying cone of compressed air when we can produce photographs which are practically perm nent, and when we call in the action of light to engrave © steel or copper plates, and to produce efficient substitutes woodcuts, we seem to be getting near the limits of the prac application of photography. And yet many of us may rememb the days when the daguerrotype was regarded—and justly —with wonder; and I can myself call to mind a still e form of photography, by which natural leaves were repro on paper sensitised with a salt of silver, of which I saw mens in an exhibition at Dresden so long ago as the year 1839. ‘In the introduction of artificial light much also has been done. It is true that Pall Mall was experimentally ted b gas in 1807, but it was not until 1842 that gas found its way _ into Grosvenor-square and some.other aristocratic quarters of th metropolis. Since that time immense strides have been mace in the process of gas manufacture, while, in consequel fF the waste products arising in the process having now found commercial uses, great reductions have been made in its co At the present time gas has to compete with electricity as < illuminant, while, in many cases, it has been supe’ PS mineral oils, which are now so abundant and chea do y which in this Society the flashing point may be said to most a burning question. If, however, gas is losing ground as an illuminant, it seems to be gaining it as a source of power, ’ there are prospects of a considerable increase in the use fot purpose of hydrogen and its compounds, containing far carbon than ordinary coal-gas, : ‘*In metallurgy also, in addition to the improvements in manufacture of steel already mentioned, many notewo discoveries have been made. One of the most important o these is perhaps that of the production of aluminium on a cheap scale and in quantities sufficient for various applications to ordinary use. It seems somewhat remarkable that the pro- gress in the use of a metal at once so light and so strong is not more rapid. : ‘ The applications of some of the more modern alloys, such as a Juty 20, 1893] Aad NATURE 281 Fad elopment. ie. **T may here just glance at the attempts that have been made mature. Rubies have been manufactured, not indeed such as could rank as gems, but still such as will serve to ‘jewel’ _ the pivot-holes in watches ; ts. 0 _ attempts to produce the crystallised form of carbon, which is known as the diamond, have as yet had but doubtful success, it does not appear to me that the prospect of producing genuine diamonds under combined heat and pressure is abso- utely hopeless, ‘* Another direction in which great advances have been made, and in which it seems probable that there yet remains some- thing to be discovered, is the grouping of the various elements into small divisions, having more or less analogy the one with the other, and the classification of the atomic weights in one harmonious series. What is known as the Periodic Law of Mendeleeff and of our own Mr. John A. R. Newlands, has sug- gested the possibility that what we now know as metals or ele- ments may have some at present hidden connections between them, so that eventually some of them may prove to be rather compound bodies than strictly elementary substances. This, however, is for the chemistry of the future. *‘In organic chemistry, which has been defined to be the chemistry of the hydro-carbons and their derivatives, it is, as I have already observed, that the most wonderful development has taken place within the last half-century. Who, for instance, in 1840 could have foreseenthe important part that aniline was to lay in dyeing and colouring? It was not, I think, till 1856 that erkins’s mauve was really brought into commercial use, but since that time what a rainbow of colours has been produced from what would have seemed a most unpromising source! How brilliant are their hues, but as yet, in many cases, alas, how fugitive! Regarded from an artistic point of view these colours can hardly be esteemed an unmixed blessing ; and even the fabrics of Eastern looms have not escaped their in- fluence. “* Que regio in terris nostri non plena coloris ?” Turkey, Persia, India, and China have, I fear, in many cases, sacrificed taste to cheapness, and harmony to splendour in colour. It isa source of some satisfaction to know that the woad with which our ancient British predecessors stained their bodies is still cultivated among us for the purpose of dyeing wools, even though it has acquired the name of Lsatis tinctoria and the colouring extract is now classed as an Jndigotin. ‘* Among inorganic colours I may here briefly mention ultra- marine, which instead of being patiently produced by the care- ful treatment of lapis lazuli and sold at many shillings an ounce, isnow manufactured by the ton and quoted by the hundred- weight. Would that the artificial colour was as fine and permanent as the natural! Ihave, in my own time, seen it supersede smalts as a colouring matter in paper-making, and I have known its use not unfrequently accompanied by the abundant presence of sulphuretted hydrogen as a product of its decomposition. ‘Not only colouring matters but our flavours and scents have’ ~ been synthetised, though art, if superseding nature for a time, must eventually acknowledge her inferiority even in pear-drops. Whatever our esthetic feelings under these circumstances may be, we cannot but admire the skill and scientific energy by: which ‘such results have been attained. How far ‘saccharine,’ one of the lastest results of the chemist’s ingenuity, is likely to su- persede the use of ordinary sugar, is a question on which I de- cline to speculate. The manufacture of our every-day sugar has, however, itself undergone a complete metamorphosis within the last fifty years, with the result that it is now produced at what would formerly have been regarded as an absolutely im- — price. In 1840, beet-sugar was in its infancy, and such as been the improvement in the growth of the beet and the process of manufacture that nearly twice the weight of sugar is now produced from a ton of beetroot as there was at that date. In the production of cane-sugar also immense economies have been effected, especially in the process of evaporation. The study of the effects of saccharine solutions on the polarisation NO. 1238, vor. 48] paresphor-bronze, seem also susceptible of considerable further’ dev: __ “The extensive manufacture of sodium affords another instance of what was formerly the mere subject of a labora- _tory experiment, being now conducted upon a commercial to produce artificially some of the precious stones that occur in’ and though the results of of light, and our acquaintance with the distinctions between dextrose and lzvulose, and of the conversion of starch into sugar, all come within comparatively modern times. ‘“Much of our knowledge of the mysterious processes of fermen- tation is also of recent date, and it is in connection with these processes that the chemist finds himself brought into close con- tact with the botanist and the physiologist. ‘* Whatever suspicions Leeuwenhoek and the early microscopists may have had with regard to the vegetable character of yeast- cells, and however clearly Cagniard de Latour and Schwann may have established its’ plant-like nature and its connection with fermentation, it was not until Pasteur’s researches from 1857 to 1861 that the true character of the yeast-plant, and of other micro-organisms which lie at the base of most fermen- tative processes, can be said to have been absolutely demon- strated. The beneficial effect of his inquiries, and of his methods of obtaining a pure cultivation of yeast, is universally recognised, and has reacted in the most remarkable manner on the brew- ing industry. ** But M, Pasteur’s researches have also led to much wider results, as it has been mainly in consequence of his careful observations that the wonderful influence for good or for evil of organisms so minute as in some cases almost to defy the- power of the microscope, has now been so fully recognised. The germ- theory of the origin of many diseases meets with much more general acceptance than it did but a few years ago ; and though the bacilli and bacteria which are characteristic of some virulent diseases, such as anthrax, are only agents in certain fermen- tative processes by which poisonous matters are engendered, their existence and character seem to be placed beyond all doubt. The process of obtaining immunity from the action of these poisons by the gradual introduction of the virus into the animal system, thus rendering it insusceptible of receiving further injury from the same poison, has been successfully introduced, both among men and beasts, and hydrophobia and anthrax have been successfully combated. ‘* A recognition of the influence of germs has led to the intro- duction into surgery of that antiseptic system of treatment with which the name of Lister will always be associated, and which has done so much to diminish suffering and preserve life. While upon this topic [ may just allude to another instance in which chemistry has come to the assistance of medical science, I mean in the production and investigation of those anesthetic agents which play so important a part in modern surgery, and which have done so much to alleviate human suffering. “* But while the ferments produced by micro-organisms are on the one hand so pernicious, it is very doubtful whether, on the other, they are not equally beneficial, if it be really the case that such processes as digestion are ina great measure due to their action. How far the nitrification of the soil may be due to micro-organisms is a question not yet absolutely solved, though strong presumption has been raised of their being, at all events, potent factors in the case. ‘* Now that so many diseases have been traced to pathogenic organisms which are constantly present in water contaminated by sewage, the question of the vitality of these organisms and their germs has been rightly regarded as one of great public im- portance, and the Royal Society, in conjunction with the London County Council, has instituted an investigation into it, whichis being diligently prosecuted both from the botanical and the chemical points of view. The remarkable power of light, whether that of the sun or electric, in sterilising the germs of some micro-organisms, already to some extent previously known, has been conclusively demonstrated by Prof. Marshall Ward. “Much has been done of late years by chemists towards the purification of sewage with the view of rendering the effluents from the ultimate drains of our large municipalities as innocuous as possible, and the results obtained haye been in many instances satisfactory. They would, no doubt, have been even more so had not the imperative demands of economy limited the cost. Still, whatever may be done, I am inclined to think that there is much truth in the metrical abstract of a paper read some years ago before the Royal Society ;= “Sewage, however disinfected, Is not from ill results protected ; The ugh made to all appearance pure, It still remains not safe, but sewer.’ “T will not attempt to discuss the important question of the dis- posal of the sewage of our great towns, but to many it will appear as somewhat of a disgrace to our powers of applying chemical 282 NATURE (JuLy 20, 1893 knowledge, that such vast accumulations of what were origin- ally highly fertilising substances should be discharged into the estuary of the Thames, and not only be absolutely wasted, but converted into a perpetual nuisance, brought up at each tide within the limits of the metropolis from which they started. “It is true that within the last fifty years we have imported enormous quantities of guano, phosphates, and nitrates, but of these there must eventually become a scarcity, if not an end. In the meantime, may not chemists do something to reduce the waste of fertilising agents that is now taking place among us? Agricultural colleges have been founded—agricultural chemistry is a recognised branch of science ; but with increase of know- ledge has come increase of foreign competition, fostered by improved means of transport and communication, and it is at the present time a doubtful point whether many soils, even if penn. can be cultivated in this country for cereals, except at a loss. ‘* While touching on agricultural chemistry, I cannot pass over in silence the experiments which have now been carried on con- tinuously fora period of fifty years at Rothamsted, by Sir John B. Lawes, assisted during the whole half-century by Dr. Gilbert. The extremely liberal provision which, during his life-time, Sir John Lawes has made for the purpose of continuing and extend- ing his experiments, would alone entitle him to a full measure of public gratitude. When, however, we consider the nature and extent of the experiments already conducted, we must feel that no expression of public estimation can be too high when, as will shortly be the case, the Rothamsted jubilee is celebrated. As to the results already obtained, and as to the nature of the experiments still being carried on, it would be out of place here to enlarge. Remarkable, however, asare the effects of different manures on the botanical character and growth of herbage, and on the strength and yield of cereals, the different results arising from the mere variation of the temperature, sunshine, and rainfall, in successive years, are more remarkable still. ‘*T feel, however, that I have detained you long enough with these crude considerations of topics more or less chemical in their character, and that it is time for me to conclude. ** We are here assembled on the borders of the two counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, in both of which are great centres of chemical manufactures, and the principal productions of which are in a great degree dependent on the knowledge and due application of chemical laws. We meet at the seat of one of the most active sections of the Society of Chemical Industry, which has received us with open arms, and has provided us with an ‘Open Sesame,’ which will admit us to inspect many of the most interesting of the works and factories of the district. We gladly avail ourselves of the opportunities thus liberally opened to us, and if by chance any of us can afford assistance, advice, or encouragement to our brethren in Liverpool, I am sure that all present will gladly render it, and not forget that we are all members of one body, and all mutually interested in the advance of chemical knowledge, and especially of Chemical Industry.” THE PLAGUE OF FIELD VOLES. RATHER more than a year ago a Committee was appointed by the Board of Agriculture to inquire into and report upon the circumstances attending the existing plague of voles in some of the southern counties of Scotland ; and to ascertain, either ex- perimentally or otherwise, whether any, and if so what, pre- ventive and remedial measures could be adopted, and under what conditions those measures were likely to be of value. The committee consisted of Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, Bart.,M.P. (chairman), the Right Hon. the Earl of Minto, K.T., the Rev. John Gillespie, Prof. D’Arcy W. Thompson, and Mr. Walter Elliot. Mr. J. E. Harting, Librarian of the Linnean Society, acted as the Secretary to the Committee. From the recently-published report we obtain the following information. ‘‘ The animal, which by excessive multiplication has caused so much mischief on hill-farms in the southern uplands of Scotland, is the short-tailed field-vole (Arvicola agrestis). At all seasons it is a well-known inhabitant of our pastures and may be found at all heights from sea-level to near the summits of our highest mountains. It usually produces three or four litters a year, each consisting of from four to eight young, but in some seasons they are even more prolific, the breeding season is pro- NO. 1238, VOL. 48] longed, young voles being otserved from Febrvary to No ber, and the litters containing as many as ten young. “The present outbreak may be traced back to the year when the voles were observed to be increasing on the far Glenkerry and others in Selkirkshire. In the summer of the low-lying pastures near Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, observed to be infested by enormous numbers of voles, + remained there during 18¢0, and disappeared in 1891, moving up to the hill pastures, where in June 1892 they swarming. ee ‘* The districts principally affected are the hill pastures in north-west of Roxburghshire, the south of the counties of kirk, Peebles, and Lanark, and the northern part of Dum from Eskdalemuir by Moffat to Thornhill. The voles have appeared in great numbers in the parishes of Dalry and C: phairn, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. ; ““Mr. R. F. Dudge on has estimated that in Roxburghs "30,000 to 40,cco acres had been affected, of which he consid 12,c00 to 15,000 acres had been rendered useless; in D: shire 40,000 to 50,00 acres, and in the stewartry of Kirke bright 10,000 to 12,0co acres were described by him as infestes by voles.” if ‘* The map accompanying the report of the Committee s that an area not less than 600 miles in length and from 20 miles in breadth has been overrun, =| ae We reprint the following conclusions and recommendat contained in the report. 3 ‘* The Committee have reluctantly been led to the conclu that they are unable to recommend any specific method of d ing with or putting an end to the present outbreak. ‘*Tt appears to be an instance of the power which small an are well known to possess, of prodigiously rapid multiplic: under favourable climatic conditions and with a plentiful s of natural food. “«Experience shows that a combination of such favo conditions will always tend to bring about a recurrence the plague. That being so, it ought to be the endeavour every farmer and shepherd to be on the alert, and report with: out delay to the land agent, and to the secretary of the loc farmers’ club, or agricultural society, the first signs of the mt plication of vermin, so that palliative measures may at once | adopted, not on isolated farms, but everywhere throughout th district. ; 3 “The most effective measures appear to be periodical an timely burning of grass and heather, followed by active We sul of the vermin by men using wooden spades and d ft were promptly done in the early stages of the outbreak, it quite possible that it might be averted altogether, or grea mitigated in severity. : ce ‘*Tt is hardly necessary to point out that the proprietor land should be informed as soon as anyone else, because h keepers and others might be usefully employed in assisting | prevent what amounts, if unchecked, to a common calamil upon all classes connected with land. ia ‘* Where plantations of limited extent are attacked, pit-fa wider at the bottom than at the top and about 18 inch should be dug. The voles fall into them and cannot é and the ground is soon cleared of them in this way. «The Committee cannot speak with approval of the poisoned grain, except where the area affected is very li ‘* Nor have they been able to come to any conclusion fa) to the adoption of Prof. Loeffler’s method of destroying by means of bread saturated in a preparation of the typhi murium, or mouse typhus. The personal investigz made by the chairman and secretary in Thessaly (where 1892 Prof. Loeffler was employed at the expense of the Government to combat the plague of field-voles then pres in that country) convinced them that the favourable re circulated as to the complete success of the experiments f not been justified by the results. In certain parts of Thes the voles were reported by landowners and others to be numerous in January 1893 as ever they were. F “The Committee readily admit that, when used in a fresh the bacilliferous fluid is an effective though somewhat dilatory poison for mice and voles, and has this advantage over miner poisons that, as has been proved, it is innocuous to human other forms of life. “Tt has also been reported by Prof. Loeffler that the Scott voles sent to him alive by instructions from the Committee ha been found as susceptible of the mouse typhus bacillus as their Ss ee Lee Greek congeners. i _ this method almost worthless except for employment in houses, _ gardens, enclosed fields, or other limited areas :— JuLy 20, 1893] NATURE 283 But there are thice objections which render “*(r) It is very expensive ; the virus supplied to the Greek Government was paid for at the rate of 4s. a tube, containing _ enough when dissolved to treat about two imperial acres, a cost _ which in many instances would exceed the rent of the Scottish - hill . . in distributing the virus, which would appreciably raise the cost of the process. ture. To this must be added the price of bread used Thus to deal effectually with a hill farm of say 6000 acres, would entail an expenditure of from £700 to _ £1000, making the remedy more costly than the evil. _ **(2) Mouse typhus is not contagious ; it can only be com- municated to those animals that will swallow some of the virus. The allegation that healthy voles will become infected by devouring the bodies of the dead has not been satisfactorily proved. That Greek voles when in captivity have been observed to feed upon the corpses of their fellows hardly warrants the assumption that Scottish voles in a state of liberty will do the same; and unless the disease were communicable from one animal to the other, it is ‘not easy to see how the remedy could ve effective on extensive hill pastures. : **(3) The fluid loses its value in about eight days after pre- paration. Consequently much disappointment might ensue if, after a supply had been obtained, a fall of snow or wet weather were to interfere with its distribution over the land. “‘The remedy which has been found most effectual in Thessaly is an injection of the fumes of bi-sulphide of carbon into the burrows. This, however, is a more expensive process than the other, besides being injurious to the health of those engaged in its application. It is, moreover, inapplicable to the Scottish vole (Arvicola agrestis), which does not burrow to a depth like the vole of Thessaly (Arvico/a Giintheri), but lives in shallow runs amongst the roots of herbage. ** With the under-noted exceptions the natural enemies of the voles may be divided into two classes, viz., those which destroy the voles, and are harmless to sheep, crops, and game; and those which, though preying on voles, are so hurtful in other ways as to have no claim to preservation :— (i.) Vole-killers, harmless, or nearly so, (ii.) Vole-killers, hurtful in other to sheep, crops, and game. ways. Owls of all sorts, Foxes, Buzzards, Ravens, Kestrels, Carrion and Hooded Crows, Great Blackbacked Gulls, and Adders. ** Strict injunctions ought to be given by landowners that the birds mentioned in the first class should not be destroyed. Their presence in full numbers, though inadequate to avert an outbreak, would undoubtedly tend to mitigate it, and, as has been proved in the case of the short-eared owl, they have the faculty of multiplying a normally in presence of an unusual supply of food. They are at all events most useful allies to man in combating attacks of ground vermin. “‘ The Committee further deprecate in the strongest manner possible the use of the pole-trap for the capture of hawks. Be- sides the inhumanity of this device, it is indiscriminate, and harmless owls, kestrels, and buzzards are just as likely to be taken by it as are the more mischievous species. “Three animals, diligent vole destroyers, have been omitted from both these lists, because they are undoubtedly hurtful to ame. ‘The first of these is the common rook (known to the epherds as the corn crow), of which, however, the services to agriculture are now generally recognised. ** The other two animals referred to are the stoat and weasel. Of all the smaller beasts of prey these are perhaps the most hateful to gamekeepers, and it is hardly reasonable to expect that stoats should be allowed to multiply in game coverts, or in the vicinity of pheasant coops. But the Committee have no hesitation in recommending that weasels, which are persistent mouse-hunters and do little damage to game, should not be molested, at least on moorlands and hill pastures, where they can do little harm and much good.” and the smaller Seagulls. THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE report of the Council of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1892 was read at the annual general meeting on April 28, and printed copies of it were distributed Shortly afterwards. The following extracts are of general interest. NO. 1238, voL. 48] ‘*The considerations which prompted the Council of the So- ciety, as announced in their report last year, to award two of its medals to the representatives of families through whose exer- tions the Great Skua has been retained as a veritable member of the British fauna, have induced the Council to act this year in like manner in regard to a still scarcer species—the osprey (Pandion halietus). It has been represented to the Council that for some years past but three pairs of this bird, which on many accounts is of great interest, have regularly bred in Scot- land, and that their protection has been an object of much solicitude to those on whose property the nests are built. The Council are.able to state that the effect of their former award has not only been beneficial to the birds concerned, but has been highly appreciated by the public at large, and they trust that the same good result will follow the bestowal of the Society’s silver medal upon Donald Cameron, of Lochiel, and John Peter Grant, of Rothiemurchus; in recognition of the efforts made to protect the osprey in their respective districts.” These medals were presented to the above-named gentlemen at the general meeting of the Society on June 22. Reference was made to the resolutions adopted by the Council in regard to steps proposed to be taken by the Government of New Zealand for the preservation of the native birds of that country. The resolutions were as follows :— ‘That the Council of this Society have learnt with great satisfaction the steps that were proposed to be taken by the Earl of Onslow, when Governor of New Zealand, and by the Houses of General Assembly, for the preservation of the native birds of New Zealand, by reserving certain small islands suitable for the purpose, and by affording the birds special protection on these islands. ‘* That the Council much regret to hear that difficulties have been encountered in carrying out this plan as regards one of these islands (Little Barrier Island), and trust that the Governor of New Zealand may be induced to take the necessary steps to overcome these difficulties, and to carry out this excellent scheme in its entirety. ‘The Council venture to suggest that, besides the native birds to be protected in these reserves, shelter should also be afforded to the remarkable Saurian, the Tuatera lizard (Spheno- don punctatus), which is at present restricted to some small islands on the north coast of New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty. “* The number of visitors to the Society’s gardens in 1892 was 605,718. The corresponding number in 1891 was 598,730, showing an increase of 6988 entrances. “The deaths during the past year have been $62 in number, being 40 in excess of the number of deaths during 1891. Of these the more important were—a lioness, a male cheetah, two common zebras, an aard wolf, a male beatrix antelope, and the last surviving giraffe. “ Two gentlemen have utilised the students’{rooms for carrying on investigations. Mr. F. G. Parsons has been studying the comparative myology of the rodents; and Mr. P. Chalmers Mitchell has commenced an investigation upon the spleen of the vertebrata, ‘* The number of animals belonging to the first three classes of vertebrates living in the Society’s menagerie at the close of 1892 was 2413, The corresponding number on December 31, 1891, was 2232. ‘* The total number of registered additions to.the menagerie in 1892 was 1335, of which 698 were acquired by presentation, 315 by purchase, 141 were bred in the gardens, 142 were re- ceived on deposit, and 39 obtained in exchange, “* Among the deaths of animals in 1892 occurs that of the last remaining individual of the stock of giraffes, a male, purchased January 27, 1879. The Society is now, for the first time since the arrival of the four original giraffes on May 24, 1836, with- out any representative of this mammal in its series. Nor does there seem to be at present much chance of our being able to supply the deficiency. Owingto the closure of the Soudan by the Mahdists the supplies of this and other large African mammals, which were formerly obtained via Cassala and Suakim, have ceased, and, so far as can be ascertained, there are now no living giraffes in the European market. There have been thirty indi- viduals of the giraffe in the Society's gardens since 1836, of which seventeen were born there, and thirteen acquired by pur- chase. Of these thirty, one was presented to the Royal Zoo- logical Society of Ireland in 1844, five have been sold at prices varying from £450 to £150, and the remainder have died in the gardens, 284 NATURE [Juty 20, 1893 “Tn concluding their Report the Council express their regret that it has not been possible, during the past year, to continue their former policy of adding to the permanent structures in the gardens. There are still several buildings much wanted for the better housing of certain parts of the collection, amongst which may be specified the anthropoid apes and the struthious birds, for which groups special accommodation is required. But in both these cases, to carry out the plans efficiently, a considerable expenditure would be necessary, and the margin of receipts over expenses is at present too slender to render it prudent to undertake the work. The Council look:forward to the time when the small remaining balance of the mortgage-debt upon the Society’s freehold house will be paid off, and when there will be at any rate a better prospect of devoting the surplus income to such purposes.” UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. THE following is the list of scholarships and prizes just awarded at the Royal College of Science, London, with which is incorporated the Royal School of Mines :—First year’s scholarships, Robert W. Forsyth, George W. Walker, John Thomas, Harry R. Prescott; second year’s scholarships, Bernard E. Spencer, George S. West; ‘Edward Forbes” medal and prize of books for biology, Henry Lacey; ‘‘Mur- chison” medal and prize of books for geology, Joseph B. Morgan ; ‘‘ Tyndall” prize of hooks, for physics (Course I.), George 1). Dankerley ; ‘‘De la Beche” medal for mining, Samuel W. Price ; ‘‘ Bessemer” medal and prize of books for metallurgy, Allan Gibb ; ‘‘ Frank Hatton” prize of books for chemistry, Robert E. Barnett. Prizes of books given by the Department of Science and Art: Mechanics, William H. Pretty ; astronomical physics, William E. Tubbs, Willie Whalley ; practical chemistry, Robert E. Barnett, Gerald G. Quinn ; mining, Samuel W. Price; principles of agriculture, Robert S. Seton. ; Dr. Burer, Master of Trinity College, Dr. Hill, Master of Downing College, Dr. Peile, Master of Christ’s College, Dr. Sidgwick, Knightbridge- Professor, Dr. Jebb, Regius Professor of Greek, Dr. J. Ward, Dr. Keynes, Mr. F. E. Kitchener, Mr. Rk. T. Wright, and Mr. A. Berry will represent Cambridge University at a conference on the relations between the work of the Universities and the work of secondary education in Eng- land, to be held at Oxford on October 1oand 11, 1893. Mr. HENpRICK, of the Royal Agricultural College, Ciren- cester, has been appointed lecturer and demonstrator in agricul- tural chemistry by the Glasgow and West ef Scotland Technical College. Pror. W. GarnetTT, M.A., D,C.L., Principal of the Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, has been appointed director and technical adviser to the Technical Education Board of the London County Council. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. THE most important papers in the Botanical Gazette for April and May are an account of a newly-discovered fungus, Phyllogaster saccatus, by Mr. . Thaxter, proposed as the type of a new family, Piyllogastree, characterised by the absence of any volva or receptacle differentiated as such in the mature condition ; on the tendrils of Passiflora cwrulea, by Mr. D, T. McDougal, in which the author states that the tendrils of the passion-flower are sensitive to contact with one another, con- trary to Darwin’s experience with Bryonza and Lchinocystis ; on the limitation of the term ‘‘ spore,” by Prof. C. McMillan, which does not seem to throw much light on the confusion at present prevailing ; the commencement of a paper, by Mr. G. F, Atkinson, on the biology of the organism which causes the root-tubercles in the Leguwminose; and on the genus Corallorhiza, by Mr. M. B. Thomas, who finds in the cells of the cortical tissue hyphal threads which he regards as the agent by means of which the plant is able to derive nutri- ment saprophytically from the decaying vegetable matter around it. NO. 1238, VoL. 48] In the Journal of Botany, for May and June, in addition the serial papers to which allusion has already been n Mr. W. Phillips describes the rare fungus, Gyromitra Messrs. E. F, and W. R. Linton, in a paper on British weeds, add four more to the already too numerous species or subspecies of Hieracium, viz. H. gran clovense, Boswelli, and stenophyes ; in an article on some alge from New Zealand, Mr. R. J. Harvey Gibson d and figures a new seaweed, Rhodocorton Parheri. : Meteorologische Zeitschrift, June.—On the climatic effect forests upon their neighbourhood, by E. Ebermayer. The dis- cussion is based upon observations made in Austria since 1866, and the results arrived at are that forests do exert an influence on temperature and humidity, but not to the same extent a mountains and large lakes. Within the forest the daytim naturally cooler and the nights warmer, while some of the are beneficial and others injurious to vegetation. The coi tion between forests and rainfall is not proved; in any the effect on local distribution of rainfall is quite subordi —FEarth temperatures at Hamburg, in the years 1886-91 W. J. van Bebber. Monthly and extreme values ee depths of half a metre, and for each metre up to five, gether with the temperature of the air and of the surface of the Elbe. The average extreme annual variation, at a depth of o°5 m. amounts to 30°°6 F., but at a depth of 5m. the variation falls to 8°'1. At the former depth extreme temperatures of 66° and 30° occasionally occur, while at the latter d temperatures exceeding 52°, or less than 39°, are very seldc recorded. aie so SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Lonpon. 4 Royal Society, June 15.—‘‘On Kee nade cariensis, an extinct gigantic Lemuroid from Madagascar. By C. J. Forsyth.Major, M.D., For. Corr. Zool. Soe (Communicated by Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.). sy ie is now forty-two years since Isidore Geoffrey Ste. - announced to the French Academy of Science the disco1 gigantic eggs and a few bones of x Jury 20, 1893) NATURE 285 only carries to an extreme characters which are present, but in a much lesser degree, and in varying gradations, in the different members of the Zewurotdea, both recent Lemuride, and extinct Adapide. (nthe very simple pattern of the molars, the super- _ ior of which are of the pure tritubercular type, A/egaladapis ap- _ proaches closely to the Malagasy Lemurids Zepidolemur and still more to Chzrogaleus, The diminutive size of the [brain-case (comparable only with what we tind amongst the Marsupialia and the Insectivora) is viewed by the author, in this instance, as a degeneracy, other characters being equally indicative of a retrogressive evolution undergone by this Lemuroid. It is strongly insisted upon, generally, that ‘‘low”’ organisa- tion in Mammalia is by no means always synonymous with ‘*primitive’”’ organisation, and that retrogressive evolution is more frequently to be met with amongst Mammalia than is generally admitted. As regards the geological age of A/ega/adafis and its associated | fauna, one of whose members, the Crocodzlus robustus, is still | living in the lakes of the interior, evidence of various kinds | goes far to prove that these sub-fossil remains represent a fauna which was living at a comparatively very recent period, and | that man himself was also contemporary with it, and in part | | with the drum at rest. responsible for its destruction. The author adduced evidence in support of the proposition that | | blackness, the width of the slit would evidently be calculated, | supposing the usually accepted law to hold good under all cir- an older Tertiary vertebrate fauna will ere long be forthcoming in Madagascar. **On Operators in Physical Mathematics. Part II.” Oliver Heaviside, F.R.S. It is first shown how the ascending and descending series for the first cylinder function may be algebraically harmonised. If A is the ordinary ascending series in even powers, B the equivalent series in odd powers, and C the equivalent descend- ing series which is most useful for numerical calculation, then C = 4 (A+B). This contains the explanation of a former anomaly. tralian Lepidoptera, with additional localities for known species, by T. P. Lucas,—Australian plants illustrated, No. v. Angophora subvelutina, F .v.M., by R. T. Baker.—The Silurian Trilobites of New South Wales. Part 2. The Genera Prictus and Cyfhasfis, by R. Etheridge, Jun., and John Mitchell.— Description of a new Murex from South Australia, by John Bvrazier.—Mr. Brazier exhibited a specimen of the South Austra- lian Murex polypleurus, n.sp., described in his paper, a species which in the past, by the late Mr, G. F. Angas and other authors, has been confused with JZ pumilus, A. Ad., from the China Sea, and Darros Island, Amirantes. Also a fossil speci- men of MW. octogonus, Q. and G., from New Zealand.—Rev. J. Milne Curran read a note recording the presence of a fossil Buprestid beetle in an earthy limoaite at Inverell, N.S.W. The insect is represented by a portion of a metallic green elytron, and it is associated with Miocene fossil leaves and a species of Uni», He also showed a specimen of a Silurian fossil coral NO. 1238, VOL. 48] (Heliolites) {rom Molong, N.S.W., in a beautiful state of pre- servation.—Mr. Baker exhibited drawings and specimens in illustration of his paper.—Mr. Trebeck showed a specimen of a large freshwater prawn ( Palemon ornalus, Oliv.) from the Rewa River, Fijii—Mr. C. T. Musson sent for exhibition specimens of a European slug, Arion hortensis, Miill., from New Zealand, where it is now not uncommon, though not yet recorded from Australia. Also, from the Kurrajong, N.S.W., specimens of the peculiar slug Cystopelta fetterdi, Tate. Paris, Academy of Sciences, July 10.—M. Lee wy in the chair.— Note on the history of the facts which have proved the exist- ence of the coronal atmosphere of the sun, by M. J. Janssen.— Natural introduction of terms proportional to ether displace- ments (Briot’s terms) in equations of motion of light waves, by M. J. Boussinesq.—On the relation which exists between the co-efficients of the formulz of Coulomb (the magnetic formala), of Laplace and of Ampére, by M, E. H. Amagat.—On a dif- ferential equation of the second order, by M. Mittag-Leffl:r.— Proper vibrations of a medium indefinitely extended outside a solid body, by M. Marcel Brillouin. Investigating the infinitely small proper motions of an infinite gaseous atmosphere external to a sphere which is deformed in any manner and then rendered motionless, M. Brillouin arrives at an equation which defines the pitch and quality of the sound emitted by the sphere, and also plays an important part in the motion of solids influids. Thus the form and dimensions of the bullet define the pitch and the damping of the sounds produced ; the form of the vessel defines the periods of the different waves which it produces whatever may be its (small) velocity, the longest waves playing an im- portant part in the resistance experienced. Thus, also, the presence of a rigid obstacle in a solid elastic medium deter- mines the periods proper to the external medium, characterising the form and the properties of the body. There is every reason to believe that the waves emitted by metallic vapours correspond for the greater part to vibrations peculiar to the external ether, as will be shown in a detailed study of optical theories about to appear in the Anmales de Chimie et de Paysique.—On the realisation of constant temperatures, by M. Gouy. A criticism of M. Berget’s work to determine the constant of gravitation, on the ground of the enormous difference produced in the gravi- meter by a small difference of temperature.—Oan the electric transference of heat in electrolytes, by M. Henri Bagard. Two cylindrical glass tubes are fixed vertically in the corks of two vessels into which a current is conveyed so as to pass into the first vessel, up through the first tube into a reservoir containing a solution of some salt like zinc sulphate, down through the other tube and out by the other vessel. The lower portion of the tubes is kept at a lower, the upper at a higher temperature. A distinct Thomson effect was observed on sending a current from twelve small Daniell’s through the arrangement, heat being conveyed in the direction of the current, as was easily shown by the variation of resistance, which in liquids decreases rapidly at higher temperatures.—On pyrosulphochromic hydrate, by M. A. Recoura,—On the combinations of selenious acid with molybdates, and on molybdoselenious acid, by M. E. Péchard. —On the iodosulphides of arsenic and antimony, by M. L. Ouvrard.—On the dissociation of calcium plumbate, by M. H. le Chatelier. In Kassner’s process for the manufacture of oxygen, the following reaction is utilised : PbO,.2CaO = PbO + 2CaO + O, Experiments were made with a view of determining the advan- tages or otherwise of this process as compaced with barium peroxide. It was found that the disadvautage of the new method lay in the fact that it required a temperature of 900° instead of 700° fur the oxygen to be dissociated at a pressure of o'r atmosphere. Ou. the other hand, the plumbate, being easily fusible, absorbs oxygen more rapidly and completely, and the air need not be previously desiccated and decarbonated.— On benzoylcinchonine, by M. E, Léger. Action of sulphuric acid upon pyrocatechine and upon homopyrocatechine, by M. H. Cousin.—On a process of directly combining ethylenic and aromatic carbon compounds, by M. A. B.ochet.—Attempt at the diagnosis of isomeric amido-benzoic acids and some other aromatic compounds, by M. CEchsner de Coninck.—On geraniol, by M. Ph. Babbier.—Influence of the acidity of musts 288 NATURE [JuLy 20, 1893 ; upon the composition of the phlegms, by M. L. Lindet.— Greater assimilability of the nitrogen from recently formed nitrates, by M. P. Pichard.—On the composition of lime-tree **honey,” by M. Maquenne.—On a new terrestrial Gregarina of the melolonthid larve of Provence, by M. Louis Lézer.—On the 7é/e of the reserved secondary tissues of arborescent mono- cotyledons, by M. H. Jacob de Cordemoy. BERLIN. Physiological Society, May 19.—Prof. du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair.—Dr. Benda, in continuation of his re- marks at the last meeting, spoke on certain questions connected with cell-division, dealing first with the value of double-stain- ing. He then made a communication on the extra nuclear origin of the nuclear spindle and its relation to the centrosoma, and lastly on the median cell discovered by Flemming, which appears after the equatorial transverse division has become formed in the dividing cell.—Prof. Gad gave an account of experiments made by Dr, Rosenburg on the transplant- ing of slips of small intestine into the bladder. The experi- ment was successful; the functions of the bladder remained normal, and investigation showed that the muscular coat of the intestine had grown into that of the bladder, while the mu- cous membrane had grown up through the flattened epithelium of the organ. June 9.—Prof. du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair.— Dr. Loewy had gone carefully into the methods of blood-titration, and concluded that the most convenient and certain way of determining the alkalinity of blood is to dilute it with a solution of magnesium sulphate and to add acid until a drop of the mixture just reddens litmus. In connection with this Prof. Zuntz gave an account of some experiments of his own and of Prof. Lehmann on the nature and compounds of the acids and bases of blood. He drew special attention to the results of passing carbon dioxide through blood whereby the alkalis leave the corpuscles and pass into the plasma as the result of a split- ting up of their compounds with proteids and their conversion into diffusible carbonates.—W. Townsend Porter communicated the results of his experiments on the coordinating centres of the cardiac ventricle, Starting from the fact that the function of the centres is suppressed when the blood-supply is cut off, he had ligatured the coronary artery, supplying the septum, in a number of animals, In all cases the animals lived for many hours and even days after the operation, from which fact he considered he had disproved the existence of any coordinating centre in the septum. Physical Society, June 2.—Prof. von Helmholtz, President, in the chair.—Dr. Rubens gave an account of experiments he had made, together with Dr. du Bois, on the permeability of metallic wire gratings to polarised heat rays. As is well known, Hertz’s experiments on electric oscillations brought them into close relationship to the properties of light-vibrations, as shown by reflection, refraction, and polarisation. The fact that metallic gratings act as polarisers towards electric waves, inas- much as the waves can only pass through when the wires of the grating are parallel to them, has ro analogue in the case of light, since linearly polarised light can pass through a grating whatever be its position. On the assumption that this difference is de- pendent simply on the fact that light waves are too small for the gratings employed, the authors had experimented with the longer heat-rays and gratings of extremely narrow aperture. The latter were made of the finest wire (gold, silver, copper, and iron), the intervals between the wires being ‘0025 mm., and the raysofa zirconium flame, up to W.L, 6u were examined, The ocular of the spectroscope carried a very sensitive bolometer. It was found that with each of the gratings the ultra-red rays behaved like electric waves; those rays which vibrated at right angles to the plane of polarisation passed through a grating placed parallel to their plane, in threefold extent, as compared to the amount which passed when the grating was at right angles. ‘This result was obtained with different metals with varying wave- lengths of the rays, e.g. with silver by W.L. above 2u4.—Dr. Kngar-Menzel reported on the present state of the experiments he is making together with Dr, Richarz on the diminution of weight at increasing altitudes. A balance is provided at each arm with two pans, one: above the other at a distance apart of 2'z2m. With this balance two weights are determined, of which NO. 1238, VOL. 48] one lies in the upper pan, the other in the lower. The w ings are then repeated on both sides, and thus the differen the weights when in the upper and lower pans is ascertain In the next place a massive leaden block is built up between t two pans and the weighings are repeated. Up to the present the weighings without the lead mass are alone complete. ‘ block is, however, in position, and a few Vebeigsey ; have been made, from which it so far appears as if the presen of the lead had done away with the difference of the weights wi in the upper and lower pans. [Nore.—In the report of the Physical Society, Naror vol. xlviii. p. 144, column 2, five lines from the top—‘* vapours of these metals similarly gave an emission-sp following on the absorption spectrum ”—for ‘¢ similar ly ‘* neither,” and for ‘following on” read ‘‘ nor.”’] BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVE Booxs.—Heat: M.R. Wa ht Forgan —Aids in Practical 2nd edition ; Prof. G. and ole (Griffin).—An Introduction to ithe of the Diatomacee: F. Mills Dies). .—Diagnostik der Wazssers: Dr. A. . Lustig ( Tena, Fischer).—Euclid’s beng a ore Books v. and vi.: H. M. Taylor ean ga University 0 Sound (Advanced), enlarged edition: i (Colin =a eh Languages of Torres Straits, Part 1: Ne een and A. (Dublin).—The Arctic Problem : A. Heilprin (Philadelphia, Contempo Publishing Company) —Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Bon J. Whitehead (Gurney and Jackson). 5 PamPHLets.—Ueber die Frees der Kiistenformen: Dr. A. Philiy Sir F, Ronalds, F.R. ze poe is Work in Connection with E! graphy in 1816 (Simp SERIALS. —Mediexl Magazine July (Southwood),—The Lingual Parts 1 and 2: F. W. Dyer (London) —Proceedings of the Society’ Eoreuctonical Fi pels une (K. Paul) —The Book of the ‘ans 4 H. H. Bancroft (Chicago. | ancrott). —Botanische Jahrbiicher fiir : Pflanzeng hichte und Pfi ai Hit (Williams and Norgate).—Annals of Scottish Natural fae Douglas).—Notes from the Leyden Museum, J ri CONTENTS. Vertebrate pghveinen By Prof, E. Ray Lan- 1 kester, Bais, 2s Wek ee Rural ‘Hygiene seo gee Our Book Shelf :— j Dubois: ‘‘ Die Klimate der Geologischen, Veuemanae’ #4 heit und ihre Beziehung zur Eats | chichte der Sonne” . . % Foussereau: “ Polarization. Rotatoire, Réflexion et | Refraction virtreuses, Réflexion métallique” | Letters to the Editor :— The Non-Inheritance of Acquired Chazabreietal ; Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S. : The Conditions Determinative of Chemical Change : : some Comments on Prof. Armstrong’ s Remarks. Prof..W. Ramsay, F.R.S. ; James Walker The Corona Spectrum.—J. Evershed . . . Lord Coleridge and Vivisection.—Prof. Percy 8 PO ae Pe cia em ets ee eM Sd Me ys a eS os ee Frankland, F.R.S. : Oyster-Culture and Temperature, —Prof, w. A. Herdman FOR S00 see The Diffusion Photometer.—Prof. J. Joly, KF. R. s. Alphonse de Candolle. By W. T. Te C2M. Gi, "FR S eee pee re Carl Semper. By Dr. J. Beard Notes .. Our Astronomical Column :— Ephemeris of the New Comet ... . Comet Finlay (1886 VII.) .... . Observations of the Planet Victoria... .. Difference of Longitude between Vienna and Gr wich , Photographs of the Milky Way . The Institution of Naval Architects... . Society of Chemical Industry. ...... The Plague of Field Voles : The Zoological Society. . University and Educational Intelligence Scientific Serials... .. Societies and Academies. : Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 3 eS Shh see Lee Ta | Wer eh Oma Be ee cone NATURE 289 THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1893. THE ROTHAMSTED JUBILEE. n: N Saturday next a large gathering of scientific men : will assemble in the village of Harpenden to do honour to two investigators who have just completed fifty _ years of joint labour. The occasion is unique. It can have happened but - seldom that two men have continued their joint scientific investigations fora period like the present ; but there are other circumstances, apart from this, which mark the event about to be celebrated as one of exceptional interest. The Rothamsted agricultural experiments are indeed a piece of work of which England may well be proud. They form a splendid example of what is sometimes accomplished amongst us by purely individual effort. The extensive series of costly experiments, carried out en a large scale both in the field and in the laboratory, _ and with results of national importance, has been main- _ tained for more than fifty years at the sole expense of one man. Nor is this all. Sir J. B. Lawes has made pro- _ vision for the continuance of these investigations. The laboratory and the experimental fields, with £100,000, have been placed in the hands of trustees, and the future management of the investigations has been entrusted to a committee, the members of which are elected by various scientific societies. But it is not only as a striking example of individual zeal and munificence that the Rothamsted agricultural station is remarkable, it is equally so if we regard the character of the work performed. Many of the most im- portant problems connected with agriculture can only be satisfactorily studied by actual experiments in the field ; such experiments require to be carried out ona large scale and continued for many years. Boussingault was, we believe, the first who sought to ascertain the chemical _ statistics of agriculture by a quantitative examination of the actual crops of the farm, and by a study of the con- stituents of soil, of manure, and of rain-water-—the various factors which determine the amount of the harvest. But if the work of Boussingault stands first in order of time, the work of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamsted immedi- ately follows it, and has been continued for such a much longer series of years, and developed in so many new branches of inquiry, that it is to Rothamsted that the agriculturist has long looked for information concerning the fundamental facts of agricultural chemistry. The field experiments at Rothamsted are peculiar to the place ; in very few of the now numerous agricultural Stations in foreign countries has systematic work of this kind been attempted; in none has the work been so extensive and so long continued. No less peculiar to Rothamsted has been the laborious investigation into the composition of oxen, sheep, and pigs in various stages of fattening, and into the chemistry of the fattening pro- cess. Of the laboratory investigations we may mention the more recent inquiry into the causes and conditions of the production of nitrates in soil, and respecting the quantity of nitric nitrogen in soils of various history, and in drainage and well waters. But we must not here NO. 1239, VOL. 48] attempt an enumeration of published Rothamsted work, which, according to the last report, has furnished the- matter for 125 papers. Rothamsted is by much the oldest of existing agri- cultural stations. The earliest German experimental station was founded in 1852, the earliest in the United States in 1875. The first agricultural experiments of Mr. Lawes seems to have been made in 1837; in this and the two following years he tried numerous experi- ments on farm crops grown in pots. His trials in the field commenced in 1840. In 1843 he was fortunate in securing the services of Dr. J. H. Gilbert, a former pupil of Liebig’s, who henceforth took the superintendence of the chemical part of the investigations. Dr. Gilbert has devoted his life to the conduct of the Rothamsted experi- ments, and the valuable results which have been obtained are largely due to his untiring energy, and to the method and order which his character has impressed upon the work. The jubilee to be celebrated this week is reckoned from the year when Dr. Gilbert began to take a share in the work; the same year also saw the first of the experimental wheat crops sown in Broadbalk Field, which, at the present time, bears its fiftieth suc- cessive crop, having grown wheat without intermission during half a century. Numerous honours have been con- ferred on Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert in the course of their long career. Our Universities have bestowed on them degrees. The Royal Society in 1867 awarded them a royal medal. The Society of Arts has during the current year decided to present them with its Albert Medal. Foreign societies and academies have elected them members of their body. In 1882 Mr. Lawes re- ceived a baronetcy from the Queen. The jubilee commemoration of the present week took its rise at a meeting held in the rooms of the Royal Agricultural Society on March 1, the Prince of Wales occupying the chair. A committee of distinguished men, with the Duke of Westminster as chairman, and Mr. Ernest Clarke, Secretary to the Royal Agricultural Society, as secretary, was appointed to carry out the scheme. The celebration on Saturday will consist, as the readers of NATURE are already aware, in the un- veiling of a granite memorial erected in front of the laboratory ; in the presentation of congratulatory ad- dresses to Sir J. B. Lawes and Dr. Gilbert ; and in the presentation to Sir J. B. Lawes of his portrait, by Hubert Herkomer, R.A, It is hoped that the Right Hon. Herbert Gardner, M.P., the Minister for Agriculture, will preside. The laboratory, in front of which the celebration is to take place, is itself a testimony to the appreciation with which the labours of Lawes and Gilbert have been regarded. It is not the laboratory originally employed in the early years of the experiments ; this was a barn which had been fitted up for chemical work, and has long ago been pulled down. The present laboratory was built and presented to Sir J. B. Lawes in 1855 by a number of agriculturists, at a time when agriculture was a more profitable pursuit than it is at present. Since then the needs of the work have grown, and a large storehouse for soil and crop samples has been erected by the side of the new laboratory. oO 290 NATURE [Juty 27, 1893 Of greater interest to most visitors than the laboratory is the old manor of Rothamsted. This charming red brick building dates from 1470, though, like most old buildings, it has since undergone alteration and enlarge- ment. This manor house has been the home of Sir J. B. Lawes’ ancestors since 1623. The history of the family is remarkable. It was in 1564 that Jacques Wittewronge came to England from Flanders in consequence of the religious persecution then prevailing. The family first resided in Buckinghamshire; they afterwards purchased the manor of Rothamsted. Sir J. B. Lawes is a descendant of this family through the female line. In the manor house of Rothamsted Sir J. B. Lawes was born in 1814. His whole life has been one of great activity ; probably few men have accomplished more work. Though for many years. a hard-working man of business, he has always loved a retired country life, and has been rarely seen at public meetings. A keen observer and an untiring experimenter, he has given his whole mind to the problems of agriculture, while his great practical sagacity has enabled him to grasp at once the real bearing and importance of each new fact. Probably no one has taken a more practical and wide- reaching view of agricultural questions than Sir J. B. Lawes. When the present century is concluded, the work of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamsted will be reckoned among the prominent achievements deserving a grateful record. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC. Primitive Music: an Enquiry into the Origin and Development of Music, Songs, Instruments, Dances, and Pantomimes of Savage Races. By Richard Wallaschek. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1893.) R. WALLASCHEK has not only compiled with laborious care what appears to be an exhaustive account of the music of so-called savage races, but has based upon the foundations thus laid an able and in- teresting discussion on the origin and development of music. It is with the latter rather than the former part of his work that I propose to deal in this notice. The author is led by his researches to regard rhythm as the primitive and primary constituent of music, while melody was in the primitive state, and has remained, secondary and accessory. Harmony is not to be looked upon as a comparatively recent invention among European races. “As soon as music passes the mere rhythmical stage the lowest races in the scale of man begin to sing in different parts in intervals as well as with a bass accompaniment.” The order of development therefore is, first rhythm, and then, possibly coeval one with the other, melody and harmony. With what then is the rhythm of primitive music associated? With the rhythm of the dance. If I understand the author rightly this association is, in his opinion, an invariable one in the origin of music. Now, “in dance-music the idea is to excite the performer and to fatigue him even to ex- haustion. The musical dance-chorus is of a social NO. 1239, VOL. 48] character ; music keeps the company together and enab them to act simultaneously.” I quote here from author’s summary, which is no doubt somewhat condensed and elliptical. One can hardly suppose that “ fatigue even to exhaustion” was part of the primary “ idea (understanding by this word aim and object) of dance. Would it not have been better to say that a p of the “idea” was to test and tax the powers of en ance of the performers? Be this as it may, war, | chase, and sexual passion afford the underlying moti of that emotional excitement which finds its expression in the rhythm of the dance; and thus this rhythm comes most intimately bound up with practical life preserving and life-continuing activities, or, in of words, with activities which are distinctly of natur selection value. The large share taken by women in dance and primitive music enables them to contrib not ineffectually towards the success of the tribe in struggle with other tribes. f ‘ “If it be asked whence the sense of rhythm arises, answer,” says the author, “ from the general appetite exercise. That this occurs in rhythmical form is due sociological as well as psychological conditions. On th one hand there is the social character of primitive music compelling a number of performers to act in concert. O} the other, our perception of time relations involves : process of intellection,” and hence an appreciation time, order, and rhythm. I would suggest that psychological basis of the ‘‘sense of rhythm” might found in experiences more primitive than any process intellection—in the organic rhythms of our daily We cannot walk nor breathe except to rhythm; and we watch a little child we shall obtain abundant evide of rhythmic movements. This I should have place¢ first ; and then the concerted rhythms of social activiti “Whence,” asks Mr. Wallaschek, “does the gene desire for exercise arise? Mr. Herbert Spencer’s th affords,” he replies, “the most valid explanation. the surplus vigour in more highly evolved organisn exceeding what is required for immediate needs, in w! play of all kinds takes its rise ; manifesting itself by wa) of imitation or repetition of all those efforts and exet tions which were essential to the maintenance of | (e.g. the war-dance).” In explanation of the te “surplus vigour” the author does well to point out t this is not meant to imply a surplus beyond the of the organism at any time of its life, but a tempora surplus beyond its needs in times of unmolested p and plenty. ee | While accepting Mr. Spencer’s general th surplus vigour, Mr. Wallaschek is not prepared accept the speech-theory of the origin of | “Whereas Mr. Spencer,’ he says, “‘seems to think musical modulation originates in the modulations speech, I maintain that it arises directly from rhythmical impulse.” Without presuming to decit between Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. Wallaschek, © venture to point out how much depends upon the definition of “music” and of “speech.” Mr, Wal schek, as we have seen, regards primitive music essentially rhythm without necessary association w either melody or harmony. It is a mere tone-rhythm in E am myself inclined to question. matter. We are bound to accept for the purposes of his argument the definition which an author sets forth. NATURE 291 JuLY 27, 1893] association with dance-rhythm. Whether to such tone- rhythm the term “ music” can be satisfactorily applied, I But that is another _ All that Mr. Spencer has written on the subject, however, leads us to suppose that for him music includes melody, or at least cadence. And I take it that in his speech- theory it was the melody or cadence of music that he specially had in view. Now “speech” may either mean intentional suggestion by means of vocal sounds, or such ‘suggestion by means of vocal sounds rendered articulate and ordered in propositions. Taking the former and broader meaning, it appears to me that the vocal sounds associated with the dance must be regarded as having suggestive value to those who are acting in concert, and as possessed of rhythmic import ; and that, further, from these vocal sounds arose the melodic and harmonic elements of music. Personally, I should advocate the more restricted use of the word “speech,” and should prefer to say that both music (including melody) and articulate speech are of vocal origin. And this, I take it, comes very near, not only to Mr. Wallaschek’s own view, but also to that of Mr. Spencer against whom he is arguing. The association of these vocal sounds with the concerted activity of the dance is quite in line with the suggestion of Noiré, adopted by Prof. Max Miiller, that the origin of speech is to be sought in the vocal sounds uttered during the performance of common. social actions. There are many other points in Mr. Wallaschek’s book to which I should be glad to draw attention did space permit. His discussion of the origin of the diatonic scale is of interest and value. He is on firm ground in his contention that primitive music is associated with life-preserving and life-continuing activities, and was thus in its early phases fostered and developed by ‘natural selection. This few evolutionists would care to ques- tion. But concerning the development of music, as az esthetic activity, he does not suggest anything very definite. He holds that there is nothing in the history of musical development to justify a belief that the in- heritance of acquired faculty has been a factor in the process; and here | think he is right so far as definite evidence goes. He also holds that the great musician is a man of power who has devoted his faculties to music, and who would have been great as a painter or as a poet had circumstances led him to devote his faculties to these arts. And here again I believe that he is right. But the question is, What has guided musical development along the special lines that it has taken in Europe? I do not think that Mr. Wallaschek will contend that the guidance has here been that of natural selection. But guidance there has been. No doubt in this as in other matters of art, man has been giving objective expression to his ideals. But what has led the ideals to take the form they have taken? This is one of the most difficult problems presented by the psychology of zesthetics ; and it no doubt lies somewhat beyond the field of primitive music on which Mr. Wallaschek has given us a work of real merit and value. C. LLoyp MorGAN. NO. 1239, VOL. 48] EARLIER RECOLLECTIONS OF MARIANNE NORTH. Some Further Recollections of a Happy Life, selected Jrom the Fournals of Marianne North, chiefly between the Years 1859 and 1869. Edited by her sister, Mrs. John Addington Symonds. Post 8vo, pp. 316, with two portraits and a sketch. (London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1893.) TTHIS volume might very appropriately have borne the title of “ Earlier Recollections,” inasmuch:as it de- scribes the life of Marianne North antecedent to the period comprised in the two volumes previously before the public. On this point Mrs. Symonds says in her preface: “ When publishing the former volumes of my sister’s autobiography, it was thought wiser to cut out some of the earlier chapters describing well-known ground, in order to make room for those more distant journeys by which her name had become known to the to the world. _But the unexpected success which that book met with induces me now to add those first European journeys, with one through Egypt and Syria.” It is probable that these sketches of travel in Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land, from twenty-four to thirty- four years ago, will appeal to an even wider range of readers than the accounts of Miss North’s later journeys to the furthermost parts of the earth, after she had be- come so widely known as a travellerand a painter. The same freedom in style and criticism pervades this as well as the former volumes. Briefly, it may be described as a rapid and graphic narrative of the incidents of travel, interspersed with lively observations on peoples and places, on plants and animals, and on the physical features of the countries traversed, with here and there historical allusions and reflections. The earlier journeys, that is from 1859 to 1869, were made in the company of her father ; and her sister, who has edited these recol- lections of long ago, was also of the party up to 1867, and therefore well qualified for the task. The first trip was to the Pyrenees and Spain, by way of Jersey, St. Malo, Rennes, Tours, Bordeaux, and Pau. A stay of a month was made at Luchon, where Miss North made her first attempt at landscape painting. Thence they went to Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Malaga, Seville, and Cadiz, and home by sea. This trip occupied nearly six months, and is described in less than thirty pages! In fact, the pace is tremendous, though the travelling in Spain was nearly all by diligence, which wa’ very exciting if not absolutely dangerous. However, only the main incidents are touched upon, and the reader finds himself in a fresh place on every page. In 1865 and 1866 Egypt and Palestine were visited. Even at that period Miss North painted very assiduously, but a painting of doum and date palms, on the Nile above Philz, is the only one in the North Gallery at Kew of that date. After the death of her father, in 1869, Miss North continued to travel, in order to forget her loss ; first visiting Mentone and then Sicily. Much of her time was occupied in painting, though only one picture, the Papyrus growing in the Ciane, near Syracuse, is in the collection at Kew. All the rest, with one other ex- ception alluded to above, are the work of her more distant journeys of later date. But all persons who have read 292 NATURE [JuLy 27, 1893 the entertaining and interesting descriptions of the longer journeys will be anxious to possess the present volume, and will, we predict, not be disappointed with the con- tents. Should it, however, run to a second edition, the words and phrases from various foreign languages scattered through the book might be expunged or cor- rected. It is rather odd to find a priest or monk designated as ‘Signor Cannonico”; and an extra syllable in Beleuchtung does not improve it. There is, too, an unfortunate slip in the preface and on page 133, Elephantine Island being referred to as the Island of Elephanta. W. B. H. OUR BOOK SHELF. Elements of Psychology. By James Mark Baldwin, Professor Elect in Princeton College. (London: Mac- millan and Co., 1893.) UNDER the above title Prof. Baldwin has written’a shorter text-book which, as he states in the preface, differs from his larger work, the Handbook of Psychology (re- viewed in these pages vol. xliii. p. 100, and vol. xlvi. p. 2) mainly in its omissions. Like its larger predecessor, this book deals largely with “ apperception” regarding, erroneously as we think, the selective synthesis obser- vable in mental products as something wholly different from anything which is to be found in other departments of natural knowledge. “In the physical world,” he says, “we find no such unifying force as that known in psychology as the activity of apperception.” Although there is much in this work, as in its predecessor, with which we are in hearty but friendly disagreement, it appears to us to possess the great merit of giving abund- ant evidence of independent thought and treatment. It will, in the hands of senior students, stimulate them to thought and criticism—such criticism as the teacher who is in earnest welcomes like a breath of keen fresh air. The chief fault of the book is that its pages are some-— what unduly crowded with details. GALE Mi, An Introduction to the Study of Geology. By Edward Aveling, D.Sc. (London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 1893.) DR. AVELING has compiled a volume better, in many respects, than any of its kind. His arrangement of matter has much to commend it, and his descriptions are of the concise character regarded with favour by those who incline to a pabulum consisting of concen- trated essence of knowledge. The book is another of that large class “specially adapted for the use of candidates for the London B.Sc. and the Science and Art Department Examinations.” Intending examinees would do well to obtain it, but the student who loves geology for its own sake will hardly find the contents to his liking. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.) The Publication of Physical Papers. As most people seem afraid to enter on this discussion, it is appropriate for others to rush in. I have not, however, anythin very much to say, except (1) that it seems to be a subject whith in its intersectional aspects is suited to oral discussion at a meet- of the British Association, and (2) that if the Beéd/dtter were regularly and intelligently translated a good deal of the necessary physical abstracting would ipso facto be done. NO. 1239, VOL. 48] Abstracting on a large scale is difficult work, and the English — genius scarcely runs in that direction. It seems to me a pity for a greater number of competent persons to be engaged on than is really necessary, and if the Germans are good —_ do it for the world, why should we not recognise their work a utilise it to the utmost ? It will be answered, so we do; everyone sees the Beiblatt, Yes, and I suppose about half a dozen effectively glance thro it. Not everyone is capable of taking in a page of German a glance, as one can English, and, for myself, I find that I have half-read in a foreign tongue has a fatal facility for slip from the memory. roe I need not labour the point, it is simply this—that whereas a weighty paper of known and conspicuous importance in one’s — own object can, if necessary, be worked at and utilised in almo: any ordinary language, papers of uncertain value or of on approximate interest must be skipped altogether unless can be skimmed ; and that the skimming process in a foreign guage is impossible to all but a few favoured physicists, whatev may be the case with chemists. Ifan English edition of the Beid/itter were regularly publishe the only abstracts that would remain to be done by us wou the contents of Wiedemann’s Annalen and possibly of a American or provincial publications. But there are other questions besides that of abstracts ; 2 chief among them is the question of central publication of all t English papers of importance which at present are difficult procure. \ These occur mainly in connexion with the Societies of Dubli Cambridge, and Edinburgh. Few other Societies in the Brit Islands claim or possess a monopoly over papers presented them. Nearly all except these three are, I suppose, now v chiefly for contemporaneous or ad izterim publication, and serious results are communicated by the author to some cen! organ. If that is not soit ought to be so. If an author has good result which he will not publish, he can hardly be co pelled. It ought, however, to be clear that mere pri ing in a_ half-known local journal is not prop publication at all; it is ‘‘printing for private circulation, Biologists are, I am told, given to err in this direction, eac small society pluming itself on publishing memoirs in order receive ‘‘ exchanges,” a ghastly and polyglot form of literatr which may be catalogued but can hardly be read. Howeve biologists are doubtless the best judges of their own procedw and what is suited to a copious and readily illustrated subje is not likely to be well adapted to physics. Coming to the really central organs (whether general special), the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Soci: the Philosophical Magazine, and NATURE; most British an Colonial physicists can see them without troubie, and the Phi Mag. is seen all over the world. Merely a few slight chang are needed in connexion with these organs. The Proceedin are largely a journal of the doings of the Royal Society, and such are not specially edifying to outsiders. In pit er this, perhaps, and also in consequence of the multifariou: nature of the subjects treated simultaneously, the pap included therein do not get widely known. The T: ransact are all published as separate memoirs, so that there need be difficulty for an isolated worker not a Fellow to procure a. if the contents are freely advertised. But I would sugges the cost of these separate copies and of each number Proceedings, is much too great. As one not at all beh scenes, I am ignorant of the reasons for this high price, should think it might be a proper expenditure of some of Society’s wealth if their publications could by a conside reduction in price, even to a nominal figure, be made much widely available. For most societies the method of publication invented, or any rate adopted, by the Physical Society of London, seems me well worthy of imitation. Until this is done, there remain the question of making the valuable papers which occasionall) or perhaps frequently, appear in NaTURE or other weeklies, 1 the Transactions of the Cambridge, Dublin, and Edinbur; Societies, and sometimes in the Proceedings of the Mancheste: and other provincial societies, more accessible to foreigners ane incidentally to ourselves. This could be done by central re- printing, either in a new special publication, or in some extra 1 I do not specificall tion the semi-technical societies, such as the In- stitution of Electrical Engineers, though often it is difficult to draw the line, and some of their papers, too, might be included. arousing jealousy. Juty 27, 1893] NATURE 293 volume of an already existing publication. I feel that it ought to be in some neutral, or non-society journal, to avoid If either the Royal or the Physical Society could take the matter up and arrange for, say, an extra half- yearly number or an extra annual volume of the PAz/. Mag., the thing could be done. If they could also at the same time arrange for a prompt transla- tion and republication of important foreign papers, many of us would be grateful ; cash has hitherto been the main difficulty, but ‘perhaps with the abundant funds at present available across the Atlantic, we may hope for something large and cosmopolitan in this direction before long from our co-linguists there. I commend this to the notice of the energetic secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Everything tending to mitigate the miserable evils _ of the confusion of tongues would be eminently welcome, and whenever the whole earth has again the happiness of being “‘ of one language and of one speech,” I trust that that speech will be English. OLIVER J. LODGE. THE publication of a digest of the scientific papers which have appeared in the English language during even a limited period would entail serious difficulties. In the first place, the expense of printing would be considerable, and it would also be hardly possible to obtain the services of men competent to per- form the task without paying them an adequate fee. In the second place, a satisfactory digest could not be published with- out the co-operation of the various scientific societies ; and every- body who has had any experience as a member of the govern- ing body of any club, society, or other institution is well aware of the difficulty of getting a dozen men, many of whom repre- sent conflicting interests, to agree upon any definite scheme. Still, I believe that the foundations of ascheme, which would be capable of development, might be constructed on somewhat the following lines :— In 1889 the London Mathematical Society printed an index of all the papers published in the first twenty volumes of their Proceedings. The authors were arranged in alphabetical order, and their communications according to the dates of publication. This index will no doubt be brought up to date and reprinted, _and I shall suggest (if I am then a member of the council) that an index of szdzects shall also be printed, consisting of two parts viz. pure and applied mathematics, arranged in alphabetical order as regards subjects. Now if every scientific society which deals with pure and applied mathematics, or with experimental sub- _jects which are capable of mathematical treatment, would co- operate with the London Mathematical Society in publishing an index of their own papers, arranged, dope and paged in the Same manner, it would be quite easy, by a rearrangement of the type, to print a joint index of all papers on these subjects which have been published, during the last twenty or thirty years, by the societies which co-operate. Each society would bear the expense of printing the original index of its own proceedings ; and a proportionate part of the expense of printing and publish- ‘ing the joint index, together with the profits derived from its sale, would be borne by and received by each society. It will be observed that the above scheme only contemplates a double index arranged according to authors and subjects, and nota digest ; but every one who has had alittle experience in hunting up papers, and also, I may add, law cases, will appreciate the value of such an index. . The editors of the Law Reports always insert under the title of each case a short paragraph in small print, giving an account of the points of law with which the case deals, from which the triennial digest is compiled; and if scientific societies would in future require authors to adopt the same course, ‘the para- graph could be put into the index, and would be invaluable. e head-note need not amount to more than a few lines, and should describe the object of the investigation without entering into more detail than is absolutely necessary. The various reports of the British Association on the progress of different branches of science contain much valuable in- formation, and some of them might with advantage be printed in the index in a condensed form. In conclusion, I would suggest that the governing bodies of the different societies should discuss this matter, and that a committee of delegates from those societies, which approve of united action, should be formed. The delegates ought, however, to be practical men well-versed in business, and able and willing to devote their time to the consideration of this “question. A. B. Basser, NO. 1239, VOL. 48] Birds’ Methods of Steering. THE flight of birds still presents several unsolved problems. How they steer, has never been fully explained. With the naked eye or, still better, with a field glass, many of them can be seen to use their tails, lowering the left or right side according to the direction in which they wishto go. This use of the tail as a rudder is much practised by pigeons, jackdaws, rooks, larks, swallows, housemartins, sandmartins, and I believe, by most of our common birds. Gulls let down a foot on one side or the other, and, no doubt, many other web-footed birds do the same. Still a rook or pigeon that has lost his tail manages to steer well, the chief result of the loss being that he cannot stop suddenly, nor float upon the air, but must take rapid strokes with his wings. What other method, then, has the bird of steering? One fact that bears upon this question can be easily observed. When a bird wishes to turn to the left he moves the centre of gravity of his body and flings himself on his left side, the right wing pointing upward and the left downward. How does he throw himself into this position ? Most writers say that it is by striking harder with one wing than theother. In turning to the left the right wing would give a vigorous stroke, and so raise the right side of the body more than the left. At first sight it seems as if this explanation could not be the true one, since after a hard stroke the right wing should be lower than the left, which has only given a gentle one, and yet it is the right wing that is raised. But we must not be too hasty in drawing conclusions from this. When the down stroke takes place the wings do not descend far ; the body rises so that the end of the wing appears to have described a much greater arc than it has done in reality. If, then, with the right wing a much harder stroke is given than with the left, the right side of the body will at once be raised, and the whole bird will be thrown upon its left side, while the movement of the wing itself may not be enough to be perceptible. If birds are watched as they fly, one wing seems always to be at. the same angle to the body as the other, so that a straight line connecting the tips of the wings would pass through the two shoulder joints, or be parallel to a line passing through them. Instantaneous photographs of birds on the wing seem to me to bear this out. One wing may point up and the other down, but that isthrough the Swaying of the whole body to one side or the other. In spite of this there may be an inequality of stroke that escapes detection, and with- out assuming this it seems on first thoughts difficult to account for the extraordinarily rapid turns made, for instance, by the swallow. But supposing that what appears to be the case is really so, viz., that equal force is put into both wings, there remains another possible explanation of this movement of the centre of gravity to the left or rightinturning. Ifa bird wishes to steer leftwards, he may bend at the waist towards the left. So much has been said about the rigidity of the bird’s backbone that its suppleness at a point just anterior to the ilium has been overlooked. I find that a swallow’s vertebral column will bend at this point so asto form an angle of 150°; inthe case ofa kestrel it is 156°, of a tern 155°, of a sandmartin much the same as in the case of the swallow, in the case of a duck 165°; zc. a duck can’ bend much less at the waist than the other birds mentioned, and you have only to watch ducks on the wing to see that they are very poor steerers. This is but meagre evidence, and, at present, I have not the means of collecting more. Still, as far as it goes, it seems to show that suppleness of waist goes along with the power of swerving rapidly, and, @ priort, it seems extremely improbable that such a highly acro- batic feat should be performed without calling into play every power that is available. Direct observation can, I fear, afford little help, since the feathers obscure any slight bend in the back. But the habit that many birds have—it can be easily seen in the case of gulls—of turning their heads in the direction in which they wish to go, suggests that it may be by bending the vertebral column at a point where it would be more effective, that they make their turns, just as a skater changes edge and flies off on an opposite curve by swaying the weight of his shoulders across to one side or the other, a change of balance effected by a bend sideways at the waist. It is certain that birds do not depend entirely on movements of the head orneck, since gulls, for instance, may occasionally be seen to turn to the left while looking to the right and vice versa, a point which may be made out from instantaneous photographs. I cannot help thinking, then, that a bird avails itself of the suppleness of its waist 10 alter its balance when it wishes to turn. Whether this is the sole means, or whether at the same time the wings are worked 294 NATURE a & r [JULY 27, 1893 unequally so as to conduce to the same end is difficult to decide. I may add that I have found the required muscles at the waist considerably develo ped. F, W. HEADLEY. Haileybury, Hertford, July 6. Remarkable Hailstones, ON Saturday afternoon, July 9, a very violent storm burst over Harrogate and its neighbourhood, accompanied by remark- ably loud thunder and most brilliant and almost continuous lightning. ‘ At first a little rain fell, but it was soon mixed with small hailstones about the size of peas of the usual form. These were quickly followed by hemispheres of the size and character | indicated in Fig. C. After a few minutes they rapidly grew to the size of those shown in Figs, A and B, which are drawn very carefully to actual scale. Most were flattened oval discs, as shown in the two drawings, which exhibit top and side view of one hailstone. I went out myself and measured a gocd number while they were falling by putting them on a sheet of paper and marking their maximum and minimum diameters. These large stones usually had an opaque spherulitic-like nucleus, followed by two, three, and even a trace of a fourth clear ice shell intervening with opaque ice. Then {followed a broad band of clear ice with a few radiating air cavities, finally | enclosed in a mass of white granular feathery ice. Thenumber of alternating laminze seemed to be irregular, and must have varied with that of the different vapour strata traversed by each | nucleus, The origin of the type (Fig. A from Fig. C) is very obvious. The quantity that fell was enormous, so that a lawn badly kept was entirely white, with the exception of the longer | blades of grass that projected. The damage done in the near neighbourhood must amount to some thousands of pounds, and | very few are the houses in this town that escaped without win- dows being broken. I did not time the duration of the fall, but I think it was about an hour. 5, Princes Square, Harrogate. July 12. NO. 1239, VOL. 48] H, J. Jounston-Lavis. A Substitute for Ampére’s Swimmer, I HAVE long been dissatisfied with the rules commonly given ~ in order to enable the relation between the direction ofacurrent and that assumed by a magnet in its neighbourhood to be readily brought to mind. It is a small matter, but it causes a great — deal of worry to many a student. The vagaries of Ampére’s — | swimmer are ‘‘past the wit of man.” Prof. Jameson’s rule is | not bad, but is not really easy to remember; the corkscrew is _ | good, provided that you have a little time to think about pa | but I have felt all along that it ought to be possible to devise _ | something simpler than any of these. | following may perhaps be found useful ? If a pen be held in the right hand in the usual way, the pen- — | holder may be taken to represent the wire, and the direction of qt the flow of ink (that is, towards the point of the pen) the direc- tion of the current ; if, then, the thumb be stretched a little acro3s the penholder it will represent the magnet, and the — thumb-nail its marked or north-seeking pole. The hand may, of course, be twisted round into any position to represent any | actual case. The same relation may be still more simply borne in mind by dispensing with the penholder, and merely laying the thumb across the forefinger of the right hand ; either of these will then represent the current (flowing towards the finger, or the thumb-nail, as the case may be), the other the magnet. 3 Whether this is novel I do not know; it is so as far at Iam q | concerned ; but I think it is useful. ALFRED DANIELI. Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, July 13. May I suggest that the 2 The Jelly-fish of Lake Urumiah. In Mr. Curzon’s recently-published work ‘* Persia and the Persian Question” (vol. i. p. 533), he writes as follows:— _ ‘*When the wind blows on Lake Urumiah, sheets of saline | foam are seen scudding along the surface, and the salt is left ; | upon the shore in a solid efflorescence, sometimes several inches — thick. No fish or molluscs live in the waters, whose sole living q contents are a species of smza// jelly-fish, which sustain theswans _ and wild fowl that are occasionally seen.” 4 When Captain F. R. Maunsell read his interesting paper on Kurdistan to the Royal Geographical Society in June las, I asked him whether he could give me any further information respecting this so-called ‘‘jelly-fish,” to which he was kind enough to reply as follows :—‘‘In reply to your inquiries re- garding the existence of a jelly-fish in Lake Urmia, I have been going through my notes, and find that I visited the lake on | July 20 at its west shore, not far from the town of Urmia. I — bathed in the lake and found the jelly-fish in great numbers — along the shores where the water was shallow. It was only | about half an inch in diameter, of a greenish-white, almost colourless, with a small black centre. There are said to be no fish or other living creatures in the water, and I did not seeany. As” e you probably know, the lake is extremely salt, more so than the Dead Sea. The specific gravity is given as 1°155, with 214 4 per cent. of salt. The lake is 4,100 feet above the sea level, and has no outlet, There is a British Consul in Tabriz, which ~ | is not far from the east shore of the lake, who might obtaina specimen, and would be able to ensure its getting home safely better than any one else. The lake is very shallow compared — with its great size, nowhere being more than from thirty to forty feet in depth.” 3 The only instance of a ‘‘jelly-fish” or Medusa as yet known to inhabit an inland sea is that of the Limmocnida tan- | ganjice, recently described by Mr. R. T, Giinther (Ann. and» Mag. N. H. ser. 6, xi. p. 274 (1893)). It would be therefore of great interest to obtain specimens of the ‘‘jelly-fish” of Lake ig Urumiah and ascertain what it really is. { 3, Hanover-square, W., July 17. P. L. SCLATER. Racial Dwarfs in the Pyrenees. = ry BEING on the Riviera when I received NATURE of January 26 with Mr. Haliburton’s letter on the above subject, I pro- | posed to act on his suggestion, and, on my way back to England, — to explore the region indicated. To ensure, however, that the proposed exploration should not be a wild-goose chase, I first | entered into communication with all the British consuls and | I'rench savants likely to have special knowledge of the subject, | and more particularly with M. Cartailhac, director of ? Anthro- | pologie, and who resides at Toulouse, ‘‘ within little more than a Juty 27, 1893] NATURE 295 hhalf-day’s journey ” from the valleys named by Mr. Haliburton. I was favoured with interesting replies from all those to whom I had written with the single exception, very curiously, of our consul at Barcelona, a letter from whom you published, and who appears to have been Mr. Haliburton’s chief authority. As to the replies I received, I need only say that they so strongly negatived the assertion of there being ‘ racial dwarfs,” though ad- mitting that there are ‘‘ certains goitreux de petite taille,” in the Pyrenean valleys, that I did not think it worth while to make the proposed journey, And as Mr. Haliburton repeats, in the current Astatic Quarterly, the assertions made in Nature, I feel bound to state these facts, though I may say that I quite agree with him as to the probability of a former wide distribu- tion of dwarf races, and should have found Pyrenean dwarfs, had they been discoverable, in most interesting relations to the Ligurian giants, whose caves I had been exploring at Baoussé Roussé—the ‘* Red Rocks ” of Grimaldi. Athenzeum Club, July 10. J. S. Sruart-GLENNIE. THE NOTTINGHAM MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. HE forthcoming meeting of the British Association in Nottingham recalls the year 1866, when the pre- sent Mr. Justice Grove presided over the meeting in the town, and delivered his epoch-making address. Although this was the only meeting held in Nottingham, national conferences and associations of all kinds are constantly gathering in this very convenient, healthy, and pictur- esque centre ; the inhabitants are therefore accustomed to the entertainment of guests. The public buildings will also be found to offer special facilities for the usual work of the British Association. The University College, a large building almost central in position, has naturally been allotted to the meeting of the various sections. ‘lhe lecture-theatres and class- rooms of the College provide accommodation for all the sections with the exception of two, and these will gather in commodious rooms in the immediate vicinity. ‘The various laboratories of the College are to be de- voted to the exhibition of scientific apparatus and dia- grams, some of which will be used during the meeting for the illustration of papers in the sections ; and since these laboratories are very convenient for the purpose and are in direct communication with the sectional meeting-rooms, it is hoped that authors of papers will be induced to bestow special attention to the illustration of their papers, as the illustrative matter will be per- manently on view throughout the meeting. The Corporation of Nottingham not only grants the use of the University College, but also gives permission for the Castle Museum to be used for the conversaziones, and throws open the Exchange as a luncheon hall, with smoking-room and ladies’ room as adjuncts. The large luncheon room thus provided will be supplemented by another large and convenient room in the University College. The large hall at the Mechanics’ Institution will be fitted as the reception-room with all the usual conveni- ences, the Albert Hall being reserved for the popular lectures, the president’s address, and for a special con- cert to be given on Saturday evening by the Sacred Harmonic Society of the town. It will be found on reference to a local map that not only are these various buildings easy to find, but that they lie most conveniently within range of one another, the extreme distance not exceeding a walk of five minutes. Theinhabitants of Nottingham are quite alive to the duties of hospitality, and not only will the officials and working members of the Association receive entertain- ment in private houses, but the clubs of the town are also throwing open their doors with one consent. A list of hotel and lodging accommodation is nearly ready for issue, NO. 1239, VOL. 48} The local excursions include visits to the Dukeries, Charnwood Forest, Lincoln, Belvoir Castle, and Derbyshire ; and, in connection with these visits, hos- pitality has been offered by the Duke of Portland, the Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of Rutland, and the Bishop of Southwell. Many other offers of hospitality are expected. Important works in the town and neigh- bourhood will also be open for inspection. The local programme and excursion handbooks are in an advanced stage of preparation. These will serve as guides to the public buildings used for the meetings and indicate the hotels and lodgings, and the routes followed in the various excursions ; they will also give information concerning the natural history of the district. The work of the local committee. would be greatly facilitated if all those who intend to be present or to take part in the meeting would communicate with the local secretaries, Guildhall, Nottingham, as soon as pos- sible. Without unduly anticipating the information which will be found in the local programme and publications, enough has been said to indicate that the local committee are actively preparing for the reception and entertain- ment of the members of the Association ; and it is pro- posed next week to give some statement of the more serious work which will engage tke attention of the general meeting and of the sections. FRANK CLOWES. THE GREAT DROUGHT OF 1893. if Hides draught of 1893 will unquestionably take its place among the recorded events ot history, if regard be had to its intensity, the length of time during which it has lasted, and the wide extent of the earth’s surface it has overspread. ‘Treating the British Islands as a whole, the drought may be considered as embracing by much the greater part of the country for the fifteen weeks be- ginning with March 5. But while copious rains have fallen during the past few weeks in many places, it may be regarded as continued to near the present time in many of the more important agricultural districts in the south. The drought was most severely felt in the southern division of England, and least in the north of Scotland. Over Scotland, England, and Ireland it increased in in- tensity, with pretty uniform regularity, from north to south. Thus the deficiency in percentages from the average rainfall of that portion of the year was 30 at Lairg and 59 in Berwickshire ; 59 at Penrith, and 90 at Dungeness and Falmouth, and 38 at Londonderry and 67 at Waterford. The least deficiency at any of the stations of the Weekly Weather Report was 1 at Glencarron, in Ross-shire, and the greatest at Dungeness and Falmouth, as stated above. At Glencarron the amount of the rain- fall was 16°91 inches, whereas it was only o’60 inch at Dungeness, 0°77 inch in London, o0'92 inch in Scilly, and 094 inch at Falmouth. At places south of a line drawn from Cambridge to Scilly less than a fourth part of the average rainfall of these fifteen weeks was collected, and consequently over this large district the effects of the drought have been most disastrous to agriculture and horticulture, the hay crop, for example, being in many places a complete failure. It ‘was altogether a unique experience, in travelling in June from London to Scot- land, to mark the great and steady improvement in the condition of the crops in the northward journey. During the period the type of weather prevailing was eminently anticyclonic, with the appearance, ever and anon, in localities more or less 1estricted, of small satel- lite cyclones with their attendant thunderstorms and rains. Hence the remarkably sporadic character of | much of the rainfall, of which ‘the most remarkable in- 296 NATURE [JULY 27, 1893 stance was a rainfall of 1°19 inch at Parsonstown on June to and no rain whatever at any other of the telegraph stations of the Meteorological Office in this country. Heavy local rains of this type, with downpours of an inch or upwards, were recorded on May 17, 18, 20, and 21, and June ro, It is also to be noted that many thunder- storms occurred during the period unaccompanied with rain, just as happened generally in the east of Scotland in June 1887, on the day of the Queen’s Jubilee ; and frequently large drops of rain fell, quite insufficient even to wet the ground, and scattered over narrow paths of in- considerable length. Very heavy rains occurred over the eastern districts of Scotland, practically terminating the drought there, on June 22 and 23, when on these two days 4°20 inches fell at the North Esk Reservoir on the Pentland Hills, 3°32 inches at Roslin, 2°21 inches at Aberdeen, 2°06 inches at Logie Coldstone, near Ballater, and nearly two inches at many places, whilst generally in the west little and at many places no rain fell at all. Temperature was phenomenally and almost continu- ously high in March, April, May, and June, specially as regards the first three of these months. Thus, for London the mean of the three months was 4°°3 above the mean of the previous 130 years; and in Edinburgh 3°3. The only springs since 1763 with a mean temperature exceeding that of 1893 were for London, 1811 and 1794, which were respectively 5°2 and 4°°3 above the average ; and for Edinburgh, 1779 and 1781, which exceeded the mean by 40 and 3°°8. It is highly interesting to note that large as these figures are, the Ben Nevis figures far exceed them, the mean temperature at this high-level. observatory for March, April, and May last being 6°°6 above the mean of these months, a result due to the prevailing anticyclones, which so frequently are attended there with abnormally high temperatures. The drought has also extended over nearly the whole of Europe, large portions of Canada, the United States, and other parts of the globe. In the north of Italy no living person recollects to have seen the Italian Lakes so low, and the southern Alps so greatly denuded of their snow covering. It is estimated that over the wheat- growing countries of the world this valuable crop will be to no inconsiderable extent under the average. On the other hand, in other parts of the world the rainfall has been exceptionally heavy, and followed with widespread disastrous floods, as in the cotton districts of the United States, and in Queensland. In London, the total amount of rain that fell during the 110 days from March 4 to June 22 was 0°77 inch. Mr. Symons, our best authority on the question of droughts, enumerates eight droughts which have been recorded during the present century. Of these the longest continued was 105 days, from March 11 to June 23, 1844 ; and thus the drought of the present year is the greatest in a British Islands authenticated by meteorological records. NICOLAS IVANOVICH LOBATCHEFSKY. Se Mon ie IVANOVICH LOBATCHEFSKY, the founder of Non-Euclidean Geometry, was born on November 2, 1793. Astudent, and subsequently professor at Kasan, the Physico - Mathematical Society of that interesting University have determined to celebrate the centenary of his birth by founding an International prize for Mathe- matical, and in particular, for Geometrical work bearing upon the late-born but remarkable branch of mathematical science and philosophy which owes its existence to Lobatchefsy’s genius and has earned for him the title of the Copernicus of Geometry. A committee including the names of Tchebyche, Poincaré, Hermite, Darboux, Klein, Sophus Lie, Linde- NO. 1239, VOL. 48] mann, Cayley, Beltrami, Newcomb, Mittag-Leffler, and over a hundred other notabilities of the mathematicab world in both hemispheres, has been appointed to assist in carrying out the plan. : At this time of day it would he superfluous to dilate on the pre-eminent claims to honourable recognition of — one who has played a principal part in reconstituting the basis of geometrical thought and realised his ideas. in a series of memoirs with a thoroughness and precision which Gauss in 1846 characterised as the work of “ a true geometer.” ; 1 Any English mathematician (and it is to be hoped — there will be many) desirous of co-operating in erecting this monument (if it may be so called) to the memory of a great scientific reformer, may do so by forwarding a subscription addressed to Prof. Vassilief, President of the Physico-Mathematical Society, University of Kasan. — NOTES. WE greatly regret to record the death of Dr. John Rae, F.R.S., at the age of eighty-one. It was he who, in 1854, col- lected relics of the ill-fated Franklin expedition in the Zy:bus ” and Zerror. : AMoncG the Civil List pensions granted during the year ending June 20, 1893, we note one of £75 to Mrs. Dittmar, in consideration of the services to chemical science rendered by ~ her late husband, Prof. William Dittmar, F.R.S., and one of — 450 to Mrs. T. Wolstenholme, in consideration of the merits of — her husband, the late Rev. Joseph Wolstenholme, as a mathe- matician, and of her straitened circumstances. es For the convenience of those who wish to be present at the — Rothamsted celebration on Saturday next, a special train will leave St. Pancras for Harpenden at 2.2 p.m., returning at 5 p.m. In connection with the celebrations at Rothamsted, is interesting to recall the circumstance that in the early par: the present century the signal services rendered by Fran Duke of Bedford, to the theory and practice of agriculture we recognised by the erection, in Russell Square, of a collo: statue to his memory. The scheme, in the first instance, initiated by Sir Joseph Banks, then president of the Ro Society, the first meeting on the subject being held at house in Soho Square. Subscriptions were solicited from various agricultural societies existing at the time, and fi private individuals, and these flowed in with many expressi ofapproval of the object in view. The statue and its pedes the latter emblematical of the art of husbandry, were desi by Richard Westmacott, who received the sum of £6000 for work, each subscriber receiving an engraving of the d An inscription records that the statue to the Duke was er by his fellow labourers in the field of agricultural improvem in gratitude for his unwearied endeavours to improve thet and practice of agriculture. THE French Association for the Advancement of Sci will hold its annual meeting from August 3 to August Besancon, under the presidency of Dr. Bouchard. The su for discussion in different sections are the mechanical tr: of tramways, the local records from which a forecast o} weather at a given place can be made, the vé/e of humus, of commerce, and the administrative measures necessary prevent the use of unfit articles of food. Tue death is announced of Mr. Walter White, who for up: wards of forty years served the Royal Society, first in th capacity of clerk and afterwards of assistant secretary 4 Librarian. Mr. White retired from the latter post in 1835, an ni Jury 27, 1893] NATURE 297 has from that time received a pension from the society. His bent was literary rather than scientific, and he was the author of several books of holiday travel written in a pleasant style q and in that correct English upon which he always prided him- self. Mr. White died on Friday last, in the eighty-third year of his age. _ THE annual congress of the British Institute of Public Health will be held at Edinburgh from July 27 to August 1, _ under the presidency of Dr. Henry D. Littlejohn and the auspices of the Lord Provost and Corporation of Edinburgh. _ THE Société Belge de Géologie et d’ Hydrologie has arranged ] an excursion of some interest for August 4 to 9, under the direc- _ tion of M. E. Dupont, the special object being to study the hydro- logy of the district around Dinant, Namur, Rochefort, Madave, &c. The springs and surface-streams will be examined, and also the famous Grotte de Han. Attention will also be paid to other physical features of the districts, including the formation of valley-terraces and the origin of the loam on the plateaux. _ THE annual exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great _ Britain will be held at the Gallery of the Royal Society of _ Painters in Water-Colours, Pall Mall, from September 25 to November 15. It will be opened by a reception held by the President, Capt. Abney. The last day for receiving pictures _is September 11. Tue Aspatria Agricultural College, which has been rebuilt and greatly enlarged, was opened on July 21 by the Mayor of Carlisle, before a large and representative gathering. A STATUE of Claude Chappe, the inventor of the system of semaphore signalling, has recently been erected on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris. THE Société Industrielle de Mulhouse has issued its programme of prizes to be awarded in 1894. Prizes will be given for works on the constitution of various colouring matters, mordants, dyes, the fixing of colours, areometry, drugs, bleaching, actinometry, and other subjects. In mechanical arts the prize-subjects relate to building construction, steam engines, motors, spinning and weaving, electric motors, and the comparative advantages of gas and electricity for lighting purposes. There are also prizes for subjects of natural history and agriculture, commerce, statistical and historical geography, and the fine arts. The prizes are open to persons of all nationalities. Competitors should send in their memoirs, plans, and specimens, marked with a pseudonym or motto before February 15, 1894, to the President of the Society. The same pseudonym or motto, with the full name of the sender, must be forwarded under separate cover at the same time. A detailed programme of subjects for which prizes will be awarded, can be obtainec by application to the Secretary of the Society, Mulhouse, Alsace. WHEN it was resolved last January ‘‘ That it is desirable that the eminent services of the late Sir Richard Owen in the advancement of the knowledge of the sciences of anatomy, zoology, and palzontology should be commemorated by some suitable memorial,” it was confidently expected that there would be a generous response to the appeal for funds. A large num- ber of circulars were sent out, vet the list published in June contains the names of less than 300 contributors. The dona- tions then amounted to £935, and the amount promised has even now only reached £1000, whereas the committee hoped to obtain at least twice that sum. For those who have come orward there is nothing but praise ; the cause of complaint lies in the paucity of subscribers, Only 300 admirers of Owen can _ be found desirous of giving concrete expression to their feel- _ ings of regard. The fact is humiliating, and, for the sake of _ British science, we trust it will soon be altered. Of Sir NO. 1239, VOL. 48] Richard Owen it can truly be said, that among students ot science ‘‘ Many shall commend his understanding ; and as long as the world endureth, it shall not be blotted out ; his memorial shall not depart away, and his name shall live from generation to generation.’’ But Owen’s greatness should not only be appreciated by men of science, it should be made known to the world by means of a monument. As a mark of respect to their master and an act of duty, all naturalists should add a stone to his cairn. OnkE of the conclusions arrived at in 1888 by the Commission appointed to investigate the action of light on water colours, was that “‘every pigment is permanent when exposed to light ‘in vacuo,’ and this indicates the direction in which experiments should be made for the preservation of water-colour drawings.” Actuated by this expression of opinion, Mr. W. S. Simpson has devised a simple and effective means whereby works of art can be isolated from the deteriorating effects of air and moisture. The picture which it is desired to preserve is placed face down- wards in a shallow rectangular tray having a clear glass bottom, and is then covered at the back. The chamber thus formed is. afterwards exhausted by means of a Spregnel pump, and her- metically sealed. Assuming that no leakage occurs, and that light has no intrinsic action upon pigment, the picture will be preserved in all its pristine beauty until the crack of doom. To test for leakage, a small manometer, constructed on the principle of the aneroid barometer, can be fixed to each isolated picture. Mr. Simpson’s idea is a good one, and it possesses the inestimable advantage of being applicable to any picture, for all that is re- quired is to take the picture from its frame and fit it into an air- tight chamber of the same size before replacing it. Should the vacuum not maintain its integrity, the manometer will indicate its imperfections, and the chamber can easily be exhausted again. It appears, therefore, that the method has great possibilities before it. WITH regard to the statement made by Mr. E. Douglas Archibald in our issue of May 25, that the highest rainfall in twenty-four hours was 40°8 inches, registered at Chirapunji, in the Khasi hills, a correspondent writes to the Ceylon Observer as follows :—‘“‘If the /udian Planters’ Gazette of 28 Jan., 1893, is correct, the following paragraph establishes a still higher record. On page 59 one reads: ‘ Our Dera Doon correspond- ent writes on January 24, 1893: last night we had 48 inches of rain, and all the hills are covered with snow. It is still. raining.’”’ For this to have any scientific value, however, it must be known who were the observers, and by what means the rainfall was gauged. THE duration and form of temperature waves as they occur at Trieste has been studied by Herr Ed. Mazelle, and described. ina recent communication to the Vienna Academy. Daily records during the period from 1871 to 1890 show a mean wave length of 4°23 days. The longest waves occurred in winter and summer, the shortest in spring and autumn at Trieste, in marked contrast to Central Europe, where the reverse occurs. The mean duration of increase of temperature was always longer than that of fall of temperature, in the proportion of 2°39to 1°84. For dull days both the periodic and the aperiodic. diurnal variation were of less extent, but both the maxima and minima of temperature occurred earlier in the day. The vari- ability of mean daily temperatures was different for different parts of the year, showing maxima im January and July, and. minima in September and April. The occurrence of the first day of frost was found to vary between wider limits than that’ of the last frost. Tue German Meteorological Office has issued a volume con- taining the results of rainfall observations for the year 1891,. 298 NATURE [Juty 27, 1893 together with a circular stating that the number of meteorologi- al stations has so greatly increased as to make it advisable to publish five volumes yearly instead of one, two of which will be devoted to the magnetical and meteorological observations made at the Observatory at Potsdam. The number of rain stations has increased from 35 to 1425 since the establishment of the office in the year 1847. In addition to the usual monthly and yearly summaries, the greatest amounts which have fallen in short intervals are given for a large number Of stations. These values show clearly how the intensity of the fall decreases with the duration, and that erroneous ideas may be obtained by estimating the hourly fall from that of a shorter period, as is sometimes done. ‘The greatest fall during five minutes in the year 1891 amounted to ‘15 inch per minute, during thirty minutes to ‘08 inch per minute, and during one hour to ‘o4 inch perminute. The greatest fall registered im any one day was 4°3 dnches on the May 26; a fall of 4’2 inches was also recorded on July 21. SoME idea may be formed of the rate of increase of the known species of fungi from the fact that, in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, MM. Ellis and Everhart describe no less than 149 new species from North America. Of these 53 belong to the Pyrenomycetes, 24 to the Discomycetes, 11 to the Uredineze, 2 to the Ustilaginez, 46 to the Spheeropsideze, 13 to the Hyphomycetes. A FLorA of Donegal, by Mr. H. Chichester Hart, is about to be published. Until recent years the north-west of Ireland had been greatly neglected by botanists, and the publication is likely, therefore, to be of much interest. THE first part of MM. Rouy and Foucaud’s ‘‘Flore de France” is announced to appear in August. The geographical area of the work includes, in addition to France proper, also Alsace, Lorraine, and Corsica; and there will be comprised a biblio- graphy and a list of botanists who have contributed to our knowledge of the flora of France. The first volume of M, Bounier’s ‘‘Florede la France,” published under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Instruction, is expected to appear in the spring of 1894. Two recent numbers of the Botanisches Centralblatt (vol. liv. nos. 12 and 13) are largely occupied by a review by Dr. Otto Kuntze of the discussion on botanical nomenclature since the publication of his ‘‘ Revisio generum plantarum” in 1891. Mr. MARK StTriRRUP has just published further information as to the occurrence of boulders in the coal measures of Lanca- shire (Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc., vol. xxii. p. 321). Most of the boulders hitherto recorded are of quartzite ; some of those here described are of crystalline rock. Petrographical notes are given by Prof. Bonney. Mr. Stirrup also prints a letter from Prof. E. Orton relating to the occurrence of boulders of vein- quartz—not quartzite—in the coal measures of Ohio (see also Amer. Journ, Sci., July 1892). Boupers have been recently described from the Kulm beds of the Frankenwald, by E. Kalkowsky (Zettsch. Deutsch. geol. Gesell, 1893, p. 69), who thinks that they indicate glacial action. This explanation is not satisfactory for the English boulders in coal measures, the origin of which is still unknown. Pror. FRANK D. ADAMS has published an _ interesting description of the Norian Rock of Canada (‘‘ Ueber das Norian oder Ober-Laurentian von Canada” extracted from N. Jahrb., Beilagebd. viii., 1893, pp. 419-498). This forms a thesis for the doctor’s degree at the University of Heidelberg. The Norian socks consist mainly of ‘‘ anorthosite,” in which plagioclase is the chief constituent, ferro-magnesian silicates NO. 1239. VOL. 48] being scarce or absent. These rocks are intrusive in the ville series—the upper division of the Lower Lauren Logan, who regarded the Norian series as Upper Li Prof. Adams shows that the anorthosites occur near the: edge of the great Archzean platform of Canada. He com this with the distribution of modern volcanoes along the of the Continents. Some of the anorthosite masses great extent; that of the Saguenay district covers an nearly 6000 sq. miles, that of Morin 1000 sq. miles. results may be compared with the conclusions already pub by Prof. A. C. Lawson, that the Laurentian gneisses | Rainy Lake region are intrusive in the so-called “BH of that area, rocks which were previously considered to be | than the Laurentian. Prof. Adams’s paper contains a map o the Archeean area of Canada and a full bibliography. EXPERIMENTS on the value of ammonia vapour as a d fectant have been recently made by Rigler (Central Bakteriologiz, vol. xiii. No. 20). The organisms empl were Koch’s cholera bacillus, the typhoid bacillus, Loe er diphtheria bacillus, and the spores and bacilli of anthra Threads soaked in broth-cultures of these various organism were freely exposed in a room filled with ammonia va whilst other threads were wrapped up in dry and damp ¢: respectively before being submitted to the vapour, and in ev case control threads were simultaneously exposed to air. It w found that cholera bacilli were killed after two hours’ expos in the ammonia room, whether free or enclosed in dry whilst twice that time elapsed before they succumbed in surroundings. In ordinary air they were destroyed in hours, but they were alive after two days when kept in cloths. Two hours’ exposure in the ammonia vapour, freely exposed or in dry wrappers, sufficed to des typhoid bacilli, but in moist surroundings six hours was sary, whilst twenty-four hours’ contact with ordinary air duced no effect upon them. Anthrax bacilli succumbed in t hours in the ammonia room, but their existence was prolon for five hours when wrapped in dry cloths, whilst whether dry or moist surroundings a day’s exposure in ordinary air | them untouched. The spores, however, were only destx after being eight hours in the ammonia vapour, and in air were unaffected. Diphtheria bacilli, whilst surviving four hours’ contact with ordinary air, were annihilate hours by the ammonia vapour, the nature of their envi making no difference in their powers of resistance. — quence of its efficacy, cheapness, and harmless regards furniture and clothing, Rigler recommends vapour as an important means of disinfection. THE metric measures are in general use in scientific literature. They have also been adopted b Mining Administration in all its publications, while the r: and water communications engineers are using é divisions of the Russian sagene (7 English fe Petrushevskiy, who has advocated since 1868 the of metrical measures, now gives in the Journal Russian Chemical and Physical Society his scheme measures, as near as possible to the present Russian so as to make them easily acceptable to the population. be said that the general use of the schoty (reckoners, wires with ten beads on each wire, and used by all pe well as by primary schools for the teaching of arithme the decimal division of money would greatly facilitate th tance of the metric system in Russia. The change facilitated by the fact that the Russian sagéne is very equal to 2 metres, the versta is nearly equal to the kilom and the desiatina differs but little from the hectare. system proposed by Prof. Petrushevskiy is both plains Claes A ., _ JuLy 27, 1893] . NATURE “299 once intelligible. It is that the ew sagéve shall be equal to the _ double metre (09374 of the present measure) and that a Aa/f sageve _ equal to one metre shall be divided into 20 vershoks (5 cm. are equal to 1°1248 of the present wrshok). Also that the new versta shall be equal to the kilometre (0°9374 of the present versta), the smail desiatina to the hectare and to 0°9153 of the present desiatina 3 the dég cube to 10 cubic metres and to 1°0296 cubic sagenes ; the small vedro to 10litresand to nearly four-fifths _ (0°0131) of the present vedro ; the dig measure (1000 litres) to nearly five (4°795) tehetveriks ; and finally the dig pound (500 grammes) equal to 1:221 Russian pounds. It will be seen that the whole system is consistent with the spirit of the metric system, which fully admits of measures obtained from the multiplication of the metric ones by 2, 5, or 10, or from their divisions by the same members. re ee ss. WR S1cNor Riccarpo ARNO has communicated to the Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino his results obtained during an investigation of the diathermanous power of ebonite for heat waves of various lengths. He employed six different sources of light, whose radiant heat was sent through plates of ebonite of thicknesses varying from 0°12 to 0'52 mm. The thinnest of these absorbed 25 per cent of the heat radiated from an incandescent lamp, whose luminous heat rays were cut off by a thick plate of _ glass. When the source of light was very bright, this film was found to transmit a small portion of the visible red rays. Sixty-nine _ per cent. of the dark rays from the smoked surface of a Leslie cube containing boiling water were absorbed by the thinnest film, and 88 per cent. by the two others, thus showing that ebonite is less transparent for dark heat rays of low refrangibility than for those more approaching the visible spectrum. The greatest transpar- ency was shown for the dark heat rays on the border of the luminous spectrum. The successive substitution of a hot iron plate, a glowing platinum wire, a Locatelli lamp, and an incan- descent lamp for the Leslie cube brought about a steady increase of transmitting power in all the specimens of ebonite. Prors. BARTOLI AND STRACCIATI have brought their eight years’ work on the specific heat of water to a close by reducing the values obtained with the nitrogen thermometer as a standard to the scale of the hydrogen thermometer. The corrected formula for the quantity of heat necessary to raise the temperature of I gramme of water from 0° to ¢° C., where ¢ is less than + 31, as given in the Rendiconti of the Reale Istituto Lombardo, is 1006880 — 278 x 10 8¢? — 205 x 10°83 + 25375 x 10 Yet — 26 x 1071025, This formula, obtained by eight different methods and several thousand determinations, appears capable of serving as a reliable basis for calorimetrical science. In a further note contributed to the Academy of Lincei, Augusto Righi continues the description of experiments he has conducted with electrical oscillations of very small wave-length (see NarurE, June 22, 1893). The oscillator employed consists of two small metal spheres surrounded with oil and held by two rods of ebonite. These two spheres are placed between the dis- charging rods of a large Holtz electrical machine. With spheres 4 cm. in diameter the wave-length of the radiation ob- tained was 20 cm., while with spheres of 1°3 cm. diameter the wave-length was about 7 cm. ‘The resonator employed was of a novel form and was made by taking a rectangular piece of ordinary silvered glass of such a size that its breadth was equal to the length of the resonator required. The var- nish was then dissolved off the back of the silver, and a line drawn through the silver by means of a diamond, so as | to divide the strip of silver into two equal parts, and form _aspark gap. By this means a spark gap was obtained, having | a breadth of between one and two thousand ths of a millimetre. _ For radiation having a wave-length of 7°5 cm. the resonator NO. 1239, VOL. 48] was composed of a strip of silver 3°9 cm. long and 0'2 cm. broad. Although with these small wave-lengths the sparks cease to be visible when the distance between the oscillator and resonator is a metre, by placing a parabolic metallic reflector behind the resonator the sparks were visible at a distance of six metres from the oscillator. Using the above form of apparatus the author has repeated the experiments of Lodge and Howard and others on the reflection and refraction of electrical waves, he has also succeeded in producing inter- ference between the rays reflected from two mirrors inclined at a slight angle (Fresnel’s experiment). An interesting set of measurements of the transparency of various dielectrics gave (amongst others) the following results :—Ebonite, paraffin, and rock salt are perfectly transparent. A plate of mica 1°7 mm, thick absorbs 10% of the radiation, while a plate of ordinary glass 8 mm. thick absorbs 37%, and a piece of quartz cut nor- mally to the axis 8 mm. thick absorbs 40%. WE have received the first part of ‘‘ The Book of the Fair,” by Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft. It is grandiloquently described on the title-page as ‘‘ An Historical and Descriptive Presenta- tion of the World’s Science, Art, and Industry, as viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Designed to set forth the Display made by the Congress of Nations, of Human Achievement in Material Form, so as the more effectually to illustrate the Progress of Mankind in all the Departments of Civilised Life.” The part of the book before us deals with great fairs of the past, and the history of Chicago, the object apparently being to make the story as long as possible. Both the text and illustrations are excellent. A COLLECTION of meteorological tables, compiled by Dr. Amold Guyot, was issued by the Smithsonian Institution in 1852. The fourth edition was published in 1884, and the work had then grown to a bulky tome of more than 700 pages. Upon a demand for a fifth edition, Prof. S. P. Langley decided to publish the tables in three parts: Meteorological Tables, Geographical Tables, and Physical Tables, each independent of the other, but the three forming a homogeneous series. The volume of meteorological tables is before us, and it is of far more handy dimensions than formerly. Everything appertain- ing to meteorological work appears to be contained therein, and the fact that the work comes from the Smithsonian Insti- tution vouches for its excellence. Our attention has beem directed to a slip on p. 248. In the list of meteorological stations in the British Isles given on that page we find printed ‘© Richmond (Greenwich Observatory),” lat. 51° 29' N., long. 0°’ o’. The first word should be omitted in future editions, for Greenwich, and not Richmond, is obviously referred to. NINETEEN charts of the ‘Isle of Wight and Solent Tides,” from Portland Bill to the Owers, have been prepared by Mr. T. B. C. West and Mr, F. Howard Collins, and are published by Mr. J. D. Potter, Poultry, E.C. They show by means of arrows the direction of tidal streams at all hours, and, at some places, for half hours of the tides. ‘The rates given are for spring tides, but those for neap and average tides can easily be estimated. The charts are excellently engraved from an Ad- miralty chart, and the arrows are placed in accordance with the information contained in the ‘‘ Channel Pilot.” They are issued in an extremely compact form, and to the yachtsman of the Isle of Wight district must prove invaluable. “EVOLUTION AND RELIGION,” by Mr. A. J. Dadson, has been published by Messrs. Swan, Sonnenschein and Co. The first three chapters of the book are concerned with the doctrine of evolution, and the remainder deal with theological matters, while the whole has been written with the laudable object of bringing about a reconciliation between religion and science. May the truth prevail. 300 NATURE [JuLy 27, 1893 = MEssrs. WeEsT, NEWMAN, & Co., have just published a book by Mr. S. T. Dunn on the flora of South-West Surrey, in- cluding Dorking, Godalming, Farnham, and Haslemere. The last flora including this district was Brewer’s, dated 1863. Another county flora is in preparation by Mr. W. H. Beeby. It need scarcely be said that Mr. Dunn’s little book is not intended to take the place of these more complete floras, but it will serve as a portable field guide to visitors. : THE sodium salt of the as yet little-known perchromic acid has been isolated by Dr. C. Hiiussermann in the’state of well- defined crystals, and is described in a communication to the current number of the Journal fiir Praktische Chemie. The possibility of the existence of an acid-forming oxide of chromium higher than the trioxide CrO, has formed a subject of discussion for many years. It was long considered that the deep blue coloration produced upon adding hydrogen peroxide to a solu- tion of chromic acid was due to the formation of the hydrate of a peroxide of chromium. Both the first observer of this interesting reaction, Barreswill, and Ascher in a subsequent memoir, considered the peroxide to possess the composition Cr,O;, corresponding to the heptoxide of manganese, Mn,O, present in the permanganates, Fairley has since attributed to the blue compound the composition CrO,.3H,0O. Latterly, however, Moissan has adduced evidence in support of the view that the substance is nothing more than a molecular compound of chromic anhydride with hydrogen peroxide, CrO3. H,O,. The work of Hiussermann is therefore particularly interesting as showing that, whatever may be the truth concerning the blue compound above referred to, a higher acid of chromium is capable of existence. Moreover, it is not without some signifi- cance that the formula of the anhydride derived by Hausser- mann from the analyses of his sodium salt coincides with that, “CrO,, attributed by Fairley to the oxide present in the blue compound. Haussermann finds that when sodium peroxide is added in small quantities at a time to chromic hydrate suspended in a small quantity of water and maintained at a low tempera- ture by means of an ice bath, a somewhat violent reaction occurs, rendering constant agitation necessary; the chromic hydrate dissolves, a brownish-yellow solution being produced, When this liquid is allowed to stand undisturbed for a time in a cold room, brilliant brownish red, transparent, monoclinic crystals separate. These crystals are found upon analysis to possess the:com position NagCr,0;;.28H,O. They rapidly efflor- “esce upon exposure to the air, falling to a brown powder. They lose the whole of their water of crystallisation when placed ina desiccator over oil of vitriol, or- when heated to 100°. At a temperature of 170° they explode with some violence, leaving behind a quantity of sodium chromate mixed with sodium hydrate. The anhydrous salt is tolerably stable and is only very ‘slowly attacked by cold water. Hot water, however, immedi- ately decomposes it with formation of a solution of sodium chromate and sodium hydrate and liberation of three molecular equivalents of oxygen gas. Na,Cr,0,; + H,O = 2Na,CrO, + 2NaOH + 30,. Analyses of the anhydrous salt agree with the formula Na,Cr,0,;, indicating an anhydride of the composition Cr.049 -or CrOy. It is most interesting that, upon the addition of dilute sulphuric acid to the salt, the deep blue coloration above alluded to is at once produced, as if it were due to the formation of the free acid, the hydrate of CrO,. In a few minutes oxygen ‘commences to be evolved, and chromic sulphate is formed in the solution. Alkalies are practically without action upon the ‘salt, which would thus appear to be stable in alkaline solution. Notes from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. —Last week's captures include a colony of a tall (14 ins.) variety of the NO. 1239. VOL. 48] Hydroid Coryne vermicularis, Hincks, the Polyzoan Pedice echinata, and the Tunicata Phallusia mammillata and A depressa, An incursion of the Cladocera Podon and has characterised the floating fauna ; and with these ha taken Cirrhipede Maupiit, Cyphonautes larve, and cou numbers of minute Ode/ia meduse. The following animals now breeding :—The Cephalopod Sepio/a atlantica, the costraca Chelura terebrans, Limnoria lignorum and Ei Prideauxit, and the Echinoderm Echinus acutus. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens du: the past week include two Great Eagle Owls (Bubo m European, presented by Lord Hill; two Barbary Turtle D (Turtur risorius var.) from the Pescadore Islands, C! presented by Mr. Theodore A. W. Hance, C.M.Z.S. ; Giant Toads (Bufo marinus) from Brazil, presented by M Adamson ; a yellow-cheeked Lemur (Lemur xanthoi from Madagascar, a Banded Ichneumon (Herpestes fasciatus) from West Africa, deposited ; a Black Ape (Cymopithecus 1 ger) from the Celebes ; two Black-headed Mynahs (Zeme: pagodarum), two Manyar Weaver Birds (Ploceus manyar), t Red-headed Buntings (Zméeriza luteola) from India, pu two Dominican Gulls (Zarus dominicus) bred in the OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE DIscoveRY OF THE NEW CoMET.—The new come seems to have been noted by a number of observers bef they had seen its discovery announced. Mr. Edgar Ri writes to us as follows in a letter dated July 13 :— : ~ “On Sunday last, the 9th inst., at 9.30 p.m., the memb the Astronomy Club, composed of several of the lady guests the Cliff House, Minnewaska, N.Y., U.S.A,, saw in the n western heavens a most brilliant comet with well-de nucleus and bright tail. The comet was in the c Lynx, and its tail extended towards the North Sta motion was very rapid in a south-westerly directio the tail was momentarily increasing in length as long: the comet was visible. The Club suffers from the advantage of not possessing a good telescope, so obsery tions have to be made unassisted. No notice in the newspaj) of such a comet having been seen and noted, the ladies we filled with enthusiasm to be, as they supposed, its first | coverers,”” err | “Monday night the comet was found to be near the the Great Bear, and much diminished in brilliancy, p that it was rapidly receding from the earth.” a It seems desirable, for the sake of cometary histo the following translation of a note by M. Tisserand in | Rendus, No. 3. : My “On the roth July last, in the morning, I received a tele from M. Quénisset, of the staff of the Juvisy Obser announcing that he had the previous night, the evening gth July, discovered a bright comet, visible to the whose approximate co-ordinates he gave. I at once t a telegram to Kiel. The following morning, July came a telegram from Kiel, announcing that the been seen on July 8 at Utah, U.S.A. by Mr, Rordame. therefore certain that Mr. Rordame has discovered the c but that M. Quénisset has announced it first. -Perhap be convenient to call it the Rordame-Quénisset comet are analogous precedents.” z Come? FINLAY (1886 VII.).—The following is the of this comet for the present week :— 12h, Paris Mean Time. Z .. r ; R.A. (app.) 1893. ae | Pee July 27 5 1 136 Sem 28 5 26°9 . 29 9 38°5 ” 30 13 48°3 . 3r 17 56°2 Aug. I 22 2%4 2 26 6°6 3 5-30 90 - a | della Soctietd degli Spettroscopisti Italiani. _ position of the lines were made relatively to the solar lines by _ Superposing a solar spectrum on that of the star. _ €xamination of the plates showed the following details, the most _ remarkable lines being Dy, 501‘4uu, 492uu, F, 471 uu, 448un, JULY 27, 1893] NATURE 301 CHANGES IN THE SPECTRUM OF 6 LyR&.—At the Pulkova “Observatory, the new spectroscope has been adapted to the _ large refractor, and among many of the stellar photographs pe obtained several are of 8 Lyre, the changes in which described by Belopolsky in the June number of the Memorie The measures of A general 447uu. F consisted nearly always of twobrilliant rays, one of which would disappear or become very dim, and between these could oc- casionally be seen a dark line ; in the vicinity of F occasionally is seen also another dark line. The analysis of the changes in the eh F line indicates that its duplicity depends on one or both of the dark lines, or in other words, that we have here a case of superposition of the bright and dark lines. The period is nearly of 13 days’ duration. At the principal minimum of the star, the bright F becomes single, the dark lines being situated one on the edge and the other alone. At the maximum, F becomes double, but the component on the violet side is very thin. At secondary minimum, F is double and symmetrical. Little change takes place at the following maximum, the component on the red side being a little thinner than the other; after this maxi- mum it becomes a dark line. With regard to the dark F line, M. Belopolsky says that this seems to consist of two, but it is seldom that they are separated ; it is suggested that a second ray may mask the changes in wavelength of the other, thus accounting for the irregular changes, The Helium line undergoes two changes; sometimes it disappears altogether, while at other times it appears double. Its period of duplicity is put downas 7 days. The group 448-447uu is defined as very complicated, and presents the same changes as the F lines, consisting of dark and bright lines and changing their positions like the components of the F lines. This paper is accompanied by a diagram showing the positions of the starin the curve of brightness at the time of exposure, and also by copies of several of the spectra. THE VARIABLE STAR Y CyGNI.—Among recent papers on variable stars, that by Prof. N. C. Dunér on the elements of the variable star Y Cygni is of great importance. (Kongl : Vetenskaps Akademiens Forhandlinger, 1892, No. 7). This star is of the Algol type, and its variation is limited nearly ex- clusively to a small portion of its period during which it descends in a few hours to a minimum, to regain in about the same time its ordinary brightness. Since its discovery by Chandler in 1886, it has been very constantly observed, and it is perhaps on this account that Prof. Dunér can give such a complete story. Considering the odd and even minima separately, he deduces a formula which gives very small values for the residuals obtained from the observed minus calculated times, and to put it shortly he is led to the conclusion that the star Y Cygni consists of two stars of equal magnitude and brightness, moving in an elliptic orbit, the plane of which passes throughthe sun, and whose line of apsides makes an angle with the line of sight. The time of revolution is 2 days 23 hours, 54 minutes, 43'26seconds, Prof. Duner, at the latter end of this paper, gives the ephemeris and tables of interpolation of the times of the odd and even epochs in Paris mean time. New DETERMINATION OF THE CONSTANT OF UNIVERSAL ATTRACTION,—A new and original method of determining the mass and density of the earth was described in our issue of July 13 (p. 251). The following further information on the same subject is interesting. The first experiments gave for the value of K— the constant of gravitation— K = 6°80 x 1078, Determining the mass of the earth, by substituting this value of K in the formula =k, #M gu=K. 5 when M and R represent the mass and radius of the earth respectively, and where g = 981 and R = 6°37 x 10% centimetres, NO. 1239, VOL. 48] the value obtained was M = 5°85 x 10°” grammes, whence the density of the earth was found to be D5 4h We here enumerate the different values regard to the earth density— Plumb-line at Schiehallien (Maskelyne and Playfair) 4°713 that we possess with 5 (by introduction of negative digits, each not > 5) will be called (for shortness) Reduction: the process is so very simple that the ‘* reduced” number can always be zritten down at sight (a most important matter). To form the product P of two given numbers M, N, either one or both of the factors M, N may be ‘‘reduced” as a preliminary to multiplication. If both factors be reduced, the rule of signs of algebraic multiplication must be used, viz. +x+=+,and —x-=+; but +x-=-,and -x+=- This ‘‘ reduction ” of both factors is particularly useful when many large digits occur in succession in both factors, in which case the whole of the multiplication can often be done mentally (without even writing out at length), thus— 992= 1017= 10201= 9801 9992=10012= 1002001 = 998001 998? =1002?=1004004 = 996004 The following factors become particularly simple by this ** reduction,” viz. 999...9=1000......1, 888...9=1111......1 T17 Beles 9, 666.2:.7= 1888... 3 When the results cannot be readily done mentally, the multipli- cation may be done by writing out at length zm the usual way (attending of course to signs), thus— 89 =1i1 (eT pebarauk eEBS 89 =111 789= 1211 Til 1211 Til 1211 11 2422 —- 1211 .*, 899=12121 =7921 «*. 789% = 1422521 = 622521 It will be seen that the ease of the above procedure depends chiefly on the digits being so small (in both factors) as not to involve any carrying from digit to digit in the multiplications ; this will always be the case when no digit exceeds 3 or 3 (because the greatest product 3x 3=9 only), But when the digits 4, 5, 6 occur in either factor, this will usually involve carrying in the multiplications (because 3x 4 and 2x5 are both >9). In this NO. 1240, VOL. 48] case it is generally better to ‘‘ reduce” one factor only, and by preference that factor which has the greatest number of digits (7.2. 7’s, 8’s, 9’s), and further to use this factor as ‘‘ multi plier,” keeping the other factor unreduced as multiplicand. Further, it is often convenient in this case (especially se the factors are large) to completely separate the positive and nega- — tive products, add them separately, and finally take the difference — of these sums ; this will be the required product: this procedure (of using negative digits only in the multiplier, and then separ- ating the + and — products) has the great advantage (1) no further attention need be paid to the signs, and (2) the ec line has all its digits necessarily positive, so is itself the required. product (in ordinary notation). cra Re #x.—Given M=34,892, N=89,795; tofindMxN. Choose N as ‘‘ multiplier,” because it contains four large digits. The work proceeds thus— : 34 892 =M 110 215 =N 174 460 =5xM 3 489 2 =1xM - 3 489 374.460 =Positivesum=p = 34892 =1xM oe All 69784 =2xM nega- 348 92 =IxM tive — 356 247 32 = Negative sum=2 wt. p...m=8 183 127 140= Product Mx N It will be seen that this process requires two more lines than — the ordinary process (viz. the two lines /, ), but the actual’ multiplications are far easier. ; It is obvious that the two lines 4, 2 may be separately tes by the usual processes of ‘‘ casting out the nines, elevens, &c.” The whole process above is so simple that it might well a place in works on elementary algebra immediately after th explanation of the rule of signs in multiplication ; it is thorough! practical, and having been much used by the author, can confidently recommended. - : The use of negative digits, as above explained, may also applied to the process of division, and in some cases with ac vantage. This application is, however, in general by no mean: quite easy, so cannot be recommended as a practically usef process. [This process—as applied to multiplication—is not of cou: new ; but it seems worth while to attempt to revive it now ; process, somewhat the same in principle, has just been publi: (in the Annales des Ponts et Chaussées for April 1893, p. 790 Mr. Ed. Collignon. The only actual multiplication required his process is by the digits 2 and 5 ; the elimination of act multiplication by 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 is of course an immense ad vantage. To this end he first shows how to ‘‘ reduce” number N to the algebraic sum (say N,+N.—Ns) of others, N,, Ny, Ns, composed solely of the four digits 0, 1, To multiply two numbers M, N, one of them, say N, is to “reduced” as explained: the products MN,, MN, MN, then to be formed in the usual way; their algebraic s MN,+MN,-MN;j is the product required. The eye two decided defects, viz.—(1) the ‘‘ reduction” of N is what troublesome ; (2) the forming and adding the three p ducts (MN, + MN, — MN,) is a good deal longer than the or ¥ process. ] ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, atae | Thunderstorm Phenomena on the Matterhorn. In 1888-1889 I witnessed some eight-and-twenty thunder- storms on the Pampas of South America ; and came conclusion— ‘ (1) That there was no reason to .suppose that the so-ca ‘« sheet-lightning,” or ‘‘summer-lightning,” is anything more than the glare of distant spark-discharge ; , (2) That by far the greater number of discharges took pee between different layers of cloud, and not between clouds : the earth; 2 : (3) That the origin of these storms lay in the electri excitation due to the friction between opposed currents of air (carrying cloud), upper and lower respectively. : f: This year I was witness of a thunderstorm: under very differ-- Aueust 3, 1893] NATURE 317 _ ent circumstances, and I observed a phenomenon that appears to me to be of interest. On July 10 I was on the Matterhorn in very doubtful weather. It appeared as though the Fohn (or southerly wind) were eieging with a northerly wind, and as though the former conquered. Clouds or mist pressed up from Italy, and rose higher and higher, covering the other mountains before the Matterhorn. We had some snow at intervals even before mid- _ day, and by the time that we had, on return from the summit, descended as far as the upper hut, it was snowing steadily. I think that, as regards the Matterhorn, the electrical hissing of ‘ice-axes, rocks, &c., began about 3.30 p.m. or 4 p.m., and lightning began rather later. At last came one flash, apparently very near to us, the thunder following close with a crash. Before the thunder, however, and apparently w7th the flash, came a curious split- ting, cracking, and shivering sound, with a kind of ‘“ splash” from the rocks—as it seemed. “I give many adjectives for want of one good expressive word. This sound preceded the thunder, and was both sharp and faint; I felt that I only heard it because I was on the spot. Later, another flash came close to us. This time I heard no “*splash”’ from the rocks ; but, apparently w2¢h the flash, and before the thunder-crash, there came a light, shivering, branching crack again, something like the ‘‘ ghost ” of thunder, one might say. It reminded me this time of the shiver that passes over the surface of new snow, only very slightly crusted, when first broken in any part by the feet of a traveller. (Some climbers will know this sound; but I myself have only occasionally noticed it, and that only when I have been the first on a snowfield soon after a heavy fall of snow.) I received a slight shock in the head this time. A third flash gave the same sound as the second ; but no others seemed so close, and I never heard this sound again. It was dark when we reached the lower hut; and all down the aréte the brushes of purple light that streamed from our fingers (when held up) and from our axes, hats, hair, &c., were very beautiful. The fingers gave better brushes when wetted. There were numerous brushes streaming from the rocks, these being wet with water melted from the snow. Some other people who were on the Gorner Grat the same day told me, before I mentioned my experiences, that the lightning seemed to give a splashing sound on the rocks. They also told me that those who wore felt hats, felt return shocks, while those with straw hats did not. All the hats were wet. So much for observation ; now for a theory. To begin with, since the thunder distinctly crashed after the lightning-flash, it would seem that the phenomenon that caused the sound I heard must have preceded the spark. I would suggest the following explanation. I do not think that those who have never been actually in a storm realise how very indefinite, in substance and boundaries, **a thundercloud” is. It seems certain that we must not regard it as if it were a polished conductor that is gradually charged until it sparks to earth or to other clouds. More prob- ably there is a fall (or rise) of potential through the substance of the cloud itself. When the stress is too great, there is ery a breakdown along many paths in the form of the ne branching sparks observed when a Wimshurst is used with- out a condenser. This preliminary breakdown suddenly gives avery much larger potential-difference between the portion of the cloud-masses towards which it takes place ; so suddenly in fact, that a spark-discharge occurs before more diffuse modes of read- justment can obtain. It seems to me that it is only by some such preliminary discharge from behind that such irregular ‘‘surfaces ” as those of clouds could attain the condition requisite for the true spark, In something the same way we can pass a spark between two rough or pointed metal terminals by a sudden discharge through them, while we could not raise them in any slower way to the necessary condition. According to this view, a slighter and more branching dis- charge in the body of a cloud would be the necessary prelimin- ary to a regular flash; and the, relatively faint, sound of it would precede the “‘ thunder” of the final flash, When once the flash occurs, resistance is much diminished, and the stress of the whole region is relieved through the path created. An obvious objection to this view, however, will occur to many. ‘‘ Would the time-interval be long enough? Would not the first sound be practically heard with the thunder, and be drowned in it?’ Another explanation might be, that (as is often the case NO. £240, VOL, 48] with a Wimshurst or other machine) there are fainter, tenta- tive, branching discharges that precede the bright spark. But, if this were the case, they should surely be heard in some cases before any spark occurs at all. Finally, the sound, though it appeared to come out of the air, might have been due to the movements of the stones and rocks over the surface of the mountain, occurring when the stress was relieved. Such a sound might well reach one before the sound of the spark. WALTER LARDEN. R. N. E. College, Devonport, July 24. Highest Rainfall in Twenty-four Hours. WITH reference to the paragraph quoted in your notes of this week’s NATURE from the Zudian Planters’ Gazette of Jan. 28, 1893, the most elementary knowledge of Indian meteorology would suffice to show that the remarkable figure, 48 inches, supposed to represent the fall of a single night in January at Dehra Dun, is simply a misprint for 4°8. The entire rainfall of the winter season in no part of India exceeds one-half this amount, and I have no hesitation in declaring such a figure as 48 inches in twenty-four hours to be absolutely without prece- dent, and, in my opinion, so extraordinary at such a season, that, if it really were 48, it would require us to regard all exist- ing Indian meteorological data with suspicion. Thirty inches in twenty-four hours has often been recorded at Chirapunji in June and July. Can any one show a single instance of even 20 inches in twenty-four hours at Dehra Dun? Moreover, the whole annual supply at Dehra Dun is only 75 inches, while that of Chirapunji is 600 inches ! July 29. E, DouGLAS ARCHIBALD. Vivisection. THE recent remarkable discoveries in connection with Myxcedema conclusively prove the value of vivisection as a means whereby human suffering may be alleviated, and only those who are blinded by ignorance or prejudice would dare deny that hundreds of sufferers from goitre, and other distressing symptoms of cretinism, have obtained relief solely through ex- perimental research upon animals, Inconsistency is closely linked to prejudice, and the greatest anomaly is the Anti-Vivi- sectionist who, while objecting to the alleviation of human suffering on the score of ‘cruelty to animals,” enjoys and countenances, for the gratification of his or her own individual pleasures, the most horrible cruelty and torture to helpless creatures. Onlya few of such cases now occur to me, and these I herewith append, but there are many others as disgustingly cruel. Boiling lobsters, prawns, etc., a/ive. ‘* Whitening and tendering ” veal by bleeding, and beating with sticks, the calf while sti// living. Skinning and cooking eels a/ive. Maiming, and shattering to pieces, pigeons and other birds (‘‘sport”), hundreds dying a lingering death. Hacking and mauling rabbits by gins. Hounding to death harmless hares, and exulting over this tor- ture (‘‘sport”). Plucking feathers from ving birds, and skinning “ving animals. ; When every professed anti-vivisectionist undertakes to endeav- our to put a stop to these, and similar cruelties, their sincerity will at least be visible. Bournemouth, July 24. CrciL CaRus- WILSON. A Correction. In my ‘Preliminary Note,” as read at the Royal Society meeting, June 15 last (NATURE, vol. xlviii. p. 311), the first para- graph reciting ‘‘The laws connecting pairs of axes, by succes- sive rotations round which a given displacement of arigid body in space may be effected,” should read: ‘‘If the first axis is taken arbitrarily in a plane parallel to that of the ‘central axis,’ and any given direction ¢’ meeting it, to which latter the axis remains parallel, there is a direction determined to which its conjugate must be parallel, in the side common to three quadric cones the constants of which are functions of ¢’ and the vectors defining the displacement and the position of the first axis. The next two paragraphs will require slight modifications accordingly ; and the last will, of course, be unnecessary. I owe this correction to a correspondence with which Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S., has favoured me since the meeting. July 29. J. J. WALKER. 318 NATURE [Aucust 3, 1893 THE ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY OF ON AND THEBES. eas a previous article I have attempted to show that there was a considerable difference of astronomical thought between those, on the one hand, who built pyramids and temples facing true east and west and those, on the other, who built solartemples not oriented to the equinox, but rather, though not exclusively, to the solstice. It was suggested that although in the matter of simple worship the sun would come before the stars ; in temple worship the conditions would be reversed in consequence of the stable rising and setting places of the latter as com- pared with those of the sun at different times of the year. Another suggestion was hazarded that sun temple- worship might have been an accidental result of the sun- light entering a temple which had really been built to observe a star; and that such temple sun-worship might possibly have preceded the time at which the solstices and equinoxes, and their importance, had been made out. I think it is possible to show that this really happened, and we owe the demonstration of this important fact to the Egyptian habit of having two associated temples at right angles to each other, because this habit justifies the assumption that at On the single obelisk which now re- mains not only indicates the certain existence in former times of one temple, but in all probability of two at right angles to each other. But this is only one point among many to which one may appeal in approaching the study of the question. Another of great importance is brought before us in the masterly essay by M. Virey, entitled “ Notices Générales,” on the discoveries made at Der el-Bahari by MM. Maspero and Grébaut. In his account of the confraternity of Amen and of the various attempts made by the Theban priests to acquire political power he refers to the action of Amenhetep IV. (Chu-en-Aten).! In the time of Thotmes III. the alliance between the royal and the sacerdotal power was of the closest, and in no time of the world’s history have priests been more richly endowed than were then the priests of Amen. Not content, however, with their sacred functions, they aimed at political power so obviously that Thotmes IV. and Amen-hetep III., to check their intentions, favoured the cults and priesthoods of On and other cities of the north. Amen-hetep IV. went further ; he looked for alliances out of Egypt altogether, and entered into diplomatic relations with the princes of Asia, including even the king of Baby- lon. This brought him and the priests to open warfare. He replied to their anger by prescribing the cult of Amen. The name of Amen was effaced from the monuments, still the priestly party was strong enough to make it un- pleasant for the king in Thebes, and to deal them yet another blow, he quitted that city and went to settle at Tell el-Amarna, at the same time reviving an old Heliopolitan cult. He took for divine protection the solar disc Azo, ‘ which was one of the most ancient forms of one of the most ancient gods of Egypt, Ra of Heliopolis.”* Now let us say that the time of Amen-hetep IV., according to the received authorities, was about 1450 B.C. The lines of the “Temple of the Sun” at Tell el-Amarna are to be gathered from Lepsius’s map, the orientation is 13° north of west. This gives us a declination of 11° north, and the star Spica at its setting would be visible in the temple, and the sunlight at sunset would enter the temple on April 18 and August 24 of the Gregorian year. Hence, then, the temple was probably built really to observe the sunset on a special day in the year, In this 1 “* Notices des Principaux Monuments Exposés au Musée de Gizeh,’’ p- 260. 1893. 2 Gizeh Catalozue, 1893, p. 68. NO. 1240, VOL. 48] view how appropriate was the prayer of Aahmes, Chu-en- Aten’s chief official. ita “ Beautiful is thy setting, thou sun’s disk of life, thou — Lord of Lords and King of the worlds. When thou unitest — thyself with the heaven at thy setting, mortals rejoice - before thy countenance and give honour to him who has ~ created them, and pray before him who has formed them, © before the glance of thy son who loves thee the King Khu-en-aten. The whole land of Egypt and all peoples repeat all thy names at thy rising, to magnify thy rising — in like manner as thy setting.” ia Still perhaps more beautiful was the prayer of the queen. “ Thou disk of the Sun, thou living God! there is none other beside thee! Thou givest health to the eye through thy beams. Creator of all beings. Thou — goest up on the eastern horizon of heaven to dispense life’ to all which thou hast created; to man, four-footed — beasts, birds, and all manner of creeping things on t earth, where they live. Thus they behold thee, and th go to sleep when thou settest. i “‘ Grant to thy son, who loves thee life in truth, to th lord of the land, Khu-en-aten, that he may live unit with thee in eternity. ‘ “ As for her, his wife, the Queen Nefer-it-Thi, may she live for evermore and eternally by his side, well pleasing — to thee ; she admires what thou hast created day by day.” Still the light of Spica would not enter it axially if t orientation is correct. This would have happened in 2000 B.C., that is 600 years before the time of Amen-hetep I This is a point which Egyptologists must discuss ;* it is” quite certain that such a pair of temples as those of which — Lepsius gives us the plans could not have been com-— pletely built in his short reign, and they would perhaps have been commenced on /erefical lines in a’ previous reign during the 18th dynasty. It must the fore have been commenced before 1700 B.C., perhaps it the 17th dynasty In any case it was certainly finishe by Chu-en-Aten. : But this “temple of the Sun” was not built alone. There was another at right angles to it, and while Spic . was seen setting in one, a star near y Draconis was rising in the other. Remembering then that the temple attributed to Ame: hetep IV. pointed to Spica, let us recur for a mome: to the temple conditions at Thebes. There, as have seen, the temple of Mut is associated with 0 at right angles to it, facing north-west. The amp tudesare 724° north of east and 173° north of we I have shown that the temple of Mut would allow y Draconis to be seen along its axis about 3200B.c. 7 muw state that Spica would be seen along the axis of the ré angular temple at the same time. a We have next to consider what had taken place Thebes, so far as wecan trace it on the orientation h thesis since 3200 B.C. ; but to understand thoroughly ' was done another reference to M. Virey’s essa) necessary. One of the chief aims of the confra of Amen was to abolish the worship of Set, Sit, or that is generically the stars near the north pole, it can be shown, in favour of the southern ones. temple of Mut was the chief temple at Karnak, in y the cult of the northern stars was carried on. a We can now realise what the Theban priests Thotmes to do. : In his day the cult of Spica (the solar disc, Ato Min, Khem), and y Draconis (the Hippopotamus and Lion Isis) was supreme. The little shrine of the Theb: Amen was enlarged and built right aross the fairw: 1 Translated by Brugsch, “‘ Egypt,”’ p. 221. 2 Since the above was written, Prof. Finders Petrie has been good one in reply to an inquiry, to state his opinion that the temple was entirely by Chie Alon. Should this be confirmed, it may have been oriented directly to the sun, on the day named, or more probably built parallel to some former temple, for traces of other temples are shown on eee bi plan, and I presume Chu-en-Aten is not supposed t> have built all of them. AUGUST 3, 1893] NATURE bond of the temple of Mut, so that the worship was as effect- ively stopped as the worship of Isis was stopped at Pompeii by the town authorities (when it was prohibited by law), bricking up the window through which the star was observed. p Further, the shrine so restored was of such magnificence that the Spica temple, which had hitherto held first a rank, became an insignificant chapel in comparison. Nor was this all. In order still to emphasise the supre- macy of Amen, a third-rate temple was erected to Ptah. We may now return to Amen-hetep’s doings at Tell el-Amarna. The worship he emphasised there exactly resembled that which had in early times been paramount at Heliopolis. One based on it, but not identical with it, had been in vogue at Thebes from 3200 B.c. to the time of Thotmes, who, as the tool of the confraternity of Amen, intensified the solstitial worship, and did his best to kill that which had been based upon the Heliopolis cult. The next question we have to consider is whether the researches at Heliopolis bear this surmise out. It is true we have but one poor obelisk, but let us see what we can make of it. As I have shown, the north and south faces bear 13° north of west—13° south of east. Amen-hetep or some one of the preceding kings of Egypt, when reintroducing the old worship at Tell el-Amarna orients the solar temple 13° north of west accord- ing to the data available. Now when we take the difference of latitude between Heliopolis and Tell el- Amarna into account we find that the same declination (within half a degree) is obtained from both. I have elsewhere shown that there is good reason for believing that the original foundation of the temple at On dates from the time when the north member of the system was directed to a Ursz Majoris. This was some- what earlier than 5000 B.c. Bearing in mind the facts obtained with regard to other similar rectangular systems, we are led to inquire whether at that date a temple oriented to declination 11° north was directed to any star. We find that the important star Capella was in question. Now so far in my references to stars no mention has been made of Capella. It is obvious that the first thing to be done on the orientation hypothesis is to see whether any other temple, and if of known cult so much the better, is found oriented to Capella. There is one such temple ; it is the small temple of Ptah, just mentioned as having been erected by Thotmes. (Time of Thotmes III. 1600 B.c. Amplitude of temple +: 35° west of north = with hills 3° high 324° north declination ; Capella 33° north declination about 1700 B.C.) And now it appears there is another. During the year 1892 the officers of the Museum of Gizeh, under the direction of M. de Morgan, excavated a temple at Memphis to the north of thehut containing the recumbent statue of Rameses, and during their work they found two magnificent statues of Ptah, “les plus remarquables Statues divines qu’on ait encore trouvées en Egypte,” ! and a colossal model in rose granite of the sacred boat of Ptah. These discoveries have led the officers in question to the conclusion that the building among the ruins of which these priceless treasures have been found is veritably the world-renowned temple of Ptah of Memphis. It may therefore be accepted as such for the purpose of the present inquiry, although it is difficult to reconcile its emplacement in relation to the statues with the accounts given by the Arab historians. In January, 1893, Captain Lyons, R.E., was good enough to accompany me to determine the orientation of 1 New Gizeh Catalogue, p. 6r. NO. 1240, vou. 48] the newly uncovered temple walls. We had already, two years previously, carefully measured the bearings of the statues of Rameses. We found the temple in all probability facing westwards, and not eastwards, this we determined by a seated statue facing westwards ; and its orientation, assuming a magnetic variation of 44° west- to be 12#° north of west and the hills, in front of it, as, suming the village of Mit-Rahineh non-existent, to be 50’ high. Here, then, we get reproduced almost absolutely the conditions of the obelisk at Heliopolis in a Ptah temple oriented to Capella 5200 B.c. We are driven then to the conclusion that the star Capelia is personified by Péah, and that as Capella was worshipped setting, Ptah is represented as a mummy. If this be so we must also accept another conclusion. That the temples both at Heliopolis and Memphis were dedi- cated to Ptah. About 5300 B.c. we seem almost in the time of the divine dynasties, and begin to understand how it is that in the old traditions Ptah precedes Ra and he is called “ the father of the beginnings, and the creator of the egg of the Sun and Moon.! What, then, was this worship which had been absent from Thebes, but which had held its own to the north to such an extent that Amen-hetep IV. went back to it so eagerly? It could not have been the worship of Capella as a star alone, for such worship had been pro- vided for by Thotmes III. by building temple G. Nor could it have been the worship of Spica as a star alone, for in that case the precedent of On would not have been appealed to. Wearedrivento the conclusion that it was the worship of the sun’s disc when setting, at the time of the year heralded by these stars, when it had the declina- tion of 10° north. The dates on which the sun had this declination were, as already stated, about April 18 and August 24 of our Gregorian year. The former, in Egypt, dominated by the Nile, was about the time of the associated spring and harvest festivals, So much for the Ptah mummy form of the Sun-God, to which the Theban priests erected no temples. There was still another, the worship of which existed at Thebes, but which they did their best to abolish by the intensification of the worship of Amen-Ra. I refer to the worship carried on in the temple oriented to Spica. This, there can be no doubt, was the worship of Min, Khem in ithyphallic mummy form. This was associated with the harvest home festival on May 1. (Amplitude of temple, 174 north of west, declination 15° = sun’s declination on May 1.) It seems, then, that the suggestion that Josszdly sun- worship existed before the solstitial solar worship is amply justified. Now so far as my inquiries have yet gone, there is not above Thebes, with the single exception of Redesieh, any temple resembling the On-Thebes ones to which I have directed attention as having a high north-east ampli- tude. Similarly, with one or two exceptions which may be late, there are no temples facing the south-east below Thebes. In short, in Lower Egypt the temples are pointed to stars rising near the north point of the horizon or set- ting west of north. In Upper Egypt we deal chiefly with temples directed to stars rising in the south-east. Here again we are in presence of as distinct differences in astronomical thought and methods of observation as we found among those who directed temples to the sun at the equinox, as opposed to those who worshipped that luminary at some other time of the year. Now with regard to the northern stars observed rising in high amplitudes we have found traces of their worship in times so remote that in all probability at On 1 Brugsch, ‘‘ Religion and Mytologie,” p. 111. Pierret, ‘ Salle Historique de la galerie Egyptienne” (du Louvre), p 199. 320 NATURE and Denderah a Urse Majoris was used before it became circumpolar. We deal with 5000 B.c. Since undoubtedly mew temples with nearly similar amplitudes (such as that denoted by M at Karnak) were built in late times, we find so long a range of time indi- cated that the utility of the stellar observations from the yearly point of view could scarcely have been in question. It may be suggested therefore that the observations made in them had to do with the determination of the hours of the night ; this seems probable, for in Nubia at the present day time at night is thus determined. It may be that such stars as Canopus were used by the southern peoples for the same purpose as a Ursz Majoris first and then y Draconis were used by the northerners. In other words, the question arises whether the extreme north and south stars were not both used as warners of the dawn all the year round. It is well known that in quite early times means had been found of dividing the day and night into 12 hours. In the day shadows cast by the sun, or sundials, might have been used, but how about the night ? We have seen that the Egyptians chiefly, if not exclu- sively, observed a heavenly body and the position of other bodies in relation to it, when it was rising or set- ting, so that it was absolutely essential that the body which they were to observe should rise and set, Every- body knows that as seen in England there are many stars which neither rise nor set. The latitude of London being 51°, the elevation of the pole therefore is 51°. Hence, any star which lies within that distance from the pole cannot set, but sweeps round without touching the horizon at all. The latitude of Thebes being 25°, the distance from the pole to the horizon is much smaller, and so the number of stars which do not rise and set is much smaller. The stars which do not rise or set are stars near the pole, and therefore stars which move very slowly, and the stars which rise most to the north and most to the south are those bodies which are moving most slowly while they yet rise or set. Can this slow rate of motion have had anything to do with such stars being selected for observation, the brightest star to the north, most slowly moving, the brightest star to the south most slowly moving? It is possible that observations of these stars might have been made in such a way that at the beginning of the evening the particular position of y Draconis, for instance, might have been noted with regard to the pole star: and seeing that the Egyptians thoroughly knew the length of the night and of the day in the different portions of the year, they could at once the moment they got the starting point afforded by the position of this star prac- tically use the circle of the stars round the north pole as the dial of a sort of celestial clock. May not this really have been the clock with which they have been credited? | However long or short the day, the star which was at first above the pole star, after it had got round so that it was on a level with it, would have gone through a quarter of its revolution. In low northern latitudes, however, the southern stars would serve better for this purpose, since the circle of northern circumpolar stars would be much restricted. Hence there was a reason in such latitudes for preferring southern stars. With regard both to high north and south stars then, we may in both cases be in presence of observations made to determine the time at night. So that the worship of Set, the determination of the time at night by means of northern stars, might have been little popular with those who at Gebel Barkal and elsewhere in the south had used the southern ones for the same pur- pose, and this may be one reason why the Theban priests, representing Nubian astronomical culture and methods, were pledged to drive the cult of Sutech out of the land. Since then the observations of y Draconis might be used to herald the sunrise almost all the year round, and since NO. 1240, VOL. 48] [AucusT 3, 1893 the modern constellation Draco is the old Hippopotamus, we can readily understand Plutarch’s statement th: “Taurt presides over the birth of the sun,” and wit Taurt or Maut should be called the Mistress of Darkness. It does not seem too much to hope that the continu: tion of such inquiries may ultimately enable us to sol several points connected with early Egyptian history. We read in Brugsch :— ? ‘‘ According to Greek tradition, the primitive abodeof the Egyptian people is to be sought in Ethiopia, and th honour of founding their civilisation should be given to a band of priests from Meroé. Descending the Nile, th are supposed to have settled near the later city of Thebes, and to have established the first state with a theocr: form of government.” “ But it is not to Ethiopian priests that the Egyp Empire owes its origin, its form of government, and i high civilisation; much rather was it the | themselves that first ascended the river to found Ethiopia temples, cities, and fortified places, and to diffus the blessings of a civilised state among the rude dé coloured population.” Hf . .. “Strange to say, the whole number of the bu ings in stone, as yet known and examined, which wer erected on both sides of the river by Egyptian and Ethiopian kings, furnish the incontrovertible proof that — the long series of temples, cities, sepulchres, and mon’ ments in general, exhibit a distinct chronological ord of which the starting point is found in the pyramids, ¢ the apex of the Delta.” J. NoRMAN LOCKYER (To be continued.) A PERIODIC MERCURY PUMP. I HAVE designed and constructed the instrument scribed in the following lines to reduce the labou of working pumps of the Sprengel class. It has prov itself to be so serviceable in our laboratory that I belie a short descripion of it may be useful to those wh are engaged in work in which the mercurial pump employed. ‘A: A is the cistern of the Sprengel pump (not shown), B a bottle having three necks: it is furnished with th: tubes, C, DD, EF; C, which has a valve at I, is attach 1 Rawlinson, i. 337. 2 Egypt under ie Pharaohs,"’ ed. 1891, p. 3- Aucust 3, 1893] NATURE 321 _toan ordinary water-pump through a wash bottle con- ining sulphuric acid (I find that which is knownas the University College pump the best):; EF dips into the cistern ‘A, and is closed at its end F by a small glass ball fitting the ground out end of thetube which acts as a valve. The tube DD dips in the cistern H into which the mercury _ from the Sprengel pump is discharged. The siphon K _ causes the supply of mercury to be periodic; upon this the action of the pump depends. By means ofa stop- cock L air is admitted to the tube DD. The mercury is raised thus: A partial vacuum is formed in B by the _ water-pump ; this raises the mercury to the point where _ Ljoins DD; a piston of mercury is then formed, and it is at once carried up into B ; this goes on till all the mercury in H is raised to B, then air is drawn through DD and the vacuum ceases in B, and the mercury falls through EF; in a short time H refills, and the operation is repeated. The instrument at work in my laboratory raises go lbs. of mercury6'5 feet high in one hour. The pump requires no attention after it has been started. The valve I stops the tube c, should the supply of water to the water- “Soe be accidentally cut off when the pump is lifting. I ve made many experiments with mercury elevators, _ and from these it appears that the periodic supply of mercury to the cistern from whence it is drawn greatly contributes to the certainty of the action of the instru- ment. FREDERICK J. SMITH. ae ay THE LATE DR. JOHN RAE. sm oie JOHN RAE, F.R.S., whose death we announced last week, was perhaps the most persevering and successful of the Arctic travellers by land whose journeys called forth the admiration of the world forty years ago. He was a native of Orkney, born in 1813, and studied medicine at Edinburgh, where he qualified in 1833. Rae was early brought face to face with his life-work, his first engagement on leaving college being as surgeon to the Hudson Bay Company’s ship which carried supplies to the fur-forts in Hudson Bay. He entered the service of the company, and for ten years lived at Moose Factory, gaining familiarity with Arctic life during the severe winters. In 1845 his true career as an Arctic explorer began in his undertaking the leadership of a small expe- dition to explore a considerable extent of the coast-line of the Arctic Sea. In June, 1846, he set out on this expe- dition from York Factory, coasted along the west side of Hudson Bay, and wintered on the shore of Repulse Bay. Early in 1847 he made an extensive land journey to the north and west, with the result that 700 miles of new coast were surveyed, almost filling the gap between Ross’s work in Boothia and Parry’s at Fury and Hecla strait. In 1850 Dr. Rae published an account of this expedition in the form of a book of 250 pages. This was, curiously enough, his only permanent contribution to geographical literature, his subsequent journeys being | recorded merely in formal reports published in the _Fournal of the Royal Geographical Society. After this journey Rae came to London, but was almost immediately induced to join the first land expedition sent to seek for Sir John Franklin, under the leadership of Sir John Richardson. The expedition was unsuccessful as to its primary purpose of finding traces of Franklin, but it effected a satisfactory survey of the whole coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers. In 1851 Rae received the command of another boat expedition for the Hudson Bay Company, in the course of which he thoroughly explored and mapped the south coast of Wollaston Land and Victoria Land, still searching vainly for traces of Franklin’s party. On his return from this arduous undertaking, which he conducted throughout with conspicuous daring and sagacity, he had to travel _ on snow-shoes, and himself dragging a sledge, across the NO. 1240, VOL. 48] whole length of Canada from the Arctic Sea, through Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) until he reached United States territory. His total walking on this expedition was over 5000 miles, of which 700 miles were traversed for the first time. On returning to England in 1852 the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society was presented to him by Sir Roderick Murchison in a speech, the cordial terms of which showed how fully Dr. Rae’s genius for Arctic travel with the minimum of equipment and at infinitesimal expense was appreci- ated by the highest authorities. In no wise deterred by the hardships of his earlier campaigns, Rae left England early in 1853 to continue his work in the far north; the Hudson Bay Company equipping an expedition on condition that he would lead it personally. He com- pleted the survey of King William’s Land on this occasion, proving it to be an island; 1100 miles of sledging were accomplished in the process, of which 400 miles were new discovery. But the really important result of this expedition was Dr. Rae’s meeting with the first evidence of Sir John Franklin’s fate, from the story of a party of wandering Eskimo. The tribe en- countered were in possession of many personal relics of members of that ill-fated expedition, which Rae secured and brought home. When he returned to England with the news so long searched for and so anxiously awaited, the Admiralty, which had spent large sums in fitting out successive‘expeditions,concluded that the fate of Franklin was decided beyond a doubt, and accordingly awarded to Dr. Rae the sum of £10,000 offered by Government to the first who brought back decisive information. The justice of this award was at the time strongly object- ed to by Lady Franklin, and although no further action was taken by Government she continued to organise private expeditions, which, while proving in effect the correctness of Dr. Rae’s information from the Eskimo, served in no small degree to advance the geographical survey of the polar area. In all his expeditions, Dr. Rae made collections of characteristic plants and animals as well as physical and meteorological observations. The material, described by other workers, went to swell the sum of our know- ledge of the general conditions of climate and life in the Arctic basin. In 1860 and subsequent years Dr. Rae made a series of interesting journeys in Iceland, Greenland, and in North America with the object of exploring and arrang- ing routes for telegraph lines. His later years were spent in this country, where he made himself conspicuous by his zeal in forwarding the volunteer movement, being himself an excellent shot. The feeling which grew upon him toa painful extent as he became older, that his brilliant explorations were not adequately recognised and acknowledged on the Admiralty charts, unfortunately somewhat embittered his last years. But to the end he took the keenest interest in Arctic travel and was ever ready to take part in discussions bearing on the region in which he had lived so long and suffered so much. He was a regular attendant at meetings of the Royal Geographical Society and Colonial Institute, and for many years attended the gatherings of the British Association. NOTES, THE Senate of Edinburgh University has conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Prof. Arthur Auwers, in recognition of his astronomical labours. The same honour has been given to Dr. Littlejohn, the President of the British Institute of Public Health. A Reuter’s telegram states that a cloud-burst occurred at Pueblo, Colorado, on July 28, and destroyed property to the 322 NATURE [Avcusrt 3, 1893 value of 25,000 dols. Seven lives were lost. The Arkansas River for many miles was turned. into a raging torrent. The buildings along the river, comprising small boarded shanties, tents, and houses occupied by workmen, proved an easy prey to the rising waters. The storm extended over a large area, and at Denver the electric street cars were prevented from run- ning by the electrical disturbances. WE are glad to see that an attempt is being made to bring together members of the Royal and learned societies by the formation of a club in which membership will be limited exclu- sively to presidents, members of council, fellows, and members of the principal Royal and learned societies of the United Kingdom, India, and the colonies, academicians and associates of the Royal Academies, together with the presidents, members of convocation, council, and professors of the Universities and various Royal institutions. The club has already been joined by many distinguished men in science, art, and literature, and forty societies are represented either by past presidents, vice- presidents, presidents, and members of council. Premises comprising the whole of the block No. 63, St. James’s Street, have been secured for the club house, which is expected to be ready for occupation early in October. The temporary offices are at 3, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. Colonel W. P. Hodnett is the hon secretary. THe sixty-first annual meeting of the British Medical Association commenced at Neweastle-on-Tyne on Tuesday. The committee on hypnotism presented a report stating that they had satisfied themselves of the genuineness of the hypnotic state, but, after a discussion, the congress decided to receive the report without adopting it. In the evening Prof. Philipson, of Durham University, delivered an address, in which he described the diseases prevalent among mining populations, and suggested means by which to improve the machinery for guarding public health. THE Congress of the British Institute of Public Health met on July 27 at Edinburgh, and the Presidential address was delivered by Dr. Henry D. Littlejohn. On the following day Mr. Ernest Hart read a paper on ‘‘ Cholera Nurseries and their Suppression.” Mr. Hart claims to have established on a basis of evidence collected from every part of Europe the dicta—founded upon the original investigations by Snow and Simon on the British epidemics of 1848 and 1854, and by him- self and Radcliffe of the East London epidemic of 1866. 1. ‘‘That cholera is a filth disease, carried by dirty people to dirty places, and diffused by specifically poisoned water.” 2, ‘*That you may eat cholera and drink cholera, but you cannot catch cholera.” 3. ‘‘That cholera may be considered for all practical purposes as an exclusively water-carried disease, and that it is carried only by water poisoned by human discharges,”’ Mecca is the nursery of cholera, holds Mr. Hart, and is the place in which to stop it. He formulates the following steps which ought to be taken to save the Mohammedans from the danger caused by their pilgrimages, to save the world from the danger caused by Mecca. 1. The Indian sanitary servicés should be re-organised. 2. A complete sanitary regulation of all Indian fairs should be undertaken, the precautions so suc- cessfully instituted at Hurdwar in 1891 being taken as a type. 3. A rigid system of medical inspection of all pilgrims should be instituted at the ports from which they start, the sick being detained and the healthy alone allowed to proceed. This, it may be added, would be all the more effectual in regard to Indian ports from the fact that a second weeding out of the infected can take placeatCamaran. 4. The medical inspection at Camaran should be so conducted as to ensure its complete efficiency. A large number of communications were read in the various sections, but the majority of them were not of general NO. 1240, VOL. 48] scientific interest. The congress was brought to a close on afternoon of July 31. In the August number of the Zntomologist’s we Magazine Lord Walsingham gives a description of the x in which the late Mr. Stainton’s collection of Lepidoptera been disposed by the Trustees of the British Museum to they were presented. The collection is now accessible students at the Natural History Museum. With regard large cabinet containing a great number of European exotic Z7txeidae, Lord Walsingham writes : “It has been mined, after making an inventory, to keep the contents of th cabinet for the present undisturbed, although it is hoped t they may be incorporated from time to time in the together with other material: for instance, my own colle (including that of the late Prof. Zeller) left by my will to Museum ; the Grote collection, still untouched as regards Derivtias and Zineidae; and the Frey collection, " I purchased by the trustees.” IN a letter to the Zimes the Vicar of Selborne solicits s scriptions in order to supply water to the village from the we head eulogised by Gilbert White. The sum required to | this is only £300, of which about £30 has been collected. ; Selborne water supply would be an excellent memorial t White, and there should be little difficulty in raising the mode amount which would lead to its realisation. THE Institution of Mechanical Engineers opened its summ meeting, on Tuesday, at Middlesbrough, under the pre: of Dr. W. Anderson, and a discussion took place on rece! velopments in the Cleveland iron and steel industries. A MEETING of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union wi held at Hellifield on August 7, for the investigation valley of the Ribble from Gisburn to Sawley Abbey. _ Ir must be gratifying to writers in English journals of sci to know that their literary labours are read and appreciated the other side of the Channel. The current number o French scientific journal of some standing contains tren tions of two articles that have appeared in these colum running altogether into nearly six pages. There are 3 eight notes which have the same derivation. Every one kno that the code of journalistic ethics is more respected | breach than the observance, yet it is rarely that one ji reprints an article which has appeared in another acknowledging the original source. However, even | briefest form of acknowledgment is omitted in the ci the articles and notes to which we have referred. probably unintentional, for no editor with any regard the reputation of his journal would purposely omit refe his contemporary, though he might, of course, over! omission. % THovuGH the feathered tribe of St. James’s Park existence remarkably free from danger, their lives without vicissitudes, if one may judge from a letter by Digby Pigott to the Zimes. It appears that on July 8 chick’s nest broke from its moorings in the dipping b a black poplar, and drifted into the open. For twelve d the hen bird, who was sitting on the nest at the time i accident, was buffetted about on the waters, yet she remai at her post. Her constancy received a reward which s doubtless regarded as sufficient recompense for all the anx for she floated safely back to the place where her raft built with two newly-hatched balls of down on her b Was there ever a dabchick that had such a happy return so long and adventurous a voyage ? : A VIOLENT sandstorm occurred at Birwalde, Pomerania, in the afternoon of April 30 last. A correspondent writing to J Wetter for June states that after a fairly bright morning, wi AucustT 3, 1893 | NATURE 323 2 light wind from south-east, the wind suddenly shifted to south- west, accompanied by heavy rain clouds. At about 2 p.m. _ some reddish-grey bands, such as are usually seen with hail- storm clouds, were observed, and rapidly spread over the sky. The whole air was literally filled with sand which the storm _ had apparently carried from a mountain about half a mile _ distant, and objects a hundred paces off were almost invisible. . The phenomenon only lasted five minutes, after which time rain _ fell and cleared the atmosphere. _ AtrHovcH some large amounts of rain have fallen in part of these islands during July, the month, as a whole, has not been exceptionally wet. The greatest excess has been in the south of England, where the fall amounted to about 2°5 inches above the average; at Cambridge the excess was 1°4 inch, and in the north of Scotland 1°3 inch. In parts of the country, however, the stations reporting to the Meteorological office showed a considerable deficiency, amounting to 1°11 inch at Holyhead, 1 inch at Leith, and o’9 inch at Yarmouth and Valencia, while in the neighbourhood of London the deficiency was about 0°3 inch. The temperature recorded at Greenwich for the month was 2° above the average of the last 50 ns ; on five days the readings exceeded 80°, THE Royal Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands has issued the second part of an atlas of observations made in the Indian Ocean, for the months of March, April, and May, the part for the first quarter having been published about three years since, ‘The work has been drawn up with great care, the observations having been carefully examined for instrumental errors, and the data supplied by their own observers have been supplemented by observations from the London Meteorological Office, so that the results are both reliable and fairly complete. Among the principal charts we may mention those of the sur- face temperature of the sea, in which the limits of the warm and cold currents are clearly marked, especially to the south of the Cape of Good Hope. The currents of the ocean are represented by six charts, showing in two colours the obser- vations plotted in position, and also arrows showing the general drift. The isobaric curves show a certain regularity in the monthly changes; for instance, there is a small centre of high Pressure, 30°2 inches, in March, between 33° and 38° S. lat., and 87° and 91° E. long., while the isobar of 30°1 inches only extends from long. 82°to 102°E. In April this isobar extends over the whole Southern Indian ocean, from Africa to Austra- lia ; that of 30°2 inches also extends over the same area, while acentre of 30°3 inches is found at lat. 30° S., between 90° and 95° E. long. In the month of May the conditions are nearly similar to those of March ; the centre of 30°3 inches has disap- peared, the isobars of 30°2 inches and 30°1 inches lie more to the north, and another centre of 30°! inches is formed, which extends from the coast of Africa to 75° E. long. The charts of air temperature are very similar to those of the sea-surface temperature, the temperature of the air being rather lower than that of the water. THE success which followed Loeffler’s attempt to root out the mouse plague in Thessaly by means of his bacil/us typhi murium has not apparently been so uniform in other and similar epi. demics. But Loeffler, although quite recently acknowledging its failure in some cases, does not attribute this to any short- comings in his bacillus, but rather to the lack of care and intelligence in those entrusted with the carrying out of the plan of campaign. The question has been reopened quite lately by the publication in a Stuttgart paper of some investigations made by Liipke on the efficacy of Loeffler’s microbe. According to these researches, the bacillus in question is not endowed with all the virtues which have hitherto been ascribed to it, and Liipke states that although in his experiments weakly mice succumbed, NO. 1240, VOL. 48] some rapidly, andsome only at the end of fifteen days after being fed with it, vigorous specimens invariably resisted its action, and, further, were rendered immune, so that even subcutaneous inocu- lations of the bacillus failed to destroy them. In consequence of these results Laser (Centralblatt f. Bacteriologie, vol. xiii. May, 1893) has brought forward an organism, Jdacil/us der Miéiuse- seuche-Laser, which he isolated during an epidemic which broke out amongst the mice kept for experimental purposes in the hygienic laboratory at Kénigsberg. This bacillus threatens to become a formidable rival to Loeffler’s microbe, for, appar- ently, whilst its action on field mice is more rapid and more certain than the latter, it is quite as harmless to other animals such as horses, guinea-pigs, pigeons, cats. The experiments require, however, further expansion and confirmation, and it is to be hoped that Laser will pursue his investigations, which may lead to the discovery of a satisfactory means of suppressing the farmers’ dé¢e-noire. Ir has been proved during the last few years that at depths of more than 100 fathoms, the water of the Black Sea contains so much sulphuretted hydrogen that it is totally unfit for organic life. The amount of sulphuretted hydrogen increases with depth, and attains 655 cubic centimetres in one hundred litres at a depth of 1185 fathoms. In order to determine whether this gas is a product of micro-organisms, samples of ooze, which had been brought to the surface by Thomson’s apparatus from various depths of 16, 40, 389, 870, and 1207 fathoms, have been carefully analysed at the Odessa bacteriological station. The analyses show that the ooze contains several different species of micro-organisms, all of which are capable of producing sulphuretted hydrogen. One of these is endowed with this capacity to a high degree. Its dark coffee-coloured pigment gradually becomes black when the microbe is cultivated on agar- agar with free admission of air; but its elongated, mobile rods an live under anaérobic conditions as well, and in such a case the exhalation of sulphuretted hydrogen is increased. The name of Bacillus hydrosulfuricus Ponticus has been given to the microbe. Further research has proved that the bacillus re- mains active, not only in cultures of albumen substances, but also in such as contain no sulphur of organic origin, but only mineral sulphates (gypsum), and sulphites. The multiplication of this bacillus thus does not require an accumulation of con- siderable amounts of decaying animal matters at the bottom, for it lives chiefly upon the cellulose of vegetable remains, and breathes the oxygen of the sulphates of mineral origin which it decomposes. S1x samples of ice obtained from London depéts and restaur- ants have been subjected to chemical and bacteriological analysis in the Zancet laboratory. The outcome of the inquiry is stated as follows :—‘‘(1) By far the greater proportion of ice supplied in London is natural (generally Norwegian). Of the specimens procured only one had been produced artificially, and this specimen gave indifferent results on chemical analysis, but results of an eminently satisfactory kind in the light of bacteriological inquiry, practically no development of colonies of organisms taking place on culture. (2) Two out of five specimens of ice imported into this country from Norway, whilst yielding a satisfactory chemical analysis, were decidedly bad according to bacteriological examination, the number of colonies of organisms counted on culture varying from 400 to 700 per cubic centi- metre of the melted ice. (3) Three out of five specimens of im- ported ice, though furnishing no condemnatory evidence on chemical examination, yielded bacteriological results such as might under certain circumstances give rise to suspicion, though they may be regarded as of fairly good quality.” It is therefore urged thatice for table use should always be produced by the artificial freezing of freshly-distilled or sterilised water. 324 NATURE {AveustT 3, 1893 q IN the ‘‘ Monthly Report of the Maryland State Weather Ser- vice” for May, 1893, Prof. W. B. Clark again refers to ‘‘ The Leading Features of Maryland Climate” (see NATURE, vol. xlvii. p. 585), giving tables of temperature, rainfall, &c. The same parallels of latitude show great variations in climate due to the complexity of the surface configuration. In the same Report Prof. Clark describes ‘* The Available Water-power of Maryland,” only a small portion of which is at present utilised. Most of this occurs in the Piedmont Plateau, the central area of Maryland bounded by the Coastal Plain and the Appalachian Region. The north fork of the Potomac, draining an area of about 1300 square miles, has a maximum discharge of over 700 times its minimum. This great variability, which is nearly fatal to the extensive use of water- power on this river, is attributed to the absence of lakes, the steepness of the mountain-sides, and the narrowness of the val- leys. Some of the tributaries of the north fork are fairly constant in flow. WE learn from the Botanical Gazette that the University of Minnesota has established an inland biological station at Gall Lake, in Minnesota. The laboratory of marine biology of the University of Pennsylvania, at Sea Island City, New Jersey, is mow open for its third summer session. The same journal jnforms us that Baron von Miiller is intending to publish a volume which shall complete Bentham’s ‘‘ Flora Australiensis.” Messrs. KRIGAR MENZEL AND Raps have contributed an- other instalment of their work on the motion of vibrating strings to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Their beautiful experi. ments on the continued vibrations of bowed strings have been supplemented by the photographic study of the peculiar motions exhibited by plucked strings. To confine the vibrations strictly to one plane, and also to control the instant of exposure, a special plucking apparatus was designed. The string was kept resting against a small plate in the vertical plane by means of a hook which could be released by pressing upon a lever. The motion of the lever also closed a circuit which released the instantaneous shutter of the camera. The wire vibrated in front of a slit illuminated by an arc light, an image of the slit being projected upon the wire so that the screen of the camera showed a well-defined bright slit interrupted by a dark spot where it was crossed by the wire. This dark spot would vibrate during the oscillation of the string, and a trace of its motion was obtained by receiving the image upon a revolving drum covered with bromide emulsion paper. The point at which the string was plucked was determined by observing the interval between the sounds emitted by the two parts on either side of the hook. Different vibrating points along the string were photographed, and beautiful white-on-black traces were obtained. The general type of these is represented by a zig-zag line with straight flat portions at the top and bottom of each wave. All the component lines are straight, showing that the point of the string moved from one extreme of displacement to the other at constant velocity, then had a period of complete rest, and afterwards returned to the first position, again at constant velocity. As the vibrations succeeded each other, the top and bottom portions gradually slanted towards the middle, some of them showed ripples, and the up and down lines exhibited a slight convexity towards the left, z.e. the past. The authors further showed that all these observations are to be explained by the accepted theory of the vibration of strings, as worked out by Kundt and others. THE last number of the Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers contains an important paper by Mr. W. B. Sayers on the prevention and control of sparking ; continuous-current dynamos without winding on the field magnets, and constant- NO. 1240, vou. 48] pressure dynamos without series winding. Both Mr. Swinburn and Mr. Esson have given expressions for the maximum load, which can be carried without sparking, in terms of thé ampere-turns upon the armature, the length of the air-space, angle subtended by the polar surfaces of the field magnets, the forward induction. Thus in ordinary ring and drum arma- ture machines the considerations of sparking limit some of th most important elements in the design of the machine. So th: t the lightening of machines by putting the conductors in tun nel: reducing the air-space to a mere clearance, which is the cond in which minimum exciting force is required, has not bee hitherto practicable. In order to secure the sparkless : of the commutator section under the collecting brush at any desired place between the horns of the pole-pieces, the author has designed a machine whose chief peculiarities are as follows:— The air-space is a mere clearance—one millimetre. The re- versal of the sections is effected by inductors, or coils, w h he calls commutator coils, and are independent of the wind These commutator coils are not inserted in the closed re-entrant circuit of the ring or drum, but are inserted — the connections that run at intervals from the re-en ant winding to the several bars of the commutator. The functior of these coils is to furnish electromotive forces that will balance those due to back-induction and self-induction in the sections as they are successively reversed. These commutator coils are so arranged as to be acted on by the pole-tip which is strengthened by the armature current, and the brushes of t machine when run as a generator are set with a backward lea¢ instead of a forward one. ‘These auxiliary coils also permit o! the reversal of the armature sections just after they have emerge from under the strengthened pole, the result being that t turns of the armature which have hitherto been called back tur become forward turns, and the effect of the cross induction is t increase the reversing field instead of to diminish it. Th machine is self-exciting by means of the armature windings onl that is, it generates a current without any winding on the fiel magnets, which may, therefore, more properly be called keeper and runs absolutely without sparking at the brushes. i APPARENTLY Humboldt’s description of the com designedly brought about between wild horses and elects eels, in order to effect the capture of the latter, has the way of many others. A writer in the Spectator, | has travelled on the Ilanos of Caraccas—the scene Humboldt’s account—says that he failed to find any firmation of this method of capture. He adds that th who have investigated the matter have come to the conclusic that ¢rembladores, as the eels are termed, could not be with the help of horses. The method of capture us adopted is by nets, and it is found that by wearing indiar gloves, the fish can be handled with impunity. F ose Tue Photographic Annual for 1893, edited by Mr. E Sturmey, has been published by Messrs. Iliffe and Son. is a remarkably fine production, and contains a vast store formation of interest to all concerned with photography various applications. Among articles of bibliograp portance we note one on the progress of photographic chi during 1892, by Mr. C. H. Bothamley, and Mr. Albert Ta concise description of all that was done in astronomical ] graphy during the same year. Photography in rela io meteorology is the work of the late Mr. G. M. Whipple ; Mr. Chapman Jones is responsible for a portion of the volun devoted to photographic optics. In addition to this section the making of photographic history, there is one containi articles on “ Practical Subjects by Practical Men,” which consi chiefly of ‘‘dodges” devised by devotees of the art. Nume! excellent specimens of half-tone engravings embellish the pa} ; the auspices of the International Union of Photography and the National Union of Photographic Societies in France. Some _-of the illustrations in it are marvellous examples of photographic a AucustT 3, 1893] NATURE 370 of the book, and render it one of the best publications of its kind. Another excellent work of the same kind as the preceding vis the ‘‘ Annuare Général de la Photographie,” published under reproduction. Messrs. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND Co. have published a pamphlet by Mr. John Sime containing an account of the work of Sir Francis Ronalds, F.R.S., in connection with electric ‘telegraphy. In an essay, entitled ‘‘ Descriptions of an Elec- trical Telegraph,” published as early as 1823, Ronalds gave an account of his experiments in sending signals through a line of overhead wires erected in 1816 in the garden of the house at Hammersmith now occupied by Mr. William Morris, the dis- ‘tinguished poet. A tablet commemorating the fact has been placed on a wall of the house, Says Mr. Sime—‘‘ Twenty years before Wheatstone and Cooke or Morse had patented their amprovements in the telegraph—indeed, while the first two were respectively lads of twelve and fourteen years of age— ‘Ronalds had sent messages over eight miles of overhead wires -of his own construction, and had laid and worked a serviceable underground line of telegraph of sufficient length to demon- strate the practicability of communication by telegraph between long distances.” THE first part of ‘‘ A Study of the Languages of Torres Straits,” with vocabularies and grammatical notes, was read before the ‘Royal Irish Academy two years ago by Mr. Sidney H. Ray and Prof. A. C. Haddon. The paper has been reprinted, and is published by the Dublin University Press. It is of scientific importance, because a study of the languages in the neighbour- hood of Torres Straits must throw some light on the relations between Papuans and Australians. The three Papuan languages of the district with which the authors deal are (1) the Miriam ; (2) the Saibai; (3) the Daudai. Mr. AuBREY RICHARDSON, a son of Sir B. W. Richardson, F.R.S., has brought together the ancient and modern law relat- ‘ing to cremation, together with the rules and regulations of various cremation societies at home and abroad, in a book entitled ‘‘The Law of Cremation,” published by Messrs. Reeves and Turner. ll interested in the legal aspect of cremation would do well to obtain it. Two more volumes of the excellent series of reprints being published by Engelmann, of Leipzig, have -been issued. No. 41 is Dr. KGlreuter’s ‘* Preliminary notice of some experiments and observations on the Sex of Plants” (1761-1766), and No. 42 contains a communication made by Humboldt and Gay- Lussac in 1805 on ‘‘ The Volume Law of Gaseous Compounds.” THE annual report of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi- ‘ment Station for 1892 has been received. Among the investi- gations carried on during the year, was one dealing with the chemical composition of different parts of the tobacco plant in different stages of growth, and another on the chemical changes which take place in tobacco during the fermentation in the Messrs. W. Couns, Sons, AND Co. have issued an ** Acoustics,” by Mr. W. Lees. It is an extension of the portion devoted to sound in the author’s book on ‘Sound, Light, and Heat,” and is adapted to meet the requirements of the new syllabus of the Science and Art Department. ‘* ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ”—an illustrated monthly maga- zine published in Chicago—gives in each number an excellent synoptical index of current electrical literature. NO. 1240, VOL. 48] A NEw edition of ‘‘ Practical Solid Geometry,” by Mr. J. Payne, that has just been published by Mr. Thomas Murby, contains, in addition, a section on graphic arithmetic and statics by Mr. J. J. Prince. MEssrs. CHARLES GRIFFIN AND Co. have issued a second edition of Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole’s useful book, ‘‘ Aids to Practical Geology.” WE have received the second volume of ‘‘ Faunz Mediter- ranez,” in which Mr. J. C Carns continues his descriptive lists of animal life in the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. THE Museum and Laboratory report of the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey of New Zealand has been issued. AN interesting memoir upon the action of liquefied ammonia on the anhydrous chlorides of chromium and iron is contributed by Prof. Christensen, of Copenhagen, to the Zettschrift fir Anorganische Chemie, The products of the reaction in the case of chromium are two of the best known of the remarkable ammoniacal compounds of that metal, namely those to which the somewhat formidable names of purpureo- and Juteo-chro- mium chloride have been given, which compounds have con- sequently now for the first time been obtained by direct synthesis. Purpureo-chromium chloride may be represented empirically by the formula CrCl,;. 5NH;; its constitution, however, is usually represented as ClCr . 5NH,. Cl, inasmuch as two of the chlorine atoms are much more readily replaceable than the third. ‘The compound crystallises in small carmine- red octahedrons. Luteo-chromium chloride contains one more molecule of ammonia in its composition; it is represented empirically by the formula CrCl, . 6NH;. It is a very soluble substance, but yields a-precipitate of the nitrate with nitric acid, which takes the form of lustrous yellow plates. The synthetical experiments of Prof. Christensen were briefly as follows :—A small quantity of violet chromium chloride, pre- viously thoroughly dried at z00°, was placed in a small glass beaker immersed in a freezing mixture consisting of solid carbon dioxide and ether, and liquid ammonia (N Hs) was slowly added to it. No reaction was found to occur at this temperature, but upon removing the beaker and contenis from the freezing mixture and warming it with the hand, at the moment when the temperature approached that of the boiling-point of ammonia (— 38°'5), a sudden interaction took place, accom- panied by a hissing noise, and resulting in the conversion of the chromium chloride into a red mass largely consisting of the purpureo-chloride. The excess of ammonia was usually elimi- nated as gas, but ifa very large excess was employed a portion of it remained as unchanged liquid capable of reacting with a further quantity of chromic chloride. At the conclusion of the reaction the product was washed with cold water and hydro- chloric acid, finally dissolved in water and the solution allowed to fall into concentrated hydrochloric acid, in which the purpureo-chloride is insoluble, when the small red crystals of the pure salt were precipitated. The first aqueous wash- ings of the product of the reaction were always yellow and yielded a yellow crystalline precipitate of the , luteo-nitrate upon the addition of concentrated nitric acid. Hence the product of the action of liquid ammonia upon anhydrous chromic chloride would appear to consist of both purpureo- and luteo-chromic chloride, the latter, however, in smaller quantity than the former. The reaction between anhydrous ammonia and chromic chloride occurs only between comparatively narrow temperature limits. At the ordinary tem- perature gaseous ammonia is without action. If the chloride is cooled by a mixture of ice and salt, there is a minute quantity only of purpureo-chloride produced after a considerable length of time. Even when a freezing mixture of crystallised calcium 326 NATURE [AuGustT 3, 1893 chloride and ice is employed, the amount of interaction is but insignificant. It is only in the neighbourhood of the boiling- point of ammonia {-38°'5) that the vigorous reaction above referred to occurs, and the action practically ceases immediately above and below this point. Pror. CHRISTENSEN has made the further interesting obser vation that anhydrous ferric chloride, FeCl3, likewise reacts with liquefied ammonia. ‘The reaction occurs the moment the liquid touches the chloride, even when surrounded by a freezing mixture of solid carbon dioxide and ether. The product of the reaction is an orange compound probably consisting of an ammoniacal compound analogous to purpureo-chromic chloride. It is, however, more unstable than the latter compound, rapidly evolving ammonia at the ordinary temperature, and it is com- pletely decomposed by water, even the moisture of the air rapidly converting it into a mixture of ferric oxide and sal- ammoniac. Notes from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Polyclad Prosthecereus vittatus, the Crustacea /dotea linearis, Schistomysis spiritus, Crangon trispinosus, Polybius Henslowit and Portunus holsatus, and the Mollusca Calyptrea chinensis, Polycera Lessonii and Galvina Farrant. In the floating fauna there has been a marked in- crease in the numbers of the Siphonophore Muggiea atlantica, which has been present in the townettings from time to time for several weeks past. The larve of the Polychete Chetopterus insignis have made their first appearance for the year, and numbers of the Dinoflagellate Peridinium and of Echinoid Piutet have also been taken. The following animals are now breeding :—The Polychzte Chetopterus insignis, the Isopod , Idotea linearis, the Schizopoda Mysidopsis gibbosa and Schisto- mysis spiritus, and the Decapod Crangon trispinosus. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Yaguarundi Cat (Felis yaguarundi), a Brazilian Hare (Lepus brasiliensis) from Brazil, presented by Mr. J. E. Wolfe, C.M.Z.S. ; a Common Paradoxure (Para- doxurus typus) from India, presented by Mrs. Oswald Walmesley ; two Azara’s Foxes (Canis azarae), a Crab-eating Raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus) from South America, presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S.; two Common Foxes (Cans vulpes) British, presented by Mr. Reginald Chandos Pole ; a Red Deer (Cervus elaphus, 2 ) British, presented by Mr. C. J. H. Tower, F.Z.S.; a Spotted Eagle (Aguiia clanga) from India, pre- sented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; a Golden Eagle (Agudla chrysaitus) from Scotland, presented by Mr, Hugh Cameron Ross ; a European Pond Tortoise (Amys europoea), European, presented by Mdlle. Lajeunesse ; four Midwife Toads (Adytes obstetricans) from Belgium, presented by Prof. Gustav Gilson ; a Crab-eating Opossum (Didelphys cancrivorus) from Tropical America, an Australian Cassowary (Caswarius australis) from Australia, an American Tapir (Zapirus americanus), an American Jabiru (AZycteria americana) from British Guiana, a Wild Cat (Feds catus), European, deposited. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. METEOR SHOWERS.—In the following list of radiant-points of meteor showers, which we owe to Mr. Denning (Companion to Observatory, 1893), that dated for August 10 is stated as being the radiant of a most brilliant shower. Radiant. 1893. a, é. Meteors. ° August 4... 30 + 36 Swift: streaks 10 oe 4G + 57 Swift : streaks FOS 2 6F + 48 Swift: streaks SEL AS AIR + 41 Swift: streaks 20 i PaOt + 60 Slow : bright Pe Sars emf + 50 Swift: streaks 2h se 5 + 11 Slow : short NO. 1240, VOL. 48 Se | CoMET FINLAY, 1893.—The following is the ephemeris for this comet for the ensuing week :— 12h. M.T. Paris. 1893 oo app. Decl. app. eM is, o ; August 3 5 30 g'o 22 37 54°4 4 pis 34 9°4 ve 22 43 18°4 5 ace 38 7°9 ie 22 17°3 6 A 42 -4°4 oe 22 52 51°7 7 45 58°9 2257 21 8 49 51°4 230 489 9 cn 53 418 sae 23 4 12°38 10 cas 5 57 30°2 te 23°'7 14°35" RORDAME-QUENISSET COMET, 1893.—In Astronomischer Nachrichten, No. 3174, several observations of this comet inserted. Prof. E. Lamp, July 10, describes the comet as o’'6 diam., brighter in centre, but no proper nucleus. Dr. F. Restenpart for the next day gives the diameter as 4’, the nucleus being of the 5° magnitude with a shining nebulous envelop Prof. Schen, for the same day (July 11), estimates the diam as 2', and says, that by the 12th the brightness had distinc increased. On the 13th Herr. Archenhold describes the as nearly one-half a magnitude dimmer than a Urse Majo of an intense blue colour, and a nucleus 1’ in diameter. — Bigourdan (Comptes Rendus for July 17, No. 3) describes t comet (July 16) as a round nebula of 3'°5 diam., with asm stellar nucleus of 2” to 3” diam., surrounded by a brillian nebulosity. This nebulosity had a diameter of about 20”. EARTH MOVEMENTS.—In the account of the pendulum observations made by Herr E. von Rebeur-Paschwitz, atten- tion was frequently drawn to the fact that in several cases earth motions or disturbances, the records indicated that som times one followed the other in a short space of time, such two to three hours, a hint being thrown out that these doub perturbations originated from one_ shock. Happen! examine one of the volumes of the ‘‘ Transactions of the Sei mological Society of Japan,” Herr Paschwitz was surprised find that the earthquake at Kumamato, a town on the coast of the Island of Kiusiu (lat. 32°°8, long. E. 130°7), whi occurred on July 28, 1889, was the severest that had taken pla in Japan in that year, and its time of occurrence coincided wi the double perturbation that was recorded at Potsdam Wilhelmshaven (Astronomischen Nachrichten, No. 3174.) ducing the most probable times for,the arrival of the chief turbance at a mean place (long. 10°61 E., lat. + 52°97) © obtained the hours, 3°47h. and 6*1toh. M.T. Greenwic From this point the distance of Kumamato, a a great circle, is about 8860 kilometres, the complement of t great circle amounting to 31,140 kilometres. Taking into | sideration the difference of time of 9h. 19°3m., and that earthquake occurred at 3h. 28:2m, M. Greenwich time, he duced the time difference of 67°5m. and 225°*3m., or of movement of the wave, as 2°188 and 2°304 kilometre: about 2°3, taking into account the time inaccuracies. This v was obtained approximately also from the Japan earthqu April 18 of the same year, the distance being 9000km,, the ti difference 64°3m., the velocity of propagation resi 2°334km. * ‘é OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING THE ECLIPSE OF APRI 1893.—In the Memorie della Soctetd degli Spettrose Jtaliani for June, 1893, several communications are made cerning observations made at the time of the last solar e Lona at Palermo, Eugenio, Garibaldi, and Tacchini a their time observations, while Fenyi, in addition to these, a list of the biogas observed at a height of at least ; the epoch of the total eclipse at Chili and Brazil. The f ing is the list referred to :— M.T. Greenwich. Position. N. by E. M Biya h, m. aeay z ° 0 55 201 4-169 30 —59 W. 112... (130 50-124 32. — 64 E. 25°. 95548 98 34 IEE. 2; Se 60 6-53 16 + 9E. et a 33. 24- 28 30 Ss + 33. E. — |... 295 24-294 26 +51 W. — os ay +48 W. — .. 287 8-286 30 +42 W. 1 47. 55. 233.40-220 22 — 13: W, AucusT 3, 1893] NATURE 327 Father Fenyi gives also a very exhaustive table, or rather dia- ; omg of all the minor disturbances at this time, showing how were situated with respect to the axis of the sun at the time . 2 of the eclipse. THE OBSERVATORY OF YALE UNIVERSITY.—Dr, Elkin reports as follows to the Board of Managers of the Observatory of Yale University :—‘‘ The work with the heliometer has been carried forward during the past year in the directions outlined in my last report. We have examined so far fifty-one stars of large proper motion making in general three sets of measures at each parallax maximum. We have not, however, been able to keep the reductions quite up to date, so that I cannot at this moment give any definite results of our search for large parallaxes. I have also continued the series of parallax measures on the first magnitude stars—Aldebaran, Procyon, Regulus, Arcturus, and Vega having been followed up this year. Dr. Chase has continued the work on Algol, and has commenced a series on 8 Cygni to test the large parallax deduced by Mr. canted from the Rutherfurd photographic plates. He has also engaged upon and nearly completed the reduction of his measurements in Coma Berenices. Miss Palmer has been mainly occupied with the computations of our series on Jupiter’s satellites, a work of considerable extent.’ The record is one which Dr. Elkin must regard with the satisfaction that comes to all who make a good use of time. _ASTRONOMISCHEN GESELLSCHAFT.—The following are the articles contributed to the first and second parts of the Vierteljahrschrift der Astronomischen Gesellschaft for 1893 :— H. Gyldén, ‘‘ Untersuchungen iiber die Convergenz der Reihen welche zur Darstellung der Co-ordinaten der Plane- ten angewendet werden,” and ‘‘ Nouvelles recherches sur \les _séries employé dans les Théories des planétes;” E. Anding, Lambert’s Photometrie, ‘‘ Photometria sive de men- sura et gradibus luminis, coloram et umbrz; Robert Grant, Second Glasgow Catalogue of 2156 Stars for the Epoch 1890 ; J. G. Porter, a Catalogue of 1340 Proper Motion Stars; and Charles Pritchard, Researches in Stellar Parallax by the Aid of Photography. There isa list also of all the planet discoveries and comet appearances of the year 1892. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. Dr. H. R. Mrvv has recently made a systematic bathymetri- cal survey of the larger lakes of Cumberland and Lancashire, the cost being defrayed by a grant from the council of the Royal Geographical Society. The soundings designed to _ delineate the general configuration of the various lake basins, were made at close intervals along a series of lines cross- ing the lake at right angles to its axis, and never more than half a mile apart. These tranverse sections were connected by oblique sections, along which the soundings were more widely spaced, and in addition longitudinal sections were made when- ver it was practicable to do so. In Derwentwater the greatest is found was 72 feet, but the surface of the lake was much ow its usual level, being lower, probably, than has ever pre- viously been recorded, Bassenthwaite Lake, though simpler in configuration, was found to have about the same maximum d epth. Ullswater, the largest lake in England except Windermere, was found to have a depth of 208 feet, but it is quite pos- sible that deeper soundings might be obtained. This lake was remarkably interesting on account of its division into a series of deep basins separated from each other by wide bars, from the most pronounced of which a rocky islet rises showing the charac- teristic marks of ice-erosion very clearly. Coniston Lake is simpler, being one practically straight deep trough, the deepest part of which is at least 184 feet below the surface. Wastwater was similar in configuration, though of much greater depth, an area one mile long and a quarter of a mile wide being deeper than 250 feet. The flatness of the floor of this depression may be judged by the fact that 258 feet was the greatest depth found in it. Se a of the deposit from different parts of each lake were secured, and will be examined by a specialist. ‘Tempera- ture o) tions were also made. It is probable that a similar survey of Windermere will be undertaken in the beginning of September. Mr. F. G. Jackson sailed last week with a complete equip- ment for Nova Zembla, where he intends to spend next winter alone, exploring the island and thus gaining practical experience NO. 1240, VOL. 48] to aid him in his ultimate attempt to reach the North Pole by Franz Josef Land. THE Paris Geographical Society promotes. the study of geography amongst its members by conversational meetings for the discussion of various geographical problems. There are three groups of subjects: (1) mathematical and physical geography ; (2) ethnography, anthropology, and the geographical distribution of plants and animals; and (3) historical and economic geography. Those willing to read papers or take part in the discussions at any group enter their names, and are notified of the meetings of their particular section by the general secretary, Theimportance of this method of promoting an.active interest in geography is very considerable, and might well be introduced in this country, where the advantages of in- formal discussion are rarely recognised. THE authorities of Owen’s College, Manchester, have decided that Mr. Yule Oldham may continue his duties there con- currently with those of the lectureship of geography at Cam- bridge University to which he was recently appointed. CELEBRATION OF THE ROTHAMSTED JUBILEE. “THE weather fortunately permitted the celebration on July 29 to take place, as originally intended, in the open air. The lawn in front of the laboratory was filled by the subscribers to the jubilee fund, while, on the common adjoining, a large crowd of spectators was assembled. The memorial erected in front of the laboratory consists of a natural boulder of Shap granite, weighing nearly eight tons, standing on a rough granite base. On one side of the boulder a part of the surface has been dressed and polished, and bears the following inscription :— To commemorate the completion of Fifty years of continuous experiments (the first of their kind) in Agriculture conducted at Rothamsted by Sir John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbert A.D. MDCCCXCIII. The chair was taken by the Right Hon. Herbert Gardner, M.P., Minister of Agriculture, at 3 p.m. The Secretary of the Jubilee Committee, Mr. Ernest Clarke, then read a list of names of persons who had sent letters or telegrams regretting their absence on the occasion. The list was a long one, and included H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, H.R.H. Prince Christian, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Kelvin, Mr. Chaplin, Sir G. Stokes, Prof. Huxley, L. Pasteur, P. Dehérain, E. Tisserand, E. Wolff, F. Nobbe, the Associa- tion of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment’ Stations in the United States, and many others. The Chairman said they had met to do honour, as far as lay in their power, in the name of agriculture and of the agricul- tural classes, to two distinguished men, who had rendered in- valuable services to our great national industry, and to dedicate that day an outward and enduring memorial of the admiration which the agricultural world felt for the work which they had accomplished. Nothing could be more appropriate for such a purpose than the massive granite boulder which they saw before them. It had already witnessed many of the experiments of nature ; they hoped it might stand for many generations to come, as an outward and visible sign of the manner in which the life-long work of Lawes and Gilbert had been appreciated by the men of their time. He believed, although Sir John Lawes commenced the work of his life as far back as about 1834, it was only in 1843 that the actual field experiments, on which our reliable records were founded, were begun, and in which he was joined by Dr. Gilbert, who had since been the partner of the labours of his life; they were, therefore, commemorating the jubilee of both gentlemen. It must be interesting to all at such g 328 NATURE [AucustT 3, 1893 moment to recall the varied succession of agricultural pros- perity and depression those two had seen during the past fifty years. During that period their friends had seen wheat rise as far as 78s. He thought that was in 1855; and, he re- gretted to say, since he had had the honour to be President of the Board of Agriculture, it had fallen as low as 24s. 8d. in May last, making a difference of 50s. per quarter. Ina meeting like the present, so interested in agricultural subjects, he might say that he thought the development of steam ocean traffic had done more than Free Trade to bring down the price of wheat. There was one ray of hope—he admitted it was a very small one— with regard to the present low and phenomenal prices of wheat. There seemed little doubt, from a calculation he had made, that the extremely low prices were partly due to the extraor- dinary reserves of that article they had in the country since this 1891. The normal reserve of wheat in this country was calcu- lated to be about 2,000,000 quarters, but since 1891 that reserve, following upon the scare of Russian famine, rose at a bound to over 6,000,000 quarters. At the present moment it had fallen again by something like 2,000,000, and as there was every reason to expect there would not be the same influx of wheat into our country in the present year as there had been in the past, it was possible, when the reserve reached the normal standard again that prices might recover. A memorial more enduring than the granite boulder before them was furnished by the published records of the experi- ments. It would always be a pleasant recollection to him to know that since he had occupied his present position he had been able to place some fifty memorials of Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert over the country amongst agricultural institu- sions—he alluded to copies of their works, which, with the sanction of the Treasury, he had been able to purchase at the public expense. Mr. Gardner, in conclusion, said it was with the sincerest pleasure and profoundest respect he expressed to Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert, in the names of the agriculturists of this country, their felicitations on their jubilee, and their hopes that they might long enjoy the honour and admiration of all classes of their fellow-countrymen. The Duke of Westminster said he owed the agreeable position he occupied on that occasion to the fact that he was the ex- President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and that during his year of office he had been chosen President of the Rothamsted Jubilee Fund. He had the pleasure of asking Sir John Lawes to accept his own portrait, painted by Mr, Her- komer, and he hoped Lady Lawes, their children, and grand- children would consider it worthy alike of the subject which it represented and of the old walls which it was destined to adorn. He had further to present both to Sir John and to Dr. Gilbert an illuminated address, signed on behalf of the subscribers by the Prince of Wales, and couched in the following terms .— “To Sir JoHN BENNET LAWES, BART., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.,. &c. ‘‘On behalf of the Committee of the Rothamsted Jubilee Fund and of the numerous subscribers to that fund in all parts of the world, I offer you the most hearty congratulations on the completion of half a century’s uninterrupted investigation of agricultural problems of the highest practical value and interest.” ‘* These investigations, which originated with you, relate not only to the growth of cereal and other crops under the most varying conditions, but also to the economic effect of different foods on the development of the animals of the farm, They have embraced, moreover, most important researches con- cerning the chemical constituents of soils, the rainfall, drain- age waters, and the sources from which plants derive their supply of nitrogen.” ‘* During the whole of this period of fifty years you have had the zealous co-operation of your lifelong friend Dr. Joseph Henry Gilbert, whose name will ever be associated with yours, and whom jointly with you we desire on the present occasion to congratulate.” ; ‘*For the continuance of the experiments and investigations which have already extended over so long a period, you have munificently provided by the establishment of the Lawes Agri- cultural Trust, so that our successors will profit even more, if possible, than we of the present day have done by your en- lightened labours.” ‘* The Memorial which is now erected will, it is hoped, pre- NO. 1240, VOL. 48] serve your joint names in honoured remembrance for centurie to come, while the portrait that is presented to you h it! will hand down to future generations the likeness of one of the most disinterested as well as the most scientific of our public benefactors,” ‘* ALBERT EpwarpD P.” ** July 29, 1893.” “*To JosepH Henry GILBERT, M.A., Pu.D,, LL.D., q F.R.S., &c. = ‘*In celebrating the Jubilee of the Rothamsted Agricultu Experiments, it is impossible to dissociate your name from that of Sir John Lawes, and on behalf of the subscribers to the Rothamsted Jubilee Fund in all parts of the world I offer you the most hearty congratulations on the completion of your fifty years of continuous labours in the cause of agricults science.” : ‘« The nature and importance of those labours are so well known that it is needless to dilate upon them ; but if the institution of the various investigations and experiments carried out at Rotham- sted has been due to Sir John Lawes, their ultimate succes has been in a great measure secured by your scientific skill a: unremitting industry. Moreover, by your lectures and writings you have been a leading exponent in this and other countries the theoretical and practical aspects of the researches that havi been undertaken at Rothamsted.” , ** A collaboration such as yours with Sir John Lawes, alr extending over a period of upwards of fifty years, is unexampled in the annals of science. I venture to hope for an extended pro longation of these joint labours, and trust that the names Lawes and Gilbert, which for so many years have been alrno inseparable, may survive in happy conjunction for centuries come.” “July 29, 1893.” Continuing, the Duke said it was also his pleasing duty toa Dr. Gilbert to accept, on behalf of the subscribers, the handso silver plate which was before them, and which bore the insc tion—‘‘ Presented by the subscribers to the Rothamsted Jubi Fund to Dr. Joseph Henry Gilbert, F.R.S., in commemoratic of the completion of 50 years of unremitting labour in the cw of agricultural science, 29 July, 1893.” i M. Johannet then read an address from the Société des Agi culteurs de France, and M. Aubin, from the same Institutic followed with a congratulatory speech delivered in French. The Duke of Devonshire, President of the Royal Agricult Society, said they had not come there to make speeches, bt do honour to the benefactors of their country. He appeai that afternoon, in the name of the 11,000 members of th great Society, to present to Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert illuminated addresses which were upon the table, and to 0 them their most hearty congratulations on the completi half a century’s investigations at Rothamsted. The Roth experiments were a model of what all experimental ing) ought to be; they had stimulated the carrying out on a scale of other experiments, as those at Woburn and numerous local societies. ‘‘ Practice with Science” motto of their Society ; it might well be applied to Rot work, which had shed light on many of the vexed questi practical agriculture. For forty-five years the Society hadh advantage of the personal advice and assistance of Lawes as a member of its council, and it was proud to r in Dr. Gilbert one of the most distinguished of its 1 members. ‘Their contributions to the Society’s Fou 1847 to the present time constituted the most valuab le | of papers which had appeared in its pages, and the would have made the ‘¥ourna/ famous. For this and Society offered to Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert theii thanks, hoping that they might long be spared to contin labours, which, in the words of the Society’s charter, ‘“the general advancement of agriculture.” Prof, Michael Foster, as senior secretary of the Society, presented two addresses from the Society, a with their hearty congratulations, expressed the hope tha Rothamsted Station might be as fruitful of scientific the future as in the past. ' Dr. H. E. Armstrong, the President of the Chemical presented an address from that body. He remarked | Rothamsted work was appreciated by none more than by Fellows of the Chemical Society. 3 Prof, Stewart, the President of the Linnean Society, — cc ** ALBERT EDWARD P. r oth + AUGUST 3, 1893 | NATURE 329 sented an address on behalf of the Society. They regarded the : sted experiments as the highest contribution that had ver been made to the science of agriculture. s Prof. E. Kinch presented an address from the Royal Agri- il College, Cirencester. He alluded to the great educa- nal yalue ot the Rothamsted experiments, to the kind reception the students at their annual visit to the Station, and to the debt of gratitude they owed to Dr. Gilbert for his services as honorary professor at the College. Mr. Ernest Clarke, in the absence of M. Tisserand, then read an address from the Société National d’Agriculture de France. Mr. Clarke mentioned that several other addresses were on their way to this country. : _ Sir John Lawes, who, on rising to reply, was received with hearty cheering, said that it was only a very few months since he and his wife received the congratulations of many friends on having attained fifty years of married life, which was occasion- ally called a golden wedding. That afternoon he had to return thanks to that distinguished company for congratulating him- self and Dr. Gilbert on the work they had carried on together for fifty years, When two persons were joined together in “marriage they could not part—they were bound together by a solemn tie. Dr. Gilbert and himself were bound by no ties. During the whole of the fifty years Dr. Gilbert had been perfectly at liberty to leave him, and he to leave Dr. Gilbert ; they had remained together from their mutual love of the _work they had undertaken. He had given to this work all the time that he could spare consistently with other duties ; but Dr. Gilbert had given his whole time to it, and had it not been for the labours of Dr. Gilbert, the affairs of Rothamsted would have been in a different state to that in which they now were. Dr. Gilbert had given his life to the experiments—had given the most arduous part of his life—had given his holidays, and this very year he was going to Chicago to deliver a course of lectures on the work at Rothamsted. He had now had sixty years’ experience of agriculture. When he began farming in 1834 the country was suffering from agri- cultural depression, the crops were so large that they more than supplied the wants of the nation; now our wheat crop only Gaftced for one-third of our consumption, and the rest had to be furnished by other countries, He was afraid that their investi- gations had been of more use to the foreigner than to the English farmer, for the latter had always grown good crops, and thus could not meet lower prices by an increased production, while the foreigner had been able to do this. Sir John Lawes expressed his cordial thanks for the various presentations made to him that day, and especially for the ite boulder, which he playfully said would probably still be in existence when the portrait had been transferred from the drawing-room to the bedroom, and from the bedroom to the garret, and people had forgotten whom it represented, and who painted it. Dr. Gilbert expressed himself as unable to return thanks adequately for the ovation of that day. Referring to the early years of their investigations, he said that they commenced with orthodox views ; but that, as they could not alter the laws of nature, they presently found that they were at variance with received opinion, and their scientific friends looked on them with pity. Their first paper was subjected to merciless ex- cision by the editor of the journal to which it was sent, and they with difficulty secured its publication. Those who opposed became, however, finally their firm friends, and they had since ‘published in that very journal papers occupying about 2,000 The reason they had been able to steer clear of error in their numerous experimental inquiries at Rothamsted was that they had adhered resolutely to the motto of the Royal Agricultural Society, and had associated practice with science throughout the whole course of their researches. Agriculture, more perhaps than any other art or industry, was dependent upon the intelligent application not of one but of many branches of science, and hence it was that the experimental agriculturist found himself in contact at one time with the botanist, at another time with the physiologist, and again with the chemist and the geologist, the statistician and the economist. He mentioned that he had in preparation a jubilee edition of the memorandum sheet on the Rothamsted experiments, and kindness which his friends had shown him that day. _ Sir Joseph Hooker, in proposing a vote of thanks to the | executive committee of the fabliee Fund, said that he had never NO. 1240, VOL. 48] concluded by expressing his warmest thanks for the sympathetic . seen chemistry and botany united to such good purpose as in the investigations of Lawes and Gilbert. ; Sir John Evans, treasurer of the fund, in responding, said that the boulder of Shap granite which they saw before them weighed nearly eight tons, and had twice broken down on its way to Harpenden. He need hardly say that a considerable weight had been taken off his mind when he at last had the satisfaction of seeing the huge monolith firmly planted in the place it now occupied. The Earl of Clarendon proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was carried by acclamation, and the formal proceedings terminated. The portrait of Sir John Lawes, by Hubert Herkomer, R.A., was afterwards on view in the laboratory. A garden party at Rothamsted was held later in the after- noon, which was attended by most of the visitors. THE GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION IN IRELAND. “THE visit of the Geologists’ Association to the counties of Dublin and Wicklow, under the direction of Profs. Sollas and Cole, extended officially from July 24 to July 29; but a number of members arrived in Dublin for Sunday, July 23, and visited the cathedrals and places of historic interest in the city, under the guidance of Rev. Denis Murphy, S.J. On Monday the full party examined the grits and O/dhamza-slates of Bray Head. The Rev. Dr. Haughton, F.R.S., delivered a speech of welcome, standing on the rocks of the headland, and Prof. O’ Reilly and Prof. Sollas, F.R.S., explained the structure of the mass, showing how the more resisting grits have caused a wrinkled flow of the shales and slates between them. The excursion was continued to the fine intrusive junction of the Leinster granite and the Ordovician rocks at Killiney, the latter being metamorphosed into mica-schists with abundant anda- lusites and some garnets, On Tuesday, July 25, the promontory of Portrane was visited , under the direction ot Prof. Grenville Cole. The basal carboni- ferous conglomerates (‘‘ Old Red Sandstone ”) were seen above the Bala series, which is here finely fossiliferous. The igneous rocks, ashes, agglomerates, and some lavas, associated with the great volcano of Lambay, are well seen upon this coast, and a true conglomerate of volcanic blocks and of pebbles, worn from the contemporaneous coral-reefs is one of the most interesting exposures. The brecciation, under pressure, of the alternating layers of shale and limestone produces, near the Priest’s Cave, a rock resembling a coarse conglomerate of limestone-pebbles in a matrix of black clay. On Wednesday, Howth was visited ; Prof. Sollas conducted the party, and Dr. V. Ball, Mr. G. H. Kinahan, and Mr. A. B. Wynne werealso present. The glacial drift on striated sur- faces of Carboniferous Limestone, the dolomitisation of the lime- stone, the Ordovician dykes of diabase in the quartzites, and the quartzites, grits, and many-coloured shales, of the Howth and Bray series, were studied along the southern shore. Casts of worm-burrows were pointed out in some of the sandstones near the Needles. On Thursday, July 27, an early start was made for Rathdrum, and cars were taken to Glendalough and the Seven Churches. Prof. Sollas and Prof. Cole led the party to the high ridge above the upper lake to examine the amphibolite in the Ordo- vician slates. Prof. Sollas showed how the slates had been converted into schists by contact with the Leinster granite, and how pressure has produced a foliated structure even in the in- trusive mass; but the amphibolite has converted the schists locally into a ‘‘ Desmosite,” consisting of quartz, garnet, and dark mica, the latter lying in planes across those of the first foliation. On Friday the Rev. Maxwell Close acted as guide to the shell- bearing sands and gravels, 1,000 feet up on the slope of Two- rock Mountain, near the house called Ballyedmiondduff. Small fragments of marine shells were freely found in the upper pit. The party then descended into Glencullen, where Prof. Cole pointed out how the valley had been at one time choked with “« drift,” full of striated blocks of limestone and débris of granite and Ordovician rocks, and how the river has now cut down into this mass, as is the case in so many valleys of the southern and eastern Alps. From Enniskerry the geologists drove through the Scalp, a bold notch in the granite ridge, with an exposure of the junction with contorted Ordovician rocks. 339 NATURE [Aucust 3. 1893 On Saturday a joint excursion was carried out with the Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club; some members of the Belfast Field Club being also present by invitation. The whole party drove from Bray up Ben Cree to Loughs Bray, the Rev. Maxwell Close explaining the glacial dam that separates the two lakes, and the moraines in the mountain-hollows round them. The descent was made by the romantic grounds of Luggela, which were kindly thrown open by Mr, Stepney. Here the granite abuts on the metamorphosed Ordovicians, and displays, on Lough Tay itself, a fissile foliated structure of unusual delicacy. On climbing out of the deep hollow to the main road, abundant large erratics of granite, resting on Ordovician schist, were seen on all the moorland slopes. On Sunday, July 30, Dr. V. Ball, F.R.S., conducted the party over the geological and antiquarian collections in the Museum of the Science and Art Department, Dublin, Major M’Eniry pointing out the treasures of the Royal Irish Academy collection. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECHINOCYAMUS PUSILLUS.* THE year 1891 will remain memorable to echinologists for the richness of its products upon the morphology of the class with which they deal, not the least brilliant and far-reach- ing of which is the discovery by Brooks and Field of the pri- mary bilateral symmetry of the water-vascular system of Asterias ; but the following year will not pale beside it, if only on account of the magnificent treatise to which we now call attention. The amount of solid work which the author has compressed into his fifty-seven pages is little short of astonish- ing. The monograph is written in excellent English, and illustrated by nine plates well worthy of the text; and from whatever standpoint it is judged, a verdict of unstinted praise must be given. After a short introduction, the author furnishes an account of his methods, incidentally alluding to a remarkable result obtained by fertilising ova derived from females reared in a dirty locality with spermatozoa obtained from males dredged in the open sea ; and he next proceeds to the detailed consideration of the sexual elements and fertilisation, in the course of which evidence pointing to a possible chemiotaxis is adduced, in what is termed the ‘‘attractive forces’? of the ova and _sper- matozoa. The segmentation of the oosperm is next considered. The author remarks that he has more than once seen very delicate connective filaments crossing the cleavage-cavity from one segment to another at the earliest stages in the formation of the former ; and later on, in dealing with the phenomena of mesenchyme formation, he calls attention to the significant fact that in young gastrulz it is common to find mesenchyme cells ‘‘attached by one pseudopodium to the ectoderm, and by another to the archenteron,” giving the impression “that they facilitate the process of invagination.” Interest- ing as are these facts in their bearing upon the general ques- tion of protoplasmic continuity in the animal body, they fall into insignificance beside that portion of the work which deals with the vital phenomena of segmentation itself. In the course of it the author remarks that when studying the phenomena alluded to ‘‘one gets the impression that the segments alter- nately attract and repel each other, and that the highest degree of attraction occurs when the nuclei after a completed segmen- tation have obtained their rounded distinct form and are in a state of repose.” This conclusion is reached after extensive and careful observation, and the tendency of current research in cytology appears to us to suggest that the near future may show the author to have herein formulated a general law. Dealing next with the blastula and gastrula stages, an apical disc bearing a tuft of long cilia, akin to that of the annelid larva, is described ; and the author, having proved that it has nothing to do with locomotion, provisionally suggests that it may be a larval sensory organ. The formation of calcareous deposits is recorded to first occur during the blastula stage, and the spines, interradial plates, and spherids of the young urchin, are alike traced to a ‘‘ first indication” in the form of a minute tetra- hedron originated by the agency of mesenchyme cells ; and the author, after full consideration, inclines to the belief the ‘‘ teeth ” also ‘‘ originate as small tetrahedrons.” The detailed observa- 1 A Monograph, by Prof. Hjalmar Théel, Nova Acta Reg. Soc. Sci. (Upsala: Ser. ili. pp. 1-57. 1892.) NO. 1240, VOL. 48] tions incorporated in this section of the work are of inten: terest, especially in their bearing upon the attempt of to reduce the skeletogenesis of the echinodermata and ¢ other invertebrated animals to a common principle of p mechanical origin. The young urchin is traced to a ‘first indication” ectodermic invagination of the Pluteus, as previously des by Agassiz and Mentschnikoff, and the author observes th disc-like sac thus formed becomes differentiated into a ‘* thi walled bottom,” which plays an important part in the devel ment of the young urchin, and a remaining portion | ** only serves as a kind of amnion.” ¥ One very curious and interesting discovery whichis annount is that of a choano-flagellated condition of the cells of the cil band of the Pluteus, which, in the author’s words, ** cu’ remind one of collar-cells in the Porifera ;” andit is not remarkable that this observation should have been clos followed by that of Franzé that Biitschli’s so-called ‘‘ vacuole” of the Choano-flagellate Infusoria (Codosiga in reality a delicate membrane connecting the collar | specialised sucking vacuole. In his introduction the author confirms the surmise of Jo Miiller that certain of his (now classical) descriptions of E larvee were those of Echinocyamus pusillus. and in so points out that nobody has in the meantime published ap on the development of that animal. Our appreciation of excellence and value of the author’s work may, perhaps, he t expressed in the assertion that it appears to us in every | worthy of this unique association with that of the great foun of our modern comparative anatomy. ee FRANCE AND INTERNATIONAL TIM. HREE years ago M. W. de Nordling made a commun to the French Geographical Society with reg universal hour. In a further communication to the sam‘ $06 on April 7, he traces the changes that have been made: 1889. The state of things at the present time are sumr as follows :— (1) The time of eastern Europe, which differs by minute from that of St. Petersburg, is employed in ] Roumania, Bulgaria, and Roumelia, to Constantinople. (2) The timefof Central Europe prevails in Sweden, Ger Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Servia ; and its adoption is as: in Switzerland, Italy, and Denmark. ia (3) The time of Western Europe (Greenwich tim use in Great Britain, Holland, and Belgium, and, to its European domain, needs the addition of France, Portugal, and Ireland. : i With regard to France, M. de Nordling dwelt on the that while civil time is referred to the Paris meridian, the way service runs according to Rouen time, which is five mi behind Paris time. The French Commission of 1891 upon the absurdity of this system in the following wo 1 ‘*Tn order that there should be no ambiguity in the us uniform hour adopted, it will be necessary to putan | | curious habit that exists only in France, where two are seen at all railway stations having between them ¢ difference of five minutes. **Ttis useless for the railway companies to say terior time of their stations concern them particu refer to their service ; only error and confusion can the system. The hours of departure being regul: interior clock, there must always bea tendency toc indications as the most exact. : ‘*To our knowledge, in no other country outside this peculiarity found, which perpetuates an error, puts the trains behind by five minutes.” “‘It is said,” remarked M. de Nordling, “that minutes retardation are regarded with approval ‘*This was probably true in 1840, when one wou Saint-Germain and Versailles, but to-day, when every discounts the five minutes, they have lost their virtue, and force the passenger to make incessant calculations. — certainty is increased in the buffets, where it is doubtful the clock on the wall indicates interior or exterior time. ‘*Tt is not only from a national point of view that this | hour is vexatious, but also from an international point of vi In fact, it renders our hour absolutely inappropriate to all i ee national usage. Suppose Switzerland had adopted Paris AucusT 3, 1893] NATURE eee Pere) railways would not be less in discord than our own, ruled by Rouen time, and the principal object of the pretended unification would be lost. At the present time, it is true, this consideration is only retrospective, since it is evident to those who have eyes to see, that in the future any international horary amalgamation will be based on the united times of all meridians. __ ** What sacrifices would a similar amalgamation impose on France? In the first place, it would retard the clocks of our _ railways by four minutes, and civil time by nine minutes. But, from the experience furnished by the law of March 15, 1891, ‘it can be affirmed that—were it not for the difference between interior and exterior timepieces of the stations—the reform would pass absolutely unperceived by the public. “It can no longer be said that the change implies a question of national self-respect, since it is not to adopt English or German time, but to take up a universal system already adopted by the greater part of Europe, by all North America, and by a part of Asia (Japan). : d “It is true that the new system will be imperfect so long as France will not adhere to it. It is not only by the adherence of France, however, that this system will be crowned. If France wants to justify the provisions of the 1891 Commissioner of the Senate, it will’ delay the execution for a hun- dred years. But we do not delude ourselves with views of this kind. During the time of waiting, our horary system will produce in the eyes of Europe—in the eyes of the world— the same effect as an old building out of line, encroaching on the public view, breaking the perspective of a beautiful straight avenue, and from which passers-by will only turn with dis- pleasure. Isthis a dignified situation for France? ‘*The situation is made worse from another cause. It has been said that Spain and Portugal are becoming friends again. If, according to the opinion of to-day, these two countries de- sire to unite their times, it is probable that, in order to avoid a conflict between the meridians of Madrid and Lisbon, they will take the time of Western Europe. If that occurs the isolation of France will be complete. _ “There are two ways of escape from this difficulty. The first is based on the question of legality, and is that the ‘Minister of Public Works shall invite our railway companies to retard their clocks by four minutes, and that the Minister of the Interior shall prescribe in his turn that all the public clocks be put back nine minutes with regard to the meridian of Paris. This international unification would have been made had not the law of March 15, 1891, been violated up to now. _ “The other way, and the one altogether more frank and dignified, is this—that France should say to Spain, ‘ Would you be willing to unite our times? Let us adopt, with Por- tual, the time of Western Europe, and agree as to the day when it shall be put in force simultaneously.’ If France obtains this understanding, it will have done more for the unifi- cation of hours than any other nation ; for each nation has only acted on its own account, while France, in bringing its adher- ence, would bring at the same time that of two companions, This would be at once the crowning of the system. ing! rantee that France would receive the plaudits of the entire world, both of the old and the new, and in this question we should, at the first onset, have resumed the place which we generally occupy at the head of progress.” The editor of the Revue Scientifique remarks, in a footnote to _M. de Nordling’s article, “It is false patriotism that is willing to remain apart from other lands. Are the English who do not wish to adopt the metric system, and the Chinese who built a great wall at their frontier, good patriots? And are these two examples so worthy of admiration that our ambition should be to imitate them by refusing to accept the unification of hours. conclusion can be formulated in three simple proposi- tions :— **(1) Adopt a single time for all France, without having the time in the interior of railway stations five minutes behind. **(2) Adopt the time known as that of Western Europe—that is, Greenwich time, which is nine minutes behind Paris time, and which is in reality the time of central France (Havre, Le Mans, Tours, Poitiers, Angouleme, Auch, and Oran). **(3) Urge Spain and Portugal to adopt this time.” _ It is satisfactory to find that the subject of international time is being seriously considered in France. The changes required _ to refer the times to the Greenwich meridian are so small that, but for national prejudice, they would doubtless have been made NO. 1240, VOL. 48] long ago. However, we are not in a position to moralise upon the opinions of our neighbours as to the adoption of the time of Western Europe, for they point to our absurd system of weights and measures, and we are humiliated. There is little doubt that the French will adopt Greenwich time before the metric system is introduced into this country. OLIGODYNAMIC PHENOMENA OF LIVING CELLS. AMONG the botanical papers left by the late Prof. Carl y. Nageli is a very remarkable one bearing the above title, which is now published in the Denkschrift of the Schweizerische naturforschende Gesellschaft by Prof. Schwendener and Prof. Cramer. The observations referred to occupied the closing years of Niageli’s life since 1880. By oligodynamic phenomena Nigeli means those produced by excessively small quantities of metallic substances in solution. The experiments were made chiefly on two species of Spirogyra, S. nitida and dudia. If in water which is previously ‘‘ neutral,” z.é. not pathogenic to Spirogyra, a gold coin containing ten per cent. of copper is placed, the water acquires the oligodyna- mic property of killing the alga, and the poisoning may begin to manifest itself in as short a period as from three to six minutes. Niageli satisfied himself that this effect is not due to the action of electricity or of any similar force, but is the result of infinitesimally small quantities of copper dissolved in the water, in the form of CuH,O, combined with carbon dioxide. In this way one part of copper in 1000 million parts of water may act pathogenically on the alga. Similar results were obtained with silver, zinc, iron, lead, and quicksilver, while the absolutely in- soluble metals gold and platinum were without effect. In this way distilled water is often poisonous to Spirogyra, and it is a remarkable fact that the poisonous metals communicate the pro- perty to glass vessels in which they are placed. The poisonous properties of the water may be diminished or entirely neutra- lised by placing in the water particles of some insoluble solid substances, such as sulphur, graphite, cellulose, wood, coal, silk, wool, &c., which present a large surface on which the metal is precipitated. For the same reason, while the alga will be killed if only a few filaments are present in the water, a much larger quantity will be entirely uninjured. Oligodynamic poisoning manifests itself in the living cell ina different way from true chemical poisoning. In the former case the cell does not at once lose its turgidity ; the protoplasmic uricle remains for a time adherent to the cell-wall, while the spiral band of chlorophyll detaches itself and becomes transformed into a solid mass surrounding the rounded nucleus of the cell. The substance of the band swells up, and presents, on transverse section, a cylindrical or oval form. The phenomena present some resemblances to those produced by electricity. The very remarkable results here described are confirmed by Prof. Cramer, who has repeated the experiments, and finds, in all essential points, the phenomena to resemble those obtained by Nageli. A. W. B. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. A COURSE in Naval Architecture has been recently established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide a thorough training in the theory and methods of designing and building ships, together with a study of the properties requisite for safety and good behaviour at sea. It is intended to cover the same ground and accomplish the same results as the English and French government schools for training Naval Constructors. Like all the courses at the Institute it gives, in addition to professional and technical training and equipment, a good scien- tific and liberal education. Attention is directed mainly to the construction of merchant steamships ; but some attention is given to problems arising in the design of men-of-war, which offer at once the most definite and the most intricate questions presen- ted to the naval constructor. The theory of the construction of sailing vessels is also included in the course. THE Westminster Budget of July 28 contains a record of the scholarships obtained by boys at our public schools during the 332 NATURE [AuGuST 3, 1893 scholastic year 1892-93. Though the record cannot be regarded as the best criterion of efficiency, owing to the fact that many of the scholarships are confined to certain schools, and that their values vary considerably, still an indication is obtained of the attention paid by schools to different subjects. The highest number of science scholarships, four, was obtained by Man- chester. Epsom and St. Paul’s follow with three each, and then Charterhouse, Dulwich, Shrewsbury, and Tonbridge with two each. In mathematics, Clifton, Tiverton, and Merchant Taylor’s each obtained three scholarships. The following schools obtained two: Christ’s Hospital, St. Paul’s, Bristol, Chester, Leatherhead, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Liverpool Institute, and Wellingborough. THE vote ot £6,200,000 for public education in England and Wales which was agreed to on Monday, is the largest that has ever been requested for that purpose. In his speech on the subject, Mr. Acland referred to the suggestion that the Bethnal Green Museum should be handed over to the London County Council, and said that if the Council should desire to have the site and the building on reasonable conditions for educational purposes, the Government would be glad to meet them in a reasonable way. Mr. R. W. Stewart, Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator in Physics in the University College of North Wales, Bangor, has just been granted the degree of Doctor of Science by the University of London. Mr. Stewart’s thesis contained the results _of a series of experimental determinations of the thermo-conduc- tivities of iron and copper, made in the Physical Laboratory of the University College of North Wales. The results are em- bodied in a memoir which was recently communicated to the Royal Society by the President (Lord Kelvin), and which has been accepted for publication by the Council of the Society. THE British Medical Fournal says that several changes have recently taken place in the teaching staff of St. Bartholomew’s Medical School, Among them we note that Dr. F, D. Chat- taway has been elected to the Demonstratorship of Chemistry ; and Mr. Alfred Howard has been appointed to the Assistant Demonstratorship. Mr. J. S. Edkins, at present George Henry Lewis student, and late Senior Demonstrator of Physi- ology at Owens College, Manchester, has been elected Demonstrator of Physiology. Mr. D. T. MacpouGa. has been appointed Instructor in Vegetable Physiology at the University of Minnesota. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. The Quarterly Journal of Alicroscopical Science, for July, 1893, contains :—On the morphology and physiology of the brain and sense-organs of Limulus, by Dr. W. Patten (Plates I to 5). Some two years ago the author published a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science calling attention to many striking resemblances between Arachnids and Vertebrates, and maintaining that the latter are descended from a great group of the former, in which he included the Arachnids, lrilobites, and Merostomata. Attention was called to the evidences of relationship as shown in the invaginations which in insects give rise to the optic ganglia, and in scorpions and Limulus become so extensive as to enfold not only the optic ganglia but the eyes and the forebrain as well. A cerebral vesicle is thus formed, from the floor of which arise the forebrain and the optic ganglia, and from the roof a tubular outgrowth, at the end of which lie the inverted retinas of the parietal eye. Such a condition is to be found only in Arachnids and Vertebrates, and the author thinks it affords as trustworthy evidence of relationship as the presence of a notochord or of gill-slits. | Other relationships were indicated between the lateral eyes in Limulus and Verte- brates, between the cartilaginous endocranium in Arachnids, and the primordial cranium of Vertebrates, between the subneural rod in scorpions and the notochord, and in the correspondence be- tween the neuromeres and nerves in Arachnids and Verte- brates. adds others: identifying nearly all the important lobes and cavities characteristic of the Vertebrate forebrain in the fore- brain of Limulus ; showing that the coxal sense-organs are gus- NO. 1240, VOL. 48] To this long array of evidence the author now tatory, and correspond to the supra-branchial sense-orgs Vertebrates, and describing a remarkable organ in Li which has all the characteristic morphological features of olfactory organs in Vertebrates. The author believes may now be regarded as beyond any reasonable doubt that Vertebrates are descended from the Arachnids. The very teresting palzeontological aspect of the subject is promised separate memoir.—On the structure of the pharyngeal b Amphioxus, by Dr. W. Blaxland Benham (Plates 6 and gives a detailed account of the tongue (or secondary) in Amphioxus, and institutes a comparison between it the primary bar, and there is a résumé of the observat of recent observers and an account of certain abnc bars.—-On the perivisceral cavity in Ciona, by A. H. L. Ne stead, B.A. (Plate 8). The author found (1), that there no communications between the perivisceral cavity and atrial cavity (such as were described by Kupffer, though by Roule) ; (2) that cole: communica exist between perivisceral cavity and the pharynx, and as these openi 0 in the same position as the st described by Kupfer, probable that the supposition of van Beneden and Jul correct, that the orifices observed by Kupffer open into the’ visceral and not into the atrial cavity. The perivi is regarded as a specially modified epicardium, which h come greatly enlarged.—On the early stages in the dev ment of Distéchopora violacea, with a short essay on the mentation of the Nucleus, by Dr. Sydney J. Hickson (P In this paper we have first an account of the early stages 0! development of Distichopora violacea from material collec by the author in North Celebes and by Prof. Haddon in Tor Straits ; then an account of the formation of the germinal lay in the Ccelenterata. A sketch of the developmental histori known up to the present, is given, with the typical in gastrula at one end and the multinucleated plasmodium at other ; and, lastly, the important question of the ‘‘ fragme tion” of the Oosperm nucleus is very ably and judiciously cussed, the following conclusions from the evidence addi being drawn: (1) Fragmentation of the nucleus is a nor method of nuclear division, and is not always a sign of | logical change; (2) in many cases where the nucleus i posed to disappear, there is, as a matter of fact, only a1 fragmentation ; (3) that fragmentation only occurs when tl is no cell division; and (4) that karyokinetic division nuclei is caused by the forces in the cell protoplasm whic! about the division of the cytoplasm. The phenomena polar mitosis may afford examples of intermediate types. _ Bulletin de ? Académie Royale de Belgique, No 5.—On tive hydrostatic pressure (continued), by G, Van der Mens A test-tube is completely filled with water, and anothe thin walls and a little narrower, is plunged into it to al the depth. On inverting the two tubes the smaller through the water in the other in spite of gravitation, the suction exerted by the water, whose internal : than that of the atmosphere. If a tube of paper or of wax’ be substituted for the smaller test-tube, the flexible tube is tened. when plunged down into the other, but regains section on placing the system upside down. Just as ble to subject a large vessel to an enormous internal ordinary hydrostatic pressure, so it is possible, on the ot! to subject it to a corresponding external pressure bj the hydrostatic tube.—Researches on monocarbon by Louis Henry (continued). This contains an acco mono-chloric, mono-bromic, and mono-iodic oxides of met Contribution to the study of trichinosis, by Dr. Paul Cerfonte A study of some cases of the epidemic of Herstal, near Li January, led to the following conclusions. As soon as th ‘meat is introduced into the system, the cysts are destroyed, the larve liberated in the stomach, whence they pass a! time into the intestine. There they grow rapidly, and f tion takes place in the intestine after the second day of in! The males are then expelled from the system, and m females penetrate the walls of the intestine and even mesentery, where they produce offspring after the sixt infection. This penetration of the walls of the intestine gi peculiarly fatal character to trichinosis. The young ento dissiminated throughout the system by the lymphatic 3 which carry them into the blood. Owing to their small penetrate into the capillaries, and produce congestion 0 blood-vessels and cedema. Death is often due to what Aucust 3, 1893] NATURE 222 9I9 © a maceration of the respiratory muscles, "producing as- lyxia; Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 7.—On le specific heats of glasses of various compositions, by A. inkelmann. The specific heats of the various constituents of ifferent glasses were calculated or experimentally determined, nd those of the glasses made up of them were calculated by Vostyn’s law, according to which a specific heat of a compound obtained by adding together the products of the specific heats, the atomic weights, and the number of atoms of the elements contained in the compound, and dividing by the sum of the pro- ducts of the atomic weights and numbers of atoms. On com- paring the values thus calculated with those found by experiment, it was found that they agreed to within one per cent.—Ona sur- face connected with the electric properties of tourmaline ; _ thermodynamics of tourmaline and the mechanical theory of muscular contraction ; and molecular theory of piezo-electric and pyro-electric phenomena, by E. Riecke. The author makes the attempt of formulating a thermodynamical theory of muscu- lar contraction, and investigates its connection with the pyroelec- tric phenomena of tourmaline. He arrives at a formula in which the state of the muscle can be expressed by two variables only, the temperature and the tension.—Concerning the theory of electric oscillations in wires, by A. Elsas. The author shows that the Hertzian oscillations may be completely explained on ’ the older electromagnetic theory, without reference to Maxwell’s amplifications. He does not contend that Maxwell’s theory is superfluous, but finds out how far the older theory is capable of rar without having recourse to Maxwell’s conceptions. — bjective representation of Hertz’s experiments, and the high tension accumulator, by L. Zehnder. A collection of practical hints for the performance of oscillation experiments by means of the 600-cell Planté accumulator.—Contributions to the theory of secondary batteries, by Franz Streintz. With comparatively low current densities, the resistance during discharge attains a maxi- mum. As the current increases, the resistance slowly falls to a value equal to that in open circuit, and falls still further at higher ‘current strengths.—On the determination of the length of a solenoid, by F. Himstedt. Contrary to Heydweiler’s opinion, the length and radius of a solenoid as determined by its electro- 1 etic effect are not appreciably different from their geomet- tically calculated values. In the Botanical Gazette for June Mr. R. H. True hasa paper on the development of the caryopsis, which supports the ordinary view respecting the formation of the fruit in grasses. Prof. Atkinson continues his account of the biology of the organism which causes the tubercles on the roots of Leguminosze. In the Journal of Botany for July, Mr. A. B. Rendle de- scribes and figures a case of the production of tubers within a tuber in the potato. Yet two more ‘‘species” are added to the long list of British eracia by Messrs. E. F. and W. R. Linton, A. enstales and orcadense. In the Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano for July is a paper by Sig. E. Baroni on the anomalous genus Xohdea, which he pre- fers to place in the order Liliacee and tribe Asparagea, rather than in the Araceze. The minute structure of Rohdea japonica is described, and the mode of pollination, which appears to be effected partly by insects, but largely by snails, and even by spiders. THE Bulletino della Societd Botanica Italiana, Nos. §-7, are largely occupied by papers chiefly interesting to Italian botanists. In a’dition, Sig. A. Baldacci has some observations b= the sympodial branching in Symphytum and in other inee, and on the mode of branching in the Apocynaceze, which appears to be also sympodial. Sig. U. Brizi enumerates the fossil Musci and Hepatic found in a locality within the Roman territory. Sig, C. Acqua describes the mode of formation of the wall in the growth of the pollen- tube of Vinca major, which presents a strong resemblance to that described by Buscalioni in the aerial hairs of Zavatera. ‘Sig. C. Massalongo has several papers on galls. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. : Lonpon. _ Royal Society, June 1,—‘‘On the Colours of Sky Light, Sun Light, Cloud Light and Candle Light.” By Captain W. de W. Abney, C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., P.R.A.S. NO. 1240, VOL. 48] The author has made several comparisons of the above lights throughout the different parts of their spectra, and has been able to verify their correctness by means of templates rotating in the spectrum of electric light, as described. in Part II., ‘*Colour Photometry,” Phil. Trans., 1889. It seemed, however, that it would be useful if the colours of these lights could be expressed in single wave-lengths, together with the amount of added standard white light, the latter being ex- pressed in terms of the luminosity of the dominant colour, in accordance with the method brought before the Royal Society in Proc. Roy. Soc., 1891. 5 When measuring light from the sky, a beam from the zenith or other desired part was reflected through a blackened tube into a darkened room in which the colour patch apparatus (‘* Colour Photometry,” Abney and Festing, 1886) was placed, and the image of the end of the tube was focussed on to the front sur- face of a cube, the front surface of which was coated with zinc white, its background being black velvet. The patch of colour from the apparatus was also thrown on the cube. A rod placed in the paths of the two beams enabled the sky light and the spectrum colour to be examined side by side. The slit in the spectrum was an adjustable one so that any intensity of colour within limits would fall on the cube. A beam of white light reflected from the first surface of the first prism was again re- flected from the surface of a thin prism on to the cube, arod placed in its path cast a shadow on that part illuminated by the sky light, and by suitable adjustment the boundaries of the two shadows were caused to exactly coincide. The colour was thus diluted with white light, and rotating sectors, described in other papers, being placed in the path of the white beam, enabled the dilution to be regulated. Sky Light.—On June 27, 1892, at 2.30 p.m., the sky was a good blue, but not a dark blue, and perhaps rather milky. The slit was moved into the part of the spectrum which appeared to be near the dominant colour. The colour was diluted to ap- proximately the required amount, The slit was shifted and the dilution altered until the two colours made a perfect match. It was found that on the standard scale of the spectrum the domi- nant colour was represented by 28°6, which is A 4800. The mean value of the sector aperture was 32°, and recollecting that the sectors are double sectors the comparison has to be made with 180°. The next operation was to compare the luminosity of the whole beam of white light with that of the colour. The sectors still remained in the white; the sky light was cut off, and the rod altered till the colour and the white were alongside each other with the boundaries of the shadows touching. The luminosities of the two were compared, and it was found that the aperture of the sector was 14°. As it required 32° of white to make the dilution of the colour, it follows that 32/14, or 2'286, parts of white were required to dilute 1 part of the blue. This may be expressed thus— Sky light = A 4800 + 2°3W. On July 4, 1892, at mid-day,the same procedure was adopted, and the dominant wave length was again A 4800. In this case the amount of added white was thus— Sky light = A 4800 + 3°1W ; in other words, the sky was more milky. At 4 p.m. on the same day the sky to the east, and about 30° above the horizon, was evidently slightly greener, and it was found that the colour agreed with scale No. 29°6 orA 4834, and that it required three parts of white to be mixed with it. Sky light = a 4834 + 3W. On other days, when the light of the portion of the sky near the zone of maximum polarisation the dominant wave-length was found 'to be between these two limits, and was never found con and the smallest admixture of white light was found to e 1'9, From these measures it may be concluded that the dominant colour of a blue sky is A 4800. Amongst artists it is not uncommon to employ cobalt to render this colour, and in many instances this is mixed with Chinese white. The dominant colour of cobalt was found to be at scale No. 29, or A 4812, when illuminated by ordinary day light, whence it seems that, as far as colour is concerned, it is singularly fit for the purpose. Sun light was compared in the same manner, but the beam 334 NATURE [Aveusr 3, 1893 was reflected from the surface of a prism into a dark room, and again diminished in intensity by placing in its path rotating sectors with very narrow apertures. Near mid-day on July 8 the sun was very clear, the sky being free from clouds, and a strongish wind blowing from the west. Two separate sets of measures were made with an interval of an hour between each. It was found that the dominant colour was A 4885 in both cases, and in the first set it was diluted with 5°45 of white, and in the other with 5‘14 of white. This indi- cates that sun light contains slightly more green-blue rays than the light emitted from the crater of the positive pole of the electric light. This agrees with the spectrum measures made in ‘‘ Colour Photometry.” Cloud light was next matched on days in which the sky was overcast. A comparison of the general light of the zenith was all that was attempted, and near mid-day. It was found that it required 1 part of A 4864 diluted with 5°5 parts of white to make a match. It will be seen that the dominant colour of cloud light lies between that of the sky and of the sun, as might be expected, and is decidedly whiter than the sky, as might also be anticipated. Various comparisons of sunset colours have been made, and found to range from A 6300 up to A 4800 ; in some cases it was necessary to match by means of complementary colours, The light from a paraffin candle it was found could be very closely matched with D sodium light. The equation may be expressed as follows :— Candle light = A 5880 + o4W. The amount of added white varied from o*1 to 0°5, and it is in this part of the spectrum that a large number of separate observations are required in order to get a good and fairly trust- worthy mean. June 15.—‘‘Some of the Effects and Chemical Changes of Sugar injected into a Vein.’’ By Vaughan Harley, M.D., Teacher of Chemical Pathology, University College, London, and Grocer Research Scholar. Communicated by George Harley, M.D., F.R.S. When Io grams of grape-sugar per kilo. of body-weight of a dog are injected into a vein and elimination by the kidneys pre- vented, the sugar so rapidly disappears from the circulating blood that it reached the normal quantity within six hours. The quantity of glycogen in the liver and muscles is not markedly increased. The amount of lactic acid in the blood is increased to so marked a degree as in some cases to be more than the quantity of sugar. The greatest amount of lactic acid is found in the liver. Alcohol, acetose, and aceto-acetic acid are also present in the blood after the introduction of the sugar. There is no increase in the quantity of ammonia in the blood. The introduction of the sugar causes marked disturbance of the nervous system, shown by the appearance of muscular spasms, hurried breathing, and finally coma. These are probably due to some of the products derived from the break- ing down of the sugar molecules acting as a poison, which by further breaking up into other substances become harmless and the animals recover. “Studies in the Morphology of Spore-producing Members. Part I. Equisetinere and Lycopodinee.” By F. O. Bower, D.Sc., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. The first pages are devoted to the discussion of points of general morphology of the sporophyte, as it is seen in arche- goniate plants, together with a sketch of the history of opinion as to the morphological ‘‘ dignity” of the sporangia, and their relation to the parts (usually sporophylls) which bear them. The position of Goebel is adopted, that sporangia are as much organs, sui generis, as are shoots, roots, &c., no matter where they may be seated. It is customary to assume that the ontogeny will serve as a guide to the history of descent in plants as in animals. As applied in detail to the sporophyte generation this assumption cannot be upheld: for the conclusions drawn from wide com- parison would be directly antagonistic to such a history. The young sporophyte of a fern first forms foliage leaves, stem, and roots ; only after a considerable period are sporangia produced. On the recapitulation theory it would be concluded from this that the vegetative system was the first to appear, while NO. 1240, VOL. 48] sporangia were of subsequent origin, and it might further b held that sporophylls are metamorphosed foliage leaves. the whole comparative study of the sporophyte of lower leads to the opposite conclusion ; spore-production was the office of the sporophyte, and if the lower Bryophyta really illu trate the mode of origin of the sporophyte, the production « spores preceded the existence of a vegetative system of t sporophyte, and has apparently been a constantly recurring eve throughout volition Te waft therefore be concliael that history of the ontogeny does not truly recapitulate the history « the descent as regards the neutral generation ; the is, in fact, an intercalated phase which has pa characters, Comparative study of the Bryophyta leads conclusion that the whole vegetative rete was the re! progressive sterilisation of potentially sporogenous tissues. A brief review of the progress of this sterilisation as it h already been recognised among the Bryophyta is next given ; is pointed out that (a) the sterilisation may involve the w thickness of the sporophyte, as in the formation of the seta, | (2) it may make itself apparent only in individual cells of ' sporogonial head (elaters). But the Bryophyta are clea marked from vascular plants by two characters: (1) the abser of appendicular organs ; (2) the single continuous There are, at least, three possible ways in which sa numerous separate archesporia may have originated from of some Bryophytic type: (1) by branching (chorisis) sporogonial head ; (2) by formation of entirely new arche having no direct connection by descent from pre-existen (3) by partitioning of a continuous archesporium. , The frequent presence of synangia in eusporangiate V Cryptogams suggests either coalescence accompanying re in a descending series, or partitioning by means of se ascending series; the first question in connection with synangia will be whether in any natural sequence of V: Cryptogams the progression from a non-septate to a condition can be traced ; or the converse. Though th at hand do not amount to an actual demonstration, the podinez and their allies are believed te be an ascending ser and they are seen to supply important evidence. Phylloglo Lycopodium, and Selaginella, Lepidodendron, and the Psilo show natural affinities. To this series /soetes may be add As regards the sporangia, there can be no doubt of homology of the sporangium of Phylloglossum, Lyco; Selaginella, and Lepidodendron. Within the genus Lycvp differences of detail have been observed differences as would result in the production more sporangia, such as those of Lefidodendron and Jsoetes, thi it is true these differences are not so extensive. In t very large sporangia trabeculze are found, as rods or plate sterile tissue, which may project far upwards into the sp cavity (Lepidodendron), or may extend the whole way tl it to the upper wall (/soe¢es). In the latter case it h shown by Goebel that the trabeculze are the result of di ; ation of a potential archesporium, part of which is sterilise forms the trabeculz. ep The next step is to the Psilotaceze ; and the first questi that of the real nature of the synangium in these pl Sections both of Psi/otum and Tmesipteris, show the synal to originate below the apex of the sporangiophore, and fre upper surface, in a manner very similar to the sporangi Isoetes. The form of the young synangium resemble: the sporangium of Lepfidodendron, with which genus — is extraordinary anatomical similarity. The septum in its origin to the sporogenous masses, and is not at tinguishable from them ; in this respect it also resemb It would thus appear that the whole synangium is c¢ in origin and position, in the broad lines of develop in function to the sporangia of other Lycopods, ¢hat 2s, comparable with a non-septate body. ; Tmesipteris appears to be a variable plant as regards the and structure of its synangia; there is, however, some t in its irregularities ; smaller synangia of simpler structure are found at the limits of its fertile zones, ( the middle of it synangia have been found with three Ie corresponding to those of Pst/otum. Examination 0 of simpler form shows that they may be only partially septal the septum may be absent from the first. 1 have been ab prove in young synangia of this type that che tissue which normally form the septum may be sporogenous ; this is the converse of what has been proved by Goebel in Zs0 ches e Aueust 3, 1893] NATURE Peo 35 ( ‘conclusion which may be drawn is that there zs no essential ference between the tissue which will form septum or trabecule that which will form spores, since they can mutually rg0 conversion. has already been shown by others that in Psz/otum the ber of loculi in the synangium may vary, being sometimes normally three, but occasionally four or five. In wesipteris it may be one, two, or three ; and as there is no bt of the homology of these within the Psilatacee, we may co mclude that in homologous parts the loculi may vary in number from one upwards. __ We may recognise within the species 7’mesifteris a correlation of size to number of loculi; the smallest specimens have no septum, and these are produced at the limits of the fertile zone, wh nutrition may be failing ; those which are of normal size have two loculi: occasionally, when of large size and well mourished, as at the middle of the fertile zone, the loculi may be three. Here is illustrated in one species much the same quence as is seen elsewhere for distinct genera, such as ycopodium, Isoetes, Lepidodendron : where the sporangium is there are neither trabecule nor septa, the exigencies of autrition, and perhaps also of mechanical strengthening, not being felt (Lycopodium): where the sporangium is large sterile bands of tissue are present ; these appear as trabeculz or in- complete septa Lepzdodendron or Jsoetes, but as complete septa n the large synangia of 7mesipteris. To those who accept the nomology of the synangium of 7mestteris with the sporangium of other Lycopodine the probability of this will appear specially trong. Such facts as these and their theoretical bearing are iscussed at length in the memoir : the opinion is finally ex- oressed that progressive sterilisation and formation of septa are actors which will have to be taken into account in solving the problems of origin of vascular plants. ‘* Magnetic Qualities of Iron,” by J. A. Ewing, M.A., -R.S., Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics in he University of Cambridge, and Miss Helen G. Klaassen, cturer in Physics, Newnham College. The paper describes a series of observations of magnetic ty in various specimens of sheet iron and iron wire, A incipal object was to determine the amount of energy lost in onsequence of magnetic hysteresis when the iron under exam- qation was carried through cyclic magnetising processes, Many cycles of B and H were gone through in the case of each f the specimens, the limits between which B was reversed being tied step by step in successive cycles, to allow the relation of ne energy expended orof {| HdI to B to bedetermined. The on examined was, for the most part, thin sheet metal or wire ich as is used in the construction of transformer cores. The periments show that there are marked differences in the lues off Hd@I in different specimens, even when all are ominally soft iron. In connection with these results a formula proposed by Mr. +P. Steinmetz( | HdI = a miuor a"st on p. 287), the doctrine that the quaternion affords the sufficient and proper basis for vector analysis is maintained arguments based so largely on the faults and deficiencies wh the author has found in my pamphlet, ‘‘ Elements of Vee! Analysis,” as to give to such faults an importance which th would not otherwise possess, and to make some reply from m necessary, if I would not discredit the cause of non-quaternion’ vector analysis. Especially is this true in view of the wari commendation and endorsement of the paper, by Prof. which appeared in NATURE somewhat earlier (p. 225) The charge which most requires a reply is expressed distinctly in the minor abstract, viz. ‘‘that in the dew ment of his dyadic notation, Prof. Gibbs, being fore bring the quaternion in, logically condemned his own posit This was incomprehensible to me until I received the ori, paper, where I found the charge specified as follows : ‘* Alt] Gibbs gets over a good deal of ground without the ex recognition of the complete product, which is the differen his ‘skew’ and ‘direct’ products, yet even he recogn plain language the versorial character of a vector, brin the quaternion whose vector is the difference of a linear function and its conjugate, and does not hesitate to use accursed thing itself in certain line, surface, and volu integrals” (Proc. R.S.E., Session 1892-3, p. 236). three specifications I shall consider in their inverse order, mising, however, that the efztheta ornantia are entirely critic’s, The last charge is due entirely to an inadvertence. © integrals referred to are those given at the close of the abstract in NATURE (p. 593). My critic, in his original states quite correctly that, according to my definitions notations, they should represent dyadics. He multiplies | into a vector, introducing the vector under the integral si is perfectly proper, provided, of course, that the constant. But failing to observe this restriction, | through inaivertence, and finding that the resulting equa’ (thus interpreted) would not be true, he concludes that 1) have meant something else by the original equations. J these equations will hold if interpreted in the quatern sense, as is, indeed, a necessary consequence of their h in the dyadic sense, although the converse would not be My critic was thus led, in consequence of the inadvert mentioned, to suppose that I had departed from my ordi usage and my express definitions, and had intended the ducts in these integrals to be taken in the quaternionic This is the sole ground for the last charge. The second charge evidently relates to the notations ©, #y (see NATURE, vol. xlvii-p. 592). It is perfectly true th: have used a scalar and a vector connected with the linear vee! operator, which, if combined, would form a quaternion, [Ih not thuscombined them. Perhaps Prof. Knott will say that sin I use both of them it matters little whether I conbine them | not. Ifso I heartily agree with him. The first charge is a little vague. I certainly admit ha _ Aucust 17, 1893] NATURE 305 vectors may be used in connection with and to represent rota- tions. I have no objection to calling them in such cases versorial, Tn that sense Lagrange and Poinsot, for example, used versorial ctors. But what has this to do with quaternions? Certainly range and Poinsot were not quaternionists. The passage in the major abstract in NATURE which most istinctly charges me with the use of the quaternion is that in ich a certain expression which I use is said to represent the quaternion operator g( )g~) (vol. xlvii. p. 592). It would be _ more accurate to say that my expression and the quaternionic _ expression represent the same operator. Does it follow that I __ have used a quaternion? Not at all. A quaternionic expression May represent a number. Does everyone who uses any ex- ‘pression for that number use quaternions? A quaternionic expression may represent a vector. Does everyone who uses any expression for that vector use quaternions? A quaternionic expression may represent a linear vector operator. If I use an expression for that linear vector operator do I therefore use quaternions? My critic is so anxious to prove that I use quaternions that he uses arguments which would prove that quaternions were in common use before Hawiilton was born. So much for the alleged use of the quaternion in my pamphlet. Let us now consider the faults and deficiencies which have been found therein and attributed to the want of the quaternion. The most serious criticism in this respect " relates to certain integrating operators, which Prof. Tait unites with Prof. Knott in ridiculing. As definitions are wearisome, T will illustrate the use of the terms and notations which I have used by quoting a sentence addressed to the British Association ‘a few years ago. The speaker was Lord Kelvin. _ “Helmholtz first solved the problem—Given the spin in any ease of liquid motion, to find the motion. _ His solution consists in finding the potentials of three ideal distributions of gravita- tional matter having densities respectively equal to 1/m of the rectangular components of the given spin ; and, regarding for a moment these potentials as rectangular components of velocity in a case of liquid motion, taking the spin in this motion as the velocity in the required motion” (NATURE, vol. xxxviii, p- 569). Tn the terms and notations of my pamphlet the problem and solution may be thus expressed : Given the curl in any case of liquid motion—to find the motion, : The required velocity is 1/4 of the curl of the potential of the given curl. Or, more briefly—The required velocity we of the La- T Placian of the given curl. Or in purely analytical form—Required « in terms of ¥ x a, nV.w=0, Solution— @ =1/4rv x Poty xw = 1/4mLapy x o. (The Laplacian expresses the result of an operation like that by which magnetic force is calculated from electric currents dis. tributed in space. This corresponds to the second form in which Helmholtz expressed his result.) To show the incredible rashness of my critics, I will remark that these equations are among those of which it is said in the original paver (Proc. R.S.E., Session 1892-93, p. 225), ‘‘ Gibbs ves a good many equations—theorems I suppose they ape at ing.” I may add that others of the equations thus charac- terised are associated with names not less distinguished than that of Helmholtz, But that to which I wish especially to call attention is that the terms and notations in question express exactly the notions which physicists want to use, But we are told (NATURE, vol. xlvii. p- 287) that these inte- grating operators (Pot, Lap) are best expressed as inverse func- tions of y. To see how utterly inadequate the Nabla would have been to express the idea, we have only to imagine the exclamation points which the members of the British Associa- tion would have looked at each other if the distinguished speaker had said : : Helmholtz first solved the problem—Given the Nabla of the velocity in any case of liquid motion, to find the velocity, His solution was that the velocity was the Nabla of the inverse Square of Nabla of the Nabla of the velocity. Or, that the velocity was the inverse Nabla of the Nabla of the velocity. Or, if the problem and solution had been written thus ; Required o in terms of yw when Syw =o. Solution : ®=VV-2"vw = V-1yo. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] My critic has himself given more than one example of unfit- ness of the inverse Nabla for the exact expression of thought, For example, when he says that I have taken ‘‘eight distinct steps to prove two equations, which are special cases of Vv 297274 =u,” I do not quite know what he means. If he means that I have taken eight steps to prove Poissou’s Equa ion (which certainly is not expre-sed by the equation cited, although it may perhaps be associated with it in some minds), I will only say that my proof is not very long, especially as I have aimed at greater rigour than is usually thought necessary. I cannot, however, compare my demonstration with that of quaternionic writers, as I have not been able (doubtless on account of insufficient search) to find any such. To show how little foundation there is for the charge that the deficiencies of my system require to be pieced out by these integral operators, I need only say that if I wished to economise operators [ might give up New, Lap, and Max, writing for them v Pot, v x Pot, and vy. Pot, and if I wished further to economise in what costs so little, I could give up the potential also by using the notation (v.v)-! or v-2. That is, I could have used this notation without greater sacrifice of precision than quaternionic writers seem to be willing to make. I much prefer, however, to avoid these inverse operators as essentially indefinite, Nevertheless—although my critic has greatly obscured the subject by ridiculing operators, which I beg leave to maintain are not worthy of ridicule, and by thoughtlessly asserting that it was necessary for me to use them, whereas they are only necessary for me in the sense in which something of the kind is necessary for the quaternionist also, if he would use a notation irreproachable on the scove of exactness—I desire to be perfectly candid. I do not wish to deny that the relations connected with these notations appear a little more simple in the quaternionic form. I had, indeed, this subject principally in mind when I said two years ago in NATURE (vol. xliii, p, 512): ‘* There are a few formule in which there is a trifling gain in compactness in the use of the quaternion.” Let us see exactly how much this advantage amounts to. There is nothing which the most rigid quaternionist need object to in the notation for the potential, or indeed for the Newtonian. These represent respectively the operations by which the potential or the force of gravitation is calculated from the density of matter. A quaternionist would, however, apply the operator Vew not only to a scalar, as I have done, but to a vector also. The vector part of New w (construed in the quaternionic sense) would be exactly what I have repre- sented by Lap @, and the scalar part, taken negatively, would be exactly what I have represented by Max w. The quater- nionist has here a slight economy in notations, which is of less importance, since all the operators—New, Lap, Max—may be expressed without ambiguity in terms of the potential, which is therefore the only one necessary for the exact expression of thought. i But what are the formule which it is necessary for one to remember who uses my notations? Evidently only those which contain the operator Fo. For all the others are derived from these by the simple substitutions New = v Pot, Lap = vx Pot, Max = y. Pot. Whether one is quaternionist or not, one must remember Poisson’s Equation, which I write v.V Potw = -4r7, and in quaternionic might be written Vv? Pot w = 4rw. If w is a vector, in using my equation$ one has also to remem- ber the general formulz, V.V@ = VV.W~-VXVXw which as applied to the present case may be united with the preceding in the three-membered equation, v.v Potw=vy. Potw-vxVvx Potw=-4mw, This single equation is absolutely all that there is to burden the memory of the student, except that the symbols of differen- tiation (v, ¥ x, Vv.) may be placed indifferently before or after the symbol for the potential, and that if we choose we may substitute as above ew for vy Pot, &c. Of course this gives a good many equations, which on accovnt of the importance of 366 NATURE the subject (as they might almost be said to give the mathema- tics. of the electro-magnetic field) I have written out more in detail than might seem necessary. I have also called the atten- tion of the student to many things, which perhaps he might be left to himself to see. Prof. Knott says that the quaternionist obtains similar equations by the simplest transformations. He has failed to observe that the same is truein my Vector Analysts, when once I havé proved Poisson’s Equation. Perhaps he takes his model of brevity from Prof. Tait, who simplifies the sub- ject, I believe, in his treatise on Quaternions, by taking this theorem for granted. Nevertheless, since I am forced so often to disagree with Prof. Knott, Iam glad to agree with him when I can, He says in his original paper (p. 226), ‘‘No finer argument in favour of the real quaternion vector analysis can be found than in the tangle and the jangle of sections 91 to 104 in the ‘Elements of Vector Analysis.”” Now I am quite ready to plead guilty to the tangle. The sections mentioned, as is suffi- ciently evident to the reader, were written at two different times, sections 102-104 being an addition after a couple of years. ‘The matter of these latter sections is not found in its’ natural place, and the result is well’ enough characterised as a tangle. It certainly does credit to the conscientious study which Prof. Knott has given to my pampblet, that he has dis- covered that there is a violent dislocation of ideas just at this point. For such a fault of composition I have no sufficient excuse to offer, but I must protest against its being made the ground of any broad conclusions in regard to the fundamental importance of the quaternion. Prof. Knott next proceeds to criticise—or, at least, to ridicule —my treatment of the linear vector function, with respect to which we read in the abstract :—‘‘ As developed in the pam- phlet, the theory of the dyadic goes over much the same ground as is traversed in the last chapter of Kelland and Tait’s ‘ Intro- duction to Quaternions.’ With the exception of a few of those lexicon products, for which Prof. Gibbs has such an affection, - there is nothing of real value added to our knowledge of the linear vector function.” It would not, I think, be difficult to show some inaccuracy in my critic’s characterisation of the real content of this part of my pamphlet. But as algebra is a formal science, and as the whole discussion is concerning the best form of representing certain kin Is of relations, the important question would seem to be whether there is anything of forma/ value in my treatment of the linear vector function. A Now, Prof. Knott distinctly characterises in half a dozen words the difference in the spirit and method of my treatment of this subject from that which is traditional among quaternion- ists, when he says of what I have called dyadics—‘‘ these are not quantities, but opera‘ors” (NATURE, vol. xlvii. p. 592) I donot think that I applied the word quantity to the dyadics, but Prof. Knott recognised that I treated them as quantities—not, of course, as the quantities of arithmetic, or of ordinary algebra, but as quantities in the broader sense, in which, for example, quaternions are called quantities. The fact that they may be operators does not prevent this. Just asin grammar verbs may be taken as substantives, viz. in the infinitive mood, so in algebra operators—especially such as are capable of quantitative varia- tion—may be regarded as quantities when they are made the subject of algebraic comparison or operation. Now I would not say that it is necessary to treat every kind of operator as quan- tity, but I certainly think that one so important as the linear vector operator, and one which lends itself so well to such broader treatment, is worthy of it. Of course, when vectors are treated by the methods of ordinary algebra, linear vector operators will naturally be treated by the same methods, but in an algebra formed for the sake of expressing the relations be- tween vectors, and in which vectors are treated as multiple quantities, it would seem an incongruity not to apply the methods of multiple algebra also to the linear vector operator. The dyadic is practically the linear vector operator regarded as quantity. More exactly it is the multiple quantity of the ninth order which affords various operators according to the way in which itis applied. I will not venture to say what ought to be included in a treatise on quaternions, in which, of course, a good many subjects would have claims prior to the linear vector operator ; but for the purposes of my pamphlet, in which the linear vector operator is one of the most important topics, I cannot but regard a treatment like that in Hamilton’s ‘* Lec- tures,” or ‘* Elements,’’ as wholly inadequate on the formal side. To show what I mean, I have only to compare Hamilton’s NO. 1242, vor, 48] - fied with matrices, while the linear vector operator longs to that class of multiple quantities, it seems (Aveusr 17, 1893 treatment of the quaternion and of the linear vector with respect to notations. -Since quaternions have been | to refuse to the one those notations which we grant other. Thus, if the quaternionist has eg, log g, why should not the vector analyst have e#, log #, sin where ® represents a linear vector operator? I supp latter are at least as useful to the physicist. I ment notations first, because here the analogy is most evid: there are other cases far more important, because mentary, in which the analogy is not so near the therefore the difference in Hamilton’s treatment of t of multiple quantity not so evident. We have, for e1 the tensor of the quaternion, which has the importan ro represented by the equation—T(g7) = TgTn There is a scalar quantity related to the linear tor, which I have represented by the notation || the determinant of & It is in fact the determinant o matrix by which @ may be represented, just as the squa) tensor of g (sometimes called the orm of g) is the dete of the matrix by which g may be represented. It m defined as the product of the latent roots of ©, just as t of the tensor of g might be defined as the product of the I roots of g. Again, it has the property represented equation Bie ane je-v] = J#/1¥1 ar which corresponds exactly with the preceding equation both sides squared. Die a4 There is another scalar quantity connected with th nion and represented by the notation Sg. It has thei property expressed by the equation, Die S(grs) = S(rsg) = S(sgr), ‘t and so for products of any number of quaternions, i cyclic order remains unchanged. In the theory of vector operator there is an important quantity whic represented by the notation #,, and which has represented by the equation i Be (@v'0), =(¥.0%),=(OV), where the number of.the factors is as before immaterial. be defined as the sum of the latent roots of @, just as be defined as the sum of the latent roots of g. The analogy of these notations may be further. illustra comparing the equations T (eq) = e82 and |b] = eb, : I do not see why it is not as reasonable for the vector # to have notations like |®| and ®, as for the quaternionist the notations Tg and Sy. a This is of course an argumentum ad quaternionisten. not pretend that it gives the reason why I used these for the identification of the quaternion with a mat think, unknown to me when I wrote my pamphlet justification of the notations |@] and ®, is that. functions of the linear vector operator gawd quanti physicists and others have continually occasion to this justification applies to other notations which their analogues in quaternions. Thus I haveu press a vector so important in the theory of the lin operator, that it can hardly be neglected in any tr the subject. It is described, for example, in— different as Thomson and Tait’s Natural Philos Kelland and Tait’s Quaternions. In the former components of the vector are, of course, given in t elements of the linear vector operator, which is in with the method of the treatise. In the latter tre vector is expressed by Vaa' + VBR + Vy. As this supposes the linear vector operator to be given 2 a single letter, but by several vectors, it must be reg entirely inadequate by any one who wishes to treat the in the spirit of multiple algebra, i.e. to use a single represent the linear vector operator. : § But my critic docs not like the notations [@|, , ®x- ridicule, indeed, reaches high-water mark in the paragra which he mentions them. Concerning another notation, ' (defined in Nature, vol. xliii.~p. 513), he exclaims, ‘ NATURE 367 eo wden after burden, in the form of new notation, is added apparently for the sole purpose of exercising the faculty of emory.” He would vastly prefer, it would appear, to write h Hamilton m@’-1, ‘* when m represents what the unit ume becomes under the influence of the linear operator.” this notation is only apparently compact, since the m re- ires explanation. Moreover, if a strain were given in what ilton calls the standard trinomial form, to write out the for the operator.on surfaces in that standard form by e use of the expression mp’ —1 would require, it seems to me, _ ten (if not fifty) times the effort of memory and of ingenuity, which would be required for the same purpose with the use of deXe, _ I may here remark that Prof. Tait’s letter of endorsement of Prof. Knott’s paper affords a striking illustration of the con- ‘venience and flexibility of a notation entirely analogous to 6X, viz. :%, He gives the form Syv, Soc, to illustrate the advantage of quaternionic notations in point of brevity. If I understand his notation, this is what I should write vo : ve. (1 take for granted that the suffixes indicate that v applies as dif- ferential operator to c, and vy, to o,, « and o, being really iden- tical in meaning, as also v and y,.) It will be observed that in my notation one dot unites in multiplication the two v’s, and ‘the other the two a’s, and that I am able to leave each Vv where _ it naturally belongs as differential operator. The quaternionist - cannot do this, because the vy and o cannot be left together ‘without uniting to form a quaternion, which is not at all _ wanted, Moreover, I can write # for yo, and :@ for yo: vo. “The guaternionist also usesa $, which is practically identical with my @ (viz. the operator which expresses the relation be- tween do and dp), but Ido not see how Prof. Knott, who I Suppose dislikes @:@ as much as #4, would express Svv, Seo, in terms of this @. _ Itis characteristic of Prof. Knott’s view of the subject, that in translating into quaternionic from a dyadic, or operator, as he calls it, he adds in each case an operand. In many cases it ould be difficult to make the translation without this, But it is often a distinct advantage to be able to give the operator without the operand. For example, in tran-lating into quater- nionic my dyadic or operator xp, he adds an operand, and exclaims, ‘‘ The old thing!” Certainly, when this expression is applied to an operand, there is no advantage (and no dis- advantage) in my notation as compared with the quaternionic, But if the quaternionist wished to express what I would write in the form (x p)-1, or [#x pl}, or (@xp),, or (®xp)x, he would, I think, find the operand very much in the way. d J. WILLARD Gripes, On Secular Variations of our Rainfall. _IN studying the rainfall of this country, it is instructive, I a long series of years, all smoothed by means of five year averages. In the case of places not too far apart, one may then recognise a common type amid some diversity of detail. But it is not easy to trace such ‘family likeness” between 08; curves for the west of Scotland and the east of England. The east of England curves seem to conform to the general law affirmed by Biiickner for the greater part of the globe, viz. cold and wet periods alternating with warm and dry ones at in- tervals of about 35 years; so that, taking recent years, there was, in most places, a rainy period between 1841 and 1855, and again between 1871 and 1885, while a dry period occurred be- tween 1856 and 1870, _In the accompanying diagram are shown two east of England urves, one for Kast Anglia, giving mainly the rainfall for leburgh, in Norfolk, continued for about 17 years by that of Norwich (according to British Rainfall), the other for Boston (from the same work). These curves, it will be noted, dip down from a relative maximum in the early year:, 1843 and 1847, and rise again to maxima in 1877 and 1881. Some rainfall statistics for Oviedo were recently given in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift (Feb., 1892, p. 71). This is, it’ may be well to state, a university town in the north of Spain, capital of the province of Asturias, and about 20 miles from the coast of the Bay of Biscay. Now, the smoothed curve of this place, from 1853, has a form distinctly opposite to those just considered (a8 the diagram shows!). It rises toa maximum in 1864, goes io The vertical scales, right and left, are not to be taken as equivalent, NO. 1242, VoL. 48] think, to compare a number of curves for different places, and° down to a minimum iu 1877, after which it rises again, reaching, pethaps, another maximum in 1887. This oppositeness in the variation of rainfall appears to merit attention. How is it to be explained ? One of the most interesting meteorological facts brought to light in recent years is, that the depressions which come over from the west do not take, as it were, a random course, but tend to follow, with more or less frequency, certain well-defined paths, The course of several of these paths has been indicated by Van Bebber, who has made a special study of the subject. Some of the paths are known to shift in the course of the year, having a different direction in midsummer from what they have in midwinter, And there can be little doubt, though the matter is still obscure, that the paths shift in successive years, The paths numbered IV and V by Van Bebber, are said to have shifted in the years 1879 to 1884-5 from a more maritime to a more Continental position, and Lang connects with this an ob- served variation in the rate of travel of thunderstorms in South Ger- many (see AZet. Zezts., Nov., 1891, p. [68], of Literaturter ), Such shifting is very probably accoa:panied with variations of rainfall. Hellmann supposes this to be the reason why in Spain a year that is wet in the north-west is generally dry in the south-east, and vice versé. We might, perhaps, roughly compare such variations to the case of a man watering a lawn with a garden hose, and directing-the jet of spray now on one side, now on the other, I do not know whether any suggestion of this nature ix applic- able to the case before us, or whether some other and better explanation may be forthcoming. Oviedo is not, apparently, included in Buiickner’s data for estimating Spanish rainfall; and it is to be noted that he Pr om Inn Owieds 78 \ gua 32 Bou \iae 28 Joo oo08 Rk , bow Gh 2o Boston Wun & & ‘$2 '& 60 4 '8'72. 6 fo * 8 92 regards the north of Spain as conforming to his thirty-five years law, while southern Spain is reckoned exceptional. Briickner has two classes of exceptions : the ‘‘permanen!,” in which the curves are opposite to the normal (Ireland and the Atlantic islands being examples), and the “temporary,” in which there is conformity to the rule, fora time ; then, during some lustra, there come irregular variations. To this latter class are relegated south and middle Spain, Mediterranean France, West England, and Scotland. If Briickner’s view regarding the north of Spain is correct, how comes it that thé Oviedo curve has the character. indicated, which is apparently that of the permanent exceptions ? In discussions on the subject of sunspot influence on weather one sometimes hears the opposite character of weather in different regions urged as a difficulty in the way of accepting such influence. Thus, in connection with a paper read by Mr. Scoit to the Royal United Service Institution last year (Journal, May, p. 510) 1 find him remarking: “It is not possible to say whether or not the mere fact of our having very wet or dry weather is due to the sunspots, when our neighbours not very far off are having exactly the contrary, ... Last summer everybody was abusing the weather because of its wetness, [ myself was then living in the Black Forest, and we had four days’ rain in eight weeks. Which of these conditions depended - the ‘sunspots ? Was it my fine weather or was it the rain ere? With all deference to an excellent authority, ard without offering an opinion upon the particular cases cited, it seems to me not impossible that the influence of the solar cycle might be manifested in an opposite succession of effects in diflerent 368 NATURE [Aucust 17, 1893 | regions. Suppose, e.g. that in some region the rainfall in a long series of years varied, not as in the cases above considered, but in a certain regular correspondence with the sunspot curve ; and in another region (perhaps further south) in opposite cor- respondence ; also that these variations were traced to the shifting ofa depression path. The opposite correspondence would obviously not be a good reason for denying sunspot influence, but rather corroborative evidence of such influence. Again, it will be admitted, I think, as conceivable that we might find certain great anticyclonic systems to vary in position or extent with the sunspot variations. Suppose, then, an anticyclone which lay over a region (a) at the time of minimum sunspots, were moved in a given direction, say northwards, so that it came to covera region (4) at the maximum of sunspots and that it returned to a by the next minimum. In that case a place, ¢.g., inthe south part of region a, would have high barometer at minimum sun- spots, while a place in the north part of region 4 would have low barometer. And at the maximum of sunspots, on the other hand, the two places would again have opposite conditions of pressure (to each other and to the first), These are some out of many aspects of the matter which seem to me to render doubt- ful the affirmation that if the solar cycle influences weather, it cannot produce an opposite succession of effects in different (even neighbouring) regions. To revert, for a moment, to the shiftinz of depression-paths, might it not, in some cases, account for certain changes ob- served in the relative proportion of different wind directions ? Suppose e.g, that, by the shifting of a path a little southwards, a plaze which has been for some years in its southern border comes to lie in the northern border, might it not thus come to have more easterly wind and less westerly ? A. B. M. The Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters, Dr. WALLACE, in a letter which appeared in NATURE on July 20, asks for the opinion of ‘naturalists as to the in- terpretation of certain facts bearing upon the question of the ‘*N.n-inheritance of Acquired Characters,” and as I have given much thought to the subject I venture to offer my opinion. In two papers published in Matural S-tence, vl. i, (1892), I set forth at some length a theory of heredity which has hitherto, so far as I am aware, met with no public criticism, and which I believe sets the question at rest, not by establishing the views of either of the rival schools associated with the names of Weismann and Lamarck respectively, but by showing that another interpretation is possible, and one which while funda- mentally opposed to both of these makes it possible that there may be some truth hidden in the almost meaningless statements of the Weismannians and of the Lamarckians alike. Till ‘‘ heredity ” is defined, and till we know exactly what we mean by ‘‘ inheritance of characters” (bz they ‘‘ acquired ” or ‘‘ blastogenic”’), it is useless to argue as to whether charac- ters are ‘‘inherited” or not. ‘ Is the word ‘‘heredity”’ an abstract noun, the name of a quality, a sort of magnified “‘family-likeness,” or is it not? Those who write of heredity are too prone to speak of ‘‘here- dity ” as if it were a force or combination of forces producing an effect ; as an ‘‘inherent tendency,” to resemble parents or other ancestors which it is perhaps not unfair to compare to the ‘¢ in- herent tendency” of a watch to tell the time or of a weather- cock to p sint to the south-west. There are those who even speak of it as being ‘‘latent” for a time and then, owing to some uaknown cause, ‘‘ springing into activity” anew and giving rise to what we call ‘‘atavism.” Eve x “atavism” is not infre- quently spoken of, as if it were of the nature of a force or combination of forces, comparable to a ‘‘latent tendency,” which after lying “dormant” or ‘‘latent” for a time in a weathercock, suddenly springs into new activity and causes it to point as of old to the south-west. It appears to me that if we once grasp the idea that ‘* here- dity” is the name of a quality, a particular kind of ‘‘like- ness” or ‘‘similarity,” and nothing else, we shall be saved from much useless discussion of propositions which are intrin- sically almost, if not quite, meaninzless. Artemia salina is the collective name given to a large num- ber of individuals which have certain characters in common. It would hardly seem to be necessary to suggest the probability that this possession of many characters in common is due to the action of Natural Selection ; that each new individual possesses the characters in question solely by virtue of the fact NO. 1242, VOL. 48] . ply of ¥uglans regia is a constant factor in the environ that Natural Selection has led to the production of individ possessing the power to produce, under given constant ci ditions, eggs, which by virtue of their cons‘itution will de: under given conditions into adults possessing the charact which natural selection has under those conditions rend: nearly constant. : ae It has been found that this same constitution does necessarily lead to the same series of developmental ch under other conditions, and that in strong brine the eggs devel into animals which, though capable of living and multipl under those conditions, differ in form from the ancestr: salina, This new form has no more right to rank asa spe than has a ‘*worker’” bee whose adult form differs from of its parent merely on account of certain conditions to it is exposed during development. : It appears to me to be absurd to ask whether the ‘‘acq characters” of the so-called Artemia Milhausenii are in able or not. Experiment has shown that the constituti the species 4. sa/ina has so little changed that it still has power to produce eggs which under one set of conditions d into A. salina and under another set of conditions int Mithausenii, The average constitution of the species has" varied : it still produces ova which will develop into either 4 salina or A, Milhausenii, according to the conditions to w it is exposed. If we look upon the species as a whole, not too much to say that it exhibits xo acguired characters. bred in strong brine the individuals of many generations alike, having been moulded by like influences, intrinsic as 1 as extrinsic. If the extrinsic influences change, new individ differ from the old ones, simply because the constitution o! individuals as well as that of the species is such that under new conditions the developmental changes spe gsr, those which would have occurred under the old conditions. Whether this is true of all species and under all condi consistent with life and multiplication, or is not true of so a matter for experiment, and can never be decided by argu The experiment has been made by nature, and also by m the case of Amblystoma, and with a result in exact confc with the result in the case of Artemia. The experiment has also been made with white mice Freiburg, and it has been conclusively shown that under stant conditions the characters of successive generatio constant. Oneelement of the environment in one series of e was Prof. Weismann armed with tools for amputation of the tails of the young mice, /ws a determination to amp those tails. So long as this remained a constant factor environment, so long and no longer did the taillessness of adult mice remain a constant character of the species. The Texan species of Saturnia, so long as the exclusive ij may or may not have a constant group of characters. Th a matter for experiment ; but innumerable experiments, collectively ‘‘domestication,” have shown that whatever changes of certain details of the environment—such as may have, the suspension of natural selection will in the run lead to inconstancy of all those characters which lieved from its restraining influence. If anything has ever been rendered certain in biology by longed experiment and observation, it is the fact that sp characters are maintained constant dy selection and alone. Long continued selection—natural or artific produce a seeming constancy of characters (which 2 ** heredity” |), but in the long run this constancy will when the particular selection which has induced it hi suspended for a sufficiently long period. p appear touse the term as the name for the action of a fo’ combination of forces, which some have called ‘‘ heredity ” a force or influence—either simple or complex—of which i perfectly safe to deny the existence. ‘There is no such as heredity—heredity is only a quality, a likeness or similarit and nothing more. That likeness of characters is simply a solely due to the likeness of the influences which have produ the like characters, and pre-eminent amongst those influe) is natural selection, though every factor of the environment also had its part to play. So long as those like influen _ AucustT 17, 1893]| NATURE 369 extrinsic and intrinsic—remain like, so long and no longer do their effects remain constant. What effects a change in those influences may produce experiment and observation, and these alone can determine. For thousands of generations: certain characters, such as indness and winglessness, and enormous size of head and of s, and complete absence of all power of multiplication either direct or indirect, either sexual or asexual, have remained con- stant in ‘‘soldier” termites. No soldier termite has any - marked resemblance to any one of its ancestors. Yet each is like every other ‘‘soldier,” and that likeness is ‘‘ heredity.” Its characters have not been ‘‘ transmitted,” for no ancestor ever possessed them. Like conditions in successive gene- rations lead to like results, one of which is the production of a fairly constant proportion of neuter ‘‘soldiers” and “ workers” devoid of any power of reproduction. Those ‘like conditions” include a constant, or nearly constant, struc- ture of the males and females, albeit the polymorphism extends to these also. The recurrence of tho-e like conditions has been determined by natural selection, and is still maintained by natural selection. To apply the term ‘‘ transmission” in such a case would be not more absurd than in any other case, sup- posing the word to be used in its literal sense, for, though the soldier in every case derives its characters from a line of ancestors extending back to remote periods, not one ancestor in which line has possessed those characters ; yet their geographical dis- tribution at the present time shows that the characters of “soldiers” are of remote antiquity. This constancy of charac- ters in many generations appears to be identical with. the phenomenon called ‘‘ inheritance.” Heredity then is a likeness of effects due to likeness in the causes producing them. The likeness of causes has been pro- duced and maintained by natural selection acting under fairly constant conditions. ‘‘ Inheritance” is a name given to the operation of an influence which has no existence in nature. The sooner we cease to use the word altogether the better it will be for our science. “Inheritance of acquired characters ” isa mere chain of words correlated with a chain of loose ideas, but not correlated with any natural objective phenomenon. To assert it as a fact is as futile as to deny it. C. HERBERT Hurst. Owens College, Manchester, July 26. Echinocyamus Pusillus. May I direct your attention to a rather serious error contained in the review of Théel’s paper on Zchinocyamus pusillus, which appeared in your number for August 3? our reviewer states that ‘‘not the least brilliant and far- reaching ” of the advances in our knowledge of Echinoderm mor- phology, made in the year 1891, is the discovery by Brooks and Field of the primary bilateral symmetry ‘‘of the water- vascular system ” of Asterias. Had such a discovery been really made, it would no doubt have justified the epithet applied to it by your reviewer ; but, in the first place it was not made, and in the second Metschm- koff long ago pointed out such a primary bilateral symmetry in the embryos of Amphiura squamata, Field’s paper, containing the results of his own and Brooks’s work, appeared in the Quarterly Fournal of Microscopical Science for 1892. In it he gives an account of the development of the larva of Asterias; but in the oldest stage which he describes there is not as yet a trace of the water-vascular system. He clescribes, it is true, in larvze of a certain size a right as well as a left madreporic pore ; but as all ‘‘ echinologists,” it is to be 0 know by this time, the pore is primarily related to the om, and only secondarily enters into connection with the water-vascular system. Further, Field distinctly states that cases of a double pore had been observed previously by conti- nental zoologists, but regarded by them as pathological ; and the chief point in Field’s paper is the very probable theory put forward by him that such cases constitute a distinct stage in the ontogeny of the animal. E. W. MAcBRIDE. Zvological Laboratory, New Museums, Cambridge, August 5. ON referring to my draft notes, which I happen to have kept, I find in place of the words ‘‘ water-vascular system,” quoted by your correspondent, ‘‘ pore canal system” ; and I do not deny that I should have done better had I transcribed them un- NO. 1242, vou 48] changed. I fail at the same time to see that the ‘‘error” complained of is, in its place, as serious as my critic would imply. No one who attempts to do his duty by the colossus of biological literature would fail to be familiar either with the work of the authors whom he cites, or with his own recent beginning in a kindred direction. Admitting the claims of one and all, the work of Field appeared to me to put the probability at stake upon a much firmer basis than that of his predecessors, and it was for that reason that I emphasised it. If 1 err not, a journalistic notice is not a thing to be hampered with names and details, especially when written with the dual object of directing attention to a really admirable monograph, and of endeavouring to promote an amicable spirit of brotherhood among workers in science, such as we to-day very much need. THE WRITER OF THE NOTICE. The Supposed Suicide of Rattlesnakes. Tue letter of Mr. Edward S. Holden on this subject is ex- tremely interesting. It appears that he, like other individuals who have imagined thit they have witnessed the suicide of scor- pions, has fallen into the error (so com non in the interpretation of biological as distinguished from abiological phenomena) of stating his inferences and beliefs as though they were observa- tions. The ‘‘instance which occurred before my eyes” (to quote his words, which re.vind one of the old herbalist, Gerard) was simply that of a snake biting itself when imprisoned in a jar of water. That the blow was ‘‘ deliberate,” ‘* intentional,” and of ‘‘suicidal purpose” is pure speculation—and nothing occurred before Mr. Holden’s eyes to warrant his entertaining such a notion. Had Mr. Holden been aware that the poison of the rattlesnake has little or no effect upon another rattlesnake, nor upon the individual from which the poison is furnished, he would probably have been less ready to conclude that the bite was one of suicidal purpose. He would then perhaps have inquired as to the depth to which the bite penetrated into the tissues of the snake, and how far such a superficial bite asa snake can inflict upon a part of its own body is likely (in the absence of any poisonous action) to be seriously injurious to the snake. In this case, as in that of the scorpion confined in a fiety circle (experimentally studied both by myself and by Prof. Bourne, of Madras, and reported on in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society and the Royal Society) the spasmodic struggles of an animal artificially confined and tortured, have been, as we clearly demonstrated, mistaken for efforts at self- destruction. The biting of its own body by the snake may be justly compared with the ‘‘ biting the dust” attributed to men who die in hand-to-hand struggle, or to the biting of their own hand or arm by unhealthy children when suffering from a paroxysm of anger, E, Ray LANKESTER. Oxford, August IT. Imitation or ‘‘Instinct” by a Male Thrush? On the evening of July 19 a young thrush was caught in my conservatory and placed in a large outside aviary. The follow- ing morning I observed the parent birds feeding the young one through the bars with worms. In the same aviary there had been for more than ten years a male thrush which had been captured when quite young and had never been mated or troubled with family cares. On observing the parents of the young bird feeding their offspring he at once followed their ex- ample. On putting some bread and milk into the aviary he flew down, took up a piece and tried to induce the young bird to open its beak. At first the young thrush appeared to be afraid of accepting food from the foster-father, but after some persuasion it allowed itself to be fed with bread and milk, hemp seed, and other food. The parent birds were watching from the outside, and during the whole time occupied by the old male in feeding their progeny were also trying to introduce food through the bars The day after (July 21) the parent birds did not make any further attempt to introduce food, but contented themselves by watching their young one from a tree close at hand. If any of the house-cats approached the aviary the parents would at once give the alarm. In the course of another day or two they abandoned the young one entirely to the care of the old foster-father, who has proved quite worthy of his trust, as the young bird is now able to feed himself and is in a very thriving condition. The old male stillinsists, how- 370 NATURE [Aucust 17, 1893 €ver, on giving it any delicate morsel he may fiad. This obser- vation appeared to me to be of sufficient interest to record in your columns, as the old male bird certainly in this case learnt how to feed the young one by observing the proceedings of the parent birds. le had never reared any young ones of his own, and had never had any opportunity of seeing other families bronght up in the aviary. E. BoscueEr. Belle Vue, Twickenham, Aug. 1893. Intrusive Masses of Boulder-clay. THE letter of Messrs. Graham Officer and Lewis Balfour upon the glacial deposits of Bacchus Marsh suggests the de- sirability of uttering a word of caution against the assumption ‘that boulder-clay intercalated between two beds of rock is necessarily of intermediate age. I have repeatedly observed zn- zrusions of boulder-clay into the triassic sandstones of Lancashire and Cheshire, but never so striking an example as that described by Mr, Arthur R. Dwerryhouse in the current number of the Glacialists’ Magazine. In his paper and the accompanying plate he shows how a series of glacial and triassic deposits were displayed in a trench in such a way as to give the im- pression that they were interbedded, sandstone being both below and above the glacial deposits. A minute examination established the fact that the drift deposits had been thrust in amongst the older rocks along a line of weakness due to the presence of a bed of marl. The intrusion had penetrated to a distance of fifty yards from the outcrop of the marl-bed. I do not suggest that Messrs. Officer and Balfour have been misled by such an appearance, but merely warn geologists in general against falling into error. We have heard much of late of floods and other catastrophes, even from geologists possessing a considerable intimacy with the phenomena of the British drift deposits. It would be interesting to learn in what way these injections of glacial sludge would be explained by the advocates of deluges. Percy F. KENDALL, Yorkshire College, Leeds, August 14. A Peculiar Discharge of Lightning, I SHOULD like to add to the many recent accounts of light- ning discharges the following particulars of which I have not yet seen any published account. : On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 26, during a storm at about 5.30, a blue flame was observed by some of the inhabit- ants of Epping to approach and shatter the chimney of a house upon the hill, occupied by Mrs, Brown and family at the time. An examination of the interior of the house shows the dis- charge to have passed chiefly by the bell wires, which are fused, down one corner of a room upon the upper floor, breaking the ~ of a chest of drawers near, and setting the wall in the vicinity on fire. On the ground-floor the discharge seems to have taken two paths to earth, viz. down the corner of a front room by means of some metallic damp-proof paper, and in the kitchen adjacent by means of some wooden cupboards, the doors of which were much broken and thrown across the room. Mrs, Brown, who was seated in the front room, states that a few seconds before the house was struck she noticed what ap- peared to be a darkened space, surrounded by a crimson fringe of flame in the corner (perhaps a brush discharge), and her son in the kitchen at the time testifies to having seen a similar thing previous to what appeared to be the bursting of the luminous mass, which occurred with a loud report, filling the house with smoke and the usual accompanying smell of ozone. The walls are much damaged, and the polarity of a small compass in a drawer of a sideboard nearest the path of discharge was re- versed. I considered the apparent forewarning of the brush discharge of sufficient interest to justify this letter. WILLIAM BREw. Eiectric Light Department, British Museum, August 8. The Mean Density of the Earth. IN a note in your issue of August 10, adding to the list of values for the mean density of the earth, which you gave on July 27, it is stated that Jolly and Poynting obtained the value 5°58. This is, I believe, the value obtained by von Jolly, but my final result, as published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1891, is 5*493. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] In any account of recent work on this subject I think Sterneck’s experiments at Pribram and Freiberg deserve These were made in the years 1882-5, and were pendulum periments of the Harton Pit type. The method of comp the times of swing of the pendulums below and at the was, I believe, quite new, and consisted in determining coincidences with the same clock, which gave simul! half-second signals at the two stations by means of an. circuit. The results unfortunately tend to confirm the clusion which had, I think, been already drawn from work—that the mine method of experiment, though to our knowledge of the constitution of the surface useless in determining the mean densily of the earth. — Major von Sterneck’s papers are published in the P of the Militar-Geographisches Institut of Vienna, Pensarn, Abergele, August 12. J. H. Po The Grouping of Stars into Constellat CAN you or some of your readers kindly give me an to the following questions, or tell me where I may o information on the subjects ? ie ‘ Did the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Persi oF Stars in the same manner into constellations? In cases they did so were the constellations usually named by a nations after the same animals ? ‘ . a How were the constellations, which we call after heroes, named by Assyrians and Egyptians ? : Do the different races of the present day, Chi nesians, Hindoos, Negroes, Americans, &c., each stats in a peculiar way? ef If each race has its own plan of grouping the make use of this peculiarity in ascertaining the affin races and nations ? Ree ee Terricrs Green, High Wycombe, August 11. lies Numerous Insects Washed up by the Sea. =r HAVE any of your correspondents mentioned the fol fact? For the last two days, August 8 and 9, the shor Dymchurch, Kent, and for more than two miles towards was covered with countless quantities of winged ants wash to the shore by the waves. At low tide one sees thre four rims, so thick that each makes a black stripe, from three inches wide, running without interruption for mo three miles, and probably extending to a greater distance. have had during these days winds from the north-east, light on Tuesday morning, but strong since that. Dymchurch, Kent, August ro. Sopuiz Kroporkt A Substitute for Ampére’s Swimmer, In Nature of July 27 Mr, Daniell gives a substitute Ampére’s swimmer, In Denmark we use the following s rule given by Prof. Holten at least twenty years — outstretched right hand is put in the current with turned toward the magnet and the fingers in the di the current. Then the north-seeking pole will be moved direction of the thumb. : HANNA | Copenhagen, August 3. ec) A Correction. IN my paper on ‘‘ The Chatham Islands: their r former Southern Continent,” just issued among the mentary Papers of the Royal Geographical Society, there occurs a slip in the third and fourth lines from page 9, which I should feel obliged by your kindly to correctin your columns. My attention has been by Prof. Newton, of Cambridge. 1n quoting from his and Edward Newton’s observations in the appendix to Oliver’s voyage of Leguat, as to the ‘‘now submerg nent,” of which Rodriguez, Mauritius, Bourbon, gascar are, according to them, the existing frag: inserted the words ‘“‘named Lemuria, by Dr. Sclater™ the word ‘‘continent.” These words of mine show occurred within square brackets, the absence of which wi I regret, overlooked in the |roof. ‘Now the old lan connexion,” writes Prof. Newton, “of the Mascarene Islam with Madagascar, of which we spokeas probable, is not at necessarily the same thing as ‘ Lemuria,’ which Mr. Sela supposes to have reached some of the Malayan countries. 61, Glebe Place, Chelsea, S.\V. Henry 0. For pee « _ Aucust 17, 1893] NATURE 3d THE ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY OF ON AND THEBES. es ’N relation to the extract from Brugsch, given in the Jast article, to the effect that there was one series of numents with its starting point in the Delta, it must emphatically stated that the results obtained from these monuments, studying them from the astronomical _ point of view, leads to a very different conclusion. In- stead of one series there are distinctly two, absolutely dissimilar astronomically, and instead of one set of temple-builders going up the river there were two sets : one going up the river building temples to north stars, the other going down building temples to south stars; and the two streams practically met at Thebes, or at all events they were very fully represented there. _ The double origin of the people thus suggested on _ astronomical grounds may be the reason of the name of “double country,” used especially in the titles of kings, of the employment of two crowns, and finally of the sup- posed sovereignty of Set over the north, and of Horus over the south divisions of the kingdom." With regard to the start point of the temple-builders _ who came down the river, there is no orientation evidence, _ for the reason that there is little or no information from the regions south of Naga. At Naga (lat 16° 18’ N.), Meroé (lat. 16° 55’ N.), Gebel Barkal and Nuri (both in lat. 18° 30’ N.), there is information of the most important kind, but beyond Nagathere isa gap; but since important structures were erected at the places named in, | think, early tlmes (3-4000 B.C.), it is probable that the peoples who built them stretched further towards the equator. : With regard to the southern limits of Egypt in the time of Thotmes, it is supposed that the south frontier Kali of the inscriptions is probably connected with Koloé in 4° 15’ N. lat. according to Ptolemy? The authority for the general statement I have made rests upon the probable dates I have found for the first foundations of the temples of both series (N. and S. stars) which I have investigated, and here I must re-state that in almost every case that foundation precedes the -generally-received date, which generally has reference to a stone building ; while in all probability the first structure was a brick shrine merely, and in support of this view I may state that the looking after ruined shrines was re- cognised as one of the duties of kingship. “T have caused monuments to be raised to the gods; I have embellished their sanctuaries that they may last to posterity ; I have kept up their temples; I have restored again what was fallen down, and have taken care of that which was erected in former times.” * Not only did Thotmes III. find the original temple of Amen-R4 built in brick, but he found the temple at Semneh in brick also, and he rebuilt it in memory of Usertsen III.* I have prepared a table which it is not necessary to ee in this place. I bring together the foundation ates | have found most probable, bearing the above and many other considerations in mind. The dates are, of course, only provisional, since local data are in many cases wanting. Where no information is forthcoming as to the height of the horizon visible along the temple axis, I have assumed hil's 1° high. - The following general conclusions may be drawn from the table :— . I, At the earlier periods there are well-marked epochs of temple-building revealed by the table. ~_ Brugsch, ‘* History,’’ p. 6. 2 Brugsch, “‘ Egypt,” p 184. Inscription of Thotmes TU,, translated by Brugsch, x os i 188, Brugsch, “ Egypt,” p. 184. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] II. The temples to the north stars, a Urs Majoris- and y Draconis, begin in the Delta. Ill. The temples erected to the southern stars (a Cen- tauri and Phact) begin at Gebel Barkal, Phila, and Thebes almost simultaneously. IV. The first north star temples for the worship of Set and Ptah were erected between 5400-4200 B.C. The series is then broken till about 3500. V. The first south star temples (Phact at the summer solstice and a Centauri at the autumnal equinox), begin. about 3700 B.C. VI. y Draconis replaces a Ursz Majoris at Denderah,. and north star temples are for the first time erected in the south at Karnak and Dakkeh in 3500 B.C. VII. For the first time about 3200 B.c., N. and S. star temples are built simultaneously. VIII. After this the building activity is chiefly limited to temples to southern stars. If we take Brugsch’s dates, we find that the founda- tions of the greatest number of temples were laid about the time of Seneferu, Pepi, and the twelfth dynasty. The more modern kings founded few temples, their function was that of expanding, restoring, and amnexing. Even. Thotmes III. seems to have laid no new foundations except perhaps that of the Ptah temple at Karnak, and that is doubtful. : This after all is not to be wondered at. Three thousand years of observations at least had shown that the stars. were not to be trusted to fix a festival day, and the true astronomical user of the ancient temples had quite passed away. Still the ancient shrines were there, what more natural then, than to embellish them? The priests, by insisting upon the vague year had reserved to themselves a perfect means of hiding all festival difficulties for once in 1460 years; the old star would rise on the proper day of the Egyptian month, although it would be no: longer visible in the temple. Indeed it is extremely probable that we have here the real reason of the priestly action. They were not fools, and they could, one would think, have had no better reason than this. The wonderful Hall of Columns called Khu-mennu (splendid memorial), in the temple of Amen-Ra, was dedi- cated by Thotmes III. not only to Amen-Ra, but to his ancestors. It is interesting to note who these were in the present connection. I give them with Brugsch’s. dates.1 BC. Seneferu 3766 Asta av: 3366 Pepi j.. Be Ae 3233 The Antefs ... nee sii ft 2500 The most famous sovereigns of the twelfth dynasty as tes 2433-2300 30 princes of the thirteenth dynasty 2233 Of these ancestors, the first limited himself to southern temples, the majority, built near Pepi’s time, were south: temples. The twelfth dynasty was more catholic. The mre we continue it, the more interesting does this. inquiry into the north star temples as opposed to the south star temples become. These considerations are not limited to the temples, they apply also to pyramids. At Gizeh we find both temples and pyramids oriented east and west. At Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Meroé in Upper Egypt, we- find beth temples and pyramids facing south-east, and at the former place, where both exist together, we find well-marked groups of pyramids connected by their orientations with each temple. In the following tables I give the values for Meroé, Nuri, and Gebel Barkal :— 1 B-vgsch, ‘‘igypt,’’ p. 180. NATURE 372 Meroé.* Cu. [Meee | popu | Det | ° anew °. | : pie Pyramid 16... ... | N. 102 E. 34S. of E. | 1S... 3% Pyramid 20... ... | N. 103 E. 44S. of Ei |S. 4} Temple near Wasser ; : Becken is. 4: sea Nes B12 Es 134 S. of E. |S. 123 Pyramid15 ... ... | N. 112 E. | 134S. of E.| S. 12g Pyramids 14, 37... | N. 113 E. | 143 S. of E.| S. 1339 Pyramid 10... a. | N.. 116 BE. } 1784'S. of E. |S. 163 Pyramid 39 —.._~—«.. | N. 118 E. | 194 Si of E.| S. 183 Pyramid 19 N. 83 E. | 154-N. of E.| N. 149 Nuri.? Cult. Aenck.. | “Amphinde, |, Det Pyramids 10, 11, 12 | N. 136E. | 37} S.of FE. S$. 354 Pyramids 1,4 © 5... | Nv 1372 BE. |'38%'S. of E,| S. 364 Pyramids 13, 14,15 N. 139 E 404 S. of E.) S. 38 Pyramids 2, 3, 16, 17 | N. 1454 K. | 47 S. of B.S. 433 Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8,9} N. 1464 E. | 48S. of E. S. 443 Gebel Barkal.* cult esi | Apeonaniell | Dee. Temple E N. 132 OF 334 S. of E.} S. 314 Pyramid 18 N, 2324 E. | 34S; of E.| S. 32 Tele N, 1364 E. | 38 S. of E.| S. 354 Pyramids 9, 13 N. 136 E.. | 374 S..of E. |S. 354 Pyramid 11 N. 140 E.. | 414.8, of K. | S. 39 Pyramid 1, 2 ... N.igr E. | 424 S. of E. | S. 303 Temples J and H N.145 EY | 474 S. of E. |S. 444 Pyramid 20. © ....°':, | Nv 446 E.- \'474-S) of E.'S. 444 Pyramids 2, 15, 16, 1 N, 147 E. | 4848S. of E.| S. 45% Temple B... ©... i | Neag2 E.: | 534S. of BE. | S. 409 Pyramids 5, 6,7, 8,10 | N. 153 E. | 544 S. of E.| S. 503 Pyramid 19°... ..° | N. 156 E. =| §74-S. of EF.) S. 53 Temple A N. 170 W. | 8845. of W. | S. 71k It seems quite justifiable from the above facts to con- clude that the pyramids and temples oriented S,E. and, as I hold, to a Centauri when it heralded the autumnal equinox, were not built by people having the same astronomical ideas, worships, and mythology as those who built at Gizeh due E. and W., and marked the autumnal equinox by the heliacal rising of Antares. The only thing in common was noting an equinox, and so far as this goes we may infer that neither people dwelt originally in the Nile Valley, but came by devious ways from a country or countries where the equinoxes had been made out. J. NORMAN LOCKYER. 1 For plans see ‘‘ Lepsius,” vol. ii. 133 ani 134. A west variation of 8}° has been assumed. 2. For plans see ** Leps.us,” vol. ii. 130. assumed. : 3 For plans see ‘‘ Lepsius,” vol. ii..125 and 127. A west variation of 8° has been assumed. 4 There is a point of great interest here It would seen from Captain Lyons’ examination of the temples at Wady Halfa, which I make out to have been orien:ed to a Centauri, that when the two races were amalga- mated. in later times, both the stars to which: I have referred as heralding the equinox were personified by the same goddess Selk NO. 1242, VOL. 48] A west variation of 8}° has been APPARATUS ILLUSTRATING MICHELSO METHOD OF OBTAINING INTERFER BANDS. 1% the American Journal of Science for August, 188 Captain Michelson described an ingenious met for producing interference bands, used by him mining the relative motion of the earth and t ferous ether. Light from a lamp at @ falls on silvered mirror 4, where it divides into two ra reflected from the thinly silvered surface, is back to 4 by the plane mirror c; the other ray t the glass plate 4, and falls on the plane mirror d, it is reflected back to 6. Here both rays reu pass onward toward e. The mirrors dand care sily polished on their front surfaces. By this mean similar to Newton’s rings, are obtained between t cand the reflection of din 4; the retardation of one with respect to the other being the length4c-dd; fis silvered piece of plane glass, cut from the same piece and placed in the ray 4c, so as to compensate for the ray 2 passing twicethrough 4 ; otherwise, owing to the dis power of the glass in 4 different wave-lengths of li ray 4d would be unequally retarded in comparison’ the same wave-lengths in the ray dc. If the path now equalised in length with the path 4 d, and if, over, the piece of glass f be exactly equal and pai with J, the central band will be black, owing to co EDS & 1 } 1 ‘a 3F ic. 1. db being reflected from the rarer medium, whilst a, reflected from the denser medium. 3 Apparatus to show these bands can be ¢ cheaply set up, and owing to the fact that an source of light may be used, they can easily be p’ and thus many interesting experiments shown to. audience. The following is a description of construction of the apparatus which I have found! admirably. rcoe All the parts are mounted on a piece of 4” x 9” X 12”. The two mirrors dand c, each two square, were silvered by the milk-sugar process, wards polished with washleather and rouge in t manner. The mirror 4 was withdrawn from the solution when only a thin layer had been depos polishing was necessary. The layer of silver show flect considerably more than half the light incident it, as thus the reflections from the unsilvered su1 é become relatively insignificant. Ordinary plat was used in each instance. ne Each mirror was attached vertically by pitch to a composed of two pieces of band brass soldered toge at right angles, having three feet a, 4, c (Fig. 2). case of the glasses 4, f and c (Fig. 1), a screw of pil aly’ was inserted in ¢c (Fig. 2) as a rough adjustment verticality of the mirror. Avcust 17, 1893] __ The mirrors 4 and / were maintained in position? by _ to the glass bed-plate. The fine adjustments required are adjustments in altitude and azimuth. in a long V-groove (a piece of angle brass was used), < 1 _ Supported on a block of stone, resting, in its turn, on NATURE 373 conical foot a (Fig. 2) standing in a cylindrical holein _a blank which was stuck to the glass bed-plate by pitch, 4 resting simply on the surface of the glass, whilst the foot ¢ stood ina Wao in a brass blank, also stuck by pitch for ¢ (Fig. 1) a motion in the direction cf, and for d, These were re- ctively obtained by placing the two feet 4 and ¢ Fig. 2) (which should be rounded) of the mirror c (Fig. 1) ojec b Fig. 2.—The dotted lines indicate the position of the mirror. the third foot resting on the glass surface ; the foot ¢ was held against a screw passing, in the direction of the groove, through a brass blank soldered at the end thereof, which : the longitudinal motion required for that mirror. y means of a lever of 18” or so in length attached to it, a piece of steel wire, with a thread cut by means of stocks and dies of 40 to the inch, was found capable of adjusting to a quarter of a wave-length of light. The adjustments of the r2maining mirror d (Fig. 1) were obtained by allowing tne conical foot a (Fig. 2) to rest in a cylindri- cal hole, whilst the foot 4 rested on the giass as in the Fig. 3. mirrors 4 and / (Fig.1). The leg c (Fig. 2) was formed of a piece of steel wire with a screw thread cut as described above, with a large brass blank soldered to its upper end; this gave the adjustment in altitude. The adjustment in azimuth was obtained by hold- ing the horizontal piece of band brass 6 ¢c by means of a piece of elastic against the end of a screw of similar pitch to that last described, passing through a vertical pillar attached to the base-plate. The whole arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. To avoid the effect of vibrations the whole may be 1For some remarks on the general principles of these *seometrical s” and ‘‘clamps,” see Thomson and Tait’s ‘Nat. Philosophy, y’ | Part 1. p. 150. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] hollow india-rubber balls ; a plan adopted successfully by Dr. O. Lodge. When mounted in this manner the bands may be shown in a room possessing only an ordinary wooden flooring. The bands are obtained as follows: A bat’s-wing burner, or other source of white light, is placed at the focus of the lens L (Fig. 3) and arranged so as to illumine the mirror A. A card with a pinhole in it is then placed in front of the lens L, and, on looking in the direction M A, two images of this will be seen. By means of the screws B andcC these two images are superimposed ; and the distance A E having been adjusted by means of the screw and lever F anda steel scale, to be equal to A D, a sodium flame is placed in the focus of L and the pinhole card removed ; the sodium bands will at once appear. By means of the screws B and C these are adjusted to a convenient width, and then, the bat’s-wing burner having been replaced in the focus of L, the lever F is turned very slowly till the coloured bands appear. This can be done much more easily by placing a piece of platinum wire holding some sodium into the flame, Fig. 4. Photograph of interference band showing cold match. when the bands due to the sodium will be faintly out- lined on the white background, thus giving a guide as to whether or no you are turning the screw F too fast. The bands appear on the surface of the mirror E, and if an electric arc or a mixed gas limelight jet be substituted as the source of light, they can be projected on a screen so as to be visible to a large audience. The forms of these interference bands, supposing each of the four pieces of glass to be perfectly plane and parallel, is given by Michelson (PAz/. Mag. April 1882). The peculiar form of the bands obtained in my appa- ratus is shown in Fig. 4 ; this form is due to the curvature of the surfaces of the various glasses. A thin piece of glass or a soap film may be introduced into one of the paths and the displacement of the bands exhibited. But perhaps the prettiest experiment is to introduce the glowing end of a match into one of the rays. Suppose this ray to be AE (Fig. 3); then the appearance pre- sented is exhibited in Fig. 5, where the bands are seen to curve round the end of the match as if it were pushing them inwards. A cold body, such as a piece of copper wire, cooled in a freezing mixture, has an opposite effect, attracting the bands into it. These effects are, of course, due to the heating or cooling of the air near the hot or cold body. Now it will be found on slowly turning the 374 NATURE [Aucusr 17, 1893 screw F (Fig. 3) so as to shorten the path AE that the bands at the side move in toward the centre, the opposite being the case on lengthening the path A E. Therefore heating the air (¢.c. rendering it less dense) has the same effect as shortening the path (zz, it accel- erates the motion of the light passing along it), whilst Fic. 5.—Photograph of interference bands sh wing effe:t of introducing glowing end of match. cooling the air (rendering it denser) has the opposite effect ; which demonstrates very simply the truth of the undulatory as opposed to the emission theory of light ; for on the latter theory the exact reverse would be the case. EDWIN EDSER. THE AUGUST METEORS, 1893.. gf Biacge Perseid shower, though it cannot rival periodical displays such as the November Leonids and An- dromedes when at their best, is certainly of equal interest, for it forms a tolerably rich display every year, and con- tinues active during several weeks from a radiant which has a comet-like motion of about 1° R.A. per day east- wards. A vast number of observations have been made during the last half-century, but it must be confessed that we have by no means completed our investigation of this remarkable stream. Nor have we gained a thorough knowledge of the numerous and fairly prominent minor showers which contribute to render this epoch the most significant and the most interesting period of the year to the meteoric observer. Either moonlight, or cloudy wet weather, prevented my obtaining any observations at the latter part of July this year, and it was not until August 4 that I commenced work. Moonlight was, however, pretty strong, andin a watch of about half an hour I only saw four meteors, in- cluding one typical Perseid from a radiant at about 36° + 56°. On the following night, August 5, the sky was much clouded, but between toh. 15m. and rth. 45m. 1 saw, in clear spaces, twelve meteors, of which four were Perseids, indicating a radiant at 39° + 55°. The brightest meteor seen was at Ith. 3m., but.it appeared behind thin cloud in the northern sky. It was fully equal to a 1st mag, star, and left a bright streak along its path from 17$° + 76° to 219° + 78°. This was nota Perseid, the direction of flight being from near y Andromede. The nights of August 6 and 7 were cloudy and no observations could be secured. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] -succeeding another with littieintermission. The effect a: _ On August 8 the sky cleared and I counted 36 meteo in the two hours from 1oh. 50m. to 12h. som. There were 1 Perseids amongst them and the radiant was well de at41°+ 56°. At 11h. 25m. a fine Perseid about e Jupiter flashed out in the region of Polaris a streak of nearly 20 degrees along its course. August 9 proved fine, but lightning was extremely quent and vivid during the whole night, and consideral interfered with the observations. It proceeded fre clouds low in the east and north quarters, but apat that the firmament was very clear. The day had one of excessive heat, the maximum shade temperatu being 84°; the lightning which followed it may be sa to have been in constant play during the night, one fla it burst through the broken clouds and lit up th borders was very beautiful and so striking as to distra attention from the far less imposing features of meteor shower then in progress. In the 2} hours’ inte between 11h. 30m. and 14h. I managed, however, observe 45 meteors, including 20 Perseids from a radia which I determined as follows :— ae h. m. h. m. II 30 to 120 42 + 56 I2 0 to 130 43 + 57 13 Oto 140 43 + 57 Adopting the mean centre as at 43° + 57°, 1 position may be considered a very accurate one for date. I saw no exceptionally brilliant meteors duri: the night, though several of the 1st mag. were recorde and the Perseids struck me as being fainter than Most of them traversed swift short paths not d from the radiant, so that the position of it coulc determined very satisfactorily Mr. Booth of — informs me that he found the Perseid radiant at 43° - from 15 meteors of this shower observed on Au; This positlon is identical with that found at Bristol « the same night. ae On August 10 the sky proved variable, but it y pretty clear at times before midnight and overcast a‘ wards. Between 11h. and 12h. I noticed 21 meteor: which 14, or two-thirds of the whole, were Perseids, clouds interrupted work during a part of the time. 12h, it was not found possible to continue the work any further prospect of success, as clouds had obliter. all but a few Ist mag. stars. The Perseid radian now found at 45° +- 57°, which agrees with the usual tion on the date of maximum. As to the character o! radiation on this and previous nights, it was fairly defi and exact, and limited to an area of 2° or 3. Inp of activity I regarded the shower as disappointing « the 5th, 8th, and 9th, but from what I saw on the 1 and considering the unfavourable circumstances pre ing at the time, the display was a tolerably conspic one. I recorded several bright meteors on the and, asthey may possibly have been seen elsewhe times of apparition and observed paths are below :— : Mag. From To Radiant. Notes, a 6 a 6 h. m. © 0 ° 6 5 IL Ove I ve EIT os 26419 + 304-14 « Slow. II 2U oe T see 330+394 oo 317+234 ». Perseid ... Swift, II 24 we T oe 325429 « 314415 «+ Perseid ... Swift, IT 43 e+ Q we 42+55 « 404532 «- Perseid ... Slow, It 56 ws 2 «. 140484} «. 220+70 «.. Perseid ... Swift, On August 11 the sky was overcast. On August 12 it was partly fine before 13h., but means favourable for this class of work. I cou meteors, including 7 Perseids with radiant at 48°+57 On August 13 the conditions had greatly improved, a’ after midnight there was not a cloud in the sky. Wate ing for 3} hours I recorded 43 meteors and foun Perseid shower still visible from a radiant at 48°-+5: meteors). No exceptionally bright meteors were but at 13h. 5m. one about equal to Jupiter fell. _ AvGust 17, 1893] itis NATURE x or 3384°+27° to 347°+194, its radiant being very probably 271°+48° near the head of Draco. “On August 14 the atmosphere was unusually clear, and ‘during the four hours from about toh. 15m. to 14h. 15m. observed fifty-six meteors. The Perseid shower was till distinctly visible, and the meteors pretty bright. From seven accurately observed paths a very good radiant was ‘obtained at 49° + 57°. There was also a well-defined hower of streak-leaving meteors from Camelopardus at 1° + 59°, and these, if confused with the Perseids, would have given the latter radiant a very diffused appearance. _ On this and the preceding nights I saw many Cygnids and _ Cepheids from radiants at 292°+ 53° (sixteen meteors) and 311° + 62° (fourteen meteors), and this pair of showers formed by far the most important of the minor displays of the epoch. I had in previous years detected the Cygnids, but never remember to have seen the shower of Cepheids on such activity. On comparison of my Perseid radiants deduced, on August 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13. and 14 it will be seen that they ex- hibit an easterly movement in satisfactory agreement with apd observations in preceding years. This remarkable _ displacement of the radiant may now almost be regarded as “an old story” but it will always remain a very sig- _ nificant and interesting feature of the shower both from an observational and theoretical standpoint. The motion _ of the radiant amongst the stars may be nearly as easily and certainly observed by an experienced and precise observer asthe motion of a comet. The circumstances are different of course, for a radiant is simply an apparent position and not a visible object, but trustworthy obser- - yations define this position with considerable exactness, though it is impossible to eliminate all the sources of error. __ Mr. Corder, at Bridgwater, informs me that on August 10, before 14h. he counted 129 meteors, but he regarded the display as rather a poor one. The mean position of ‘the radiant was at 44°+57}°, but he considers that it shifted from 40°+56}° to 47°+58}° during his observation. _ Mr. Corder, watching until 15h. on August 13, counted 77 meteors, but he says the Perseids had almost ceased, and gave an uncertain radiant, but such as it was could ‘be located near the stars B and C Camelopardi. He found a very active and well-defined shower of Cygnids from the point 293° + 50°. W. F. DENNING. ilies CHOLERA AND ARTICLES OF DIET. THOUGH in by far the larger number of cases the distribution of cholera has been traced to the use of impure water, yet there are a few authentic instances on record of its dissemination by means of various articles of diet, such as milk, fruit, salad, whilst Kossel and Steyerthal quite recently report two cases (Deutsche med. Wochenschrift, 1892) in which its communication was traced to bread and butter. It becomes, therefore, not only of interest but importance, to ascertain what is the vitality of the cholera organism when purposely brought in contact either superficially or incorporated with various articles of food. Researches in this direction have been age from time to time by various investigators, Babes, Celli and others, whilst Dunham’s experiments nae in the Medical Record for 1892 are amongst ‘the most recent and exhaustive on this subject. ° This author found that cholera organisms purposely intro- duced on to salad leaves and placed in a covered dish and kept at the ordinary temperature of a room, retained their vitality for five days, on cooked cauliflowers for from six to ten days, and on the same vegetable uncooked for thirteen days. Ona sliced strawberry they did not Survive more than twenty-four hours. _ Some important contributions to our knowledge of this “subject have been made by Friedrich, and are brought together in an elaborate memoir, “ Beitrage zum Verhal- NO. 1242, VOL. 48] ten der Cholerabakterien auf Nahrungs und Genuss- mitteln” published in the Arébecten a. d. Kaiserlichen Gesundhettsamte, vol. viii. 1893, p. 465. The range of materials investigated is very extensive, upwards of fifty different articles being specially studied in this respect, including numerous kinds of fruit, several vegetables, besides milk, tea, coffee and cocoa, alsa particular descriptions of beer and wine, whilst amongst the miscellaneous materials examined may be mentioned caviar, biscuits, bonbons, tobacco, and snuff ! In the majority of cases the bacilli were not only rubbed on to the surface of the various fruits and vege- tables, but were also inoculated on to slices, so that the effect on the bacillus of the composition of a particular fruit or vegetable could be ascertained. When simply exposed on the exterior of a given material, the vitality of the bacillus depends chiefly on the degree of moisture which is present in its environment, this organism being specially characterised by its rapid destruction in dry surroundings, but when brought in contact with the juices it is the proportion of fruit acid and sugar present which primarily determine its behaviour. The cholera bacilli are very sensitive to acid, and hence their destruction on most slices of fruit in from one to six hours. Thus when inoculated on to slices of bright red very juicy and sour cherries, the bacilli were annihilated in three hours, whilst when simply rubbed on the surface and kept in a moist atmosphere they were still alive at the end of five days. On the other hand, when thus treated and exposed to the ordinary air of a room, the bacilli could not be found after twenty-four hours, whilst when placed in the direct sunshine their vitality was limited to one hour and a half. But even on slices of fruit containing a much smaller amount of acid, such as pears, the vitality of the cholera organism was not much prolonged, and the reason for this must be sought in the fact that, when grown in solutions contain’ng sugar, this organism produces acid, and the acid thus produced impedes its further development and destroys its vitality. On vegetables such as cucumbers, cauliflowers, cabbages, the cholera bacillus maintains its existence for several days; thus on spinach leaves preserved in a damp atmosphere, the bacilli were still present after twelve days, and even when exposed to the ordinary air of a room they did not disappear until after six days. As regards the behaviour of the cholera organisms in tea it is interesting to note that in a 3 per cent. infusion of black Chinese tea they are destroyed within twenty- four hours, whilst in a 4 per cent. infusion no trace of them could be found at the end of sixty minutes. Friedrich has confirmed the results of other investi- gators on the bactericidal properties of coffee, finding two hours’ immersion in a 6 per cent. infusion of this material sufficient for the de-truction of these organisms. In various kinds of beer, Munich, Pilsener, and Lager, they could not survive more than from one to three hours, but still more rapid was their extinction in white and red. wine, for five minutes after their introduction they could no longer be found in the former, whilst in the latter their vitality did not exceed twenty minutes. From the numerous investigations recorded it is obvious that during any epidemic of cholera the con- sumption of uncooked fruit and vegetables should be avoided, or that at any rate precautions should be taken to ensure their sterility by careful cleansing or by the removal of the rind or skin where possible. G. C, FRANKLAND. NOTES. MEN of scieice throughout the world will be glad to know that the honour of knighthood has been conferred upon Dr. Joseph Henry Gilbert, F.R.S., who has been associated for 376 NATURE [Avucust 17, 1893 1 more than fifty years with Sir J. B. Lawes in the agricultural experiments conducted at Rothamsted. British and foreign academies and learned societies have long recognised Dr. Gilbert’s claims to distinction, and have bestowed upon him various marks of approval. We are glad now to be able to record that his scientific work has been officially recognised. Pror. MAx MiLuer has received from the Sultan of Turkey the gold medal of the Order of Merit, the highest honour in the Sultan’s gift. ZoOLOGISTS will learn with regret that Mr. George Brook, lecturer on embryology to the University of Edinburgh, died suddenly at Newcastle on Saturday night last. His death is a loss to zoology and to those who knew and appreciated him. THE Zimes announces the death of Rear-Admiral T. A. Jenkins—one of the ablest officers of the U.S. Navy—at the age of eighty-two. In 1846 he prepared a report on the lighthouse sys- tems of Great Britain and the continent. Shortly afterwards he assisted Prof. Bache in making some meteorological and hydro- graphical observations, and in determining deep-sea tempera- tures in the Gulf Stream, the vessel in which the investigations were carried on being built under his supervision. In 1852 he was appointed naval secretary of the Lighthouse Board, and from 1869 to 1871 was secretary of the Board. He was also for some time Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. THE Franklin Institute has awarded a medal and a premium of twenty dollars, in accordance with the legacy of John Scott, of Edinburgh, to each of the following gentlemen :—Dr. Adolph Frank, Charlottenburg, Germany, for a composition of in- fusorial earth as “adapted for filtering purposes; Frank Reddaway, Manchester, for his invention of camel-hair belting ; Henry L. Bridgman, Blue Island, Hlinois, for his invention of an ore sampling machine; and S. H. La Rue, Trenton, N.J., for his improvements in stoves! An Elliot Gresson medal has been awarded to Frederick E. Ives, Philadelphia, for his system of colour photography known as heliochromy. Any objections to these awards, or evidence of want of originality of the inven- tions named, should be lodged with the secretary of the Institute before October. A REUTER’s telegram, dated August 11, reports that a violent shock of earthquake was felt on the previous evening in the small coast town of Mattinata. It was followed during the night by other shocks of less violence, which were felt also at Monte Sant’, Angelo, Manfredonia, and Rodia—all towns on the shores of the Adriatic. Later information states that all the buildings in Mattinata were more or less seriously damaged by the earthquake, and great cracks were caused in the walls of the houses. Three persons were killed and four injured, while others were shaken or bruised. The island of Stromboli experienced a sharp shock, followed by an unusually violent eruption of the volcano. Tue Iron and Steel Institute will hold its twenty-fifth autumn meeting at Darlington, from September 26 to 28 in- clusive, when several important papers will be read. Prof. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S., will contribute a paper on the in- fluence of the rating of the rupee on the world’s iron trade; Mr. MH. Bauerman will discourse on the ‘‘ Metallurgical Ex- hibits at the World’s Fair” ; and Mr. Kupelwieser will com- municate a paper on the recent developments of the steel industry in Austria. A number of other subjects of technical interest will also be discussed. The members will have the advantage of visiting the numerous iron and steel works in the vicinity of Darlington, and arrangements have been made for excursions to Barnard Castle and Raby Castle. THE Board of Agriculture have been requested to draw the attention of fruit growers to an international exhibition, to be held by the Russian Society of Fruit Culture, under the patron- NO. 1242, VOL. 48] age of the Czar, at St. Petersburg, in the autumn of 1894, the object of showing the present condition of the culti 4 of fruit and vegetables, of viticulture, of the cultivation of various special plants, and the manufacture of their products. A congress of pomologists will be convened simultan with the exhibition. The exhibition will comprise dealing, among other matters, with horticalture implements: appliances, and technicality of production, and also lite scientific, and educational accessories, collections, plans, ¢ Detailed regulations of the exhibition and programmes of various competitions will be published and distributed the end of this year. Persons interested in the pr of horticulture and pomology, both in Russia and other c tries, are invited by the Russian Government to petliy : in this international exhibition and congress. Applications fc further information should be addressed to the offices of International Exhibition of Fruit Culture, Imperial cultural Museum, Fontanka 10, St. Petersburg. SERIOUS floods have occurred in Galicia (says Reuter’s and they are exceeded in their gravity by disastrous inund: which have visited Saras and Ung, two northern countr Hungary. The damage done in these districts is eigen there has been serious loss of life. According to the I. accounts, the waters are now receding. Dispatches from describe the havoc that has been wrought in the valleys bene the Carpathians by the persistent rainfall. The rivers Dniest Stryi, San, and Dunajec have overflowed their banks, c. great damage, especially in the districts of Zydubsoet : Przemysl, and Rimanow. At Turka twenty-two houses I been destroyed by the floods or struck by lightning, and persons lost their lives. Durinc the past week the heat has been excessive in th midland and southern parts of England ; it reached or exceed 80° at Greenwich Observatory on eight successive days from t 8th instant, which is the longest period this summer durit which such high temperatures have been recorded. On We nesday, the 9‘h instant, and on Monday and Tuesday I: the temperature exceeded 85° in several places, and re 89° in the neighbourhood of London on the latter day the 9th and toth this exceptional heat culminated in s thunderstorms in most parts of the country; in Ireland storms and rainfall were very heavy, the amount of rain measur in the north of Ireland during the week ended the 12th in being ‘8 inch above the average. The heat on the has been much greater than in this country ; the shade at Rochefort in France reached 106° on Monday last. — _ Dr. W. Doperck has communicated to Hansa of and August 5 an interesting article on the typhoons of Sea, a subject of which he has made a special study, and the collection of the necessary materials his position as d of the Hong Kong observatory offers many advantages. ago as September, 1886, he communicated to the 2 Telegraph a paper on the law of storms in the E: The present article embodies the facts there set forth they relate to the subject in question, together with the of the experience subsequently gained. The typhoons, hurricanes of the West Indies and other parts, gen : premonitory signs, such as the motions of cirrus cloud ds, swell of the sea, and motion of the barometer, but there app to be some difficulty in determining whether depressions ¥ result in ordinary gales or in typhoons, and it is essential determine quickly how a ship lies with respect to the adva of the centre of the disturbance. In these and other de which are of primary importance to the seaman navigating China Seas, the information contained in the paper willbe v useful. _ Aueust 17, 1893] NATURE 377 — THE report of the chief of the United States Weather Bureau _ for the year 1892 has recently been received, and shows that — much attention has been given to the improvement of weather forecasts, the result being a success of 82’9 per cent. in the combined predictions of weather and temperature for twenty- four hours in advance. Until recently the issue of predictions was restricted to the Washington office, but now a number of compe- _ tent observers make forecasts for their immediate vicinity. In ; order to render this service as efficient as possible, telegraphic reports are received when considered necessary from several of the West Indian islands. Various important investigations have recently been published, and at present the subject of the rain- fall of the entire country is under discussion. The policy of the Bureau favours the establishment of high-level stations, and the observatory at Pike’s Peak has been reopened ; advantage has also been taken of one or two balloon ascents to obtain observations made in free air, Every effort is being made to advance the science of meteorology; the entire territory of the United States is now covered by local weather services with the exception of Alaska, and the weekly and monthly Teports issued by them contain tables of meteorological data and discussions of great value to immigrants, invalids and to men of science generally. The Monthly Weather Review, issued by the Central Bureau, is a highly creditable work, prepared fron the reports of upwards of 2600 observers. We also observe that frequent applications are made to the Bureau for climatological statistics, and that these are generally Satisfied without expense to the applicants. The number of such applications during the year amounted to over 500; this fact alone is sufficient to show ‘the liberal policy of the Bureau. _ SoME elaborate investigations on the disinfecting powers of hypochloride of soda, chloride of lime, and peroxide of hydrogen have been recently published by Chamberland and Fernbach in the Annales de Institut Pasteur, Jane, 1893. When these materials were employed at a temperature of from 40-50° C, and higher, their action was invariably more rapid than when they were used at the ordinary temperature, thus affording a striking confirmation of Heider’s experiments on the greater efficiency of disinfectants at higher temperatures, reference to which wasmade in NATURE for June 15. Micro-organisms in dry surroundings were found far more capable of resisting the action of these disinfectants than when exposed in a moist condition, that whereas in the latter case they were destroyed in a few minutes, in the former they defied an exposure of several hours, even to hot disinfectants. If, however, such dried germs be subjected to one hour’s immersion in water they lose their power of resistance, for on the subsequent application of the disinfectant they succumb rapidly. These authors insist, therefore, on the im- portance of first spraying the walls of a room with water before commencing their disinfection. In conclusion a solution of chloride of lime (prepared by extracting one part of chloride of lime with ten parts of water and diluting the clear extract with _ten times its volume of water) is recommended as an exceedingly efficient as well as economical disinfectant for practical purposes. AN interesting example of the degree of resistance to high temperatures exhibited by some micro-organisms has lately been published in the Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie, May 17, 1893. Whilst preparing nutritive gelatin-peptone in the usual’ manner, Heim found that, despite all precautions ofsterilisation &c., numerous yellow or reddish-yellow centres subsequently appeared in the culture material, On isolating out these colo- nies and further studying them, these growths were ascertained to be derived from two spore-producing bacilli which had resisted the usual 10-20 minutes’ exposure to steam on three successive days. On further studying these organisms it was found that NO (242, VOL. 48] one of them required three hours’ continuous steaming before being destroyed, whilst the other was not annihilated until this had been prolonged for seven hours. These extremely hardy spores were traced to the leaf-gelatin employed, and as in many respects they resembled certain soil-microbes, Heim supposes that in some manner or other during its preparation the gelatin must have come in contact with soil. Still more recently a cladothrix has been found in water which, on account of its ability to resist high temperatures has been called C/adothrix invulnerabilis (Centralblatt f. Bakteriologie, vol. xiv. p. 14). It was still endowed with vitality after having undergone six successive exposures to ordinary intermittent sterilisation at 100° C, M. Louis BouTan has succeeded in taking ~submarine ‘photographs under various conditions, by a method de- scribed in the Comptes Rendus, No. 5. A canera con structed for several successive exposures was enclosed in a metal box provided with plane-parallel glass: windows mounted in copper rings. The apparatus was mounted ona heavy stand provided with weights, so as to give it a steady footing on the sea bottom. Near the shore, in depths not exceeding 1 or 2 m., the camera could be placed in position without the necessity of the observer entering the water, and negatives were obtained by direct sunlight in about 19 minutes. With an exposure of 30 minutes negatives could be obtained at depths of 6 or 7 m., the apparatus being put up by a diver. The best images were obtained by placing a blue glass in front of the lens, but even the best showed a want of depth which could only be relieved by using a very small diaphragm. This difficulty would disappear if the lenses were adapted to submarine work to begin with. Pictures of the sea-bottom were also obtained instantaneously during a storm by means ofa flash-light, consist- ing of an alcohol lamp fed by a reservoir of oxygen, Magnesitim powder was projected into the flame by pressing a rubber ball. The depth at which these photographs can be taken is at present limited to that which can be attained ‘by the diver. THE absorption of light by platinum at different temperatures is discussed in a highly interesting paper recently communicated to the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino by Dr. G. B. Rizzo. He succeeded in obtaining transparent films of platinum pro- duced under such conditions as to exclude the possibility of oxidation on raising the temperature. The apparatus employed consisted of two glass cylinders joined by a thintube, Another tube was soldered to the middle of the latter, and connected with an air-pump and a reservoir containing nitrogen. The tubes were filled with nitrogen several times, and exhausted, so» as finally to contain a rarefied atmosphere of nitrogen. One of the platinum electrodes was partly encased in glass, and con- nected with the negative pole of a Rhumkorff coil excited by six Bunsens, the other electrode being connected to the positive pole. Under these conditions the negative pole was volatilised and deposited as a thin film upon the walls of the glass cylinder containing the electrode. The glass cylinder was then discon- nected by filling the apparatus with nitrogen to atmospheric pressure, melting the thin tube under the blowpipe, and draw- ing it out to a rod to be broken off. The platinum electrode was bent out of the way by melting its glass sheath, and the result was a cylinder of glass containing a fine deposit of platinum and filled with nitrogen. This cylinder was placed in - an iron cylinder in a small gypsum furnace, and heated by a spiral tube of small gas jets, Light was transmitted through windows in the iron tube, and a Kriiss universal spectroscope was used to compare the spectra transmitted through the glass and platinum, and through the glass only. The temperaturés were measured by the calorimetric method, After allowing for the various reflections undergone by the light, it was found that 378 NATURE [Aucust 17, 1893 3 as the temperature increased, the transparency of the film increased, especially in the more refrangible region. It may be added that this phenomenon, if found to hold generally, estab- lishes a new correlation between light and electricity, the increase of electrical resistance of a conductor being accompanied by an increase of transparency. THE alternate current supplied by the Innsbruck Central Station has been utilised by Dr. G. Benischke for the purpose of investigating the dielectric constants of some solids by the method of Gordon as improved by Lecher. This current charged the condenser positively and negatively at equal inter- vals, thus avoiding residual effects of all kinds. In order to obtain greater sensiiiveness the alternate current was trans- formed to higher differences of potential by means of an induc- tion coil. It was found that the dielectric constant is independent of the strenzth of the field in the condenser, and hence also that there exists no perceptible conductivity in the dielectric. The constant of paraffin was found to be 1°89, of ebonite 2°03, of sulphur 2°42, of common glass 4'17 to 4°52, of plate-glass 3°85. WE have receiyed the supplement to the calendar of the Royal University of Ireland for the year 1893. It contains the papers set at the University’s examinations during 1892. THE report of the fourth meeting of the Australasian Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart. Town, Tasmania, in January, 1892, has just reached us. It is edited by Mr. A. Morton. THE Midland Naturalist contains an address delivered by Mr. W. H. Wilkiason, President of the Midland Union of Natural Ilistory Societies, on ‘‘The Life-History of the Diamond-Back Moth” (Plutella cruciferarum). We note that at the annual meeting of the Union on July 11 it was decided to discontinue the publication of the journal. Messrs. CRospy Lockwoop AnD Son will shortly publish ‘* The Miner’s Handbook,” compiled by Prof. Milne, F.R.S., of the Imperial University of Japan. The volume is of especial interest on account of the fact that it is being printed under the author’s direction at Tokio. A CORRESPONDENT, ‘‘H. K. R.,” writing from Victoria, Australia, with regard toa letter in our issue of March 30, refers us to another and in some respects simpler rule for find- ing the day of the week which corresponds to any given day of the year, to be found in Dr. Charles Hutton’s ‘* Mathematical Recreations,” published in London in 1803. — THE U.S. Department of Agriculture has just issued a sys- tematic and alphabetic index to new species of North American Phanerogams and Pteridophytes published in 1892, by Miss Josephine A. Clark. The index forms the seventh number of the third volume of contributions from the U.S. National Her- barium. Dr. MCALPINE has prepared a report for the Victoria De- partment of Agriculture on a poisonous species of Homeria found near Melbourne, causing the death of cattle feeding upon it. The species is Homeria collina, Vent.—var. Miniata, com- monly known as Cape Tulip. There is evidence that it is fast spreading over the Colony, and strenuous measures will have to be taken to eradicate it. WE have received the following excerpts from the Proceed- ings of the United States National Museum: Catalogue of the crabs of the family Maude in the U.S. National Museum ; list of Diatomacee from a deep-sea dredging in the Atlantic Ocean off Delaware Bay, and scientific results of explorations, by the U.S. Fish Commission steamer 4//a/ross ; also notes on Erian (Devonian) plants from New York and Pennsylvania. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] THE Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literas and Philosophical Society (vol. vii. No. 2) contains the part of Prof. W. C. Williamson’s General, Morphological, Histological Index to his collective memoirs on the Fossil of the Coal Measures. Prof. Harold B. Dixon, F.R.S, tributes a long paper onthe “ Rate of Explosions and in collaboration with Mr, B. Lean, one on the ‘ of Flame Produced by the Explosion of Gases in Tubes. A copy of Prof. C. V. Riley’s presidential a ‘*Parasitism in Insects,” delivered before the Entomo Society of Washington in 1892 has just reached us. It gor show that ‘‘the parasitic forms and the parasitic ha appeared late in the history of insect evolution on the g A number of papers by Prof. Riley on various entowo subjects have also been received. Among them is one habits and natural history of the Ox Bot-fly,: Hyfode in the United States, This has hitherto been su the common species of both America and Ew Riley finds that the species has not been observed in North America, hence he considers its presence conjectural. The American species is Mypoderm ea. Villiers, and it seem; probable that when the life history. European /7. bovis has been worked out it will be fou coincide with the American Bot-fly as described b: A NEW mineral of exceptional interest, inasmuch as it ¢ tains about six and a half per cent. of the extremely rare « ment germanium, is described by Prof. Penfield, of the $ Scientific School, U.S., in the August number of the 4; Journal of Science. Germanium was discovered in 1 1886 by Prof. Winker in the Freiberg mineral argyrodél double sulphide of silver ard germanium. The remarkz manner in which the new element was found to corresponil y the ehastlicon predicted by Prof. Mendeleéff will be in the minds of chemists. Germanium thus belongs to fourth or tetravalent vertical group of the periodic classific ti occupying the space previously vacant between silicon and vertically and gallium and arsenic horizontally, — 0 weight of 72°3 corresponds almost exactly with the assigned to the missing chasilicon by Prof. Mendeleéff occurrence of this interesting element appears, as fat writer can gather, to have been noticed previously in other mineral specimen besides arvgyrodite, namely, i by Prof. Kriiss, two years after its discovery in the fo mineral. Since that time Prof. Winkler has prepared number of its compounds and from time to time des properties, so that we now possess a considerable information concerning germanium. The third announced was brought from Bolivia by Mr. Canfi rich, and very beautiful silver ore, and submitted to P field for examination. It has been termed can/eldite ofits finder. The presence of germanium was suspe its behaviour when heated in closed and open tu charcoal, inasmuch as it much resembled the be argyrodite under similar circumstances. Perhaps the markable characteristic of germanium is that it for sulphide, GeS,. On heating canfeldite in a closed sublimate of sulphide was observed to be white, and, r when the mineral is heated on charcoal a white sublii oxide and sulphide is produced near the residu metallic silver, together with a number of milk-white § transparent fused globules characteristic of germanic oxide, Gi Eventually most of the compounds of germanium were prepa from the mineral and their properties found to correspo all respects with those described by Prof. Winkler, A | salt soluble in solutions of caustic alkalies like the sulphosé of tin, antimony, and arsenic was obtaired, and the alkaline 7 Aucust 17, 1893| NATURE 379 ution yielded a precipitate of the white sulphide upon the dition of a dilute acid. When this sulphide, GeS,, was d in a current of hydrogen, small glittering scales of the er sulphide, GeS, much resembling crystals of specular iron were formed just beyond the heated portion of the tube ; upon continued heating complete reduction occurred, metallic rmanium itself being deposited upon the walls of the tube in 0 greyish-white octahedral crystals which exhibited a icularly brilliant metallic lustre. Canfieldite, upon analysis, yields numbers which indicate that its composition is AggGeS,, or 4Ag.S.GeS,. Prof. Penfield points out that the published analysis of Prof. Winkler’s for argyrodite agrees much better with the same formula than with the formula 3Ag,S.GeS,, which he ascribes to it in his memoir. Prof. Penfield confirms this by another analysis of argyrodite conducted with an excellent specimen in his possession. The two minerals would thus appear to possess the same composi- tion. They-are not identical, however, for argyrodite crystal- _ lises in the monoclinic system. Can/i./dite crystallises in cubic -octahedrons modified by dodecahedral faces ; the crystals are Hac with a blue or purple sheen, they exhibit a magnificent _ metallic lustre and are extremely brittle. Avgyrodite and can- freldite are therefore dimorphous forms of silver germanium sulphide. _ Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Hydroid JZyriothela phrjgia, the semi-parasitic Rhabdoccele Fecampia erythrocephala, and the Mollusca Favorinus albus and Rostanga coccinea, The floating fauna has changed very slightly since last week, but several other autumn forms have made their appearance, Radiolaria have been present in fair numbers ; the Anthomedusa Podo- coryne (= Dysmorphosa) carnea has been plentiful, the majority ‘possessing buds upon the manubrium ; and the beautiful larve of the Prosobranch Réssoa and of the Opisthobranch Zgirus punctilucens have also been taken, The Turbellaria Fecampia erythrocephala and Cycloporus papillosus, and the Crustacea | Hyas coarctatus are now breeding. : _ Tue additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Ruffed Lemurs (Lemur varius, 3 ¢ ) from Madagascar, presented by Mrs. Brightwen ; three Long-eared ‘Owls (Asio otus) and one Tawny Owl (Syrnium aluco) from ‘Europe, presented by Mr. Edmund Hart, F.Z.S.; a Faleon (Fa/eo ——) from ——, presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; five shags (Phalaczrocorax graculus) from Scotland, presented by the Maclaine of Lochbuie ; 2 Common Chameleon (Chameleon vulgaris) from North A‘rica, presented by Mr. E. Palmer ; a Black-headed Caique (Caica melanocephala) from Demerara, deposited ; a Regent Bird (Sericulus melinus) from Australia, purchased, . OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE ORIGIN OF NEw Srars.—Prof. A. W. Bickerton writes to us from Christchurch, New Zealand, as follows :—‘‘ More than a year has elapsed since the first notice appeared of the new starin Aurigz, and up to date no generally-accepted ion of the special phenomena noted has been offered in any of the leading journals. May I beg to draw the attention of your readers to several articles bearing directly upon the mode of origin of new stars, published een years ago in the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute? The explanation there offered appears to fit in almost exactly with the actual conditions as observed in this particular case. The pres referred to are contained in vols. 11, 12, and 13 of the Transactions of the N.Z, Institute. A summary of these apers also appears in the Proceedings of the Australasian ssoc ation for the Advancement of Science for the year 1891.” “Upon referring to the above references we find that Prof, : NO. 1242, VOL. 48] Bickerton believes that new stars are caused by the ‘‘grazing”’ collision of stars like the sun. His researches show that ‘* The temperature developed is independent of the amount of grazing. With similar substances it depends only on the velocity destroyed, so that the coalesced body produced by the merest graze must be as hot as though the whole sun collided. The molecular velocity of such a high temperature may be sufficient to carry away every particle entirely into space, the mass of the body not having sufficient attractive power toretainthem. Tence an intensely brilliant body is produced in less than an hour; it then expands and increases in size and total luminosity for per- haps a few hours to a day or so; then the diffusion would be so great as to gradually lessen luminosity, until in a few months or a year the star would have disappeared into space. This re- presents all the peculiarities of temporary stars. If the graze be more considerable the attraction will be greater, yet the molecular velocity is the same : a hollow globe of gas may then result, giving us a planetary nebula. According to Lord Lindsay this is the condition of the temporary star in the Swan.” THE SPECTRUM OF THE RORDAME-QUENISSET COMET, — Prof. Campbell in Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 3177, gives a detailed account of the visual and photographic observations that he has made of the spectrum of this comet at the Lick Observatory. The following are the visual observations, and in the fourth column are given Kayser and Runge’s wave-lengths for the edges of carbon bands. July tx. July x2. July 17. ae vase pic ete lines 600 ...601 — ...619-595...Maximum of red band, broad, faint. 562 — 563...Red edge of yellow band. — — ...5633 5635... Very faint line terminating in yellow band. 5585...Bright line in yellow.band. 51652 Very bright line terminat- ing in green band, 5129...Very bright line terminat- ing in green band. ...Very bright line terminat- ing in green band. 4737...Red edge of blue band. 4737 --Bright line terminating blue band. ... Bright region in continuous spectrum, faint. ... Bright region in continuous spectrum, faint. In addition Prof. Campbell has obtained two photographs of the comet-spectrum extending from wave-length 487 to 387. Twenty-eight bright lines have had their positions determined in the photographic spectrum, fourteen of which appear 'o cor- respond to lings and bands of carbon and cyanogen as given by Kayser and Runge. It is pointed out, however, that the wave- lengths of the comet-lines are systematically less than Kayser and Runge’s by one or two tenth-metres. Prof. Campbell thinks this may in part be due to the fact that the cometary spectrum consists of unsymmetrical bands rather than lines, and partly to motion in the line of sight. ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION AND STAR PHOTOGRAPHS. —Now that stellar parallax is determined from photographic data, and a catalogue of stars is being prepared from the images impressed by celestial points upon sensitive films, it becomes necessary to investigate the effect of each and every cause tending to vitiate the results. Prof. A. A. Rambaut considers the most import- ant of these disturbing causes in a paper on the distortion of photographic star images due to refraction read before the Royal Dublin Society on April 19, and just published in a separate form. Prof. Rambaut had previously published for- mul (Astr. Nach. 3125), by which the correction for refraction to the relative position of any two stars on a photographic plate can be computed in a convenient manner, and he has now fol- lowed these up by determining the distortion that takes place in the shape of a star-image during the exposure. His conclu- sion is that within the limits of an exposure of fifteen minutes’ duration, ‘‘so long as the zenith distance does not exceed 60° no sensible error can arise through the distortion of a star by refraction if the measures are in all cases made from the centre of the image, and the coefficients in the f rmule of reduction are computed for the time corresponding to the middle — uo 558 5162°1...5161'8...5163'9... 5124 ...5127 ...5128 + 509 4734 ’ . 42 380 NATURE ' [Aucust 17, 1893 | of the exposure, but if photographs obtained with longer expos- ures are utilised for the determination of the relative position of stars, it will be necessary to know what star on the plate was used as guider, and the distortion by refraction must be investi- gated for all stars at any considerable distance from it.” From this it will be seen that the photographs of stars obtained for the determination of parallax, or in connection with the star cata- logue, are unaffected by the result, since the exposure in each case is usually less than the limit defined by Prof. Rambaut. ASTRONOMY POPULARISED.—We have previously referred to a proposal to issue a new astronomical periodical, designed for amateurs, teachers, students of astronomy, and the public generally, The first number of this Popular Astronomy will be published about September 1, by Mr. W. W. Payne, Goodsell Observatory, Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., U.S. Messrs. William Wesley and Son, 28 Essex Street, Strand, London, are the agents for England. The periodical will be issued monthly, but no numbers will be published for July and August of each year. One of the features will be a scheme of work suitable for a small telescope, field glass, opera glass, and the naked eye. Those who wish to know their way about the sky will find their wants supplied, and home readers will be catered for by means of lists of best books and schemes of study. From these and other matters men- tioned in the prospectus it seems probable that the periodical will possess the features that command success. CoMET APPEARANCES IN THE YEAR 1892.—Prof. H. Kreutz has collected together all the appearances of comets during the past year, this list appearing in the Ver ¢eljahrschrift der Astro- nomischen Gesellschaft, 28 jahrgang, parts1 and2. In addition to short descriptions of the appearances put on by them at the times of discovery, and to the values of the elements of the new ones, he gives references to all the observations that have been made of them. Among those that receive more than usual attention are Comet 1392 [., discovered by Swift ; Comet Holmes (1892 III.), Winneike’s Comet (1892 1V.), and Comet 1892 V. (Barnard), since it was the first («xcluding that photo- graphed in the Solar Eclipse of May 17, 1882) discovered by photography. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. THE Society for the study of French Congo has organised a strongly-manned expedition to survey the. valley of the Kuilu and Niadi rivers, in order to ascertain the feasibility of con- structing a railway from the coast town of Loango to Brazzaville on Stanley Pool. A geological and botanical staff accompany the survey party, and the whole is under the command of M. A. Le Chatelier, who, with fifteen French members of the expedi- tion, sailed from Marseilles last week. RussiAN authorities are determined this year to test the capa- bilities of the Kara Sea route to Northern Sibe:ia. A small fleet of three vessels, specially built on the Clyde for navigation on the Upper Yenesei, has recently set out in charge of Russian naval officers, who are confident of making a rapid journey. Capt. Wiggins is also in charge of some vessels laden with railway ma cerial for the great trans-Siberian line, which are now on their way tothe Kara Sea. Dr. Nansen, in the “ram, must now be very near the entrance to the Kara Sea, and the nature of the ice there will determine which of the three routes into the sea will be attempted, The ultimate establishment of a commercial steamer service is only a matter of money. In a racy little pamphlet, Za Géographies dans les Chaires de Université, Dr. Maurice Viguier makes a raid on a number of elementary text-books published by the leading geographical professors of Paris, and he succeeds in showing many errors of statement which should be set right. Le goes on to argue that the inaccuracy of these popular schoolbooks, written to satisfy an arbitrary syllabus, proves the geographical incompetence of the authors. Few eminent men in any country could stand such atest, and in truth the faults cited and held up to ridicule so cleverly are faults of composition rather than of fact, and the wors: are due to the ambiguity of words in common speech. PRELIMINARY arrangements are being made for the meeting of the Sixth International Geographical Congress in London in 1895. This congress will be under the patronage of the Queen, and will bring together the geographers from all countries for NO. 1242, VOL. 48] the discussion of questions in which the international or univer- sal side of geography will be kept to the front. The month c the proposed meeting has not yet been fixed. THE Central African telegraph line, projected by Mr. Ceci Rhodes, has been already commenced, and contracts have been signed for its construction from Fort Salisbury as far as Lak Nyasa. The wire will be carried on iron poles, and taken the Zambesi (a distance of about half a mile) overhead at height sufficient to allow the traffic on the river to pass entirely unimpeded. The advantage of this line in pes : region of the great lakes into telegraphic touch with Ew will be very great. = of CHARPENTIERS EXPERIMENTS DEMON STRATIVE OF AN OSCILLATORY PRO- CESS IN 7HE ORGAN OF VISION AND OF ITS DIMENSIONS. ONE of the fundamental positions in Hering’s physiolo theory of visual sensation is that each sensificatory d diffuses in the retino-cerebral organ beyond its eictia doc } incidence, and thus directly modifies contiguous sensificatory d A very elegant experimental substantiation of this position contained in two simple optical observations by Charpentier! Nancy) giving not only the clearest possible demonstrat of the fact itself, but an approximate measure of the physiok duration and velocity of the phenomenon. These experiments are (1) that of the ‘‘ black sector,” dem strative of a retino-cerebral oscillation ; (2) that of the ** band,” demonstrative of the propagation of that oscillatic (1) Charpentier’s experiment of the Black Sector.—A black d with a white quadrant, revolving once in two seconds, ill ated by a very bright light (preferably direct sunl Observer's eye xed upon centre ofdisc. A narrow blacks appears on the white quadrant near the receding edge of | black surface. This is interpretable as a rebound effe dicative of an oscillatory process in the retino-cerebral or the first effect at the arrival of the white border is the sensatic of white, and this first effect is followed by an after-effect th black. On closer examination it may be noticed that the an breadth of the black sector is equal to the breadth of the WHITE Yoo" Sec , interval between it and the receding black border, these breadths increase and diminish with increase and dir in the speed of revolution ; estimating from this. speed the apparent extent and position of the black band, Ch finds that the white phase and the black phase hay duration of ‘014 to ‘016 second, z.e. that a total osc’ latio : the two phases lasts 028 to ‘032 second, #.¢. that the oscilla frequency is 36 to 31 per second. Ae : Nothing can be clearer and more striking than this e ment; provided a strong light is used, it can be ro demonstrated without any elaborate apparatus ;. it can be by a black and white disc slowly turned round by hand, or Soc. Biol., Mai 16, 23, '30, 1891. _Co 1 Comptes Rendus, Anh te Payee ae a , Rendus, Acad, Sc., Juillet 27, 1891. Octobre, 1892. _ Aucust 17, 1893} NATURE 381 wck and white card moved horizontally in front of the eyes. je estimates tha: I have made with proper apparatus very osely correspond with the value as originally determined by harpentier, With a disc revolving once in two seconds, I fiad ie apparent angular magnitudes of the two phases equal to it 2°"5 ; with a disc revolving twice as fast they are about 5°. (2) Charpentier’s experiment of the Fluted Band is somewhat nore difficu!t of performance and of interpretation. A black Sc, 45 cm. in diameter, revolving about twice per second, ‘ith a small white spot (I cm. X ‘5), 20 cm. from the centre. Observer's eye fixed upon a bead placed in front of the disc at that distance from the centre. Under these circumstances the white spot appears stretched out to a white band with indefinite beginning and end, which appears to be composed of several alternately lighter and darker portions of longer light internodes with shorter dark nodes. Whereas in the experiment of the black sector, the apparent angular magnitude zzcreases with in- creased speed of revolution, in this experiment the angular magnitudes of the nodes and internodes déminishes with in- creased speed (or what amounts to the same thing, with approximation of the observer’s eye to the disc) and wice-versd. harpentier explains this at first sight very puzzling relation by the Peilowitig ypothesis, which is at the same time an in- nious application of a well-known physical principle to a ypothetical physiological wave transmission and a proof of the ~ existence of the latter. Upon the incidence of the stimulus white, an oscillation of sensation is produced, of which the first or positive phase is white, the second or negative phase black ; each phase has a duration of abouto’or5 sec,—z.e. the entire oscilla- tion has a duration ¢=0°03 sec. and a frequency x cf 33 per sec. This much is demonstrated by the experiment of the black sector. Let us now suppose that the oscillation spreads from its origin in the organ of vision! over the remainder of that organ, as an oscillation at one point of a pond spreads over the remainder of the pond. The problem is to determine the velocity of transmission v and the wave-length 7 of this presumably gated oscillation. This is done by Charpentier by the lowing physiological application of Déppler’s principle 7e the apparent modification of sound-waves according as the distance between origin and ear is increasing or diminishing. Tn accordance with a familiar relation, wave-length / is equal to velocity v, multiplied by duration ¢, or/=v¢. In accord- ance with Déppler’s principle the apparent rise of tone or the apparent diminution of wave-length caused by the approxima- tion of observer and wave origin, are such that 7 = (uv — v’)é, where /’ is the apparent wave-length, and wv’ the velocity of approximation. If we were debarred from measuring tones proceeding from Stationary origins, we might nevertheless determine their wave- length and velocity by calculation from measurements of the apparent wave-lengths of tones proceeding from origins moving at different known velocities. From two equations, /=(v-v’)é, om £ and its reciprocal, 7) f= (uv — v")t, we should have ¢ = a vw of a= g’ i i Z Tv!" Ps l’v’ ain gag and (substituting : for?) o= oo geet sa and ja ttn te These are, in fact, the data experimentally accessible in the retinal phenomenon. We cannot (as far as is known at present) measure the velocity ani length of a retinal wave with stationary origin; we must determine these values from their apparent values with the wave-origin moving at different known veloci- ties. Practically the velozities v’, v’, &c., of the wave origin on the retina are easily adjusted ; the apparent wave-lengths /’, 2’, &¢., more or less accurately observed. Given the dimensions of the disc, its distance from the eye and its rate of revolution, the experimental velocities are easily calculated ; similarly if the apparent dimensions on the disc of the nodes and internodes are accurately observed, the retinal wave-lengths corresponding with them can be accurately calculated, It is in this second de- termination that the chief experimental error can arise ; never- theless, considering the original conditions of the problem and and that this is, in fact, the first time it has been approached 1 It is essentially indifferent whether we take orzan of vision to signify the retina or brain or retino-cerebral apparatus. It is convenient to refer measurements to the retina itself, aad to determine retinal velocity and retinal wave-length, NO. 1242, VOL. 48] and solved by any method, the results given by Charpentier are, within limits, sufficiently demonstrative of the propagation of a retinal oscillation and of its approximate velocity and wave- length. He finds from a large number of measurements a velocity between the limits of 53°8 and 90 mm. per sec. (mean value, 72); a frequency between 28 and 54 (mean value, 36) ; a calculated wave-length on the retina of 2 mm.; and a calcu- lated wave-duration of 0°028 sec. Not the least satisfactory feature of these figures is that the value of the wave-duration derived by the indirect method of this more difficult experiment, practically coincides with that derived from the simple and easy experiment of the black sector. A third experiment of Charpentier’s, although not precisely confirmatory of these, seems to stand in some relation to the negative semi-vibration manifested as the black sector. A black disc with open sectors, revolving between the eye and a white sheet illuminated by direct sunlight, gives rise to the sensation of a magnificent purple colour, when the rate of revolution is such that the eye receives between 40 and 60 stimuli per second, z.e. when each stimulus occurs during the negative phase of the preceding stimulus. Above 70 and below 30 stimuli per second the sheet appears white. The effect is very striking and very easily obtained ; in short, it is a ‘‘ ladies’ experiment” ; its full explanation is a different matter, and far too uncertain for discussion in a short article. A. D. W. THE POSITION OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS: E ROM time to time it has been pointed out in these columns that the services rendered to litigators as such by so- called scientife experts is antagonistic to the pure spirit that should actuate men of science. For some years the position and character of the representative of science in courts of justice has been acquiring interest, not only in England but elsewhere. In fact, a few years ago a Committee ofthe American Association for the Advancement of Science was appointed to consider the whole matter, but no report of their proceedings has yet been published. An excellent dis- cussion of the subject, however, comes from America in the form of a reprinted lecture on ‘‘ The Scientific Expert in Foreign Procedure,” by Prof. C. F, Himes, which appears in the June number of the /ournal of the Franklin Inititute. In order to direct the discussion, Prof. Himes first gives legal opinions as to the status of the expert. ‘‘Justice Miller,’ he says, ‘‘ex- hibited a plan of objection in a charge as follows :—‘ My own experience, both in jocal courts and in the Supreme Court of the United States is, that when the matter in contest involves an immense sum in value, there is no difficulty in introducing any amount of expert testimony on either side.’ Another judge, in a lecture upon medical expertism, gives a similar opinion, that the ground of dissatisfaction in regard to medical testimony to both the professions of law and medicine, are reducible to one—that upon every conceivable issue expert opinions are procurable which sustain, or seem to sustain, the most contra- dictory views.” But Prof. Himes does not take a pessimistic view of the scientific expert. He is inclined to believe that :— ‘* The scientific expert is simply a product, and an extreme product, of an advanced and rapidly advancing civilisation. He was recognised in the germ, to be sure, by the old Roman law, and we may assume in all systems of jurisprudence ; but he has acquired an immensely increased importance, and a much wider field and a far greater frequency of employment by the recent, and yery recent, marvellous advances in the applications of science—applications which have increased the sphere of things to be litigated about, which have introduced facts of an entirely new character to be adjudicated upon, to say nothing of the contribution that science has made, and is continually making, in many ordinary cases, of conclusive missing links of evidence which render decision previously uncertain, comfort- ably certain, and satisfactory. **Now, one fact that seems latent in these expressions of the legal profession in regard to the scientific expert, and almost the first that impresses is that in many respects he seems to be a positive annoyance to lawyers, and even to judges at times—a sort of intractable, incompatible, inharmonious factor, disturb- ing the otherwise smooth current of legal procedure; too important or necessary to be ruled out, too intelligent and disciplined mentally to yield without reason to ordinary rules 382 NATURE and regulations of the court, with which he may not be familiar, and, at the same time, possessing.an undoubted influence with a jury, that it is difficult to restrict by the’established rules and maxims of legal procedure.” After a consideration of the circumstances that shape the reputation of the scientific expert with the bar, bench, and laity we read :—‘‘ In considering some of the sources of dissatisfaction with the scientific experts, perhaps one of the first to suggest itself, and one of the most prolific, is the vagueness of the legal definition of the term ‘scientific expert’ before alluded to, but which on more careful consideration might rather be termed vagueness and variableness of the standard. Definitions of things are of ideals, and consequently definition is followed closely by the statement that the thing defined is non-existent. The ideal circle is defined, so the ideal solid, the ideal liquid ; these definitions are only approached, never realised. Degrees of approach constitute the differences. Practically the courts are limited to the best experts extant in any field, though they may at times fall far short of the ideal. But it is to be feared that in many cases the experts fall below a reasonable and pos- sible standard, and far below the standard that would te fixed hy scientific men themselves, as well as below the exigencies of the case. This may easily te accounted for, A party presents a witness as an expert. The judge must fass upon his com- petency upon such examination ashe canmake. Thatdecision, though not necessarily, nor even by unvarying practice, a matter of discretion, will not often be reviewed by a superior court. Often, then, the best solution, certainly the easiest, seems to be to admit, even where there may be grave doubt as to qualification, and to throw the burden upon the jury, already overburdened with questions, which the theory of trial by jury assigns them, questions which they are not q‘alified to deal with, although they may be fully up to the average in general intelligence. At a time when experts were not much beyond men in the ordinary avocations of life it may have been reasonable to require the jury to pass upon the ‘weight and credit to be given to evidence viewed in con- nection with all the circumstances,’ bit under the changed circumstances of to-day, with experts of a character, and upon questions not dreamed of even a century ago, it seems to be straining.a theory too far to put upon an average jury the decision of so grave a question, as to the character of the expert, which the court may not be able to settle satisfactorily. But for the theory it would not be thought of, if a system of jurisprudence were now being devised. Now among the results incidental to a liberal interpretation of the term by the courts are many that are regarded as the gravest evils of expert testimony. With doors wide open to incompetent persons, very ‘slight pecuniary advantage, and still more frequently the incidental benefit attributed to notoriety and advertisement would cause them to seek entrance. As a result differences of opinion may be anticipated where knowledge is wanting as a basis, Then, too, the number of such experts in any case will be greater. The cross-examination absolutely necessary to test such evidence must be exhaustive and tedious. Trials are prolonged. The expense of the administration of justice is increased without furthering its ends, and withal often with incidental discredit not only of the testimony of experts, but in a measure of the whole judicial procedure which is responsible for them ; and the jury are often left in sucha state of mental confusion that the evidence can only be weighed by counting the experts. Now the rule should tend toward a greater strictness in regard to the qualifications of experts, since the progress of science tends towards a greater degree of specialisation in study, and consequently to more minute and extended evidence on the whole, with greater restrictions on the range of best evidence of any particular expert. If science stood still, or if forensic science was confined at all times to the same old ground, everything would be settled, but as it is, the new points at issue continually arising make new demands upon experts, which there may be few at first qualified to meet. The introduction of advanced scientific expert testimony is then hardly a matter of option. It is forced upon the courts by the fact that science is just as ready in the hands of the unscrupulous and dishonest to perpe- trate the most flagrant wrongs as to aid in their detection, and that there is no advance in science that is not as accessible to the enemies of society as well as to society itself. ‘* But another, even more prolific source of complaint than laxity of rule in the admission of experts, lies in the anomalous NO. 1242, VOL. 48] : [Aucusr 17, 1893 — position of the expert in many respects, and under th circumstances. He is legally a witness, an ordinary w but practically with extraordinary functions and one load with extraordinary responsibilities, and one might add, fre guently loaded with extraordinary, and even absurd, As a witness he is subpoenaed by the same form, obli: respond under the same penalties, to take the same o: subject to the same rules and restrictions, and the same tr in court.. He has no higher claim upon the State, or uf parties for his time or his private professional knowledg: constitutes his livelihood. He receives, in most cases, sure, from the party calling him, a fee agreed upon them, and certainly out of proportion to those of other witness even if it is not professional in magnitude, He assists the si on which he is called in working up its case. He ts cross-exawination of witnesses. He thus exhibits the | of a very willing witness, of a well-paid witness, combi a great deal of the advocate. Now he cannot be held: ble fur this position, but the system of jurisprudence, | not simply permits it, which has not simply taken him, has forced him in, and which, apparently cognizan seems only able to originate complaints, rather thse. to pre a different character for him; for there seems, indc many of the adverse criiicisms of experts, to be onl confession of weakness, rather than a disposition to cons'der the whole question with a view to the remedy of the evils. ‘he human nature of the | recognised and provided against. Every safeguard is tht around him to protect him from bias, or possible suspic bias, which would be almost as bad, The jury is selec to be free from bias, and is protected as well. Other w are not expected to take the part the scientific a compelled to take. In fact, if deliberately planned, there cc hardly be a network of conditions devised, calculated to pro so many of the evils of scientific expert testimony compla of, or to cloud this testimony of highest intrinsic value, the highest degree of certainty, and in a field altog own.” a ‘*But in regard to the charge of bias,” Prof. Himes. wards goes on tosay, ‘‘it may be admitted that the s expert may at times be biased, but that is only adm he is made of the same clay as’other men. The bias, | produced by the call, would certainly not be more aheae on his character than upon the system of jurisprudence wl renders a call based upon bias not only possible, but al: necessary, and which provides no other method for the} duction of scientific testimony. But bias may be in 10 incidental to the call. It may be a purely scientific er | di some peculiar view or theory. No kind of training will fe a man against bias at all points. In his laboratory, in co ing his investigations, the scientific expert may keep h free from bias, The judge upon the bench is free from bi habit, ra her than by conscious effort. But even the placed in some novel position of great responsibility, whi judicial habit does not fit exactly might lapse into a bi “‘The criticism due to differences of opinion freq hibited by scientific experts can hardly be regarded as a se matter by a profession characterised by differences of opi on all conceivable points ; the only settled opinions w being those of the court of last resort, which even privilege occasionally of reversing itself. Differences among scientific experts are often doubtless due to< scientific character, resulting from the loose rule of But there may still be honest differences between highest character. I think such, however, it will be | rarely in regard to well-established facts, but oftener to probable inferences from facts, whilst entire agree: be marvellous in matters of theory and speculation. C attorneys donotdiscriminate sufficiently between well- scientific facts and scientific theories. Some of the and far-réaching decisions of our highest tribunals have of theory rather than of fact.” 8 a This leads to a point which we have always insisted U namely, that a scientific expert should not be called ai sidised by a particular side, but should be appointed judge or jury. To quote Prof. Himes :— “Many of the most objectionable features of the expert originate in the mode of his entrance into court, and it. allowable question, whether any modification could be m the calling of the witness. Among the reports one jud ugg Bn et Avcust 17, 1893] NATURE 383 the opinion that, ‘expert witnesses ought to be selected court, and should be impartial as well as learned and A contrary practice, however, is now probably too established to allow the more salutary rule to be enforced.’ her judge suggests that the law should be so changed t th's class of witnesses should be selected by the court, ad that this should be done wholly independent of any nomi- recommendation, or interference of the parties, as much all intents as are the jurors.’ This would not make ex- rts amici curi@ any more than before, for all witnesses should ve that character to them, coupled as it is with a recom- yendation as to compensation, so intimately connected with it. Tt is not the fact of extra compensation, or that the compensa- tion is paid by the party benefited by his testimony, that creates the unfavourable impression. The other witnesses are friends of the court, by whatever party they may be called, they stand upon the same footing as to pay; but here is a witness who is paid according to a private agreement, by one of the parties ; the amount is their own private arrangement on which the court is not consulted, over which the court has no control, a circumstance that imparts to him, in high degree, the charac- ter of a friend of one of the parties ; and these facts as to com- pensation are ofien elicited at a time, and in a way, calculated to impair otherwise valuable testimony in the minds of the ‘* By far the best plan seems to be that adopted in the Imperial rtsof Germany. For certain matters and lines of busine-s rmanent experts are appointed by the State, but they are nut a ed as officers, but as emp/oyés for the time being. They Eon no official title, nor regular salary. Tne payment they eceive is not enough to support them, but barely compensates ‘them for their loss of time. For most cases the expert is appointed by the particular judge in the case, often on the Boar of one or the other or both parties, but the choice of ue expert lies within the discretion of the judge. Ile may point any man whom both parties suggested, or may also int a third man no: suzgested by either, but if both parties : on one man he must listen to his testimony. If a question is involved for which regular legal experts are provided, these need only be or can be appointed. The qualifications for such a regular expert are that he should follow that particular pro- fession or line of business habitually, and for the purp se of tr his living. The number of experts in a case is not ited by law, it rests with the discretion of the judge. The Status of the expert in court is almost analogous to other wit- Messes, but it is not a civic duty, as with witnesses, to give ence in court except where a profession is followed publicly and for a livelihood. The text of his oath before giving testi- ‘mony is different from that of an ordinary witness ; and he need not be sworn at all if bith parties unite-in dispensing with such qualification.” - Ifa similar system were followed in England the testimony of scientific experts would be regarded with a little less suspicion than it is at present. Only by s»me such means can technical evidence of a wholly disinterested character be obtained. SCIENCE CLASSES IN CONNECTION WITH THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL, THE Technical Education Board of the London County 2 Council has issued a series of Regulations with regard to the administration of grants to science classes, All the pre- seribed conditions tend to make the instruction efficient and develop technical education in the right direction, The follow- @ are those that refer to the manner in which various classes t must be conducted :— _ (t) That as a condition ofaid being granted by the Board for the eaching Of chemistry, physics, mechanics, and botany, it will be regarded as indispensable that provision should be made, to the satisfaction of the Board, not only for the experimental illus- tration of the lectures or class teaching, but for experimental work by the students themselves, either in laboratories belonging to the institution os, where this cannot be arranged, in the | laboratories of some’ neizhbouring institution with which the class should be associated ; and ev-ry lecture must be followed | > least one hour’s practical work on the same evening, or } some other evening in the same week. rhe That with regard to classes in the subjects comprised in the “Science and Art Department Directory which are more strictly _-NO. 1242, VOL. 48] egarded in that light, but it would be a provision rather to. to be included under the head of technology, viz. building construction and drawing, machine construction and drawing, steam and the steam-engine, navigation and naval architecture, it be required, as a rule, that such classes be taught by teachers having a practical acquaintance with the industries to which they refer; proviled that, in the case of teachers who have already succes: fully taught such classes, it shall be open to the Board, on being satisfied of the sufficiency of the qualifications, to make exceptions in particular cases. No grant will be given for classes in agriculture or mining, (3) That for classes in geology and mineralogy suitable museum specimens be provided and examined by the pupils, and for classes in machine drawing a suitable collection of models and parts of actual machines be provided. (4) That in the teaching of mathematics, practical geometry, building construction, machine drawing, naval architecture, navigation and nautical astronomy, ‘home work”’ be made an important feature, and that the students’ work be examined and corrected by the teacher out of class hours. (5) That in all practical laboratory classes, and in classes on mathematics, practical geometry, building con.truction, machine drawing, naval architecture, navigation and nautical astronomy, not more than twenty stulents shall be under the charge of one teacher at the same time, but where more than one teacher is present during the whole meetins of the class the number of students may be increased in proportion to the number of teachers. (6) That in all subjects there be a sufficient supply of appa- ratus and materials for efficient teaching, and that such appa- ratus and materials be effectively used. (7) That no payment be made on account of pupils who, in the opizion of the Board, may not reasonably be expected to profit by the teaching provided (e.g. pupils in navigation or nau‘ical astronomy, or in the advanced stage of theoretical or applied mechanics who have insufficient knowledge of mathe- matics ; those in building construction or machine drawing who have no knowledge of elementary mechanics, &c.). The Board is prepared to consider applications for assistance to erect laboratories and provide thz necessary equipment. It will also make grants in aid of the purchase of apparatus for science teaching. With so many advantages, technical. educa- tion in the administrative county of London should grow apace. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. TuHE following is the list of candidates successful in the competition for the Whitworth Scholarships and Exhibitions, 1893 :—Scholarships (tenable for three years, having an annual value of £125) :—William Hamilton (Glasgow), Tohn G, Long- bottom (Keighley), Arthur E. Malpas (London), Richard J. Durley (London); Exhibitions (tenable for one year, having a value of £50) :—Charles F, Sith (Glasgow), John Ball (Derby), William Buchan (Glasgow), John B. Chambers (London), Henry J. Loveridge (Southsea, Portsmouth), William F. Ireland (Glasgow), George W. Fearnley (Shipley), Oliver Styles (Edinburgh), George M. Russell (Portsmouth), Alex- ander A. Jude (Hull), Edward R. Amor (Devonport), Joseph Jeffery (Birmingham), Paul J. Reynolds (Plumstead, Kent), Thomas Pilkington (London), Richard Reynolds (Cardiff), George Wilson (Sheffield), Walter O. Hammant ( Plumstead, Kent), Jobn Orr (Airdrie), William I, Chubb (London), Henry Smith (Brighton), Frederick D, Green (Wanstead, Essex), John Powell (Crewe), James H. Hardy (Woodley, near Stock- port), James H. Shepherd (Swindon), Herbert Thompson (Sheffield), Evan Stevens (Swindon), Henry E. Morrall (Wol- verton), [lerbert Bates (Manchester), Charles H. Hill (Strat- ford, London), William F. Massey (Newport, Salop). The Scholarships Committee of the 1851 Exhibition Science Scholarships has issued a list of appointments for 1893. Four scholarships awarded in 1891 have been renewed for a third year in order to permit the holders to complete their investiga- tions. These scholars are James H. Gray, John Joseph Sud- borough, Harry Ingle, and Thomas Ewan. The following scholars of 1892 have had their scholarships renewed for a second year:—Andrew John Herbertson, James Blacklock Ifenderson, John Macdonald, Lionel Simeon Marks, George Lester Thomas, Hirold Hart Mann, James Terence Conroy, 384 NATURE [Aucust 17, 1893 Thornton Charles Lamb, Edward Arnold Medley, William Henry Oates, William Gannon, Frederick J. Smale, Samuel Henry Barraclough, David Hamilton Jackson, Edward Taylor Jones, James Bernard Allen. The list of science scholars of 1893 is as follows :—Herbert William Bolam, George Edwin Allan, James Wallace Walker, Arthur Lapworth, John Ellis Myers, Arthur Walsh Titherley, Edward Chester Cyril Baly, John Cannell Cain, Ella Mary Bryant, James Darnell Granger, Mary O’Brien, Frederick George Donnan, James Alexander MacPhail, Norman Ross Carmichael, Wm. Henry Ledger, George Wm. Macdonald. The institutions to be invited to nominate science scholars for 1894 are :—the University of Edin- burgh, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, Mason College, Birmingham, University College, Bristol, Yorkshire College, Leeds, University College, Liverpool, University College, London, Owens College, Manchester, Durham College of Science, Newcastle, University College, Nottingham, Firth College, Sheffield, University College of South Wales, Cardiff, Queen’s College, Cork, Queen’s College, Galway, the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, the University of ,Adelaide, and the University of New Zealand. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. § é PARIS. Academy of Sciences, August 7.—M. Loewy in the chair.— On the periodic maxima of spectra, by M. Aymonet.— On the heat spectrum of fluorine, by M. E. Carvallo. A comparison between the results obtained by the author and simultaneously by Messrs. Rubens and Snow, of Berlin. In those portions which are common to all three observers, the agreement is perfect, although the results were arrived at by very different methods.—On the absorption of light by liquid bromine, by M. Charles Camichel. Liquid bromine absorbs luminous rays very energetically, especially the most refrangible ones. Thus, a thickness of bromine of a wave length anda half of D light exerts a considerable absorptive action upon the green ray of thallium, and a layer of six times that thickness absorbs the same radiation to such an extent that measurements become difficult, A drop of bromine was introduced between two pieces of glass constructed for observing Newton’s rings. These glasses were mounted in a screw frame resting upon the carriage of a dividing engine, by means of which they could be moved in front of one of the collimators of a Gouy spectro- photometer. The thickness of the layer was measured by ob- serving Newton’s rings in monochromatic light. Two luminous pencils proceeded from the same source, one traversing the polarising collimator, the other the bromine glasses and then the ordinary collimator. Two patches were thus produced, which were equalised by the analyser when the bromine glasses were full and empty respectively. It was found that the absorption followed the exponential law between thicknesses of o'5 and sixty times the principal wave length of sodium.—On the origin of atmospheric oxygen, by Mr. T. L. Phipson. Various plants, such as Poa, Trifolium, Antirrhinum, and Convolvulus were placed under glass shades with their roots immersed in water containing free carbonic acid and certain salts, shut off from the light, and their upper portions exposed to a north light in atmospheres of carbonic acid, hydrogen, and nitrogen respectively. It was found that in carbonic.acid the plants were able to live for some time, but did not prosper. In hydrogen they fared better, but the gas gradually disappeared, probably combining with the oxygen evolved by the plants, Convolvulus throve very well in an atmosphere of ‘nitrogen, especially if mixed with a third part of carbonic acid. After several weeks the composition of the gas began to approach that of our atmosphere, no change of volume having taken place. The bearing of these facts upon the history of the earth’s atmo- sphere may prove important.—Of the isomorphism of anhydrous alums, by M. T. Klobb.—Influence of solar radiation upon plants, by M. G. Landel. Variations of intensity of solar radia- tion ei always to act in the same sense upon plants, as re- gards the quantity of flowers and the proportion of red pigment colouring the various parts. These variations differ much according to the species. In some the red pigment is well de- veloped in the shade, whilst others remain perfectly green. The inflorescence in certain species does not seem to be sensibly modified by shade; in others the number of flowers is less, — The young bulbs of the Dioscorea, by M. C. Queva. NO. 1242, VOL. 48] BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED, _ Booxs.—Mathématiques et Mathématiciens; Pensées et Curiosités edition: A. Rebitre (Paris, Nony).—Solutions of the Exercises in Tay Euclid, Books 1 to W. W. Taylor (Cambridge University Press), Treatise on the Mathematical The: of Elasticity, Vol. 2: A. Love ewer ia University Press).—A History of the Theory of Elast and of the Strength of Materials, Vil. 2, Parts x and 2: the late 1 hunter, edited and completed 4 K. Pearson (Cambridge Uni —British Rainfall, 1892: G J. Symons and H. S. Wa lis (Stanford).- in a Village : W. H. Hudson (Chapman and Hall).—Pocket-book ot | Formula and Memoranda for Civil and Mechanical Engineers, e Sir G. L. Molesworth and R. B. Molesworth (Spon).—Report Meeting of the Australasian Association. held at H« bart in Janu (Sydney).—Royal University, Ireland, Examination Papers, 1892 (L Thom).—Griffin’s Electrical Engineer’s Price Book: H. J. Dowsin —Les Turbines: G. Lavergne (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Fourth the Department of Science and Art (Eyre and Spottiswoode). Lighting and Power Distribution: W. P. Maycock, Parts 2 and 3 taker).—Geology, an Elementary Hand-book : A. J. Jukes- taker).—Klectricity and Magnetism: S. R. Bottone (Whittaker). Pampu_ets.—U.S. Department of Agriculture, Report of the C the Weather Bureau for 1892 : M. W. Harrington (Washington). of the Crabs of the Family Maiide in the U S. National Museum Rathbun (Washington).—The Planet Venus: E. M. Clerke Notes on the Trunk Skeleton of a Hybrid Grouse: R. W. Shufeld! pet upon the Scott-Moncrieff System for the Bacteriological Pu rit Daa A. C. Houston (Waterlow).—On the Distortion of Photo Star Images due to Refraction: Prof. Rambaut (Dublin).—A Prehmi Report on the Aquatic Invertebrate Fauna of the Yellowstone Nz Park, &c., &c.: S. A. Forbes (Washington).—Notes on a Few Fossil P from the Fort Union Group of Montana: F. H. Knowlton (Washingte CONTENTS. Old and New Astronomy. ByA.T. ... Bartiquakes .0.)'s) co sti eee ee Our Book Shelf :— ‘ Hayes: ‘‘ The Points of the Horse.”—W. F. G.. . Letters to the Editor :— 4 Quaternions and Vector Analysis.—Prof. J. Wi ee ee oe era a On Secular Variations of our Rainfall. Diagram.)\—A.B.M. .... . Beg eet The Non-Inheritance of Acquired Characters.— C.. Herbert: Hurst: 0) ci eee Echinocyamus pusillus. —E, W. MacBride; Wiiter of the Notice. .°. >... 0... eae The Supposed Suicide of Rattlesnakes —Prof, E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. 00.) Shee ee Imitation or ‘‘ Instinct” by a Male Thrush ?—E. Boscher Perera: Clay.—Percy F Poynting, FURS. < 36 4 Gn ae < The Grouping of Stars into Constellations.—M. A. Numerous Insects Washed up by the Sea.—S Kropotkin * 520 hn he A Substitute for Ampére’s Swimmer.—Ha Adler... ns A Correction.—Henry O. Forbes. .. The Astronomical History of On and Thebes, pee By J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S....... Apparatus Illustrating Michelson’s Method of taining Interference Bands. (With Diagrams.) Edwin: Edeet i905 0 3s rl The August Meteors, 1893. By W. F. Dennin Choleraand Articles of Dict, By Mrs, PercyFran Notes .. EP EA AN Our Astronomical Column :— The Origin of New Stars. ....... ait The Spectrum of the Rordame-Quénisset Comet Atmo:pheric Refraction and Star Photographs . . Astronomy Popularised x ign eae A Comet Appearances in the Year 1892... . « Geographical Notes. . . Charpentier’s Experiments Demonstrative of Oscillatory Process in the Organ of Vision and of — its Dimensions. (With Diagram.) By A. D. The Position of Scientific Experts oe Science Classes in Connection with the London County Cotincibyitc gn yo ere wage ¥ University and Educational Intelligence Societies and Academies. ie Books and Pamphlets Received. . . . . . . . . a's . NATURE 385 THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1893. WATER AND ICE AS AGENTS OF EARTH : SCULPTURE. Fragments of Earth Lore: Sketches and Addresses, Geological and Geographical. By James Geikie, _ D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., &c. (Edinburgh: John Bartholomew & Co. London: Simpkin Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Limited, 1893.) HESE collected papers form a fairly connected work on the origin of the present surface features of the world at large, and of Scotland in particular. The first is a well-put plea for the more intelligent and far- sighted method of teaching geography, and is followed up by four articles on the geographical features of Scot- land, which are of a somewhat advanced and special character, and lead directly to the exposition of the author’s views on glacialaction. That forms the subject matter of the next eight papers, supplemented by a geographical essay in which he discusses some aspects of the question of earth movements, which are obviously closely connected with the theoretical explanations of climatal change. On the whole, perhaps, another form would have been better; for the advice as to the teach- ing of geography will hardly be necessary for the same readers as those who, with their local field club, are prepared to follow the author through the Western Islands; while those who wish to examine once more the arguments for the special views on the ancient glaciation of the country which he advocates, would have found the information more usefully arranged for them, if worked into a manual. The style of the articles is sufficiently didactic to have readily lent itself to this form. The book provides for the author an inventory of his own literary properties, and of some others, in which he has a joint claim, owing to his having independently arrived at the same conclusion as other observers. It provides for him also an opportunity of qualifying state- ments which further investigation has shown to require modification. In which respect the reader is equally benefited, as he would certainly prefer to receive the results of our author’s mature judgment on the subject. We appeal to him as a leader in geographical science, and one who has abundant facility of expression, not to encourage the absorption -of too many words out of our current language for use as technical terms. Such names as chain and range should be simply de- scriptive of form, that is of actual continuity, or of con- tiguity with a linear arrangement, regardless of the origin of the features. Among the most interesting geographical descriptions given is that of the “drowned lands,” or areas which have been moulded into their present form by suberial action, and then submerged with all their hills and valleys | (pp. 21, 367, and more fully in art. xiv). We shall know more about this as we get more soundings and the study of oceanography advances. | The feature of greatest importance in the study of geology and geography is the plain of marine denuda- tion, the level at which the sea arrests the agents of NO. 1243. VOL. 48] subzerial waste, and at which the wind waves carry on the work. Thisis the datum from which the amount of rock removed by denudation must be measured: this is the index that tells us how long the great forces of eleva- tion and depression balanced one another: this marks the long drawn-out nodes in the undulations of the earth’s crust. Our author might have dwelt longer on this ground, when giving his views as to how the successive portions of the earth were brought within reach of the denuding agents to which he chiefly refers their sculpture. Most of the papers are controversial, or they are written so as to strengthen those positions on which some disputed theory has been built up, and are so turned as to allow the author frequently to point the moral which he chiefly aims at inculcating. We feel quite glad of the genial warmth of the volcanic fires which ushered in the Devonian, and are hardly willing to admit the existence of ice at this age in the Cheviot area. Yet there is no reason why the surrounding mountains may not have been high enough to nourish glaciers, but the shape and condition of the stones included in the con- glomerates at the base of the red rocks are hardly sufficient to grove this, especially when the ghosts of scratches have in other cases been shown to be due to movements in the rock, which caused the included fragments to be crushed against one another. After a long interval we read in the history of the Cheviots of Scandinavian ice which over-rode everything, and of the successive interglacial periods when that ice receded only to advance again with hardly less intensity, but we do not know how ourauthor explains its apparently smaller eroding power, seeing that it failed to remove even the peat and silt which had accumulated in the interval. Asan example of the kind of evidence which is occa- sionally admitted in support of the former extension of land ice we may cite his reference of the implement- bearing gravels of East Anglia to the floods discharged at the foot of the melting ice-sheet. The argument that the gravels are eighty feet above the sources of the exs¢img streams after ages of denuda- tion does not go for much where the level of the outburst of springs has varied withinthe memory of man; while the flint implement-bearing gravels creep up the hills in terraces with abundant material derived from the boulder clay which covers the tops of the hills all round, but never overlaps those gravels. The shells in the gravels are, with few exceptions, of the same species as those now inhabiting the neighbouring streams, and those excep- tions belong to more southern forms, There very likely are marine gravels capping some hills, but they are cer- tainly not correctly referred to as those “with ancient flint implements,” &c., in East Anglia. Although he frequently mentions ‘the now discredited iceberg theory,” he does not often refer any of the drifts to their “ random and eccentric action,” but explains some of the difficulties of the distribution of erratics by the intercrossing of currents within the ice-mass. Whether or not any particular group of boulders or mass of drift was carried by icebergs or not, it is too much to say that there are no reasons for considering icebergs capable of polishing and striating rock surfaces (p. 219). If we allow that glacier-ice charged with stones and mud can Ss 386 NATURE [Aucust 24, 1893 erode its base, surely miles of the very same mass of ice, with the same mud and stones, when broken off and driven: by wind and current on a shelving shore, must grind and polish the floor on which it is driven. It is difficult to follow the explanation offered of the pushing up of shells belonging to temperate climates by the great ice sheet, or the wrenching off of large masses of rock underneath the ice, except on the supposition that all this was done during the frs¢ advance of the ice over the sea bottom, and overa surface irregularly fretted. by subzerial action. When once the sea-bed had been swept, no more such life would be there till the ice receded; and, when the crags had once been planed down, there could be no more jagged rock for the ice to break off and carry along. Moreover, it does not seem to have been observed that the flints so universally dis- tributed through the marine gravels, such as those of Moel Tryfaen, are rusty gravel flints, and that there is no long interval without them all round the southern and. central portions of the British Isles. The point, however, to which our author seems to attach greatest importance is the occurrence of interglacial, periods. He describes successive sheets of boulder clay, each of which is the accumulation. of a separate and dis- tinct ice flow. He points out that the fauna and flora found in beds interstratified in these clays are suggestive of alter- nations of cold and damp conditions with those indicative of a warm. and genial climate. In Scotland and Scandi- navia the gradual disappearance of the latest ice-sheets. was, he says, marked by a partial submergence, but a great submergence he dues not believe in, and, after describing the grand series of moraines which stretches across the northern scates of America into the British possessions, says that “no one who has traversed the regions I refer to is at all likely to agree with Sir W. Dawson’s view that the American mounds, &c., are the shore accumu- lations of an ice-laden sea.” We regret the somewhat assured manner in which the , views of those who differ from our author are dismissed. Sir William Dawson traversed the regions referred to by him (p. 199) and arrived at a different conclusion ; and there are some who have not confined themselves so exclusively to the subjects on which our author has made. himself a name, who yet do not deserve to be excluded from the list of geologists because they do not agree with him on every point. It would be well also if he would strike out from any future edition all references to “the trained observer” and “the experienced eye,” as his readers. cannot help recalling many instances where trained observers have differed in interpretation, and where, the position having been shifted, even the ex- perienced eye has seen things differently at different — times. Though our author could not in these essays discuss fully the various points which must be fixed before any theory can be considered as fairly established, he has indicated the lines of reasoning on which he would rely, His position seems to be that. there are known to recur such astronomical combinations as by a general lowering of the snow line would be sufficient to account for glacial conditions with such distribution of land and water as for instance prevail at present ; that with unfavourable geo- graphical arrangement no glaciation is possible ; that the ND. 1243, VOL. 48] ‘ . greater part of the results observed were produce | geographical theory that we cannot help feeling as our author, and so competent to watch the ! this is sufficient to indicate what numbers of ‘di land ice, icehergs playing quite a subordinate part, marine currents of any considerable volume and veloc being quite exceptional ; that within each period of sible glaciation there were alternations of conditior greater or less intensity corresponding to esta’ astronomical cycles, and that the evidence of th to be séen in certain beds intercalated in the admits, but explains away, the absence of eviden regular récurrence of such effects.throu shout the | geological ages. ; The geographical theory which he principally. may be briefly summed up thus: There have been t all time terrestrial movements of wider or n extent which have carried portions of the earth’s to depths below the lowest known abyss, and tions through distances greater than. the highest mo! peak ; the depression and elevation of extensi or ridges must, with sufficient precipitation, ocean currents and produce such snowdelds as | feed the largest glaciers or ice-sheets required, a planation of the drifts, boulders, and accompanyi nomena; there is evidence of movements on a g scale since the period of great cold and sales ments have been going on up to a quite abs jc these, if extended. over a longer tied would p the effects required. : Inthe course of these addresses our author | y led to speculate upon the causes and some of the eff of earth-movements, and we. find (¢.g. pp: 129, 267, | such a good case made out every now and then for a difference between the two schools is not irrecon but this is a vast question which cannot be settle t many possibilities have been considered, 3 The various theories referred to have been built : such a number of observations and hypothetical ex tions’ that it is impossible to discuss them in one | of essays, still less in a short review of that vo All the more, however, because the subject:invo many matters of controversy, do we welcome the tion of the latest views of one who isso skilled an’ research in regions beyond that which he has studied. WATER BACTERIA. Diagnostik der Bakterien des Wassers. Von De. ander Lustig. Zweite sehr vermehrte Auflage. 1 (Jena : Gustay Fischer, 1893.) HIS is, we believe, the first attempt made together in a compact form the various d of bacteria which..from time to time have been isol from water by different observers. In those cases w the water investigator is concerned only with the numit of microbes present in any given water, the task me enumeration is such that, however anxious to do so, it almost impossible to take an intelligent interest in t nature of the microbes present, beyond a sup glance at their more striking characteristics. But _Aucust 24, 1893] NATURE 387 , tats of microbes are present in water, whilst on a closer | “examination ‘the list of varieties is very much more ex- tended. Having regard to their superficial differences, then, Lustig, following the example set by Eisenberg in is “ Bakteriologische Diagnostik,” has:mapped out two "classes of microbes—those which liquefy and those which Mo not liquefy the gelatine—which are again divided up ‘micrococci and bacilli respectively. The tabulated account’ appended to each micro-organism includes its microscopic appearance, behaviour in gelatine-plate and tube-cultures, on agar-agar and potatoes, relationship to pathogenic properties, temperature, together with other special tests which have from time to time been em- ployed, as well as the authority for its discovery in water. In addition to the above classification, those bacteria which are known to be pathogenic to man.and animals respectively are separately grouped, whilst those bacilli resembling the typhoid bacillus are brought together for purposes of comparison. The latter should prove a use- ful assistance in the separate diagnosis of the typhoid bacillus, for as it is by mo means specially characteristic ‘either in its macroscopic or microscopic appearances, there are many forms which may readily be mistaken for it on an ordinary water-plate. . We do not quite understand why Lustig has not ren- dered the cholera spirillum a similar service. There exist many spirilla in water which bear the most striking resemblance to Koch’s comma spirillum, but which sub- sequent searching tests have proved 'to be distinct. Koch himself only a few weeks ago stated that no less than a dozen different vibrios had been isolated in his labora- ‘tory alone, from various waters which he examined last autumn during the cholera epidemic, none of which were ‘the cholera spirillum, whilst other investigators have identified and described spirilla bearing the closest -re- — ee semblance to the original comma spirillum. Amongst the organisms pathogenic to man found in water we miss the tetanus bacillus. This organism was detected by Miquel in the rivers Seine snd Marne, and G. Roux states that he found it in large numbers in the sediment of the filter beds belonging to the water-works supplying Lyon with river Rhéne water, whilst Lortet alleges that he discovered it in mud obtained from the bottom of the Dead Sea. Ina future edition the.anthrax bacillus must also be included, since it has recently:been detected in the sediment at the bottom of a well, to +the water of which an outbreak of anthrax amongst a flock of sheep was traced. In the preface to the German edition Baumgarten writes; “Gréssere Reihen von ‘ Wasserbakterien’ sind schon frither von anderen Forschern (Frankland, Mas- chek, Adametz, W. Zimmermann, Tils) auf Grund eigener Beobachtungen und Untersuchungen _ beschrieben worden. Diese sowie a//e sonstigen, verstreut in der Literatur . . . ist Lustig's Verdienst vereinigt zu haben.” It is obvious that in a guide of this kind the Jist should be as complete as possible, and it is, therefore, surprising to find many important and quite unaccountable omis- sions. For example, none of the interesting phos- phorescent bacilli obtained from sea-water by Forster, Fischer, and Katz are described, neither is any mention made of the organisms ‘isolated by Russell from sea- water. NO. 1243, VOL. 48] Amongst other organisms conspicuous by their.absence ‘may be mentioned the daczllus thermophilus originally found in large numbers in river Seine water by Miquel, the anzerobic bacillus, 2. amylozyme obtained by Perdrix from the same water, the dacclle rouge de Kiel so care- fully studied by Laurent, the “ peach-coloured bacterium” of Lankester, whilst Roscoe and Lunt’s sewage organisms, and Tataroff’s large collection of bacteria isolated from the Dorpat water are entirely overlooked. The descriptions appended are often provokingly in- complete, and this greatly militates against the value of the book in assisting in the identification of a particular organism, whilst in some cases the details are not always correct. The book was originally written in Italian, so possibly during the translation into German errors and mis- prints may have crept in which were not present in the original, but it is none the Jess troublesome to find wrong references occasionally given, whilst the description of the same organism twice over, which occurs more than once, ought surely to have been guarded against. Asan example of this we may mention a bacillus found by Claessen (mis-spelt Claesten) in unfiltered river Spree water, and described on p. 62 as the Judigoblauer bacillus, whilst on p. 70 we find it figuring again as bacillus, Berolinensis indicus / ‘In.order to bring the descriptions up to a level with those in Eisenberg’s “ Bakteriologische Diagnostik,” even (and as the volume before us deals:solely with water- microbes, they might not unreasonably be expected to be fuller) careful revision will be required, and the evident signs of ‘haste which at present characterise its pages conscientiously removed. Such an array of different water microbes, to each of which is given a “docal habitation and a name,” might well make the reader say with the “ Ancient “Mariner,” ‘“ Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink ;” but it is reassuring to find that out of the 181 varieties found in water, only six are stated by Lustig to be pathogenic to:man. P. FRANKLAND. POPULAR METEOROLOGY. Katechismus der Meteorologie. Dritte Auflage, ganzlich umgearbeitet, Von Prof. Dr. W. J, Yan Bebber. SL eipaic’: J. J. Weber, 1893.) Riess object of the author of this little book i is to pre- sent as briefly and intelligently as possible the fundamental principles of meteorology, in a manner which will enable the public to form for themselves an independent judgment on the meteorological conditions prevalent at the moment, and to make the knowledge so obtained available for the purposes of daily life. “The author, who is well and favourably known asia popular writer on meteorology by his Lehréuch, thinks ‘that this eminently practical object can ‘be best effected by placing his information in a catechetical form; a method of conveying instruction which appears to find great favour in Germany. This particular work is already in its’third edition,.and is the sixtieth of a series which in its entirety probably comprises more than twice that number of works devoted to the culture of science, art, and indus- 388 NATURE [AvcusT 24, 1893 _ try, and all forming part of the ‘‘Illustrierte Katechis- men.” This form, however, is not one that commends itself generally to the writers of English text-books, at least in modern times. It is believed that the fascinating style of the ingenious Miss Mangnall endeared her writings to an earlier generation, but the peculiar form of which she was so admirable an exponent has not found many imitators. But the case seems to be different in Germany, to judge by the number of works and editions in this catechetical series, to which we have referred. The author contends that the form of the work is suit- able, and in his recent revision he has preferred to retain it. But if the questions in a slightly altered shape were made to fill the place of marginal notes, and the informa- tion were presented in a continuous readable form, it would, to an English eye at least, be preferable to that adopted, which has all the appearance of a collection of conundrums without their interest. But apart from this question of form, there are two reasons why we are in- clined to dissent from the judgment of the author. Meteorology has hardly crystallised into that definite shape in which a cut and dry answer can be given to every definite question. The author seems to take some praise to himself that every hypothesis has been most carefully excluded. But this is a very doubtful merit. It has the immediate effect of excluding much that gives a charm and interest to the study, and without a knowledge of which one can hardly be said to be instructed in meteorology. Working hypotheses, recognised as such, have a distinct value, especially in a science where much is, of necessity, tentative and experimental. The other objection which might be urged against the style arises from the fact that, in the present instance at least, it does not lend itself readily to the description of diagrams. Perhaps this explains why the book is not more profusely illustrated. It was doubtless felt that diagrams did not greatly add to the clearness of description. The contents of the book are generally such as one would expect to meet in an elementary work on meteor- ology. There are, however, some exceptions, in which the author enters upon subjects which we are apt in this country to include under the wider title of physiography. After dealing with the temperature of the atmosphere, its daily and annual variations, the peculiarities of isotherms, &c., we have an account of barometric records and variations of atmospheric pressure with theories of the wind. Under this heading are treated such subjects as land and sea breezes, local winds, such as monsoons, and movements of the atmosphere affecting small areas. The transition to such subjects as the Gulf Stream and ocean currents is easy if a little unexpected, but the author soon returns to topics more immediately connected with meteorology properly so called. The subject of evapora- tion, and the deposition of moisture in its various forms, is sufficiently dealt with, and if there is nothing new in this chapter it is clear and satisfactory, and the same can be said for the few concluding questions on electrical and optical phenomena. A few remarks might have been added with advantage on the aurora, but possibly the author was afraid of hypotheses. The most readable and the most interesting portion of the book is undoubtedly that connected with the behaviour of NO. 1243, VOL, 48] | is given of the wonderful pyrotechnic display. storms, and the formation of weather charts with a viet to weather prediction. Here the catechist has practicall to stand aside. In about twenty pages we mect wii only eighteen distinct questions, and the tale is therefor practically told without that annoying form of interruption And it is very well told. We feel that the author hz shaken himself free from his self-imposed fetters, and | doing himself justice, and we can only regret that thé earlier portion of the work is not marked by a sir freedom. OUR BOOK SHELF, The New Technical Educator: an Encyclopac Technical Education. Vol. I. (London, Paris, Melbourne : Cassell and Co., Limited, 1893.) _ THE subjects dealt with in vol. i. are as follo Drawing for Carpenters and Joiners, Cotton Spi Cutting Tools, Dyeing of Textile Fabrics, Ele Engineering, Drawing for Engineers, Photoy Plumbing, Practical Mechanics, Projection, The Engine, Steel and Iron, Technical Education, and Clock Making,and Woollen and Worsted S Taken as a whole, all these subjects are ae and illustrated copiously, several full-page plates given. The frontispiece is coloured, and represents | scene in the Bessemer department of a steel works night, during the process of a “blow.” A very good i The steam-engine is treated very much fro “heat” point of view. a) Under the head of Plumbing much useful informa is to be found, particularly the making of joints bends in pipes of lead and other metals. It is when making a bend in a wrought-iron lap-welded p to endeavour to keep the weld on the inside of th when possible, for obvious reasons. This is practice which every gasfitter or plumber would follow, and its omission from the paragraph is regretted. The articles on electrical engineering are excelle far as they go. The illustrations are clear and t point ; one or two of the earlier ones, however, w improved by the addition of the lines of force. Prof. R. H. Smith takes charge of the articl “Cutting Tools”; needless to say they are well wr with examples taken from every-day ctice works. The introduction of milling machinery i engineering works of the country is compare recent date, yet this method of machining rapidly coming to the front, and milling mac taking the place of the planing, slotting, and machine for duplicate and general work. O drawback to this method of working is the c milling cutters; these are very expensive to sometimes during the process of hardening ani ( they very often crack in the body or some of the fly off. On the other hand, the quality of the by the milling machine is better than that average planing machine, less hand labour being to finish the work. 4 The articles on technical education are most im: tive ; they cover a good deal of ground, gene ti a sensible and moderate view of the question. I first article on this subject, the author, Mr. Cunyngham, says that the object of technical edu is to make good industrial workmen, and then goes name what are the qualities which goto make up a§ AucustT 24, 1893] NATURE 389 workman. There is nopossible doubt that apprentices to trades require facilities to study the technics of their trades, and that these facilities ought to be found in every manufacturing town, besides which, both parents and employers should make it a duty to see that the portunities are not thrown away. On the other hand, e fact should not be lost sight of, that it is only possible to follow practice, 7.e., practical work, in the works. _ The following chapters on this subject are by different - authors, and deal with the progress of technical education in this country and abroad, then we have an elaborate description of polytechnics by Mr. Quintin Hogg, and the last chapter gives a fair idea of technical education in the colonies. All these chapters together give the reader much information about this all-important subject. Although it has not been possible to note more of the contents of this volume, yet we can say that it is one of a series of most useful books, and if subsequent volumes are kept up to the standard of Vol. I. they will constitute a valuable Encyclopedia of Technical Education. Ne JuL. Wetterbiichletn. Von wahrer Erkenntniss des Wetters. By — Reynman. (Berlin: A. Asher & Co., 1893. THIs is the first number of a series of reprints of rare books relating to meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, edited by Prof. G. Hellmann, and, owing to the support of the German Meteorological Society and to a large amount of gratuitous labour on the part of Dr. Hellmann, the works, of which only a very limited number will be rinted, are to be issued in a very cheap but elegant orm, and will no doubt be much valued by students of these subjects and by persons interested in early litera- ture. The Wetterbiichlein is the oldest purely meteoro- logical work printed in the German language. The first edition was published in 1505, but inquiries made by Prof. Hellmann of 115 libraries in Europe have failed to discover a single copy, and of the second edition printed in 1510 only one copy can be found, viz. the one in Dr. Hellmann's library, of which a facsimile is now re- printed, together with an introduction of forty-two quarto pages, giving a most interesting and masterly account of this work and of all the other editions excepting two, of which no copy can befound. The Weéterbiichlein, which ran through seventeen editions in fourteen years, was exceedingly popular in its day, and contains in fourteen chapters a large number of weather prognostications, - some of which are of an astrological character, but by _ far the greater part are based on optical and natural phenomena. The chapters are naturally of unequal value, but some of them contain results of import- ance deduced from a large number of actual obser- vations. Many of the chapters have been traced by Dr. Hellmann to be based upon proverbs known to the old classical writers, and the author has also quoted freely from a work by Guido Bonatti, an Italian astrologer, which was printed in 1491, and from one by Firmin de Bellevall, a French writer, which appeared in 1485; but no clue can be found as to the origin of a chapter entitled ‘‘Das wetter zu wissen durch die vier quart des jars / als Liechtenperger setzt.” If any of our readers can ciscover the origin of this section we shall be glad to hear of it. The Wetterbiichlein was, to a great extent, reprinted in various editions of the “ Bauern- Practick,” which appeared in the sixteenth century and had a much greater sale. It also found its way to this country, an almost literal translation appearing in “ The Boke of Knowledge of Thynges Vnknown....” published in London in 1585, NO. 1243, VOL. 48] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] Prenatal Influences on Character. THE popular belief that prenatal influences on the mother affect the offspring physically, producing moles and other birth-marks, and even malformations of a more or less serious character, is said to be entirely unsupported by any trustworthy facts, and is also rejected by physiologists on theoretical grounds. But I am not aware that the question of purely mental effects arising from prenatal mental influences on the mother has been separately studied. Our ignorance of the causes, or at least of the whole series of causes, that determine individual character is so great, that such transmission of mental influences will hardly be held to be impossible or even very improbable. It is one of those questions on which our minds should remain open, and on which we should be ready to receive and discuss what- ever evidence is available ; and should a primd facie case be made out, seek for confirmation by some form of experiment or obser- vation, which is perhaps less difficult than at first sight it may appear to be. In one of the works of George or Andrew Combe, I re- member a reference to a case in which the character of a child appeared to have been modified by the prenatal reading of its mother, and the author, if I mistake not, accepted the result as probable, if not demonstrated. I think, therefore, that it will be advisable to make public some interesting cases of such modifi- cation of character which have been sent me by an Australian lady in consequence of reading my recent articles on the question whether acquired characters are inherited. The value of these cases depends on their differential character. Two mothers state that in each of their children (three in one case and four in the other) the character of the child very distinctly indicated the prenatal occupations and mental interests of the mother, though at the time they were manifested in the child they had ceased to occupy the parent, so that the result cannot be explained by imitation, The second mother referred to by my correspondent only gives cases observed in other families which do not go be- yond ordinary heredity. ‘*T can trace in the character of my first child, a girl now twenty-two years of age, a special aptitude for sewing, econo- mical contriving, and cutting out, which came to me as a new experience when living in the country amongst new surround- ings, and, strict economy being necessary, I began to try and sew for the coming baby and for myself. I also trace her great love of history to my study of Froude during that period, and to the breathless interest with which my husband and I followed the incidents of the Franco-German war. Yet her other tastes for art and literature are distinctly hereditary. In the case of my second child, also a daughter (I having interested myself prior to her birth in literary pursuits) the result has been a much acuter form of intelligence, which at six years old enabled her to read and enjoy the ballads which Tennyson was then giving to the world, and which at the age of barely twenty years allowed her to take her degree as B.A. of the Sydney University. ‘* Before the third child, a boy, was born, the current of our life had changed a little. Visits to my own family and a change of residence to a distant colony, which involved a long journey, as well as the work which such changes involve, together with the care of my two older children, absorbed all my time and thoughts, and left little or no leisure for studious pursuits. My occupations were more mechanical than at any other time previous. This boy does not inherit the studious tastes of his sisters at all, He is intelligent and possesses most of the quali- fications which will probably conduce to success in life, but he prefers any kind of outdoor work or handicraft to study. Had I been as alive then as I am now to the importance of these theories, I should have endeavoured to guard against this possi- bility ; as it is, I always feel that it is perhaps my fault that one of the greatest pleasures of life has been debarred to him. ‘* But I must not weary you by so many personal details, and I trust you will not suspect me of vanity in thus bringing my own 390. NATURE [Aucusr 24, 1893. 4 children under your notice. Suffice it to say that in every instance I can and do constantly trace what others might term coincidences, but which to me appear nothing but cause and effect in their several developments, ‘*T will pass on to quote a few passages from letters written to me by two highly intelligent mothers, whom I asked togive me their experiences on this subject, if they had, any. ‘¢ Mrs, B—— says: ‘I can trace, nay, have traced (in secret amusement often), something im every child of mine. Before the birth of my eldest girl I took to ornithology, for work and amusement, and did a. great deal in taxidermy too. At the age of three years I find this youngster taking such insects and littke animals as she could find, and. puzzling me with hard questions. as to what was inside them. Later on she used to_ be seen with a small knife, working and dissecting cleverly and with much care and skill at their zzsides. One day she brought me the tiniest heart of the tiniest lizard you could imagine, so small that I had to examine it through a glass, though she saw it without any artificial aid. By some means she got a young wallaby and made an apron with a. pocket inside which she used to call her ‘‘pouch.” This study of natural history is still of interest to her, though she lacks time and opportunities, Still, she always does a little dissecting when she gets a chance.’ ‘*T never noticed anything about. P—— for some years, Three months before he was born a friend, whom I will call Smith, was badly hurt, and was brought to my house to be nursed. I turned out the nursery and he lay there for three months. I nursed him until I could do so no longer, and then took lodgings in tovn for my confinement. Now after all these years [ have discovered how this surgical nursing has left its mark. This boy is in his element when he can be of use in cases of accident, &c, He said to me quite lately, ‘How I wish you had made a surgeon of me.’ ‘Then all at once the light flashed in upon me, but, alas! it was too late to remedy the mistake. ‘* Before the birth of the third child I passed ten of the happiest months of my life. We hada nice house, one side of which was covered. with cloth of gold roses and bougainvillea, a garden with plenty of flowers, and a vineyard. Here we led an idyllic life, and did nothing but fish, catch butterflies, and. paint them. At least, my husband painted them: after I had caught them and mixed his colours. At the end of this time L— was born. This child excels in artistic talent of many kinds, nothing comes amiss to her, and she draws remarkably well. She is of a bright, gay disposition, finding much happi- ness in life, even though not always placed in the most fortunate surroundings. Before the birth of my next child, N——, a daughter, I had a bad time. I had to nurse him without help or assistance of any kind. We had also losses by floods. I don’t know how I got through that year, but I had notime forreading. N—— isthe most prudent, economical girl I know. She is a splendid housek and a good cook, and will work till she drops, but has no taste for reading, but seems to gain knowledge by suction.” If the preceding cases. are fully and accurately stated they seem to afford grounds for further investigation. Changes. in mode of life and in intellectual: occupation are so frequent among all classes, that materials must exist for determining whether such changes during the prenatal period have any in- fluence on the character of the offspring. ‘The present com- munication may perhaps induce ladies who have undergone such changes, and who have large families, to state whether they can trace any corresponding effect on the character of their children. ALFRED R. WALLACE. Habits of South African Animals. Tue following extracts from a letter just received from Mr. R. R. Mortimer, of Hanover Road, Cape Colony, contain some observations which will, I think, be of interest to naturalists, and therefore worth recording in the pages of NATURE. ALFRED R. WALLACE. “*Since reading ‘ Darwinism,’ powers of observation have unconsciously been gained by me. Day by day nature has,some phenomena quite new to me, which phenomena would probably never have been observed by me-if I had not had the good for- tune to have digested the principles of the Darwinian Theory so obviously explained by you. From the time of reading the NO. 1243, VOL. 48] My husband fell ill of fever, and book till now I have observed peculiarities of organic beings this part of the world, These observances I will relate = (1 The first observation I particularly remember was in rega apeculiar action of a small bird, indefinitely. termed by Colon snipe. What their specific or proper name is I cannot since the title of naturalist is not claimed by me. These si in’ question, or individuals of the variety, made their mounds of dung which were practically the accumulat of old sheep kraals. The shape of the nest was hole scooped out on top of a mound. The colour of t was a variegated dark brown and black. The eggs of birds fully corresponded in colouration with the environme or surroundings. Asa means of concealment, the colourati of the eggs was perfect. It required! an extreme t « careful inspection and search to detect the eggs ina such mounds, When you came across the nest, you wou it was perfectly open and uncovered by any material ; th you would presume the owners of the nest distinctly reli the colouration of their eggs to defy detection. But if by chi you detected a nest, and the owners were present, by hi yourself perfectly immovable and stationary, one bird wou immediately approach its nest, and gradually cover it by seao ing dust over the eggs with the action of its feet. ae ** This recourse to hiding its nest from view is only on extreme occasions, when their sense-action gives theim knowledge that the enemy present has perceived its contents, the nest itself. ; é ‘*There must bea double selective agency in this = concealment at work. - ‘lt ‘* As far as my knowledge goes, our so defined snipe ally frequent localities where water is present. Now the sa variety in question do make their habitat on banks of river where water is to be found; yet here have I noticed indi of the same variety diverge from the specific character, t: a new area, if even only temporarily, where their laid with more safety. It is an indisputable fact ' colouration of the snipe eggs is in union and harmony with environment as a means of protection, yet here we find viduals of the same variety possessing the last possible resor concealing its eggs—namely, covering them over witha m so.as to defy any minute detective powers, raed ‘Surely the struggle for existence must, in this extremely severe, and the principle of natural sele full activity. ; ‘‘(2) Having had practical experience in farm ostriches, and their domestication, I may say a few w he them. s if *€Ostriches have, so to say, no means of oe ont their eggs ; but the only means'of concealin ir nes their personal presence. The hen does her share of sitti the daytime, her drab-coloured plumage being in harm the surroundings. The cock replaces her on n time, sitting throughout the night, and generally on. his black plumage soerernen ete with the shades" therefore you have some difficulty, sometimes very detecting the nest. of an ostnich.. fhe ‘«Tn addition to this remarkable adaptation of se: d ation, the cock takes the 7é/e of a guard patrolling up and some distance off the nest. When he perceives that bent upon the eggs by the approach of a person, invariably charges him, and, woe betide if the person tute of some means of defence. To deliberately goup in the presence of its lord without some weapon or of protection is considered by Colonials to be the foolishness and ignorance. ** But invariably again, on the other hand, when succeeded so far in reaching the nest, and handling the cock quiets down. ; “* He loses all his viciousness, falls down alongside tl gives vent to, apparently, appeals for mercy, by con’ flapping his wings seness the ground and giving forth by means of his beak, of a peculiar dull clicking charac! ‘* Domestication has made ostriches feel less fear for! beings, at the same time giving a more vigorous’ ch their viciousness. ffs ‘* Some two years ago, among a troop of ostriches that \ brought down to the farm where I was gaining my experiet there: was one ostrich, a male bird in every respect in its ext character and colouration of plumage. It was to aé/ pos: appearance a cock, and yet it had been seen on two oc! V4 a cn nl lb _ a bank of ground. AUGUST 24, 1893] NATURE 391 to 'be paired by a true cock ostrich. This particular ostrich ~ was a of ; __ What explanaticn could you give as regards this incongruity ? en, although she had every appearance of being a cock. *(3) About six months ago I found a peculiar bird’s nest suspended from the root of a mimosa tree which overlapped Before going further, I must first tell you that previous to the occasion in question I noticed the same peculiar form of nest, but it seemed so utterly impossible at the time that it could be a mest, since its structure and mode of suspension had the exact characteristics of a certain structural spider’s web, that I passed it by. But on the second occasion, to make absolutely sure that I had not madea mistake, I went up and cut the nest off, with a certain length of the root to which it was attached. Imagine my surprise, when I saw that it was really a bird’s nest with two eggs. Now this nest was a erect facsimile of a common spider’s web and home, found in the locality where I was at the time staying. ** Since it was a marvellous imitation of an insect’s habitat, there must have been some corresponding necessity for such imitation. Either the nest must have been designed and con- structed, so as to delude enemies by which the species was liable to be attacked, or, it was soimitated, that the materials of which the nest was made should serve as a bait, and allow the ' parent birds to be able to feed their:young without the necessity of having to leave the nest, and so be unable to protect their young for the time being. The materials from which the nest was made were practically webs abandoned by their original owners. It was an instance of perfect imitation.” Astronomical Photography. THE announcement (NATURE, August 10), that it is in con- _templation to raise a sum exceeding £2000 for the establish- ment of a special photographic telescope at the Cambridge ‘Observatory, leads me to ask whether astronomers have duly _ considered the facilities afforded by modern photography. At the _ time of my early experience of the art, thirty-five years ago, it _ would have been thought a great feat to photograph the Fraun- _hofer lines in the yellow or red regions of the spectrum, although _even then the statement so coamonly made that chemical acti- _vity was limited to the blue and ullra-blue rays was quite un- warranted, With the earlier photographic processes the distinc- ' tion was necessary between telescopes to be used with the eye or _ for photography. In the former case the focal length had to be a minimum for the yellow rays, in the latter for the blue rays of the spectrum. But the situation is entirely changed. There is now no diffi- culty in preparing plates sensitive to all parts of the spectrum, witness the beautiful photographs of Rowland and Higgs. I _have myself used ‘‘orthochromatic” plates in experiments when _ it was desirable to work with the same rays as most influence the eye. The interference bands of sodium light may be photo- graphed with the utmost facility on plates sensitised in a bath containing cyanin. The question that.I wish to ask is whether the time has not come to accommodate the photographic plates to the telescopes, rather than the telescopes to Mos phates. It is possible that plates already in the market may not exactly meet the require- ‘ments of the case, but I feel sure that a:tithe of the sums lavished upon instruments would put us in possession of plates suitable for object glasses that have been designed for visual purposes, There would be no difficulty even in studying the requirements of a particular instrument, over or under corrected as the case might be. A doubt may arise whether plates so adjusted would be _as sensitive as those now in use, Probably Captain Abney, or Some other authority, could give the required information. \ For Some astronomical purposes a moderate loss of sensitiveness conld hardly be of much consequence ; for others doubtless it would beaserious matter. RAYLEIGH. Terling Place, Witham, August 15. The Discussion on Quaternions. I HAVE foilowed with ‘much interest the discussion on “quaternions which ‘has with more or less intermission been g on in NATURE for a long time. _ It has always appeared to me that the student of physical science would better employ his time by stndying the “‘ Ausdeh- NO. 1243, VOL. 48] © nungslehre” to which some of your correspondents haverefes red than by studying quaternions, The wonderlul work of Grassman is contained in a moderate- sized book in xemarkable contrast to the two terrific volumes of Hamilton, which even Prof, Tait admits that he has not read entirely. The fact that theau:debnungslehre could be mastered ina mere fraction of the time that weuld have to be devoted to the mastery of quaternions, is not however theimportant point. t The ausdehnungslehre seemsto afford a symbolism more fitted for the expression of many recondite conceptions in physics, than anything which quaternions has to offer. Even the ‘*Nabla” does not insinuate itself into Nature’s secrets :more cunningly than does the ‘‘Inneres Produkt.” Perhaps I may give an instance, which if elementary will at all events illustrate the extraordinary directness with which the different kinds of ‘‘ product” reach the heart of a physical conception, Think of a mechanical system of any kind which possesses buta single degree of freedom, think of any system of forces what- ever applied to that system, and consider the question of equili- brium. The possible movements of the system form twists about one screw chain, the system of forces form a wrench upon another screw chain. Equilibrium will subsist if, and only if, the “Inneres Produkt” of the two screw chains is zero. Suppose any system whatever possessing 7 degrees of fieedom. Dynamics teaches that mutually destructive twist velocities can be im- parted to any x + 1 screw chains about which the system can twist. Does any conceivable symbolism assign tl ose twist velocities more ‘beautifully than the ausdehnungslehre? Tach twist velocity is the ‘‘ Kombinatorisches Produkt” of all tle screw chains to which it does ot correspond. The aptitude of other conceptions of this grand calculus for physical problems could be as readily exemplified. But I for- bear. Why has not some one ere this translated into English “‘ Die Ausdehnungslehre von Hermann Grassman ” Svo, pp. 388, Berlin 1862? Ropert S. Bari. Observatory, Cambridge, August 18. A Curious Optical Phenomenon, Dr. LAUDER BRUNTON has asked me to give you an account of a very curicus phenomenon witnessed from the top of Gausta mountain (height 6000 Norwegian feet) in Telemarken, south of Norway. . i We were a party of two ladies and three gentlemen.on the summit of this mountain on August 4. On the morning of that day the sky was passably clear; at noon there was a thick fog. Between six and seven o’clock-in the afternoon (the wind being south to south-west) the fog suddenly cleared in places so that we could see the surrounding country in sunshine through the rifts. We mounted to the flagstaff in order to obtain a better view of the scenery, and there we at once observed in the fog, in an easterly direction, a double rainbow forming a complete circle and seeming to be 20 to 30 feet distant from us. In the middle of this we all appeared as black, erect, and nearly life-size silhouettes. “The outlines of the silhouettes were so sharp that we could easily recognise the figures of each other, and every movement was re- procuced. The head of each individual appeared to occupy the centre of the circle, and each of us seemed to be standing onthe . inner periphery of the rainbow. We estimated the inner tadius of the circle to be 6 feet. This phenomenon lasted several minutes, disappearing with the foghank, to be reproduced in new fog three or four Limes, but each time more indistinctly, The sunshine during the phenomenon seemed to us to be unusually bright. Mr. Kielland-Torkildsen, president of the ‘Telemarken Tourist Club, writes to me that ‘the builder of the hut.on the ‘top of Gausta has twice seen spectacles of this kind, but in each ease it was only the outline of thermountain that was reflected on the fog. He had never seen his own image, and he does not mention circular or other rainbows. A. WitLe, Christiania, August 15. Supposed Suicide of a Rattlesnake, THE letter of Mr. E. S. Holden, of the Lick Observatory, in your issue for August 10, describing how a rattlesnake'struck 392 NATURE [Aucust 24, 1893 its fangs into ilself, when confined ina gallon jar containing water, which was inverted at intervals in order to drown it, is open to question as to its conclusion that it was a case of ‘ deliberate suicide,” for the following reasons :— (1) That it was after ‘‘ the snake ceased any attempt to rise to the surface of the water in the jar,” that the blow was struck, The snake then being wholly beneath the water, would die from drowning, and not from the self-inflicted wounds caused by its poisoned fangs. (2) That it has been proved by experiment by Dr. Weir Mitchell that the venom of the rattlesnake is of no effect upon itself, when introduced into any wound inits body. I speak from memory of an article which appeared in the 2 In the case of wasps, probably weather which affect amount of any particular kind o little troublesome as to any insect, All who < their habits are aware that flesh, fish, insects t amount, and fruit to utter rapacity of co constantly utilised by them for their own special or that of the maggot family. To what extent th wasps may feed on other than vegetable I say, but dissection and examination of the w food in the blind pouch of the food canal of th wasp has shown this to consist of remains both‘ and vegetable matter; in the record before me ¢ insect débris. ‘Their varied kind of food and tht derful adaptability of instinct in making adv cumstances suitable for the household needs, m wasp family when once established, most p' The great prevalence of what are called s pillars, that is, the larvae of various kinds of the roots of various kinds of field crops, gives of increase of presence of the Lepidoptera, un¢ stances favourable to the development of the imaj the chrysalis, and subsequently to the pairing moths and successful egg deposit. In wet am weather, when the moths hang about torpidly, ¢ ¢ proportion of them get drenched, so that their | of little service ; the larva are injured in diff or disease induced, much influencing amount of p! _ Aueust 24, 1893] NATURE 39S ' Inthe past season such attacks as that of the great iterpillars (four inches or more in length) of the Lappet th, the Gastropacha quercifolia scientifically, to apple ge; or again, the presence of caterpillars of the little yralis glaucinalis might reasonably be supposed to be uenced by weather. In the first case, the great size of e larva feeding on the leafy twig exposes it much to iternations of weather, and in the second, where, as in he samples sent me, the infestation was located in the ‘outer part of fodder stacks, the penetration of wet which “might soak the filmy cocoons with their developing con- tents, would cause conditions very different to the long- continued appearances of the present summer. To go through the different orders of insects, specially represented, or the different dates and amounts of their appearance on the crops, would be too long here, but I can safely say that whilst the drought lasted I had con- Stant applications regarding insect appearances, including a much greater variety than usual of kinds little observed in ordinary years, and in some cases unusual amount of presence of our common kinds. Various representatives of the Acarina, as the currant, pear, and plum Phytopti were of course largely noticed, as also the Phytopti (or gall mites) of the hazel buds, of which the galls loaded the hazel boughs in this neigh- bourhood early in May to a degree I have never before seen. The. kind of (so-called) “red spider” (Bryobia pretiosa) which ordinarily is chiefly found on ivy, extended its injurious presence so widely to goose- berry leafage as to necessitate careful, and happily successful, measures to get it under. Why, with all this, various cropinsect attacks were less reported than customarily remains uncertain. Corn Aphides as yet have not been complained of. Possibly this is by reason of the heat hardening the ears so that they were in a condition to withstand attack before the Bohai: arrived on the heads to'endeavour to pierce into them with their suckers. In countries wherethe climatal conditions can be counted on, this. point: (of arranging date of crop so as to protect itself from attack) is one of the regular methods of prevention.. Another infestation which threatened to be very troublesome, but of which the second brood did not make any noteworthy appear- ance in various places, is that of the mustard beetle. Why this should be so I am as entirely at a loss to ex- plain as the crop inspector who reported the state. of things to me. ious other absences of attack remain also unex- plained, but are duly noted for possible future service in agricultural entomology. So far as I can gather from contribution of my own orrespondents, or other accessible sources ofinformation, I should consider that such extra amount of insect pres- nce as has occurred, has been owing to weather infiuence. e have had earlier and more numerous development of many kinds, and also in the case of various common Top insect pests, the hardness of the soil, and other onditions incident to drought, which made it totally mpossible to bring either stimulating dressings, or me- hanical measures to bear, necessitated our permitting hough the caterpillars just below the surface of the : necessarily did not themselves multiply, their nattainable legions swelled the numbers of observable ests, and probably will supply us a plentiful brood of noths for further continuation of species. _ There does not appear to be any reason from previous ixcumstances, or from importations, to consider that we ere suffering from other than the ordinary attacks, in a changeable climate like: ours, must be in their amounts; at least, so it appears to from such an amount of report as I possess: e ait! ELEANOR A. ORMEROD. NO. 1243, VOL. 48] nerease to go on unchecked in somecases, and in some, THE GREAT HEAT OF AUGUST 8 TO 18. AX extraordinary wave of high temperature passed’ over this country between the .8th and 18th of this. month, which has also been remarkable on account of the continuance of the heat during several consecutive days. High temperatures were experienced in. all parts of the United Kingdom, but more especially in the southern and eastern portions of the country. The following table shows their distribution as represented by the stations included in the Dazly Weather Report :— le fete le tele £ ae) 3 3 Bo| 3 fs/Es|#¢/ 88/83) 8 28) 28/85/88 22) § (ESIER SS Seles) g Stations. 8 gi Se1 Sel 25) 8. 1 g Date. |e} S25 | s% ay g pa sO 1s jase, > os 25/23/25) el e |S |e |e | Re) & = 3 Q |A IA a of RRS CRG? Wa sy Sst Pee | | ° Heit sho. ee agers ear a ter a ee North Shields | Zp 2y— peeps 33 18 Mosler estas | 5) 4]. 1} — 110 | 86 18 Loughborough eae Se be sd Br | II | 91 18 Liverpool .. eae adore fs asd aa x7. : Parsonstown ... 5| 2|/—|)—]| 7 | 82 \tgand1 London .,. | —~—l al 4] 3 | II | 93 18 Oxford 4/ 2) 5|—|! 41! 89 \r7and18 Cambridge | Zeb) 24 he | 11 | 92 18 Jersey... PE A HS fe dhe 89:| 17 A glance at this table shows that at Loughborough, Oxford, Cambridge, London, and the Channel Islands the temperature reached or exceeded 75° on every day of the period in. question, the maxima reaching 91° at Loughborough on the 18th, 89° at Oxford on the 17th.and. 18th, 92° at Cambridge on the 18th, 93° in London on .the 18th, and 89° at Jersey on the 17th. At Greenwich the temperature exceeded 80° on each. successive day from the 8th to the 18th inclusive, the highest readings being 93° on the 16th, 94°2 on the 17th, and 95°1 on the 18th. The last reading has only been. exceeded twice at any time of the year during the last. half-century, viz., 96°6 on July 22, 1868, and 97°1 on July 15, 1881. The highest reading inthe sun during the eleven days in question was 146°2 on the 18th, but this temperature was slightly exceeded in June last. Mr. Symons states that, on the 18th instant, the thermometer at his station at Camden Town registered 93°6, which has only once been exceeded during thirty-six years (1858-93), viz., on July 15,1881, when it read one degree higher ; the present is the only year with a maximum. shade temperature above 90° for three consecutive days. On the night of the 17th instant the minimum tempera- ture in South London was as high as 72°, being rather above the average maximum temperature for the month of August, and the daily mean, as deduced from the maximum and minimum readings in the Daily Weather Report for the 18th, was 82°°5 ; this mean value is prob- ably the highest on record since trustworthy observa- tions have been taken. Ina valuable. paper recently read by Mr. Ellis before the Royal Meteorological Society, the average mean temperature at Greenwich for that day is given as 62°5. On the Continent the highest readings quoted in the Daily Weather Report were 102° and ro6° at Rochefort in France on the 13th and 14th instant, while the maximum readings there reached or exceeded go° on seven conse- cutive days. In the South of France the temperature exceeded 80° on each day of the period in question, 100° being recorded at Biarritz on the 17th. The Weather Charts published by the Meteorological. 396 NATURE [Aucust 24, 1893 Office durirg this period show that the conditions were mostly anti-cyclonic, both over this country and the Continent, with the exception of a depression in the south-west, which caused sone sharp thunderstorms on the 9th and roth. On the 18th another depression appeared off our north-west coasts, causing a gale in those parts, while strong winds and lightning occurred generally, with heavy rain inthe west. These conditions checked the excessive heat; on the 19th the maximum temperature in London was 15°, and at Paris 25°, lower than on the previous day. A SENSITIVE SPHEROMETER. ‘T= ordinary spherometer has three arms carrying three fixed points, with a point moved by a screw in the centre. This form is an improvement on the original spherometer invented by Andrew Ross, and for which the Society of Arts gave him a silver medal in 1841. A description of Ross’s instrument is given by Holtz- apffel, vol. iii. p. 1271 of his work on “ Turning and Mechanical Manipulation,” extracted from vol. liii. of the Transactions of the Society of Arts. This instrument could measure to ygy9 Of an inch, and by estimation half thisamount. An ordinary spherometer, with a screw of z45 of an inch pitch and head divided to hundredths, will measure to ,5459 Of an inch. I pointed out in vol. 1. page 145, of the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society that the sensitiveness of the ordinary spherometer was much increased by placing the screw not in the centre, but in one of the arms in place of one of the fixed points ; this at once increased the sensitiveness of the screw in proportion to the dis- tance of the screw from the nearest fixed point, and this fixed point from a line joining the other two fixed points, The improvement I wish to bring before those in- terested in spherometers by this note, is the extension of this principle, for by carrying the middle point much nearer the line joining the other two, a proportionate in- crease of sensitiveness is obtained. In the case of an instrument I have made on this plan I have increased the sensitiveness thirty times, the dis- tance from the middle point to the screw being three inches, and the distance of the point from the line of the other two being ;4; of an inch; with a screw of one hundred threads to the inch and a head divided to hun- dredths, the ordinary form of instrument will read to zodoo, but on the plan I give, the same screw will measure zppyo5 Of an inch. There is an additional advantage in this form, that the curvature of a part nearly in a line is measured, so that cross measures can be taken. The form of the instrument is not symmetrical, and it requires to be balanced, so that when the screw is raised it will be possible to estimate the frictional contact of the outside points when the middle one is taking the weight. . This balancing is éasily done by adding a handle to the part opposite the arm carrying the screw; in practice it is found that this handle is of the greatest value in keeping the heat of the hand from the instrument, as even with the ordinary instrument, holding it for a short time in the hand alters the readings materially. It is of great advantage to have on the arms carrying the two outer pins two pieces of wood or ivory project- ing not quite as much as the measuring points, so that by tilting the instrument up these two pieces come first into contact with the surface to be measured, then by gradually raising the handle the points are brought gently into contact. The figure is a plan of this spherometer, and shows the position of the three fixed points P P P with reference to the measuring screw S, and the position of the balancing handle H with reference to the un- NO. 1243, VOL. 48] symmetrical arm carrying the measuring screw ; X X a the projecting pieces already mentioned. “Me The movement of the screw being so large for a | curvature, this instrument is more purticularly useful measuring the slight curvatures of so-called plane m r = PLAN for which, indeed, it was designed. Tomake it ava for measuring differences between parts of a curved face of considerable curvature the middle pin should a screw capable of movement to, and clamping, * position, that will allow the measuring screw to wi A. A. Comm JEAN DANIEL COLLADON. py COLLADON, the celebrated physicist engineer, died on June 30, at Cologny, near Gen Colladon was born at Geneva, December 15, 18 He belonged to a Protestant family from Berry, wh removed from France, in the middle of the sixtes century, on account of religious persecutions, < found refuge in Calvin’s town. Many a distinguis! magistrate came from this family, amongst oth learned juris-consult, Germain Colladon. ad While still quite young Colladon proved to be wo! fully intelligent, and had a remarkably observant mir He went through the College and then the Acad Geneva, which at that time had, among its professo P. de Candolle, M. Aug. Pictet, Th.de Saussure a vost. His liking for science could not but develo in contact with these eminent men, whose este soon gained. At the age of ten years he made friends with Cha Sturm, who became a noted mathematician, and on later occasions his fellow-worker. His inven nature and talent for experimental inquiry turne above all to physics and its mechanical application He was just twenty-two when he received f Society of Science of Lille a first prize for the inven of a new photometer. At twenty-three he went to fi his studies at Paris. He lived there for about ten y leading a simple life, almost entirely devoted to work He was received in a most flattering manner for su young man by the pleiades of celebrated men, whi Avucust 24, 1893] NATURE 397 aN ee \ Bs t town then possessed; Arago, Dulong, Fresnel, ‘ Powis, Ampére. He made true friends with many of them, and had the honour of being a fellow-worker of the two last. At Paris he found the old friend of his childhood, Sturm, with whom, in 1826, he made the wonderful experiments on the Lake of Geneva, relating _ to ‘‘the velocity of sound in water,” which united their two _ names so admirably in all treatises on physics, and which won for them the grand prize of the Institute of France, By the side of these classical researches, Colladon’s - first works deal chiefly with electricity. In 1826 he pub- _ lished his experiments made at the College of France, with a galvanometer of his own invention, on the mag- netic actions which ordinary electrical machines, Leyden batteries, and atmospheric electricity produce on the magnetic needle. He studied the electrodynamic actions with Ampére, and the conductivity of thin bodies for heat with Fourier. i The celebrity which he had acquired for himself at Paris by his works led to his being asked by the founders of the Central School of Art and Manufac- ture to join them, and to give a special course of lectures on the steam-engines and their use, which he did with much success from 1831 to 1834. He also made numerous researches and inventions relating to steam- engines. In 1844 the Lords of the English Admiralty adopted a dynamometer which he invented to measure the effective power of steam-engines for navigation, and which he was charged to make at the Royal Arsenal of Woolwich at the cost of the Admiralty. ‘ In spite of the honourable place which he had attained at Paris in the world of science and industry, Colladon, was so attached to his country, that he gave up the many advantages which would accrue from a residence in France, and settled at Geneva in 1834. He proved himself on many occasions most useful in the debates of the little Republic, and was made Professor of the Academy in 1839. : In 1852 he rendered to the industry of his country the great service of representing it at the first Universal Exhibition in London, where he was delegated by the Federal Council as Commissioner for Switzerland. : | He took part in two juries relating respectively to | hysical instruments and clocks. The most diverse aches of industry excited the interest and research of his fruitful mind. One to which he gave most of his attention was illumination by gas. In 1844 he was ap- pointed engineer of the new gas company at Geneva. He invented a great number of improvements in gas-lighting, and the wonderful competence that he acquired has con- tributed largely to establishing a great number of enter- prises of the same sort both in Switzerland and abroad. It was on this account that he was charged to super- ' intend the installation of the Gas Society at Naples. Hydraulics occupied him on many occasions; he studied the water supply of towns, and invented floating hydraulic wheels with the paddles below. It was he who discovered the ingenious way of lighting a liquid tube from within, by introducing, as it were, with the water a luminous ray, which remains imprisoned by the effects of totally multiple reflections, and illuminates the whole length of the liquid cylinder. The luminous fountain, or, as it is often called, “the Colladon fountain,” originated from this delicate experiment. It formed one of the most beautiful ornaments at the Universal Exhibi- tion at Paris, and was tried on a larger scale for the first time at the exhibition of Glasgow in 1884. But these are not the inventions which render great the name of their inventor ; the one which merits this honour, and to which the name of Colladon must ever _ be united, is that of the use of compressed air for the transference of energy, Profiting by the resources which he had at his disposal as engineer of the gas works at Geneva, from 1849 he made essays on the circulation of NO. 1243. Vot. 48] " compressed gas in pipes, and he demonstrated the possi- bility of transmitting with economy a considerable energy for a long distance in narrow pipes. It is easy to under- stand the immense importance in the construction of long tunnels of transmitting energy by compressed air, for with the impulse given to the boring machine, fresh air is brought at the same time to the workmen at the end of the deep galleries. It is this idea, as simple as it is beautiful, which constitutes Colladon’s claim to glory ; this invention which must immortalise his name: it is this which makes it possible to construct the great sub- terranean passage which honour our generation, and which have made him one of the benefactors of our time. After the first studies for the tunnel of Mont Cenis, in December, 1852, he gave an excellent memoir on the subject to the Financial Minister of the Italian State, which was followed by a request for a patent for the new processes. This important memoir, transmitted by the Italian Government to the Royal Academy of Science at Turin, was the object of a special report addressed to the Minister, and it concluded thus : “The author does not limit his memoir to a simple description of the proposed scheme, but he shows the applicability by theoretical considerations. The commis- sion recognises above all the vast importance the in- ventions of Monsieur Colladon could be in hastening the construction of the railways destined to cross the Alps.” The splendid invention of Colladon was applied with much success by the Italian engineers at the construction of the Mont Cenis tunnel, and it made its reputation there, but all the honour belongs to the discoverer. If Colladon had not the pleasure of making the first appli- cations of his invention, and if he had to leave to others the honour of making the first sub-alpine tunnel, he was able at least to give his ideas full development in the making of the St. Gothard tunnel, by the installation of the powerful compressors at Goeschenen and Airolo, which he executed for the enterprise directed by L. Favre. Colladon was one of the first specialists in the art of constructing tunnels. It is owing to this that in 1878 he was made a member of the committee connected with the tunnel under the Channel. He was also very busily occupied studying out the boring of the Simplon. We cannot in this short notice give a complete idea of the greatness, and fruitfulness of Colladon’s career. Suffice it to mention his researches on the electricity of the torpedo, atmospheric electricity, the effect of lightning on trees, snow and hail, waterspouts, the use of steam for putting out fires, and on the terraces surrounding the Lake of Geneva. Colladon had such a many-sided mind, that he could interest himself with the most diverse questions, and he studied them all with remarkable care and conscien- ‘tiousness. Absolutely disinterested, he worked for the advancement of science, without pushing his inventions for his own profit, On the contrary, he was always at the service of others, and always ready to help them with his advice and assistance without any remuneration. He was a great worker and was willing to assist others until the last years of his admirable life. He died at the age of ninety-one, preserving nearly to the last the use of his fine and noble faculties. His reputation had extended itself far and wide, and a great number ot learned societies of all parts of the world counted him among the number of their members. : Eb. SARASIN. NOTES, WE learn that Dr. J. W. Gregory arrived at Mombasa on August 19, after a successful expedition to Lake Baringo. He returned véa Likipia and Mount Kenia, and ascended the latter 398 NATURE [Aucust 24, 1893 to a height of more than 17000 feet. Dr, Gregory has explored the glaciers and the head-streams of the Tana, and the water- sheds between the Tana and Athi rivers. THE death is announced of Prof. G, W. Coakley, who for ‘hirty-three years occupied the chair of mathematics and astronomy in New York University. He was born on the island of St, Bartholomew on February 22, 1814, entered Rutgers College in 1832, and graduated in 1836. In 1843 he was made professor of mathematics and astronomy in St. James’s College, Indiana, where he remained until 1860, when he accepted the same professorship in New York University, filling the chair vacated by Prof. Loomis, who had gone to Yale University. He held this chair in New York University until his death, and was engaged im active'teaching until his 77th year. A REUTER’s telegram from Halifax, Nova Scotia, states that a terrific hurricane swept over the Maritime Provinces on August 21, and was the worst that has occurred since the great storm thirty years ago. In Halifax a vessel was sunk in dock, trees were uprooted, and the electrical systems were wrecked. On August 25 Prof. J. Victor Carus, the editor of the Zoologische Anzeiger, will celebrate his seventieth birthday. In honour of the occasion, the current number of that journal contains a remarkably fine portrait of the renowned zoologist. Tue Board of Agriculture notify that arrangements have recently been made by which the latest issues of the Ordnance Survey maps on the 1 in. and 6 in. scales have been made avail- able for inspection by the public at the offices of the Board, at 3, St. James’s Square... Changesin the boundaries of boroughs, of local goverament districts, and of parishes will be recorded on the 6 in. maps as soon as possible after they have been authorised, and a complete set of the index maps and indices of all Ordnance Survey maps and publications will be kept im hand for reference. It is believed that the facilities for inspection thus afforded will be found to be of general public utility. THE Times gives some details received from Japan with re- gard to the recent volcanic eruptions in the Fukushima district, in the mountains of which Bandaisan, where there was a de- structive eruption a few years ago, is the chief. The disturb- ances began with an earthquake early in the afternoon of June 4, which was followed by an eruption of Azuma-Yama. the next morning. Other peaks in the neighbourhood became active, and the showers of stones and ash did much damage, especially to the mulberry trees of the district. It was decided to investigate the mountains, and two members of the geologi- cal bureau of the Agricultural Department were despatched from the capital forthe purpose, They ascended Azuma-Yama very early on the morning of June 6 with the view of making observations im the immediate vicinity of the-craters, and the same night reported to the authorities in the capital that, when they ascended, volcanic ash was falling and strong puffs of black cloud were escaping from time to time. They were able to make a circuit of the craters, from one of which dense volumes of vapour and ash were being emitted and from another heated air only. Whenever part of the sides gave way and fell in, the volume of vapour increased and a rumbling noise was heard. Heated fragments of rock were thrown out from time to time. On the morning’ of June 7 two students of the Uni- versity of Japan’ and two engineers ascended the volcano. A violent eruption occurred while the party were approaching the crater, A dense column of gas arose, and was accompanied by a shower of rock fragments. After the explosion it was found that the two engineers had been overcome by the fumes. Attempts were made to rescue them, but they unfortunately failed. It was not until the following day that the neighbour- hood of the crater could be searched and the bodies recovered. NO. 1243, VOL. 48] Tre Yournal of the College of Science, Imperial Universit Japan, Vol. V. Part IV., contains a paper by Prof, B, K ‘On the Cause of the Great Earthquake: in ca 1891.” Prof. Koto has examined a great line of fi ' traverses a distance of 112 kilometres from the Kisoguiey city of Fukui, through the Neo valley, cutting the mountains, and plains alike with remarkable regu it sharpness. He is of the opinion that the entire regioa side of the line of fault moved downwards in October, and was also shifted horizontally towards the nort from one to two metres along the plane of pei causing the earthquake. 3 Mr. J. D. McGuire has, during the last two yeai endeavouring to reproduce aboriginal methods of in stone, with tools of stone, wood, and bone, such 2 in village sites in America and Europe, as well as found in graves, and those used by races living in savag describes his experiments in a paper ‘‘On the Evoluti Workingin Stone,” that appeared in the 4 merican Anth 0; for July. The experiments show that the art of battering stone must have’ preceded that of chipping, neolithic implements which are supposed to have taken y fashion were really but the work of a few hours. — WRITING in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, Teuira Henry, of Honolulu, says that a strange ceremony to be practised by the heathen priests at Raiates, but only be performed by two descendants of priests, 7 Taero by name. This ceremony consisted in causing walk in procession over a hot earth-oven, without an tion upon their feet, whether barefooted or shod, yet upon th emergence they did not even smell of fire. The ovens: efi quently thirty feet in diameter, and are filled with roots it ti-plant (Dracaena terminalis) and short pieces of | (Arum costatum). It is hoped that some one will e t solve the mystery of the feat while those men who still live. f THE U.S. National Museum have published a report b , Romyn Hitchcock on ‘*The Ancient Burial M Japan,” illustrated: by ten. excellent plates, mostly rep from original photographs, Mr. Hitchcock visited Jap Mr. W. Gowland, who has spent several years in the: the Japanese mounds. One of the earliest modes of buti Japan was in artificial caves, hewn out of the solid rock on sides, It has been said that the early Japanese were dwellers, but Mr. Hitchcock thinks this is very d / the reason that natural caves are net found where the the people begins, in Idzumo and Yamato. The exai of both natural and artificial caves indicates, at any the: Japanese have not been cave-dwellers since their to Japan. Four distinct methods of burial have pr Japan at different periods, which are distinguished Hitchcock as follows :—(1) Burial in artificial caves. in simple mounds of earth. (3) Burial in mounds chambers, or dolmens. (4) Burials in double mounds, tumuli. The chronological sequence of these dif of burial isa matter of speculation, but, in all probal caves preceded in time the rock-built dolmens. No i remains, however, to enable ethnologists to solve the o the custom of cave-burial. A variety of articles were o from the mounds by Mr. Hitchcock, notably vessels of p of various shapes, illustrations of which accompany his The forms and style of decoration of these vessels are ver rude; in fact it is pointed out that the decoration is much les elaborate than that found on the older pottery of the shell heaps and pits of Yezo, and usually designated as Aino pottery As Mr, Hitchcock remarks, it is difficult to explain the curiot . their demonstration. Aucust 24, 1893] NATURE 399 anomaly that the early pottery of a people who are famed at the present day for their productions in this kind of handiwork, _ should be inferior to the earlier productions of their predecessors, who have since absolutely lost the art of making pottery of any kind. Ir was Loeffler who most successfully exhibited in stained pre- -parations the cilia or organs of locomotion attached to some micro-organisms. As is well known, these appendages will not stain in the usual manner, and special methods have to be adopted. Moreover, they are so delicateand easily broken or detached that the greatest care and skill have to be exercised in Loeffler’s method consists in using a mor- dant, to which a certain proportion of either an acid or alkali is added, the nature as well as the proportion of the latter vary- ing with the particular microbe under investigation. To ascer- tain the exact quantity required in each case is of course a very tedious process, but recent investigations have shown that the acid or alkaline reaction of the mordant may be neglected, nd that equally successful specimens can be prepared when this precaution is altogether omitted. A very simple modifica- tion of Leeffler’s method devised by Nicolle and Morax is pub- lished in the Annales de Institut Pasteur, July 1893, p. 554- These authors dilute a small quantity of a recent culture in water, and run a fraction ofit on to cover-glasses and allow it to dry. Leefiler’s fuchsin ink or mordant is then applied, heated over a small flame until it begins to steam, and then washed. This process is repeated three or four times, after which the _ preparation may be stained with an ordinary aqueous solution of violet and examined in the usual manner. Itisstated that by thus substituting the application of the mordant three or four times for the once recommended by Leeffler, equally good results were obtained without the addition of either an acid or alkali, AN elaborate investigation into the chemical and bacterial condition of the river Elbe at Magdeburg has been recently carried out, and the results are published in the part issued in July of the Ardeiten a. d. Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte, vol. viii, 1893. The Elbe at the intake of the Magdeburg water- works contained on November 10, 1891, as much as 34°3 parts of chlorine per 100,000. This large proportion of chlorine ‘sinks into insignificance when contrasted with the 130°3 parts “per 200,000 present in the Saale one kilometre above its junction with the Elbe. The Saale receives the drainage from numerous potash and other works, and the waste water from one of these was found to contain as much as 656°4 parts of chlorine per 100,000, so that the brackish state of both these rivers is easily explained. Ohlmiiller, who is responsible for the report, states that unless the intake of the Magdeburg water-works is removed toa more suitable spot there is every probability of the Elbe water becoming undrinkable, in spite of the exhaustive and careful filtration to which it is submitted before distribution, in consequence of its brackish taste. But another consideration also enters into the question of the desirability of this water for dietetic purposes, for the saline condition of a given water -acquires a new significance since the important discovery that the cholera organism thrives luxuriantly and multiplies -abundantlyin water and other media containing a high per- centage of salt. That the water of the Elbe remains brackish ‘even when it reaches Hamburg was shown by chemical analyses made of this water during the cholera epidemic last _ ‘year, and Percy Frankland states (British Medical Fournal, July 29, 1893, p. 251) that he found 31°3 parts of chlorine per £00,000 in the sample which he examined. Hueppe, in his re- port on the Hamburg epidemic, mentions especially the salt taste which the water had. That other bacteria can also flourish in this brackish water is exhibited by the large numbers present inthe Saale, there being as many as 40,440 in 1 c.c. of water NO. 1243, VOL. 48] abstracted about one kilometre above the point where this river joins the Elbe. HERR A. HASEMANN suggests, in the current number of the Zeitschrift fiir Instrumentenkunde, a novel suspension for pendulums which appears to merit some further investigation. In the ordinary suspension of a knife-edge turning on a plane, a high magnification would show us a flattened cylinder working in a depression in the plane due to the elastic yielding of the material. This introduces friction and the sliding action, dis- covered by Defforges. Herr Hasemann proposes to rest the knife-edge upon another, or rather to give both the knife-edge and its support a semi-cylindrical form. In that case the junction of the two surfaces is a plane, and for the same angle of swing the displacement of the surface of contact is much smaller. In the experiments undertaken to test this arrangement, the difficulty anticipated with regard to stability was found to be very much less than one might be led to suppose. Lorp KELvIN’s new series of electrical measuring instru- ments are described by Mr. Andrew Meikle in the Zlectrician. The chief representatives of this class of instruments are the recording electricity meter and the dial voltmeter. In the former, which is chiefly intended to measure the energy consumed in electric-lighting circuits, the whole current is sent through a stout coil consisting of a few turns of a copper spiral. Within this coil is suspended a vertical electromagnet made of asoft iron core wound with wire conveying a subsidiary current of ,; ampere, which is 25 per cent. more than is sufficient for saturation. The position of this electro-magnet within the coil is recorded by an intermittent counting mechan- ism worked by acam. ‘The Jarge dial voltmeter made for the Edison Electric luminating Company, of New York, depends upon the pull of a solenoid upon a suspended electromagnet as in the first instrument, but here the electromagnet is wound -with 30,000 turns of fine copper wire, the current under investi- gation being conveyed to the coil by the spiral springs by which it is suspended. The resistance of the electromagnet coil is 1500 ohms, and the core is saturated by y'; ampere. Electro- motive forces of 60 volts and upwards are therefore measured free of residual errors. Attached to the electromagnet is a ratchet which is geared into a pinion wheel on the shaft carrying the pointer, thus giving the instrument a great resem- blance with the aneroid barometer. A rod carrying two discs is screwed into the lower end of the electromagnet, and the discs, working in thick oil ina dash pot, serve to damp vibra- tions due to sudden changes of electromotive force. The diameter of the dial is about thirty inches. M,. p’ARSONVAL, we learn from Ziectricité, has been making experiments on the electric excitability of muscles after death, and recently sent some results of his observations to the Academy of Sciences. General opinion on this point agreed that the excitability disappeared very soon after the death of the animal, which is true only so long as one depends upon the shortening of the muscle for an indication of its sensibility. But this method is not sensitive enough to indicate disturbances of very small amplitude. For this purpose M. d’Arsonval has for many years used a special modification of the microphone, which he has named the myophone, and which, when it is connected with the muscle under experiment, gives a sound some time before any contraction is apparent, especially if the muscle is stretched by a spring. By this means it may be proved that nervous excitability may last for many hours after death. As an instance, the achilles tendon of a rabbit may be attached to the myophone, and the sciatic nerve excited by a current broken some 50 to 100 times per second. Besides proving that the death of a nerve is much less rapid than was 4c0 NATURE | Aucust 24, 1893 hitherto supposed, these experiments also show that nerve may act on muscle without producing actual contraction, but only some simple molecular vibration. WE have received a catalogue of the library of the Akademie der Naturforscher, prepared by Dr. Oscar Grulich. Tue City and Guilds of London Institute for the advance- ment of technical education has issued its programme of the technological examinations for the session 1893-94. ‘¢Symons’s BRITISH RAINFALL” for 1892 has been pub- lished. It contains, in addition to the rainfall statistics gathered from more than three thousand observers in Great Britain and Ireland, several articles upon various branches of rainfall work. A LECTURE on ‘ Cholera Prospects and Prevention,” recently delivered by Dr. Thorne Thorne, F.R.S., to the technical teachers of the National Health Society, has just been published by the Society. The teachers and the Society must benefit by putting themselves under such an excellent adviser as Dr. Thorne is upon hygienic matters. THE autumn session of popular science lectures at the Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Bridge-road, will open on Tuesday, September 5, with a lecture on ‘‘ What I saw of New Zealand and the noble Maori,’’ by Capt. Chas. Reade, R.N. The three other lectures of the month will be given by Prof. Malden, and will be as follows :—September712, ‘‘ Picturesque Ireland ; ” September 19, ‘‘ Australia’;” September 26, ‘‘The World’s Fair and Chicago.” THREE more volumes of the comprehensive Aide-Mémoire series, published by Gauthier-Villars and by Masson have been received. One, by M. Laurent Naudin, is on the manufacture of varnishes. It is divided into two parts, dealing respectively with the physical and chemical properties of the materials used, and with the actual processes involved, in varnish manufacture. M. G. Laverque is the author of a volume on turbines, which is also divided into theoretical and practical parts. The third volume is by M. A. Hébert, and deals with the means of detect- ing the adulteration of alcoholic drinks, THE Journal of the Marine Biological Association (vol. iii., No. 1) contains lists of the Memertines of Plymouth Sound, by Mr. T. H. Riches, and the 7zrde//aria of Plymouth Sound and the neighbourhood, by Mr. F. W. Gamble. Dr. Benham contri- butes a paper on the post-larval stage of Avenicola marina, and Mr. E. W. L. Holt continues his description of the North Sea investigations carried on by him at the Marine Fisheries Society’s laboratory at Cleethorpes. Mr. J. T. Cunningham contributes two interesting articles on the immature fish ques- tion, and the coloration of the skins of flat fishes. THE United States National Museum has issued in separ- ate form the report of Dr. J. P. McMurrich on the Actinize col- lected by the U.S. Fish Commission steamer, A/batross, during the winter of 1887-88. The reports deals with the Edwardsiz, Protactiniz, Hexactiniez, and Cerianthee. Dr. McMurrich will give the results of his studies of the Zoanthez in a future report. Other recently-received excerpts from the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum include a ‘‘ Description of some Fossil Plants from the Great Falls Coal Field of Montana,” by Mr. W. M. Fontaine, and a paper ‘‘On the Occurrence of the Spiny Boxfish (Genus Chilomycterus) on the Coast of California,” by Prof. Carl H. Eigenmann. AN improved mode of preparing the ammonium salt of per- sulphuric acid, NH,SO, or (NH). S.O,, is described by Dr. Elbs, of Freiburg, in the latest number of the Yournal fir Praktische Chemie. The potassium, ammonium and barium NO. 1243, voL 48] salts of persulphuric acid were obtained two years ago by | Marshall, of Edinburgh, in large well-developed crystals described in our note of Vol. 44, p. 577, and since the pul cation of Dr. Marshall’s memoir M. Berthelot, who first poin out the existence of the acid and its anhydride, has publishe< an account of his further experiments upon the subject, confirming the results obtained by Dr. Marshall, and addi further details. M. Berthelot’s latest form of electroly’ apparatus for the preparation of the persulphates by the elect lysis of solutions of the ordinary sulphates in sulphuric consisted of a double cell, the inner portion being construct of porous porcelain. Into this inner porous cell of about c.c. capacity was placed a concentrated solution of ammo or potassium sulphate in dilute sulphuric acid, while the cell was filled with more of the dilute acid. M. Berthelotap- pears to have considered it essential to employ an anode of 1 surface in the inner cell, a piece of stout platinum wire be preferred ; but a kathode of large surface was considered requis in order to diminish the resistance of the arrangement, large plate of platinum was employed for this purpose. current of three amperes was allowed to pass through the app ratus for fifteen to twenty hours, when a yield of about fort forty-five grams of ammonium persulphate, corresponding yield of sixteen fer cent. of the theoretically possible, was o tained. With the improved form of apparatus and under th conditions described by Dr. Elbs, it is possible to obtain average yield of sixty-five Jer cent. of ammonium persulph: the amount having even reached eighty-five fer cent. in experiment. As anode or positive pole a spiral of piatio wire is employed, and as kathode or negative pole a piece sheet lead tent into a cylindrical form and surrounding | inner porous cell. The outer liquid consists of equal porti by volume of water and oil of vitriol, and the inner liquid i: saturated solution of ammonium sulphate in sulphuric a diluted with eight times its volume of water. The appar is cooled during the passage of the current by a bath of poun ice. If cold spring water is available, however, the cooli may conveniently be effected by substituting for the lea cylinder in the outer vessel a worm of leaden tubing, throu which the cold water is driven. The current of two to amperes is only permitted to traverse the apparatus for thre four hours, when the contents of the inner cell are through glass wool, which retains in the funnel the ci ammonium persulphate produced. The crystals are d porous plates, and the filtrate is again saturated with si of ammonia, returned to the inner cell, and again elect There is no advantage in prolonging the experiment to tw hours, inasmuch as the formation of persulphate occurs more slowly after a time. After the first experiment, considerable quantity of ammonium peisulphate re’ solution, one hundred parts of water at the ordinary ten dissolving sixty-five parts of the salt, about forty grams « tals are obtained in each operation of three to four hi order to recover the persulphate remaining dissolved conclusion of the preparations it is convenient to precip as the potassium salt by the addition of a solution of or acetate of potassium. Potassium persulphate is mt soluble than the ammonium salt, one hundred parts of water, the same circumstances as mentioned in the case of the salt, only dissolving two parts of the potassium salt. It \ thus appear to be most advantageous to prepare the soluble at ; nium salt asthe starting-point for a study of the persulphates, a the method described by Dr. Elbs renders the operation simple and cheap, and affords it in comparatively large qu tities in a short period of time. The product may be purif from traces of admixed ordinary sulphate by first recrystallisir a small portion, and subsequently washing the main quantit; a5 AucusT 24, 1893] NATURE 401 with the solution of the pure crystallised salt. Recrystallisation of the whole is attended with a considerable loss. The crystals are quite permanent, however, when stored in dry bottles with well-fitting stoppers. i Norés from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. —Last week’s captures include the Anthozoan Gephyra Dohrnii, the fBolid Amphorina cerulea, the Cirrhipede Scalpellum vulgare, and the Brachyura Zda/ia tumefacta and Acheus Cranchit. The floating fauna continues to be rich in trochophore larve of various types, as recently recorded ; the larva of Polygordius was last week taken in addition. Among Protozoa, Noctiluca has become more plentiful; but the week has been especially marked by the presence of Radiolaria of several species in numbers altogether unprecedented in our experience. Other signs of an Atlantic element in the floating fauna of late are furnished by the continued abundance of the Siphonophore Muggiea atlantica, both colonies, eudoxomes and larve, and by the capture of two specimens, sexually mature, of Doltolum Tritonis. The Hydroids Aglaophenia pluma and myriophyllum and the Nudibranch olidiella Alderi are now breeding. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona) from West Africa, presented by the Misses Price ; a Yellow- cheeked Lemur (Lemur xanthromystax) from Madagascar, presented by Miss Annie Gervers ; a Bonnet Monkey (M@acacus sinicus) from India, presented by Mr. J. W. Harris ; a Short- toed Eagle (Circaéus gallicus) from Morocco, and six Little Bitterns (Ardetta minuta) from Europe, presented by Lord Lilford ; a Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) from Brit. Isles, presented by Mrs. H. S. Wardrop; an Indian Kite (Mfilvus govinda) from Eastern Asia, presented by Mr. A, Savory ; four Tortoises (——) from Formosa, presented by Mr. P. Aug. Holst; a Golden Cat (Feds moormensis) from Sumatra, a Slender-billed Cockatoo (Licmetis tenuirostris) from Sou.h Australia, and six Avocets (Recurvirostra avocetta) from Holland, deposited ; six Avocets (Recurvirostra avocetta) from Holland, a Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) from Holland, a Japanese Ape (Macacus speciosus) from Japan, and a —— Hawk Eagle (.Spzzaétus ——) from India, purchased. . OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE Cordoba DuRcHMUSTERUNG.—Mr. John Thome, the Director of the National Argentine Observatory, is to be con- gratulated upon the publication of the Cordoba Durchmuster- ung Catalogue, containing the brightness and position of every fixed star down to the tenth magnitude comprised in the belt of the heavens between 22° and 32° of south declination. The results are a continuation of the Durchmusterungs of Argelander and Schénfeldt from their southern limit. In the present olume 179,800 stars are catalogued, but altogether the places f 340, 380 stars have been determined down to — 42°. The ob- rvations for this great catalogue were begun in 1885 and ended ly in 1891. They reach the enormous number of 1, 108,600, were made entirely by Mr. Thome and Mr. R. H. Tucker. he area over which the observations have extended is 6075 of a great circle, hence the mean density of stars is 6°2 stars per square degree. The corresponding mean density ‘or Argelander is 15'2, and for Schonfeldt 18°5._ The density aries considerably, however, in different parts of the sky, and jranges from 70 to 160 stars per square degree in the Milky Way. r. Thome Says that a series of twelve maps, each embracing ‘wo hours of right ascension and twenty degrees in declination, jnas been constructed upon the scale adopted by Argelander, and ill be issued during next year with the second volume of the logue, containing stars within the belt from 32° to 42° south ination. The construction of these maps, and the prepara- ‘ion of a catalogue like that of which the first part has just ¢ us, involves an enormous amount of labour. Indeed, ‘tis difficult to understand how, amidst the vicissitudes to which NO. 1243, VOL. 43] an observatory in the Argentine Republic must be subject, and with such a meagre staff as that under Mr. Thome’s direction, it has been possible to do so much excellent work. THE RORDAME-QUENISSET CoMET.—On July 11 the Ror- dame-Quénisset comet (4 1893) was photographed at Goodsell Observatory, and a fine photogravure reproduction of one of the views forms the frontispiece to the August number of Astronomy and Astro-Physics, In a letter that appears in the same journal, Prof. J. E. Keeler describes the spectroscopic obser- vations of the comet made at Alleghany Observatory. On July 10 the three usual carbon bands were seen, connected by a narrow continuous spectrum from the nucleus. Each band appeared to terminate sharply on its less refrangible side, where also the brightness was greatest. No direct comparison of spectra could then be made, so the positions of the bands were estimated. A photograph of the comet spectrum in juxtaposition with the solar spectrum obtained from the moon was procured on July 19. Upon the photograph could be seen a hazy band at A 472 and another terminated by a line on the less refrangible side at A 388, and fading away towards the more refrangible end of the spectrum. Between these two bands others were suspected, but could not be made out with sufficient accuracy fur a determina- tion of wave-length. A comparison of the spectrum of the comet with that of a spirit lamp on July 20 showed that the bands were coincident in the two spectra. The brightest comet band—that in the green—appeared to haye a second maximum coincident with the second maximum of the corresponding carbon fluting A SIMPLE EQuaTorIAL MounTING.—M. J. Jarson describes in L’Astronomie for August a simple, if not new, means by which small telescopes can be moved equatorially, thus per- mitting an observer to keep objects in the field of view with- out constantly moving the telescope in altitude and azimuth. Applying this method, for instance, to a small telescope mounted on a small vertical tube, tripod fashion, such as those generally used at seaside resorts, the following account may show the simplicity of the arrangement. On the stand of the tele- scope a bar of wood or of iron is fixed horizontally, in which is a hole sufficiently large to passa cord. The position of the hole is determined by the rule that the line joining the centre of motion of the telescope in declination to this hole makes an angle with the horizontal bar equal to the latitude of the place of observation. By connecting the object-glass end of the tele- scope to this hole, by means of a chain or cord, any celestial object can be followed in the heavens by simply keeping the cord tight and moving the telescope. A weight fastened to the eye end secures the tightness of the cord. The telescope will then describe an arc of a circle in the heavens, and not a straight line as formerly. For different objects it is obvious that one must vary the leng.h of the cord ; but for making pro- longed studies of any particular one possessors of small instru- ments will find this a most useful arrangement. A REMARKABLE SOURCE OF ERROR.—Dr. E. Von Rebeur- Paschwitz, in No. 3177 of the Astronomische Nachs ichten, pub- lishes some interesting curves traced by a horizontal pendulum during the prevalence of certain slight earth tremors occurring on different occasions and at different places. Traced photo- Srepeiceily on sensitive plates moving with a velocity of twenty- our inches per minute, these tremors show a striking similarity to those observed by Prof. Milnein Japan. It appears that the surface of the earth is occasionally subjected to wave motions analogous to those disturbing a sheet of water, and often per- sisting with great regularity for several hours, Their connection with steep barometric gradients is probable, although that does not appear to be the only condition, In any case, the tremors appear in the presence of strong winds, at least in the neigh- bouring country, and they travel with at least the velocity of 2km, per second. The influence of these tremors upon obser- vations of polar distances, and upon spectro-photographic work, is sufficiently obvious to render it desirable that all ob:e1vatories should be fitted with automatic instruments for registering these disturbances, and arrangements should be made for their study and comparison, THE APEX OF THE SuN’s Way,—In a letter to the editor of the Bulletin Astronomique, Prof. H. G. van de Sande Bakhuyzen says that he has determined the apex of the move- ment of our system from all Bradley’s stars of which the dis- tances from the pole of the Milky Way are less than 50°. In 402 NATURE [Aucusr 24, 18¢ the calculation, he made use of the method employed by L. Struve in his memoir on the determination of the movement of the solar system, in order that the two results might be strictly comparable. Prof. Bakhuyzen has also repeated the calcula- tions, using stars in the same part of the heavens as the above, but with proper motions not exceeding 0”°075. The first method gave, as the position of the apex, R.A. = 264°, Decl. = 30°. The result obtained by the second calculation was— R.A. = 290°, Decl. = 24°. The position found by L. Struve was— R.A. = 273°°3, Decl.’ = 27°"3. Prof. Bakhuyzen is at present occupied in determining the apex from stars of small proper motion in the Milky Way. THE ORIGIN OF NEw StTars.—In the current number of Die Natur Prof. G. Hoffmann surveys the various‘new stars discovered since Tycho Brahe’s Nova Cassiopeize, and the dif- ferent theories advanced to account for their appearance. He ts_inclined to endorse the views of Prof. Seeliger, according to which the sudden brightness is produced by a heavenly body «ntering a ‘‘cosmic cloud” consisting of sparsely distributed matter. Prof. Hoffmann thinks that all new stars may be regarded as essentially of the same type as the variables of long period. ; THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF PLANT HYBRIDS? R. MACFARLANE’S paper will not fail to impress bio- logists by the suggestiveness of some of his speculations and with the importance of his observations. Norare his conclusions limited to the plant hybrids, which he discusses, but they apply, though with certain limitations, to all organisms resulting from sexual reproduction. Of course, in the case of hybrids, the parental characters are often very different, and can therefore be easily recognised in the offspring, whence the examination of their characters, in- cluding, of course, their minute anatomy, becomes important to all who are interested in the problems of reproduction, For in the case of fusion of reproductive cells of thesame species, where the parental characters differ often very slightly, it is difficult, and at times impossible, to distinguish whether the characteristics of the male or female parent predominate, or whether a com- plete blending has taken place. Theoretically perhaps we:should expect this blending of characters, but our everyday experience brings to our mind so many instances of almost unadulterated in- heritance of paternal or maternal characteristics, that we are somewhat prejudiced again:t a conclusicn to which Dr. Macfar- lane’s observations on hybrids lead him, and which ought equally to apply to normal offspring. The study no doubt presents many difficulties, which are, it is true, recognised by the author, but do not seem to him insuper- able. First and foremost we have the variability of what are usually termed true species ; and the author is careful to point out that ‘‘for hybrid investigation one should be acquainted with the parent individuals and the conditions under which they were grown, or try to choose an average specimen for study.” But in either case errors may creep in, For if one of the parents has varied abnormally, though some of the offspring will inherit sucha variation, others may revert to the more normal condition of their grandparents or great-grandparents. Tf, on the other hand, we choose the average specimen, we are entirely in the dark as to any special variation of the parental form. Nothing short of selecting normal individuals as parents and examining all or a large number of the hybrid offspring would afford sufficient basis for such conclusions, as the author deduces from his less complete obove, assuming that the wire circnit is the only seat of dissipation of energy. The explana- tim offered is that dissipation also takes place in the dielectric of the condenser. In accordance with this it is possible to re- produce the experimental curve by increasing the value ‘ofp from 28 ohms (the wire resistance in a particular case) to 59°4 ohms. The observed time period in this case is ‘009147 seconds ; the time period calculated on the above assumption is *099154 seconds. ‘ Experimental curves have also been obtained when iron rods -are‘inserted in the coil. Their chief characteristics are— Ha A decrease in time-period as the discharge progresses. (8) Much more rapid decrement. 4 That (8) is only very partially due to eddy currents in theiron, was shown by repeating with a brass rod insertedin. the place of iron. Experiments are also in progress in connection with circuits of negligible capacity; a Wheatstone’s bridge method being employed. : Paoer eee SYDNEY. Linnean Society of New South Wales, June 28.—The following papers were read :—Notes on Australian Coleoptera, with descriptions of new species, part xiii,, by the Rev. T. Blackburn.—Notes on the family Brachyscelide, with descrip- tions of new species, part ii., by W. W. Froggatt. This paper deals with Schrader’s two genera Opisthoscelis and Ascelis ; the two original species of Schrader are re-described, and two new species of Ascelis are added.—On the habit and use of nardoo (Marsilea Drummondii, R.Br.), together with observa- tions on the influence of water-plants in retarding evaporation, by T. L. Bancroft. The author has visited the south-western corner of Queensland, journeying there vi@ South Australia and eastward across Queensland, He first encountered nardoo in quantity near Lake Copperamana on Cooper’s Creek, where, as over all the drainage-areas of the Cooper, Diamantina, and Georgina Rivers, the Blacks still make use of it as in the days of Barke and Wills. As. originally stated, the plant thus utilised under the name of nardoo is a Marsilea ; though doubt has been cast upon the statement under the idea that it would be impossible to obtain the involucres (sporocarps) in sufficient quintity to serve as food ; and by those who took this view the seeds of Seshanid aculeata, Pers., were supposed to furnish the nardo> of Burke and Wills. In a day one could gather about ‘a hundredweight of the dried rhizomes of the Marsilea with Jimvolucres attached, yielding perhaps about forty pounds weight vof the latter. It was found also that the nardoo did not grow ‘in permanent water nor in swamps, but in country subject to NO. 1243. VOL. 48] inundation ; and from specimens brought home: vigorous pot plants were reared without difficulty. As regards foating water-plants retarding evaporation, the author has made ex- periments with a series of gallon glass cells, some furnished with Lemna,.Azolla, and Nymphea gigantea, others without, and with some of each placed out of doors in the sun, and others in the shade and under cover, he found that evaporation was neither retarded nor hastened by the presence of the aquatic plants. j Paris. Academy of Sciences, August 14.—M. Leewy in the chair.— On the Tubulane, a truffle of the Caucasus, by M. A. Chatin. This: is a new variety of the 7vrfezix Boudieri, which is so widely distributed in North Africaand Arabia. The roundness of the spores resembles that of the African variety, whilst the surface markings are those of Tirfesta Boudiert Arabica, The new variety, found about Tiflis and Baku, and sent from there by the French Consul, M. Auzepi, has been named 7irfesia Boudiert Auzepii, The natives call it Tubulane. It is the size of a large walnut, and its good quality and low price renders it fit for European export.—Study of the microbian origin of purulent surgical infection, by MM. S, Arloing and Ed. Chantre. Purulent surgical infection has for its essential agent the ordimary microbes of suppuration (streptococci in’ the cases examined). If microbes other than the preceding ones exist in the wounds, they complicate the purulent infection, but are not necessary to itsdevelopment. To produce purulent infection, the streptococcus must assume the virulence which it possesses in the acute and grave forms of puerperal septicemia, ‘and not that shown in erysipelas. There is a suspicion of etiological rela- tions between surgical purulent infection, puerperal septicemia, and erysipelas, but it is not known as yet where and how the transformation of the pathogenic properties of the strepto- coccus take place which enables it to produce alternately these different clinical states. —On a product of incomplete oxidation of aluminium, by M. Pionchon. Submitted to the action of an oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe flame containing an excess of hydro- gen, aluminium oxidises with vivid incandescence and is changed , into! a substance of a greyish-black colour, in which the ratio of the weight of oxygen to that of the aluminium has a value approaching 06, and therefore very different from 0°888, the value characteristic of alumina. A treatment of the sub- stance with hydrochloric acid gave rise to a disengagement of hydrogen and the formation of aiuminium chloride in solution, besides leaving an insoluble residue. A quantitative estimation of these various constituents leads to the conclusion that the grey substance contains small quantities of freer aluminium and. alumina, and consists of a new oxide of aluminium, probably represented by the formula Al,O, = Al,O, 2A!,O3, which may be either a mixture or a compound.—Oa a new reaction of eserine, and a green colouring matter derived from the same alkaloid, by M. S. J. Ferreira da Silva.—Synthetic pre- paration of citric acid by the fermentation of glucose, by M. Charles Wehmer.—Oa the changes which have taken place in the glacier of the Té.e Rousse since the catastrophe of Saint- Gervais, of rath July, 1892, by MM. A. Delebecque and L. Duparc, Nearly all the water from the glacier escapes at present at the bottom, so that there is no immediate danger of its accumulation. But this state of things is only temporary. The valley of Montjoie appears to be exposed to a catastrophe similar to that of 1892, which must happen sooner or la-er. No preventive measures seem possible. A diligent watch, and an evacuation of the valley at the proper times seem to be the sole remedies. BERLIN. Physical Society, June 16.—Prof. von Helmholtz, Pre- sident, in the chair.—Prof. Koenig gave an account of the construction of the newest forms of artificial larynx, more especially the one described by Pro®% Julius Wolff. The capa- bilities of the latter were demonstrated on a patient operated upon by Prof. Wolff, wh» could not only speak continuously so as to be audible throughout the whole lecture-room, but could also sing. The president pointed out that this case fully substan- tiated his theory as to the production of vowel-sounds, inasmuch as the tones being initially produced by a vibrating elastic mem- brane acquired their vowel quality solely by means of the vary- ing shapes of the resonating buccal cavity. Prof. Fraenkel exhibited a man who without either a. natural or artificial larynx could both speak and repeat the whole alphabet. It appeared that the patient while speaking swallowed at frequent intervals 408 NATURE [Aucusr 24, 1893 and ejected forcibly a considerable mass of air from the open end of the trachea. Careful investigation showed that there was no communication between the trachea and cesophagus ; Prof. Fraenkel referred the power of speech to the existence of a fold of mucous membrane at the end of the widened pharyn- geal cavity, at about the level of the former larynx, which was thrown into vibration during speech. It had not been possible to ascertain whence the patient obtained the air requisite to keep the fold in vibration ; possibly the air which had been swallowed sufficed fur this purpose. Dr. Krigar Menzel had, in conjunction with Dr. Raps, studied the motion of plucked strings by the method previously employed for stroked strings. The string is stretched across the long axis of a narrow brightly illuminated slit, and thereby casts a small punctiform shadow on a screen. When the string swings, a curve is traced on the moving screen, which admits of being fixed by photography. The speaker developed the theory of strings vibrating as above, and deduced formulz which corresponded to the curves obtained. Dr. Wien spoke on the upper limits of wave length for radiant heat as based upon certain properties of Hertz’s waves and the second law of thermodynamics. Physiological Society, June 23.—Prof. du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair.—Prof. Koenig exhibited the two patients with extirpated larynx as described in the preceding report of the Physical Society.—Dr. Benda gave an account of his microscopical investigations on the development and function of the mammary gland. He had studied the development on five- and eight-month-old calves, and the functions on cows and bitches during lactation, and arrived at the conclusions that the mammary gland must be regarded as a tubular gland, and that there is no evidence of a new formation of cells during its ac- tivity. The idea that the secretion of milk depends on a breaking-down of the gland cells cannot apparently be supported by the results of microscopic investigation. July 7.—Prof. Holowinsky, of Warsaw, spoke on a micro- phone he had constructed, by means of which it is possible to render audible rhythmic movements of long period, such as the cardiac impulse, the radial and carotid pulse, &c. The action of the instrument was demonstrated on several persons.—Dr. Baginsky had studied the relation of the nerves to the sensory end-organs in the case of the glossopharyngeal and olfactory nerves, by section of the nerves and subsequent investigation of the behaviour of the terminal sensory cells in each case. In the case of the tongue he found these cells unaltered after degeneration of their nerve ; whereas in the case of the olfactory cells, both they and the whole mucous membrane degenerated after removal of the olfactory bulb. He, however, attributed the result in the latter case to injury of the ethmoid artery. July 21.—Dr. Lilienfeld made a further communication on the clotting of blood arrived at by an examination of fibrine and of fibrinogen which he regarded asanucleo-albumin. He came to the conclusion that some substance is present in normal blood which leads to clotting in presence of minimal amounts of calcium chloride. Dr. Paul Strassmann had studied the mechanism of the closing of the ductus Botalli in man, dogs, and cats, and found it dependent upon the anatomical arrange- ments of the entrance into the aortic arch, supporting his views by a series of preparations. Dr. Jacobs had investigated the action of extracts of a series of animal tissues on the number of the white corpuscles. He found that extracts of liver, kidney, pancreas, and thyroid had no effect on their number, while, on the other hand, extracts of spleen, thymus, and the marrow of | bones, after producing a short fall, led to an increased production of leucocytes which continued for many hours, and was marked both in the peripheral as well as in the central blood-vessels and in the heart. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED B.oxs.—Orchids of South Africa, Vol. 1, Part 1: H. Bolus (Wesley).— British Locomotives: C. J. B. Cooke (Whittaker).—Euclid, Books 1 to 6. D. Brent (Rivington).—Tables for the Determination of the Rock-forming Minerals: F, Loewinson-Lessing, translated by J. W. Gregory (Macmillan). City and Guilds of London Institute, Programme of the Techn logical Examinations, Session 1893-94 (London).—Catalogue of the Madreporarian Corals in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1, the Genus Madre- pora: G. Brook (London).—Transactions of the Sanitary Institute, Vol. xiii. (London).—Naturalist’s Map of Scotland: A. Harvie Brown and J. G. Bartholomew (Edinburgh, Bartholomew).—Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for 1892 (Hobart).—Edelsteinkunde: Dr. C. Doelter (Leipzig, Veit).—Mineral Resources ofthe United States, 1891 (Wash- ington).—Monographs of the U.S. Geological Survey, Vol. xvii., the Flora of . the Dakota Group: L. Lesquereux (Washington).—Monographs of tie U.S. NO. 1243. VOL. 48] | Our Astronomical Column :— Geological Survey, Vol. xviii. ; Gasteropoda and Cephalo) of the R Clays and Greensand Marls of New Jersey: R. P. Whitfield (Washingto —General Report on the Operations of the Survey of India De 1891-2 (Calcutta), AMPHLETS.—The Yucca Moth and Yucca Pollination: C. V. (Washington).—Parisitism in Insects: C. V. Riley Chie; Intorno all’ Assorbimento della Luce nel Platino Diverse ture: G. B. Rizzo (Torino).—Wurde Bernstein von Hinterindien dem Westen Exportirt: A. B. Meyer (Dresden).—Some Ancient in Japan: R. Hitchcock (Washington).—The Ancient Burial of Japan: R. Hitchcock (Washington).—Shinto, or the of the Jap :_R. Hitchcock (Washington).—The Ox United States: C. V. Riley (Washington)—U.S. Depa Agriculture, Report of the Entomologist for 1892 (Washingt prscmeat of Agriculture, Victoria, Report on a Poisonous omeria: D. McAlpine (Melbourne) —Zi-Ka-Wei Obse ‘*Bokha-a” Typhoon, October, 1892: Rev. S. Chevalier Shang to Ben Nevis (#dinburgh, Menzies). Description of some Fossil from the Great Falls, Coal Field of Montana: W. M. Fontaine ton).—On the Occurrence of the Spiny Boxfish on the Coast of C; C.H Eigenmann (Washington).—R-port on the Actiniz Col U.S. Fish-Commission Steamer A/batross, during the winter 18 P. McMur-ich (Washington).—Massachusetts Institute of Te Boston, a brief Account of its Foundation, Character, and E (Boston).— National Association forthe Promotion of Technical Sixth Annual Report, Bene o¢-7 Cholera Prospects and Prev Thorne Thorne (Allman). —L’Anthropologie aux Etats-Unis: Topinard (Paris, Masson).—Revised Report on the Copepoda of Bay: I. C. Thompson (Liverpool).—On the Evolut’on of the Art o ing in Stone, }. D. McGuire (Washing! on).—Guide to Sowerby’s British Fungi in the Department of Botany, British Museum tory), W. G. Smith (London). — Maupertuis, K. du Bois-Reymond Veit.). Ser1ats.—Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manch Liter: Philosophical Society, Vol. 7, Nos. 2 and {Manche .—Mitth der Deutschen Gesellschaft fiir Natur und Vélkerkunde Ostasiens 1 51 Heft (Tokio). Aus dem Archiv der Deutschen Seewarte, xv. Ji 1892 (Hamburg). CONTENTS. Water and Ice as Agents of Earth Sculpture ° Water Bacteria. By Mrs. Percy Frankland . Popular Meteorology. ...... ; Our Book Shelf :— ‘©The New Technical Educator : an Encyclopedia Technical Education.”,—N.J.L.. ..... Reynman: ‘‘ Wetterbiichlein. Von wahrer Erkenntni des Weéttera’tc all sts iene an. Letters to the Editor :— Prenatal Influences on Character.—Dr. Alfred | Wrallace, FiR.S.° 6) 3:4 0.0.2 a Habits of South African Animals.—Dr, Alfred Wallace, FURS. sn ond ei Photography.—Right Hon. ehete oye Astronomical ) Rayleigh; FURS: -.05 3. Se ee The Discussion on Quaternions.—Sir Robert S. Ba PERS iirc n ie a OS ee A Curious Optical Phenomenon.—Dr, A. Wille . | Supposed Suicide of a Rattlesnake —W. H, Woo Numerous Insects Washed up by the Sea.—Oswald — H, Latter. NR FES 90 ro The Fungus Gardens of Certain South Ameri Ants. By John C. Willis...) 2°) os A Few Remarks on Insect Prevalence during th Summer of 1893. By EleanorA, Ormerod . The Great Heat of August 8to18.... A Sensitive Spherometer, By Dr. A. A. Comn Jean Daniel Colladon, By Dr, Ed. Sarasin . INOCOS. =o cet pie ee Me age The Cordoba Durchmusterung ... - The Rordame-Quénisset Comet. . . A Simple Equatorial Mounting . A Remarkable Source of Error . The Apex of the Sun’s Way . The Origin of New Stars. The Minute Structure of Compulsory Laws of Error in Drawing. L. Haddon .. é Plast Hybrids. ‘B ‘By Aa The Department of ‘Science and Art a European Laboratories of Marine Biology . University and Educational Intelligence . . Scientific Serials . . Societies and Academies . id ee alee Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received . NATURE 409 THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1893. BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. irds in a Village. By W. H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S., author of “Idle Days in Patagonia,” “The Naturalist in La Plata,” &c. (London: Chapman and Hall, Limited, 1893.) R. HUDSON would probably think it a doubtful compliment if we were to say that his last book ‘isas good as either of the two which preceded it. But to say that “Birds in a Village” is not equal to *‘Tdle Days in Patagonia,” and not to be mentioned in the same breath as the charming “ Naturalist in La Plata,” by no means implies that it is other than a pleasantly readable book, with here and there—more particularly in the chapter which gives the title—graphic sketches of the habits of the birds he watched in his ideal country village, such as only a close and loving observer of Nature, and a practised writer, can give. The unregenerate man may perhaps at first be a little inclined to rebel when he finds his insular ignorance of languages brought, he may think, rather too obtrusively home to him by untranslated Spanish poetry and a critical discussion on the superiority of Melendez to Tennyson in a chapter in which he had hoped to forget himself and his failings among blackbirds and thrushes. But any resentment he may have felt for the moment will be forgotten as he looks over the fence into the cottage garden and sees the hedge sparrow feeding the young cuckoo with caterpillars, “like dropping a bun into the monstrous red mouth of the hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens,” or lolls on the moss in the wood to watch through Mr. Hudson’s binocular the jay, “high up amongst the topmost branches,” as he “flirts wings and tail, and lifts and lowers his crest, glancing down with wild, bright eyes . . . inquisitive, perplexed, sus- picious.” By the time he has wandered up the brook-side to the corner where “ buttercups grew so thickly that the glazed petals of the flowers were touching, and the meadow was one broad expanse of yellow,” and has caught sight of the kingfisher, “like a waif from some far tropical land,” flying off “so low above the flowery level that the swiftly vibrating wings must have touched the yellow petals,” he will have realised that he is in the company of one of the devoted worshippers of Nature, by whom ‘‘ where’er they seek her she is found,” and for whom every spot—country village, London park, or solitary South American plain— is ‘* hallowed ground.” As might be expected of a man who has lived on such impartially friendly terms with living things of many kinds that, after lying helpless and alone miles away from any one, with a revolver bullet in his knee, he could find relief to his pain in the knowledge that the poison- ous snake which had shared his rug with him through the night had got off in the morning without inhospitable treatment at the hands of his returning friend, Mr. Hudson rejects as “ utterly erroneous ” the “ often quoted dictum of Darwin, that birds possess an instinctive fear of man,” and quotes in support of his view—in which we entirely concur—the tameness of the moorhens in St. James’s Park. NO. 1244, VOU. 48] The wood-pigeons—in the the wariest of birds, in London tamer if possible than the sparrows—are even stronger witnesses for him. It is said that the Paris wood-pigeons, which are as common and tame there as with us, and make frequent excursions to neighbouring country places, the moment they leave the precincts of the town assume their natural wildness, putting it off again the moment they return to the children and dommes in the Tuileries Gardens. By-the-bye, in connection with wood-pigeons we have avery small bone to pick with Mr. Hudson. Since Science has become a religion it was only to be expected that the religious parasite—odzum theologicum—would develop new forms to suit. It has done so, and too many. recent scientific works—notably one of the best modern bird books—are disfigured by sneers at other writers. A charm of Mr. Hudson’s writings hitherto has been, and we hope it always will be, that he has kept himself free from smallnesses of the kind. But there is “a little pitted speck” in this last fruit which we have never noticed in any of his earlier gatherings, and, microscopic though it is, we are sorry to see it. He is perfectly justified if he thinks it so in speaking of the wood- pigeon—the “deep, mellow crush” of whose note in Campbell’s .ears “ made music that sweetened the calm” of the birchen glades he loved—as “ ¢hat dismal croaker.” But having done so he ought not to fall foul of a brother ornithologist and his ancestry, and to throw Wordsworth at his head because he has ventured to write disrespectfully in Blackwood or Macmillan of the note of the greenfinch. We hope that Mr. Hudson will feel grate- ful to us for a friendly reminder that people who live in . glass houses should not throw stones. Mr. Hudson, as many another writer has done, protests in impassioned language against the practice of eating larks. The song of the “blythe spirit” of meadow and corn-land is as sweet to us as to him; and, being unfashionable enough not to ap- preciate, as every self-respecting diner should do, mau- viettes en surprise aux truffés, or in any other dainty form, we may venture with a clear conscience to express a doubt whether the supply of larks to the markets affects appreciably, if at all, the numbers remaining to breed in England. Wherever they may come from, there can be no question the number of immigrants in winter is almost incredible. The most striking feature of a partridge drive at the headquarters of the sport, in the flat country round Thetford and Brandon, towards the end of the season, is the sight of the apparently interminable flocks which stream over the waiting guns. We have heard it said by a large landowner in the district, an ardent bird- lover, that it is no exaggeration to say that larks there are, when the early corn is first shooting, a nuisance to the farmers scarcely less serious than are the rats in more enclosed parts. Space will not allow us to follow Mr. Hudson into the interesting questions touched upon in his later chapters. We fear that, whatever may lie before our children in good times to come, the dimming eyes of our own genera- tion will not be refreshed by the sight of the glancing colours of exotic kingfishers reflected in English streams, nor can we ourselves look forward with any T country 410 NATURE [Aucust 31, 1893 great confidence to an early realisation of Mr. Hudson’s dream of artificial birds’-eggs of such magic perfection that schoolboys seeing them will rob birds’-nests no longer, though we agree with him in thinking that the volatile colours of most eggs when blown, make collec- tions of but little lasting value. There is in “ Birds in a Village,” unless we are mis- taken, something which may possibly ‘prove of more practical interest to lovers of good works of natural history than any such agreeable speculations. “Travel fever” is a malady easily caught. It is recurrent, and when once caught, seldom completely shaken off until life energy begins to fail and a man nears the starting time for his last journey. There are touches—sometimes rather pathetic—in the book before us which suggests that it was written under the influence of an unusually sharp attack. A few words from a little girl in St. James’s Park, “ Oh, how I love the birds!” were enpugh to start the writer wandering ‘‘somewhat aimlessly ” about the country till he stumbled on his nightingale- -haunted vil- lage and stopped there. “I could not,” he writes, “ longer. keep from the birds, which I, too, loved, for now all at once it seemed to me that life was not life without them; that I was grown sick, and all my senses dim ; that only the wished-for sight of birds could medicine my vision ; that only by drenching it in their melody could my tired brain recover its lost vigour,” The chapter headed ‘ Chanticleer” is as symptomatic as the passage quoted above, Mr. Hudson tries seriously to persuade himself and his readers that, he likes being awakened at three o’clock in the morning by. his neigh- bours’ cocks ! When he. believed himself listening to their crowings he was in a trance, having his eyes open. His body may have lain “on high ground in one of the pleasantest suburbs of London,” but he was. himself thousands of miles away—lying on the cliff-edge, drop- ping stones to startle the great coots of Patagonia, riding at a swinging gallop through rustling seas of : giant thistles into the “ mysterious, extra natural, low level plain, green or gazing up at the starry skies ‘of the. ‘Pampas. The sounds of which he was really conscious were, the con- certs of crested screamers, or the dance music of La Plata rails. nist Hudson will not think we wish unduly to dispara se. s “Birds ina Village” if we express, a hope that circum - staheed may allow him soon to let Nature have her way, and that before long he may be able again to show us, on larger canvas, other collections of sketches of scenes less easily accessible. In these days of high pressure one of the most service- able qualities that a man can possess is the power. of self- abstraction—to be able to throw work and worries In a En- ties gathering round him, and his political hopes failed. at what had seemed the very moment of realisation, he committed suicide “ because,” says the author, “ he had no imagination.” The power which could convey ‘Lord Beaconsfield himself at the time of a crushing defeat back to the formal terraces and gardens of the Braden- ham of his boyhood, and enable him there to forget him- self in the hopes and fears of beings of his own creation, NO. 1244, VOL. 48] is a gift of the gods to the few. A love of Nature best substitute—is a possession scarcely less prec and one to which every parent may do much to help children. For such an education many more ambitious w« could be better spared than the transcripts fro n tl known pages of “ God’s great second volume” w Hudson so well knows how to write. F. D. A MATHEMATICAL MISCELLANY. Mathématiques et Mathématiciens, Pensées et Curi By A. Rebiére. Second edition. First edition, (Paris: Nony et Cie, 1893.) HIS. work, originally issued in 1889, conti quotations from various writers on the stud philosophy of ‘mathematics, together with some ane and problems on the subject. The first edition consis: of but 280 pages, but advantage has been taken of a ne issue to make additions which have more than double its size. Save for a brief section on the history of mathe matics, the work is almost entirely a compilation, andy attempt is made to connect together the extracts or dra\ any inferences therefrom. The reader thus has the vantage of being able to begin anywhere, but the effec many hundreds of short and disconnected paragraph: somewhat jerky. To form such a miscellaneous ¢ lection % drawn from writers of all ages, must axe) in’ extensive preparation, and | years of readi MR : the volume is undoubtedly interesting, thongh, eM : what unequal merit. Itis divided into four parts, The first is | m:2in devoted to remarks on the philosophy of. mathemat by far th2 greater portion being drawn from, Frenc sources. In our opinion this is the best. section of th book, since many of the. extracts here given would he wise be practically inaccessible ; moreover it is instructive to read the opinioas of writers. ers) Mdme. de Stael, Rousseau, and Comte, and, not t so when their knowledge of the subject discussed is rat superficial. At the same time we think cued reasonably expect detailed references to. the sources the quotations, and certainly, the value. of the. cols seems to have claimed the use of « Arietis as a: Sams, ani at Girgenti it suits the orientation of the temple of Juno better than Spica. But Spica seems to have been connected with the worship of Juno and Diana in their «nore strictly female capacity.” NO. 1244, VOL. 48] ' follows that in the choice of the festival day and th amplitude of the sun at its rising and that of thought more convenient.” He goes on to add, “ I appear that something of this sort may have taken p Athens, for we find on the Acropolis the Archaic which seems to have been intended originally festival, offering its axis to the autumnal sun: very day of the great Panathenaia in August. “The Chryselephantine statue of the Parther temple followed on the same lines as the earliei tompedon (originally founded to follow the ris Pleiades after that constellation had deserted temple alongside), was lighted up by the sunri feast to the same goddess in August, the Synzec of some spring festival, for which both these seem at first to have been founded. ha Se “ The temple at Sunium, already quoted for its © star-heralded festival to Minerva, was orie axially to the sun on February 21, the feast of tl mysteries.” Rees | I have had to insist again and again that in the the Egyptian temples the stated date of founda temple is almost always long after that in which were laid- down in accordance with the ritual. N then that the same thing is noticed in Greece. _ “In about two-thirds of the cases which 1/ vestigated the dates deduced from the orientatic clearly earlier than the architectural remains n above the ground. Thisis explained by the t having been rebuilt upon old foundations,as may in several cases which have been excavated, of w archaic Temple of Minerva on the Acropolis of © and the Temple of Jupiter Olympius on a lowers instances. There are temples also of the middle such as the examples at Corinth, A2gina, and temples at Argos and at Olympia (the Metroum at named), of which the orientation dates are not i sistent with what may be gathered from other sour The problem is, moreover, helped in Gr architectural considerations, which are frequently in Egypt, of two temples it can be shown, on this & alone, that one is older than the other. Such an strengthens my suggestion that two of the temple: Acropolis Hill were oriented to the Pleiades, by § the older temple to point to an earlier position of | group. To these Mr. Penrose adds another pa Rhamnus, where he has found that there are two | almost touching one another, both following ( accordant dates) the shifting places of Spica, ax anoth-r at Tegea. J. NormMAN Lock [In a letter received from Mr. Penrose, givin mission to use the above quotations from his account, he makes the following int ments ;— Sa “In my paper sent to the Royal Society passage which seems to make it practi iy heliacal stars were connected with the in temples as derived from Greek examples aloni dent of the powerful aid of the Egyptian cases. “That the first beam of sunrise should fall statue centrally placed in the adytum of a te the incense altar in front of it on a particu would be requisite that the orientation of the should coincide with the amplitude of the sun above the visible horizon, be it mountain or plain. “That a star should act as time-warner it was sary that it should have so nearly the same am the sun that it could be seen from the adytum the eastern door, if it was to give warning at it or to have a similar but reversed amplitude towa’ west, if its heliacal setting was to be observed ; responding orientation, on these principles, botl a NATURE 419 Ae AvGusT St; 1893 | aes wards or westwards as the case might be would have considered in connection with one another. From what has been said it is obvious that in the asolstitial temples the list of available bright stars i constellations is in the first instance limited to those which lie within a few degrees of the ecliptic, and it will be found that in the list above given and those which follow, if we omit Eleusis, where the conditions were ex- sptional, all but one of the stars are found in the zodiacal constellations. A very great limit is imposed in the second place .by one of the conditions being the ea! rising or setting of those stars from which the ection has to be made. So that when both these com- bined limitations are taken into account it becomes im- probable to the greatest degree that in every instance of intrasolstitial temples of early foundation of which I have accurate particulars, being twenty-eight in number and varying in their orientation from 21° N. to 18° 25’ S. of the true east. There should be found a bright heliacal star or constellation in the right position at dates not in themselves improbable unless the temples had been so oriented as to secure this combination. “Thave just been looking into the number of possible stars which could have been used, zc. within the limits of the greatest distance from the ecliptic that could have been utilised. : “The stars which could have been utilised in addition to the seven which serve for nearly thirty temples are ten only, viz. ;— Aldebaran. B Libre. Pollux. a Libree. B Arietis. a Leonis. B Tauri. 7 Leonis. a and 8 Capricorni as a group. B Leonis. “Tf the orientations had been placed at random would not our thirty temples have made many misses in aiming at these seventeen stars, it being necessary also to hit exactly the heliacal margin? And would they have secured anything like a due archzeological sequence ? “ Another point is this:— “Whenever a star less than first magnitude is used (Pleiades only excepted) it has been necessary to secure coincidence to give it several more degrees of sun depression than in the cases of Spica and Antares.” _ BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING. Fee RERER information is now to hand as to the scientific work which has been arranged for the approaching meeting of the Association at Nottingham. In Section A two papers have been received on “Physics Teaching in Schools.” G. H. Bryan contributes an interesting paper on ‘“‘The Moon’s Atmosphere and the Kinetic Theory of Gases,” showing that every planet must be throwing off some of its atmosphere on the kinetic theory, though at an exceedingly slow rate in the case of the larger bodies. Prof. J. J. Thomson will exhibit and explain a new form of air-pump, which will be of interest to sections A and B. Prof. Viriamu Jones is sending a paper on “Standards of Low Electrical Resistance.” As reported by Prof, Emerson Reynolds on p. 416, Section B has been most fortunate in securing a pro- mise from M. Moissan to describe and demonstrate the preparation and properties of fluorine. This will probably have the effect of inducing chemists from all parts of this country to visit Nottingham, as the demonstration has never yet been made in this country, and is of almost ‘nique importance and interest. It is anticipated that Moissan’s communication will be put down for Mo:day, September 18, and will probably include the ition of his artificial diamonds. Prof. Percy Frank- "0, 1244, VOL. 48] - land will introduce the discussion on “ Bacteriology in its Chemical Aspects” on Friday, 15, and amongst other papers will be one by J. T. Wood, on “A New Bran Bacterium.” Tuesday, 19, will probably be mainly devoted to the discussion of ‘Colliery Explosions,” introduced by Prof. H. B. Dixon, one of H.M. Commis- sioners. On this day further communications on flame researches are also expected. The President’s address is put down for twelve o’clock on Thursday, September 14; it will deal essentially with. “The Comparative Chemistry of the Elements,” specially treating of carbon and silicon, and of silico-organic researches; showing further that it is possible in the light of recent knowledge to fill in some details of the chemical history of the earth. Dr. Phookan has promised a description of his recent researches on the “‘ Rate of Evaporation of Bodies in Different Atmospheres.” In Section C Prof. Hull will read a paper ‘On the Water-supply of Nottingham”; Mr, Walcot Gibson, one on “ The Geology of British East Africa”; Prof. Brégger will describe “The Eruptive Rocks of the Christiania District” ; E. T. Newton, “ The Trias Reptiles” ; Prof. Sollas, “The Carlingford Rocks” and ‘“ Glendalough Amphibolite” ; R..M. Deeley, “ The Drifts of the Trent Valley”; and Prof. Iddings, of Chicago, “ The Petrology of a Dissected Volcano.” Amongst other papers already promised are the following :—“ The Gypsum Deposits of Nottinghamshire,” by A. T. Metcalfe”; ‘ Derbyshire Toadstone,” by H. A. Bemrose; “ Mollusca from the English Trias,” by R. B. Newton ; “ Transported Mass. of Chalk in Boulder-clay of Culworth, in Huntingdon- shire,” by A. and C. Cameron ; “Some Volcanic Rocks. of South Pembrokeshire,” by F. T. Howard and E. W. Small ; “ Midland Trias,” by Dr. A. Irving ; “ Limestone: Inclusions in the White Sill,” by E. T. Garwood. Two further papers are sent in for Section D—one by Prof. Gilson, of Louvain, on “ Cytological Difference in Homologous Organs,” and one by G. B. Rothera, on “Some Vegetal Galls and their Inhabitants.’ In connection with Section E the exhibition of the 120- pictures painted on an Antarctic sealing expedition by Mr. Burn-Murdoch has been referred to. The discussion on the ‘‘ Limits between Geography and Geology ” will be introduced by Mr. Clements R. Markham, Pres.R.G.S.. Mr. Delmar Morgan will summarise our knowledge of Thibet, and Miss Taylor will describe her recent journey in that country. Mrs. Grove will read a paper on the “Islands of Chiloé.” Mr. E. G. Ravenstein will give an account of recent African travel ; and a large number of other papers are promised, many of which are of more than ordinary interest. The illustration of many of these papers by lantern photographs will be a special feature. With respect to Sections F and G there is at present nothing further to add to the original statement made a few weeks since. In Section H Mrs. Grove promises a paper, ‘‘ The Eth- nographic Aspects of Dancing.” Prof. Boyd Dawkins, who is now on a visit to Glastonbury, intimates his inten- tion to discuss the scientific bearings of the discoveries. made at the lake village in that neighbourhood; and, in order that the members may be better able to understand the structural details of the woodwork exposed in the course of the excavations, Dr. Munro proposes to give an illustrative sketch of the different methods adopted in the construction of lake-dwellings. Hitherto lake-dwel- ling researches have furnished little evidence of the kind. of houses erected on the artificial islands, but during last autumn a crannog was investigated in Argyllshire which has disclosed some remarkable information on this point. The discussion on lake-dwellings is fixed for Sept. 19, and as this important subject has formerly only inci- dentally come before the Association, the occasion promises to be most instructive to all interested in the early history of Britain. Among the other papers sent to- 420 NATURE [Avucust 31, 1893 : the section is one by Mr. Romilly Allen on the “‘ Origin and Development of Early Christian Art in Great Britain and Ireland.” This paper is to be well illustrated. Indeed, this is the case with most of the archeological papers. Dr. Hildebrand is arranging illustrations of the Swedish antiquities he wishes to compare with our Anglo-Saxon ones, in groups, which are to be printed on sheets and distributed among the audience when he reads his communication. The information contained in the above paragraphs has been furnished by request by presidents and recorders of sections; possibly further details may be forwarded in time for publication before the meeting. The promises of exhibits of scientific apparatus, models, diagrams, and photographs in the laboratories of the University College, Nottingham, are now coming in. Scientific novelties are promised for the conversazione at the Castle. Visitors can obtain on application the usual lists of hotels and lodgings. FRANK CLOWES. GEORGE BROOK. (enue BROOK, whose untimely decease on August 12 we have already chronicled, was born on March 17,1857. He died, therefore, in his thirty-sixth year, apparently from the effects of heat-apoplexy, while on a visit to his wife’s family near Newcastle-on-Tyne. On the fatal day he joined a shooting party on the adjacent moor; after a successful expedition and a re- past in the shooting-box, he was complaining laughingly of the necessity for early rising on such occasions, when his head fell back and he expired without uttering a sound. He was buried at Benwell Church, Newcastle, where, six years previously, he was married to Fanny, second daughter of Mr. Walter Scott, of Riding Mill. He was educated at the Friends’ School, Alderley Edge, and, although he afterwards studied for a couple of years under Prof. Williamson and others at the Owens College, Manchester, he may be said to have been, as a naturalist, mostly self-taught. His earlier years of active life were spent in his father’s business at Huddersfield, and he turned the experience thus gained to good account in his after career. His first definite associ- ation with scientific work dates from his connection with the recently deceased Mr. J. W. Davis, of Halifax, and others, in the prosecution of biological investigation in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was in 1884 ap- pointed scientific assistant to the Scottish Fishery Board and lecturer on comparative embryology to the University of Edinburgh. He retired from the first-named office in 1887, leaving as a legacy a series of valuable notes and reports upon the food fishes, but the last-named one he held till death. As an embryologist, he is himself best known for his work upon the origin of the endoderm from the periblast in teleostean fishes, and although not the first to have suggested this, it must be said, in justice to his memory, that certain recent investi- gators have reverted to his views without according him befitting recognition. His love of experimental marine zoology, and his personal munifizence in the interests of pure science, reasserted themselves in 1889, in his attempt to found a lobster hatchery and marine observatory at Loch Buie, Isle of Mull, duly noted in our pages (NATURE, vol. xlii. p. 399), and which we know to have involved him in a not inconsiderable loss. He was secretary to the Huddersfield Naturalists’ Society, and to the Scottish Microscopical Society, of which he was a founder; he was for three years a vice-president of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, and a member of council of the same, the Linnean Society of London, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He had recently joined the Zoo- logical Society, and was but a few months ago appointed NO. 1244, VOL. 48] an examiner in Biology to the Royal College of Physici Edinburgh. In the year 1889 he rose suddenly into fa as the author of the Challenger Report on the patharia. His preliminary paper, dealing (Proc. R. Soc £din., vol. xvi. p. 35) with the homologies of the me! teries in the Antipatharia and the Anthozoa, had appri the world of the breadth of his inquiry into, and the ex. tent of his knowledge of, this difficult and little und stood group; but the preparation, within approximately a year, of that which came to be termed “ one of the m praiseworthy ” of all the Challenger reports, set a seal his reputation, and exalted him to a foremost pos among living Actinologists. In this work he elabo: his important discovery of dimorphism (in Schizop ne) by division of a single primitive zooid into thi instead of by specialisation of individual polypes ; and the time of his death he had well-nigh completed an impo ant paper dealing with this and kindred subjects, for wh his talented assistant, Mr. Binnie, had prepared a la series of beautiful sections and some elaborate draw The thorough and conscientious manner in wh he had worked out the Antipatharians of the Challe. collection led, in 1890, to his engagement by the Trus of the British Museum for the arrangement and ca loguing of their very large collection of stony cora and the present month marks the publication of tl which will perhaps rank as his magnum opus, viz., “ Catalogue of the Genus Madrepora,” a quarto volumie 212 pages, with 35 beautiful plates, mostly from pho graphs taken by himself. This welcome treatise, whi was the first of a projected series dealing with the sto corals, like most of the set to which it belongs that h appeared under Dr. Giinther’s direction, is, in reality, nm catalogue at all, but rather a revisionary pec, js = founded upon the study of rich material from world-wide localities, which must furnish a basis for succeedin; inquiry into the group with which it deals. None b those who enjoyed the deceased author's personal frien ship can form an adequate idea of the labour and ex diture, both of time and capital, which he bestowed upe this volume. It is the practical outcome of the la three years of his life’s work. The success with wh dealt with the bewildering difficulties before him ma perhaps sufficiently gauged from its “ Introduction,” to what important lines of structural investigation conclusions the task was leading him, it is oby from this and his last published paper “ On the Affin of the Genus Madrepora” (Four. Linn. Soc. Zool. xx Pp. 353). The most striking features in George Brook’s sonality were his right living and his manly independ his moral attributes being in every way worthy mental ones. There can be no question that capacity to form an independent judgment, and great powers of organisation, under the influence of h indomitable will, formed the keystone of his success and placed him in a position to rise supreme above pe jealousy and the evils begotten of narrow cliquism over-ambition. His natural inclinations were towards work, as will be obvious from his having origi settled down to the study of the Crustacea, but linquish it for that of the Corals—a choice which his loss a well-nigh irreparable one to British zoologi the present generation. In addition to the many unfin works to which we have alluded, he has left behind hi at least the material for a reconsideration of the mo ology of certain great veins in the Amniota, and f detailed report upon some of the corals collected b' Haddon in the Torres Strait, which had been pla his hands, Indeed, almost his last words to the w of this notice were expressive of a desire to “get with the latter. His final act, as a zoologist, was determination of a Collemboloid (upon which group’ was an authority) for his friend Prof. W. A. Herd Aucust 31, 1893] NATURE 421 with whose pioneer’s work in British marine zoology h® _ wasin active sympathy. A devoted husband, an exemplary _ parent, a true friend, whose advice was always sound, and whose criticism was as well founded as it was frank, he passes from us in the heyday of life. His life urnishes a noble example of independent manliness, and of enthusiasm for the spread of truth and the cause of scientific advancement. Pe NOTES. We learn from the Revue Générale des Sciences that M. _ d’ Abbadie, late President of the Paris Academy of Sciences, has asked the Academy to accept a considerable gift in the name of his wife and himself. The donation consists of the Abbadia estate (Basses-Pyrénées), having an annual revenue o twenty thousand francs, and one hundred shares in the Bank of F rance, representing a capital of four hundred thousand francs and an annual income of fifteen thousand. By the deed of gift, these properties will not fall to the Academy until after the decease of the donors. Two of the principal clauses and charges of the legacy are as follows :—(1) The Academy may establish . onthe Abbadia estate any researches or laboratories, except - those devoted to vivisection. (2) An observatory must be established at Abbadia, in which a catalogue of five hundred ' thousand stars can be made, the work to be completed in 1950. ‘In order to reduce the expenses which this stipulation carries with it, the work may be confided to some religious order. The Academy has nominated a commission to examine the condi- tions of this munificent donation, and has expressed its deep gratitude to M. and Mme. d’Abbadia, It is not too much to say that this feeling is shared by all men of science, Tue following men of science have been elected Fellows of the Reale Accademia dei Lincei:—In mathematics, Prof. L. Bianchi and Dr. G. D’Ovidio; chemistry, Dr. G. Ciamician and Prof. D. Mendelejeff; botany, Profs. E. Strassburger and N. Pringsheim ; agriculture, Dr. F. Cohn. Dr. E. Bertini has been elected a correspondent in mathematics ; E. Millose- vich in astronomy; A. Abetti in mathematical and physical geography ; and O. Mattirolo in botany. _ Tur Times announces the death of Prof. M’Fadden A. Newell, Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Maryland, U.S.A. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Royal College of Belfast, and went to the United States in 1848. He was Professor of Natural Science in the Baltimore City College from 1850 to 1854, and occupied the same chair in Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, from 1854 to 1864. In 1865 he was appointed President of the Normal School of the State of Maryland, succeeding, three years later, to the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a post he held fora quarter of a century. In connection with Prof. Crury he published a series of text-books entitled the ‘* Mary- land Series,” and his Annual Reports, in twenty-five volumes, are held in high esteem, _ WE regret to record the death of Father R. P. Vines, Director of Belen Observatory, Havannah. A DISASTROUS cyclone swept northwards along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States on August 29. At Savannah, Georgia, property to the value of millions of dollars has been destroyed, and news of great loss of life and property is re- ported from Brunswick, Georgia, and further south, while the town of Tybee has been completely wrecked, It is reported ‘that the storm traced out a path marked by devastation across Georgia and South Carolina to Charlotte, in North Carolina, ‘and thence to the east coast again to Petersburg, Virginia, NO. 1244, VOL. 48] The city of Savannah presents a scene of wreck and ruin sur- passing even the effects of the great storm of August, 1881. For eight hours the wind rushed through the city with terrific force and swept down houses as if they were packs of cards. Nearly every house in the city has suffered some damage, and the streets have been rendered quite impassable by the wreckage. A ReEuTER’s telegram from New York states that a cyclone passed over that part of the Atlantic coast on August 23, in the direction of the New England States, and leftits marks over aregion around New York extending over an area of fully a thousand miles. A rainfall of 3°82 inches in twelve hours was measured, and is said to be the highest ever recorded by the local signal service, THE next meeting of the French Association for the Advance- mence of Science will be held at Caen, with M. Mascart as president. M. E. Trélat will preside over the meeting to be held at Bordeaux in 1895. Ir has been finally arranged that the Congress of the Photo- graphic Society and Affiliated Societies shall be held on October 10, 11, and 12. All the arrangements will be completed in a few days, and a full programme will be circulated as soon as possible. AN International Exhibition of Photographic Art has been organised by the Paris Photo Club, and will be held from December 10 to the end of this year. The address of the Secretary is 40 Rue des Mathurins, Paris. An international exhibition of amateur photography will be held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, on October I-31. THE annual general meeting of the members of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers will be opened on Wednesday, September 6th, in the rooms of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow. A number of papers on mining subjects will then be read, and on the two following days excursions will be made to collieries, iron and steel works, and other places of interest. THE Indiana Academy of Science has decided to make a biological survey of the State of Indiana, and Profs. L. M. Underwood, C. H. Eigenmann, and V. F. Marsters have been appointed as organisers and directors of it. The first work will be the preparation of a complete bibliography of materials bearing on the botany, zoology, and paleontology of Indiana, to be published by the Academy. When this has been done, it will be possible to discuss the fauna and flora, its extent, dis- tribution, biological relations, and economic importance, and thus accomplish the main purpose of the survey. Mr. J. F. JAMEs gives in Sczence a description of the ** Scientific Alliance of New York,” instituted at the end of last year, and having for its chief object the establishment of a centre where knowledge of what is being done in one society is conveyed to all the rest. Much is to be gained by this kind of cooperation, both by science and individual workers. Already the Alliance has been joined by the New York Academy of Science, Torrey Botanical Club, New York Microscopical Society, Linnean Society of New York, New York Mineral- ogical Club, New York Mathematical Society, and the New York Section of the American Chemical Society, each of these . societies being represented by its president and two members upon the council of the Alliance. At the opening meeting the president deprecated the views of so-¢alled practical men in whose eyes science ‘‘is worth only what it will bring when offered in the form of dynamos, telephones, electric-lights, dye- stuffs, mining machinery, and other merchantable wares.” The need of endowment for research in the region of pure science was pointed out, reference being made to the German Univer- 422 NATURE [Avcusr 31, 1893 sities, where the ‘professors are expected to do original work, leaving the teaching to instructors. The second meeting was held in March, 1893, when the report of a committee, recom- mending the establishment of an endowment fund of 25,000 dollars for the purpose of encouraging original research, was adopted. The fund is to be known as the “‘ John Strong New- berry Fund,” and will be used for furthering researches in geology, paleontology, botany, and zoology. All information relating to it or to the Alliance can be obtained from Dr. N. L. Britton, Columbia College, New York. . THE question as to whether amber was exported from the far east to Europe is discussed by Herr A. B. Meyer in a paper read before the Isis Society of Dresden. There seems to be little doubt that some specimens now sold at Rangoon are of Baltic origin, as proved by the amount of succinic acid cen- tained in them. But there are, on the other hand, many authorities for the early derivation of amber from India and especially Burma. There are four passages in Pliny giving India as the native country of amber, and ancient Greek authors, especially Sophocles, testify to its origin in eastern India. It would be very strange if the Pheenicians, while shipping ivory, peacock feathers, tin, jewels, and spices from ‘‘* Ophir,” had left behind a highly valued, abundant, striking, and easily transportable article like amber. A specimen of Burmite, as the Indian amber is now usually called, from the Indian Museum, Calcutta, gave 2 per cent. of succinic acid ; another specimen, analysed by Dr. Helm, gave off none. The speci- mens examined by the latter ‘‘had frequently embedded in them small particles of decayed wood and bark,” which recalls a passage in Archelaos, who says that the Indian amber often has pieces of pine bark adhering toit. The Indian origin of much of the amber acquired by the Mediterranean nations in ancient times appears, therefore, to be placed beyond doubt. It is, indeed, probable that Baltic amber did not become a regular article of commerce before the first century of the Christian era, WHILST our knowledge concerning the behaviour of bacteria in animal tissues is daily receiving fresh additions, but little is known on the relatively unimportant although interesting question of their deportment in vegetable tissues. Much un- certainty exists as to whether bacteria are or are not normally present in healthy vegetable tissues, but the most recent investigations appear to show that they are absent, although they may obtain easy access through minute abrasures, and retain their vitality for a considerable time, and in some cases even multiply. This view is supported by Russell, who has recently presented an interesting dissertation to the John Hopkins University on ‘‘ Bacteria in their Relation to Vegetable Tissue.” A large number of examinations were made of healthy plant tissues, but in no case were bacteria isolated from them, although in wounded tissues they were frequently found. Ordinary saprophytic bacterial forms were inoculated into the healthy tissues of various plants, and were identified after several days, thus the 2. /u/eus was found in large numbers in ~ the stem of a geranium after forty days from the date of its introduction. Moreover, nearly as many bacilli were obtained 1o millimetres above the point as at the seat of inoculation, 1850 being found at the latter place, and 1764 above. In all the experiments, although the distance at which bacteria were found varied from 30-50 mm, above, in no case were they identified at more than 2-3mm. below the point of inocula- tion. Russell suggests that this upward distribution of the yerms may be due to food materials being more abundant in the rapidly growing apex, whilst smaller resistance is offered to their passage in the less developed cellulose walls than in the more matured cell-membrane of the older tissue. Moreover, as NO. 1244. VOL. 45] _ method of mixtures has led to some ingenious contri the bacteria were definitely located in the interior of the c and no opening of any kind could be determined, he that they have the power, by means of a ferment exci work their way from cell to cell without causing a p rupture. THE August number of the Journal of the Royal Horticull Society contains several interesting papers, among ¥ Prof. F, W. Oliver’s second report on the effects of pe upon cultivated plants. The report deals especially with physiological aspect of the question, the action of fog plants, both by reduction of light and atmospheric impuri being described in detail, The Rev. G. Henslow gives results of experiments made with a view of determining th effects of growing plants under glasses of various colours, H observations show that during germination it is generally im material whether the seeds are subjected to light or not, 1 the case of a variety of larkspur, however, light was. be positively injurious. No coloured light, or combi lights, which was not of the quality of pure colourless. gave such good results as ordinary daylight. A comp made between plants growing under ordinary window-glas in the open showed that the glass exercises a deletereous due possibly to an excess of heat by which respiration is s lated and assimilation reduced. It is suggested that in « to reduce ‘‘scorching’” some means must be used reduces the heat rays without lessening the whole amo white light. : WE have received from Dr. P. Beeghaicincnlenel meteorological observations at Bremen for the year 1892. _ station is one of considerable importance, both on ac its outfit with self-recording instruments, and even with di cate recording instruments for some of the elements, so avoid any possible gap in the continuity of the records, and; on account of the long continuance of observations. Th volume of this series, for the year 1890, contained the result observations taken since the year 1803, and we see { Hellmann’s Repertorium that observations were taken at B men as early as 1795. The. work contains hourly reat and, in addition, observations arranged for three hours dai in accordance with the international scheme, together curves showing the diurnal range for each month and f¢ year ; it also comprises rainfall values for four other stati phenological observations for eleven years ; the whole a very complete and creditable compilation. In Wiedemann’s Annalen, No. 8, Herr W. Voigt | further account of the progress of his attempt to determin greatest possible number of physical constants of the sa pieces of metal subjected to the least mechanical tion. The pieces were carefully cast and sawed into where necessary. It is not surprising that the constants | obtained differ in many cases from those found in th drawn and rolled metals, but it seems that the objec covering the laws of the numerical relations between th constants render it highly desirable that the sub be investigated in what may be called their most natural The constants recently dealt with are thermal dilat: mal pressure, and specific heats at constant pressure respectively. The determination of the specific heat minimising the errors which are apt to influence this. delicate operation. The outer vessel of the Neumann for heating the body under examination was made mové instead of the inner, thus enabling it to be refilled without: moving it from the stand. The loss of liquid due to the ing produced by the metal falling into the calorimet avoided by throwing it into a metal cage just in contact w AucustT 31,1893] NATURE 423 id, which was: then lowered about, halfway towards the om. The liquid was stirred by a small turbine, and the thermometer was so arranged that it only came into contact e with liquid which had ascended from the metal, and then had been drawn down through the turbine tube, thus giving a very rapid rise and gradual fall of temperature, as indicated by the bes thermometer. The scale was read by a small microscope pro- § vided with two wires touching the scale, the meniscus being brought midway between the two, This simple arrangemen % has the effect of eliminating all parallactic errors. THE Comité International des Poids et Mesures has.issued a volume containing the proceedings.of meetings held during 1892. M. L, Chappuis contributes, to the volume a report of an investigation of the thermal expansion of water by the weight- _ thermometer method. He has made two complete determina- tions, one between o° and 42°'4 C., and the other- between ° and 36°°6.C. The results show that the expansion of water from 0° to 40° is very closely given by the following expression —0°84 — 66°573253¢ — 8°79893922 - 7°892005 x 10°%Zs, + 57155549 x 10474 M, C, E, Guillaume hrs prepared a report on the metals employed in the construction of standard scales, in which he recommends nickel as the best substance. _ CoLoneL WATERHOUSE has been making experiments upon the electrical action of light upon silver and its haloid com- pounds, and communicated his results to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in May last. His arrangement was such that one plate could be exposed to light while another with which it was in electrical connection was screened from actinic rays. From the experiments it appears that, as a general rule, sunlight has an oxidising or dissolving effect on silver, whether in acid or alkaline solutions, the exposed plates being nearly _ always positive, and consequently forming the anode of the voltaic couple. With solutions decomposed by silver, and forming sensitive compounds with it, the action is variable. _ Mr. P. JANET, in the current number of the Yournal de Physique, describes the methods he has adopted for experi- ments on electric oscillations of comparatively long period, robvo Second and thereabouts. Ilis object more particularly is to obtain the actual form of the curves of intensity and electro-motive force, rather than to find the period and logar- ithmic decrement. With a modified form of interruptor of M. Mouton’s he is able to read accurately to. ,5455 second, or even less. A mica-condenser forms part of his arrangement, and he was incidentally led to make experiments on the ‘hysteresis and dielectric viscosity’’ of the mica, from the study. of certain variations which he found in the capacity of the condenser. He sums up his results on this point thus:—‘‘ In a condenser with solid dielectrics, under the influence of rapid [electric] oscillations, there is a lagging of the charges behind the differences of potential; or, in other words, for equal differ- ences of potential, the charges are smaller with increasing than with decreasing potentials.” A new and apparently accurate method for the determination of the coefficient of self- induction is also given as a secondary result of the experiments. _ In the same journal M. R. Malagoli gives a summary of his theoretical investigations on electrolysis by alternating currents, the results of which agree with the experimental determinations of M. Mengarini. He concludes that the necessary and suffi- cient condition under which electrolysis by alternating currents is possible, is that the quantity of electricity passing through the voltameter during a single alternation of the current must be at least twice that which is necessary for the production of the maximum polarisation of the voltameter. Electrolytic production ceases when these two quantities become equal, and the amount of the electrolyte decomposed is proportional _ to their difference, NO. 1244, VOL. 48] AT the meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences on August14, MM. Delahaye and Boutille showed an ingenious fire- alarm. A hollow ball of aluminium, 15 to 20 mm, in diameter, is supported at one.end of an arm, with a counterpoise at the other end, the whole being in equilibrium at the ordinary temperature and pressure of the air. The apparatus is pur- posely made not sensitive enough to show the ordinary natural changes of pressure, but if the specific gravity of the air be- comes diminished considerably, either from a rise of tempera- ture or an admixture of coal gas in sufficient quantity to become explosive, the balance is destroyed, and the ball in falling completes an electric circuit hy which an alarm bell is set ringing until the normal state of affairs is again established. SiR CHARLEs Topp has issued a report on the rainfall in South Australia and the northern territory during 1892, with the weather characteristics of each month. GusTAv FIscHER, of Jena, has recently published second and revised editions of two well-known books—Prof. E. Stras- burger’s ‘* Kleine Botanische Brictioums,/? and Prof, Richard Hertwig’s ‘‘ Lehrbuch der Zoologie.” Messrs. Crossy LocKwooD AND Son will publish in September a.comprehensive handbook on ‘* Practical Building Construction,” by Mr. J. P. Allen, lecturer at the Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne. The work will be illustrated by about 1,000 diagrams. WITH reference to the article on the ‘‘ Position of Scientific Experts’ in our issue of the 17th inst. a correspondent informs us that for some years it has been legal for a judge to select an expert to report to the Court upon a particular matter in dis- pute, and this practice is occasionally followed, The mode of selection and of appointment, and the status of the official English expert, are therefore almost identical with those of his German equivalent. Tue Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society visited the Marine Biological Station at Port Erin on August 14, and Prof, Herdman, F.R.S., the director of the station, gave the members an address upon the objects and methods of marine biology. We understand that it is intended to con- struct fish hatcheries at Port Erin, and to wall in several of the creeks round the coast for the preservation of mane fish until they reach maturity. An ‘Electrical Engineer’s Price-Book,” edited by Mr. H, J. Dowsing, has been published by Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co. Itcontains a large amount of information on the com- mercial aspect of electrical work, and should be of great assistance, not only to electrical engineers, but also to borough engineers, architects, railway contractors, and local authorities who desire to be informed upon matters connected with elec- trical installations, BRAZIL produces, on the average, about 360,000 tons of coffee per annum, that is, about four-fifths of the whole amount con- sumed in the world. Since the State of Sao Paulo alone pro- duces one-half of this quantity, an illustrated pamphlet by Sc iior Adolpho A. Pinto, one of the Commissioners of the State at the World’s Columbian Exposition, would be expected to contain anaccurate account of coffee cultivation. The little pamphlet justifies the expectation. Every one interested in coffee-growing in general, and in Sao Paulo in particular, will find it well worth reading. Ir was generally admitted by those competent to judge that the display of scientific instruments at the Paris Exposition of 1889 was inferior to that of 1878. There were, however, afew striking exhibits scattered in different classes in an unaccount- able manner, Mr, A. Lawrence Rotch was appointed to report iy Poe NATURE | Aucust 31, 189 upon the meteorological instruments at the exhibition, and though there was a difficulty in comparing objects in the same class, owing to their being distributed over an immense area, it was satisfactorily overcome. Meteorologists will be glad to know that Mr. Rotch’s report has been extracted from the second volume of the Reports of the U.S. Commissioners to the Universal Exposition at Paris, and is now issued separately. THE report on the operations of the Department of Land Records and Agriculture, Madras Presidency, for the official year 1891-92 has been received. From it we learn that ex- periments made by the Madras railway companies in the use of eucalyptus leaves to prevent incrustation in locomotive boilers have turned out very satisfactory, and are therefore being continued. The chief feature of the year was the comparative immunity from serious disease which the cattle enjoyed. The total reported losses (87,000) were only fifty-eight per cent. of the average losses, and fifteen per cent. less than in 1890-91. The iosses from snake-bite decreased from 2,698 to 1,751, and the decrease was spread over the whole Presidency, except Ganjam and Vizagapatam. Losses by wild animals also de- creased by 345 head. No reason is given to account for this singular reduction. THE Royal Society of Tasmania issued in June last the re- ports of its proceedings in 1892, and the volume has just reached us. Among other papers printed in full occurs one by Mr. G, M. Thomson on Tasmanian crustacea, with descriptions of new species, and another on new species of Tasmanian aranez, by Mr. A. T. Urquhart. The Rev. F. R. M. Wilson contributes a paper on the climate of Eastern Tasmania, indi- cated by its lichen flora, in which he gives facts which ‘‘sug- gest to the medical faculty what probably their experience has already proved, that the climate of East Gippsland and the eastern coast of Tasmania must be pre-eminently beneficial to invalids. Lichenological observations indicate that both of these places are favoured by a much milder winter, as well as a cooler summer, than the other parts of their respective colonies.” Mr. Wilson also gives a description of Tasmanian lichens, and Mr. John Shirley a list of those now known. Dr. D. S. JorpAN showed in 1889 that, in every case where the waters of Yellowstone Park were destitute of fish, the cause was topographical, that is to say, there was some physical barrier to the entrance of fishes from below. This being so, it seemed possible to stock these waters permanently with game- fish, so the U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries sent Prof. S. A. Forbes to Yellowstone Park in 1890 to investigate the variety and abundance of the lower animal life of the fishless waters, since upon this the fishes introduced would chiefly have to depend for food. Prof. Forbes has prepared his ‘‘ Prelimin- ary Report on the Aquatic Invertebrata Fauna of the Yellow- stone National Park, Wyoming, and of the Flathead Region of Montana.” In it he presents a summary review of the inver- tebrate life of the waters of Wyoming and Montana in the mid- summer season, with descriptions and determinations of such new or particularly abundant kinds as have thus far been made out. A detailed discussion of the results will be published as soon as the mass of material collected during the expeditions has been examined. THE organo-metallic compounds of magnesium form the sub- ject of a communication to the current number of Ziedig’s Annalen by Dr. Fleck of Tiibingen. The di-methyl, di-ethyl and di-propyl compounds of magnesium were obtained by Dr. Lohr in the same laboratory in 1890. Dr. Fleck has continued the work, and now describes the di-phenyl compound and gives further details concerning the mode of preparation and pro perties of the fatty alkyls above mentioned. The magnesium NO. 1244, VOL. 48] alkyls are of a somewhat similar nature to the well-kno’ methide and ethide. They differ, however, in the natu certain of their reactions, and their chemical activity is conside ably superior to that of the zinc alkyls, which have hitherto b regarded as exceptionally active substances. Not only are magnesium compounds spontaneously inflammable in th but the methyl compound was described by Dr. Léhr as ing spontaneously and burning in a very beautiful m carbon dioxide gas, being capable of extracting the oxygen its combination with carbon. The three fatty alkyls are prepared by the action of the alkyl iodides upon magni amalgam. When an attempt, however, is made to prepa diphenyl compound by heating in a closed and previou exhausted tube a quantity of magnesium amalgam and b benzene, instead of obtaining magnesium diphenyl decomp occurs, and the resulting product is merely a mixture of bron of magnesium and mercury with dipheny] itself (CoH). Fleck has at last succeeded in preparing magnesium dip by heating a mixture of magnesium filings and mercury dipher Hg(C,H;)2, within a narrow range of temperature. About t grams of mercury diphenyl and a little more than the calculat quantity of magnesium in fine powder are placed in a tube soft glass, which is then exhausted by means of the air and sealed. Upon heating the tube and contents to : violent reaction suddenly occurs, with production ofa volui white mass occupying at least three times the space of original mixture. Above 210° this white substance com to carbonise, so that the tube is maintained for four or five at a temperature of 200—210°, not exceeding the latter | The product is spontaneously inflammable in air, so th necessary to open the tube under benzene. Any exce mercury diphenyl is dissolved out by warming with b over a water bath, the residue is then treated with a mi: ether and benzene, in which alone of all the organic sc tested magnesium diphenyl is soluble ; upon decantation | the residual amalgam and evaporation of the clear li stream of nitrogen, pure magnesium diphenyl is obtained grayish-white solid. Analyses of the product agree w formula Mg(CgH;).. MAGNESIUM diphenyl, like the dimethyl, diethyl and di compounds, reacts in a most violent manner with wate: when the substance is first covered with ether, and t pieces of ice are slowly added, the reaction still occurs explosively. Magnesium hydrate and benzene are the of the reaction as indicated by the equation Mg(CgH;). + 2H,0 = Mg(OH), + 2CgHy. Magnesium diphenyl is consequently extremely hyg: attracting moisture from the air with great rapidity when with a layer of benzene. When freely exposed to the < once burns to magnesium oxide and a carbonaceous ma however, the compound is covered with benzene and to perfectly dry air for some days, an oxy-compound, Mg is formed as a brown solid. Bromine reacts with gr to form bromides of magnesium and phenyl, even when | diluted with ether, and so does not form an interm pound, a ' corresponding to the well-known zinc iodo-ethide, I zn CyH Indeed, this incapability of forming mixed halogen alkyls, ow to greater activity, is one of the most characteristic distinctt between the magnesium and the zinc alkyls generally. Avcust 31, 1893] NATURE 425 ide, C,H;.CHCl,, reacts with magnesium diphenyl in an resting manner, forming without extraneous application of triphenylmethane, (C,H;),CH, and magnesium chloride. _ Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth,—The Actinotrocha \arva of Phoronis has now made its appearance in “the floating fauna. The Radiolaria mentioned last week, dn still present, have become much less numerous ; the tow-nets have this week been crowded with RAzzoselenia, The - Siphonophore Muggiea atlantica is abundant, and the medusz Saphenia mirabilis and Amphinema Titania, with swarms of small Odeliz, have also been observed, The Nauplii of Sacculina are plentiful, and among Mollusca the larve of Aigirus punctilucens and the larva Cirropteron semilunare of M. Sars (possessing a four-lobed velum) have been observed. The Polyclad Leftoplana tremellaris is now breeding ; and young metamorphosed specimens of the Opisthobranch Oscanius membranaceus have been taken with the dredge on the bottom . THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Bonnet Monkey (AZacacus sinicus) from India, presented by Mrs. H. Leavitt: a Blau-bok (Cephalophus pygmaeus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. _J-SE. Matcham ; a Yellow Baboon (Cynocephalus baboucn) from West Africa, a Banded Gymnogene (Po/yboroides typicus) from East Africa, a White-necked Stork (Disswra episcopus) from East Africa, presented by Mr. Thomas E. Remington; a European Tree Frog (Hyla. arborea) from Europe, two Fire- bellied Toads (Bombinator igncus) from Europe, and a Spotted | Salamander (Sa/amandra maculosa) from Europe, presented by Mr. Hood; eleven Garden Dormice (Myoscus quercinus) from Spain, forty-eight Glossy Ibises (Plegadis falcinellus) from Spain, and four Marbled Ducks (Amas angustirostris) from Spain, presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; a Rose-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) from Moluccas, presented by Lady Sudeley ; two Ypecaha Rails (Aramides ypecatra) from South America, presented by Mr. F. H. Chalk, a Boa (Boa \ constrictor) from South America, and two Great Bustards (Ofis |‘arda) from Spain, deposited; and a Wapiti Deer (Cervus \canadensis) born in the Menagerie. . OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Honorary Distincrions.—From the current number of \L’ Astronomie we gather that M. Janssen, director of the Observatory of Meudon, has been made a Commander of the egion of Honour. Messrs. Callandreau and Bigourdan, fassistant-astronomers at the Paris Observatory, have received {he distinctions of Officers of Public Instruction, and MM. ‘Camille Flammarion and Jordan and Hermite, of the Institute, rave received from the King of Greece the Cross of the Com- mander of the Order of the Saviour. A Meteor.—An observer, writing to us from Westgate-on- Sea, gives the following account of a meteor seen there on the evening of August 27 :—‘‘ At about 8.40 p.m. I saw a very brilliant meteor here. The trail, as far as I could judge, must ve commenced somewhere about the star 8 Sagittee, but the nost brilliant part of it was accurately noted as lying between ‘© points, ‘one being half-way between a and y Aquilz and the ther being about a third of the distance (from ) between 7 ind 8 of the same constellation. The meteor may be described js ‘‘rapid,” and its direction of motion was south. The most riking feature ofthis observation was the length of time (about ‘x minutes) the trail remained visible in the heavens, and its’ i bsequent change of shape. At first it appeared of a bluish- thite colour and was very bright, its path describing practically | straight line ; but about four minutes later it had dim ned very bnsiderably (the same colour being maintained), but the trail as nolonger straight but distinctly wzvy, giving one the idea at the meteoritic dust particles must have encountered sone "jit currents travelling at right angles to its length.” ‘J NO. 1244, voL. 48] A Bequest To .AsTRONOMY.—By the will of Mr. Arthur Leake, late of Ashby, Ross, Tasmania, a sum of £10,000 was put by for the purpose of founding a school for the practical teaching of astronomy in one of the Australian universities, colleges, or leading schools. It was stipulated that a part of such teaching should consist, of lectures illustrated with dia- grams and instruments, and the sum of £3000 could be spent in purchasing the necessary equipment. From the proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (issued June, 1893) it appears that there is a little difficulty in determining the best means of using the bequest. Mr. H.C. Russell, F.R.S., C.M.G., has drawn up a scheme for the proposed school which has much to commend it. He points out that Hobart offers special advantages of climate and position for the Leake Observatory, and suggests that £1800 should be spent in purchasing a photographic astro- nomical telescope, to be used for work in connection with the photographic chart. It is proposed that the University of Tasmania shall establish a school of astronomy and the observa- tory, and that the lecturer in mathematics and physics shall also teach astronomy, and have general control and direction: of the observatory, for which he should be paid from the Leake | fund £100 per annum in addition to his salary from the uni- versity. An observatory assistant is provided in the scheme with a salary of £200 perannum. The sum of £50 a year is set down for photographic plates, chemicals, &c., bringing the total annual expenditure up to £350, which is the interest on 47000 from the Leake estate. When Mr. Russell’s paper was read, in August, 1892, an opinion was expressed that it was unnecessary to ‘‘ import an astronomical expert in order to give the instruction in astronomy, and to superintend the observa- tory,” and that the duties of the observer might be c»mbined with those of the Government meteorologist. With this feeling the following resolution was passed :—‘* The Royal Society of Tasmania having placed itself in communication with the Council of the University with the view of formulating a scheme for securing the benefit of the Leake bequest to the colony of Tasmania, the Premier be requested to refrain from making any permanent appointment to the office of meteor- ologist pending the result of such conference,” GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. Dr. NANSEN has telegraphed from Yugor Strait, at the entrance to the Kara Sea, on August 3, the message reaching the Vard6 telegraph office on August 23. A good voyage had been made to Nova Zembla, the only unpleasant episodes being the occurrence of fogs and contrary winds. On the 27th ice was encountered in lat. 69° 50’ N., long. 50° E., about ten miles north-east of the Island of Kolgueff. Dr. Nansen forced his way through the ice, the /ram proving a splendid ship for the purpose, and reached Yugor Strait on the 29th, making a run of 250 miles in two days. The coal-ship, which was to have been waiting at Yugor Strait, had not arrived, but having suffi- cient coal on board Dr. Nansen intended to sail into the Kara Sea on August 3, rather than risk delay by waiting. He took on board ‘‘thirty-four splendid sledge-dogs.” Little ice was reported in the southern part of the Kara Sea, a southerly wind having driven the pack northward. If the ice does not turn out worse than reported, Nansen hoped to reach the New Siberian Islands before the end of August, and if he does so he considers success almost certain. The Fra will touch at the Olonetz River, near the Lena delta, if there is time, and send farther news. THE geography of South America has recently been receiving great attention from German travellers and officials in the various South American republics. In a recent number of Petermann's Mitteilungen, Richard Payer describes a journey from Lima across the Andes and down the valley of the Ucayali tothe Amazon, In the course of it he visited an interesting Tyrolese colony at Pozuzo, which he found in the course of extinction, after thirty years’ hard struggle on the part of the colonists to maintain a footing in their remote and isolated set- tlement, Dr. Brakebusch has from time to time puwlished portions of the material hehas been collecting for an exhaustive account of the physical geography of the Argentine. He divides the country from the crest of the Andes to the, valley of the Parana into successive zones—snowy summits and cliffs, high- level sand-dunes formed from glacial débris, screes, alpine pastures, low-level sand-dunes, salt flats, forests, and pampas. 426 NATURE ‘[Aveusr 31, 18 Dr. Hettner has been at work on the Andes of Colombia, and Dr. Theodore Wolf has published a magnificent mono- graph (in Spanish) on the geography and geology of Ecuador, accompanied by the best map yet produced of the country. Dr. Tippenhauer has written a fine work on the physical geography of Haiti, and many other papers by German geographers have appeared within the last few months. Sir WILLIAM Maccrecor, for the British Government, and the officers of the Dutch war-vessel Fava, have rectified the frontier between British and Dutch New Guinea. The former boundary was the 14Ist meridian, and the new boundary, where it cuts the coast, isa stream, chosen to furnish a recognisable border-line, in 141° 1’ 40’ E. and 9° 7’ 40” S. On August 6 the new ship-canal across the Isthmus of Corinth was formally opened, thus completing a plan which was pro- jected by Periandros about 6co B.c., and actually commenced by Nero, who was, however, compelled to abandon the work, in 68 A.D. The canal is not quite four mile< long, and will effect a saving of 120 miles in the passage from the Adriatic to the Aigean. Two new towns have been planned at the entrances to the canal, which will be named Poseidonia and Isthmia, Mr. F. C. Setous, the recognised authority on the ex- ploration of Mashonaland, has heen induced to return there at very short notice, on account of the threatening attitude of the powerful Matabele chief, Lo Bengula, and the consequent risk of interrvption in the development of the country. An important work on Mashonaland, by Mr. Selous, will be pub- lished immediately. Mr. R. M. W. Swan, who, with Mr. Theodore Bent, sur- veyed the ruins of Zimbabwe, is at present engaged in a sys- tematic survey of other groups of ruins in South Africa, and he reports the discovery of a temple on the Limpopo, ‘oriented ” to the setting sun at the solstice. Mr. W. H. Cozens Harpy, the Oxford geographical scholar, is now engaged in carrying out his explorations in Eastern Mont- enegro, one of the least known parts of Europe. The work of his predecessor, Mr. Grundy, on the Battlefield of Platzea, is on the point of publication as a supplementary paper of the Royal Geographical Society. THE BEAVER CREEK METEORITE. OME of the readers of NaTURE will no doubt be interested in a short account of a meteoric fall which occurred recently in British Columbia, and was noted in these columns on August 1o. For the circumstances in connection with the fall, and the finding of fragments of the meteorite, 1 am indebted to Mr. James Hislop —a former student of this University, and a most trustworthy observer—and also to a letter by Mr. E. L. McNair in the Spokane Review of June 2. Both gentlemen were members of a party of engineers engaged upon a survey for the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway Com- pany on Beaver Creek, about eleven miles north and five miles east of where the Columbia crosses the international boundary line. About four o’clock on the afternoon of May 26 a series of sharp reports was heard, following one another in quick suc- cession, and apparently occupying in all about half a minute. The first report was quite loud and sharp, and each succeeding one less so, as if coming from a greater distance. Following the reports was a whizzing sound, such as might be supposed to be produced by a body moving rapidly through the air. At the time of the ‘‘explosion” a man named Gerling was walking along the Beaver Creek trail. At first he thought that the noise was thunder, but the whizzing sound puzzled him, and on looking upward to.see if he could tell whence it came, it grew louder and louder until a stone struck the ground not far from where he stood. He searched for it, but without success, as the place was thickly overgrown with bushes. Some distance from this a fragment fell within fifty feet of a man named Edward McLeod. It buried itself in the earth, but was dug out, and found to weigh four or five pounds. On the following day (May 27), in the course of his topographical work, Mr. Hislop came upon a freshly-made hole in the ground into which the loose earth had fallen, and on following it down to a depth of three feet from the surface a portion of the meteorite weighing about twenty-five pounds was discovered. The hole made an angle of 58° with the horizontal, and its course showed that the mass had come in a direction S. 60° E. (true meridian), NO. 1244, VoL. 48] The writer is indebted to Mr. Hislop for a portion of and a preliminary examination fully establishes its me character. 4 3 The fresh fracture is light grey in colour and h touch, the crust being brown and dull. The chondri is distinctly seen without a Jens, though the ‘‘c mostly under a millimetre in diameter. Examinati section with the microscope showed the presence enstatite, iron, troilite, and chromite (?). The iron is the form of little shining grains and strings. On treat mi hydrochloric acid the powder gelatinises readily (olivi evolves hydrogen sulphide. By means of an ordinary shoe magnet some of the powder was separated into and a non-magnetic portion. The former amounte 23°5 per cent. of the whole, and consisted maiuly of n which, however, carried with it a portion of the stituents. ‘ ia A partial analysis of the magnetic material ga’ Tron ae bee tes om stabreatip Nickel (including cobal:) i ee Insoluble in hydrochloric acid ... Sar Soluble silica... os ak eb: Magnesia, &c., by difference ... a 00). al Tf all the iron and nickel present be regarded _ nick the percentage of nickel (with cobalt) is 8°73. No doub ever, a little of the iron was derived from olivine from troilite. ' rs The writer hopes to publish before long the re hurried and more detailed examination of the s mé possession, B. J. HARRI SPANGOLITE, A REMARKABLE C MINERAL. a AMONG the valuable Cornish minerals from the collection which have recently been u d trustees of the British Museum } is one specimen which immediate notice, since it proves to be a recently di mineral of which only one other example is known and that from a foreign country. i me The mineral belongs to the fine series had ore 5 | St. Day mines, which are chiefly arsenates phosph: among these, while it exceeds the remainder in ‘ terest, it is inferior to none in beauty. The specimen, about the size of a hen’s egg, co granular gossany quartz carrying on both sides a litt cuprite, which is covered and replaced by green products—chrysocolla, malachite, liroconite, and together with a little chessylite ; especially cons the bright green crystals of liroconite and indigo , clinoclase. ame But among these, dispersed upon both sides of are numerous brilliant and translucent cryst emerald-green colour, which at once strike the thing unusual. Their form is a hexagonal pris an acute hexagonal pyramid having the apex -single bright plane; and one cannot call to” mineral having precisely this habit. pi A minute group of crystals was detached and- Mr. Prior and myself with the following result belongs to the rhombohedral system, the pyra 53° 7/; it has a perfect basal cleavage ; it is fringence being strong and negative ; the specific mined by suspending a fragment in solution of i tungstate (Rohrbach’s solution), is 3°07 ; it is insolubl but readily soluble in acids ; and is found to be a hye phate and chloride of copper and aluminium, 1 a very remarkable and unusual composition, bu of both aluminium and chlorine is quite unmistakal In all the above characters the substance is spangolite, a new copper mineral which was describ S. L. Penfield in 1890 (American Fournal o » 370). : . The resemblance between the two specimens to the circumstances of their discovery ; the orig Narury, vol. xviii. p. 357. NATURE 427 s found in a collection of minerals where it had attracted n° ention until Mr. Spang obtained the specimen and brought ‘it to the notice of Mr. Penfield ; the present specimen has ‘probably remained unnoticed in the Cornish collection at Caer- s for a large number of years. é local collection from which the American specimen was tined belonged to a man living near Tombstone, Arizona, had gathered together his minerals within a radius of about o hundred miles, so that although the exact locality and le of occurrence are unknown, it is almost impossible that this specimen can be also Cornish. : __ From the typical character and appearance of the associated ase and liroconite the British Museum specimen (although no label or history is attached to it) can be pronounced to be without the least doubt from the St. Day district, near Redruth, in Cornwall. ‘The American specimen is described as ‘‘a rounded mass of impuce cuprite which was mostly covered with hexagonal crystals of spangolite, associated with a few crystals of azurite and some slaaiee prismatic crystals ofa copper mineral containing chlorine, probably atacamite ” ; it therefore differs considerably from the Cornish specimen as regards the associated minerals. The only apparent difference between the spangolite on the two imens is in the habit of the crystals, which in the American mineral are short prisms with bevilled edges and a large base, quite unlike the acute Cornish pyramids in aspect. | The pyramid angle found by Penfield is 53° 114’, and the specific jgravity 3141. Penfield further made some interesting observa- tions concerning the etched figures of spangolite ; he describes \and figures certain beautiful triangular markings produced upon \the basal plane by the solvent action of very dilute acids. We jhave found that precisely the same characteristic figures are engraved upon a cleavage flake of the Cornish mineral when it \is immersed for a few minutes in dilute acid. The American crystals attain considerable dimensions ; the largest had a length of 54 mm. and a breadth of 8 mm., and by sacrificing half the specimen Penfield was able to obtain more | 3 grams (!) of pure material for analysis. The Cornish ‘crys‘als are not more than 24 mm. in length and $ mm. in dth, and it will be difficult to obtain sufficient material for complete analysis, unless other specimens can be found. This s unfortunate, for the composition is so peculiar that, although enfield’s analysis is without doubt perfectly reliable, it would fave been interesting to confirm his formula from a new locality. 1! eliminary examination serves, however, not only to fstablish the identity of the mineral, but also to prove the most \mportant point—that the aluminiam and chlorine are essential onstituents. The formula deduced by Penfield is Cg AICISO,9.9H,O. | which, as he remarks, the aluminium is just sufficient to satisfy he quantivalence of the total acids, thus :— (AICI)SO,.6Cu(HO),.3H,0. The mineral is therefore closely related to connellite, a very }re sulphate and chloride of copper also found in the St. Day rict, which, moreover, it somewhat resembles in appearance, javing the same black colour when viewed by reflected light one. The colour by transmitted light, together with the per- _ basal cleavage are, however, sufficient to distinguish ngolite from all known minerals ; further, the basal plane is } common on spangolite as it is rare on connellite. jIt is to be hoped that search will be made among old col- ions and upon copper ores from St. Day for further specimens this interesting mineral. H. A. Miers, DESULPHURISATION OF IRON. FE elimination of sulphur from iron and the chemical re- actions, whereby sulphur, in the presence of powerful basic hiierials, is removed from crude iron, has recently attracted iderable attention, There are many reasons forthis ; pure ores become comparatively scarce, and to some extent the same y be said of the fuel or coke used in the process of smelting. hid even if this be not strictly applicable in all districts where t: manufacture ofiron is pursued, yet it cannot be gainsaid that gessive competition, with concurrent low prices, have had an ijuence in rendering the strictest economy in the manufacture NO. 1244, VOL. 48] i absolutely necessary, and thus in a measure preventing the free use of pure high-priced materials. I may even go further and assert that under favourable condi- tions, that is, as regards general manufacturing expenses, local- isation of plant, &c., the cost of pure good materials, unquestionably suitable for smelting purposes, may become quite prohibitive. In numerous instances manufacturers have therefore been compelled to use cheaper fuel and ores falling within the margin of economic working. At this point, how- ever, other fresh difficulties have to be combated ; for when the problem of the production ofiron and steel at a reasonable rate has been solved, it is too often found that the metal thus manu- factured fails to meet demanded requirements. _ It is often the case that when iron thus produced is converted into steel,a want of uniformity in quality can be distinctly traced throughout the manufactured product. Though the steel can hardly be termed bad, nevertheless, as a general rule, it compares unfavourably pid the metal smelted from purer ores with good fuel or coke. The causes tending to the production of this inferior metal or steel are well known, and may be summed up in a few words. (1) The use of inferior coke in the blast furnace is at once a cause of deterioration, for the heat is less intense, and this tends to the production of a low grade iron. (2) It is evident that the use of inferior cheaper ore causes a further deterioration in quality, whilst any attempt to remedy this by lightening the furnace burden of ore—in other words, using a greater quantity of coke—is, in many instances, counter- balanced by the inevitable additional impurities charged, Ze. sulphur and phosphorus, and other additional incombustible matter or ash. It follows as a matter of course that the blast furnace can only work in this direction within a very narrow limit, either plus or minus attempts to limit the quantity of coke used resulting, as before said, in the production of low grade iron. On the other hand, an increased quantity of fuel with the use of inferior ore increases the total amount of impurities. The working limit on either side is soon reached, and any further attempts at improvement either way become simply use- less. Certainly, very highly heated air or blast might to some extent obviate some of the difficulties, but as in modern practice this is already thoroughly carried out, the employment of a higher temperature of blast would appear to be practically im- possible, and it is very likely that the attempted use of abnor- mally heated blast or air would entail other serious practical difficulties. This is the common experience of those engaged in the manu- facture of iron and steel, more especially in blast furnace smelting operations, showing that under the unfavourable con- ditions before mentioned, it is practically impossible to produce a high-class iron containing the minimum percentage of sulphur and phosphorus together, with the requisite quantities of silicon and graphite necessary to ensure the production of good steel. Thanks to the pan staking investigations of Mr. Stead, we can now form a tolerably clear idea of the reactions involved in the elimination of sulphur, both in the blast furnace and by other or secondary processes. These may be broadly summed up in his statement that sulphide of iron is dissolved out of the metal in the first instance by free or loosely attached lime, in a highly re- ducing atmosphere at a high temperature, as by the Saniter process, where lime dissolved in calcium chloride is used ; and in the blast furnace by the excess of lime in solution in the slag, or even a mixture of ordinary blast furnace slag and lime, the latter being capable of eliminating sulphur from iron, and may be substituted for Saniter’s mixture. Theresults, however, so far as can be ascertained, are somewhat irregular with either of these methods. Finally, there can be little doubt, assuggested by Mr. Stead, that if lime alone is brought into intimate contact with molten iron by suitable mechanical appliances, neither calcium chloride nor slag is needed,these having little or no direct chemical action on the metal, but merely forming vehicles for the transmission and mixing of the lime with the iron, and conse- quent washing out of solution of iron sulphide, followed by the subsequent conversion into calcium sulphide and iron oxide. ‘The reactions in this process are, however, exceedingly com- plex, and there are changes which occur of which we know little or nothing. It is, however, my opinion that the sulphide of iron is dissolved out of the metal in the first instance by the free or loosely-attached dissolved lime; but I do not care at present, without more extended investigations, to hazard an 428 NATURE [Aucust 31, 1893 opinion as to what the subsequent reactions may be,”1 Subject to what may be said of particular instances or occasional excep- tions, the statements made by me as to the result of many years’ observation and experiment of others and myself are on the whole practically accepted. Probably Mr. Stead is correct when he assumes that the dissolved iron sulphide is resolved into calcium sulphide, and iron oxide, as by the Saniter pro- cess, or in the blast furnace, by the excess of lime in solutionin the slag. In this connection, as regards the blast furnace, heat plays a double part, firstly for the intensification of the chemical affinity of sulphur for the alkaline base (lime, of the slag ; secondly, for the adequate liquefaction of this highly basic slag, overcharged with lime and requiring a high temperature for its perfect fusion, which otherwise would remain in and clog up the blast furnace, thus obviously checking the proper working of the furnace and the uniform descent of the materials charged above. Phosphorus is apparently not eliminated in sensible quantities under the above conditions. Practically the whole is retained and passes into the pig iron. Blast furnace slags are, however, never quite free from phosphorus, and some species of the latter contain sensible quantities, the amount depending on the excess of phosphorus present in the ores, and the working conditions. Usually such slags contain an excess of iron oxide as com- pared with ordinary grey iron slags, the latter being generally free from iron oxide or, at any rate, the amount does not exceed 4 per cent. in good slag. : Metallurgical experts have for some time Leen engaged in devising methods for the removal of sulphur. It is needless here to recapitulate in detail the very many processes tried by them, and for the most part abandoned. All are based on the use, in one way or another, of alkaline or basic materials. However, the experience thus acquired seems to have been utilised, and has led to valuable tangible results, for of late several processes have been worked out with some degree of success, but in our opinion there is still room for improvements, both in cost and general efficiency. In addition, the time and trouble involved in these processes (‘‘ which may be classified as methods of secondary purification,”’ z.e. methods by which the iron is to some extent freed from sulphur after its production inthe blast furnace) are important items seriously impeding further progress. It really seems that the proposed methods of secondary purifica- tion may ultimately prove tootedious and expensive, the limit betwixt loss or gain being just now very small. Recognising this, attempts: have been made to cheapen the processes, all, however, based on the use of alkaline or basic material, but so far it appears the results are somewhat uncertain. Mr. Saniter’s lime and calcium chloride method, ‘‘ one of the first recently propo ed and tried,” has been worked, as the writer can testify, with some success, but the costs, by general consent, are considered somewhat heavy, It is only fair to say that the inventor is not of this opinion, and he quotes reasons to the contrary which should be well weighed before a final opinion is held as to the merits of this process. Secondary processes must from their very nature be costly and troublesome when dealing with the production of thousands of tons of metal con- tinuously flowing from the blast furnace throughout the year. The earlier attempts to purify crude iron from sulphur, &c., merely paved the way for recent developments, and, on the whole, merely suffice to prove that alkaline or basic substances only can effectively be used. It is now generally admitted that lime is the only base which can be applied with anything approaching economic results, and the methods now being practised have resolved themselves into endeavours to use this reagent efficiently and economically. Manganese as another reagent is an effective desulphuriser, but this requires to be separately investigated. Lime is, and always has been, used in the blast furnace for the elimination of sulphur from iron; and it. is well known that a non-sulphury pig-iron cannot be manufactured unless an excess of lime be charged into the furnace over and above the lime required for the formation of a fluid slag or lime silicate. It is evident, however, that the use is limited owing to the infusi- bility of the basic slags formed. These are facts which need no further comment, as they are universally acknowledged on all sides. Ifsome modification could be introduced into ordinary blast furnace charging whereby this infusible slag containing an excess of lime could be continuously cleared out of the furnace, 1 Stead, Iron and Steel Institute. NO. 1244, VOL. 48] we should have at our command a continuous dizect me eliminating sulphur from iron at a minimum expenditu: at a great saving in the time and labour involved in the p of purification. $ JouNn Pari ‘the same locality. THE METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVA TO. BEN NEVIS. THE Directors of the Ben Nevis Meteorological Obs: have prepared a guide book which will be of grea the tourist who desires to scale the top of the Ben and eyes upon the crag and mist beneath, and also to tl number of people interested in meteorology, By the ness of the publishers (Messrs. John Menzies an burgh and Glasgow) we are able to give three illu: the Observatory, with an account of its foundation work carried on there. For many years it has been that the best means of obtaining definite information vertical variation of atmospheric conditions was to e meteorological stations differing considerably in altitud In this connection we read that Mr. Milne Home, then Chairman of the Council of the Meteorological Society, pointed out the singular ad Ben Nevis as a high-level station. It isthe hi hest m in the British Islands (4406 feet) ; its Babe i distance, about four miles from a sea-level stati William, and is situated in the track of the south. from the Atlantic, which exercise such a prep fluence on the weather of Europe, especial winter. Its advantages are therefore unique, a’ made there have proved to be of the greatest int to meteorology.” hp Unfortunately, though a plan of an observatory was p by the late Mr. Thomas Stevenson in 1879, for the Se Meteorological Society, the work could not be p d for want of the necessary funds. From ! however, Mr, Clement L. Wragge made o tions summit simultaneously with Mrs. Wragge at Fort Willi an elaborate series of simultaneous observations at heights on the mountain were successfully made in the two! ing years. The discussion of these observations led to very: tant results, and was the means of exciting the interest publicmind essential to the obtaining of subscriptions. Ant for funds to enable an observing station to be ere promptly responded to, a sum of £4,000 being soon co) ‘A feu of an acre of land was obtained on the top of the tain from Mrs. Cameron Campbell, of Monzie, and 1 observatory was erected from plans by Mr. Sydney ‘The observatory was opened by Mrs. Cameron October 17, 1883. Observations were begun in the: month, and have been carried on ever since. At t time a sea-level station was opened at the public William, under charge of Mr. C. Livingston, where readings were taken five times a day with great punc accuracy. Buta few years showed the necessity ©! continuous record at sea-level as well as on the sum: 1889 the directors resolved to carry out the original want of funds had hitherto prevented, and set up observatory. Aided by a grant from the Edinb of 1886 and contributions from the public, they erect a suitable building close to sea-level, on from Mr. Cameron, of Lochiel, in the beginnin Meteorological Council of London equipped t self-recording instruments, and increased their a’ the directors from £100 to £350. Observatio middle of July, 1890, and since then there ha: tinuous record of barometric pressure, temperatu rainfall, &c., by day and by night, both on the s Nevis and at sea-level. The distance between low-level observatories is only 4} miles, and their he sea-level respectively 4407 and 42 feet. Mr. Livin continued his observations for a year after the comme the low-level observatory, so that there might be a comparison of the two sea-level stations. The te wire from the summit has been extended to level observatory, and the observers can communica’ each other at any time, and reports from both stations. daily to the newspapers. The high and low-level | are worked as one observatory, the observers b it NATURE 429 "changeable, and the low-level serves also as a depét for | the double purpose of carrying a set of anemometers and of tores, &c., which are carried up during the summer to the top.” | providing a convenient exit when the winter snows have closed he original buildings on the hill-top were found too small for | the ordinary doorway. Fic. 2.—The Observatory in Winter. jatisfactorily carrying on the work of the observatory, so in the The Winds of Ben Nevis. jummer of 1884 large additions were made, the most important In addition to the routine work, other observations and re. being the erection of a tower about thirty feet high, which serves | searches have been carried on by the observers on Ben Nevis. NO. 1244, VOL. 48] 430 NATURE [Avcusr 31, «* An exhaustive examination of the ‘Winds of Ben.Nevis’ has been made by Messrs. Omond and Rankin, and the results published in the ‘ Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin- burgh.’ It is shown that while the sea-level winds in this part of Scotland are, with respect to the distribution of pressure, in accordance with Buys Ballot’s ‘Law of the Winds,’ the Ben Nevis winds do not fit in with such a distribution of pressure, but, on the contrary, point to a widely different distribution of pressure at the height of the observatory—4407 feet above the sea—as compared with the distribution at sea-level. In large storms, with a deep barometric depression in the centre, the Ben Nevis winds are practically the same as at lower levels ; but with smaller storms, whose central depression is much less, great differences are presented. In such cases it is remarkable that with a cyclone covering Scotland, the North Sea, and Southern Norway, the winds frequently blow, not in accordance with the sea-level isobars, but in the opposite direction, suggesting an upper outflow from the cyclone towards the anti-cyclone ad- joining it at the time. It is further remarkable that this out- flowing seldom or never occurs when the centre of the storm is to the south or west, but only when it lies to the north oreast, or in the region where at the time the weather is coldest and driest. Ifthe wind on the hill-top is not at a right angle or a greater angle from the sea level wind, it is usually nearly the same as it. The supposed veering of the wind at great heights —required by the theory that a cyclone is a whirling column, drawing the air in spirally below and pouring it out spirally above—is so seldom observed as to be the exception, and not the rule. This important result, and the analogous observation that frequently in great storms of winds prostrate trees lie practically in one direction over wide regions, show impressively how much observation has yet to contribute before a satisfactory theory, or even a merely correct description of storms can be propounded. ‘The winds at Sintis, Puy de Dome, and other high-level - European observatories, which may all be practically regarded as situated in anti-cyclonic regions, have been examined, and it is found that they show the closest agreement with the winds at low levels in the same regions. This result separates the Ben Nevis Observatory from other observatories, constituting it a class by itself, the differentiating cause being the circumstance that Ben Nevis alone lies in tke central track of the European cyclones. This consideration emphasises the value of the Ben _movements, It may be added that, with respect to Fic. 3.—Observatory covered with Fog Crystals—an Observer at Work. Nevis observations in all discussions of weather and atmospheric NO. 1244, VOL, 48] of the winds to the low-level isobars, Ben Nevis Ob more pronouncedly a high-level observatory in winte summer, or, more generally, in cold than in warm v The influence of high winds upon barometric pre: been investigated. A comparison of readings of thet and anemometer at both the high and low D shows that ‘‘in calm weather the two reduced ba: practically the same, but with every increase of ' sweeps past the higher observatory the depression barometer inside steadily augments. It is not tilla v more than 20 miles an hour is reached that the amounts to one-hundredth of an inch. At 57 miles it incb, at 77 miles 0°104 inch, and at 99 miles o"150 forecasting weather it will be necessary to keep this high winds on the barometer constantly in mind, with of arriving at a better approximation to the tribution of pressure at the time the forecasts are being Relation of Differences of Temperature to those of A discussion of the differences between simultaneous of pressure and temperature at the two observatories s ‘‘during the period of occurrence of an anti-cyclon« temperature at the top of the mountain, with F at Fort William, is highest, the pressure at the top, sea-level, is 0'047 inch higher than at Fort Wi the other hand, when the temperature at the top lower than the average as compared with that at F the pressure at the top, reduced to sea-level, is 0 than that at Fort William. There is, therefore, a ence of 0'076 inch of pressure for these two dis! weather. The broad result is this, and it is clear that when the higher observatory has the higher and also when the differences of temperature are reduced pressure at the top of the mountain is the g two; but when the differences of temperature ai the reduced pressure at the top is the lesser of the t result, which is altogether unexpected, raises quest greatest importance, affecting the theory of storms, th vertical movements of great masses of air on the pressure which accompanies cyclones and anti-cyclones, necessity there is for some accurate knowledge of the amounts of aqueous vapour at different heights in sphere under different weather conditions, and how August 31, 1893] NATURE 431 ige may be arrived at from the readings of the dry and wet » thermometers under different atmospheric pressures. Ben is, with its two observatories, one at the top, the other at ot of the mountain, would, with a third half-way up the unique facilities for the prosecution of this all- at hygrometric inquiry, which would, however, require able additions, for the time it is carried on, to the ories’ present appliances and staff.” St. Elmo's Fire and Thunderstorms. s of St. Elmo’s Fire are not infrequent occurrences on Nevis. The cases observed have mostly occurred during ne night, and during the winter months from September to ary. A careful discussion of these cases shows that the which precedes, accompanies, and follows has quite peat 1 characteristics not only on Ben Nevis but also over the ‘est of Europe generally ; indeed, so well marked is the type of weather, and so notorious is it for its stormy character, that it is- iliarly known at the observatory as ‘St. Elmo’s weather, Electric Currents. “Prof. C. Michie Smith has shown that on the edge of a dis- solving mist the potential is lower than the normal, but higher on the edge of a condensing mist. Now, almost always when the top of Ben Nevis becomes clear for a short time, a strong current comes up the telegraph cable, while as soon as the summit is again enveloped the current is reversed. The connec- tion between the moisture of the atmosphere and the earth cur- rents is still further shown by the rainfall. During a fall of rain or snow the current nearly always passes down the cable; and jin the case of a sudden shower the current has sometimes driven |the mirror of the galvanometer violently off the scale. A cessa- tion. of the rain or snow generally hasan exactly opposite effect. Ifit be assumed that the summit of Ben Nevis.takes the potential of the masses of vapour covering it, and if we consider the earth- \plate at the base as the earth, or zero of potential, it is obvious | that. the results confirm the theory advanced by Prof, Michie \Smith, a conclusive proof of which would be ofthe greatest {importance in investigations connected with thunderstorms.” Dust Particles in the Atmosphere. | Observations of the numbers of dust particles in the atmo- sphere haye been made. by means of the dust-counting appara- tus a ay by Mr. John Aitken in 1889. The results show a well-defined diurnal period, the number of particles being above the average in, the afternoon, and below it in the morning. im an is 696 per cubic centimetre, the maximum being 14,400, \while on several occasions the minimum fell to o, In a, large number of observations made by Mr, Aitken at Kingairloch, on \the west shore of Loch Linnhe, the average number was 1600. jparticles per cubic centimetre ; in London he found, on one joceasion, 100,000, and this number was exceeded in Paris.” 4 Many other investigations of a high scientific value have been a the Ben Nevis observers, and the observations have Mfurnished matter for discussion to a number of meteorologists. {But though much has already been done, it is evident from the \time that still more important results can confidently be expected, 3 “From, the whole of the. observations on Ben Nevis, the. issued by the directors of the observatory from time to, UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Tue seventh session of the Edinburgh summer meeting ended bn Saturday. As regards number of students and scope of udies this meeting is still on the increase. Among the scien- courses may be noticed contemporary social evolution, by NO. 1244, VOL, 48] Prof, Patrick Geddes, co:aparative psychology by Prof. Lloyd Morgan, bionomics by Messrs. J. Arthur Thomson and Nor- man Wyld, history and principles of the sciences by Prof. Car- gill Knott, Prof. Geddes, Mr. Bosanquet, and others, physio- logy of nutrition by Dr. Louis Irvine, a regional survey of Edinburgh and neighbourhood by Mr. J. G. Goodchild, Dr. Beard,-Mr. Robert Turnbull, and Mr. S. H. Capper. A healthy sign is the attention given to practical work ; thus the afternoon classes of botany, zoology, and geology were wholly practical. The less strictly scientific part of the month’s miniature curri- culum shows an almost equal development, indeed, so many excellent subjects were offered to the students that it must have been difficult to choose a course of study, Whatever the course selected, however, there is n> doabt that the students derived considerable benefit from it, TuE following list of successful candidates for Royal exhibi- tions, national scholarships, and free studentships, has been issued by the Department of Science and Art :—National Scholarship; for Mechanics—William Buchan (Glasgow), Frederick C. Lea (Crewe), James Eagles (Bury, Lancashire), Richard H. Cabena (Glasgow); Nationa] Scholarships for Chemistry and Physics—Albert Howard, (Much Wenlock, Salop), Francis R. Penn (Northampton), Andrew N. Meldrum (Aberdeen), William A. Bradley (Lee, Kent), Robert H. Jones (Manchester) ; National Sc'olarships for Biological subjects—Arthur O. Allen, (Walthamstow), Robert Sowter, (Brighouse, Yorks) ; Natioaal Scholarships —Charles F. Smith (Glasgow), John B. Chambers (London), John W. Hinchley (Lincoln), Henry J. Loveridge (Southsea, Portsmouth), Bernard C. Laws (Southsea, Portsmouth), Henry T. Davidge (London), Joseph B. Butters (Brighton), Henry H. Clements (Anahilt, Co. Down), Christopher Outhett (Burnley), William Macdonald (Manchester), William N. Platt (Chester) ; Royal Exhibitions—George S. Blake (Man- chester), William H. Atherton, (Newcastle-on-Tyne), Ernest H. Bagnall (Manchester), Frank H, Newman (London), William A. Taylor (Crewe), Joseph ff. Ivey (Camborne), Joe Crowther (Brighouse, Yorks); Free Studentships—John Schofield (Huddersfield), Joseph Jeffery (Birmingham), George A. Robertson (Oldham), Charles Kelly (Belfast), John Robinson (Belfast), Edmund F. W. Mondy (London). SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American. Fournal of Sciense.—August:—We notice the following papers :—The use of cupric nitrate in the voltameter, and the electro-chemical, equivalent of copper, by Frederick, E.. Beach. Copper nitrate solution of density 1°53 possesses certain, advantages. over the sulphate in, voltameters. It is best to add one. drop of saturated NH,Cl solution. The dependence of the; amount of copper deposited upon the current, density, does. not appear until a density. of 0°25 ampéres per sq. cm, of electrode. is reached, and then it is counteracted by adding more NH,Cl. With the nitrate, the weight of copper deposited is. practically, independent of the temperature between 10° and 35°... The solution, may. be used a number of times, The equivalent. off copper as determined from the nitrate voltameter agrees. to, foar figures. with that calculated from the best chemical determina- tions. But it is essential that the solution:should be pure, and. especially free from traces of nitrite—Ona Mackintoshite, a new thorium. and uranium mineral, by» Wm; Earl. Hidden; with» analysis by. W. F. Hillebrand. ‘This is the original. mineral of which thorogummite, discovered in 1891, is the alteration pro- duct. Itis an opaque black mineral,of hardness 55, and: re sembles. zircon, and thorite: in form: lt differs, from thoro- gummite by the further oxidatiom of the uranium» and: the: assumption of one molecule of water. It contains three mole cules of silica, one of urania, three of thoria, and three of water:. —On the.reduction, of nitric acid by ferrous salts, by Charlotte. F. Roberts. The volume of nitric oxide disengaged, sweptalong- by. carbon-dioxide and collected over caustic soda, wasmeasured for, the.estimation of nitrates. The best results, were: obtained: by passing the gas through KI solution before: collecting; andi estimating from the total volume of gas‘collected, Nitric-oxide, being slightly soluble in caustic soda solution, must not- be; left long. in contact with it. When the reaction takes place: at’ high temperatures, some higher oxides of nitrogen: may, be: formed, but this is corrected by the KI solution.—Concerning:the struc: iy 8 432 NATURE = [Aucust 31, 1893 ee ture of caoutchouc, by Hermann F. Lueders. Caoutchouc has no definite structure fer se, and all apparent structure is only the result of the conditions under which its coagulation from the latex and subsequent solidification take place. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Paris. Academy of Sciences, August 21.—M. Loewy in the chair,— On the equations of motion of a solid body moving in an in- definite liquid, by M. C. Maltézos.—On the alternations of colours presented by gratings, by M. Georges Meslin, If the achromatic fringes previously obtained*by the author by means of a grating are observed more and more closely to the latter, they become more and more delicate, and certain colours begin to appear. The black fringes remain dark, but of two con- secutive bright fringes the one appears violet and the other yellow ; the same phenomena occurs along the whole field, which is covered with these two alternate colours. On moving the microscope slowly forward, a great variety of colours is ob- served, but the most usual are a mauye-violet associated with yellow, green combined with pink, or blue accompanied by white. The two colours in juxtaposition are thus nearly com- plementary, and during this displacement the same appearances recur several times, becoming more complex as the distance diminishes. The black fringes become very fine, the interval between two of them closes up, whilst the adjoining interval opens out and splits into coloured bands with a blue, pink, or yellow axis. In every case the phenomenon retains its periodic character. M. Meslin has succeeded in obtaining some very instructive photographs of these fringes.—On two new diseases of the mulberry, by MM. G. Boyer and F. Lambert. One of these diseases is caused by a bacterium, the other by a fungus. The disease caused by the Bacterium mori, chiefly affects young nursery mulberries, and arrests the development of their branches. It is manifested by dark brown patches at some points on the under side of the leaves and on the branches. Artificial patches in the parenchyma and in the veins of the leaves have been produced by inoculation. The bacterium when isolated and cultivated on artificial solid media, gives hemispherical colonies passing from white to yellow. The fungus disease is the more common of the two. The buds and leaves wither and dry up... The disease proceeds from the twigs to the branches and the trunk, and finally attacks the roots. The grey colour assumed by the wood is caused by the myce- lium of, a parasitic fungus not yet completely isolated. The mycelium is varicose, septiferous, and ramified. Its colour passes from white to a pale yellow, and finally to brown.—On the geogeny and stratigraphy of the coal basins of Central France, by M. A. Julien.—The Cambrian of the Herault, by MM. de Rouville, Delage, and Miguel. The authors have recognised three groups in the Herault Cam- brian which they provisionally name Anteparadoxidian, Para- doxidian, and Postparadoxidian, corresponding to the Long- mynd, Menevian, and Tremadoc groups respectively. Inthe third group, corresponding to the Tremadoc slates and Lingula flags, traces of Lingule have been found. An important fact concerning the stratigraphy of the country has been discovered an certain inversions extending over great lengths, unaccom- panied by any indication of violent dislocation or rupture. 6 BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs,—The State of Para ; Notes for the Exposition of Chicago (New York).—A Short Course in the Theory of Determinants : L. G. Weld (Mac- millan).—A Treatise on the Theory of Functions: J. Harkness and F. Morley (Macmillan).—A Select Bibliography of ot ge 1492-1892: H. C. Bolton (Washington).— Cyclone Memoirs, No. V. : J. Eliot (Calcutta).— Rainfall in South Australia and the Northern Territory, 1892: C. Todd (Adelaide).— Observations of the Transit of Venus, December 9, 1874: H. C. Russell (Sydney).— Alembic Club, Reprints No. 3—Experiments on Air: Hon, H. Cavendish (Edinburgh, Clay). PamrPu_ets,—Reprint on the Operations of the Department of Land Rocords and Agriculture, Madras Presidency, 1891-92 (Madras).—The State of £40 Paulo: A. A. Pinto (Chicago).—Meteorology at the Paris Ex position: A. L. Roth.—The Value of Hypnotism: T. Crisfield ae —The Geometrical Properties of the Sphere; W. Briggs and F. W. Edmondsen (Clive). Srr1ars.—L’Anthropologie, tome iv, No. 3 (Paris, Masson).—Journal of the Franklin Institute, August (Philadelphia).—Astronomy and Astro- Physics, August (Northfield, Minn.).—Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Soci ty July (Stanford).—Meteorological Record, Vol. xii. No. 48 (Stanford).—Katalog der Bibliothek der Kaiserlichen Leopoldinisch- NO. 1244, VOL. 48] e Carolinischen Detitschen Akademie der Naturforscher, Liefg. (Williams and Norgate).— Katalog der Bibliothek der Kaiserlichen dinisch-Carolinischen Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher, — Liefg. Band ITI. 8 (Williams and Norgate).—Sitzungsberi Akademie der Wissenschaften. Math.-Naturw. Classe Ent lungen aus dem Gebiete der Chemie, Abthg. II b. 1892, Je October to December (Williams and Norgate).—Sitzungsberich Akad er Wi shaft Math.-Naturw. Anatomie and PI logie, &c., 1892, June, July, October to December (Williams and Nor Sitzungsberichte der k. Akademie der Wissenschaften. Math.-N; Mineralogie, Krystallographie, &c., 1892 July, October, November, cember (Williams and Norgate).—Sitzvngsberichte der k. Wissenschaften, Math.-Naturw. Mathematik, Astronomie, June, July, October, November, and December (Williams and N. Register zu den biinden 97 bis roo der Sitzungsberichte der Math Naturwissenchaftlichen classe der k. Akademie der sch (Williams and Mores) University, Japan, Vc - geo Williams: and CONTENTS. Birds in a Village. By T. Dy Py. uae eee A Mathematical Miscellany .......... Our Book Shelf :— : Vasey: ‘‘Grasses of the Pacific Slope, inclu Alaska and the Adjacent Islands” ..... Ellis: ‘‘Reveries of World History, from Earth’ Nebulous Origin to its Final Ruin; or, Romance of a Star” Letters to the Editor :— The Publication of Physical Papers.—Alex. B59) 31-1 Meee ee 5 ks cae 6 ie le ee eee The Definition of ‘‘ Heredity.”—J. Spencer Smi SOM. se Wie wb be Go ee | Sexual Colouration of Birds.—F. C. Headley. . Bird’s Steering Methods.—F. A. Lucas ... . The Early Spring of 1893.—W. B. Crump. . _ Mr. Love’s Treatise on Elasticity.—A. B. Bass An Appeal to Mathematicians. —Kanhaiyalal . Arrangements for Work of Chemical Section of British Association. —Prof. Emerson R NOS) iF RiS. sas see ee Fs eis The Bacchus Marsh Boulder Beds:—R. D, Oldh Old and New Astronomy.—A. C. Ranyard ; Reviewer... .i6.S 5, <2. dae An Old Device Resuscitated.—F. W. Levander Laws of Error in Drawing.—Arthur L. Haddon The Influence of Egypt upon Temple Orientati in Greece. By J. Norman Lockyer, ie: Ss. British Association Meeting. By fF Clowes. 35 oie aw seh lel George Brook ... NotO8 ie hiner oe eins 9 8 ee Our Astronomica) Column :— Honorary Distinctions. ........ Ai Meteor 5. a ascbices ia: le ate near ‘A Bequest to Astronomy ....... Geographical Notes. . .. . 29+ 8.0 at The Beaver Creek Meteorite. By Prof, B, J. Harrington 000.0 ne a a Spangolite, a Remaikable Cornish Mineral, | - leet su. * The Meteorological Observatory on Ben (Tileastrateds) eo Seg a tere See University and Educational Intelligence Scientific Serial’... e).% 8 042 5 6 ie ee Societies and Academies... . Books Pamphlets, and Serials Received » - NABOAE 433 _. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1893. THE PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY. Public Health Laboratory Work. By Henry R. Kenwood, ‘'M.B., D.P.H., F.C.S., including Methods employed in ¥ Bieferiological Research, with Special Reference to the ‘Examination of Air, Water, and Food, contributed by Robert Boyce, M.B. Crown 8vo. 491 pages. (London : H. K. Lewis, 1893.) al organised laboratory for the practical instruction of students of hygiene is a comparatively novel creation, the demand for which has principally arisen connection with the various diplomas in Public Health -P.H.), which are now eagerly sought after by those of the younger generation of medical men who contemplate the possibility of becoming at some future time candi- dates for appointments as medical officers of health. Probably there are many persons who, whilst having a general acquaintance with the studies which are pursued in ordinary scientific institutions, are yet altogether ignorant of what is being done in these public health laboratories, which have grown up within recent years. A glance at the table of contents in the work before us will at once reveal what a wide and varied field this subject of public health is made to cover, including as it does the hygienic analysis of air and water, the examination of food (milk, butter, cheese, corn, bread, meat, alcoholic beverages, mustard, pepper, sugar, coffee, chocolate, tea, | and tinned provisions), together with the “methods em- | ployed in bacteriological research, with special reference to the examination of air, water, and food.” That this is a very comprehensive programme will be admitted by all, whilst it is equally patent to the initiated that it is one which it must be extremely difficult for a single teacher t© conscientiously undertake, involving, as it does, an adequate knowledge of. the most miscellaneous subjects. Inasmuch, however, as the ground covered is mainly of a chemical nature, it is obvious that the methods of work prescribed must be such as shall recommend themselves to chemists. In this connection it is interesting to note that the student is supposed to present himself at the public health laboratory without any previous know- ledge of practical chemistry, at any rate as far as quan- titative methods are concerned. Thus he has even to be initiated into the mysteries of such simple contrivances jas the Bunsen burner, the pipe-clay triangle, and even the homely pestle and mortar, articles with which we should have supposed that most Board School children of the higher standards were now acquainted. The first and largest section of the book is devoted to the subject of water analysis, the practice of which ppears to form the Joint de résistance of the hygienic aboratory. For the information of those who have not had the benefit of receiving their instruction in such a aboratory we will cite a few examples of the practical jmethods which appear to be in vogue there. Chemists will be interested to learn that in using the balance the ights should be adjusted until “the index rests abso- ‘jlutely in a central and vertical position!” In determining |the total solid matters in water, the only drying of the residue obtained by evaporation which is advocated is NO. 1245, VOL. 48] to place the dish containing it ‘‘ for a few minutes in the water-oven,” and even this appears to be regarded as an almost excessive refinement, for we arealso informed that ‘*when recourse is not had to the water-oven, the unde:- surface of the dish must be always carefully wiped diy before the dish and its contents are weighed.” Such in- structions might have been allowed to pass had sume apology been made for the necessarily crude work alone to be expected from public health students, but when a little further on we are informed that the time involved in the evaporation of 100 c.c. of water is liable to introduce error through loss of organic matter in the water, and through the access of suspended matter from the air, it is obvious that the writer is under a wholly false impres- sion as to the degree of accuracy obtainable by the methods he describes. For the estimation of organic matter in water, the author has recourse principally to the so-called “al- buminoid ammonia” process, but since the adaptation of the Kjeldahl method to water-analysis by Drown, there is now no reason why-even in a poorly equipped laboratory an accurate determination of the total organic nitrogen should not be made, in addition to that of the variable fraction of this ingredient which makes its appearance on distilling the water with alkaline permanganate. The author describes the combustion process for organic carbon and nitrogen, but as something entirely beyond the sphere of the public health laboratory. The de- scription given of this process would not appear to be derived from personal experience, whilst the suggestion that carbonic oxide is produced in the combustion, and volumetrically measured in the subsequent gas analysis, indicates but a very imperfect notion of what a satisfac- tory combustion with oxide of copper should accomplish. We hardly think that the author has been successful in giving a lucid exposition of the important and much-vexed question of the activity of water on lead, for the statement that this activity “ is favoured by either neutrality or slight alkalinity of the water (acidity, however, is even more important, since it aids the power of the water to carry the lead in solution) ” is surely a somewhat circuitous way of saying that the lead-dissolving power of many waters is still wrapped in much obscurity. Again, in the description of the preparation of normal solutions for volumetric analysis we read : “ The number of grammes of the reagent are weighed out and dissolved in a litre of water,” an inaccuracy which is repeated on the same page in the statement that a normal solution of hydrochloric acid is one consisting of “ 36°37 grms. of hydrochloric acid to a litre of distilled water.” In the chapter on coal-gas we are surprised to hear that the average gas supplied by the London companies contains 3 per cent. of carbonic acid: in all the pub- lished analyses of London coal-gas, and there are many, although the analysis only of Heidelberg gas (1!) is re- corded in the work before us, carbonic acid is either absent altogether or only present in small traces, for the gas managers are well aware that 3 per cent. of this ingredient, so prejudicial to the illuminating power, would entail great expense in bringing the luminosity of the gas up to the parliamentary standard. Notwithstanding some shortcomings of this kind, the U 434 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, book is, on the whole, conveniently put together for the purpose it has in view, viz. the instruction of the public health student preparing for examination, for whose benefit, indeed, some of the chapters are actually fur- nished with schemes of analysis directing him how to make the best use of his time in the examination room. But although this work may be well adapted to the re- quirements, suchas they are, of the public health student, we cannot help thinking that the examples we have cited are alone sufficient to indicate the undesirability of what is in reality a very difficult branch of applied chemistry being taught outside the precincts of the chemical laboratory. In places where really accurate chemical work is not continually in progress, there must always be a tendency for rough and ready methods of analysis to creep in unchecked, with the inevitable result that anumber of imperfectly trained persons are sent out into the world to undertake what ought to be regarded as highly responsible work. It is one of the most glaring anomalies of our fim de séécle civilisation indeed, that whilst but few educated persons would think of taking even the simplest medical remedy excepting under the advice of a duly qualified practitioner, such important questions as the water supply o :a community, the de- tection of pernicious adulterations in articles of daily consumption, and the like, are frequently entrusted to persons who cannot furnish a shred of satisfactory evi- dence that they possess the necessary attainments for the performance of such responsible duties. It is deeply to be deplored, in the interests of the community, that the Institute of Chemistry has not hitherto succeeded in adequately illuminating the public on these matters. Thus, whilst the Institute has done much in prescribing educational curricula for the professional chemist, and in submitting a number of candidates to severe examina- tional tests, it has so far secured but little recognition for its Fellows from the general public, who certainly, as a rule, do not distinguish between them and the Fellows of the Chemical Society. In this connection, indeed, it cannot be sufficiently impressed on the laity that the Chemical Society is open, and in our opinion rightly, to all comers who are, or profess to be, interested in chemical science, and that its fellowship no more implies capacity to perform chemical work than fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society indicates any fitness to accompany Mr. Stanley across Central Africa, or Dr. Nansen to the Pole. In conclusion we would point out that this type of book, embracing as it does a number of heterogeneous subjects prepared and boiled down into a sort of jelly for the pampered palate of the modern student, really raises a very important issue in connection with the much talked of technical education of the day. We perceive in the recent developments of such education a more and more marked tendency towards superficiality ; year by year courses of instruction are made shorter and more com- posite by’condensing primary subjects into a form sup- posed to be adapted to the requirements of particular bodies of men. All over the country we find teachers undertaking to provide a smattering in a number of dif- ferent subjects, and a growing distaste on the part of students to devote time and attention to the deeper study of individual sciences. In such a subject as 0. 1245, VOL. 48] Public Health, the proverbial danger of a little ledge is particularly menacing, and we are strc opinion that the student of this important subjec is to be properly trained, should receive the biological, and medical instruction invol: thorough chemist, a competent biologist, qualified medical man respectively, instead | only the views of a single teacher, who w ing a number of subjects is Lia bu! eminence in any one of them. THE ARCTIC PROBLEM. — The Arctic Problem and Narrative of the Pe Expedition of the Academy of Natural Philadelphia. By Angelo Heilprin, leader Relief Expedition. 8vo, pp. 165. (Philade temporary Publishing Co. 1893.) : ROF. HEILPRIN devotes almost half. book to the narrative of the voyage of the relief of Peary, a narrative which he invests interest, despite the fact that it has been an the writings of his subordinates. The r very clear account of the voyage, and some 2 descriptions of Arctic scenery, supplemented graphic reproductions printed in two tints, realistic effect. Perhaps the most interesti that devoted to the naturalist of Peary’s” Verhoeff, who mysteriously disappeared just time fixed for returning home. A large nu from the Az¢e, as well as Eskimos, prosecu search for several days, with the result thai and bits of paper were discovered on a glacier, on which were made difficult by the ext condition of the ice. The natural inference Verhoeff, being alone, had fallen into a perished there, and in this belief the sea: turned. A more romantic explanation given by some of his relatives, who beli amoured of the wild life he had been Verhoeff deliberately stayed behind with making further explorations on his own a though the hope is, we could wishit to be true, a’ when Lieutenant Peary approaches his far in the new venture on which he is now emba find hisold companion awaiting him. The more important half of the book vu ation is Prof. Heilprin’s clear and logical of what he aptly terms the Arctic pro language is frequently more perfervid th amongst scientific writers on this side of the his arguments are sound, and his concl and reasonable. The discussion begins wi mary of three expeditions intended to start th on “the old trail” in quest of the high On Nansen’s project he wisely says little beyo: the evidence for a transpolar current, and e universal confidence in the gallant Norsem: and perseverance. Nansen hopes, as our aware, to approach the pole from the neighbou the New Siberian Islands in longitude 140° E. The Ekroll expedition, also a Norwegian p scarcely been heard about in Europe ; in fact th SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 435 r reference to it which has come under our notice is omewhat vague allusion in the annual address on raphical progress at the Paris Geographical Society. intended, says Prof. Heilprin, to start in June, and vel northward from Cape Mohn in Spitzbergen (about gitude 20°E.), the feature of his expedition being the of a composite structure capable of use as boat or ge, according to the surface which has to be travelled over. This project is shown to be at least unsatisfactory, the risk of damage to the sledge (or boat) being too "great, although the route to the north is an extremely suitable one. We do not know if Ekroll has set out. The third expedition is that of Peary, who is already @m route, and intends to work northward over the frozen surface from the north coast of Greenland, where he did such brilliant service in 1892. Of the success of, this enterprise Prof. Heilprin is confident ; whether _ the Pole is reached or not he thinks that Peary has the best chance of breaking the record, and attaining a “higher latitude than any of his predecessors. _ Against the common plea that polar exploration having baffled the best endeavours of men whose heroism is beyond praise, any future effort is only waste of life, Prof. Heilprin urges the incontrovertible fact that in travel the almost impossible of yesterday is the easy accomplishment of to-morrow. He remarks that ‘the ascent of Mont Blanc, at first a feat that made a man’s ‘reputation for life, is now a common tourist’s pastime, while he might have added that Spitzbergen, formerly _ ranking as scarcely accessible Arctic land, is now within “the reach of excursion steamers. _ As to the best route to the Pole, he agrees that no expedition need waste its strength again on Smith’s Sound, and he criticises with some severity the con- clusions of the Royal Geographical Society twenty years ago before the despatch of the A/ert and Discovery. The region north of Spitzbergen where Parry attained 82°45’ in 1827, only forty miles short of the point to which steam ~ and the scientific advance of half a century enabled the _ best equipped expeditions to reach through Smith’s ‘Sound, certainly appears the most hopeful, and it is that in which any new expedition on a large scale that “may be planned should undoubtedly make an attempt. _ Without much novelty in argument or substance, Prof, Heilprin has set forth clearly and convincingly the plain issues involved in the Arctic problem, a problem which promises to be much before the public mind for some years to come. ie OUR BOOK SHELF. ier. - Vorlesung tiber Maxwell's Theorie der Electricitat und _ des Lichtes. By Dr. Ludwig Boltzmann. Part I. pp. _ 139. (Leipzig: Johann A. Barth.) _ THis is a most interesting introduction to Maxwell’s ‘theories about electromagnetic actions. The whole z tion of generalised coordinates is introduced by means of models that enable the student to make a ' concrete picture to himself of a particular case of what _ heisstudying. Some people may prefer to study subjects in the most general form, but the majority find very great _ difficulty in working out any advance on what they are _ taught by others without the assistance of some concrete ase. In the case of most students it certainly helps NO. 1245, vot. 48] them very much indeed to be provided with simple ex- amples. Models may often do even more than facilitate the path of the student, they have before now pointed the way for the discoverer. As the mathematical part of Maxwell’s theory is so largely an application of the principles of generalised coordinates this introduction to his theory is eminently interesting and suggestive. It is perhaps more suited to the state of scientific de- velopment on the Continent than in England. German and French electrical ideas had been so bound up with Coulomb and Ampére’s laws of action at a distance that even the formule of Weber and Clausius which postu- lated propagation in time did not shake their faith in action at a distance, attracting and repelling electricities and currents and poles. Even yet Poincaré cannot get over the Coulomb law foundation of electrostatics. To such ideas a dynamical foundation such as Boltzmann has given should give a new direction. The whole process by which the electric current, the electrification, the magnetic pole, appear as generalised coordinates is brought out. The only objection that can be raised to the method from a British point of view is that the method is not drastic enough. It panders to the weak- nesses of those who look upon the electric current as the important thing. It almost neglects the medium. It does not emphasise the connection of electric force and displacement, magnetic force and induction. It does not go even so far as Maxwell in formulating a theory as to the nature of the medium. It is too content with symbols, It introduces the propagation of the action through the medium almost as indirectly as Maxwell does. The forces and the displacements should be the foundations of electromagnetic theory and not the equa- tion in generalised coordinates 2T = Lj? + 2MyoFfrHq + Loja? We must however be content to lead people gently. Prof. Boltzmann’s introduction is certainly a move in the right direction, and there is every reason to think that the exertions of him and of Prof. Hertz are rapidly turning the current of continental study of electro- magnetism into the right channel. In view of Prof. Boltzmann’s recent interesting remarks on the value of dynamical models, it would be well worth while trans- lating this work of his into English as an example for us how models can be employed successfully to illustrate a difficult subject. It is only of recent years that geo- metrical curve plotting has been popularised as a method of illustrating and facilitating mathematical investiga- tions, and judiciously constructed models might perform a farge part of a corresponding service for dynamics in the uture. Geology: an Elementary Hand-book. By A. J. Jukes- Browne. (London: Whittaker and Co., 1893.) VIEWED as a rudimentary description of all branches of geology, Mr. Jukes-Browne’s latest treatise is highly commendable. Its 248 pages contain something about everything geological. In afew places the information is rather disjointed, but that drawback is inseparable from an elementary work of limited dimensions which aims at giving students an idea as to the wide scope of geology. Of all the branches of the science, physical geology is given the most space, and rightly, for it is the division which is most intelligible to the general reader. The majority of the illustrations are rather coarse; nevertheless, they are usually of a helpful character. An objectional feature in the text is the frequent quotations from Geikie, Agassiz, and others. It seems to us that, in general, quotations should only be permissible in matters upon which a difference of opinion exists. But, on the whole, the book is a good one, and will be useful to students of elementary geology. 43 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, 18 Recit de la Grande Expérience def Equilibre des Ligueurs, By Blaise Pascal. (Berlin: A. Asher and Co., 1893.) THIs work forms No. 2 of the new series of publications of old books relating to meteorology and terrestrial mag- netism, issued in facsimile by Prof. G. Hellmann, and was first printed in Paris in 1648. There is no copy of the work in the British Museum, and Dr. Hellmann has only been able to trace three copies, two of which are in Paris, and one in Breslau. This little work is of the greatest importance to the history of physics, to meteorology, and physical geography ; it gives the first conclusive proof of the pressure of the atmosphere, and puts an end to the doctrine of the Zorror vacuz. This famous experiment was made at Clermont Ferrand, and on the Puy de Déme, on September 19, 1648, so that Pascal lost no time in making his discovery public, but it is not generally known that any account had been issued prior to the publication of the Traitez de / Eqguzlibre, printed in 1663. The work is prefaced by an interesting introduction by Prof. Hellmann, in which he refers to the doubt which exists whether the idea of the experiment was taken from Descartes. The latter has expressly asserted this to be the case, in two letters (dated June 11 and August 17, 1649), addressed to Carcavi, and the fact that Pascal never replied in any way to the letters in question, has induced many writers to adopt this view. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] The Organisation of Scientific Literature. I HAVE followed the correspondence in your columns on the question of the organisation of scientific literature with very keen interest, and should esteem it a favour to be allowed to add a few remarks to what has been said. There are two ways in which the present disorganisation might be dealt with, The first is exemplified in Prof. Bonney’s ‘‘ Year-book of Science”; that is to attempt to provide a key to the present complex state of affairs in the form of yearly abstracts. But even supposing this year-book (invaluable as it is) were comprehensive, which it admittedly is not, of what use would it be to the many workers who have neither the time nor the opportunity to spend hours in first-class libraries, nor the means to buy even a toler- able number of the innumerable magazines, journals, reports, &c., dealing with their special subject. This infinite multiplicity of publication is the root of all the evil, and ‘‘Free Lance” strikes at ithard and well in his pamphlet on the organisation of science, This brings us to the second method. As pointed out by ‘* Free Lance,” the only true solution of the difficulty is that in each country each subdivision of science should have its one central and accredited journal in which all papers on that subject worthy of publication should be published. In fact, a central- isation of publishing, with as much decentralisation of scientific meeting as the intellectual wants of the country may need. Were this condition of things realised, then by consulting one or two journals in each country a specialist might easily, and comparatively cheaply, keep himself abreast of current work. In addition, an annual index or indexes of the books published in the various departments of science and in various countries, would render very great service. Briefly, and in conclusion, my view of an ideal organisation of scientific literature is somewhat as follows :— (t) In each country one central and accredited journal for each branch or subdivision of science. (2) An international bureau working somewhat as follows :— (a) In each country the (a) papers (8) books and pamphlets, published in that country to be abstracted or indexed by well- paid men. (4) The several countries to exchange abstracts. (c) Finally, each country to translate the other abstracts and indexes into its own language, and publish these along with its NO. 1245, VOL. 48] own abstracts in, say, quarterly or monthly volunes, c and subdivided for each science and branch of science. In the case of such an international bureau proving in ticable, then each journal might abstract the work done department in other countries, after the admirable m: the Chemical Society. It is to be hoped that the British Association this | take up the question seriously and in its widest as is no use organising one portion of science and leavir remainder in disorder. F. G. Donn Ardmore Terrace, Holywood, Co. Down, August 28. SEVERAL of your correspondents have called attention to importance of distributing copies of papers in quarters they are likely to be read. It may therefore be well phasise the fact that the Philosophical Magazine refu supply gratuitous copies. When this fact is appre think most persons will see that it is rather an unbusiness proceeding to pay the PAzlosophical Magazine for copies, when they can be obtained for nothing by commu the paper to a society. : : The ‘‘ full publication of . . . papers of the societies, as recommended by Mr. Trotter, would be an infringem copyright, and would lead to the Physical Society bec more closely acquainted with the mysteries of the Cha Division than its members would probably desire. The Physical Society is a young and precocious one, a1 conjunction with its partner, the Philosophical Magazine, doubtless like to obtain a monopoly of all mathematical f except those strictly denominated pure, which it does no! about. But its legitimate sphere of action is experiment applied sctence, and if it shows a disposition to poach u preserves of its neighbours it cannot fail to excite hostility I do not see any objection to the word ‘‘ physicist,”’ the! meaning of which is ‘‘naturalist”; but is not ‘scientific’ more appropriate to this discussion * physical ” ? A. B. Ba Hotel de Russie, Ems, Germany, September 3. Drought and Heat at Shirenewton Hall in 1! Rain, ve = & Oa lf aaee Month. 1893. § 6 ce < 7, a $8 ae x = a Inches.) Inches.| Inches.) Inches March 04 2°77. |. ~2°3 }Ouse April o'2 | 271 | —1°9) O'0QT] May ae ea BO 1 gr Oty Open ae June wie ss as] oetS 1 26 4) OSs ae uly. Avec bias eo 3'7 | —0°8 | 0660. August (to 17th) | 1°8 | 21 | —0°3 | 0660 Total as 9°7 | 16°3 | —6°3/| I‘or0 Since March 1, 122 days without rain. Heat in Shade, 1893. Number of days the heat wa: Month. 60° 70° | . | \3 Apriliscsa siete 25 9 | Mays isha 28 15 | June fh aa 30 21 ; Joly i hoes 31 21 ; August (to 17th) ... 17 ie SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATUKE 437 Temperature, 80° and atove. ie Month. 82°38 | July 3 83°5 82:2 oe 83°5, 800 Pens aus 90°7 - 804 | Aug. 9 vas 86°7 828 Peies to ms 83'0 820 Sree 80'0 84°3 ok 86'0 83°38 Eas 7 86°5 889 ny 15 88°5 86'0 age 83°6 88'0 ASS iy 86:0 Most of the rain fell in thunderstorms, but their area was very limited ; the amount in that of June 15 within 5 miles of this place is an example :— ' Caldicot Hall Denne! Hill ... Wirewoods Green Shirenewton Hall oe | ition Court a a. 5. 150 o'r7-| Piercefield Park... .... 1°79 0°56 | The Mount, Chepstow I‘OL in. in. was 2°6; of this 2°4 fell from rsth to 2oth. The rainfall in May + June STS » tofell on rsth. *9 July ae Se CEG r'r fell from roth to 15th, and 1’o on 38th and roth. wa Aug. (to 17th) 3; 18 5; r’o fellon ist to 3rd, and 0°6 onioth, . Thus, of the total rainfall (9°7), 7°1 inches fell on 17j days out of the 170 days. On August 9 there was no rain, but more lightning than I had seen since’the memorable storm of August 9, 1843. It commenced at 9 p.m. and lasted five hours. From very frequent counting there could not be less than 10,000 flashes (the estimate was 11,540). For three hours the most number of flashes in a minute was 121, and the least 39- Before the storm of June 15 the ground was dry to the depth of 15 inches, and this 1 inch of rain only penetrated 2 inches. The long intervals of drought have parched the ground, so that we are still suffering from want of rain. The Drought and Heat of 1893. The results of an unusual occurrence like the present season show as clearly as instrumental observations the exceptional character. We have a very near copy of the drought of 1868- 1870 ; 7.e. Monmouthshire is repeating what in 1868-70 occurred in Nottinghamshire. Flowers and fruit have been a month earlier than usual, their period has been of short duration, and NO. 1245, VOL. 48] insect pests have been very great. There has been an extra- ordinary abundance of apples, pears, plums, cherries, goose- berries, currants, field mushrooms, butterflies, moths, flies, caterpillars, cuckoo-spit ‘aphis, slugs, and wasps. The tree- wasp, which is rare, has had many nests, and, as the structure is not generally known, my son has taken the enclosed photograph, which clearly shows it. The tree-wasp’s nest is built much earlier than that of the ordinary wasp, and equally large, a low bush being the situation usually selected. Nightingales and cuckoos have been very numerous. Grass is now being mown for hay, and four to five acres will only yield a ton, whilst the straw of corn is shorter than ever before known. Trees are also very bare of leaves. Water is scarce, as many springs have been dry for some weeks. In June the trees and shrubs were as if varnished from extensive honeydew, which the thunderstorm cleared away. Strawberries are blooming a second time, and there are many plants seeding that do not usually seed here. E, J. Lowe, Some Recent Restorations of Dinosaurs, UNDER the above title, an illustrated article, by Mr. R. Lydekker, appears in NATURE, July 27, 1893, p. 302. This purports to give a summary of what has recently been done in restoring certain remarkable forms’ of extinct reptiles. Most of the statements made are correct, but with them are a number of serious errors that may mislead readers not familiar with the subject. As the restorations given are, with «ne exception, my own, and represent indirectly several years’ work in the field and museum, I trust you will allow me to call attention to some mistakes in this article, which were perhaps made by Mr. Lydekker through inadvertence, or from his not having seen the specimens described. : In the introduction, the date 1878 is given for the first of my memoirs on Jurassic Dinosaurs ; whereas in the previous year I described (1) the earliest of the huge Sauropoda found in America, proposing the family name Atlantosauride for the genera Atlantosaurus and Apatosaurus ; (2) various carnivorous Dinosaurs of the present order Theropoda, including the genera Allosaurus and Dryptosaurus ; (3) the Stegosauria, represented by Stegosaurus, the first American genus of the group ; and (4) several small forms of true Ornithopoda, including Nanosaurus. The family Atlantosauridz, the sub-order Stegosauria, and the genera here mentioned, were thus established by me in 1877 in the American Fournal of Science, vol. xiv. ; a small matter in itself, but the beginning of a long investigation. The first restoration given by Mr. Lydekker, Fig. 1, is that of my Brontosaurus excelsus, reduced from an outline sketch published, as stated, in August, 1883; but no reason is assigned for not using, especially in a summary of recent work, my more complete restoration of 1891, which includes the results of much additional study. ‘This figure represents a typical member of the order I have called Sauropoda, but in the text the name used is Sauropsida, a much more comprehensive term, ‘The second restoration, Fig. 2, called ‘*‘ A Carnivorous: Dino- saur,” is said to have been reproduced from my figures. This must bea mistake. It is evidently printed from one of my clichés, and is certainly used without authority. Moreover, the name I gave to the animal represented (Ceratosaurus nasicornis) isnot even mentioned, but it is incidentally stated that my genus Ceratosaurus, based on this unique specimen, is insepar- able from the European Megalosaurus. ‘Ihis statement could not be fairly made by anyone familiar with the type specimens of the two genera, or even with tke literature. Only a few authentic remains of Megalosaurus aie known, and I have studied all the important specimens with care. There is no evidence that the skulls are identical in the two forms. and much against it. The plano-concave cervical vertebrae of Cera- tosaurus, unknown in any other Dinosaur, are radically different from the convexo-concave vertebree of Megalosaurus. The complete co-ossification of all the pelvic elements of Cerato- saurus is another distinctive character, and the union of the metatarsals also is important. An elementary knowledge of the structure of Dinosaurs is quite sufficient to show any anatomist that the two belong to genera widely different, and to indicate for them distinct families. Additional remains, obtained since Ceratosaurus was described, have in great part removed the objection that the co-ossification mentioned may have been 438 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, 1893 pathological. My restoration will be found in the American Sournal of Science for October, 1892, and in the Geological Magazine for April, 1893. ; The third figure given by Mr. Lydekker is a reduced copy of my restoration of Steyosaurus ungulatus, published in August, 1891. This reptile he calls Hypsirophus, giving that name priority over Stegosaurus, but without citing any authority for such a statement. A single reference to the literature would have proved this to be a mistake, as Stegosaurus was published by me in 1877, as above stated (American Fournal of Science (3), vol. xiv. p. 513), while the name Hypsirophus was given by Cope in 1878 (American Naturalist, vol. xii. p. 188). Another error of less importance is in regard to the specimen on which the restoration is based, although this was clearly stated in the description accompanying my figure. The type specimen of Stegosaurus ungulatus Mr. Lydekker apparently confuses with a second skeleton, of a different species, which was even more perfect when found. The fourth restoration given is a reduced copy of my figure of the skeleton of 7riceratops prorsus, which, like the preceding restorations, has already been published by me, both in the American Fournal of Science and in the Geological Magazine, Here again Mr. Lydekker rejects my generic name Triceratops, and even puts that and another genus of mine (Ceratops) as synonyms of Agathaumas without giving any reasons for doing so. The type specimens of the literature would show any candid anatomist that the three forms named, and another which I called Torosaurus, are all distinct genera, separated by well- defined characters. These characters I have given in detail in the American Fourna! of Science, accompanied by accurate figures of the forms I have described (vol. xliii. pp. 81-84, plates ii. and iii., January, 1892). The remaining restoration given in Fig. 5 represents a well- known skeleton of [guanodon in the Royal Museum of Belgium. In regard to this figure I have at present nothing to say, except that I have carefully studied the original specimen and those found with it, having made several visits to Brussels for this purpose. The omissions from this article are perhaps as noteworthy as what it contains. No reference is made to two restorations of American Dinosaurs which I have recently published ; Clao:aurus from the Cretaceous, and Anchisaurus from the Triassic, although each is based on a nearly perfect skeleton. Both of these restorations have appeared in the American SFournal of Science and also in the Geological Magazine within the past year. Mr. Lydekker likewise omits the restoration of Megalosaurus, which he has lately given to the public, although many paleontologists would be glad to know more about it, especially about the remains on which it is based. Mr. Lydekker begins his article by referring to the discour- azements of paleontologists in the investigation of fossil verte- brates, but ends with some words of encouragement. He might have added that one discouragement to active workers who de- vote years to exploration and study is to have the results of their labour used without due credit, or disparaged by those who do not understand them. O. C. Marsu. Yale University, New Ilaven, Conn., August 15. Insects Attracted by Solanum. Str Joun Lussock, in his ‘‘ British Wild Flowers in Re- lation to Insects,” remarks (p. 133) that Solanum is little visited by insects. Darwin, in ‘‘ Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation,” has some observations (p. 387) to the same effect. It will therefore be useful to record that, however it may be with European species, an abundant So/anum of New Mexico is very attractive to insects. The species in question is S. eleagnifolium, Cav., which has deep lilac flowers not unlike those of the potato. I was especially successful in capturing interesting aculeate hymenoptera on this plant, as the following list will show. All listed were taken in Las Cruces, and all (except the J7gactlissa, July 12) on July 13. Hymenoptera taken on Solanun eleagnifolium, 1893. Ammophila pruinosa, Cr. ?. is varipes, Cr. Anthophora urbana, Cr. 9. Halictus, sp. 9. NO. 1245, VOL. 48] Megacilissa gloriosa, Fox. Melissodes menuacha, Cr. var.?? Myzine frontalis, Cr. MS. Mysson texanus, Cr. 2. ye. ie Spe Odynerus bravo, Sauss. (new to U.S. fauna). Pelopeus servillei, Lef. Plenoculus, 0. sp. Spherophthaima coccineohirta, Blake, é var. Stizus agilis, Sm. » flavus, Cam. (new to U.S. fauna). Tachysphex, sp.?. Tachytes elongatus, Cr. 8. ver Trypoxylon texense, Sauss. 2 For the identifications of the species I am indebted W. J. Fox. T. D. A. Cocks Agricultural College, Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.. August 16, : t Old and New Astronomy. | In your notice of the ‘‘Old and New Astronomy,” viewer has, I think, misunderstood the passage with, reflecting telescopes, on p. 45, which he refers to as indica that Mr. Proctor supposed that the image in the principal of a reflecting telescope was affected with chromatic aberr or false colouring. Section 97, to which I conclude yc viewer refers, evidently refers to the magnified image enters the eye of an observer when a ‘‘ veal image of an is submitted. to microscopical examination,” pee No one who knew Mr. Proctor could suppose him such a mistake ; and that he was perfectly well awa image thrown by a reflector was not affected with chr aberration, would, I think, have been evident to your 1 if he had read to the bottom of the page, where in Se Mr. Proctor says :—‘‘ Newton supposed that it was impo to get rid of this defect (¢ 2. chromatic aberration), and ther turned his attention to the construction of reflectors,” proof that Mr. Proctor was in no doubt upon the su only referred in the previous passage to the false col an image formed by a lens. S. D. Procror-SmyT 8 Duncairn Street, Belfast, August 23. ae Mrs. PRocTor-SMYTH is in error in supposing that referred to Section 97 of ‘Old and New Astro: referred to Section 100, in which the author says “‘the light proceeding from a point such as P, Fi consists of rays of different refrangibility, ant | o1 verging toa focal point such as p but to a focal line in the pencil.”” (The italics are mine.) Fig. 18 is a dia formation of a real image by a reflector. The Fig. 18 may have been a slip ; if so, it should have be rected in the completed volume, as otherwise the” : reading the subsequent paragraphs, to which Mrs. Smyth refers, is confused as to what the author and is doubtful whether the reflector does or does from chromatic aberration. THE R Suicide of Rattlesnake, | ANOTHER question raised by the late snake long does it take todrown snakes? Some of the kind at the Zoological Gardens, in certain states of tl are fond of hanging themselves over the edge of | with their heads immersed in the water, for as lon together. “1 Taos August 29. THE EARLY ASTERISMS. 1 wot very many years ago, when the lite é China and India was as a sealed book, and hieroglyphics of Egypt and the wedges of Babylonia Z The Great Bear ine si. es Pleiades, Heiades SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 439 li unread, we had to depend for the earliest traces of omical observation upon the literatures of Greece Syria, and according to these sources the asterisms specialised and named were as follows :— +» Job (xxxviii. 31), Homer. Job (ix. 9), Homer, Hesiod. Job (xxxviii. 31), Homer, Hesiod. Hesiod (viii.), the name ; Homer called it the Star of Autumn, Homer, Hesiod. Sirius, the Great Dog Midebiran, the Bull... Arcturus Job, Homer, Hesiod. The Little Bear Thales, Eudoxus, Aratus, The Dragon ... ra «-- Eudoxus, Aratus. _ It follows from the investigation into the orientation of ‘Egyptian temples that the stars a Ursze Majoris, Capella, Antares, Phact, and a Ceatauri were carefully observed, some of them as early as 5000 B.C., the others between 4000 and 3000 B.c. Further, that the constellations of the Thigh (Ursa Major), the Hippopotamus (Draco), the Bull, and the Scorpion had been established in aes times. _ It becomes important therefore, if we recognise this as the dawn of astronomy in Egypt, to see if any informa- ‘tion is extant, giving us information concerning Baby- Jonia, so that we may be able to compare the observations made in the two regions, not only with a view of tracing the relative times at which they were made, but to gather from these any conclusions that may be suggested in the course of the inquiry. ' The inquiry must be limited to certain detailed points ; we know quite well already, as I stated in the intro- duction, that the omen tablets of Sargon I., who reigned in Babylon 3700 B.c., prove’ unquestionably that astronomy had been cultivated for thousands of years before that date.’ But to institute a comparison we must leave the general and come to the particular. . I will begin with the northern constellations, as it follows from my researches that very early at Denderah and Thebes, and in all probability at On, temples were erected for their worship—the worship of Anubis or Set, as I have shown, that is a Ursz Majoris and y Draconis. According to Maspero, Set formed one of the divine dynasties at On, and the northern stars seem to have been worshipped there. I suppose there is now no question among Egyptologists that the gods Set, Sit, Typhon, Bes, Sutekh, are identical. It is also equally well known that Sutekh was a god of the Canaanites? that the hippo- potamus, the emblem of Set and Typhon, was the hieroglyph of the Babylonian god Baal,? and Bes is identified with Set in the book of the dead.* It is also stated by Mispero that at Memphis [time not given] there were temples dedicated to Soutekh and Baal. In the article on the circumpolar stars I have aaa that they were taken as typifying the powers f darkness and of the lower world, aka I believe it is conceded by Egyptologists that Anubis-in jackal form preceded Osiris in this capacity. _ Inthe exact centre of the circular zodiac of Denderah ‘find the jackal located at the pole of the equator ; it obviously represents the present Little Bear. ‘Do we get the jackal constellation in Babylon astro- nomy? Of this there is no question, and in early times. 1 Besides the book on omens we hav: “The Observations of B:1,” or “IMumination of Bel” (Mul-lil), seventy-two books. dealing with’ con- junctions of Sun and Moon, phases of Venus, and appearance of comsts. Hibbect nee ey a 1887, 29). _ 2 Maspero, ‘H stoire acienne,’’ p. 165. _ 8 Perret, ‘‘ Le Panthéon Egyptien,” p. 4. 4 Idem, p. 48. 5 Maspero, p. 357. NO. 1245, VOL. 48] Jensen refers! to the various readings “ jackal” and “leopard,” and states that it is only doubtful whether by this figure the god ANU or the ole of the ecliptic ANU is meant, Either will certainly serve our present purpose. I know not whether the similarity in the words Anu and Anubis results merely from a coincidence, but it is quite certain that the seven stars in Ursa Minor make a very good jackal with pendant tail, as generally repre- sented by the Egyptians, and that they form the nearest compact constellation to the pole of the ecliptic. It seems extremely probable, therefore, that the worship of the circumpolar stars went on in Baby- lonia as well as in Egypt in the earliest times we can get at. A very wonderful thing also is that, apparently in very early times, the Babylonians had made out the pole of the equator as contradistinguished from the pole of the ecliptic. This they called Bil. With this Jensen finds no star associated,? but 6000 B.C. this pole would be not far removed from those stars in the present constel- lation Draco, out of which I have suggested the old Egyptian asterism of the hippopotamus was formed. Now I gather from Prof. Sayce® that Anu and Bil ranked as two members of a triad from the commence- ment. of the Semitic period, the third member being probably a southern star symbolised as we shall see in the sequel. The whole triad was stellar and two-thirds circum- polar ; it was only in later ages that we get a triad con- sisting of sun, moon, and Venus, Venus being replaced at Babylon by Sirius.® To these two northern divinities temples were built, both were worshipped in one temple at Babylon,® which must therefore have been oriented due north, and the pole of the equator, the altitude of which (equal to the latitude of the place) was probably in some way indi- cated. Here there was no rising and setting observa- tions, for Eridu the most southern of the old Babylonian cities had about the same latitude as Bubastis, in Egypt. The pole of the ecliptic (Anu) would revolve round the pole of the equator (Bil) always above the horizon. Sutech = Anu Baal Bil, the-temple at Memphis to those divinities reported by Maspero (see av¢e) must have been oriented in the same way asthe one at Babylon; and if the above evidence be considered strong enough to enable us to associate the Babylonian Bil with the Egyptian Taurt,.we have not only Ursa Minor but Draco represented in the mythology both of Egypt and early Babylonia. I gather from Prof. Sayce’s “ Hibbert Lectures”? that there is a distinct evidence of a change of thought with regard to Anu. Observations of stars near the pole of the ecliptic appear to have been utilised before they were taken as representing either the superior or inferior powers—before in fact the Anubis or Set stage gud Egypt was reached. After this had been accomplished there was still another advance in which Anu assigns places to sun, moon, and evening star, and symbolises the forces of nature. It seems probable that the same rectangular arrange- ment of temples which held in Egypt, held also in Babylonia,’ and this perhaps may be the reason why Bil seems so often to refer to the sun, whereas it was the name given to the combined worship. Sometimes, on the other hand, the worship of the stars is distinctly So that since and 1 Kosmologie der Babylonier, p. 147 on the word Anu. _ 1 B47 % Sayce, p. 193. 4 Sayce, p. 193. 5 Jensen, p. 149. | 6 Sayce, p. 439- 7 P. 190. 8 In the cer Is in the ples also the statues of the gods in boats or arks were ca redin precession. Sayce, p 280. 440 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, 18 referred to as taking place in a solar tempie. Thus at Marduk’s temple, E-Sagila we are told “two hours after nightfall the priest must come and take of the waters of the river, must enter into the presence of Bil, and putting on a stole in the presence of Bil must say this prayer,” &c.1_ The temple then will have been probably oriented to the north. 3 Nor was this all; movements in relation to the ecliptic had been differentiated from movements in relation to the equator. We have inscriptions running :— “The way tn reference to Anu,” that is the ecliptic with its pole at Anu. ‘* The way in reference to Bil,” the equator with its pole at Bil. In other words, the daily and yearly apparent move- ments of the heavenly bodies were clearly distinguished, while we note also Kabal sami, ‘‘the middle of the Heavens” defining the meridian. So far as I have been able to gather any myth like that of Horus involving combats between the sun and circumpolar star gods is entirely lacking, but a similar myth in relation to some of the ecliptic constellations is among the best known. The Ecliptic Constellations. I have already in previous articles pointed out that at On we seemed limited to Set as a stellar divinity ; so soon as pyramid times are reached, however, this is changed. I have given before the list of the gods of Heliopolis, and have shown that with the exception of Sit none are stellar. But we find in pyramid times the list is increased ; only the sun gods Ra, Horus, Osiris, are common to the two. As new divinities we have *:— Isis. Hathor. . . Nephthys. Ptah. Selkit. Sokhit. Of these the first two and the last two undoubtedly symbolised stars, and there can be no question that the temples of Isis built at the pyramids, Bubastis, Tanis, and elsewhere, were built to watch the rising of some of them. The temple of Sais, as I have said, had east and west walls, and so had Memphis, according to Lepsius. The form of Isis at Sais was the goddess Neith, which, accord- ing to some authorities, was the precursor of Athene. The temple of Athene at Athens was oriented to the Pleiades. There is also no question that the goddess Selk symbolised Antares. x We find ourselves then in the presence of the worship of the sun and stars in the constellations of the ecliptic in Egypt, in pyramid times, and in constellations connected with the Equinoxes ; for if we are right above the Pleiades and Antares these are the stars which would herald the sunrise at the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox respectively, when the sun was in Taurus and Scorpion. Now associated with the introduction of these new worships in pyramid times was the worship of the bull Apis. The worship of Apis preceded the building of pyramids. Mini is credited by some authors with its introduction,’ but at any rate Kakau of the second dynasty issued pro- clamations regarding it, and a statue of Hapi was in the temple of Cheops.® The first question which now arises is When were these constellations established in Babylonia? Is there any information ? 1 Sayce, p. ror. 3 Maspero, of. cit. p. 44. note. 5 Maspero, of. cit. p. 46. NO. 1245, VOL 48] 2 Maspero, of. cit. p. 64. 4 Maspero, of. cit. p. 64. With regard to the constellations of -the Bull Scorpion, there does seem to be some informatior on this point in a subsequent article I shall have to at some length to Jensen’s recent important book. J. NORMAN Lock’ (To be continued.) PUBLICATIONS OF THE ZOOLOGICA STATION AT NAPLES? TURING the winter of 1876, when the Zoologi Station was already a fact in brick and morta my late friend, Mr. Frank Balfour, had already she his famous work on the Elasmobranch Develoy profitable its arrangements might turn out for the pros of research in morphology, I began to busy myself the literary phase of my enterprise. From the v beginning it had been my intention to erect not r simple laboratory, in which a more or less long s “ Contributions to the knowledge ” of all sorts of or problems ought to be worked out, but to— organisation which by its own power and weigh influence the further progress and development phological science in the direction of greater tion and by production of such scientific work hardly be taken up and still less carried through individual effort alone. Of course the Zoological Ss ought to have its own Journal, similar to the m Journals or Zeitschriften or Archives of other and per less powerful institutions or societies, but 1 hop d | more than that. If my ideas of, and confidence future development of the Zoological Station were 1 more important productions might be expected and thus it became only a question of orga and combination of means and ends to sec result. I had learned by almost daily experi difficult, almost hopeless, it was to succeed specific determination of all the nuinberless o worms, crustaceans, hydroids, tunicates, &c., &c., our fishermen brought to light day by day. E library of the Zoological Station at that time complete enough, it would have been almost imp to ascertain the names of all these creatures, the tions and figures in former works being far too i plete and too superficial to enable even specialis these groups to decide which name belonged to animal. All attempts to form a well-determin tion of any group—not excluding even the ceans, echinoderms, and medusz —failed, and to such a degree that my assistants and myself ourselves in the midst of chaos. This may sou to conchologists, ornithologists, and entomolog' can rely on splendid monographs and in synopsis and similar works for classification, butit theless a deplorable fact for the marine fauna all the seas. And the want is greatly felt, marine organisms in by far the greater numb require not only an outside investigation by magnifying glass, but microscopical exam anatomy and development, both embryological to state definitely to which species they belong, # difference being often so great as to have giv to create different genera and even groups fo female of the same species, and the larval forms cases being so utterly unlike the adults that they h classified in different orders! Tornaria is now km the larva of Balanoglossus, whereas not long ago ‘3 —e Ps Gunstvd 1 “ Kosmologie de- Babylonier,” p. 315, e¢ seg. : 2% Semetnatik und Faunistik der Pelagischen Copepoda des Gol Neapel,” von Wilh. Giesbrecht. XIX. “Monograph of the r Flcra of th: Gulf of Naples,” published by the Naples Zo! 1892, pp. 1-831, pl. 1-54. SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 44t supposed to belong to the Echinoderms. What can be _ more unlike each other than male and female of Bonellia _ viridis? How long did it take to ascertain the true _ relation of the so-called Hectocotylus to the Cephalopods ? _ And only a few years ago a simple appendage of a _ well-known mollusc, Tethys, was described as a special genus by one of the most distinguished French zoologists. Such being thedifficulties it can hardly be wonderedatthat, for instance, the same species of a Pycnogonid has had the honour of being described under nine specific and generic names, the greater part of them even by the same author, because he ignored that male and female differed, and that their larval stages again differed from each other and from the adult. It was then that I planned the publication of a great series of monographs under the title “Fauna and Flora of the Gulf of Naples.” Several of my assistants and myself set to work, each one selecting a group of lower marine animals. The main object of these mono- graphs was to create a firm basis for systematical know- ledge, but in the meantime I left everybody free to incorporate as much of anatomy, histology, and embryology as he thought convenient, thus giving greater variety to the monographs, and leaving the authors free to follow up those lines of research for which they had the greatest interest. { wished to lay great stress upon illustrations. In looking over the existing iconography of the lower marine animals, and comparing them with those of ter- restrial animals, the inferiority of existing illustrations of the former was apparent, and especially as regards the reproduction of the colouring of the living marine organ- isms. Colour in animals may have relatively little scientific interest compared with structure, nevertheless it has a meaning, and its good reproduction facilitates greatly the recognition of the species. Besides, practi- cal reasons spoke very much in favour of good coloured illustrations as a means to facilitate the sale of the mono- graphs, which were to be published on subscription, and as the safest way for covering the great expenses which were to be incurred. I remember in this regard a conversation which | had with the great German publisher, Wilh. Engelmann, of Leipzig, to whom I offered the commission of all the publications of the Zoological Station. When discussing the project of the “ Fauna and Flora” I asked his advice as to the number of copies to be printed, and proposed myself 500. Engelmann almost fainted when I pro- nounced that number. “ My dear friend,” exclaimed he, “you are going to ruin yourself! There isnot the re- motest possibility of such a number! Of such costly publications as you project hardly one hundred copies are sold, and if we print 150 copies, it will be more than enough.” J remonstrated, and insisted on at least 300, and as I intended to pay all the expenses, Dr. Engel- mann on his side kindly reducing the cost of commission to five per cent., I felt pretty safe, to find the necessary number of subscribers in the course of time—a confidence which was not in the least shared by Dr. Engelmann, who called me a Phantast, and a Utopian—denominations to which I had already become so much used that they made hardly any impression upon me. And I have only to regret that I did not insist on my first proposition, for the first volume of the “Fauna and Flora,” the mono- graph on the Ctenophora by Prof. Chun, has been out of ace for almost ten years, and single copies are sold at double the original price. The secret of this success consisted largely in the magnificent plates which accompanied this and the following volumes. It is true that the high scientific standard of these monographs and the low rate of sub- scription for them caused their sale among all the more important libraries and universities, but the large number NO. 1245, VOL. 48] of public and private libraries who subscribed to the “Fauna and Flora” did so partly out of sympathy for the Zoological Station, and partly out of enthusiasm for the splendid illustrations which accompany the greater part of the nineteen published volumes, and are executed in the most masterly way by the celebrated lithographic firm of Werner and Winter, at Frankfurt-on-Maine. In fact, it is not too much to say that the world-wide fame of this firm has partly been created by the first volume of the “ Fauna and Flora of the Gulf of Naples,’ whose illustrations were all personally engraved by Mr. Winter himself, It is doubtless true that the cost of production of these plates is very great ; nevertheless, 1 may be permitted to state that the balance-sheet of the “‘ Fauna and Flora” shows how justly I appreciated the chances when I began this large publication ; and though since the last four or five years the number of subscribers has de- creased, chiefly by death, the Zoological Station hopes, nevertheless, to continue the series of monographs in the same way for many years to come. The volume which I have under review is a very fair specimen of the value of these plates, for I hardly say too much if [ state my conviction that nowhere have illustrations of Copepoda been produced to rival those of Dr. Giesbrecht’s volume. One can hardly look on the first five plates without wishing that some of these fan- tastical and splendid figures might find their way even beyond the range of scientific literature, and serve as decorative elements in art and industry, where birds, butterflies, and flowers already occupy such an enormous field. Thirty years have elapsed since the appearance of Claus’s well-known monograph of the free-living Cope- poda. Many smaller, and even some larger works have been published in the interval, enlarging the field to such a degree that it seemed advisable to divide the whole group into several parts for a new monographical study. Dr. Giesbrecht selected the Ze/agzc marine forms instead of the /¢¢toral ones, partly on account of their better qualification for anatomical and ontogenetical re- searches, partly because they are yet less known than the others, and lastly, because he thinks they include the more ancestral forms of the whole entomostracous crustaceans. The bulky volume lying before us forms only the first part of the monograph, treating the systematical and faunistical chapters. But as such it gives much more than its title announces, for not only have the pelagic Copepoda of the Gulf of Naples been examined, but the whole mass of forms resulting from the oceanic cruise of the Vettor Pisanz, an Italian corvette, and captured and carefully preserved by Capt. Chierchia, so well known among biologists, are included in Gies- brecht’s work. Altogether, this volume treats of 298 species of pelagic Copepoda; 125 belong to the fauna of the Gulf of Naples, whilst 229 have been captured by Capt. Chierchia all over the globe. If one compares the last number with that of the Chad/enger expedition, where only 85 species of Copepoda are reported, one can imagine with what industry Capt. Chierchia went to work, and how carefully Dr. Giesbrecht examined the material. The descriptions of the author are extraordinarily detailed; nevertheless he obviates great bulkiness and repetition, having introduced abbreviations for homological parts of the body and the extremities, which are also adopted on the plates. Moreover, the single species are not described one after the other, as is usually the case, but those belonging to the same genus are treated as a whole, their differences being treated in a diagnosis and by the help of synoptical lists (pp. 706-766) and indication of the plates where their specific characteristics are figured, the determina- 442 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, i189 tion is greatly facilitated. As to nomenclature and ' synonymy, Giesbrecht is very rigorous in favour of priority, thus. restoring even many older names to ‘species described by Claus. A complete list of all de- scribed species, with complete indication of bibliography, is to be found on pages 676-705. The 54 plates contain 2300 figures, drawn masterly from nature by the author himself, and the first five plates, as mentioned above, give an idea of the variety of colour and form of append- ages which exists even among these small marine organisms. The systematical views and arrangements of Giesbrecht differ considerably from those of former authors. It is well known that the near relationship of the parasitical with the free-living Copepoda has been recognised already by H. Milne-Edwards; but it was Zenker. who established systematically the two great groups of Natantia or Gnathostomata, and Parasita or Siphono- stomita, a divtsion which hitherto has been universally accepted. Giesbrecht points out the difficulties with which this division meets when one considers natural affinities, and thinks it impossible to adopt the manifold varieties of the construction of the oral appendages as a funda- mental basis for classification. He proposes to divide the whole class into two great groups—the Gymnoplea and the Podoplea. The Gymnoplea are to be recognised by the following characteristics :—(1) chief body division occurring between the segment of the 5th foot-pair and the enital segment ; (2) abdomen without rudiments of feet ; 3) 5th foot-pair of the male transformed to an organ of copulation, genital organs. asymmetrical; (4) heart in most cases present; (5) female carrying rarely ovisacs ; (6) extremities plentifully articulated and provided with appendages. On the other hand, the Pleopoda are dis- tinguished by (1) chief body division before the fifth pair of feet; (2) this latter rudimentary never serving as copulation organ ; (3) male genital openings symmetrical ; (4) heart always wanting ; (5) female carrying always one or two ovisacs ; (6) extremities rather scarcely provided with articulations and appendages. The great group of the Gymnoplea is further divided into two tribes—the Amphaskandria (male with symmetrical antenne : family Calanidee) and the Heterarthrandria (male on one side with prehensile antenna: families Centropagide, Canda- tidz, Pontellidz) ; to the family Centropagide are to be numbered all the Gymnoplea of fresh water. The description of the group of the Podoplea only takes up a small portion of the present monograph ; therefore our author does not enter into a more detailed discussion of its classification, especially as not only all the littoral forms but most likely all the parasites belong to this group; he divides the group into two tribes—the Am- pharthrandria (first pair of antennz of the male sym- metrical prehensile organs: families Misophriide, Mormonillide, Cyclopida, Harpactitide, Monstrillidz) and the Isokerandria (antenne of the male similar to those of the female; genital openings of the female dorsally situated: families Ontaide, Cory- ceidz). The rich harvest of pelagic Copepoda made by Capt. Chierchia on the three years’ expedition of the Italian corvette, Vettor Pisani, enabled our author not only to describe a great number of new or incompletely charac- terised species of former authors, especially Dana’s, but it gave him the possibility of explaining his views on the geographical distribution of the group, which we will only sketch with a few words, since a larger discussion of these views is impossible on account of the necessity to enter on the general conditions of pelagic life. Accord- ing to Dr. Giesbrecht there are three great districts in the distribution of the pelagic Copepoda : two arctic ones, north and south, whose boundaries are at 47° N. and 44° S., and the intermediate one. The number of species belonging to this latter one is by far the greatest, almost NO. 1245, VOL. 48] 85 per cent. of all known species, whilst the north contains 5} per cent., the south Arctic 13 per cent. faunistic differences between these three distric greater than those of the three oceans; nevert there occur also in the Atlantic and in the Pacific sp peculiar to each of them, especially in their ne parts. Pelagic Copepoda occur down to a dept 4000 metres, and it seems that the boundaries above-named three districts stretch even down depths. Some species seem to live in very di depths, others exclusively near the surface ; whethe are such that live exclusively in greater depths has as yet been established. The character of the fau pending more on latitude than on longitude it see determining causes of their geographical distrib must depend chiefly on physical agents such as light temperature, but since the abyssal forms in the tro parts of the Pacific are not identical with thos: northern and southern seas, which live on the same ditions of light and temperature, the difference in thet faunistic districts must be explained in part by | causes. The distribution of other holopelagic ar seems to be identical with those of the Copepoda. ing to Giesbrecht one seemsto be justified in attributi: causes of the daily vertical wandering of pelagic anim. to the influence of light, whilst the annual war depend on temperature ; besides these periodi ings some pelagic Copepoda seem to exist as egg greater depths and go slowly to the surface after Nauplius stage. Spe I refrain from entering here into any greate the 831 large quarto pages of the volume lying expressing only the hope that Dr. Giesbrecht may able to publish his anatomical and embryolo searches on the same group in a second volume, editor of the “Fauna and Flora,’ I may be pei congratulate the Zoological Station and science on the production of this volume, which answe the programme of the whole series of monogra’ I may be permitted to state here that anol volume, treating of the Gammaridz of the Gulf of N and prepared by Prof.. Della Valle, of the Univer: Modena, will soon follow the Copepoda of G and will examine in a complete way these i crustaceans, including their embryology and Splendid plates accompany also the work of D: and will give perhaps for the first time the ve remarkable natural colouring of these creatures, , only figured in outline and diagram by former auth After Della Valle’s monograph a large, esting, and most complete monograph of — pneusta (Balanoglossus), by Prof. Spengel (G be.published. Most likely both these volumes y this year. A very large work on the Cephal Dr. Tatta is in preparation, and its first volume, co} the classification and grosser anatomy, accom) most splendid plates, is nearly ready. A mo Dr.Biirger of Géttingen, treating the Nemerte: in MSS., and the Ostracods, by Dr. W. Miiller, o wald, are in the press; the Hirudinea by Prof, Klausenburg, have been in hand for five years monograph treating the Rhodomelez, by Prof. burg, of Rostock, is nearj completion ; Prof. Lui contribute several volumes on the Echinoderm most marvellous drawings by the artist of the Zo Station, Mr. Mercoliano, have been prepared, and other authors are engaged on other groups. Some years ago a discussion took place at the Br ‘ish 4 sociation, whether it would be right to continue the; for a table, and it was questioned whether the Zo Station at Naples was really destined for res not rather an educational institution; if it weren to strengthen the arguments in favour of the first ment, I think the enumeration of the monograph: m4 oe * = SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 443 Fauna and Flora of the Gulf of Naples,” either already blished (Dr. Giesbrecht’s monograph is the nineteenth ‘volume published) or in preparation may convince also those who may still be doubtful in this regard. - Later, and in another article, 1 may be permitted to discuss some questions regarding another great publica- tion of the Zoological Station, the Zoologischer Jahres- _ bericht, a discussion which will touch some of the most ‘vital questions of scientific organisation. ANTON DOHRN. BRITISH ASSOCIATION, NOTTINGHAM MEETING. ~URTHER information has been forwarded since the last issue of NATURE from Presidents and Recorders of Sections, of which the following statement is a sum- mary :— In Section B the following papers are promised, in ad- dition to those already mentioned :—“ The Action of Permanganate on Sulphites and Thiosulphates,” by G, E. Brown and W. W. J. Nicol; “The Relation existing between Chromium and Certain Organic Acids, and some New Chromoxalates,” and on “ The Action of Phosphorus Pentachloride on Urethanes,” by Emil A. Werner ; “ The Occurrence of Cyanonitride of Titanium 'in Ferromanganese,” by T. W. Hogg; “Hydrogen Flame-cap Measurements, and the Adaptation of the Hydrogen-flame to the Miners’ Safety-lamp,’ by Prof. Frank Clowes, A general statement of the arrangement of work in this Section appeared in last week’s NATURE. The only probable alteration is the shifting of M. Moissan’s demonstration to Friday, September 15, and of the Bacteriological discussion to Monday, 18. An interesting paper is promised to Section E by Mr. Cope Whitehouse, a distinguished American citizen of New York and Cairo. The presidential address in Section F, on “ The Re- action in favour of the Classical Political Economy ” will be mainly inspired by the idea that the principles and methods of the classical and orthodox economists have only been modified and supplemented, not displaced, by recent writers ; and that both theoretically and practically there are signs of a reaction in favour of the older doctrines as against socialism. The probable arrangement of work in Section H is as follows:—On Thursday, September 14, the President’s address will be delivered, and a few papers on physical anthropology will be read. On Friday, 15, Dr. Hans Hildebrand, Royal Antiquary of Sweden, will read his paper on “Anglo-Saxon Remains, and the Coeval Ones in Scandinavia,” and this will be followed by arch- wological papers. On Monday, 18, various papers will be taken, On Tuesday, 19, Dr. Munro will describe “ The Structure of Lake Dwellings,” and Mr. Arthur Bulleid will give an account of “ The Recently Discovered Lake or Marsh Village near Glastonbury.” Papers which have not been already mentioned in Section H are—* Anthropometric Work in Schools,” by Prof. Windle; “The Prehistoric Evoluticn of the Theories of Punishment, Revenge and Atonement,” by Rev. G. Hartwell Jones; “ Pin-wells and Rag-bushes,” iy Mr. Hartland ; and “The Tribes of the Congo,” by r. Herbert Ward. The Local Secretaries wish to announce that the local programme and the list of hotels and lodgings are ready for issue, and may be obtained by application at the British Association Office, Guildhall, Nottingham, until September 9 ; after that, application should be made atthe Reception Room, Mechanics’ Institution. It may also be stated that the local committee has engaged the Theatre Royal for Wednesday night, September 20, when Mr. Wilson Barrett’s Company will give the new NO. 1245, VOL. 48] play “ Pharaoh.” It is hoped that members will avail themselves of the invitation extended to them for this. entertainment, and that it will induce them to remain in Nottingham, and take advantage of the: excursions. arranged for the following day. Other items worthy of mention are a special concert, which will be given by the Nottingham Sacred Harmonic Society on the Saturday night; and a garden-party, given by Mr. J. W. Leavers, in whose grounds some of the old rock-dwellings of Nottingham are to be seen. Geologists and naturalists will be interested to know that amongst the special local literature will bea little book entitled “ Contributions to the Geology and Natural History of Nottinghamshire,” | which has been edited by Mr. J. W. Carr, M.A., with the assistance of local specialists. FRANK CLOWES. SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. CIENCE makes a poor show in the September maga- zines. There are, however, one or two important articles which claim attention. in the Contemporary Review Prof. A, Weismann writes on “ The All-Suffi- ciency of Natural Selection,” his essay being an answer to two articles by Mr. Herbert Spencer directed against Prof. Weismann’s views on heredity and natural selec- tion. The essay is not merely controversial, but also a clear explanation of Weismannism. The following is the concluding paragraph :— T hold it to be demonstrated that all hereditary adaptation. rests on natural selection, and that natural selection is the one great principle that enables organisms to conform, to a certain high degree, to their varying conditions, by constructing new adaptations out of old ones. It is not merely an accessory principle, which only comes into operation when the assumed transmission of functional variations fails ; but it is the chief principle in the variation of organisms, and compared to it, the primary variation which is due to the direct action of ex- ternal influences on the germ-plasm, is of very secondary im- portance. For, as I previously said, the organism is composed of adaptations, some of which are of recent date, some are older, some very old ; but the influence of primary variations on the physiognomy of species has been slight and of subord- inate importance. Therefore I hold the discovery of natural selection to be one of the most fundamental ever ‘made in the field of biology, and one that is alone sufficient to immortalise the names of Chailes Darwin and Alfred Wallace. When my opponents set me down as an ultra-Darwinist, who takes a one- sided and exaggerated view of the principle discovered by the great naturalist, perhaps that may make an impression on some of the timid souls who always act on the supposition that the jwste-mzlieu is proper; but it seems to me that it is never possible to say a priord how far-reaching a prin- ciple of explanation is: it must be tried first; and to have made such a trial has been my offence or my merit. Only very gradually have I learned the full scope of the principle of selec- tion ; and certainly I have been led beyond Darwin’s conclu- sions. Progress in science usually involves a struggle against deep-rooted prejudices: such was the belief in the transmis- sion of acquired characters ; and it is only now that it has. fortunately been overcome that the full significance of natural selection can be discerned. Now, for the first time, consumma- tion of the principle is possible ; and so my work has not been. to exaggerate, but to complete. Two articles of scientific interest appear in the Fort- nightly Review. One, by Mr. W. Bevan Lewis, on “ The Origin of Crime,” deals with drunkenness, insanity, epilepsy, and similar affections in their mutual relation- ship to crime ; in the second, entitled “ The Climbing of High Mountains,” Mr. W. M. Conway enthusiastically supports mountaineering in unexplored regions. Ordinary official surveys do not supply the detailed information with regard to buttress and fold in which resides the clue of mountain structure. It is for mountaineers to make up the deficiency. 444 NATURE In Mr. Conway’s words :— The Arctic and Antarctic regions remain for the future, and so do almost all the great mountain ranges in the world. The Alps alone are explored. The exploration of the Caucasus has been well begun, perhaps half done. Mr. Whymper has ac- complished as much as one man can do in a season in the great Andes of Ecuador, but the Andes as a whole are little known. A good deal has been done in parts of the Rocky Mountains. Our New Zealand fellow-countrymen have boldly attacked the beauti- ful mountain fastnesses which belong to them. All these are hope- ful beginnings, but the mountains of Central Africa and all the ranges of Asia are practically unknown. Thus the future of explora- tion is in the hands of climbers. The exploration of the Alps is a mere specimen on a small scale of the greater work which remains to be accomplished over areas incomparably vaster, and amongst ranges loftier and far more difficult than the Alps. wits Whilst the Himalayas have been in large part surveyed by the Indian Government, they are not, from a mountaineer’s point of view; surveyed at all. No attempt has been made to give a true physical representation of the highest levels. The glaciation has been treated in the vaguest fashion and upon the ditch theory. From such work a mountain student cannot learn much, It was for this reason that I was tempted to make, in the year 1892, an expedition into the Karakoram Mountains, where are gathered together the mightiest group of glaciers in the world outside the Polar regions. ‘The Hispar, the Biafo, and the Baltoro glaciers had for me the attraction of size as well as remoteness. ‘The Hispar glacier was unsurveyed. The lower portions of the other two had been mapped by Colonel Godwin- Austen years ago, but their upper regions were unknown. The journey that I planned was duly curried out and resulted in the physical survey ofsome three thousand square miles of high moun- tain country. A map ofthe Central Asiatic mountain region lies before me as I write. It measures twelve by fifteen inches, On the same scale, thé portion surveyed by me measures less than a square inch. This will give some idea of the amount of work that remains to be done in Asia by mountaineers. The great difficulty in climbing at considerable altitudes lies in the diminished atmospheric pressure. Says Mr. Conway :— It is more felt in hollow places than on ridges, more on snow than rocks, more in still air than a breeze, more in sunshine than under clouds or by night. It seems probable that the healthy human body can be accustomed to altitudes up to 18,000 or 19,000 feet. Above 19,000 feet a cumulative effect of discomfort is- produced. Mr. Conway and his party reached an altitude of 22,500 feet in the journey to the Karakorams referred to above, and he thinks an altitude of 24,000 feet may eventually be attained, but it will probably not be much exceeded. Miss A. R. Taylor describes her sojourn in Thibet in the National Review. Scribner's Magazine contains an interesting article on “ The Tides of the Bay of Fundy,’ by Mr. Gustav Kobbé. Who has not heard of these tides, and wondered at their reputed magnitude? Statistics regarding the range are often so loosely stated that the following quotation is justifiable :— At Grand Manan the fall is from twelve to fifteen feet, at Lubec and Eastport twenty feet, at St. John from twenty-four to thirty feet, at Munckion, on the bend of the Pelitcodiac, seventy feet, while the distance between high and low water mark on the Cubequid River is twelve miles—the river actually being twelve miles longer at high than at low water, Under the title, “The First Artists of Europe,” the Rev. S. Baring Gould vives, in Good Words, a well- illustrated description of the flint implements and tools, carvings on bone, horn, and ivory, sculptures, engravings, and sketches left by prehistoric reindeer hunters in caves, and beneath overhanging rocks in the valley of the Vézére, France. ‘The Story of the South African Diamond Fields” is told by the Rev. John Reid in the same magazine, and Mr. E, W. Abram contributes a biography of the Rev. F. O. Morris, whose volumes on Nv. 1245. vor. 48] -enterprise is being brought to a successful termination. [Serremper 7, 1893 “Birds” and “ Butterflies and Moths” are know naturalists, and earned for him the name of “| White of the North.” “ Bacterial Life and Light ” is the title of an a Mrs. Percy Frankland, in Longman’s Magazine, inv the recent work that has been done on the bact action of sunlight is brightly described. NOTES. gs Mr. Scorr EL1ior has obtained a grant from the ment Grant Committee of the Royal Society for the purp exploring Uganda. We understand that his intention start from Mombassa and proceed direct to Lake Vi Nyanza. After a short stay near the lake Mr. Scott E) hopes to leave for Ruwenzari, and to spend as long a time: funds permit in exploring the botany, geology, and natural tory of this mountain chain. Both Dr. Stuhlman and | Baumann have been very lately in this neighbourhood, but something of interest may be expected from Mr. Elliot’s ploration. - THE works of the Cataract Construction Company at | Falls are rapidly approaching completion. The tunnel is finished, and so is the canal. The wheel-pits have had cut out of the solid rock. A power house is now being ¢ to carry a travelling crane worked by an electric mot current for which will be supplied by a Westinghouse and dynamo, The first of the three turbines of 5,000 horse has been made by the Morris Company, of Philadelphia, designs by Faesch and Picard, of Geneva, and will be set up soon as the electric crane is in its place. Prof. Georg F.R.S., the electrical consulting engineer to the Cata: pany, has completed the plans for the electrical trans which will be by an alternating current. Vertical-shaft d y each of 5,0co-horse power, and capable of giving curren! or two phases, will be employed. It is hoped that the fi these dynamos will be built in about four months, The will first be used at the new works of the Pittsburg Company, on the road towards Buffalo, for the prod aluminium. To hold the conductors, a roomy subway o is being constructed. Cast-iron frames are built into crete, and brackets are fixed to them carrying insulat which the conductors will be supported. It will be this that all the work is now well advanced, and a | THE exceptionally heavy cyclone which swept a American coast on August 28 and 29, and was noted in issue, occasioned great loss of life and property both at s on land. The principal violence of the storm appears occurred in Georgia and South Carolina, and the fur wind completely swept down houses which were in th the hurricane. The storm was also accompanied b wave, which added immensely to the destruction on coast and on the islands in the main track of the distu The wind is reported to have attained a velocity of an hour, but much yet has to be learned from the meteorological stations situated in or near to the storm’ The cyclone was evidently an ordinary West Indian h which storms are not of uncommon occurrence at this the year; but it is unusual for these disturbances to mai their full energy when they continue their course to the ward, and extend to regions well outside the tropics. — hurricane is said to have been experienced in the Bah three or four days before it broke with such fury on the shore the mainland, and it is reported to have finally retreated o sea as an ordinary gale. Just ten years ago a very severe s traversed the south of England, and by means of ship’s obs SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 445 _ vations over the North Atlantic the disturbance was tracked from the tropics, along the coast of the United States, and eventually to our own shores. Doubtless the Weather Bureau _ of the United States will undertake a thorough and exhaustive Taity of the cyclone which has but just occurred. ON the 28th ult. a hurricane passed over the more northerly of the Azores Islands, and caused great damage. Tue Rev. Leonard Blomefield, father of the Linnean Society, died at Bath on Septewber 1, in his ninety-first year. AN International Exposition will be held in the city of San Francisco, State of California, beginning on January 1, 1894, and continuing for six months. The general classification will be as follows :—Department A—Agriculture, food and its acces- sories, forestry and forest products, agricultural machinery and appliances; horticulture, viticulture, and pomology ; fish, fisheries, products and apparatus of fishing. Department B— Machinery ; mines, mining, and metallurgy ; transportation— railway, vessels, vehicles ; electricity and electrical appliances. Department C—Manufactures ; liberal arts—education, litera- ture, engineering, public works, constructive architecture, music and the drama ; ethnology, archzology ; progress of labour and invention. Department D—Fine arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, decoration. Department E—lIsolated and col- lective exhibits. Mr. M. H. de Young is the Director-General and President of the Executive Committee, and all applications for space, &c., must be made to him, addressed Director- General, California Midwinter International Exposition, San Francisco, California, U.S.A. Ir is a custom to break clay vessels as a funeral rite in modern Greece, and there are proofs of the existence of similar customs among various Asiatic, African, American, and Australian peoples. Prof. N. G. Politis has investigated the origin of the practice (Fournal of the Anthropolgical Institute, August), and has been led to conclude that it is connected with the purifica- tions which now, as of old, form part of the funeral ritual. In a great many places, people on returning from a funeral or visiting a house of mourning, wash their hands, or are purified in some way with water, the vessels and towel used being afterwards destroyed. Prof. Politis is therefore of the opinion that the breaking of vessels is based upon two leading notions : (1) that everything used in the ritual of purification ought to be de- stroyed, lest the efficacy of the purificatory act be annulled through the profane use afterwards of things employed in its performance ; and (2) that objects given to the dead must be destroyed, to guard against the possibility of their use for other purposes which annul their dedication to the dead, the belief being that all chattels must perish by fracture or mutilation of some kind in order to serve the purpose of a Cead person, be- coming through such mutilation unfit for living use. In ‘‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Shakespeare refers to **Russet-pated choughs many in sort, rising and cawing at the gun’s report,” but there appears to bea difference of opinion among ornithologists as to the bird so distinguished. So far back as 1871 Mr. J. E. Harting, in his ‘‘ Ornithology of Shakespeare,” interpreted the expression as meaning the gray- headed jackdaw, but the reviewer of the book in these columns remarked at the time that ‘‘ without doubt the poet had in his mind the real Cornish chough, and the expression is quite accurate. ‘ Russet-pated’ is having red faéées, or feet (¢.g. the heraldic croix pattée, not a red fate or head), a feature equally inapplicable to chough or daw, while the red feet of the former are as diagnostic as can be.” Mr. Harting returns to the sub- ject in the Zoologist for September, and, in support of his view | that the gray-headed jackdaw, and not the red-legged chough, | is referred to, brings forward evidence to show (1) that the NO. 1245, VOL. 48] name chong. was not exclusively bestowed upon the bird with red bill and red legs, but was also applied to the jackdaw ; (2) that “pated” means ‘‘ headed,” and cannot be read ‘‘ patted” for ** footed” ; (3) that ‘russet” is not red, though it may be reddish and is often used for gray ; and (4) that the habit of the birds referred to by Shakespeare as ‘‘many in sort, rising and cawing,” indicate a mixed flock of jackdaws and rooks, and not choughs and rooks. WE have received from the Deutsche Seewarte vol. xv. of Aus dem Archiv, containing the report upon the work of that institution for the year 1892. In the department of maritime meteorology, especially, much activity has been shown, notwith- standing the serious obstacles experienced by the lamentable cholera epidemic. The various publications under this head include sailing directions for the Indian Ocean, daily synoptic weather charts for the North Atlantic (in conjunction with the Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen), and the collection of observations made beyond the sea. The observations received from ships alone amounted to an aggregate of 192 years, and these are used in the discussion of the meteorology of the ocean, which for this purpose is divided, according to the usual practice, into squares of ten degrees of latitude by ten of longitude. The department of weather telegraphy is also conducted with marked activity, and daily and monthly reports are regularly published. In addition to these operations, and the testing of numerous meteorological instruments and chronometers, many valuabié discussions are undertaken, some of which are contained in the monthly Annalen der Hydrographie, &c. We shall refer later on to one or two of the special discussions included in the present volume. As regards the behaviour of pathogenic forms in vegetable tissues, Russell states that, with but few exceptions, they were unable to exist for any length of time under these conditions, Lominsky, however, who conducted no less than 3co experi- ments on the vitality of anthrax, the typhoid bacillus, and staphylococcus pyogenes aureus in plants (Wratsch 1890), found that these organisms were not only able to exist but to multiply. Of especial interest was the behaviour of the anthrax bacillus when inoculated into agapanthus leaves. The bacilli grew into long threads, and at the end of seven days signs of spore forma- tion were detected, both spores and threads. being found later, not only at the point of inoculation, but within the healthy cells of the soft part of the leaf; moreover, after forty- two days’ residence in the leaf, their virulence, as shown by inoculation into animals, was in no way impaired. Although saprophytic bacteria, as well as pathogenic forms, have not so far been found capable of inducing any disease in plants when artificially introduced, yet bacteria have been isolated which are especially pathogenic to plants. Amongst these may be mentioned the 2. Ayacinthi of Wakker affecting the bulbs and leaves of hyacinths, and the more recent B. hyacinthi septicus of Heinz, which affects also the flower clusters. The pear blight has been traced to a distinct bacillus, and Savastano describes a bacillus (2. olee-tulerculosis) causing destruction of tissue and formation of spaces in the tissue of numerous fruit trees, whilst closely allied to this form is a bacillus which produces tumours on the Aleppo pine. The list, although limited, is receiving constant additions, and there is a wide field open for researches on the bacterial diseases of plants, which may, moreover, be prosecuted without the intervention at_ present of the anti- vivisectionist ! Herr F, von HEFNER-ALTENECK, in the Zlectrotechnische Anseiger, makes a provisional statement about a system of electric control of clocks which appears likely to solve this much-attempted problem in a satisfactory manner, The main difficulty up to the present has been the necessity for a special 446 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, 18 wire system, central station, and attendance, the cost of which could not be defrayed by the limited public likely to require a luxury of this sort. Whenever, on the other hand, an enter- prise was started with faulty mains and insufficient staff, the system was doomed to fail and to create a prejudice against the principle itself. All these difficulties are avoided by incorporat- ing the control system with the electric light or power installation already existing. This is done by means of a clock invented by Herr von Hefner-Alteneck, which is placed in circuit like an ordinary incandescent lamp. It is kept wound up by the cur- rent, at an annual cost not exceeding that of one 16-candle lamp burning for ten hours, z.e. about 4d. In case of inter- ruption of circuit, the clock will go about twelve hours inde- pendently of the current. The control is effected once a day by a momentary drop of the circuit potential by about 6 or 10 volts at 5 A.M., which has the effect of pointing all the clocks in the circuit at 5. The effect upon the lamps is inappreciable. The control can be performed by hand in the dynamo room, or automatically through the assistance of an observatory. The General Electric Company of Berlin proposes shortly to em- body the system in its enterprises. Messrs. GAUTHIER-VILLARS have issued their quarterly list of new publications. WE have received the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, vol. xxv. 1892. THE report and proceedings of the Manchester Field Naturalists’ and Arckzologists’ Society has been issued for the year 1892. THE Geological Survey of Alabama has issued a report, by Mr. A. M. Gibson, on the ‘‘ Geological Structure of Murphree’s Valley.” The report deals particularly with the mineral re- sources of the region. THE University Correspondence College Press has published the fourth Intermediate Science and Preliminary Scientific Direc- tory, containing the papers set at the examinations in July last, and the answers fully worked. THE Toynbee Hall Natural History Society recently organ- ised an excursion to Jersey. Seventeen members took part in the expedition, and represented three sections—Botany, Geo- logy, and Zoology. The whole of the coast and much of the interior was visited. At the monthly meeting of the Society, held Monday, September 4, many of the results of a fortnight’s natural history work in the island were exhibited. Two new volumes have been added to the Aide-Mémoire series edited by M. Léauté, and published by Messrs. Gauthier- Villars and M. G. Masson. ‘‘ Accidents de Chandieres,” by M. F- Sinigaglia, deals with the causes and prevention of boiler accidents, and M. H. Laurent, in his ‘‘ Théorie des Jeux de Hasard,” gives a number of problems connected with games of chance. Messrs. JOHN BARTHOLOMEW AND Co., Edinburgh, have published a ‘‘ Naturalists’ Map of Scotland,” showing (a) Faunal divisions and lighthouses ; (4) Height of land and depth of sea; (c) Deer forests and salmon rivers ; (¢) Areas of moor. land, hill pastures, and other uncultivated lands; (¢) Areas of cultivated land. The map is excellently lithographed, and will doubtless be appreciated by the tourist as well as by the naturalist. Mr. WILLIAM F. Cxiay, Edinburgh, has published, as an Alembic Club reprint, the two papers by Cavendish, which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions under the title “‘ Experiments on Air.” The first paper appeared in 1784, and contains an account of Cavendish’s researches into the com- position of water ; the second paper, published in the following year, contains the description of his discovery of nitric acid. NO, 1245. VOL. 48] In_ 1891 a biological survey of parts of California, Ni Arizona, and Utah was conducted by the U.S. Departr Agriculture, Dr. C. Hart Merriam being in charge. — part of the report on the results of this—the Death Expedition—has just been published, and forms the number of ‘‘ North American Fauna.’’ It consists special reports on birds, reptiles, batrachians, fishes, insects, and the shrubs of the desert region, cacti The first part of the report, containing the narrative dition, discussion of life-zones, and the list of man not yet appeared. eee Too great praise cannot be given to the authorities Natural History Museum for the excellent series of guide that are being issued from time to time by the varic e ments. The latest addition to this series is a guide to Sows models of British Fungi in the department of botany, pi by Mr, Worthington G. Smith. The Sowerby c acquired by the Museum in 1844, and consists of more hundred models made of unbaked pipeclay. Mr. Sn i scription of the fungi should be widely distributed enable the public to distinguish easily the edible an species. Wee ae Tue benefits derived by science from the Sa tution are almost incalculable. Memoirs, mon bibliographies of a most’important character are « private individuals and libraries with so free a hand t one interested in the matters with which they deal of their publication. A very important volume has: received from the institution ; it is ‘A Select Bibl: Chemistry,” by Mr. Henry Carrington Bolton. The gives the titles of practically all the books on chem lished in Europe’and America between 1492 and contains works in every department of both pure : chemistry. Academic dissertations, however, and th not, as a rule, included, neither is the voluminous li periodicals. The works are arranged into seven sé follows :—(1) Bibliography, (2) Dictionaries, (3) H Biography, (5) Chemistry, pure and applied, (6) Al Periodicals. Section v. is more extensive than the o bined. Besides pure chemistry, the book comprises wo! department of chemistry applied to the arts, but mot t themselves. In each section, with the exception biography and periodicals, the titles are arranged al by authors. Altogether, 12,03r titles have been which 4507 are in German, 2765 in English, and 214) In addition to the author’s index, there is a subjec very considerably facilitates reference. For the com the bibliography and the completion of a stupendous wo Bolton deserves the thanks of all chemists. A d tude is also due to the Smithsonian Institution — so useful a volume. A FURTHER communication upon the manufacti from the air by the agency of calcium plumbate, compound formed by lime with peroxide of lead, is by Herr G. Kassner to the current number of Zeitung. Oxygen is now so important a comme! that any new mode of advantageously preparing it scale must of necessity be of considerable interest. — cess of the “‘ Brin” method of isolating it indirectly atmosphere by the agency of barium peroxide has giv several attempts to discover some other substance ¢ yielding oxygen of an equal degree of purity and und favourable conditions as regards cost of plant and w Calcium plumbate would appear to possess several pro} capable of rendering it an efficient substitute for bariu oxide, and err Kassner even claims for it a distinet sup = SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 447 ‘Whether this be indeed the case or not, can of course only be sted by actual working during a sufficiently long period of me. The method as described by Herr Kassner is briefly as lows. Calcium plumbate in the form of spongy porous pieces is first exposed to the action of moist furnace gases, Bs hich have been previously well washed, at a temperature not exceeding 100° C. The calcium plumbate under these conditions rapidly absorbs the carbon dioxide contained in the furnace "gases, becoming thereby decomposed with formation of calcium ¢arbonate and free peroxide of lead; that is to say, the acid properties of carbon dioxide are superior to those of lead per- oxide, and so the former expels the latter from its state of com- bination with lime. This decomposition is unaccompanied by any change of form, the spongy pieces of material remaining precisely the same in shape and texture, like the pseudomorphs of mineralogy. The product of this first operation, when fully saturated with carbon dioxide, is transferred to a strongly constructed retort heated to redness, when oxygen is rapidly disengaged. The evolution of the oxygen is facilitated by leading superheated steam through the retort. When the peroxide of lead has yielded up most of its ~ available oxygen, carbon dioxide commences to be evolved, and subsequently the issuing gas is pure carbon dioxide, which is collected separately. The carbon dioxide evolved during the intermediate phase is removed from the oxygen by allowing the gases to pass over a further quantity of calcium plumbate, which absorbs it entirely, allowing only pure oxygen to escape. The last phase in which pure carbon dioxide is evolved is carried on to completion, after which the residue is readily reconverted into calcium plumbate, for use in a subsequent operation, by driving a current of air through the retort. ‘IN addition to Kassner’s process, above described, another has been patented by Peitz, in which instead of furnace gases pure carbon dioxide is employed. Le Chatelier has also recently published a paper upon the subject, in which, however, he does not appear to have been acquainted with the whole of Kassner’s publications. Le Chatelier concludes that calcium plumbate gives up its available oxygen by merely heating it to a tem- perature of 200° higher than that employed in Brin’s process in the case of barium peroxide, and that the heated residue absorbs oxygen from the air again much more rapidly than the latter substance. Kassner has already previously stated these facts, and now asserts that his indirect method possesses two great advantages over the direct one proposed by Le Chatelier, namely, that a lower temperature is required, and a consequent saving of fuel and wear of retorts effected, and that pure caibon dioxide is obtained as a very valuable by-product. The very fact, however, that there are so many possible modes of treating calcium plumbate, goes far to indicate that there is at | least some ground for the proposal to employ it as a substitute ) for barium peroxide. | Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last | week’s captures include the Polychete Eunice Harassti, the | Decapod Pirimela denticulata, and the Opisthobranchs Hermea | bifida, Embletonia pulchra, Antiopa hyalina, and Thecacera } Zennigera, The floating fauna retains its recent character, | Muggica atlantica, Evadne Nordmanni and Ophiuroid Plutei | having been especially plentiful. The larve of Polygordius, lagelona, Nerine, Phoronis and of several Crustacea Decapoda have been taken ; and Miiller’s Polyclad larvee have made their } first appearance, although as yet only in small numbers. | Pilidium has been scarce, but other Nemertine larvee fairly numerous. Doliolum Tritonis, first recorded a fortnight since, | has been represented by several specimens in almost every haul '|of the tow-nets, The following animals are now breeding :— The Polyclads Zurylepta cornuta and Stylostomum variabile, NO. 1245, VOL. 48] the Polychete Ophryotrocha (in the aquarium), and the parasitic Isopod Pleurocrypta Galathee. The Gymnoblastic Hydroids Perigonimus repens and Podocoryne carnea are giving off medusee. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Malayan Bear (Ursus, malayanus, ? ) from Malacca, presented by Mr. E. Sydney Wooduviss; a Feldegg’s Falcon (Falco fe/degei) from Morocco, and two White- shafted Francolins (Francolinus leucoscepus, 2 ?) from North- east Africa, pre‘ented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; two Common Buzzards (Bu/eo vulgaris) from Europe, presented by Mrs, Henry Goodbun ; a Ring Ouzel (Zurdus torquatus, 6) from ° British Isles, presented by Mr. Samuel Radcliffe ; two Sul- phury Tyrants (Pi/angus suiphuratus) from South America ; a Chukar Partridge (Caccabis chukar) from North-west India, anda Bamboo Partridge (Bambusicola thoracica) from North China, presented by Mr. H. H. Sharland ; a Land Rail (Crex pratensis) from British Isles, presented by Mr. W. Stanley; an Arabian Baboon (Cynocephalus hamadryas, 2) from Arabia, and a Hairy Tapir ( Zafirus roulint) from Columbia, deposited ; two Sun Bitterns (Zzropyga helias, 8 9) from South America, four Patagonian Cavies (Dolichotis patachonica, § 6 2 2) bred in France; an Elliow’s Pheasant (Phasianus elliot?, §) from China, three Chilian Teal (Querguedula creecoides) from Ant- arctic America, and two Viscachas (Lagostomus trichodactylus, é 9) from Buenos Ayres, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE TRANSIT OF VENUS OF 1874.—The reports and draw- ings of the New South Wales observers of this transit have already been published by the Royal Astronomical Society, so that the volume which we have received, containing the observations, published by authority of her Majesty’s Government in New South Wales, cannot be looked upon as containing much that is new. Mr. Russell, the Government astronomer, under whose direction this work has been compiled, seems to have taken great pains in bringing it out, for besides a long introduction summing up the results, and separate accounts of each of the reports, the book is illustrated with several photographs and drawings, a frontispiece containing photographs of the observers, and is bound in a very elaborate cover. The value of this pub- lication lies in the fact that each observer’s record is published in full, and is accompanied by numerous printed diagrams, which help to make more clear the various descriptions of phenomena that were noticed, Passing over the observations of contacts, we may refer to some of the physical phenomena which seemed to have claimed attention. With regard, first, to the black drop, it seems that only those who were using telescopes of small aper- ture, 1} to 2 inch, and low power eyepieces, saw it, while on the photographs not the slightest trace of it could be seen, The evidence, as far as the New South Wales observations go, shows, as Mr. Russell states, that ‘‘the black drop does not seem to be due to the atmospheric conditions, but rather to the imperfections of telescopes of smail apertures and low power,” The curious ‘‘ faint tremulous shaking,” as noticed at the times of the planet’s ingress and egress, are put down to the temporary unsteadiness in the atmosphere. Three important phenomena which seem to have been generally observed were the rings of light and the halo seen surrounding the planet, and the ring of light round that part of the planet projected on the sky. Mr. Russell is of opinion that the atmosphere of Venus probably does not extend far enough to produce the observed phenomena of the halo, but, periaps, a part of it could be attributed to the haze in the atmosphere caused by the forming of moisture at that time. The bright ring, described as very brilliant, was found to affect the chemicals more than the sun itself, as shown on the photographic plates ; its brilliancy accounts for it being only seen on the limb not projected on the sun, and it is sug- gested that perhaps under favourable conditions this halo might be seen when the planet is lost in the sunlight. THE PLANET VENUS.—Some time ago we noticed in these columns a short monograph on the ‘* Planet Jupiter and his 448 NATURE {SEPrEMBER 7, 189 Satellites,” by Ellen M. Clerke. We have now before us a second one, entitled ‘‘The Planet Venus,” in which the authoress lays before usin a pleasant manner a similar summary of the more important points connected with this planet’s ap- pearance. Commencing with a few words with regard to the position of Venus with relation to the other planets in the solar system, one is introduced successively to her changes of aspect due to her varying positions in her orbit, to the ‘‘ silver crown” or halo produced by the refraction of the sun’s rays round her globe, and to her rotation, general appearance, and polar caps. Her appearance at times of transit, and the phantom satellite, are then dealt with, the concluding chapter speaking of her in connection with the Star of Bethlehem. In this last reference . is made to the ‘‘enhanced splendour with which she occasion- ally—once or twice in a century or so—shines at such times.” That the planet does assume this increase of brightness, in additi »n to that due to her position, seems very doubtful, and the explanation here given to account for it depends on the luminous clouds theory suggested by the lectures on the lique- faction of gases by Prof.Dewar. The monographis well worth a perusil, and should be widely read. ‘* MEMOIRE DELLA SOCIETA,” &cC.—Among the contributions to these memoirs for the month of July will be found a detailed account of the late eclipse of the sun as observed from the Royal Observatory of Catania ; a note by Millosevich giving some data with a map for the eclipses of May 28, 1909, and August 30, 1905 ; and the spectroscopic observations given in graphical form of the sun’s limb, made at Palermo and Rome iy the months of October, November, and December of 1891. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. In the September number of the Geographical Fournal, Mr. Fred. Jeppe has a paper dealing in great detail with the Z utpansberg gold-fields in the north of the Transvaal, illustrated by a new map of the district on a large scale, and by several photographs of characteristic scenery. The paper is historical as well as topographical, and contains aninteresting account of the ancient workings inthe Palaboraregion. The difficulty of ortho- graphy of :place-names is referred to, several examples of alter- native spelling being given, of which the series Li-Thaba, Lehlaba, Lechlaba, Lethaba, Letaba, Taba is characteristic. The dis- trict appears capable of great development when difficulties of transport are overcome by a branch from the Delagoa Bay rail- way. Dr. R. HANSEN contributes a paper to the last number of Petermann’s Mitteilungen on the changes in the coastline of south-western Schleswig, with maps showing the coast as it existed in 1240, 1634, and 1892. These maps present a striking picture of the progressive diminution in area of the islands north of the mouth of the river Eider, especially Nordstrand, while those immediately adjoining the river mouth have been united with the mainland, and extended in area by the erection of dykes. As the islands have been inhabited from very early times, and protected to a certain extent by dykes, the process of coast-erosion has not been as continuous and gentle as would naturally be the case, but it has been a succession of artificial catyclasms—if the phrase may be used—brought about by exceptional storms destroying the sea-walls. In the old time each of these catastrophes was recorded amongst the islanders by the name of the patron saint of the day when it occurred. Petermann’s Mitteilungen also publishes a new map of Chitral and the surrounding districts of the Hindukush, by Mr. F. Immanuel, who describes the region in a short article, Mr. H. M. Dickson spent the month of August on board H.M.S. Fackai, on behalf of the Fishery Board for Scotland, in carrying out a series of physical observations on the water between the Orkney, Shetland, and Faeroe Islands. This work was, to a certain extent, in concert with that being done by the Danish and Swedish Governments on the entrance to the Baltic and the neighbouring ports of the North Sea, MEETING OF THE FRENCH ASSOCIA TION. ‘THE twenty-second meeting of the Association Francaise pour l’Avancement des Sciences was held this year at Besancon (Depariment du Doubs.), capital of the old province NO. 1245. VOL. 48] of Franche Comté. Few towns in France, even alth sm are wanting in historic or antiquarian attractions, and in respects Besangon has much to interest the antiquarian as the man of science, and therefore on its own merit 1 worthy of avisit. The meeting of the French Association town not only enabled many to see it who otherwise haps never have had occasion to do so, but owing to the ties afforded, both by the municipality and by the: military authorities, practically everything interestii town and in the environs was liberally put within of the members of the Association, c The meetings of the Association were held in the Lye which was built by the Jesuits about the commencement seventeenth century, and by reason of the great number rooms afforded the necessary facilities for the meetings different sections for correspondence, &c. s The Association, although modelled on the lines British Association, has a slightly different scope, ow conditions which brought it into existence. It r menced as the ‘‘ Association Scientifique de France” in when it was founded by Le Verrier, but this subseq 1871 became combined with the Association Fran l’Avancement des Sciences, the object of which was scientific after the mode of the British Association, but al at reviving the study of science and of stimulating research in the departments by bringing French scient together in the different principal towns throughout the co enabling them thus to become better and more ica quainted with France as a whole, and with the wishes, ' and requirements of the populations. This patriotic has been well kept in view, and the cordiality of the re afforded to the Association wherever it goes shows how | work is appreciated by the country. It would therefe that the study of the district visited forms an impo the work of the Association, and that the ‘* Excu just as much sought after as in the meetings of t Association. : ; The business usually commences with a general meetin either in the theatre of the town visited or other pub ing capable of affording the necessary facilities ; in was held in the theatre, a remarkable structure dat to 1778, and inaugurated in 1784 by the Prince d and his son, the Duc de Bourbon. On the st the house was the table, at which sat the principa ities of the town, civil and military, the presid principal officers of the Association, and ranged be the invited guests, notabilities, and chairmen of se committees, &c., evening dress being practically de The business commenced by the Maire of Besancon r address of welcome to the Association, and of heart with its objects. Then the president for the Bouchard, Membre de l'Institut and de l’Ac: Médicine, Professeur 4 la Faculié de Médicine de P; his address, of which the following may be taken ing points. Having thanked the town of Pau for the: given to the Association in 1892, and thanked th Besancon for the cordiality of his welcome, he d double object sought by the French Association’s se gress, having for ulterior aim the greatness of He paid a well-merited compliment to Besancon tional love of learning and spirit of culture manil celebrated men and scientific institutions. Turning subject proper of his address, he expressed the de of the scientific movement and the position of sci the present period, and in order to speak with com proposed to take his examples from the professi cultivates, teaches, and practises,” being justified by the fact of his having been called on to preside in of a doctor. He then pointed to the wonderful devele scientific study at present, and stated that in the Medicine of Paris 1200 students present themselves ¢ for the degree of M.D. (Doctorat en Médicine) ; of soon give up, while 500 persevere and attain their d He pointed cut that, whatever the causes, it is mar during the past fifteen years the number of students has on the increase. He then entered on an analysis of the ¢ of this movement which extend to other branches of sci “Tt has been said that the German schoolmaster w conqueror at Sadowa ; it was repeated after more recen ters. It is false,” but the ‘‘ wot fit fortune chez nous, _ SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 449 whole of France resolved to accept sacrifices equal in extent to hose entailed by the defeat, in order to insure a national recovery. This sentiment dominated at the foundation of the French Association. Schools in every grade have been multiplied, as also new chairs. Their faculties have been created, at least for medicine, but have not given results expected of them. The real object sought was to retain in a certain number of iversity centres the crowd of students which encumber the _ Faculty of Medicine of Paris without profit for themselves or for it. ‘ This encumberment seems not to have diminished at Paris, and our provincial faculties might without harm see their scholastic population trebled.” As a matter of fact, the newly created chairs, laboratories, and faculties have in a remark- able manner multiplied sources of employment and created outlets for young men. Itis certain that many have commenced working in order to make themselves positions in the teach- ing world. They have subsequently seriously taken up scientific study and disinterested scientific work. ‘* Young men of science desire, and naturally so, that their work should be immediately remunerated. This is a novelty in our old university.” These pretensions are to some extent legitimate, and the budget must provide for them, but the budget is begin- ning to resist, and the day is approaching when the State will only ask ‘for, and will only accept, the absolutely necessary services, while on the other hand insuring to those who devote themselves to scientific instruction a honourable position and a satisfactory future. “The public powers must become persuaded that instruc- tion in every degree and in every direction of employment is and must be treated as a career.” As may be seen, we have reached a critical period when the plethora is become excessive, and a situation which has become painful has to be remedied somehow: ‘‘ The raising of the standard of the position of men of science is one of the spon- taneous consequences of progress, at once natural and neces-ary.”” : The applications of science carry with them certain advan- tages ; one of these well calculated to entice generous natures, is the degree of esteem accorded toa profession. Certain pro- fessions enjoy more favour in given periods than others— military men during the First Empire, lawyers under the Restoration, engineers towards 1848, and under the Second Empire during the period of railway building. The turn of the doctor has perhaps come, ‘‘I am inclined to think so when I con- sider the extraordinary number of doctors who sit in the elected consultative bodies, and the important ré/es that they play therein. Dr. Bouchard then cited their influence on Parliamentary legis- lation in the matters of vaccination, the use of antiseptics, and Sanitation. In no way does the parallel progress of scientific dignity and public esteem manifest itself more strongly than in the matter of specialties. Knowledge is no longer encyclo- pedic, A doctor can no longer become learned but on condi- tion of becoming a specialist. Surgeons have been the first specialists, They have extended to so many objects their fecund activity, and enlarged their domain to such an extent, that surgery, having absorbed everything about it, will soon cease to have a separate existence. It dismembers itself into specialties which multiply day by day. ‘‘I see approach- ing the day when there will be no longer either doctors or surgeons, and when there will exist for those who dedicate themselves to the art of healing a general pathology with general therapeutics, including amongst other things the laws and processes of operative intervention.” Starting from this general fund of knowledge, doctors will classify themselves according to the natural groups of maladies to the study and treatment of which they may dedicate themselves. ‘‘It will be necessary that the State and the teaching bodies should com- prehend, foresee, and provide for this evolution which is certain to be accomplished. It is necessary, above all, that those who dedicate themselves to the medical profession should re- ceive a common and general solid instruction which will enable each one to work out later on, with fruit, his specialisa- tion.” He then cited the position which oculists have attained in the public esteem. They have constituted a science. The art of the oculist has become ophthalmology, ‘‘the most brilliant, sure, and, I was about to say, most perfect branch of m2dicine.” He considers in the same way the position attained by the dentist. | In changing their titles oculists and dentists wish to mark the NO. 1245, vow. 48] arrival of a new age, the accession of their arts to the real scientific period. After a few words upon the position of men of science, Dr. Bouchard stated, as showing the wide field still open for modest efforts, that of the 36,000 communes of France 29,coo have no doctor. It isa field opened up for active and devoted work, But neither ambition nor the satisfaction of worldy require- ments, nor even the thirst for self-sacrifice suffice to explain the intensity of the movement which carries along to scientific occupations so many men belonging to the intellectual and moral élite of the nation. People go towards science because of its attractions and fascinations. If geometry can excitea very passion, why not the study of physical phenomena, the determinution of biological laws? ‘* Medicine has seductions which may raise a smile, but which all those who have dedicated their existence to it understand.” To grasp the causes of disease, discern their modes of action, is the q testion which has been posed since the origin of medicine; it is {he problem which for the last 2000 years and more has tormented the greatest intellects of the medical profession. ‘These causes have been revealed to us fur a great number of maladies by a man who was not a doctor. This revelation dates from but yesterday, and it is only since yesterday that we have been able to introduce into experimen- tation this factor up to the present unknown—the morbific cause (/a cause morbifique). From this day dates the great reform in medicine. The modes of work of the old school were then compared with those of the new. They did what they could, what they would always have been obliged todo. They worked out the nataral history of malady. They have seen the dawn of anew day. They have become acquainted with the réle of the microbe in the universal transformation of matter, whether dead or alive, organic or inorganic, an idea so great and so fecund that each science in particular owes to it a part of its progress, while to it medicine owes its very renewal. Herein we have the true reason of this allurement which carries away so many liberal minds to the study of medicine. He then pointed out the parallel development of the study of septicism, and of the intimate relations of the various organs in their functions, and finished by indicating as the principal directing ideas of contemporary medicine, infection, diathesis, auto-intoxication, useful 7d/e of the internal secretions, nervous reactions, provok- ing and impeding healthy actions. He finished with some remarks as to the vé/e of the Association—one of its great ob- jects being to produce a scientific decentralisation. This decentralisation has been attained ; it is in the minds while waiting to be affirmed by our Institutions. Meanwhile we continue our yearly peregrinations. ‘‘ Vous sommes en train de découvrer la France.” The address was remarkably well received. The Secretary of the Association afterwards read a report on the work done during the last season, and the Treasurer rendered an account of the financial state of the Association, showing a balance in its favour of about 800,000 francs ; Dr. Bouchard then declared the twenty-second session of their congress opened. In the evening there was a reception held by the Maire at the Hotel de Ville, which was well attended. At five o’clock on the same evening the bureaux or staff of officers of the different sections were fixed, and the agendas for the meetings to be held next morning. There were no addresses from the presidents of the sections. Of the seventeen sections, Nos. 1 and 2 were devoted to Mathematics and Astronomy, 3 and 4 to Civil and Military Engineering, 5 and 7 to Physics and Meteorology, 6 to Che- mistry, 8 to Geology and Mineralogy, and 9 to Botany. Sec- tion 10 dealt with Zoology and Physiology, 11 with Anthro- pology, 12 Medical Sciences, and 13 Agriculture. Geography was considered in section 14, Political Economy in 15, Peda- gogy in 16, and Hygiene in17. To all these sections a large number of important communications were made. EXCURSIONS. Sunday, August 6, Salins and Source of the Lison River.— Leaving at 6.30 a.m. by special train, Salins, situated about twenty-three miles south-south-west of Besancon, was reached at 7.30 a.m., after running through a hilly country showing the limestone formation of the Jura and fully cultivated. Salins is, as the name indicates, situated in a salt district, and the salt springs have been worked from very early if not prehistoric NATURE 450 [SEPTEMBER 7, 1893 times. At present it is very much frequented on account of the medicinal action of the water. The situation is remarkable, being overlooked by bold heights which rise to altitudes of 620m. (Fort Belin) and 599m. (Fort St. André), the town itself being at an altitude of 354m. above the sea-level. The curative effects of the salt waters (the mother-liquors remaining after the separation of the salt) are mainly attributed to their remarkable richness in bromide of potassium 322 c. gr. per kg. of water. ‘The natural salt springs woiked contain 27 er. 5 of chloride of sodium per kg., and yield about 13,000 h.lit. per day at 12°C. ; they are also largely used for bathing purposes. ‘The total production in salt of these works is about 6000 tons per annum, Leaving Salins in carriages, the excursionists followed the road which winds up through the heights, and thus had an occasion of seeing the successive outcrops of the geological formations so characteristic of the district, Trias, Lias and Lower Jurassic, the roadsides affording plenty of fossils at different points. The ‘* Col” having been reached, a high undulating dis- trict was attained showing the influence of altitude by the rela- tive lateness of the crops, oats, &c., and, their sparseness. The farmhouses also mark the vicinity of the high Jura in their form, high-pitched tiled roofs, massiveness, and overhangings, all evidencing relative comfort and prosperity. Having passed the bridge called the Pont du Diable, from the fantastic head sculptured on the keystone of the principal arch, and from the wildness of the gorge over which the road leads, the excursion reached about 11 a.m. the charming and well-wooded valley, deeply enclosed in bold and picturesque Jurassic escarpments, called Nans sous Ste. Anne. Here an excellent d/ewner was served under a tent, and in the afternoon a visit was made to the sources of the Lison, situated in a deep hollow, worn outin the Jurassic beds, and receiving from a certain height a cascade which disappears in one of those caves so common to all limestone formations. The return to Salins was by a different route to that of the morning, but showing fine vistas, and displaying on all sides careful culture and abundant forest growth, which is. mostly communal and worked with great care and skill. Along the road in the morning lay piles of timber showing diameters at the butts of 2 feet and 24 feet, and lengths of 15 to 20-25 yards. Having visited the salt-works in the town, and seen the evidence of their antiquity in the succession of massive masonry constructions required from time to time for their pre- servation, dinner was served about seven o’clock in the hotel of the baths, and the party returned to Besancon. Tuesday, August 8, Montbéliard and Belfort, — Leaving Besancon at 6.15 am., with the continued fine and warm weather of this wonderful season, the line ran along the Doubs River througha very picturesque and highly cultivated country. Montbéliard was reached about 7.50, when after a short halt the excursionists proceeded by steam tram to the works of Messrs. Pengeot Bros., at Audincourt. The visitors were divided in two series, A and B; the first were conveyed to the workshops of Valen- tigney (roll ng mills, manufacture of springs and saws), and the workshops of Beaulieu (manufacture of bicycles) ; the last section, B, w:s conducted through the workshops of Terre Blanche (tools, hardware in general, coffee-mills, coach factory, electrical force plant, &c.). These works seem very active, well organised, and well in touch with the requirements of their markets, the tools manufactured by the firm having a high reputation for quality and cheapness. Everything indicated care and attention to the wants of the working people, and the general air of comfort and prosperity which was apparent-in other parts of the department, and about Besangon, were here equally evident. Mont- béliard was reached about twelve o’clock. There is little remarkable in it except a chateau of the fifteenth and sixteenth century, which now seryes as barracks for the troops. descendants of the Anabaptists who sought refuge there from Friseland, There is also a Jewish element in the population, as indeed also at Besancon and Dijon, marked by the synagogue of a conventional style of architecture and the Hebrew inscriptions. Montbéliard is a very pretty busy town as rezards manufactures, but the sewage arrangements Jaissent a désirer; this is to a certain degree intelligible from the fact of the town being situated on the canal which joins the Rhéne and the Rhine at the junction of the rivers Allaine, Savoureuse,and Lizaine, at an altitude of 322m. As seen on the occasion of the visit, that is, during a season of great drought, there were evidently elements of typhoid fever, whether prevalent or not was not ascertained. NO. 1245, Vou. 48] The town is largely inhabited by a race of Protestants, From Montbéliard to Belfort the line ran through a more roll country than that in the immediate neighbourhood of Bess Belfort (pronounced hy the French *‘ Bay four’) was at 2.15 (after an excellent aeuner at Montbéliard, serve gymnasium). Situated on the frontier, always a fortress and now rendered celebrated by its splendid by Colonel Denfert during the campaign its historic interest overpowers its other attractions. permission had been obtained for the excursionists to vi chateau or citadel. This permission was larg advantage of by the excursionists, notwithstandir what abnormal heat of the afternoon sun. Guid cfficers of the Association and by those of the milit the visitors were first conducted to the site of th colossal lion which graces the western face of th Designed by Bartoldi, and executed in Vosges sandste harmonises admirably with the lines of the ground — fortress structure. Whether the colour adopted is the artistically is a matter for the sculptor and artists in general, the lines are very fine, and the attitude of the lion very and expressive. The visitors were then conducted plateau, or flat roof, which crowns this part of the from which is discovered a splendid panoramic view of t rounding country, An officer of the fort very obligin a detailed description of the district surveyed, expla position of the German army of siege, showed the forming the frontier, pointed out the various points in view from the Ballons des Vosges in the north, to’ Jura in the south, with the vast and fertile plain of between these points, here and there dotted with vil distance. One could not fail to appreciate the s the absence of a natural frontier line at this point, an to understand the vastness of the armaments which make good the security ofa country so bounded, A visit was then paid to the monument raised to’ teers who fell during the campaign of 1870, and th was made to the principal square, in which the Towr situated ; here, at seven o’clock, dinner was ser splendid hall o:namented with a set of very fine historic } ings illustrating events in the history of the place. A deeply felt words of welcome from the Maire, an equa! expressive speech from the Préfect of the Departmen dinner ended under the happiest of conditions for the visi municipal band played during the dinner, and gay members of the Association a retraite aux flambe station, whence Besar gon was reached about 11.1 Visit of the Citad.l of Besancon, August 7.—| D mission the citadel was opened to the members of the A tion in the afternoon of this day. The members, advantage of it, assembled at the Roman triumphal preserved and known as the Porte Noire. Thence steep road conducting into the fort, and rememb may have been, or rather must have been, used b occupying and holding garrison in this city, one feel a greater interest attaching to the various point by the guide. The structure of the fort is mainly due but of course is now somewhat out of date, but taken in conjunction with the occupation of the heights, is still very strong, and of great military val the parapet of the highest part of the fortress a splendi view is had of the town and its surroundings, while ings of the River Doubs underneath, the variety clothirg the neighbouring hills, the forts quietl over all, and the hum of activity ascending the tow the visit highly interesting, despite the abnormal climb to the lofty point of view. During the recon the fort by Vauban, he was obliged to demolish th Ste. Etienne, badly injured during the siege. The not, however, lost, and amongst other usages a tor dently of a bishop or an abbot of the Middle Ages, a flooring for one of the sentry boxesor videttes v parapet or path running round the summit of the fo: remains have been preserved, partly in the fort, and par garden near the Porte Noire, the former site of a Rom Final Excursion, August 11 to 13.—An accident, | itself but troublesome for the time, prevented me. this excursion, which comprehended the source of Pontarlier, Neuchatel, Bienne, Chaux de Fonds, anc du Doubs, that is, an extremely dangerous and pit district on the frontier of Switzerland. j. P. O SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE | 451 ys: VARIATIONS OF LATITUDE. # ‘A LL astronomy,” says Laplace, ‘‘ depends upon the in- +™~ = variability of the earth’s axis of rotation upon the terres- al spheroid and upon the uniformity of this rotation.” He ‘that ‘since the epoch when the application of the t pe to astronomical instruments gave the means of obsery- Lar terrestrial latitudes with precision, no variations in such udes have been found which could not be attributed to errors of observation, which proves that since this epoch the axis of rota- tion has remained very near the same point on the terrestrial sur- .”” (“Mécanique Céleste,” tome v. page 22.) Admitting then position of the earth’s axis, and consequently the values of terrestrial latitudes, to be sufficiently invariable for the purposes of the astronomer, the question has been many times raised whether this conclusion represents more than a kind of first approximation to the truth. As this subject, or something very much like it, was receiv- ing more or less attention on the part of the ancient geographers two thousand years ago or more, we can hardly claim for it the charm of novelty. An important feature of the geography of Eratos Thenis, written between 200 and 300 B.C., was a critical review of the work of his predecessors. His map of the world, which represented the best and latest information of his day,had as a sort of base line, or axis of reference, a parallel of latitude drawn from the pillars of Hercules towards the east, passing north of the island of Sicily, across the southern part of the | Peloponnesus, and eastward across the continent of Asia. The positions of many places with reference to this line differed very considerably from those assigned by his predecessors, At the time of Ptolemy— 400 years later—it was known that the map of Eratos Thenis failed in many particulars to conform to the then existing order of things. The conclusion was obvious ; evidently changes had taken place in the relative positions of a number of prominent places on the earth ; nor were these changes simply the trifling fractions of a second with which men are struggling so valiantly in these degenerate days, but such satis- factory and tangible quantities as three, four, or five degrees. Piolemy’s geography furnished the basis for comparisons and discussions of this kind for fifteen hundred years. Some few of his latitudes, as that of Alexandria, were determined with such precision as was possible in those days, while the foundation of very many was little more than guess-work. Comparisons from time to time with later determinations brought to light discre- pancies which served to keep the question open and to furnish material for speculation. In this connection we shall stop only to mention Dominique Maria de Ferrare, who enjoys:the distinction of having had as a disciple the illustrious Copernicus. This philosopher believed that the evidence showed conclusively a progressive change in the position of the pole, and that in time the torrid and frigid regions would in a manner change places. S» far as the latitudes of Ptolemy were concerned it was pointed out? that the discrepancies were in part due to the method employed in their determination—that of the gnomon | which gave the altitude of the sun’s upper limb, and conse- } quently a value of the latitude too small by a quarter of a i wo or three hundred years ago much interest was taken in | this question, We find associated with it the familiar names of Tycho, Reemer, Hevelius, Picard, Cassini, and many others. As greater accuracy in methods and instruments prevailed, it | became evident that the rough positions of Ptolemy could not ) be employed with any confidence in discussions of this character. In connection with the-e more exact methods also a new phe- | nomenon began to manifest itself, viz., changes of short Christopher Rothman, a contemporary of Tycho, found | sy: atic differences between the determinations of the latitude of his observatory made in summer and winter. Tycho’s } observations at Prague showed a like peculiarity. Roemer also discovered it. He attributed it confidently to periodic changes in the position of the eatth’s axis, and hoped in time to give a | complete theory of the same. } A memoir by J. D. Cassini,? published in 1693—200 years 1 Address before Section A (Astronomy) of the American Association for the Ad Ss at Madis»n, Wisconsin, by Prof. C. L. ittle, of South Bethlehem, Pa., President of the Section. 2 Delambre, *' Histo're de l’Astronomie au D:x-huititme S'tcle,” p. 155. 3S il est arrivédu change: nt Jans Lautein du pole au dans la Couies du | Soleil? (Memoires de l Acadeni:, tome x. p. 360.) NO. 1245, VOL. 48] © ago almost precisely—gives a very complete summary of the state of the problem at that day. After a detailed examination of the evidence he concludes :—‘‘ Notwithstanding all these apparent variations, we may say that not only has no extraordinary change in the altitude of the pole or in the meridian altitude of the sun occurred in recent times, but that the heavens have at all times occupied the same position with regard to the earth as during the past century. For there is reason to believe that all these variations which have been mentioned came from several defects which occur in observation.” Te then goes over in detail those sources of error which are so familiar to us—instrumental errors and defects in theory—one only having a somewhat unfamiliar appearance, viz., we may reasonably suppose that variations in the direction of the plumb line occur similar to those of the magnetic needle, Nevertheless he says it is very probable that from time to time small changes in the altitude of the pole actually do occur, but they are periodic in character and do not exceed two minutes in amount. Thus, instead of several degrees which were conceded by'the astrono- mers of previous centuries, only a paltry two minutes was’ now allowed, but with improved instruments, with the discovery of aberration and nutation, and the perfection of the theory of refraction, even this modest allowance was gradually reduced to a vanishing quantity. Meanwhile new arguments were found for a reconsideration of the question. Geology had taken its place among the sciences. In the investigation of the fossil remains of plant and animal life abundant evidence was found of a former temperate or sub- tropical climate within the Arctic circle. It was also evident that at one time considerable portions of Europe and North America had been covered with glacial ice. Laplace mentions the argument for a change in the position of the earth’s axis, founded on the existence of the fossil remains of elephants in Northern Siberia, but believes that the discovery of the remains of one of these animals preserved in ice, the body of which was covered with thick hair, turns the argument against those who employ it (M.C. v. p. 20). In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 1848 is found a communication from a mathematician and astronomer, Sir John Lubbock, on changes in climate resulting from changes in the earth’s axis of rotation. He suggestsa mathematical dis- cussion of the problem in order to determine, as he says, “ under what hypothesis a change of the position of the axis of rotation is possible or not.” The President of the Association, Sir Henry T. de la Beche, in the annual address of 1849, deals at some length with this subject. Again, in 1876, we find Sir John Evans, then president of the Society, discussing the problem (Quirterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1876, p. 60). He de- scribes with much detail the fossil remains found in Spitzenbergen and Greenland belonging to the Miocene, upper and lower Cretaceous, Jurassic, and other geological periods, all of which point to a former temperature much above the present. Thus, among the Miocene plants of Spitzenbergen Prof. Nordenshiald mentions the swamp cypress, now found in Texas, siquoias of great size, limes, oaks, and even magnolias, So ‘in the Lower Cretaceous period Prof. O. Heer distinguished seventy- five species, including ferns, Cycadeze and Conifere, many of which are closely allied to species now found in sub-tropical regions. From these remains Prof. Heer infers that the climate of Greenland and Spitzenbergen during the Cretaceous period was very much the same as that which now prevails in Egypt and the Canary Isles. The existence of beds of coal, of mountain limestone formed of the remains of corals and bryozoa, and shells of marine molluscs, the remains of Ammonites, Nautili, and even a Saurian—the J/chthyosaurus polaris—all point in the same direction. While, as Prof. Houghton remarks, the arguments from the presence of Ammonites and Coalplants strengthen each other, the one demanding heat, the other light. Sir John Evans sums up the arguments as follows :—“ The three points which it appears to me are most important to bear in mind with regard to the article of flora are (1) that for vegetation such as has been described there must, according to all analogy, have been a greater aggregate amount of summer heat supplied than is now due to such high latitudes.- (2) That there must have been a far less degree of winter coli than is in any way compatible with the position on the globe ; and (3) that in all probability the amount and distribution of light which at pre- sent prevail within the Arctic circle are not such as would suffice for the life of the trees.” He afterwards supposes a hypothetical case of possible 452 NATURE | SEPTEMBER 7, 1893 elevation and depression, to which he invites the attention of mathematicians to determine whether it would not produce a change of 15” or 20° in the position of the pole. The invitation was duly accepted by Sir Wm. Thompson— now Lord Kelvin—and by Prof. G. H. Darwin. The former, by a process which he Joes not explain, convinced himself that a vera causa existed in the distortion of the earth, as shown by geological and other evidence, sufficient to produce large devia- tions in the position of the axis. To quote his own eloquent words, ‘‘ Consider the great facts of the Himalayas and Andes, and Africa, and the depths of the Atlantic, and America, and the depths of the Pacific and Australia ; and consider further the ellipticity of the equatorial section of the sea-level, esti- mated by Capt. Clarke at about one-tenth of the mean ellipticity of meridianal sections of the sea-level. We need no brush from the camel’s tail to account for a change in the earth’s axis ; we need no violent convulsions, producing a sudden distortion on a great scale, with change of axis of maximum moment of inertia, followed by gigantic deluges ; and we may not merely admit, but assert as highly probable, that the axis of maximum inertia and the axis of rotation, always very near one another, may have been in ancient times very far from the present geo- graphical position, and may have gradually shifted through 10, 20, 30, or 40 cr more degrees, without at any time any per- ceptible sudden disturbance of either land or water.” (British Association Reports, 1876, Sections, p. II). _Prof. G. H, Darwin has made this the subject ofan elaborate mathematical investigation (PAi/. Trans. 1877, p. 271). As the basis he takes the earth as we find it, assuming that the elevations of the continents and depressions of the ocean repre- sent the kind and amount of distortion to which the earth has been subjected in the course of its past history, The mean elevation of the continents being about 1100 feet, and the mean depth of the oceans about 15,000 feet, it follows that in order : convert an ocean bed into a continent, or vice versa, an elevation or subsidence of 16,000 feet must have taken place. This would not, however, correctly represent the distortion of the earth, for the waters of the ocean flowing into the depres- sions would considerably modify the result. Taking into account the density of water as compared with the surface rocks, . it appears that an extreme elevation of 16,000 feet from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of the supposed continent would be equivalent to an effective elevation of about 10,000 feet on asealess globe. In case of a perfectly rigid globe, the only deformation which could take place would be that due to a redistribution of the surface materials. For a given elevation with a corresponding depression the maximum effect upon the position of the earth’s axis would be produced when the elevations occurred in latitude 45° in two diametrically opposite quarters of the earth with corresponding depressions in the remaining quarters. In such a globe Prof. Darwin’s analysis showed that the pole could never have wandered more than 3° from its original position as a consequence of the continents and oceans changing places, If, however, the earth is suffi- ciently plastic to admit of readjustment to new forms of equilibrium by earthquakes or otherwise, possible changes of Io° or 15° may have occurred. This would, however, require such a complete changing about of the continents and oceans, with maximum elevations and depressions in precisely the most favourable places, as has cer- tainly never occurred within geologic time. In fact, the evidence indicates that the continental areas have always occupied about the same position as now. It would appear, therefore, that the geologist must give up this hypothesis of great changes in latitudes as a factor in the earth’s development, unless, indeed, some other cause can be found of sufficient potency to produce the desired result. Such an agency is, perhaps, alluded to by Prof. Arthur Schuster in his address before Section A of the British Association a year ago (NATURE, 1892, Aug. 4, p. 327). He propounds this question : ‘‘Is there sufficient matter in interplanetary space to make it a conductor of electricity?” He adds that he be- lieves the evidence to be in favour of this view ; but the con- ductivity can only be small, for otherwise the earth would gradually sét itself to revolve about its magnetic poles, If such an action were admitted, we must suppose the poles of revolu- tion and magnetic poles would long since have been brought into practical coincidence, unless this consummation were frus- trated by changes in the position of the latter. However all this may be, the question before the practical NO. 1245, VOL. 48] the existence of such a periodic change, completing its astronomer is this—Have we any reliable evidence sho progressive changes in the position of the pole are now ta place? If this question were submitted to a jury compose twelve good men and true from the astronomical pr the chances would be largely in favour of a verdict in with Laplace’s decision seventy years ago. : At the International Geodetic Conference held in years ago, Mr. Fergola brought forward a plan lookin systematic study of this and other questions connec changes of terrestrial latitudes. This plan, which was received, consisted in a scheme for simultaneous seri servations at pairs of observatories on nearly the sai of latitude, but differing widely in longitude. The in were to be prime vertical transits, and the same s employed at each of the two stations. Several pairs of obse tories were designated by Fergola as being favourably situa the purpose. Among others, Washington and Lisbon, difference of latitudé being 11’ 7”, that of longitude. It is understood that efforts in this direction were Washington, but the necessary cooperation at the other the line was not secured, and the plan came to naught. not come to my knowledge that the scheme was at that seriously considered at any of the other points selected. __ Fergola gave a tabular statement which at that ti to show small but progressive diminutions of la Europe and North America. This table, with some ad —the latter enclosed in brackets—is as follows :— 3 Washington ... 1845 Paris vic: ak Milan ... Rome ies is Naples... sas Konigsberg 1838... ws 1845... ave £5502 as. ae Greenwich... taken place in times past in connection with moun’ is, without doubt, true. That they are still going localities is probable ; whether they are of sufficien to admit of measurement can only be determined tion. : When we remember how few points there are ont of the earth, whose latitude was determined even no | than fifty years, within one or two seconds of the tru we should suspend judgment for the present with the whole subject of progressive changes. We come now toa phase of our subject with re which we can speak with some confidence, viz. changes. a That in the case of a perfectly rigid earth, theory about ten months, has been long understood. In connet with the general problem of the motion of a free body the action of any system of forces, the consideration of SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 453 was suggested by the problems of the solar system, we find the names of the leading mathematicians of the last century, _d’Alembert, Segner, and Euler, not to mention others. It was the latter who, in 1765, in a work entitled ‘* Theory of the Motion of Solid and Rigid Bodies,” gave the equations the - final form which Laplace declares seem to him the most simple which can possibly be obtained. (M.C.V. p. 284.) . The elegant form of these equations was due to the employ- _ ment of the principle discovered by Segner, viz. that at every point of a body there are at least three principal axes of inertia at right angles to each other, which possess somz very import- ant properties. One of these properties is this—that if the body _ be set revolving about one of these axes which passes through ‘its centre of inertia, and is understood by outside forces, it will continue to revolve about this axis for ever. If, however, it be started in its revolution about some other axis, the condition of things will be different. In the first approximation to the solution of Euler’s equations when applied to the earth, we meet with two constants of inte- gration, whose values depend upon the position of the axis of revolution with respect to the principal axis of inertia (from which it can never differ greatly) at the instant which we take as the starting point of our integration. We further find that the presence of these quantities in our equations shows a revo- lution of the instantaneous axis of rotation about the principal axis of inertia. This rotation is in the same direction as the diurnal motion, the angular velocity y being expressed by the formula C-A A Where ~ is the velocity of diurnal rotation, C and A are the principal moments of inertia of the earth, the first with respect to the polar axis, the second with respect to an equatorial axis, the figure being regarded as that of an ellipsoid of revolution. The ratio u = C-A A is found from the value of the constant of nutation, the degree of accuracy being such that the theoretical period of this rota- tion is known probably within one or two days. The value given by Oppolzer is 304°8 mean solar days. We shall assume it to be 305 days. The angular distance between the two axes, evidently very small in case of the earth, can only be determined by ob- servation, and will manifest its existence by fluctuations in the latitude having a period of 305 days. The first attempt to find by observation whether or not this movement was appre- ciable was by Bessel. This method was not well adapted to the purpose, and the result was negative or inconclusive. he first quantitative determination which seemed worthy of confidence was made by Dr. C. A. F. Peters, of Pulkowa (Recherches sur la Parallax des Etoiles Fixes,” p. 146), in 1842. From a careful series of meridian circle observations carried on for thirteen months he found for the angle between the two axes ‘o71” +017. Nyrén followed with a careful dis- cussion of the value given by the observations of Peters, Gyldén, and himself with the same instrument. The results were ‘1o1”, ‘125, and ‘058’. Downing found from the | Greenwich obseryations from 1868-77 075" (Monthly Notices, »| &.A.S. March, 1892), while Newcomb found the somewhat } smaller value ‘o4” from the Washington prime vertical work. | These results are in reasonably good accord, and at first sight seem to show conclusively a real separation of the two axes, but as pointed out by Hall (‘‘ American Journal of Science,” March, 1885, p. 223), the form of the expressions for deter- mining the quantity is such that an apparently real value will always be obtained, If we assume a uniform rotation of one pole about the other our equations will contain two unknown quantities, x and y, where x = pcosé. y =p sin é, therefore whatever values we may find for x and y . p will always have a real and positive value. This may, therefore, be nothing more _} than a function of the errors of observation. The true test | was therefore to be sought in the agreement of the values of ¢ when reduced toa common epoch, These were found to be | quite discordant, so much so as to throw doubt upon the reality of the results. The truth, as we now understand '}it, being that Euler’s theory, perfect as it is, does not apply | without modification to the present problem—the earth not NO. 1245, VOL, 48] being strictly a rigid body. Doubts as to the absolute rigidity of the earth had been expressed by more than one investi- gator, and the matter was discussed in 1876 by Lord Kelvin (British Association Reports, 1876, Sections, p. 11), and in 1879 by Prof. George Darwin (PAz/. Trans. 1879), in relation to the problems of precession, nutation and tidal action—the conclusion being that the rigidity of the earth is probably be- tween that of steel and glass. The bearing of this upon the present investigation was first pointed out by Newcomb (Yonthly Notices) Royal Astronomical Soc.,March,1892),viz. that in consequence of the elastic yielding of the earth as a whole the period of this rotation would be lengthened. ; Before considering this matter in detail, however, the exizen- cies of historical continuity require us to glance at some remark- able results of observation. In the spring of 1884 Dr. F. Kii-tner, of Berlin, began a series of observations, the results of which were destined to awaken a widespread interest in this subject, or, perhaps more properly, to crystallise the interest which already existed, His original purpose was sufficiently modest. The great meridian circle of the observatory requiring some repairs, he proposed to employ the interval while it was out of service in making a limited series of observations with another instrument, the universal transit, according to the Horrebow-Talcott method for the investigation of the constant of aberration. Ilis purpose was not so much that of deriving anew and definitive value of this constant, which should be entitled to rank with the excel- lent results previously obtained, as to test practically the appli- cability of the method to this purpose, and to acquire the experience which at a future time might lead to a favourable result in a more complete series. Possibly it would be over- straining a time-worn simile toc »mpare the modest investigator with Saul, son of Kish, who, going forth to seek his father’s asses, found a kingdom; but certain it is that his results were vastly more important and far-reaching than anything which he could have anticipated in his original programme. His obser- vations, not numerous, but of the first order of excellence, led to a value of the constant of aberration which appeared to be wholly inadmissible. Many an investigator would have been discouraged with this apparent failure, and the world would have known nothing of it. Not so with Kiistner. Instead of abandoning the experiment as a failure he set himself resolutely to work to discover the cause of the anomaly. After examining the various causes which might be supposed to have contributed to such a result, personal, instrumental, and refractional, he announced without hesitation that it was due to a change in the latitude itself, viz., that from August to November, 1884, the latitude of Berlin had been from 0.2” to 0.3”:greater than from March to May in 1884 and 1885. This conclusion was materially strengthened by the examination of a considerable amount of collateral evi- dence, particularly Nyrén’s elaborate series of observations at Pulkowa from 1879 to 1882, employed by the latter in discuss- ing the constant of aberration. This somewhat bold hypothesis naturally provoked much discussion, and many were sceptical as to its truth; but instead of resorting to polemics, and quoting the authority of Aristotle and the sacred Scriptures on the one side or on the other, means were promptly found for testing it. These comprised both a re-examination of old obser- vations and new ones, undertaken for this express purpose. Among the latter were special series of latitude determinations extending over an entire year or more at Berlin, Potsdam, Prague, and Bethlehem, all by Talcott’s method. All of these agreed most satisfactorily in showing the reality of the fluctua- tion during the years 1888, 1889 and 1890. But the final test which should determine whether the changes observed were due to movements of the earth’s axis reqvired observations to be carried on simultaneously at points differing widely in longi- tude. A latitude campaign instituted for this purpose was therefore entered upon in the summer of 1891, under the aus- pices of the International Geodetic Association, operations being carried on at Berlin, Prague, Strassburg, Rockside, San Francisco, and Waikiki. Some of the results have been in possession of the public for several months, and they show in the most conclusive manner that we are dealing with a movement of the earth’s axis. A series of latitude observations was also carried on at Paris from December, 1890, to August, 1891; part of the time two different observers were employed using different instruments, their results agreeing almost exactly. (Comptes Rendus, 1892, 454 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 7, 18 p- 895.) Science acknowledges no national allegiance, but it is interesting to note that this series fails to show any trace of the periodic change ; considering the smallnéss of the quantity in question and the limited scope of the series this failure proves nothing fro or con. Yet Admiral Mauchez expressed the opinion that the fluctuations which the Germans had beenattribut- ing to changes of latitude were due to some other cause (Comptes Rendus, 1892, p. 862.) It is also noteworthy that the value of the latitude found at this time is 0°8” smaller than given by the elaborate investigation of M. Galliot in 1879, in which he employed 1077 observations by ten different observers. (Comptes Rendus, vol, Ixxxvii. p. 684.) In this discussion an annual period, having a semi-amplitude of 0°20’ manifested itself somewhat obscurely; but M. Galliot placed on record his opinion that this had its origin in some cause other than a change in the latitude. We haveseen how it came about that the reality of periodic fluctuations in the earth’s axis was placed beyond dispute. As to the true nature and law of these fluctuations we should pro- bably now be groping in darkness but for the services which Dr. S. C. Chandler has rendered in the way of’solving the mystery. Before Dr. Chandler attacked the problem no one appears to have called in question the applicability of Euler’s theory to the case of the earth. The impression was indeed quite general that the changes were for the most part of a fortuitous character, produced by precipitation of rain and snow, by ocean currents and aerial currents acting unequally in different hemispheres, and therefore in so far as they might manifest a periodicity, this would be annual in its character. As early as 1876 Lord Kelvin expressed the opinion that the causes were some- times sufficient to produce change of half a second in the course of ayear, (British Association Reports, 1876, Sections p. 11.) It seemed therefore beyond question that any periodic change must conform to the 305 day period of Euler, or to an annual period, or a combination of the two. The latter hypothesis was worked out very completely by Messrs. R. Radeau (Comptes Rendus, vol. iii. p. 568) and F. R. Helmert (Astronomische Nachrichten, vol. cxxvi. p. 217). Matters were in this condition when in 1891 Chandler attacked the problem. The main features of this investigation are given in a series of seven remarkable papers published in the Astronomical Fournal, written from time to time while the work was stillin progress, and when, as a matter of course, the final result could not be known. Like Kepler, the author car- ries us with him along the successive staze of the investigation, we share with him his triumphs and disappointments, and rejoice with him when well-merited success crowns his efforts. As to his methods and purpose, these are given in his own words, “*T deliberately put aside all teachings of theory, because it seemed to me high time that the facts should be examined by a purely inductive process that the nugatory results of all attempts to detect the existence of Eulerian period probably arose from a defect of the theory itself ; and that the entangled condition of the whole subject required that it should be examined afresh by processes unfettered by any preconceived notions whatever. ... The problem which I therefore proposed to myself was to see whether it would not be possible to lay the numerous ghosts in the shape of various discordant residual phenomena pertaining to determinations of aberration, parallaxes, latitudes, and the like, which had heretofore flitted elusively about the astronomy of precision during the century; or to reduce them to some tangible form by some simple consistent hypothesis. ... It'was thought if this could be done, a study of the nature of the forces as thus indicated by which the earth's rotation is influenced might lead to a physical explanation of them.” From May 29, 1884, to June 25, 1885, almost exactly thetime covered by the observations of Kiistner, at Berlin, Chandler was observing at Cambridge with the Almucantar. The resulting values of the latitude shared a progressive change, for which:there seemed no explanation unless the change were that of the lati- tude itself. At that time this seemed too radical an hypothesis, so the results were printed as they appeared, leaving the expla- nation to the future. The close agreement of Kiistner’s results, the verification by the subsequent work at Berlin, Pulkowa, Potsdam, and Prague seemed to warrant the expenditure of the | labour involved in a thorough investigation of the entire subject. He began with Kiistner’s work at Berlin, the vertical circle ob- servations of Gyldén and Nyrén at Pulkowa, and the precise | vertical observations of a Lyrae at Washington 1862-66. These | The examination of | agreed in showing a period of 427 days. NO. 1245, vot, 48] ‘years’ duration, resulting from the commensura observations of circumpolar stars at Melbourne, and at Leyden, partially confirmed the result. : Next came the observations of Bradley at Kew, and Greenwich. Here a very puzzling phenomenon the period being only about one year, with an an nearly an entire second. In discussing the obse: Brindley at Dublin, made during the early part of th century, an opportunity occurred to wrestle, and fully, with one of the ghosts before referred to, viz, lar results which Brindley had obtained for the p number of stars, and which led to an interesting between Pond and himself. a Thus series after series was analysed with re-ults in t encouraging, frequently puzzling, and sometimes d The law, if such existed, did not appear on the sur! secret could only be discovered by an elaborate anal material. Accordingly, forty-five different series, — from 1837 to 1891, comprising more than 33,c00 o were examined, from which an empirical law was follows. Ske The velocity of rotation of the pole was a maxi 1774, the period being about 348 days. Since then has diminished at an accelerated rate, the period in 443 days. 4 During the last half century the semi- sensibly constant at 0°22”. : Only three of the forty-fiveseries examined, and the least precise, intrinsically gave results contradict general law. The next step in the process was to ana observations in a different manner, to discover deviations from the provisional law were real, manner the variations of the period were brought this purpose the results were tabulated chrono twenty-day intervals, all reduced to the meridian o} Asa result the real nature of the phenomenon w tinctly revealed, and was as follows. The observed value of the latitude is the result arising from two periodic fluctuations supe’ Ve other. The first of these, and in general the more con: has a period of about 427 days, and a semi- i o'12”, The second has an annual period with a between ‘c4” and ‘20 during the last half-century. mum and minimum of this annual comp: nent of the occur at the meridian of Greenwich about ten 4d: vernal and autumnal equinoxes respectively, an zero just before the so's*ices. * eR As the resultant of these two motions, the v latitude is subject to systematic alterations in a iwi itt ae terms. According as they conspire or interfere, varies between two-thirds of a tecond ata ma few hundredths of a second at a minimum. — Accompanying the paper is a“diagram showing between this theory and the observations of the on which it is based. The agreement, at times vat other times shows deviations, apparently syst are perhaps due to imperfect knowledge of the co erratic deviations of meteorological origin. Dr. Chandler finds the general outcome full the astronomy of precision, showing that obse from defects of a systematic character to a mgic than has heretofore been supposed. j As the ‘results of which we have been s' nounced from time to time they did not pass The reality of the 427:day period was very p question on account of its supposed conflict Prof. Newcomb, who at first ranked as a sc a very plausible explanation by assuming that t a rigid body as required by Euler’s theory. whether the earth as a whole should be regar body has long been more or less an open one. waters of ‘the ocean introduce an element of n investigations of Lord Kelvin and Prof. Darwin tides in a viscous spheroid when applied to the \ very little, if any, evidence of yielding in case o external forces. pie Laplace had discussed with negative results the ‘the earth’s motion of the mobility of the ocean. (M. vy. 'p. 76.) Euler’s equations had been modified by for the case of a body which is slowly changing its | ‘ Soce yee BQ. ‘ SEPTEMBER 7, 1893] NATURE 455 ~ internal causes (Disuville’s fournrl, 2Ad series, tom? iii. 1858, _p. 1), and these modified forms had b:en employed by Darwin the discussion of the influence of geological changes in the h’s axis of rotation. (/#2/. Trans. 1877, p. 271.) _ No suspicion, however, seems to have entered the brain of any of these investigators that any modification of Euler’s 305- day period would result either from the mobility of the ocean, or the elastic yielding of the earth as a whole. 8 Newcomb shows in a very simple manner how this result might follow (Afunthly Notices R.A.S. March 1892, p. 336), for in consequence of this elastic yielding the pole of figure - would be brought towards the pole of the instantaneous axis by the centrifugal force. __ Let us call the undisturbed position of the pole of figure the fixed pole, the actual position at any instant the movable pole, and the pole of the instantaneous axis the pole of rotation. The movable pole is therefore constantly moving towards the le of rotation, describing a sort of curve of pursuit; the tantaneous velocity of the latter about the former is that of Euler’s period, but the effect of the motion of this movable pole is to diminish the velocity with respect to the fixed pole in the ratio of its distance from the latter to the distance from the pole of rotation. } Lord Kelvin remarks that this supplies a new and indepen- dent method of determining the effective rigidity of the earth. As will readily appear, in this: distortion work is being done inst resistance, and unless the earth be perfectly elastic, which is certainly not true of that part accessible to observa- tion, the two axes would in time be brought into practical coincidence. The tidal action set up in the oceans would also tend to produce the same result. Apparently, then, the con- tinued existence of this term requires a constantly recurring series of impulses. _ Gylden remarks that the hypothesis of elasticity is not the only one which will explain the Chandlerian period. (Astrono- mische Nachrichten, Band 132, p. 193-) He also concludes as the result of a mathematical analysis that we must look for the impelling cause to concussions going on in the interior cavities of the globe. Aside from the fact that these discussions are in need of ex- ation to an extent quite equal with that of the phenomenon itself, it is an open question whether any explanation is called for. We have no proof of the perpetuity of this term. We are in possession of no observations accurate enough to throw any light on this subject before the time of Bradley, nor can it be asserted that so small a coefficient has remained constant during the interval of 150 years; possibly it may be on the road to extinction. _ As to the annual term, it seems to have no foundation in theory except as the result of meteorological causes, in which ease we can hardly hope for more success in dealing with it than in predicting the weather on which it depends, For further improvement in our knowledge of this subject we must look to continued observation at a number of points. carried on for this express purpose, and so conducted as to eliminate, if possible, all systematic errors. If, as seems probable, the co- efficients—at least that of the annual term—partake of the erratic nature of meteorological phenomena, it will be necessary to keep this work up perpetually. A plan is under discussion for establishing four permanent latitude stations on the same parallel of latitude, at intervals of 90° in longitude as nearly as may be. ‘These will presumably be equipped with identical instruments of the most approved form, and the same stars employed at all of them. Until this plan, or some modification of it, is in working order—and probably for some time after—careful determinations at other points will con- tinue to furnish valuable data, especially in settling the question of eerie changes, local or otherwise. ; __ The instrument hitherto employed in special observations for this purpose is the zenith telescope. The possibility of deter- mining latitude by measurement of the small difference of zenith ice of two stars properly situated—one culminating north, the other south of the zenith—was pointed out by Horrebow in his A/rium Astronomine in 1732. (Wolf, ‘* Geschichte der As- tronomical,” p. 608.) Possibly he may have made a practical application of the principle ; ifso, any account of it has escaped my notice. The method, however, was employed by Father ell—otherwise not unknown to fame—in determining the lati- tude of his transit of Venus station at Wardoehume in 1769. He appears to have been unacquainted with Horrebow’s previous NO. 1245, VOL. 48] suggestion, and determined his latitude in this way, as he'says, from necessity. The idea seems to have Jain dormant until about 1834, when it was hit upon independently by Talcott in Americ:, and Pond in England. ‘The latter, in employing the zenith tele- scope—which had then been recently mounted at the Royal Observatory for the special purpose of observing y Draconis— found that a fifth magnitude star passed the meridian thirty minutes later at nearly the same distance on the opposite side of the zenith. By observing these two stars,- reversing the instrument between them, he found certain advantages now well known to beinherent in the method. (PAi/. Trans., vol. cxxiv. p. 209.) Pond states that the same method may be employed with Altazimuths, and other portable instruments, but the communi- cation appears to have attracted no attention, and apparently he made no attempt to develop it farther. In striking contrast is the immediate success which attended the employment by Talcott of an instrument constructed to carry out this principle. The first practical application of it was in 1834, in the survey of the northern boundary of Ohio. (Journal Franklin Institute, October, 1838.) Its merits were very promptly recognised by the officers of the U.S. Coast Survey; where it received a number of modifications and improvements suggested by experience, making it practically the instrument which we have to-day. It was many years, however, before it came into use to any considerable ex‘ent on the eastern side of the Atlantic. To America undoubtedly belongs the honour of practically introducing this important improvement in latitude determina: tion. But although Americans practically introduced the instrument to the world, it was reserved to the Germans to teach us how to use it. It isduein great measure to refinements and im- provements devised by German observers and _ instrument makers that the probable error of a single determination is now ‘I2” or ‘15”, instead of three times these amounts, with which we were formerly satisfied. The essential features of this instrument are the micrometer and the level. Unless these are of.a high degree of excellence first-class results cannot be obtained ; especially is this true of the level, of which two are commonly employed with the best class of instruments. Only those who have experienced it are aware how difficult it is to procure levels of the necessary quality. Moreover, changes of form are liable to occur, rendering what was a good level worthless. The method so frequently employed by determining the value once for all, and continuing to use it for years without farther examination will not answer here. This uncertainty of the level has led to devices for dispensing withit. One of these, which seems promising, is the floating Zenith telescope, invented by Fathers Hagan and Fargie. In this instrument the telescope, with its accessories, floats on the surface of a trough of mercury, the trail of the star as it crosses the field being recorded on a photographic plate, which may be measured at leisure. Possibly a way may be formed for making these exposures automatically, thus furnishing means for keeping a record continuous in so far as absence of daylight and of clouds will permit. With four stations established as described above, equipped with automaticinstruments, data will be rapidly accu- mulated for settling the questions still remaining doubtful. [t will not, however, be a work of merely one, two, or three, but of many years. i Is it too much to hope that within five or ten years we may see some such system as this in full and successful operation ? UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, A PARLIAMENTARY paper has just been issued in which is given an abstract of returns furnished to the Departmen! of Science and Art, showing the manner in which, and the extent to which the councils of counties and county boroughs in England and Wales, and the county councils, town councils, and police com- missioners of police burghs are devoting funds to the purposes of science, art, and technical and manual instruction. The returns were made by these bodies in response to a letter sent to them in December, 1892, by the Education Department. Much of the information contained in them was noted in these columns on August 28 (p. 404). It is remarked in the present returns: ‘A noticeable feature with regard to the work of the 456 NATURE. [SEPTEMBER 7, 1893 county boroughs is that many of the councils have either erected or decided to erect, technical schools, or have taken over existing schools, for the purpose of supplying technical instruction under their direct control, to which they have decided to apply the whole of the funds at their disposal, which in some cases include the proceeds of a rate levied under the Act of 1889.” AT the Cambridge summer meeting, recently concluded, a lecture was delivered in the hall of St. John’s College, on the late John Couch Adams, by Dr. Donald MacAlister. The lec- ture gained in interest from the fact that Dr. MacAlister was a personal friend of the late professor, and was in consequence able to supply many interesting details as to his life. This was particularly the case when speaking of Dr. Adams’ early training. Many know that Adams was a sizar of St. John’s, but perhaps few realise what a strenuous course of self education had preceded his election. He taught himself algebra when a boy at his father’s farmhouse in Cornwall, and prepared himself for Cambridge at a country school and at the local Mechanics’ Institute. A curious entry is to be found in Adams’ diary for June 26, 1841, during his second year at Cambridge: ‘*‘ Went to Johnson’s (the bookseller in Trinity Street) and read Professor Airy’s report on the state of astronomical science,’ showing, as Dr. MacAlister explained, that his interest lay in that direction at that time as at a slightly later date. In the Tripos it is well known that Adams was as far above the second wrangler, in an exceptional year, as the second was above the wooden spoon. In a surprisingly short space of time, by 1846, Adams became celebrated for his discovery of Uranus, but it may not be remem- bered that for a short time he was a Professor at St. Andrews. On his return to Cambridge as the Lowndean Professor, he be- came associated with Pembroke College, as from 1853 he was a Fellow there. The University, as a memorial, has undertaken the publication of his works, and a monument of some kind is shortly to be placed in Westminster Abbey. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. ParIs. Academy of Sciences, August 28.—M. Lewy in the chiir.—On a typhoon of last year in the China seas, by M. H. Faye.—R. P. Chevalier, Director of the Meteorological Obser- vatory of Zi: Ka-Wey, has sent an account of the terrible typhoon of October 7-10, 1892, which led to the loss of the British mail steamer Bokhara, to M. Faye. A close study of the pheno- menon has revealed the fact that there was no high-pressure area for a distance of 600 to 1000 miles round the centre. This result is entirely in opposition to Ferrel’s theory which asserts that every cyclone is surrounded by a high pressure area repre- senting an anti-cyclone. P. Chevalier is also convinced that in low latitudes cirrus clouds form a constant indication of a distant typhoon. According to him, the centre of a typhoon and its direction are indicated by the point on the horizon whence the cirri appear to diverge, an observation which would locate the origin of typhoons in the region of low-latitude cirri, z.¢. at a height of about 1200 or 1300 m., instead of at the surface of the earth, as often supposed. But P. Che- valier believes that the interior motions of the cyclone are represented by rectilinear convergent trajectories curved by the rotation of the earth, so that the air ascends in all the phenomena, except at the centre, where even he does not go so far as to deny the descending movement so clearly observed by Manille. He observes, however, that the foot of the cyclone was lifted above the surface at intervals, to descend in another portion of its track, and that it was independent of the nature of the ground, thus characterising itself as a phenomenon originating in the higher atmospheric strata exclusively.— Chrono-photographic study of the different kinds of locomotion in animals, by M. Marey.—In order to photograph different animals in motion, reptiles must be placed in a sort of circular canal where they can run on indefinitely, the chrono-photo- graphic apparatus being placed above this canal. Fishes are made to swim in a similar canal filled with water illuminated from above, so that they appear dark on a light ground, or from above, so as to appear light on a dark background. The principal difficulty lies in causing the animal to move in its natural manner. Some interesting analogies may be observed hetween simple creeping and more complex movements. An eel and an adder progress in the water in the same manner; a wave of lateral inflexion runs incessantly from the head to the tail, and the speed of background propagation of this wave is NO. 1245, VOL. 48] only slightly superior to the velocity of translation of the animal itself. If the eel and the adder are placed on the ground, the mode of creeping will be modified in the same manner in the’ two species. In both, the wave of reptation will have greater amplitude, and this amplitude grows more and more the surface becomes smoother, In fishes provided with fins, and in reptiles possessing feet, there remains, in general, a more © less pronounced trace of the undulatory motion of reptation. The grey lizard, when photographed at the.rate of forty or fifty exposures per second, exhibits this clearly, and also reveals the fact that the mode of progression by means of the feet-is diagonal, and analogous to trotting: ‘This gives rise to a alternation of convexity and concavity in the body on each side.—On a property of a class of algebraic surfaces, by M. Georges Humbert.—On the third principle of cnergetics, by M. W. Meyerhoffer.—The new principle recently added by M. Le Chatelier to thermodynamics, to the effect that every form of energy may be decomposed into two factors, one of whi is of a constant magnitude, was enunciated two years ago by M. Meyerhoffer in the following form : ere which tak place in the world consists of processes in which the different capacities change their potential without changing in quantity, where the two factors aré the capacity (/zdalt) and 1 potential. ¥ GOTTINGEN, ag Royal Society of Sciences.—The Machrichten (April June) contains the following papers of scientific interest. % April.—H. Weber: Researches in the Theory of Number in the domain of Elliptic Functions, III]. Th. Liebisch: Th Spectrum Analysis of the Interference Colours of iaxia Crystals. G. Bodlander: Experiments in Liquids containil Substances in Suspension, I. ts June.—Lazarus Fletcher : Remarks on the Catalogue of th Meteorite Collection of the Gottingen University. F. Koh rausch and W. Hallwachs: On the Density of Dilute Water Solutions (with diagrams), F. Hultsch: The Approximai Values of irrational square roots given by Archimedes (wi diagrams). 7 CONTENTS. The Public Health Laboratory ..........— The Arctic Problem Our Book Shelf :— . ; an Boltzmann: ‘ Vorlesung iiber Maxwell’s Theorie de: Electricitat und des Lichtes ” a+ SOI ERS Jukes- Browne : ‘*Geology: an Elementary Hand- bookies. Se as we os ewe 3 UGS 2 Blaise Pascal: ‘* Récit de la Grande Expérience d l Equilibre des Liqueurs” . L:tters to the Editor :— pied The Organisation of Scientific Literature.—F. G Donnan; A. B. Basset, F.R.S.. ..... Drought and Heat at Shirenewton Hall in 1893. — ce (Ilustrated.)—E. J. Lowe, F.R.S. .. . . Some Recent Restorations of Dinosaurs.—Prof, O. Marsh Insects Attracted by Solanum.—Prof. T. D. A Cockerelfn: 3. sae eee ei a eh Old and New Astronomy.—Mrs. S. D, Proct: Smyth; The Reviewer ....... | Suicide of Rattlesnake. —E, L. Gabbett . . The Early Asterisms. I, By J. Norman Loc BARES Hee OE Sis BES Publications By Prof, Anton Dohrn ae British Association, Nottingham Meeting. By Frank Clowes Science in the Magazine Notes . . ie pet ee Our Astronomical] Column :— The Transit of Venus of 1874... . ss. The Planet Venus ..... ** Memoire della Societa,” &c. . . 2. Geographical Notes. ......+..- Meeting of the French Association. by Prof. J. P OReilly 30s 8 ESE a tng re Variations of Latitude. By Prof. C. L, Doolittle University and Educational Intelligence .... Societies and Academies... . 1. + se eee ine Dee Mee MI tii Loe oe ee NATURE 437 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1893. THE MECHANICS OF FLUIDS. ostatics and Elementary Hydrokinetics. By George 'M. Minchin, M.A., Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers _ Hill. (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1892.) sf WORK on this subject which should incorporate - the latest developments has long been wanted ; and Prof. Minchin has performed a very useful service in providing a treatise of a convenient size for purposes of instruction. | The first chapter starts with some general theorems on the distribution of strain and stress in the interior of a body, which to our way of thinking had better have been relegated to Chapters iii. or iv., by which time the student would be able to appreciate their importance. Mr. Minchin, however, justifies his method in eloquent language, but his simile of the danger of leaving uncap- tured fortresses in the rear partakes. of ante-Napoleonic ideas; as Napoleon proved it makes all the difference whether the foe is stationary or mobile. _ We are pleased to see the author’s practical protest against the banishment of the notation (we cannot dis- pense with the idea) of the Differential Calculus, tra- ditional in our elementary treatises. A French schoolboy acquires a working knowledge of the Differential Calculus episodically, in the course of his studies of elementary algebra and trigonometry. Mr. Minchin postulates at the outset a Zerfecé fluid, that is a fluid devoid of viscosity. This is necessary when we come to the Motion of Fluids; but the theorems of Hydrostatics are true of all fluids, however viscous, such as tar, or even pitch ; a fluid from its general definition is not capable of coming to rest till the normality of the stress has been attained. The word zn/ensity is prefixed by the author when it is wished to indicate that a stress is estimated per unit area ; thus, for instance, 150 pounds on the square inch he calls the “intensity of the pressure.” But this is contrary to our ordinary language, where “intensity” is never em ployed Mr. Minchin had better have adopted another word, “ thrust,” to express total pressure or push against a given area, leaving the words stress and pressure, as in common usage, to imply that they are estimated per unit area, square foot or inch, metre or centimetre. This would not be the work of a modern college pro- fessor if the author did not explain at some length that the world has been calling things by their wrong names ; thus it is maintained that the expression above “‘a pres- sure of 150 pounds on the square inch” is inaccurate, and should always be replaced by “an intensity of pres- sure of 150 pounds’ wezght on the square inch.” This is a counsel of perfection which a careful search would probably show is not always observed by the author himself ; and it is invariably ignored and rejected by practical men, including his, own engineering col- leagues. Thus Prof. Hearson, R.N., in a recent examination paper at the Naval College, Greenwich, asks for the cal- culation of the resistance of a train in ‘‘ pounds per ton NO. £245, VOL. 48] weight”; but his M.A. colleague would edit this into- ** pounds’ weight per ton mass.” The Coopers Hill student will have to be as careful to recollect the expression appropriate for the class-room he- is attending, as the Chairman of the House of Repre- sentatives in America, according to the story, in address- ing the rival members of Illisoz and Illinozse. The use of the word “weight” to designate only the accidental quality of a body due to its position on the surface of the Earth is much insisted upon by a certain school of our writers; but this temporary fad will soon pass away, we hope, as it seems to be tainted with the ancient heresy of the existence of bodies possessing positive levitation, such as the fire or inflammable air said to have been employed in Archytas’s pigeon, or the rarefied dew with which Bishop Wilkins proposed to fill a number~ of egg-shells, and thereby fly in the air. For instance, what is the weight of a ton (mass) of hydrogen ; must we say that it is about—13 tons ? Prof. Oliver Lodge would banish the word “ hundred- weight” from our language ; but what has he to offer the- architect in exchange? Pressures on foundations in architecture are most con- veniently measured in cwt. per square foot, from the simple fact that the average weight of a cubic foot of brickwork is one hundredweight. If the architect of the Tower of Pisa had made a cal- culation in accordance with the modern formula for the resistance of foundations in earth, oi 1+ sing \? paws —sing/, in cwt. per sq. foot, at a depth of / feet in earth of density wecwt. per cubic foot, @ denoting the angle of repose of the earth, he would have found that his depth of 22 feet, with w=o'8 and ¢ = 22°, would bear only 84 cwt. per square foot ; while the pressure due to the weight of the tower mounted up to 145 cwt. per square foot. Students owe a debt of gratitude to Prof. Minchin for having almost entirely banished the old-fashioned mysti- fications concerning W =sV and W = gpV ; and he very clearly points out that the pressure at a depth gz in liquid of density pis not given by pz gravitation units, but by gpz absolute units. But the introduction of the new term “ specific weight” to designate what has hitherto been called the heaviness (or density) of a substance is to be deprecated, especially as the author is careful to explain that he dues not mean specific gravity by specific weight. ’ But the German for specific gravity is spezt/ische gewichi,so that confusion is sure to arise ; much the same as with the word masseinhezt, which means unit of measure, and not unit of mass, as it has been incorrectly translated. It is doubtful whether any advantage is gained by the introduction of absolute units into a statical subject ; they are never used in experimental and_ practical work ; but if the experimenter wishes to express his numerical results in a cosmopolitan form, he can multiply his gravitation results by the local value of g, as the last operation of all. Unfortunately, in the C.G.S. system selected by scientific men, the units are so minute that they are only suitable- x 458 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 : for the most delicate phenomena of the physical labora- tory, such as Capillarity ; and numbers run very high in ordinary dynamical problems. Millions of does of impulse would be required to flick a sixpence across the counter ; and the answer “ millions,” which Albert Smith said he received from the stoker when he asked how many degrees of temperature there were in the stoke-hold, would not be wrong if he had asked what pressure the boilers carried ; “ fifteen millions” might be the answer of the scientific stoker of to-day, trained in the use of the C.G.S. system. Another banishment from this treatise to be grateful for, is that of ‘the whole pressure of a fluid on a curved surface.” If, however, this whole pressure is divided by the sur- face, we obtain the average pressure over the surface, a distinct mechanical motion, sometimes useful ; with this resetting the “ visionary problems of pure mathematics ” on whole pressure might be allowed to survive, as some of them embody elegant geometrical applications. Generally throughout the work Mr. Minchin has secured the assistance of his colleague Mr. Stocker, the Professor of Physics, for the experimental illustrations and diagrams, and we meet with many novel and in- genious experiments, for instance in the illustration of Boyle’s Law in Fig. 57. This gives a flavour of the Physical Laboratory to the book, and not that of the Engineering Theatre, except for the elegant geometrical treatment of the ine of Thrust in a Reservoir Dam, The Hydraulic Press of Fig. 7 could hardly serve to lift a girder of the Britannia Bridge, or squeeze a steel forging with a thrust of thousands of tons. The equilibrium and stability of a floating body is illustrated in Fig. 49 by what looks like a champagne cork, and not by the cross-section of an ironclad or Atlantic steamer, with compartments bilged and full of water to illustrate the effect of petroleum or liquid cargo, or the unfortunate capsizing of the Victoria. The diagram of a floating body in tke ordinary mathe- matical treatise, where it is not like a cinder or a potato, but a vague idea of the cross-section of a ship, has the metacentre placed somewhere up the mast. Prof. Minchin reduces this metacentric height to more reasonable figures, 5 or 6 feet; but even this is excessive, as H.M.S. Prince Consort, with a metacentric height of 6 feet, was a notorious bad roller ; vessels of the greatest size are plying successfully with a metacentric height of under 1 foot; and we read a day or two ago of one of the largest modern steamers becoming unstable when being undocked. The question of the stability of a ship involves the two antagonistic qualities of “stiffness” and “ steadiness.” A ‘steady ” vessel has a small initial metacentric height, and “ stiffness” under sail is secured by making the metacentre rise rapidly as the ship heels. The whole theory of the geometry of the ship is one of great mathematical interest ; and the valuable compila- tion of all the best recent work on this subject, made by Sir E. J. Reed in his “ Stability of Ships,” deserves to be better known among mathematicians. Chapter vi., on Gases, is one which will excite great admiration, from the way in which the leading parts of NO. 1246, VOL. 48] Thermodynamics are introduced; the most recet theories have been incorporated and illustrated numei cally and experimentally ; here the valuable assistanc of Prof. Stocker is acknowledged. In this part. the subject we think that a_ simplification would effected by pointing out that with the gravitation u employed in § 48, the quantity 4 in the equation p =, is the “ height of the homogeneous atmosphere.” Be Hydraulic and Pneumatic Machines are careful described and illustrated in Chapter vii. Fig. 71 of ti Fire Engine is curious as illustrating the continuity | mathematical diagrams, as it might have been cop from the one given in Hero’s Pneumatics B.C. aos fi d vented by Ctesibius. The hydraulic ram (délier hydrauligue), Fig. 73, here attributed to Whitehurst, of Derby (1772). Th will raise a protest in France, where Montgol considered the inventor; but, on the other han Minchin gives Mariotte a half share in the disco of Boyle’s law. Chapter viii., on “ Molecular Forces and Capillarity, very complete but rather formidable, as it does not: shi the difficult theories of Laplace on Molecular Pressut The author must utilise in the next edition the | invented by Mr. C. V. Boys, for drawing with aks the various capillary curves. In the two hydrodynamical Chapters, ix. and x. may appear some need for the use of the absolute ani t but considering that the motion discussed is d gravity, the only effect of a change from gravitatior absolute units is to remove g from the denominat certain terms to the numerator of the remainder equations. The use of hyperbolic functions would simplif expressions on the last page of the book, in the dist @ Ss of Kelland’s state of wave motion. 5 Judiciously selected examples are introduced in s sets, to illustrate the principles at easy stages; th are printed in smaller type, and the book is ther kept within a handy size; at the expense, however, eyesight of some readers. Be A. G. GREE! LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for oft t pressed by his correspondents, Neither can he ei to return, or to correspond with the writers ih 6) scripts intended for this or any other part o Nai No notice is taken of anonymous communications Paleozoic Glaciation in the Southern Hemi THE interest evinced in the above subject in so man ters, and the evident ignorance of what has been d matter, is my excuse for asking space for some notes on | sonal researches. South Africa.—In July, 1872, while journey ing th Ir Bushmanland, at Mr. Niekerk’s farm ‘‘ Welgevo he Prieska, on the Orange River, I observed extensive tions of pebbles and boulders loosely piled, man striated, scored, and facetted—in fact, unmi: marked. One of the boulders I took to Ca e Towa posited it in the South African Museum. This was discovery of glaciation i in Cape Colony, and it attracted : attention at the time (vide Cape Monthly Magazine, &c.). V crossing Bushmanland, the boundaries of this aa were jotted down, and they were delineated on my S SEPTEMBER 14, 1893] NATURE 459 - Geological Map of Cape Colony, 1873, published by Stanford, London. "In the southern portion of Cape Colony no formation has ex- cited so much interest, or proved so inscrutable a puzzle to the earlier geologists, as the zone of rock named ‘‘ Porphyry . and ‘Trap Conglomerate” by the late A. E. Bain, _ “Trappean Ash” by Wylie, ‘‘ Metamorphic Rock ” by Pin- chin, &c., and called ‘*‘ Bushman Graves ” by the Boers. In Natal the same formation occurs, and Dr. Sutherland (of that colony) was the first to consider it as possibly of glacial origin, but he obtained no direct evidence to support that view. As the names applied to this singular conglomerate were all misleading in my Sketch Geological Map of 1875, I named it the ‘‘ Dwyka Conglomerate,” on account of the excellent and characteristic sections exposed where the river of that name cuts through it. ' While at Matjes Fontein, Cape Colony, in June, 1885, I obtained the first evidences of glaciation in this southern exten- sion of the conglomerate among the loose pebbles, and more abundant evidence at Prince Albert, close by. In my report of 1886 to the Cape Government, the full extent of these con- glomerates in South Africa is shown. Incidental reference and sections of the conglomerate occur in my report to the Cape Government dated 1879. The full extent of the conglomerate is also shown in my Sketch Geological Map of South Africa of 1887, published by Sands and McDougall, Melbourne. Australia.—In 1887 I obtained indubitable evidence of iation in the conglomerate of Worragee, near Beechworth, ictoria, and placed well-striated pebbles and boulders in the local museum and in the Technological Museum, Melbourne. These were the first glaciated stones discovered in the palzeozoic conglomerates of Victoria. Shortly afterwards, on visiting Bacchus Marsh and the Wild Duck Creek, I obtained abundant and unchallengeable testimony to the glacial origin of these con- glomerates also for the first time, although their glacial origin was suspected thirty years ago by Sir A. Selwyn and the late Mr. Daintree. A paper on the subject was read before the Royal Society of Victoria in 1887, and several localities besides the above described. Another was read before the Australasian Association Meeting, December, 1890. A special report on the Wild Duck Creek conglomerate, prepared in 1891 for the Geological Survey Department, was published in 1892. Tasmania.—In October, 1892, I once more encountered this remarkable conglomerate at the base of Mount Reid, near Strahan, and at an elevation of 3000 feet above sea-level. At this site it corresponds in a remarkable manner with both the Dwyka conglomerate of South Africa and the Wild Duck Creek conglomerate of Victoria, At the same time, and at a few miles’ distance, I discovered around Lake Kora very extensive and marvellously well developed evidences of modern glaciation on a large scale. These discoveries were made public through the press at Hobart and at Melbourne in the beginning of No- vember following, and a paper and plan has been submitted to the Royal Society of Melbourne, and read. The whole of my reports and maps have been supplied to the Geological Society, Burlington House. E. J. Dunn. Melbourne, July 15. Astronomical Photography. LorpD RAYLEIGH, in his letter (August 24), raises the inter- esting Les of the adaptability of the plate to the object- lass, This is a novel idea, and I hope with him that we shall ve the opinion of Captain Abney or some other authority on the question, or that it will be settled experimentally whether the use of an object-glass corrected for visual work will give, with properly prepared plates, results approximating those obtained with the ‘photographic object-glass. In the case of Cambridge Observatory, there is already an object-glass of nearly twice the area of the proposed photographic telescope, so that it is quite possible as good results might be obtained with the Newall telescope as with the proposed one. With the collodion process, where the curve of sensibility of the photographed spectrum had a well-defined summit, the ee me hic object-glass corrected for that part left very little to bedesired. Now, the curves of sensibility of the different kind of plates vary extremely. We have long flat curves, or curves with two maxima; in fact, there is such a range now that it is a matter of surprise to me that any object-glass produces such good results as are obtained. Some years ago, after read NO. 1246, VOL. 48] ing Dr. H. W. Vogel’s ‘‘ Photography of Coloured Objects,” I thought that astronomers would be driven to the use of the only instrument that will use any and every plate—the Reflector ; or if they would use the object-glass, that they would have to first find the most sensitive plate, and then make their object-glass to suit it. They should be made to suit each other. If this can be done by a variation of the photographic process without paying too dearly for it in the loss of sensitiveness, a great deal will be gained in many ways. The great doubt in my mind is whether it is possible to get _ rid of the blue rays without the use of screens. In any case, the object-glass can never properly use all the available light in the way the Reflector does, and it is a matter © of extreme surprise to me that, notwithstanding the magnificent results obtained by the Reflector in astronomical photography astronomers still seem to prefer the expensive object-glass. Ealing, September 11. A. A, COMMON. The Greatest Rainfall in Twenty-four hours, Asa resident of Dehra Din, I was interested in a paragraph at p. 297 of NaTuRE for July 27, 1893, saying that the /udian Planters’ Gazette had recorded a rainfall of 48 inches at Dehra Diin on the night of January 24, 1893. As 48 inches is con- siderably more than half our average yearly rainfall (86 inches). I have looked up the official returns of the Meteorological Re- porter to the Government of India. They give for the rainfall recorded at 8 a.m. on January 24, 1893, 0°26 inches only, 1’07 inch being the recorded fall on the same date at Mus- soorie, on the hill range 11 miles off. I have examined the Dehra Din rainfall records since January 1, 1867, and find that the largest amount recorded for any one day since that date is 11 ‘60 inches, which is given for July 30, 1890. It is possible that the correspondent referred to wrote 4°8 inches, but even that amount, though not an uncommon fall for the monsoon season between June and September inclusive, would be a heavy fall for January. The highest recorded fall for any day in January is 2°84 inches on January 26, 1883. J. S. GAMBLE. Imperial Forest School, Dehra Dun, Aug. 22. {The paragraph in question was taken from the Ceylon Observer. Weappend it as it appeared in our issue for July 27, together with a remark we made SEPTEMBER 14, 1893] NATURE 471 F ‘this rt, therefore, where there is a dark band of absorption, - the acteria which want oxygen are attracted in crowds. The motive which brings them together is their desire for oxygen. - Let us compare other instances in which the source of attrac- _ tion is food. The plasmodia of the myxomycetes, particularly one which has been recently investigated by Mr. Arthur Lister,! may be taken as a typical instance of what may be called the chemical allurement of living protoplasm. In this organism, which in the active state is an expansion of labile living material, the delicacy of the reaction is comparable to that of the sense of smell in those animals in which the olfactory organs are adapted toan aquatic life. Just as, for example, the dogfish is attracted by food which it cannot see, so the plasmodium of Badhamia becomes aware, as if it smelled it, of the presence of its food— a particular kind of fungus. I have no diagram to explain this, but will ask you to imagine an expansion of living mate- rial, quite structureless, spreading itself along a wet surface ; that this expansion of transparent material is bounded by an irregular coast-line ; and that somewhere near the coast there has been placed a fragment of the material on which the Bad- hamia feeds. The presence of this bit of Stereum produces an excitement at the part of the plasmodium next to it. Towards this centre of activity streams of living material converge. Soon the afflux leads toan outgrowth of the plasmodium, which in a few minutes advances towards the desired fragment, envelopes, and incorporates it. May I give you another example also derived from the physio- logy of plants? Very shortly after the publication of Engel- mann’s observations of the attraction of bacteria by oxygen, Pfeffer made the remarkable discovery that the movements of the antherozoids of ferns and of mosses are guided by impres- sions derived from chemical sources, by the allurement exercised upon them by certain chemical substances in solution—in one ache instances mentioned by sugar, in the other by an organic acid. The method consisted in introducing the substance to be tested, in any required strength, into a minute capillary tube closed at one end, and placing it under the microscope in water inhabited by antherozoids, which thereupon showed théir pre- dilection for the substance, or the contrary, by its effect on their movements. In accordance with the principle followed in experimental psychology, Pfeffer? made it his object to deter- mine, not the relative effects of different doses, but the smallest perceptible increase of dose which the organism was able to detect, with this result—that, just as in measurements of the relation between stimulus and reaction in ourselves we find that the sensational value of a stimulus depends, not on its absolute intensity, but on the ratio between that intensity and the pre- vious excitation, so in this simplest of vital reagents the same so-called psycho-physical law manifests itself. It is not, how- ever, with a view to this interesting relation that I have referred to Pfeffer’s discovery, but because it serves as a centre around which other phenomena, observed alike in plants and animals, have been grouped. As a general designation of reactions of this kind Pfeffer devised the term Chemotaxis, or, as we in England prefer to call it, Chemiotaxis. Pfeffer’s contrivance for chemiotactic testing was borrowed from the pathologists, who have long used it for the purpose of determining the relation between a great variety of chemical compounds or products, and the colourless corpuscles of the blood. I need, I am sure, make no apology for referring to a question which, although purely pathological, is of very great biological interest—the theory of the process by which, not only in man, but also, as Metschnikoff has strikingly shown, in animals far down in the seale of development, the organism protects itself against such harmful things as, whether particulate or not, are able to pene- trate its framework. Since Cohnheim’s great discovery in 1867 we have known that the central phenomenon of what is termed pathologists zz/flammation is what would now be called a chemiotactic one; for it consists in the gathering together, like that of vultures to a carcase, of those migratory cells which have their home in the blood stream and in the lymphatic sys- tem, to any point where the living tissue of the body has been injured. or damaged, as if the products of disintegration which are set free where such damage occurs were attractive to them. The fact of chemiotaxis, therefore, as a constituent pheno- 1 Lister, “On the Plasmodium of Badhamia utricularis, &c."” Annals of Botany, No. 5, June, 1888. bins er, Untersuch a. d. botan. Institute 2. Tibingen, vol. i., part 3, 1884. NO 1246. vou, 48] menon of the process of inflammation, was familiar in patho- logy long before it was understood. Cohnheim himself attributed it to changes in the channels along which the cells moved, and this explanation was generally accepted, though some writers, at all events, recognised its incompleteness. But no sooner was Pfeffer’s discovery known than Leber,! who for years had been working at the subject from the pathological side, at once saw that the two processes were of similar nature. Then followed a variety of researches of great interest, by which the importance of chemiotaxis in relation to the destruc- tion of disease-producing microphytes was proved, by that of Buchner? on the chemical excitability of leucocytes being among the most important. Much discussion has taken place, as many present are aware, as to the kind of wandering cells, or leu- cocytes, which in the first instance attack morbific microbes, and how they deal with them. The question is not by any means decided. It has, however, I venture to think, been conclusively shown that the process of destruction is a chemical ene, that the destructive agent has its source in the chemiotactic cells—that is, cells which act under the orders of chemical stimuli. Two Cambridge observers, Messrs. Kanthack and Hardy, ® have lately shown that, in the particular instance which they have investigated, the cells which are most directly con- cerned in the destruction of morbific dacz//i, although chemio- tactic, do not possess the power of incorporating bacilli or particles of any other kind. While, therefore, we must regard the relation between the process of devitalising and that of incorporating as not yet sufficiently determined, it is now- no longer possible to regard the latter as essential to the former. There seems, therefore, to be very little doubt that chemio- tactic cells are among the agents by which the human or animal organism protects itself against infection. There are, however, many questions connected with this action which have not yet been answered. The first of these are chemical ones—that of the nature of the attractive substance and that of the process by which the living carriers of infection are destroyed. Another point to be determined is how far the process admits of adapta- tion to the particular infection which is present in each case, and to the state of liability or immunity of the infected indi- vidual. The subject is therefore of great complication. None of the points I have suggested can be settled by experiments in glass tubes such asI have described to you. These serve only as indications of the course to be followed in much more complicated and difficult investigations—when we have to do with acute diseases as they actually affect ourselves or animals of similar liability to ourselves, and find ourselves face to face with the question of their causes. It is possible that many members of the Association are not aware of the unfavourable—I will not say discreditable—position that this country at present occupies in relation to the scientific study of this great subject—the causes and mode of prevention of infectious diseases, As regards administrative efficiency in matters relating to public health England was at one time far ahead of all other countries, and still retains its superiority ; but as regards scientific knowledge we are, in this subject as in others, content to borrow from our neighbours. Those who desire either to learn the methods of research or to carry out scientific inquiries, have to go to Berlin, to Munich, to Breslau, or to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, to obtain what England ought long ago to have provided. For to us, from the spread of our race all over the world, the prevention of acute infectious diseases is more important than to any other nation. At the beginning of this address I urged the claims of pure science. If I could, I should feel inclined to speak even more strongly of the application of science to the discovery of the causes of acute diseases. May I express the hope that the effort which is now being made to establish in England an institution for this purpose not inferior in efficiency to those of other countries, may have the sympathy of all present? And now may I ask your attention for a few moments more to the subject that more immediately concerns us ? s Conclusion. The purpose which I have had in view has been to show that there is one principle—that of adaptation—which separates 1 Leber, ‘Die Anhiufung der Leuccyten am Orte des Entziindungs- pve a &e., Die Entstehung der Enstiindung, &c., pp. 423-454. Leipzig, 1891. % Buchner, ‘‘ Diechem. Reizbarkeit der Leucocyten,” &c., Berliner klin Woch., 1890, No. 17. 3 Kanthack and fiaray, ‘*On the Characters and Behaviour of the Wan- dering Cells of the Frog,” Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. lii., p. 267. 472 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 4 biology from the exact sciences, and that in the vast field of biological inquiry the end we have is not merely, as in natural philosophy, to investigate the relation between the phenomenon and the antecedent and concomitant conditions on which it depends, but to possess this knowledge in constant reference to the interest of the organism. It may perhaps be thought that this way of putting it is too teleological, and that in taking,as it were, as my text this evening so old-fashioned a biologist as Treviranus, I am yielding to a retrogressive tendency. It is notso. What I have desired to insist on is that organism is a fact which encounters the biologist at every step in his investi- gations ; that in referring it to any general biological principle, such as adaptation, we are only referring it to itself, not explaining it ; that no explanation will be attainable until the conditions of its coming into existence can be subjected to experimental investigation so as to correlate them with those of processes in the non-living world. : Those who were present at the meeting of the British Associ- ation at Liverpool, will remember that then, as well as at some subsequent meetings, the question whether the conditions necessary for such an inquiry could be realised was a burning one. This is no longerthe case. The patient endeavours which were made about that time to obtain experimental proof of what was called adiogenesis, although they conduced materially to that better knowledge which we now possess of the conditions of life of bacteria, failed in the accomplishment of their purpose. The question still remains undetermined ; it has, so to speak, been adjourned size die. The only approach to it lies at present in'the investigation of those rare instances in which, although the relations between a living organism and its environment ceases as a watch stops when it has not been wound, these relations can be re-established—the process of life reawakened —by the application of the required stimulus, I was also desirous to illustrate the relation between physi- ology and its two neighbours on either side, natural philosophy (including chemistry) and psychology. As regards the latter, I need add nothing to what has already been said. As regards the former, it may be well to notice that although physiology can never become a mere branch of applied physics or chemistry, there are parts of physiology wherein the principles of these sciences may be applied directly. Thus, in the beginning of the century, Young applied his investigations as to the move- ments of liquids in a system of elastic tubes, directly to the phenomena of the circulation; and a century before, Borelli successfully examined the mechanisms of locomotion and the action of muscles, without reference to any, excepting me- chanical principles. Similarly, the foundation of our present knowledge of the process of nutrition was laid in the researches of Bidder and Schmidt, in 1851, by determinations of the weight and composition of the body, the daily gain of weight by food or oxygen, the daily loss by the respiratory and other discharges, all of which could be accomplished by chemical means. But in by far the greater number of physiological in- vestigations, both methods (the physical or chemical and the physiological) must be brought to bear on the same question— to co-operate for the elucidation of the same problem. In the researches, for example, which during several years have occu- pied Prof. Bohr, of Copenhagen, relating to the exchange of gases in respiration, he has shown that factors purely physical —namely, the partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood which flows through the pulmonary capillaries— are, so to speak, interfered with in their action by the ‘“‘ specific energy” of the pulmonary tissue, in such 4 way as to render this fundamental process, which, since Lavoisier, has justly been regarded as one of the most important in physiology, much more complicated than we for a long time supposed it to be. In like manner Heidenhain has proved that the process of lymphatic absorption, which before we regarded as dependent on purely mechanical causes—z.e. differences of pressure—is in great measure due to the specific energy of cells, and that in various processes of secretion the principal part is not, as we were inclined not many years ago’ to believe, attributable to liquid diffusion, but to the same agency. 1 wish that there had been time to have told you something of the discoveries which have been made in this particular field by Mr. Langley, who has made the subject of ‘‘ specific energy” of secreting-cells his own. It is in investigations of this kind, of which any number of examples could be given, in which vital reactions mix themselves up with physical and chemical ones so intimately NO. 1246, VOL. 48] | physical training he may be fortunate enough to possess. that it is difficult to draw the line between them, that physiologist derives most aid from whatever chemical There is, therefore, no doubt as to the advantag physiology derives from the exact sciences. It could 5 be averred that they would benefit in anything like the degree from closer association with the science of life. Ne theless, there are some points in respect of which that scie may have usefully contributed to the advancement of physics of chemistry. The discovery of Graham as to the characte colloid substances, and as to the diffusion of bodies in through membranes, would never have been made Graham ‘* a, so to speak, ‘‘ with our heifer, relations of certain colouring matters to oxygen and dioxide would have been unknown, had no experiments made on the respiration of animals and the assimilative p: in plants ; and, similarly, the vast amount of knowledge w relates to the chemical action of ferments must be claimed physiological origin. So also there are methods, both p and mohiogee — ae originally devised 28 ) urposes. us the method by which meteorol fake: are continuously recorded graphically, prigtaanall that used by Ludwig (1847) in his ‘* Researches on the lation” ; the mercurial pump, invented by Lothar Meyer, perfected in the physiological laboratories of Bonn and Le zig ; the rendering the galvanometer needle — jodi: damping was first realised by du Bois-Reymond—in all which cases invention was prompted by the requirements physiological research. 1 RUSS Let me conclude with one more instance of a different | which may serve to show how, perhaps, the wonderful inge of contrivance which is displayed in certain organised —the eye, the ear, or the organ of voice—may be o interest to the physicist than to the physiologist. — Miiller, as is well known, explained the co’ nd ¢ insects on the theory that an erect picture is formed convex retina by the combination of pencils of light, rec from different parts of the visual field through the ey matidia) directed to them. Years afterwards it was shor in each eyelet an image is formed which is reversed. sequently, the mosaic theory of Miiller was for a | discredited on the ground that an erect picture cou! made up of ‘‘ upside-down” images. Lately the subject been reinvestigated, with the result that the mosaic theor regained its authority. Prof. Exner! has proved photog cally that behind each part of the insect’s eye an erect is formed of the objects towards which it is directed. therefore, no longer any difficulty in understanding whole field of vision is mapped out as consistently as it imaged on our own retina, with the difference, of course, the picture is erect. But behind this fact lies a i tion—that of the relation between the erect picture photographed and the optical structure of the ci which produce it—a question which, although we c enter upon it, is quite as interesting as the phy: one. ne With this history of a theory which, after having thirty years disbelieved, has been reinstated by the combination of methods derived from the two scien conclude. It may serve to show how, though physiolo never become a part of natural philosophy, the qui stions have to deal with are cognate. Without forgetting tha’ phenomenon has to be regarded with reference to purpose in the organism, the aim of the physiologist inquire into final causes, but to investigate proce: question is ever How, rather than Why. May [illustrate this by a simple, perhaps too trivial, st derives its interest from its having been told of the chil one of the greatest natural philosophers of the present centur He was even then possessed by that insatiable curiosity whit the first quality of the investigator ; and itis related of hi his habitual question was ‘‘ What is the go of it?” answer was unsatisfactory, ‘‘ What is the particular go That North Country boy became Prof. Clerk Maxwell. questions he asked are those which in our various ways all trying to answer. 2 1 Exner, ‘‘Die Physiologie der facettirten Augen von Krebsen secten,” Leipzig, 1891. 2 © Life of Clerk Maxwell ” (Campbell and Garnett), p. 28. t “jon notice this morning, I wish to express my deep regret for SerTemBer 14. 1893] NATURE 473 SECTION A. MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS. OreNinc Appress BY R. T. GLazeBRook, M.A., F.R.S., a: ; PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. - Berore dealing with the subject which I hope to bring to he circumstances which have prevented Prof. Clifton, who had accepted the nomination of the Council, from being your Presi- dent this year. Tt was specially fitting that he who has done so much for this college, and particularly for this laboratory in which we meet, should take the chair at Nottingham. The occasions on which we see him are all too seldom ; and we who come frequently to these meetings were looking forward to help and encourage- ment in our work, derived from his wide experience. You would desire, I feel sure, that I should convey to him the expres- sions of your sympathy. For myself I must ask that you will pass a lenient judgment on my efforts to fill his place. ‘Let me commence, then, with a brief retrospect of the past year and the events which concern our Section. From the days of Galileo the four satellites of Jupiter have been olijects f interest to the astronomer, Their existence was one of the earliest of the discoveries of the telescope ; they. proved conclusively that all the bodies of the solar system did not move round the earth. The year which has passed since our last meeting is memorable for the discovery of a fifth satellite. It is a year today (September 13-14, 1892) since Prof. Bar- mard convinced himself that he had seen with the great telescope of the Lick Observatory this new member of our sys- 4em as a star of the thirteenth magnitude, revolving round the planet in 11 hours 57 minutes 23 seconds.1 The conference on electrical standards, held at our meeting last year, has had important results. The resolutions adopted at Edinburgh were communicated to the Standards Committee of the Board of Trade. A supplementary report accepting these resolutions was agreed to by that Committee (November 29, 1892), and presented to the President of the Board of Trade. The definitions contained in this report will be made the basis of legislation throughout the world. They have been accepted by France, Germany, Austria, and Italy, The con- gress at Chicago, which has just been held, has ratified them, and thus we may claim that your Committee, co-operating with the leaders of physical science in other lands, has secured inter- national agreement on these fundamental points. Among the physical papers of the year I would mention a few as specially calling for notice, Mr. E, H. Griffiths’s re- determination of the value of the mechanical equivalent of heat has just been published (PAiz. Trans. vol. clxxxiv.), and is a “monumental work, With untiring energy and great ability he struggled for five years against the difficulties of his task, and has produced results which, with the exception of one group of experiments, do not differ by more than I part in 10,000 ; while the results of that one excepted group differ from the mean only by I part in 4000. The number of ergs of work required to raise one gramme of water 1° C. at 15°C. is 4'198 x 107. Expressed in foot- pounds and Fahrenheit degrees, the value of J is 779°97._ The value obtained by Joule from his experiments. on the friction of water, when corrected in 1880 by Rowland so as to reduce his readings to the air thermometer, is 778°5 at 12°°7.C, The result at this temperature of Rowland’s own valuable research is 780°. Another satisfactory outcome of Mr, Griffiths’s work is the very exact accordance between the scale of temperature as determined the comparison of his platinum thermometer with the air meter, which was made by Callendar and himself in 1890, and that of the nitrogen thermometer of the Bureau International at Sevres. Another great work now happily complete is Rowland’s ** Table of Standard Wave-lengths ” (Phz/. Mag., July, 1893). Nearly a thousand lines have been measured with the skill and aceuracy for which Rowland has made himself famous; and in this table we see the resuits achieved by the genius which designed the concave grating and the mechanical ingenuity which contrived the almost perfect screw. Those of us who have seen Mr. Higgs’s wonderful photo- * “Tn general,’’ he says, ‘the satellite has been faint, .... On the a! we pir when the air was very clear, it was quite easy.”— Nature, 4 1092. NO. 1246, VOL. 48] graphs of the solar spectrum, taken with a Rowland grating, will rejoice to know that his map also is now finished. Lord Rayleigh’s paper on ‘‘ The Intensity of Light reflected from Water and Mercury at nearly perpendicular incidence,” (Phil. Mag., October, 1892), combined with the experiments.on reflexion from liquid surfaces in the neighbourhood of the polarising angle (Pi/. Mag.,, January, 1892), establishes results of the utmost importance to optical theory. ‘‘ There is thus,” Lord Rayleigh concludes, ‘‘no experimental evidence against the rigorous application of Fresnel’s formulz ”—for the reflexion of polarised light—‘‘to the ideal case of an abrupt transition between two uniform transparent media.” Prof. Dewar has, during the year, continued his experiments on the liquefaction of oxygen and nitrogen on a large scale. To a physicist perhaps the most important rv sults of the: re- search are the discovery of the magnetic properties of liquid oxygen, and the proof of the fact that the resistance of certain pure metals vanishes at absolute zero (Phil. Mag., October, 1892). The last discovery is borne out by Griffiths and Callendar’s experiments with their platinum thermometers (Phil. Mag., December, 1892). Mr, Williams’s article on ‘‘ The Relation of the Dimen- sions of Physical Quantities to Directions in Space” (/Ad/, Mag., September,, 1892) has led to an interesting discussion. Some of his deductions will be noticed later. The title-page of the first edition of Maxweli’s ‘ Electri- city and Magnetism” bears the date 1873. This year, 1893, we welcome a third edition, edited by Maxwell’s distinguished successor, and enriched by a supplementary volume, in which Prof, J. J. Thomson describes some of the advances made by electrical science in the last twenty years. The subject matter of this volume might well serve as a text for a Presidential Address. : The choice of a subject on which to speak to-day has been no easy task. The fieldof physics and mathematics is a wide one. There is one matter, however, to which for a few minutes I should like to call your attention, inadequately though it be. Optical theories have, since the year 1876, when I first read Sir George Stokes’s ‘‘Report on Double Refraction” (British Association Report, 1862), had a special interest for me, and I think the time has come when we may with advantage review our position with regard to them, and sum up our knowledge.? That light is propagated by an undulatory motion through a medium which we call the ether is now an established fact, although we know but little of the nature or constitution of the ether. The history of this undulatory theory is full of interest, and has, it appears to me, in its earlier stages been not quite clearly apprehended, Two theories have been proposed to account for optical phenomena. Descartes was the author of the one, the emission theory. Hooke, though his work was very incomplete, was the founder of the undulatory theory. In his ‘*Micrographia,” 1664, page 56, he asserts that lizhtis a quick and short vibratory motion, ‘*propagated every ‘way through an homogeneous medium by direct or straight lines extended every way like rays from the centre of a sphere. . . . Every pulse or vibration of the luminous body will generate a sphere which will continually increase and grow bigger, just after the same manner, though intefinitely swifter, as the waves or rings on the surface do swell into bigger and bigger circles about a point on it”; and he gives on this hypothesis an account of reflexion, refraction, dispersion, and the colours of thin plates. In the same work, page 58, he describes an experi- ment practically identical with Newton’s famous. prism experi- ment, published in 1672. Hooke used for a prism a glass vessel about two feet long, filled with water, and inclined so that the sun’s rays might enter obliquely at the upper surface and traverse the water, ‘‘ The top surface is covered by an opacous body, all but a hole through which the sun’s beams are suffered to pass into the water, and are thereby refracted” to the bottom of the glass, ‘‘against which part if a paper be ex- panded on the outside there will appear all the colours of the rainbow—that is, there will be generated the two principal colours, scarlet and blue, with all the’ intermediate ones which arise from the composition and diluting of these two.” But Hooke could make no use of his own observation ; he at- tempted to substantiate from it his own theory of colours, and 1 This address was in the printer’s hands when I saw Sir George Stokes’s paper on “‘ The Luminiferous Ether,” Nature, July 27. Had I known that so great a master of my subject had dealt with it so !ately, my choice might have been different ; under the circumstances it was too late to change. 474 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 wrote pure nonsense in the attempt ; and though his writings contain the germ of the theory, and in the light of our present knowledge it seems possible that he understood it more thorovghly than his contemporaries believed, yet his reasoning is so utterly vague and unsatisfactory that there is little ground for surprise that he convinced but few of its truth. And then came Newton, It is claimed for him, and that witb justice, that he was the true founder of the emission theory. In Descartes’ hands it was a vague hypothesis. Newton de- duced from it by rigid reasoning the laws of reflexion and re- fraction ; he applied it with wondrous ingenuity to explain the colours of thin and of thick plates and the phenomena of diffrac- tion, though in doing this he had to suppose a mechanism which he must have felt to be almost impossible ; a mechanism which in time, as it was applied to explain other and more complex phenomena, became so elaborate that, in the words of Verdet, referring to a period one hundred years later, ‘‘all that is necessary to overturn this laborious scaffolding is to look at it and try to understand it.” But though Newton may with justice be called the founder of the emission theory, it is unjust to his memory to state that he accepted it as giving a full and satisfactory account of optics as they were known to him. When he first began his optical work he realised that facts and measurements were needed, and his object was to furnish the facts. He may have known of Hooke’s theories. The copy of the ‘‘ Micrographia’’ now at Trinity College was in the Library while Newton was working with his prism in rooms in college, and may have been con- sulted by him. An early note-book of his contains quotations from it. Still there was nothing in the theories but hypotheses unsupported by facts, and these would have no charm for Newton., The hypotheses in the main are right. Light is due to wave motion in an all-pervading ether ; the principle of interference, vaguely foreshadowed by Hooke (‘‘ Micro- graphia,” p. 66), was one which a century later was to remove the one difficulty which Newton felt. For there was one fact which Hooke’s theory could not then explain, and till that ex- planation was given the theory must be rejected ; the test was crucial, the answer was decisive. ; Newton tells us repeatedly what the difficulty was. In reply toa criticism of Hooke’s in 1672, he writes: ‘‘ For to me the fundamental supposition itself seems impossible, namely, that the waves of vibrations of any fluid can, like the rays of light, be propagated in straight lines without continual and very ex- travagant spreading and bending into the quiescent medium where they are terminated by it. I mistake if there be not both experiment and demonstration to the contrary. . . . For it seems impossible that any of those motions or pressions can be propagated in straight lines without the like spreading every way into the shadowed medium.” Nor was there anything in the controversy with Hooke, which took place about 1675, to shake this belief. Hooke had read his paper describing his discovery of diffraction. He had announced it two years earlier, and there is no doubt in my mind that this was an original discovery, and not, as Newton seemed to imply soon after, taken from Grimaldi ; but his paper does not remove the difficulty. Accordingly we find in the ‘* Principia ” Newton’s attempted proof (lib. ii. prop. 42) that **motus omnis per fluidum propagatus divergit a recto tramite in spatia immota ”—a demonstration which has convinced but few and leaves the question unsolved as before. Again, in 1690 Huygens published his great ‘‘ Traité de la Lumiére,” written in 1678, Huygens had clearer views than Hooke on all he wrote; many of his demonstrations may be given now as completely satisfactory, but on the one crucial matter he was fatally weak. He, rather than Hooke, is the true founder of the undulatory theory, for he showed what it would do if it could but explain the rectilinear propagation. The reasoning of the latter part of Huygens’s first chapter be- comes forcible enough when viewed in the light of the principle of interference enunciated by Young, November 12, 1801, and developed, independently of Young, by Fresnel in his great memoir on ‘‘ Diffraction” in 1815 ; but without this aid it was not possible for Huygens’s arguments to convince Newton, and hence in the ‘‘ Opticks” (2nd edit., 1717) he wrote the cele- brated Query 28: ‘* Are not all hypotheses erroneous in which light is supposed to consist in pressure or motion propagated through a fluid medium? If it consisted in motion propagated either in an instant or in time it would bend into the shadow. For pressure or motion cannot be propagated in a fluid in right NO. 1246, VOL. 48] lines beyond an obstacle which stops part of the motion, will bend and spread every way into the quiescent medi which lies outside the shadow.” These were his last words o the subject. They prove that he could not accept the und latory theory ; they do not prove that he believed the emissi theory to give the true explanation. Yet, in spite of this, think that Newton had a clearer view of the undulatory the than his contemporaries, and saw more fully than they did that theory could achieve if but the one difficulty w removed, This was Young’s belief, who writes (Phil. Trans., | vember 12, 1801) :—‘‘A more extensive examination Newton’s various writings has shown me that he was in real the first who suggested such a theory as I shall endeavour t maintain ; that his own opinions varied less from this the than is now almost universally believed ; and that a variety arguments have been advanced as if to meet him which may found in a nearly similar form in his own works.” I wish call attention to this statement, and to bring into more p minent view the grounds on which it rests, to place Newton in his true position as one of the founders of the undulat theory. The emission theory in Newton’s hands was a dynan theory ; he traced the motion of material particles under cert: forces, and found their path to coincide with that of a ray light ; and in the “‘ Principia,” prop. xcvi., Scholium, he attention to the similarity between these particles and | The particles obey the laws of reflexion and refraction ; but explain why some of the incident light was reflected and so refracted Newton had to invent his hypothesis of fits of ¢ reflexion and transmission. These are explained in ‘*Opticks,” book iii., props. xi., xii., and xiii. (1704), thus ‘Light is propagated from luminous bodies in time, spends about seven or eight minutes of an hour in passing the sun to the earth. *« Every ray of light in its passage through any refracting s face is put into a certain transient constitution or state, wh in the progress of the ray returns at equal intervals, an poses the ray at each return to be easily transmitted throu the next refracting surface, and between the returns to be reflected by it. ‘ ‘* Definition.—The return of the disposition of any ra reflected I will call its fit of easy reflexion, and those of the di position to be transmitted its fits of easy transmission, ancl tl space it passes between every return and the next retur' interval of its fits. i ‘* The reason why the surfaces of all thick transparent b reflect part of the light incident on them and refract the r that some rays at their incidence are in their fits of reflexion, some in their fits of easy transmission.” — Such was Newton’s theory. It accounts for some or the observed facts ; but what causes the fits? Newton, ‘*Opticks,” states that he does not inquire; he sugge those who wish to deal in hypotheses, that the rays striking the bodies set up waves in the reflecting or re! substance which move faster than the rays and overtake When a ray is in that part of a vibration which conspires its motion, it easily breaks through the refracting surfaci ina fit of easy transmission ; and, conversely, when the | of the ray and the wave are opposed, it is in a fito reflexion. ee But he was not always so cautious At an earlier date he sent to Oldenburg, for the Royal Society, an ‘* Hypo explaining the Properties of Light”; and we find journal book that ‘‘these observations so well pli society that they ordered Mr. Oldenburg to desire Mr, N to permit them to be published.” Newton agreed, but ; that publication should be deferred till he had complet account of some other experiments which ought to those he had described. This he never did, and the hypo! was first printed in Birch’s ‘‘ History of the Royal Soc vol. iii., pp. 247, 262, 272, &c. ; it is also given in Brews ‘* Life of Newton,’’ vol. i., App. II., and in the Phi. September, 1846, pp. 187-213. i : ‘Were I,” he writes in this paper, ‘‘to assume an hyp it should be this, if propounded more generally, so as n assume what light is further than that it is something or capable of exciting vibrations of the ether. First, it is assumed that there is an ethereal medium, much of the constitution with air, but far rarer, subtiller, and more str ng >. NATURE 475 . . . In the second place, it is to be supposed that the er is a vibrating medium, like air, only the vibrations far nore swift and minute ; those of air made by a man’s ordinary voice succeeding at more than half a foot or a foot distance, | but those of ether at a less distance than the hundred-thousandth part of aninch. And as in air the vibrations are some larger than others, but yet all equally swift. . . so I suppose the ethereal vibrations differ in bigness but not in swiftness. . . . In the | fourth place, therefore, I suppose that light is neither ether nor its vibrating motion, but something of a different kind propa- | gated from lucid bodies. They that will may suppose it an | aggregate of various peripatetic qualities. Others may suppose }it multitudes of unimaginable small and swift corpuscles of | various sizes springing from shining bodies at great distances {one after the other, but yet without any sensible interval of \time. . . . To avoid dispute and make this hypothesis general, \iet every man here take his fancy ; only, whatever light be, I | would suppose it consists of successive rays differing from one another in contingent circumstances, as bigness, force, or vigour, like as the sands on the shore . . . and, further, I would sup- | pose it diverse from the vibrations of the ether. . . . Fifthly, jit is to be supposed that light and ether mutually act upon one janother.” [It is from this action that reflexion and refraction jcome about ; ‘‘ xthereal vibrations are therefore,”’ he continues, **the best means by which such a subtile agent as light can e the gross particles of solid bodies to heat them. And so, supposing that light impinging on a refracting or reflecting hereal superficies puts it into a vibrating motion, that phy- ‘sical superficies being by the perpetual appulse of rays always kept in a vibrating motion, and the ether therein continually expanded and compressed by turns, if a ray of light impinge on jit when it is much compressed, I suppose it is then too dense and stiff to let the ray through, fe so reflects it ; but the rays hat impinge on it at other times, when it is either expanded by the interval between two vibrations or not too much compressed and condensed, go through and are refracted. .. . And now to explain colours. I suppose that as bodies excite sounds of various tones and consequently vibrations, in the air of various ignesses, so when the rays of light by impinging on the stiff e€! ae | superficies excite vibrations in the ether, these rays cite vibrations of various bignesses . . . therefore, the ends pf the capillamenta of the optic nerve which front or face the tina being such refracting superficies, when the rays impinge n them they must there excite these vibrations, which vibra- ons (like those of sound in a trumpet) will run along the ueous pores or crystalline pith of the capillamenta through 1¢ optic nerves into the sensorium (which light itself cannot 0), and there, I suppose, affect the sense with various colours, \ccording to their bigness and mixture—the biggest with the rongest colours, reds and yellows ; the least with the weakest, lues and violets ; the middle with green; and a confusion of 1 with white.” The last idea, the relation of colour to the bigness of wave- ngth, is put even more plainly in the ‘‘ Opticks,” Query 13 . 1704) :—‘* Do not several sorts of rays make vibrations of arious bignesses, which according to their bignesses excite }nsations of various colours . . . and, particularly, do not the Jost refrangible rays excite the shortest vibrations for making 'jsensation of deep violet ; the least refrangible the largest for aking a sensation of deep red?” | The whole is but a development of a reply, written in 1672, | a criticism of Hooke’s on his first optical paper, in which jewton says: ‘‘It is true that from my theory I argue the cor- sity of light, but I do it without any absolute positiveness, the word perhaps intimates, and make it at most a very usible consequence of the doctrine, and not a fundamental osition. Certainly,” he continues, ‘‘ my hypothesis has a greater affinity with his own [Hooke’s] than he seems to be are of, the vibrations of the ether being as useful and neces- in this as in his.” hus Newton, while in the ‘‘Opticks” he avoided declaring ymself as to the mechanism by which the fits of easy reflexion #d transmission were produced, has in his earlier writings qveloped a theory | Gavriel identical in many respects with ibdern views, though without saying that he accepted it. It an hypothesis; one difficulty remained, it would not : ot ggg rectilinear propagation, and it must be rejected Light is neither ether nor its vibrating motion ; it is energy , emitted from luminous bodies, is carried by wave motion NO. 1246, VOL. 48] in rays, and falling on a reflecting surface sets up fresh waves by which it is in part transmitted and in part reflected. Light is not material, but Newton nowhere definitely asserts that it is. He ‘‘argues the corporeity of light, but without any absolute positiveness.” Inthe ‘‘ Principia,” writing of his particles, his words are: ‘* Harum attractionum haud multum dissimiles sunt Lucis reflexiones et refractiones ” ; and the Scholium concludes with ‘‘Igitur ob analogiam que est inter propagationem radio- rum lucis et progressum corporum, visum est propositiones sequentes in usus opticos subjungere ; interea de natura radio- rum (utrum sint corpora necne) nihil omnino disputans, sed tra- jectorias corporum trajectoriis radiorum persimiles solummodo determinans.”’ + No doubt Newton’s immediate successors interpreted his words as meaning that he believed in the corpuscular theory, conceived, as Herschel says, by Newton, and called by his illustrious name. Men learnt from the ‘‘ Principia” how to deal with the motion of small particles under definite forces. ‘The laws of wave motion were obscure, and till the days of Young and Fresnel there was no second Newton to explain them. There is truth in Whewell’s words (‘‘ Inductive Sciences,” ii. chap. x.): ‘‘That propositions existed in the ‘Principia’ which proceeded on this hypothesis was with many ground enough for adopting the doctrine.” Young’s view, already quoted, aprears to me mere just; and I see in Newton’s hypothesis the first clear indication of the undulatory theory of light, the first statement of its fundamental laws. Three years later (1678) Huygens wrote his ‘‘ Traité de la Lumiére,” published in 1690. He failed to meet the main difficulty of the theory, but in other respects he developed its consequences toa most remarkable degree. For more than a century after this there was no progress, until in 1801 the prin- ciple of interference was discovered by Young, and again independently a few years later by Fresnel, whose genius triumphed over the difficulties to which his predecessors had succumbed, and, by combining the principles of interference and transverse vibrations, established an undulatory theory as a fact, thus making Newton’s theory a vera causa. There is, however, a great distinction between the emission theory as Newton left it and Fresnel’s undulatory theory. The former was dynamical, though it could explain but little : the particles of light obeyed the laws of motion, like particles of matter. The undulatory theory of Huygens and Fresnel was geometrical or kinematical : the structure of the ether was and is unknown ; all that was needed was that light should be due to the rapid periodic changes of some vector property of a me- dium capable of transmitting transverse waves. Fresnel, it is true, attempted to give a dynamical account of double refraction, and of the reflexion and refraction of polarised light, but the attempt was a failure ; and not the least interesting part of Mr. L. Fletcher’s recent book on double refraction (‘* The Optical Indicatrix”) is that in which he shows that Fresnel himself in the first instance arrived at his theory by purely geometrical reasoning, and only attempted at a later date to -give it its dy- namical form. ‘‘ If we reflect,”’ says Stokes (‘* Report on Double Refraction,” Brit. Assoc Refort, 1862, p. 254), ‘fon the state of the subject as Fresnel found it and as he left it, the wonder is, not that he failed to give a rigorous dynamical theory, but that a single mind was capable of effecting so much.” Every student of optics should read Fresnel’s great memoirs. But the time was coming when the attempt to construct a dynamical theory of light could be made. avier, in 1821, gave the first mathematical theory of elasticity. He limited himself to isotropic bodies, and worked on Boscovitch’s hypo- thesis as to the constitution of matter. Poisson followed on the same lines, and the next year (1822) Cauchy wrote his first memoir on elasticity. The phenomena of light afforded a means of testing this theory of elasticity, and accordingly the first mechanical conception of the ether was that of Cauchy and Neumann, who conceived it to consist of distinct hard particles acting upon one another with forces in the-line joining them, which vary as some function of the distances between the par- ticles. It was now possible to work out a mechanical theory of light which should be a necessary consequence of these hy- 1 The reflexions and refractions of light are not very unlike these attrac - tions. Therefore, because of the analogy which exists between the propa- Pat scoot rays of light and the motion of bodies, it seemed right to add the ollowing propositions for optical purposes, ‘not at all with any view of discussing the nature of rays (whether they are corporeal or not), but only to determine paths of particles which closely resemble the paths of rays.— * Principia,” lib. i., sect. xiv., prop. xcvi., Scholium. 476 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 18 3 potheses. Cauchy’s and the earlier theories do not represent the facts either in an elastic solid or inthe ether. At present we are not concerned with the cause of this ; we must recognise it as the first attempt to explain on a mechanical basis the phe- nomena observed. According to his theory in its final form, there are, in an isotropic medium, two waves which travel with veloci- ties VA/p and NB/p, A and B being constants and p the density. Adopting Cauchy’s molecular hypothesis, there must be a definite relation between A and B. A truer view of the theory of elasticity is given by Green in his paper read before the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1837. This theory involves the two constants, but they are independent, and to account for certain optical effects A must either vanish or be infinite. The first supposition was, until a few years since, thought to be inconsistent with stability ; the second leads to consequences which in part agree with the results of optical experiment, but which differ fatally from those results on other points. And so the first attempt to construct a mechanical theory of light failed. We have learnt much from it. At the death of Green the subject had advanced far beyond the point at which Fresnel left it. The causes of the failure are known, and the directions in which to look for modifications have been pointed out. Now I believe that the effort to throw any theory into mechanical form, to conceive a model which is a concrete representation of the truth, to arrive at that which underlies our mathematical equations wherever possible, is of immense value to every student. Such a course, Iam well aware, has its dangers. It may be thought that we ascribe to the reality all the properties of the model, that, in the case of the ether, we look upon it asa collection of gyrostatic molecules and springs, or of pulleys and indiarubber bands, instead of viewing it from the standpoint of Maxwell, who hoped, writing of his own model, “‘that by such mechanical fictions, anyone who understands the provisional and temporary character of his hypothesis will find himself helped rather than hindered in his search after the true interpretation of the phenomena.” Prof. Boltzmann, in his most interesting paper on ‘‘The Methods of Theoretical Physics” (Phil. Mag., July, 1893) has quoted these words, and has expressed far more ably than I can hope to do the idea I wish to convey. The elastic solid theory, then, has failed ; but are we therefore without any mechanical theory of light? Are we again reduced to merely writing down our equations, and calling some quantity which appears in them the amplitude of the light vibration, and the square of that quantity the intensity of the light? Or can we take a further step? Let us inquire what the properties of the ether must be which will lead us by strict reasoning to those equations which we know represent the laws of the propagation of light. These equations resemble in many respects those of an elastic solid; let us, then, for a moment identify the displacement in a light-wave with an actual displacement of a molecule of some medium having properties resembling that of asolid. Then this medium must have rigidity or quasi-rigidity in order that it may transmit transverse waves; at the same time it must be in- capable of transmitting normal waves, and this involves the supposition that the quantity A which appears in Green’s equa- tions must vanish or be infinite. To suppose it infinite is to recur to the incompressible solid theory ; we will assume, there- fore, that it is zero. Reflexion and refraction show us that the ether in a transparent medium such as glass differs in proper- ties from that in air. It may differ either (1) in density or effective density,! or (2) in rigidity or effective rigidity. The laws of double refraction, and the phenomena of the scattering of light by small particles, show us that the difference is, in the main, in density or effective density ; the rigidity of the ether does not greatly vary in different media. Dispersion, absorp- tion, and anomalous dispersion all tell us that in some cases energy is absorbed from the light vibrations by the matter through which they pass, or, to be more general, by some- thing very intimately connected with the matter. We do not know sufficient to say what that action must be ; we can, however, try the consequences of various hypotheses. 1 The equations of motion for a medium such as is supposed above can be written— z p x acceleration of ether + p’ x acceleration of matter == B x function of ether displacements, and their differential coefficients with respect to the co-ordinates + = B’ x similar function for matter displacements. The quantity p may be spoken of as the effective etherdensity, the quanti- ties B as the effective elasticity or rigidity. NO. 1246, VOL. 48] Guided by the analogy of the motion of a solid in a fluid assume that the action is proportional to the acceleration of ether particles relative to the matter, and, further, that 1 certain circumstances some of the en of the ether parti is transferred to the matter, thus setting them in vibratic such action be assumed, the actual density of the ethe be the same in all media, the mathematical expression f forces will lead to the same equations as those we obt supposing that there is a variation of density, and sin: is clearly reasonable to suppose that this action betwe matter and ether is, in a crystal a function of the direct: vibration, the apparent or effective density of the ether ii a body will depend on the direction of displacement. Now these hypotheses will conduct us by strict mather reasoning to laws for the propagation, reflexion and refracti double refraction and polarisation, dispersion, al tion, anomalous dispersion and aberration of light which ar complete accordance with the most accurate experiments. — The rotatory polarisation of quartz, sugar, and other stances points to a more complicated action between tl and matter than is contemplated above ; and, : other terms have to be introduced into the equations to: for these effects. It will be noted as a defect, and perha fatal one, that the connection between electricity and ligh not hinted at, but I hope to return to that point shortly. — Such a medium as I have described is afforded us by labile ether of Lord Kelvin. . It is an elastic solid or qi solid incapable of transmitting normal waves. The quant is zero, but Lord Kelvin has shown that the medium w still be stable provided its boundaries are fixed, or, which ¢ to the same thing, provided it extends to infinity. medium would collapse if it were not held fixed boundaries ; but if it be held fixed, and if then all pe any closed spherical surface in the medium receive normal displacement, so that the matter within the sar! compressed into a smaller volume, there will be no t either to aid or to prevent this compression, the med new state will stlll be in equilibrium, the stresses in any pe of it which remains unaltered in shape are ind nt volume, and are functions only of the rigidity and, im the forces which hold the boundary of the whole medi A soap film affords in two dimensions an illustration a medium; the tension at any point of the film does n¢ on the dimensions ; we may suppose the film altered in any way we please—so long us it remains continuous- changing the tension. Waves of displacement paral! surface of the film would not be transmitted. But in consequence of its tension, has an apparent rigidity f placements normal to its surface: it can transmit tra waves with a velocity which depends on the tension. labile ether is a medium which has, in three dil characteristics resembling those of the two-dimensional fil fundamental property is that the potential energy volume, in an isotropic body, so far as it arises from strain, is proportional to the square of the resultant t incompressible elastic ether this potential energy depen the shearing strain. Given such a. medium—and there | impossible in its conception—the main phenomena follow as a necessary consequence. We have a theory by the aid of which we can explain the p can go a few steps behind the symbols we use matical processes. Lord Kelvin, again, has shown’ a medium might be made up of molecules having rot such a way that it could not be distinguished from fluid in respect to any irrotational motion ; it wo resist rotational movements with a force propo twist, just the force required ; the medium has no but only a quasi-rigidity conferred on it by its rotati The actual periodic displacements of such a | constitute light. We may claim, then, with some have a mechanical theory of light. : ey. But nowadays the ether has other functions to perf there is another theory to consider, which at present h field. Maxwell’s equations of the electromagnetic practically identical with those of the quasi-labile symbols which occur can have an electromagnetic mean speak of permeability and inductive capacity instead of and density, and take as our variables the electric or displacements instead of the actual displacement rotation, Vu iy? a t Ne ‘4 ‘SEPTEMBER 14, 1893| NATURE 477 yt ill such a theory is not mechanical. Electric force acts on charged with electricity, and the ratio of the force to the can be measured in mechanical units. A fundamental ption in Maxwell’s theory is electric displacement, and ‘proportional to the electric force. Moreover, its con- nce measures the quantity of electricity present per unit +; but we have no certain mechanical conception of displacement or quantity of electricity, we have no ‘ory mechanical theory of the electromagnetic field. The edition of the ‘‘Electricity and Magnetism” appeared twenty years ago. In it Maxwell says: ‘‘ It must be carefully ‘borne in mind that we have made only one step in the theory of the action of the medium. We have supposed it. to be in a state of stress, but we have not in any way accounted for this ‘stress or explained how it is maintained, This step, however, q to me to be an important one, as it explains by the | on of consecutive par's of the medium phenomena which | were formerly supposed to be explicable only by direct action | ata distance. I have not been able to make the next step, | namely, to account by mechanical considerations for these stresses in the dielectric.” And these words are true still. - Bat, for all this, I think it may be useful to press the theory } of the quasi-labile ether as far as it will go, and endeavour to see what the consequences must be. - The analogy between the equations of the electromagnetic field and those of an elastic solid has been discussed by many \1 s. Ina most interesting paper on the theory of dimen- sions, read recently before the Physical Society, Mr. Williams has called attention to the fact that two only of these analogies have throughout a simple mechanical interpretation. These |two have been developed at some length by Mr. Heaviside in jhis paper in the Zvectrician for January 23, 1891. To one of them Lord Kelvin had previously called attention (‘‘ Collected |Papers,” vol. iii. p. 450.) : Sarting with a quasi-labile ether, then, we may suppose that , the magnetic permeability of the medium, is 4p, where pis the density, and that K, the inductive capacity, is 1/47B, B g the rigidity, or the quasi-rigidity conferred by the The kinetic energy of such a medium is 4p (@ + 7? + ¢°), here 4, ¢are the components of the displacement. Let us \dentify this with the electromagnet energy (a? + B? + y")8x, h, B, 7 being components of the magnetic force, so that = #,8=7,y=(¢. Then the components of the electric splacement, assuming them to be zero initially, are given by I a dy = (= — —}, &e, 3 f 40 i 4 2 jhe rotation in the medium. Denote this by Q. The potential energy due to the strain is 4 Bn’, or $162°BD)?, ind on substituting for B this becomes & 1 47g : 2 K> ‘ thich is Maxwell’s expression for the electrostatic energy of the Thus so far, but no farther, the analogy is complete ; the netic energy of the medium measures the magnetic energy, potential energy measures the electrostatic energy. The e Ise the ether, however, are not those given by Max- é ory. In the other form of the analogy we are to take the inductive ucity as 4p and the magnetic permeability as 1/47B. The y measures the electric force, and the rotation the netic force, so that electrostatic energy is kinetic, and netic energy potential. Such an arrangement is not so to grasp as the other. Optical experiments, however, ‘us that in all probability it is p, and not B, which varies, ile from our electrical measurements we know that K is riab! Lane # constant ; hence this is a reason for adopting the orm. either case we look upon the field as the seat of energy buted per unit of volume according to Maxwell’s law. ¢ total energy is obtained by integration throughout the dopted Mr, Heaviside’s rational system of units the 4m would No. 1246. vou. 48] jhat is, the electric displacement multiplied hy 47 is equal to - Now wecan transform this integral by Green’s theorem toa surface integral over the boundary, together with a volume in- tegral through the space ; and the form of these integrals shows us that we may look upon the effects, dealing for the present with electrostatics only, as due to the attractions and repulsions ofa certainimaginary matter distributed according to a definite la‘w over the boundary and throughout the space. To this im- aginary matter, then, in the ordinary theory we give the name of Electricity. Thus an electrified conducting sphere, according to these analogies, is not a body charged with a quantity of something we call electricity, but a surface at which there is a discontinu- ing in the rotation impressed upon the medium, or in the flow across the surface ; for in the conductor a viscous resistance to the motion takes the place of rigidity. No permanent strain can be set up. From this standpoint we consider electiical force as one of the manifestations of some action between ether and matter. There are certain means by which we can strain the ether: the friction of two dissimilar materials, the chemical action ina cell are two; and when, adopting the first analogy, this straining is of such a nature as to produce a rotational twist in the ether, the bodies round are said to be electrified; the energy of the system is that which would arise from. the presence over their surfaces of attracting and repelling matter, attracting or repel- ling according to the inverse squarelaw. We falsely assign this energy to such attractions instead of to the strains and stresses in the ether. Such a theory has many difficulties. It is far from being proved ; perhaps I have erred in trespassing on your time with itin tris crude form. The words of the French savant, quoted by Poincaré, will apply to it: ‘*I can understand all Maxwell except what he means by-a charged body.” It isnot, of course, the only hypothesis which might be formed to explain the facts, perhaps not even the most probable. For many points the vortex sponge theory is its superior. Still I feel confident that in time we shall come to see that the phenomena of the electro-mag- netic field may be represented by some such mechanism as has been outlined, and that confidence must be my excuse for having ventured to call your attention to the subject. SECTION B. CHEMISTRY, OPENING ADDRESS BY PRoF. EMERSON REYNOLDs, M.D., Sc.D., F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION, At the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association in 1866, Dr. H. Bence Jones addressed the Section over which I have now the honour to preside on the place of Chemical Science in Medical Education. Without dwelling on this topic to-day, it is anagreeable duty to acknowledge the foresight of my predecessor as to the direction of medical progress. Twenty- seven years ago the methods of inquiry and instruction in medicine were essentially based on the formal lines of the last generation. Dr. Bence Jones saw that modern methods of research in chemistry—and in the experimental sciences gener- ally—must profoundly influence medicine, and he urged the need of fuller training of medical students in those sciences. The anticipated influence is now operative as a powerful factor in the general progress of medicine and medical educa- tion ; but much remains to be desired in regard to the chemical portion of that education. In the later stages of it, undue im- portance is still attached to the knowledge of substances rather than of principles ; of products instead of the broad characters of the chemical changes in which they are formed. Without this higher class of instruction it is unreasonable to expect an intelligent perception of complex physiological and pathological processes which are chemical in character, or much real appre- ciation of modern pharmacological research. I have little doubt, however, that the need for this fuller chemical education will soon be so strongly felt that the necessary reform will come from within a profession which has given ample-proof in recent years of its zeal in the cause of scientific progress. In our own branch of science the work of the year has been substantial in character, if almost unmarked by discoveries of popular interest. We may rp place in the latter category the measure of success which the skill of Muissan has enabled him to attain in the artificial production of the diamond form of carbon, apparently in minute crystals similar to those recognised 478 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 by Koenig, Mallard, Daubrée, and by Friedel in the supposed meteorite of Cafion de Diablo in Arizona. Members of the Section will probably have the opportunity of examining some of these artificial diamonds through the courtesy of M. Moissan, who has also, at my request, been so good as to arrange for us a demonstration of the properties of the element fluorine, which he succeeded in isolating in 1887. Not less interesting or valuable are the studies of Dr. Perkins, on electro-magnetic rotation ; of Lord Rayleigh, on the relative densities of gases ; of Dewar, on chemical relations at ex- tremely low temperatures; of Clowes, on exact measure- ments of flame-cap indications afforded by miners’ testing lamps; of Horace Brown and Morris, on the chemistry and physiology of foliage leaves, by which they have been led ~ to the startling conclusion that cane-sugar is the first sugar produced during the assimilation of carbon, and that starch is formed at its expense as a more stable reserve material for subsequent use of the plant; or of Cross, Bevan, and, Beadle, on the interaction of alkali-cellulose and carbon bisulphide, in the course of which they have proved that a cellulose residue can act like an alcohol radical in the formation of thiocarbonates, and thus have added another to the authors’ valuable contributions to our knowledge of members of the complex group of celluloses. ; But it is now an idle task for a President of this Section to attempt a slight sketch of the works of chemical philosophers even during the short space of twelve months ; they are too numerous and generally too important to be lightly treated, hence we can but apply to them a paraphrase of the ancient formula—Are they not written in the books of the chronicles we term ‘‘Jahresberichte,” ‘* Annales,” or ‘Transactions and Abstracts,” according to our nationality ? I would, however, in this connection ask your consideration for a question relating to the utilisation of the vast stores of facts laid up—some might even say buried—in the records to which reference has just been made. The need exists, and almost daily becomes greater, for facile reference to this ac- cumulated wealth, and of such a kind that an investigator, commencing a line of inquiry with whose previous history he is not familiar, can be certain to learn a// the facts known on the subject up to a particular date, instead of having only the partial record to be found in even the best edited of the dictionaries now available. The best and mo-t obvious method of attaining this end is the publication of a subject-matter index of an ideally complete character. I am glad to know that the Chemical Society of London will probably provide us in the years to come with a compilation which will doubtless aim at a high standard of value as a work of reference to memoirs, and in some degree to their contents, so far as the existing indexes of the volumes of the Society’s Journal supply the information. Whether this subject-matter index is published or not, the time has certainly arrived for adopting the immediately useful course of publishing monographs, analogous to those now usual in Natural Science, which shall contain all the information gained up to a particular date in the branch of chemistry with which the author is specially familiar by reason of his own work in the subject. Such monographs should include much more than any mere compilation, and would form the best material from which a complete subject-matter index might ultimately be evolved. My attention was forcibly drawn to the need of such special records by noting the comparatively numerous cases of re-dis- covery and imperfect identification of derivatives of thiourea. In my laboratory, where this substance was isolated, we naturally follow with interest all work connected with it, and therefore readily detect lapses of the kind just mentioned. But when it is remembered that the distinct derivatives of thiourea now known number considerably over six hundred substances, and that their descriptions are scattered through numerous British and foreign journals, considerable excuse can be found for workers overlooking former results. The difficulty which exists in this one small department of the science I hope shortly to remove, and trust that others may be induced to pro- vide similar works of reference to the particular branches of chemistry with which they are personally most familiar. When we consider the drift of investigation in recent years, it is easy to recognise a distinct reaction from extreme specialisa- tion in the prominence now given to general physico-chemical problems, and to those broad questions concerning the relations of the elements which I would venture to group under the head of ‘Comparative Chemistry.” Together these lines of inquiry j referred, permit me to occupy the rest of the time a NO. 1246, VOL. 48] afford promise of definite information about the real natu the seventy or more entities we term “elements,” and al the mechanism of that mysterious yet definite change in which we call ‘‘ chemical action,” Now and again one or class of investigation enables us to get some glimpse beyo known which stimulates the imaginative faculty. For example, a curious side-light seems to be thrown nature of the elements by the chemico-physical 4d the connection existing between the constitution of certa’ ganic compounds and the colours they exhibit. Wi d tempting to intervene in the interesting controversy Armstrong and Hartly are engaged as to the nature of connection, we may take it as an established fact that a exists between the power which a dissolved chemical comp possesses of producing the colour impression within our ¢ paratively small visual range, and the particular mode of g ing of its constituent radicals in its molecule. Further, reality of this connection will be most freely admitted class of aromatic compounds ; that is, in derivatives of ben whose constituents are so closely linked together as to quasi-elemental persistence. If then, the possession of wh call colour by a compound be connected with its constitu may we not infer that ‘‘elements” which exhibit colour, such as gold and copper, in thin layers and in soluble compounds, are at least complexes analogous to defi decomposable substances? This inference, while legitima it stands, would obviously acquire strength if we coul that anything like isomerism exists among the eleme! identity of atomic weight of any two beeps | dis ments must, by all analogy with compounds, imply di in constitution, and, therefore, definite structure, indep ofany argument derived from colour. Now, nickel are perfectly distinct elements, as we all know, but, existing evidence goes, the observed differences in their weights (nickel 58°6, cobalt 58°7) are so small as to b the range of the experimental errors to which the determ were liable, Here, then, we seem to have the required of something like isomerism among elements, and co: some evidence that these substances are complexes of orders ; but in the cases of cobalt and nickel we also k: in transparent solutions of their salts, if not in thin lz metals themselves, they exhibit strong and distinct co! compare the beautiful rosy tint of cobalt sulphate with t liant green of the corresponding salt of nickel, Ther exhibiting characteristically different colours, these afford us some further evidence of structural differenc the matter of which they consist, and support the conc which their apparent identity in atomic weight woul By means of such side-lights we may gradually acq idea of the nature of the elements, even if we are una any clue to their origin other than such as may be fe Crookes’ interesting speculations. Again, while our knowledge of the genesis of elements is as small as astronomers possess of the heavenly bodies, much suggestive work has rec accomplished in the attempt to apply the principle of r which simply explains the relative motions of the pl account for the interactions of the molecules of the « The first step in this direction was suggested by Mende Royal Institution lecture (May 31, 1889) wherein he to apply Newton’s third law of motion to chemical regarded as systems of atoms analagous to double Rev. Dr. Haughton has followed up this idea | known mathematical skill, and, in a series of pap lished, has shown that the three Newtonian laws to explain the interactions of chemical iolecu difference, that whereas the specific coefficient same for all bodies, independent of the pa matter of which they are composed, the atoms hi coefficients of attraction which vary with t the atoms concerned.” The laws of gravitation, proviso, were found to apply to all the definite ca and it was shown that a chemical change of ¢ equivalent to a planetary catastrophe. So far the hypothesis of ‘* Newtonian Chemistry” has led which are not at variance with the facts of the scien gives promise of help in obtaining a solution of the gree of the nature of chemical action. é a Passing from considerations of the kind to which I fi by EPTEMBER 14, 13893] NATURE 479 with a short account ofa line of study in what I have dy termed ‘‘ comparative chemistry,” which is not only of ent interest, but seems to give us the means of filling in details of a hitherto rather neglected chapter in the early | nical history of this earth. | The most remarkable outcome of “‘ comparative chemistry ” is _ the periodic law of the elements, which asserts that the properties } © elements are connected in the form of a periodic function with the masses of their atoms. Concurrently with the recognition of this principle, other investigations have been in ] ie aiming at more exact definitions of the characters of | relations of the elements, and ultimately of their respective ) Offices in nature. Among inquiries of this kind the comparative j study of the elements carbon and silicon appears to me to the highest interest. Carbon, whether combined with h drogen, oxygen, or nitrogen, or with all three, is the great 4 element of organic nature, while silicon, in union with oxygen and various metals, not only forms about one-third of the solid crust of the earth, but is unquestionably the most important ele- } ment of inorganic nature. The chief functions of carbon are those which are pe*formed at comparatively low temperatures ; hence carbon is essentially the element of the present epoch. On the other hand, the activities of silicon are most marked at very high temperatures ; hence it is the element whose chief work in nature was performed in the distant past, when the temperature of this earth was far beyond that at which the carbon compounds of organic life could exist. Yet between | these dominant elements of widely different epochs remarkably close analogies are traceable, and the characteristic differences | observed in their relations with other elements are just those which enable each to play its part effectively un ler the con- ditions which promote its greatest activity. The chemical analogies of the two tetrad elements carbon and silicon are most easily recognised in compounds which either do | not contain oxygen, or which are oxygen compounds of a very | simple order, and the following table will recall a few of the | most important of these, as well as some which have resulted from the fine researches of Friedel, Cra‘ts, and Ladenburg :— Some Silicon Analogues of Carbon Compounds. Sift ie Hydrides CH, OU er ty ; = JOGh > ea “| Chlorides { sje Ogle SiO, Ps «. Oxides ae so Oe ag; «+ Meta Acids HCO, SiHO, |. <. Formic Acids.) HOHO, SiHO),O ... Formic Anhydrides (CHO),O? Gli ress Oxalic Acids «- HyC,O4 HSi(CH,)O Acetic Acids HC(CH,)O, HSi(CjH,)0, <) Benzoic Acids.) HC(G,H)O, SiC,H,,H ... ... Nonyl Hydrides C,H,,H SiC,H,,OH + Nonyl Alcohols... CyH,,OH But these silicon analogues of carbon compounds are, generally, very different from the latter in reactive power, especially in presence of oxygen and water. For example, hydride of silicon, even when pure, is very easily decomposed, nd, if slightly warmed, is spontaneously inflammable in air; whereas the analogous marsh gas does not take fire in air jbelow a redheat. Again, the chlorides of silicon are rapidly jttacked by water affording silicon hydroxides and hydrochloric jacid ; but the analogous carbon chlorides are little affected by { even at comparatively high temperatures, Similarly, chloroform and water quickly produce silico-formic acid jand anhydride along with hydrochloric acid, while ordinary |chloroform can be kept in contact with water for a considerable time without material change. Until recently no well-defined compounds of silicon were including nitrogen ; but we are now acquainted with a number of significant substances of this class. Chemists have long been familiar with the fact that a violent tion takes place when silicon chloride and ammonia are allowed to interact. Persoz, in 1830, assumed that the resulting wder was an addition compound, and assigned to | formula SiCl,, 6 NHy, while Besson, as lately as 1892, 1. we SiCl,, 5 NH. These formulz only express the proportions in which ammonia reacts with the chloride under different ions and give us no information as to the real nature f the product; hence they are alnost useless. Other fhemists have, however, carefully examined the product NO. 1246 VOL. 48] of this reaction, but owing to peculiar difficulties in the way have not obtained results of a very conclusive kind, It is known that the product when strongly heated in a current of ammonia gas affords ammonium chloride, which volatilises, and a residue, to which Schutzenberger and Colson have as- signed the formula Si,N,H. This body they regard as a definite hydride of Si,N3, which latter they produced by acting on silicon at a white heat with pure nitrogen. Gattermann suggests that a nearer approach to the silicon analogue of cyanogen, Si,N», should be obtained from the product of the action of ammonia on silicon-chloroform ; but it does not appear that this suggestion has yet borne fruit. It was scarcely probable that the above-mentioned rather indefinite compounds of silicon with nitrogen were the only ones of the class obtainable, since bodies including carbon combined with nitrogen are not only numerous but areamong the most important carbon compounds known. Further investigation was therefore necessary in the interests of comparative chemistry, and for special reasons which will appear later on ; but it was evident that a new point of attack must be found. A preliminary experimental survey proved the possibility of forming numerous compounds of silicon containing nitrogen, and enabled me to select those which seemed most likely to afford definite information. For much of this kind of work silicon chloride was rather too energetic, hence I had a con- siderable quantity of the more manageable silicon tetrabromide prepared by Serullas’ method, viz. by passing the vapour of crude bromine (containing a little chlorine) over a strongly heated mixture of silica and charcoal. In purifying this pro- duct I obtained incidentally the chloro-bromide of silicon, SiCIB-;, which was required in order to complete the series of possible chlorobromides of silicon.? Silicon bromide was found to produce addition compounds very readily with many fee sly basic substances containing nitro- gen. But one group of bromides of this class has yet been investigated in detail, namely, the products afforded by thioureas. The typical member of this group is the perfectly definite but uncrystalline substance : : (CSN,H*)Br SiBrs} (CSN;H,),Br Substituted thioureas afford similar bodies, the most interest- ing of which is the allyl compound. This is a singularly viscid liquid, which requires severai days at ordinary temperatures to regain its level, when a tube containing it is inverted. But these are essentially addition compounds, and are therefore com- paratively unimportant. In most cases, however, the silicon haloids enter into very definite reaction with nitrogen compounds, especially when the latter are distinctly basic, such as aniline or any of its homo- logues. One of the principal products of this class of change is the beautiful typical substance on the table, which is the first well-defined crystalline compound obtained in which silicon is exclusively combined with nitrogen. Its composition is Si(NHC,H,),.2_ Analogous compounds have been formed with the toluidines, naphthylamines, &c., and have been examined in considerable detail, but it suffices to mention them and proceed to point out the nature of the changes we can effect by the action of heat on the comparatively simple anilide. When silicon anilide is heated carefully zz vacuo it loses one molecule of aniline very easily and leaves triphenyl-guanidine, probably the a modification ; if the action of heat be continued, but at ordinary pressure and in a current of dry hydrogen, another molecule of aniline can be expelled, and, just before the last trace of the latter is removed, the previously liquid substance solidifies and affords a silicon analogue of the insoluble modification of carbodiphenyldiimide, which may then be heated moderately without undergoing further material change. A comparison of the formulz will make the relations of the products clear :— Silicotetraphenylamide—Si(NHPh), Silicotriphenylguanidine—Si : NPh. (NHPh), Silicodiphenyldiimide—Si : (NPh),. Moreover, the diimide has been heated to full redness in a gas combustion furnace while dry hydrogen was still passed over it ; even under these conditions little charring occurred, but some 1 Three years later Besson formed the same d, and d ibed it as new. 2 Harden has obtained an uncrystalline intermediate compound, SiClo‘ NHCgH5)2. 480 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 : nitrogen and a phenyl radical were eliminated, and the puri- fied residue was found to approximate in composition to SiN Ph, which would represent the body as phenylsilicocyanide or a polymer of it. Even careful heating of the diimide in ammonia gas has not enabled me to remove all the phenyl from the compound, but rather to retain nitrogen, as the best residue obtained from such treatment consisted of Si,N;Ph, or the phenylic derivative of one of the substances produced by Schut- zenberger and Colson from the ammonia reaction. It may be that both these substances are compounds of silicocyanogen with an imide group of the kind below indicated— SiN SiN. SNH: NPA SiN SiN Further investigation must decide whether this is a real re- lationship ; if it be, we should be able to remove the imidic group and obtain silicocyanogen in the free state. | One other point only need be noticed, namely, that when the above silicon compounds are heated in oxygen they are slowly converted into SiO, ; but the last traces of nitrogen are removed with great difficulty, unless water-vapour' is present, when ammonia and silica are quickly formed. Much remains to be done in this department of comparative chemistry, but we may fairly claim to have established the fact that silicon, like carbon, can be made to form perfectly well- defined compounds in which it is exclusively united with the triad nitrogen of amidic and imidic groups. Now, having proved the capacity of silicon for the formation of compounds of this order with a triad element, Nature very distinctively lets us understand that nitrogen is not the particular element which is best adapted to place the triad 7d/e towards silicon in its high-temperature changes, which are ultimately dominated by oxygen. We are not acquainted with any natural compounds which include silicon and nitrogen; but large numbers of the most important minerals contain the pseudo- triad element aluminum combined with silicon, and few include any other triad. Phosphorus follows silicon in the periodic system of the elements as nitrogen does carbon, but silicates containing more than traces of phosphorus are rare; on the other hand, silicates are not uncommon containing boron, the lower homologue of aluminum ; for example, axinite, datholite, and tourmaline, Moreover, it is well known that silicon dissolves freely in molten aluminum, though much more of the former separates on cooling. Winkler has analysed the gangue of aluminum saturated with silicon, and found that its composition is ap- proximately represented by the formula SiAlI, or, perhaps, Si,Al,, if we are to regard this as analogous to C,N, or cyanogen. Here aluminum at least resembles nitrogen in directly forming a compound with silicon at moderately high temperature. It would appear, then, that while silicon can combine with both the triads nitrogen and aluminum, the marked positive characters of the latter, and its extremely low volatility, suit it best for the production of permanent silicon compounds similar to those which nitrogen can afford. With these facts in mind we may carry our thoughts back to that period in the earth’s history when our planet was at a higher temperature than the dissociation point of oxygen compounds, Under such conditions the least volatile elements were probably liquids, while silicides and carbides of various metals were formed in the fluid globe. We can imagine that the attraction of aluminum for the large excess of silicon would assert itself, and that, as the temperature fell below the point at which oxidation become possible, these silicides and carbides under- went some degree of oxidation, the carbides suffering most owing to the volatility of the oxides of carbon, while the fixity of the products of oxidation of silicides rendered the latter pro- cess a more gradual one. The oxidation of silicides of metals which had little attraction for silicon would lead to the forma- tion of simple metallic silicates and to the separation of the large quantities of free silica we meet with in the solid crust of the earth, whereas oxidation of silicides of aluminum would not break up the union of the two elements, but rather cause the ultimate formation of the alumino-silicates which are so abundant in most of our rocks. : Viewed in the light of the facts already cited and the infer- ences we have drawn from them as to the nitrogen-like relation- ship of aluminum to silicon, 1 am disposed to regard the natural alumino-silicates as preducts of final oxidation of sometime NO 1246, vou. 48] active silico-aluminum analogues of carbo-nitrogen compount rather than ordinary double salts. It is generally t ken . granted that they are double salts, but recent work — chromoxalates by E. A. Werner has shown that this view i necessarily true of all such substances. Without going into undue detail we can even form some ception of the general course of change from si : silicide to an alumino-silicate, if we allow the anale traced to lead us further. is ae We recognise the existence of silico-formyl in Friedel a Ladenburg’s silico-formic anhydride ; hence silico-triformami is a compound whose probable formation we can admit, the basis of our aluminum-nitrogen analogy, an alur representative also. Thus— * foor On SiOH pon N—COH : N—SiOH : Al—SiOH : Al—SiO,R \con sion sion SiO Triformamide. — Silico-trifor- _ Silico-alumino- Salt of an id trifor id silicic Now, oxidation of triformamide would lead to co resolution into nitrogen gas, carbondioxide gas and water dering it an extremely unstable body ; under similar condit silico-triformamide would probably afford nitrogen gas ¢ silicic acid (or silicon dioxide and water) ; while the third co pound,* instead of as, up, would (owing to the fixity aluminum as compared with nitrogen) be likely at first 10 aff a salt of an alumino-silicic acid, in presence of much b material, ai The frequent recurrence of the ratios SigA1,Si,AJ,, &c., in formulz of natural alumino-silicates, suggests that some at I¢ of these minerals are derived from oxidation products of above triformic type. Without stopping to trace all sible stages in the oxidation of the primary con Al(SiO,R)3, or variations in basicity of the products, I m the four following examples out of many others which m given of resulting representative mineral groups:— SiO, Si0,R’ Si0,R’, SiO4R’, AI—SiO,R’ : AI—SiO,R’, : AICSiO,R” : Al—SiOg NSi0,R’ SiO,R" SiO,R” Si Beryl type (hemi-). Garnet type. Muscovite type. Xenolite Five years ago Prof. F. W. Clarke, of the United $ Geological Survey, published a most interesting paper « structure of the natural silicates. In this he adopts th that the mineral xenolite, Si;A1,Oj9, is the primary fi all other alumino-silicates may be supposed to arise by substitutions. Nature, however, seems to teach us that minerals as xenolite, fibrolite, and the related group of “ are rather to be regarded as end-products of a series lytic changes of less aluminous silicates than primary su themselves ; hence the sketch which I have ventured to above of the probable genesis of alumino-silicates seems t vide a less wt ra basis for Claike’s interesting work, materially disturbing the general drift of his su reasoning. aed We may now consider for a moment in what directio dence can be sought for the existence in nature of deri of the hypothetical intermediate products of oxidation a primary silicide and its fully oxidised silicate. In the absence of a working hypothesis of the kind w have already suggested it is not probable that di would yet be obtainable—this must be work for the fut when we consider that the existence of compounds of in question would manifest themselves in ordi analyses by the analytical products exceeding the origi of material, we seem to find some evidence on recorded cases of the kind. A deficiency ofa oxygen in compounds having the high molecula: those in question, would be indicated by very s (from 2 to 3 per cent.) whose real meaning might overlooked. Now, such results are not at all analyses of mineral alumino-silicates. For instance, - containing a mere trace of iron have afforded 102°75 p 100, and almost all analyses of AMicrosommite are highs much as 103 parts. In less degree Vesuvianite and mé 1Jn these cases where R’” = Al it is, of course, assumed that ¢ acting only asa basic radical. , NATURE 481 alusite group may be noted. All these cases may be > of some other explanations, but I cite them to show tsuch excesses are commonly met with in published analyses. ue other hand, it is scarcely to be doubted that a good st, who obtained a really significant excess, would throw a result aside as erroneous and never publish it. I there- fore plead for much greater care in analyses of the kind in ques- on, and closer scrutiny of results in the light of the suggestions we ventured to offer. It is probable that silicates contain- only partially oxidised aluminum are rare ; nevertheless the } search for them would introduce a new element of interest into mineralogical inquiries, i _ Ifthe general considerations I have now endeavoured to lay before you are allowed their full weight, some of the alumino- | silicates of our primary rocks reveal to us more than we hitherto | supposed. Regarded from this newer standpoint, they are | teleoxidised representatives of substances which foreshadowed in terms of silicon, aluminum, and oxygen the compounds of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen required at a later stage of the { earth’s history for living organisms. Thus, while the sedimen- | tary strata contain remains which come down to us from the very | dawn of life on this globe, the rocks from whose partial dis- | integration the preserving strata resulted contain mineral records bich carry us still further back, even to Nature’s earliest | efforts in building up compounds similar to those suited for the purposes of organic development. NOTES. _ Pror, MAX MULLER hasattained the jubilee of his Doctorate, | having taken his degree in 1843, and in honour of the occasion jthe University of Leipzig has conferred a new diploma upon | him. | Mr. Bext, of Carlton Street, Nottingham, has brought out, }at an opportune moment, ‘‘ A Contribution to the Geology and | Natural History of Nottinghamshire.” The little volume is edited by Mr. J. W. Carr, who in his preface records his in- debtedness to various friends—specialists in certain depart- ments—who wrote for him some portions of the book. The |book was compilel at the request of the Local Excursions’ | Committee of the British Association, for the use of members jattending the Nottingham meeting. We have no doubt that | many such will avail themselves of the handy little guide-book, hich has been prepared for their special benefit. THERE scems to be no doubt that the latest report of the jdeath of Emin Pasha is to be relied upon. Mr. A. J. Swann, J of Ujiji, from whom the report comes, declares that jn his opinion it is as conclusive as anything can be in Africa. And now within a week of the tidings of Emin’s death the sudden jdecease is announced of another African traveller—Surgeon- Major Parke—one of the most widely-known of the members jof the Emin Relief Expedition. He died suddenly on the night jof Sunday last, while on a visit to the seat of the Duke of St. | Albans at Alt-na-Craig. } f : ; | Tae death is announced, at the age of sixty-one, of Dr. }Alexander Strauch, the Director of the Zoological Museum of }St. Petersburg. Dr. Strauch was an authority on reptiles, and the author of several zoological works. } THE death is reported of Mr. T. W. Kennard, C.E., jounder of the Monmouthshire Crumlin Works, designer and onstructor of the Crumlin Viaduct, and engineer-in-chief of he Atlantic and Great Western Railway, United States. He |died at the age of 68. We have to record the death of a well-known inventor and \civil engineer of New York, in the person of Mr. Joseph Battin. i He was in his 87th year. | Ow and after November 1 next, the railway time throughout jthe kingdom of Italy will, according to a recent Act of the NO. 1246, VOL. 48] Legislature, be regulated by the mean solar time of the 15th meridian east of Greenwich, this being the so-called Middle European time. The hours will be reckoned from midnight to midnight. The new time will be 11 minutes in advance of the mean solar time of Rome. It is expected that the other ser- vices and the Italian public generally will soon follow the example set by the railway stations. M. D'ARSONVAL, in Electricité for August 24, describes some experiments which he has made on the effects of strong, alternating magnetic fields on animals, his results apparently being somewhat contradictory to those recently obtained in the Edison Laboratory. M. D’Arsonval’s experiments were per- formed by means of coils wound ron cylinders of cardboard, glass or wood, large enough to accommodate a man inside them when required. The solenoid thus formed constituted the path for the discharge of a condenser of two to twelve Leyden jars, arranged in two batteries with proper precautions for rendering the discharge oscillatory. The jars were charged periodically by a transformer, giving a current at about 15,000 volts, with a frequency of sixty per second. A lamp held with one terminal in each hand of a man standing within the solenoid, may then be raised by the induced currents to bright incande- scence, while M. D’Arsonval asserts that considerable physio- logical effects are also produced. The method used to deter- mination the strength of these alternating magnetic fields is very ingenious; it consists simply in inserting a mercurial thermometer in the field, and, noting the rise of temperature produced by the Foucault currents in the mercury. A con- siderable rise is very quickly produced in the strongest fields, while for weaker fields a petroleum thermometer is employed, or an air thermometer the bulb of which contains a small copper tube. Dr. W. S. HEDLEY, in an article in the Zancet, comments on M. D’Arsonval’s work, and mentions some experiments of his own which seem to support the hypothesis that the harm- lessness of high frequency alternating currents may be explained by the fact that in these cases there is ‘‘ virtually no current strength”; ¢g, a current of two amperes at 200 volts, if transformed up to 100,000 volts, cannot exceed in strength 0'004 ampere. Another factor concerned in the effect is the ‘‘concentration” of the current. Passing a current of high frequency and capable of keeping a 5-candle lamp glowing, through the body by means of copper cylinders held in the hands, produced no appreciable effect beyond a sligit warming under the electrodes ; using a half-crown as electrode on the forearm, the same negative result follows ; with a shilling, there is a slight pricking effect, which becomes quite painful with a threepenny-piece substituted for the shilling, thus indicating that other factors have to be considered, as well as more frequency, in the discussion of the ‘‘harmlessness” of alter- nating currents. THE issue in a compact form of the interesting series of articles on ‘* Sewage Purification in America,” by M. N. Baker, which appeared in the Engineering News of New York last year, furnishes an ‘important addition to our information on this complicated subject. The treatment of the sewage of thirty municipalities in the United States and Canada is given in detail, and the description further elucidated by no less than seventy-seven illustrations, including elaborate plans showing the various arranzement of purification, plant, &c. The little pamphlet of 195 pages is well printed and is provided with a copious index. That America has recently devoted much attention to the vexed question of the purification of sewage will be remembered by all who have had occasion to consult the admirable experim2ntal work on the chemical and bacterio- ’ 482 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 | logical aspects of this subject, conducted at the instigation and : under the superintendence of the Massachusetts State Board of Health. ‘*CHEMICAL and Micro-Mineralogical Researches on the Upper Cretaceous Zones of the South of England ” is the title of the thesis sent in by Dr. W. F. Hume for the recent D.Sc. examination at London University. This paper gives a large amount of information on the subject ; the zones described being those established by Dr. C. Barrois. The notes refer chiefly to the chalk of the Isle of Wight and Dorsetshire, but they in- clude numerous references to the chalk of other areas, especially to that of Folkestone, The author’s researches incline him to the belief that most of the chalk was deposited in fairly deep water; thus differing from M. Cayeux, whose work in the north of France led him to infer a shallow water origin for the chalk of that area. The insoluble residue decreases in quantity as we ascend in the series, and is generally greater in the Isle of Wight than at Folkestone ; the excess being especially apparent in the Cenomanian zones, Allthe Upper Cenomanian beds have undergone secondary silicification. THE Geological Survey of France has now published rather more than one-half of the country on the scale of 1 : 80,o00— 138 streets out of a total of 259. An excellent general map on the scale of I : 1,000,000 was issued in 1889. The first street (No. 13) of the map of the scale of 1: 320,000 hasgust been published. This map, which is a reduction of sixteen streets on the larger scale, has Paris nearly in the centre, and includes Hon- fleur and Liseaux on the west, Chateaudun and Sens on the south, Nogent and Dormans on the east, Rouen and Beauvais onthe north, The tertiary and secondary rocks are well repre- sented within this area, the Silurian, Ordovieian, Cambrian and pre-Cambrian occupying a small space in the south-west near Mamers. The clay with flints is shown by shading over the chalk. The freshwater and estuarine strata are indicated by shading over the colour denoting the geological formations. Nnmerous notes on economic geology are printed below the map. AN interesting study of the compounds of phosphorus and sulphur, by Herr Helff, is published in the current number of the Zeitschrift fiir phystkalische Chemie. Witherto seven sul- phides of phosphorus have been described. Observations on vapour-density, and on the boiling-point of solutions in carbon bisulphide indicate, however, that four of these only are true chemical compounds, viz. P4S3, P,S,, P3S,, and P,S;. On heating two atomic proportions of phosphorus with three of sul- phur, instead of P,S, being formed it appears that the main product is P,S,, a little P,S, being also obtained. The sub_ stances previously taken to be P4S and P,S, are merely solu- tions of sulphur in phosphorus. Incidentally the author con- firms the results already arrived at by Beckmann, that when in solution in carbon bisulphide, sulphur has the molecular for- mula S, and phosphorus the formula P, ; he also shows that phosphorus and sulphur when dissolved in carbon bisulphide do not unite even on heating to the ordinary boiling-point. It is also noteworthy that the freezing-points of solutions of sulphur in phosphorus favour the view that here the molecular com- plexity of sulphur is the same as when it is dissolved in carbon bisulphide. THE eighth meeting of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography is to be held during the present month at Buda Pesth, and several international committees have, we understand, been formed with a view to carrying out the deci- sions of the London Congress, A separate section for tropical countries has been organised, and will meet under the presidency of Dr, Theodor Duka, NO. 1246, VOL. 48] -report deals with 136 species, eighteen of which are ne THE sixteenth annual meeting of the Library Association y held at Aberdeen on September 4 and 5. In his inaugural : dress, Dr. Garnett, Keeper of the Printed Books in the B Museum, dwelt upon the cataloguing of books. He said catalogue should not merely enable the reader to find a with the least possible delay, but also present an epi the life-work of every author, and assist the literary hi in his researches. Of the papers read, one by Prof. T on *‘The Classification of Books in the Natural Sciences,” of especial scientific interest. SEVERAL very interesting lectures will shortly be deliv the evening meetings of the Camera Club. On Septem Prof. J. Milne, F.R.S., who is on a short visit from Japan, discourse upon “ The Earthquakes of Japan” ; Mr. Lami Howie will give a lecture, entitled ‘‘ The Scottish Al September 28; and the October and November progra will include a paper by Prof. Marshall Ward, F.R.S. THE Journal of the College of Science, Imperial Univer: Japan, vol. vi. part 2, is devoted to a paper by Mr. 1 Matsuda on ‘‘The Anatomy of Magnoliacee.” The au splits up Magnoliacee into the four following groups : (1) 7 identical with Magnoliee, (2) those identical with Schzzana (3) Zrochodendron and the genera of Jiliciee, (4) Eupt Cercidiphyllum. : A REVISED report on the ‘* Copepoda of Liverpool by Mr. Isaac C. Thompson, has been published in the “ actions of the Liverpool Biological Society, vol. vii. district over which the collection was made, and el considered to be entirely new species. Twenty pla included, containing a number of outline sketches fo tating identification. Tue Anthropological Institute has issued an ind publications. The index includes communications in the journal and transactions of the Ethnological Soci 1843 to 1871; those in the journal and memoirs of thropological Society (1863-71), and also those that appeared in the Anthropological Review. In 1871 th. logical and Anthropological Societies united to form thropological Institute, and since then all papers have in the Institute’s journal. The first twenty volumes jourtial are included in the index. Cosmos contains an article by M. C. Maze, from wh appears that droughts such as we have experienced tl is follow a cycle of forty-two years, Since, however, the ations discussed have not been obtained from one there is no clear definition as to what constitutes a dry the theory can hardly be said to be above suspicion. Messrs. TAYLOR AND FRANCIS will shortly publish a by Griffith Brewer and Patrick Y. Alexander, on ‘ A being an abridgement of aéronautical specifications filed Patent Office between 1851 and 1891. : Messrs. G. P. Purman’s Sons have published for D Sodré, the Governor of Pard, Brazil, a work on ‘* Th Para.” The work is in five parts, by different co: dealing respectively with the history of Para, physical public instruction, revenues and commerce, and ind: THE Journal of the Franklin Institute for Septembe among other things the continuation of Nikola Tesla “On Sight and other High Frequency Phenomena,” ‘ conclusion of the lecture, by Dr. Richards, on ‘‘ The Heats of the Metals.” o SEPTEMBER 14, 1893] NATURE 483 ‘Tue Calendar of the University College, Bristol, for th® “session 1893-94 has just been issued through Mr. Arrowsmith, of Bristol. ‘Pror. Kincu, of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, just issued a report of some of his field experiments for 1892 and 1893. _ Mr. W. F. STANLEY, of Great Turnstile, Holborn, has sent us the new edition of his catalogue of mathematical instru- ments made and sold by him. It is excellently printed upon good paper, and is very admirably classified. Tue U.S, Department of Agriculture, division of Entomology, has lately brought out Vol. v., No. 5, of ‘‘ Insect Life.” WE are informed by a correspondent that the Rev.L, Blome- field, whose death we recorded in last week’s NATURE, was in his ninety-fourth year, and not, as stated by us, in his ninety- first. FURTHER information concerning hydrazine, N.H,, and its compounds is contained in an inaugural dissertation by one of Prof, Curtius’s assistants at Kiel, Herr. Franz Schrader, and a brief account of it will be found in the current, Chemiker Zeitung. A considerable time has now elapsed since the first preparation of hydrazine, which was announced by Prof. Curtius in June, 1887, and it is almost three years since full details were pub- lis hed concerning the isolation of the pure hydrate, a liquid of the composition N,H,H,O which boils at 119°. It was then stated (vide NATURE, vol. 43, p. 205) that in closed vessels this hydrate may be preserved unaltered for any length of time. The experience of the last three years, however, necessitates a modification of that statement, and Herr Schrader now informs us that the liquid stored in sealed tubes decomposes sooner or later, the principal product of decomposition being ammonium hydrate. No gas appears to be generated during the process, so that tubes containing it do not become dangerous from accumu- lation of pressure. The reactions between the hydrate and a large number of metallic oxides are described, in which the strong reducing proclivities of hydrazine are very markedly ex- hibited, the reaction being frequently of an explosive character. Herr Schrader further describesa series of double sulphates con- taining hydrazine sulphate and the sulphate of a metal. Their general formula is R’SO,. (N,H,) gH,SO, where R” may re- present copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, zinc and cad- mium, These double sulphates, which contain no water of crystallisation, and are further distinguished from the double sulphates containing ammonium by their difficult solubility, are readily prepared by the admixture of solutions of the con- stituent simple sulphates. The constitution of the salts is probably expressed by the formula, so, NH,—NH,—O 0 RC O * so NH,—NH,—0” ° Considerable difficulty was found in preparing double chlorides of fixed composition containing hydrazine-chloride. Good Crystals of very soluble double chlorides are easily obtained, but so many appear capable of existence that the conditions for the formation of salts of definite constitution have not yet been ascer- tained. Two entirely new compounds of hydrazine are described by Herr Schrader. By saturating hydrazine hydrate with sulpho- eyanic acid, or by decomposing hydrazine sulphate with barium sulphocyanate, hydrazine sulphocyanate, N,H,.HSCN, is ‘NO, 1246, VOL. 48] obtained as a deliquescent solid substance which melts a 80°. When this hydrazine sulpho cyanate is heated, or when molecular proportions of hydrazine dichloride N,H, HCI and ammoniumsulpho cyanate in aqueous solution are heated for four or five hours in a sealed tube to 100°, a second new sub- stance of urea-like constitution, is formed. This second substance, hydrazine sulphocarbamide crystallises well from solution in hot water and melts at 214—215°. Its properties are somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as it appears to possess fairly strong acid properties, its solution yielding very characteristic precipitates with solutions of most metallic salts. The dissertation of Herr Schrader likewise re- views most of the work which has been carried out in the Kiel laboratories in connection with hydrazine, and adds many little details of importance in the practical manipulation of the sub- stance and its compounds. Notes from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Actinian Zoanthus Couchii and the Archiannelid éstriobdella Homart. In the floating fauna Noctiluca, Obelia meduse, Cirrhipede Naugliz and Caridid larvz were plentiful ; Sagitta, Oikopleura and the tubicolous larve of Terebella were fairly numerous. Specimens were also taken of the Leptomeduse Willia stellata and Eucopium quadratum, of young stages of Geryonia, of Doliolum Tritonis and Ascidian larvee, and of the larve of the Gephyrean Zha/assema. The Nemertine Amphiporus pulcher and the Mollusc Goniodoris castanea are now breeding. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus fulig- inosus, 2) from West Africa, presented by Miss Grimston ; two Brazilian Cariamas (Cariama cristata) from Brazil, presented by Mr. Lindsay C. Scott ; a Melodious Jay Thrush (Leucodi- optron canorum) from China, presented by Mr. B. H. Jones, F.Z.S.; a Wall Lizard (Lacerta muralis var. taliguerta) from Triest, presented by Mr. A. W. Arrowsmith ; a Chilian Teal (Querquedula creccoides) from Antarctic America, a Little Tern (Sterna hirundo) from Brit. Isles, an Axis Deer (Cervus axis, $) from India, and a St. Thomas’s Conure (Conurus pertinax) from West Indies, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Mr. TEBBUTT’s OBSERVATORY.—We have.-received from Mr, Tebbutt the report of the work that has been done during the year 1892 at his observatory. In addition to meridian observations a great many extra-meridian observations were made, among which we may name the following :—Forty-five phases of occultations of stars by the moon, several observa- tions of the phenomena of Jupiter’s satellites, twenty good com- parisons of the planet Mars, when in conjunction with Iota Aquarii, with that star, by means of the filar micrometer on the 8-inch equatorial, numerous observations of the comets visible in that year, about fifteen double-star measures and the varia- ble star observations, including a few comparisons of » Argus and R, Carinz with neighbouring stars. The meteorological observations have been regularly taken, Under the headin ‘Personal Establishment,” an idea of the energy and zea whick Mr, Tebbutt shows for this science can be gathered from the fact that all the astronomical, and nearly all the meteoro- logical ol'servations are made by himself. Occasionally his son takes the meteorological readings during his absence from home, while the assistance of a computer is sometimes made use of. Although Mr, Tebbutt has received from several as- 484 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1893 tronomers many suggestions as to work desirable to be done, he, nevertheless, wishes to fulfil the main work of the observa- tory, which consists in observations of lunar occultations of stars, southern comets, and the meteorological observations. That Mr. Tebbutt is thinking about seeking some relaxation, is only natural when one considers how his powers must have been taxed during the last few years ; and we sincerely hope that after a good holiday and rest he may come back to his work again a new man, and continue the work he has so ably begun. UNIVERSAL TIME IN AUSTRALIA.—With three meridians differing by one hour from one another passing through the continent of Australia, the question has been raised as to whether only central time should be used, or all three times. (The Observatory for September). Adopting the latter, it will be nece-sary, of course, for frequent changes of time to be made ; but with the former, although places on the extreme east and west would have their time about 1} hours away from local time, greater convenience for railways, telegraph work, &c., will be gained. Sir Charles Todd, who supports this latter view, and whois backed by the Hon. J. G. Ward (New Zealand), the Hon. J. Kidd (N.S. W.), and the Hon. A. Wynne (Victoria), came to the following conclusion at the Postal and Telegraph Conference held in Brisbane this year, when the subject of the Hour Zone Time was being considered :—‘‘ That it is desirable in the public interests that the Hour Zone system should be adopted in a modified form, so that there should be one time throughout Australia, viz. that of the 135th meridian, or nine hours east of Greenwich.” would also probably be stable under these conditions. — presence of gas underneath the continents, elevated as they ¢ above the sea and of greater density than water, is necess' by conditions of hydrostatic equilibrium, It is easily seen volcanoes in the interior of continents never give off larva, only gases; also why lines of coast volcanoes have succ sively receded inland where the sea encroached.—On the iim ination of foreign bodies in the Acepha/a and especially in Phola. by M. Henri Coupin. If the mantle and the ventral sipk of 2 Pholas are cut along their entire le »gth, and a tion ¢ foreign particles are thrown upon the tentacles, the particle falling upor. the dorsal tentacles are carried away with grea rapidity, not towards the mouth, but upon that part of th mantle which lies between the anterior luminous organ and th palp. Thence they pass quickly towards the siphon region, at are stuck together by mucus and rolled up into balls, which then extruded at the siphon. It is thus that the animal getsr of the particles of rock disintegrated during its boring ope tions, and protects its delicate internal canals. Rigs 1. 7 24-3 BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVE of the Anthropological its Publi, Bocks.—Index to the F i pol Ins‘itute to 1891): G. W. Bloxam (Anthr -pological Institute). — »phixus al its Development: Dr. B. Hatschek, translated and edited by J. (Sonnenschein) —The Pharmacorceia of the United Statesof America, 7 Decennial Revision, 1890 (Philadelphia) —London Inter. Sci lim. Sci. Directory, No. iv. July 1893 (London).—Accidents de | F. Sinigaglia (Paris, Gauthier-Villars)—Théorie des Jeux de Laurent (Paris, Gauthier-Villars) —Smithsonian Institution, ‘Rep National Museum for Year ending June 30. 1891 (Was! D mentary Text-book of Biology: J. R. A. Davis. 2nd edition, 2 part: —Publicazione della S la Vaticana, fasc. iii. me. m Bulleti | SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Paris. Academy of Sciences, September 4 —M. Leewy in the chair.—Report upon a memoir by M. Defforges, entitled, on the distribution of the intensity of gravity at the surface of the globe, by MM. Fizeau, Daubrée, Cornu, Bassot, Tisserand. This memoir, submitted to the judgment of the Academy by the Minister of War, summarises the theoretical and experi- mental researches made during eight years in the geographical service of the army, with the object of determining the absolute intensity of gravitation for a small number of primary stations, and the relative intensity for a large number of secondary stations with simplified apparatus. The latter were determined by means of the ‘‘reveisible invertible pendulum ” invented by M. Defforges, which exceeds all used previously in lightness and convenience, and easily gives an approximation to within I part in 100,000. The anomalies extending along a line from Spitzbergen through the Shetlands, Scotland, England, France, and Algiers considerably exceed any possible experimental errors, and the excess of gravitation on the islands and defect on the continents is well established. The report, which was adopted by the Academy, advises the Government to supply M. Defforges with the means to extend his work to the islands of the southern hemisphere and especially the Pacific.—The hy- pothesis of sub-continental bells, by M. Rateau. The phenomena of the earth’s crust are well explained and connected by assuming that the crust underneath the continents does not touch the fluid globe, but is separated from it by a space filled form a sort of bells, very much flattened, and supported by gas, whereas the ocean beds would lie direct upon the igneous globe. The continental projections tend generally to rise, blown up as it were by the accumulating gas below, whilst the sea-beds sink. But the gases, imprisoned under high pressure, escape gradually through the fissures of the crust, when the production of new quantities from the nucleus will be- come insufficient, the pressure under the continents will decrease, and these will be projected upon the new crust underneath, giving rise to more or less extended crateriform configurations. This is the state in which we see the moon at the present time. If the earth’s crust is assumed to be 30 km. thick, the pressure of the gases should be 650 atmospheres and their temperature 900°. The gases would be of a density nearly equal to that of water, and superposed: in the order: hydrogen, methane, nitrogen, ethane, oxygen, car- bonic anhydride. Hydrochloric acid and siliciuretted hydrogen NO. 1246, VOL. 48] U.S. Fish Commission, Vol. x. for 1890 (Washi n).. Sir J. D. Hooker and B. D. Jackson. Part 1 (Oxf: endo A Contribution tu the Geology and Natural History of Notti edited by J. W. Carr (No:tingham, Bell) — Illustrated Hand-book Cape and South Africa: edited by J. Noble (Stanford) —Terra: 4 Anderson, 2nd edition (Reeves and Turner). Pampuiets.—Abstract of Returns furnished tothe and Art (Eyre and Spottiswoode).—Report of Mr. Tebbutt’s O the Peninsula, Windsor, N.S W. 1892: J. Tebbutt (Sydney). | 5 Sertats.—Journal of the Anthropological Institute, A (K. Paul Natural Science, September (Macinillan) —Geological | Sey ber (K. Paul). —American Journal of Mathematics, Vol. xv. more).—Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 62, Part 2,1 (Calcutta).—Journal of the Chemical Society, September (Gurney aad J son) —Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 31, Ne (Philadelphia) — Pr dings of the Roch Acad wy Scie Brochure 2 (Rochester, New York).—Geological and Natural Survey of Minnesota, Bulletin No. 8 (Minneapolis).—Mer M: September (Southwood) —Proceedings of the Royal of Ed Sessi n 1892-93, Vol. xx. pp. 1 to 96.—Journal of the Col Imperial University, Japan, Vol. 6, Part 2 (Tokyo). CONTENTS. The Mechanics of Fluids. By Prof, A. G. Green hill, F\R.S... Letters to the Editor :— Paleozoic Glaciation’in ‘the Southern Hemis Bi J. Dunas) pe ca. cea Astronomical Photography.—Dr. A, A, BOIS) al acc eparencet: eee A sg The Greatest Rainfall in Twenty-four Hours.—J. Gamble. 3s. 7a ee fe ere tee Wasps.—J. Lloyd Bozward with gaseous matter under pressure. The continents would thus | The American Association. By Dr, William H, Hal ' British Association. By Prof. Frank Clowes Inaugural Address by J. S. Burdon-Sande M.A., M.D., LL.D.,.. D.C.L., Fie F.R.S.E., Professor of Physiology in the Un versity of Oxford, President ...... os Section A—Mathematics and Physics.—Ope Address by R. T. Glazebrook, M.A., F President of the Section Secale Section B—Chemistry.—O pening Address es Emerson Reynolds, M.D., Sc.D., F.! President of the Section. . . . . ; Notes). 60°: Pe Our Astronomical Column :— Mr. Tebbutt’s Observatory. . .-. Universal Time in Australia . . . Societies and Academies... . . . - Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received eee 6 fein «0! 6/9 e oe eahs. NATURE “83 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1893. _ THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. HE Nottingham meeting of the British Association must be recorded as a useful and pleasant one, ere has been no tremendous sensation, but on the other hand there has not been much dulness. The ‘weather up to Tuesday was everything that could be “desired, and the proceedings were wound up yesterday by an innovation in the shape of a special performance of Pharaoh by Mr. Wilson Barrett and his company, to ‘which the members of the Association were invited by the local committee. The formal business of the Association was commenced on the 13th by a meeting of the general committee. From the council’s report we cull the following announcements, The following were elected corresponding members :— Dr. Svante Arrhenius, Stockholm; Prof. Marcel Bert- ‘rand, Paris; Prof. F. Elfving, Helsingfors ; Prof. Léo Errera, Brussels ; Prof. G. Fritsch, Berlin; Mr. D. C. Gilman, Baltimore ; Dr, C. E. Guillaume, Sévres ; Prof. Rosenthal, Erlangen; Dr. Maurits Snellen, Utrecht. The council had drawn the attention of the Local Government Board to the desirability of the publica- tion of the “ Report on the Examination into Devia- tions from the Normal amongst 50,000 Children in various Schools,” which had been presented to that board by the British Medical Association, and of several departments to the anthropometric method for the measurement of criminals, which is successfully in operation in France, Austria, and other continental countries. At the meeting in the evening,in the Albert Hall, the retiring president, Sir A. Geikie, vacating the chair, spoke as follows :—Ladies and gentlemen, the last duty which your president for the year has to perform is to vacate the chair and formally introduce the new president. Allow me to thank you for the high honour of occupying the chair of the British Association, and at the same time to express the satisfaction with which I learn that the affairs of the British Association are in as satisfactory a condition as thatin which I found them. The introduction of my suc- cessor is only a matter of form. His name is familiar to all of you, and he is esteemed all over the world as one of the great leaders of biological science—a great leader as wellas a great investigator. He will speak to you with the authority of an acknowledged master of science. I haye, therefore, great pleasure in introducing my successor in the chair, the Oxford professor, Dr. Burdon-Sanderson. i | The President then delivered the address which we printed last week. Dr. Burdon-Sanderson’s reference to the importance of the endowment of research has called { forth remarks in the Press which clearly indicate that the people of this country do not yet see that in the ene war among nations that nation will win which all the resources of science most easily at its com- mand ; that these resources are as much the first line of defence as the British Navy in actual war is our first line ; and that with regard to them we are getting re- latively worse equipped each year in consequence of the care with which science is being fostered by foreign | governments and neglected by our own. We are in the same position to day with regard to science as we were in the days of Queen Elizabeth with regard to the Navy. | The sectional meetings began next day. The addresses NO. 1247, VOL, 48] of the various presidents have shown a high level of ex cellence. This week we give those delivered in Sections - C, D, Gand H. On Monday another meeting of the general committee was held in the afternoon for the purpose of determining upon the place of meeting in 1895. A deputation attended from Toronto, and Prof. Mavor, speaking on behalf of a local provisional committee, explained the facilities which Toronto afforded for the holding of general and sectional meetings. He also dwelt on the industries of the neighbourhood, its agriculture, and objects of scientific interest in the vicinity. It was. eventually agreed that the committee express their best thanks to the provisional committee of Toronto for the invitation, and provided that suitable arrangements could be made similar to those that were made for the Mon- treal visit the committee would be prepared to entertain the question of meeting at Toronto before many years had elapsed. Deputations were then introduced from Bournemouth | and Ipswich, It appeared from information given by Mr. Griffith, the secretary, that Bournemouth offered greater facilities than Ipswich in the way of rooms for the meetings of the Sections. On the question being put to the vote, there appeared 31 for Ipswich and 20 for Bournemouth. It was, therefore, decided that the meet- ing of 1895 should be held at Ipswich. The Marquis of Salisbury was nominated president of the meeting next year at Oxford. It was pointed out that among his claims he has been Chancellor of the University of Oxford since 1880, that he would therefore represent both hosts and guests, that he is a distin- guished statesman, a courteous gentleman, a member of the council of the Royal Society, and a true man of science, A list of vice-presidents was agreed to, and the meet- ing at Oxford was fixed for August 8. ; The business concluded with the reappointment of Sir Douglas Galton and Mr. Vernon Harcourt as general secretaries, and Mr. G. Griffith as assistant general sec- retary, and Prof. Riicker as general treasurer. The list of awards arrived at yesterday was as follows : 4 Electrical Standards ae as oo Se Meteorological Photographs ty de Bes |) Mathematical Tables act ae a tes Solar Radiation... ies aS a eas fy National Physical Laboratory... ne Sipe tess) Wave-length Tables San ae ae iyi S20 Iron and Steel Analysis... Lhe ae FED 5." Action of Light on Dyed Colours a pee 5 Erratic Blocks oie see! mee Hes Bi gies 8 Fossil Phyllopoda ... ah fee ae Pa Geological Photographs... Fy Se Benes Shell-bearing Deposits at Clava, &c. ... SE aaa 2 Eurypterids of the Pentland Hills Hae Mee ea Sections of Stonesfield Slate ey in Rie > Earth Tremors ap fy Re ae pp ee 3 Exploration of Calf Hole Cave ... a Be Naples Zoological Station ... Yes ve 100 Plymouth Zoological Station “a Pe pis 5 Zoology of Sandwich Islands vee .-. 100 Zoology of Irish Sea Am ae Sid tag Structure of Mammalian Heart ... ise rel RO Climatology of Tropical Africa ... fe Hau 2) Observations in South Georgia... .. betas Exploration in Arabia as eee oy Lego Economic Training ... tte 10 Anthropometric Statistics ... ne ish Beaty 1 Ethnography of United Kingdom ~__.., ea 1, ‘The ‘Glastonbury Village ... ty aie rotige: Anthropometry in Schools ... Rep ee Sec ilsteh Mental and Physical Condition of Children ... 20 ‘Corresponding Societies we oe 25 795 . yy 486 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 21, 1893 | SECTION C, GEOLOGY, OPENING AppREss BY J. J. H. Tratt, M.A., F.R.S., Srec.G.S,, PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. It is a striking and remarkable fact that, although enormous progress has been made in petrographical science during the last hundred years, there has been comparatively little advance so far as broad, general theories relating to the origin of rocks are concerned. In Hutton’s ‘‘ Theory of the Earth,” the out- lines of which were published in 1788, the following operations are clearly recognised :—The degradation of the earth’s surface by aqueous and. atmospheric agencies; the deposition of the débris beneath the waters of the ocean ; the consolidation and metamorphosis of the sedimentary deposits by the internal heat and by the injection of molten mineral matter ; the disturbance and upheaval of the oceanic deposits ; and, lastly, the forma- tion of rocks by the consolidation of molten material both at the surface and in the interior of the earth. Hutton regarded these operations as efficient causes ordained for the purpose of producing an earth adapted to sustain animal and vegetable life. His writings are saturated with the teleo- logical philosophy of the age to which they belong, and some of his arguments strike us, therefore, as strange and inconclusive ; moreover, the imperfect state of the sciences of chemistry and physics occasionally led him into serious error. Notwithstand- ing these imperfections, we are compelled to admit, when viewing his work in the light of modern knowledge, that we can find the traces, and sometimes far more than the traces, of those broad general theories relating to dynamical geology which are current at the present day. If Hutton had contented himself with proving the reality of the agencies to which reference has been made it is probable that his views would have been generally accepted. But he went much further than this, and boldly maintained that one or other of these agencies, or several combined, would account for all the phenomena with which the geologist hasto deal. It was this that gave rise to the controversial fire which blazed up with such fury during the early years of this century, and whose dying embers have not yet been extinguished. The views of Hutton were in strong contrast to those of Werner, the celebrated professor of mineralogy at Freiberg, to whom science owes a debt of gratitude as great as that due to the Scottish physician. The value of a man’s work must not simply be judged by the truth of the theory which he holds. I consider that the Wernerian theory—by which I understand a reference to the early stages of planetary evolution for the pur- pose of explaining certain geological facts—has been on the wane from the time it was propounded down to the present day ; but I claim to be second to none in my admiration for the know- ledge, genius, and enthusiasm of the illustrous Saxon professor. The uniformitarian doctrines of Hutton gave a very decided character to the theoretical views of British geologists during the middle of the century, in consequence of the eloquent support of Lyell; but of late there has been a tendency to hark back to a modified form of Wernerism. This tendency can, I think, be largely traced to the recognition of evolution as a factor in biology and physical astronomy. The discoveries in these sciences may necessitate a modification of the views held by some of the extreme advocates of uniformitarianism, This admission, however, by no means carries with it the conclusion that the methods based on the doctrine of uniformitarianism must be discarded. If I read the history of geology aright, every important advance in the theoretical interpretation of observed facts relating to physical geology has been made by the application of these methods. It does not, of course, follow that the progress in the future will be exactly along the same lines as that in the past ; but, if I am right in the opinion I have expressed, it is a strong reason for adhering to the old methods until they have been proved to be inapplicable to at least some of the facts with which the physical geologist has to deal. Letus consider for a moment whether the recognition of evolution as a factor in biology and physical astronomy gives an @ priori probability to some form of Wernerism. The period of time represented by our fossiliferous records is perhaps equivalent to that occupied by the evolution of the verte- brata, but all the great subdivisions of the invertebrata were living in the Cambrian period, and must have been differentiated in still earlier times. Is it not probable, therefore, that the fossiliferous records at present known represent a period in- NO. 1247, VOL. 48] significant in comparison with that during which life has existe upon the earth? Again, is it not probable that the peri during which life has existed is a still smaller fraction of tl which has elapsed since the formation of the primitive cru And if so, what @ friori reason have we for believing that t] rocks accessible to observation contain the records of the ear stages of the planet’s history? But the advocates of the dil foru.s of Wernerism which find expression in geological writir at the present day almost invariably refer to recent speculatio in cosmical physics. The views of astronomers have always a powerful influence on those of geologists.. Hutton wrote at time when the astronomical world had been profoundly affecte by Lagrange’s discovery, in 1776, of the periodicity of th secular changes in the forms of the planetary poe [ doubts as to the stability of the solar system which the recogn tion of these changes had inspired were thus removed, an astronomers could then see in the physical system of t universe ‘‘no vestige of a beginning,—no prospect of an end, Now it is otherwise. Tidal friction pH the dissipation energy by the earth and by the sun are each referred to as fixir a limit to the existing conditions. I have not the knowled necessary to enable me to discuss these questions, and | wi therefore admit, for the sake of argument, that the phen referred to indicate the lines along which the physical evolt of our planet has taken place; but does it follow that ge: should desert a working hypothesis which has led to bri results in the past for one which has been tried again and and always found wanting? If there were absolute unanimity amongst mathem physicists, it might be necessary for us to reconsider our po tion. This, however, is not the case. After referring argument from tidal friction, Prof. Darwin, in his a to the Mathematical and Physical Section for 1886, says :— the whole, then, I can neither feel the cogency of the arg from tidal friction itself, nor, accepting it, can I place liance on the limits which it assigns to geological history.” reviewing the argument from the secular cooling of the e he points out that the possibility of the generation of heat interior by tidal friction has been ignored, and that the t data on which the calculations are based are not suffici complete to remove all reasonable doubt. He regards t) depending on the secular cooling of the sun as the strc but it is evident that, in view of undreamt-of possibilitie: would not allow it to have much weight in the face of ad: geological evidence. In conclusion he says:—‘ Al speculations as to the future course of science are of little avail, yet it seems as likely that metecrol and geology will pass the word of command to cc: physics as the converse. At present our knowledge definite limit to geological time has so little precision t should do wrong to summarily reject any theories which ap to demand longer periods of time than those which I appear allowable. In each branch of science hypothesis for the nucleus for the aggregation of observation, and as long facts are assimilated and co ordinated we ought to follo theory.” Now, my point is that the uniformitarian hyp: as applied to the rocks we can examine, has assimilated and ordinated so many facts in the past, and is assimilating a ordinating so many new discoveries, that we should conti follow it, rather than plunge into the trackless waste mogonical speculation in pursuit of what may after all prov be a will-o’-the-wisp. ; As an additional illustration of the want of a amongst mathematical physicists on questions relating earth, I may refer to certain papers by Mr. Chree.’ author maintains that the modern theory of elasticity poin the conclusion that if a spherical globe, composed of a incompressible elastic solid of the size of the earth, wer rotating as the earth is rotating, it would take the form the earth actually possesses. How is the question of the of the earth’s axis affected by Mr. Chree’s researche: the recent observations which prove a simultaneous chi latitude, in opposite directions, in Europe and at Hot If geological facts point to a shifting of the position of is there any dynamical reason why they should not recei consideration? Geologists want as much freedom as pos We do not object to any limitations which are necessary interest of science, and we cordially welcome, and as a 1 C. Chree, ‘On Some Applications of Physics and Mathema' Geology,” PAzl. Mag., vol. xxxii. (1891), pp. 233, 342 SEPTEMBER 21, 1893] NATURE 487 2 f fact are largely dependent upon, assistance from other de- ents of knowledge ; but those who would help us should in mind that the problems we have still to solve are ex- ly difficult and complex, so that if certain avenues of ought are closed on insufficient grounds by arguments of the idity of which we are unable to judge, but which we are natura ly disposed to take on trust, the difficulties of our task may be greatly augmented and the progress of science seriously retarded. So far as I can judge, there isno @ friori reason “why we should believe that any of the rocks we now see were ‘ormed during the earlier stages of planetary evolution. We are free to examine them in our own way, and to draw on the bank of time to any extent that may seem necessary. For some years past the greater part of my time has been devoted to a study of the composition and structure of rocks, and it has occurred to me that I might, on the present occasion, give expression to my views on the question as to whether the present position of petrographical science necessitates any im- portant modification in the theoretical views introduced by the uniformitarian geologists. Must we supplement the ideas of Hutton and Lyell by any reference to primordial conditions when we endeavour to realise the manner in which the rocks we can see and handle were produced? The question I propose to consider is not whether some of these rocks may have been formed under physical conditions different from those which now exist—life is too short to make a discussion of geological pos- sibilities a profitable pursuit—but whether the present state of petrographical science renders uniformitarianism untenable as a working hypothesis; and, if so, to what extent, There is nothing original in what I am about to lay before you. All that I propose to do is to select from the numerous facts and more or less conflicting views, bearing on the question I have stated, a few of those which appear to me to be of considerable importance, : ¢ sedimentary rocks contain the history of life upon the earth, and on this account, as well as on account of their ex- tensive development at the surface, they have necessarily re- ceived an amount of attention which is out of all proportion to their importance as constituent portions of the planet. They are, after ali, only skin deep. If they were totally removed from our globe its importance as a member of the solar system would not be appreciably diminished. The general laws governing the formation and deposition of these sediments have been fairly well understood for a long time. Hutton, as we have already seen, clearly realised that the land is always wasting away, and that the materials are accumulating on the beds of rivers, lakes, and seas. The chemical effects of de- nudation are mainly seen in the breaking up of certain silicates and the separation of their constituents into those which are soluble and those which are insoluble under surface conditions. The mechanical effects are seen in the disintegration of rocks, and this may, under certain circumstances, take place without the decomposition of their component minerals.! Quartz and the aluminous silicates, which enter largely into the composition of shales and clays, are two of the most important insoluble constituents. It must be remembered, however, that felspars often possess considerable powers of resistance, and rocks which contain them may be broken up without complete or anything like complete decomposition of these minerals. Orthoclase, microcline, and oligoclase are the varieties which most success- fully resist decomposition ; and, as a natural consequence, occur most abundantly in sedimentary deposits. It is commonly stated that when felspars are attacked the general effect is to reduce them to a fine powder, composed of a hydrated silicate of alumina, and to remove the alkalies, lime, and a portion of the silica, But, as Dr. Sterry Hunt has so frequently urged, the removal of alkalies is imperfect, for they are almost in- variably present in argillaceous deposits, ree, four, and even five per cent., consisting mainly of potash, may frequently be found. This alkali appears to be present in micaceous minerals, which are often produced, as very minute scales, during the decomposition of felspars. . White mica, whether formed in this way or as a product of igneous or metamorphic action, possesses great powers of resistance to the ordinary sur- agencies of decomposition, and so may be used over and over again in the making of sedimentary deposits. Brown mica is also frequently separated from granite and other rocks, and deposited as a constituent of sediments ; but it is far more liable _ + J. W. Judd, *‘ Deposits of the Nile Delta,” Proc. Royal Soc., vol. xxxix, (1886), p. 213. NO. 1247, VOL. 48] to decomposition than the common white varieties, and its geological life is, therefore, comparatively short.1 Small crystals and grains of zircon, rutile, ilmenite, cyanite, and tour- maline are nearly indestructible, and occur as accessory con- stituents in the finer-grained sandstones.?_ Garnet and staurolite also possess considerable powers of resistance, and are not un- frequently present in the same deposits. If we except the last two minerals and a few others, such as epidote, the silicates containing lime, iron, and magnesia are, as a rule, decomposed by surface agencies and the bases removed in solution ; augite, enstatite, hornblende, and lime-felspars are extremely rare as constituents of ordinary sediments. The insoluble constituents resulting from the waste of land surfaces are deposited as gravel, sand, and mud; the soluble constituents become separated as solid bodies by evaporation of the water in inland seas and lagoons, by chemical action, and by organic life. They are deposited as carbonates, sulphates, chlorides, and sometimes, as in the case of iron and manganese, as oxides. The soluble silica may be deposited in the opaline condition by the action of sponges, radiolaria, and diatoms, or as sinter, The question that we have now to consider is whether there is any marked difference between ancient and modern sedi- ments. One of the oldest deposits in the British Isles is the Torridon sandstone of the north-west of Scotland. The recent discovery of O/enel/us high up in the stratified rocks which un- conformably overlie this deposit has placed its pre-Cambrian age beyond all doubt. Now this formation is mainly composed of quartz and felspar, at least in its upper part, and the latter mineral is both abundant and very slightly altered. One is naturally tempted, at first sight, to associate the freshness of the felspar with the great age of the rock—to assume either that the sand was formed at a time when the chemical agents of decom- position did not act with the same force as now, or that they had not been in operation for a sufficient length of time to eliminate the felspar. A pure quartzose sand is probably never formed by the direct denudation of a granitic or gneissose area. The coarser sediments thus produced contain in most, if not in all, cases a considerable amount of felspar. But felspar is more liable to decomposition by percolating waters when it occurs as a constituent of grit than when present in the parent rock. Silica may thus be liberated in a soluble form, and subsequently deposited on the grains of quartz so as to give rise to secondary crystalline faces, and kaolin may be produced as beautiful six- sided tablets in the interstices of the grit. When the grit is in its turn denuded the felspar is still further reduced in amount, and a purer quartz-sand is formed. As the coarser detrital material is used over and over again, thus measuring dif- ferent periods of time like the sand in an hour-glass, the felspar and other decomposable minerals are gradually elimin- ated. The occurrence of a large amount of fresh felspar in the Torridon sandstone might, I say, at first sight be thought to be due to the great age of the rock. Any tendency to accept a view of this kind is, however, at once checked when attention is paid to the pebbles in the coarser conglomeratic beds of the same deposit. These consist largely of quartzite—a rock formed by the consolidation of as pure a quartz-sand as any known to exist in the later formations. We are therefore led to the conclusion that the special features of the Torridon sandstone are not a function of time, but of the local conditions under which the rock was produced. A similar conclusion may be reached by considering other types of sediment. When the stratified rocks of the different geological periods represented in any limited area are compared with each other certain marked differences may be observed, but the different types formed in any one area at different times can often be paralleled with the different types formed in different areas at the same time, and also with those now form- ing beneath the waters of rivers, lakes, and seas. Deep sea, shallow water, littoral and terrestrial deposits can be recognised in the formations belonging to many geological periods, from the most ancient to the most recent ; and there is no evidence that any of our sedimentary rocks carry us back to a time when the physical conditions of the planet were materially different 1 ‘‘Notes on the Probable Origin of Some Slates,” by W. Maynard AY Geol, Mag., 1890, p. 264. ‘ 2 “Ueber das Vorkommen mikroskopischer Zikone und _ Titan- Mineralien,” von Dr. Hans Thiirach, Verhandld. phys.-medic. Gesellschaft zu Wireburg, N.F. xviii. ‘‘On Zircons and other Minerals contained in Sand,” Allan B. Dick, Nature, vol. xxxvi. (1887), p.91. See also ‘‘ Mem. Geol. Survey," Geology of London, vol. i. p. 523. 488 NATURE (SEPTEMBER 21, 1893 from those which now exist. After reviewing all the evidence at my disposal, I must, however, admit that the coarser as well as the finer deposits of the earlier periods appear to be more complex in composition than those of the later. The grits of the Palzozoic formations, taken asa whole, contain more fel- spar than the sandstones of the Mesozoic and Tertiary forma- tions, and the slates and shales of the former contain more alkalies than the clays of the latter. This statement will hold good for the British Islés, even when allowance is made for the enormous amount of volcanic material amongst the older rocks—a phenomenon which I hold to be of purely local sig- nificance—but I strongly suspect that it will not b2 found to apply universally. In any case, it is not of much importance from our present point of view. All geologists will admit that denudation and deposition were taking place in pre-Cambrian times, under chemical and physical, conditions very similar to, if not identical with, those of the present day. There is, however, one general consideration of more serious import. Additions to the total amount of detrital material are now being made by the decomposition of igneous rocks, and there is no doubt that this has been going on during the whole period of time represented by our stratified deposits. It follows, therefore, as a necessary consequence that strict uniformitarian- ism is untenable, unless we suppose that igneous magmas are formed by the melting of sediments. So far we have been dealing with the characters of sedimen- tary rocks as seen in hand-specimens rather than with those which depend on their distribution over large areas. Thanks to Delesse (‘‘ Lithologie du Fond des Mers,” Paris, 1871) and the officers of the Challenger Expedition (‘‘ Report on Deep- sea Deposits,” 1891), an attempt has now been made to construct maps on which the distribution of the sediments in course of formation at the present time is laid down. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of such maps from a geological point of view, for on the facts which they express rests the correct interpretation of our stratigraphical records. Imperfect as iis our knowledge of the sea-beds of former geological periods, it is in many respects more complete than that of the sea-beds of the present day. The former we can often examine at our leisure, and follow from point to point in innumerable ex- posures ; the latter are known only from a few soundings, often taken at great distances apart.! An examination of such im- perfect maps as we have raises many questions of great interest and importance, to one of which I wish to direct special atten- tion—not because it is new, but because it is often overlooked. The boundary lines separating the distinct types of deposit on these maps are not, of course, chronological lines. They do not separate sediments produced at different times, but different sediments simultaneously forming in different places. Now, the lines on our geological maps are usually drawn by tracing the boundary between two distinct lithological types, and, as a natural consequence, such lines will not always be chronological lines. It is only when the existing outcrop runs parallel with the margin of the original area of deposit that this is the fact. Consider the case of a subsiding area—or, to avoid theory, let us say an area in which the water-level rises relatively to the land—and, for the sake of illustration, let vs suppose that the boundary separating the districts over which sand and mud are accumulating remains parallel to the old coast-line during the period of deposition. This line will follow the retreating coast, so that if, after the consolidation, emergence, and denudation of the deposits, the outcrop happens to be oblique to the old shore, then the line on the geological map separating clay and sand will not be of chronological value. That portion of it which lies nearer to the position of the vanished land will represent a later period than that which lies further away. If such organisms as ammonites leave their remains in the different deposits, and thus define different chronological horizons with approximate accuracy, the imperfection of the lithological boundary as a chronological horizon will become manifest. It is not that the geological map is wrong. Such maps have necessarily to be constructed with reference to economic con- siderations, and from this point of view the lithological boun- dariés are of paramount importance. They are, moreover, in many cases the only boundaries that can be actually traced.” 1 Suess, Das Antlitz der Erde, Bd, I1., s. 267. 2See S..S. Buckman, ‘‘Onthe Cotteswold, Midford, and Yeovil Sands,” wart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xlv. (1889), p. 440; and the same author, “ On the So-called Upper Lias Clay of Down Cliffs,” Quart Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xlvi. (1890), p. 518. Also J. Starkie Gardner, “‘ On the Relative Ages of the American and the English Cretaceous and Eocene Series,” Geol. Mag (1884), p. 492. NO. 1247, VOL. 48] | construct maps which shall represent the distribution of different varieties “of sediment for each of the different | logical periods. All we can say at present is that increase knowledge in’ this direction tends greatly to strengthe uniformitarian hypothesis. We can see, for example, during Triassic times marine conditions prevailed over a lar; part of what is now the great mountain-belt of the Asiatic continent, whilst littoral and terrestrial condit existed in the north of Europe; and we can catch glimpses < the onward sweep of the sedimentary zones during th : Cretaceous transgression, culminating in the wides oa isan sea | conditions under which the chalk was deposited. We turn now to the igneous rocks. It is no part of my pose to treat in detail of the growth of knowledge from a historical point of view, and to attempt to allot to each o the credit due to him; but there is one name that I desire mention in this connection, because it is that of a man wh clearly proved the essential identity of ancient and n volcanic rocks by the application of precise petrogra methods at a time when there was a very general belie! Tertiary and pre-Tertiary rocks were radically d I need hardly say that I refer to Mr. Samuel Allp He wrote at a time when observers in this country to prepare their own sections, and those who, like nysi have had the privilege of examining many of his slides s know which to admire most—the skill and patience of they are the evidence, or the conciseness and accuracy petrographical descriptions. His papers, do not occupy «a la number of pages, but they are based on an amount of 0 tion which is truly surprising. The general conclusic which he arrived as to the essential identity of ancien modern igneous rocks are expressed with the utmost confid and one feels, after going over his material, that this confi was thoroughly justified. It is curious now to note that th British champion of the distinctness of the Tertiary and Tertiary rocks pointed to the difference between the : and Limerick traps. These traps differ in exactly th way as do the corresponding Tertiary and pre-Tertiary | nental rocks, with this important difference. On the Cont the ophitic structure is characteristic of the pre-Tertiary whereas in the north of Ireland it is a marked feature of Tertiary age. We see, therefore, that the arguments f distinctness of the two sets of rocks derived from the two based in both cases on perfectly accurate observations, net each other, and the case hopelessly breaks down as eo basalts and dolerites. elm In this country it is now generally recognised th: allowance is made for alterations which are necess marked in the earlier than in the later rocks, there portant difference either in structure or composition the rhyolites, andesites, and basalts of the Palzozoi Tertiary periods. But identity of structure and comps may in this case be taken to imply identity as to the conditions under which the rocks were produced. We: led to picture in our minds long lines of volcanoes frin borders of Palzeozoic continents and rising as island Paleeozoic seas. Then, as now, there issued from the cr: these volcanoes enormous masses of fragmental mater portion of which was blown to dust by the explosive: steam and other gases from the midst of moltei and then, as now, there issued from fissures on their ff masses of lava which consolidated as rhyolite, a basalt. We may sum up the case as regards the volcan by saying that, so long as observations are confined to area, doubts may arise as to the truth of the unil view, but these doubts gradually fade away as the observation is extended. There are still some difficulties, such as the apparent absence of leucite I the Paleozoic formations ; but as many similar difficult been overcome in the past, it is improbable that tho remain are of a very formidable character. .s So far we have been: referring to rocks formed at the of the earth under conditions similar to those now in 9) But there are others, such as granite, gneiss, and mi 1 Theodor Fuchs, ‘‘Welche Ablagerungen haben wir als Ti dungen zu betrachten?” Neues Jahrbuch f. Miner. &c. Beilay II, p. 487. 2 Peciary and Paleozoic Trap-rocks,” Geol. Mag. (1873), * British Carboniferous Dolorites,’’ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. (1874), p. 529: “‘ Ancient Devitrified Pitchstones,”” &c Quart. Geol. Sec., vol. xxxiii. (1877), Pp. 449: iy sPTEMBER 24, 1893] NATURE 489 are obviously unlike any of the products of surface s. Ifthese rocks are forming now, it must be beneath face. This point was clearly realised by Hutton. was proved by him to be an igneous rock of subterranean His conclusions as to the formation of the schists are d in a passage so remarkable when viewed in connection h what I regard as the tendency of modern research, that [ eno apology for quoting it at length. ‘If, in examining land, we shall find a mass of matter which had been evidently med originally in the ordinary manner of stratification, but which is now extremely distorted in its structure, and displaced “in its position—which is also extremely consolidated in its mass, and variously changed in its composition—which therefore has the marks of its original or. marine composition extremely obliterated, and many subsequent veins of melted mineral matter interjected ; we should then have reason to suppose that here were masses of matter which, though not different in their origin from those that are gradually deposited at the bottom of the ocean, have been more acted upon by subterranean heat and the expanding power, that is to say, have been changed in a greater degree Me the operations of the mineral region. If this conclusion shall be thought reasonable, then here is an ex- ion of all the peculiar appearances of the Alpine schistus masses of our land, those parts which have been erroneously con- sidered as primitive in the constitution of the earth (‘‘ Theory of the Earth,” vol. i. p. 375). Surely it is not claiming too much for our author to say that we have there, sketched in broad outline, the theories of thermal and dynamic meta- ‘morphism which are attracting so much attention at the present ‘The hypogene origin of the normal plutonic rocks and their formation at different periods, even as late as the Tertiary, are facts which are now so generally recognised that we may leave these rocks without further comment and pass on to the con- ‘sideration of the crystalline schists. Everyone knows that the statement, ‘‘He who runs may read,” is untrue when the stratigraphical interpretation of an intensely folded and faulted district is concerned. The com- plexity produced by the earth-movements in such regions can be unravelled by detailed work after definite paleonto- gical and lithological horizons have been established. But if the statement be untrue when applied to districts composed of ordinary stratified rocks, still less can it be true of regions of erystalline schist where the movements have often been much more intense ; where the original characters of the rocks have been profoundly modified; and where all distinct traces of fossils have in most cases been obliterated. If detailed work like that of Prof. Lapworth at Dobb’s Linn was required to solve the stratigraphical difficulties of the Southern Uplands, is ‘it not probable that even more detailed work will be required to solve the structural problems of such a district as the Highlands of Scotland, where the earth-stresses, though somewhat similar, have operated with greater intensity, and where the injection of molten mineral matter has taken place more than once both on a large and on a small scale ? ith these few general remarks by way of introduction, I will now call attention to what appear to me to be the most promising lines of investigation in this department of geology, The crystalline schists certainly do not form a natural group, Some are undoubtedly plutonic igneous rocks showing original fluxion ; others are igneous rocks which have been deformed by earth-stresses subsequent to consolidation ; others, again, are sedimentary rocks metamorphosed by dynamic and thermal agencies, and more or less injected with ‘‘molten mineral matter” ; and lastly, some cannot be classified with certainty under any of these heads. So much being granted, it is obvious we must deal with this petrographical complex by separat- from it those rocks about the origin of which there can be mo reasonable doubt. Until this separation has been effected, it is quite impossible to discuss with profit the question as to Mister any portions of the primitive crust remain. In order to-carry out this work it is necessary to establish some criterion by which the rocks of igneous may be separated from those of sedimentary origin. Such a criterion may, I think, be found, at any rate in many cases, by combining chemical with field evidence.’ If associated rocks possess the composition of grits, sandstones, shales and limestones, and contain also traces of Stratification, it seems perfectly justifiable to conclude that they 2 ie H. ‘Rosenbusch, “ Zur Auffassunz der chemischen Natur des Grundge- birges,” Min. und petro. Mitth., xii. (1891), p. 49. NO. 1247, VOL. 48] must have been originally formed by processes of denudation and deposition. That we have such rocks inthe Alps and in the Central Highlands of Scotland, to mention only two localities, will be admitted by all who are familiar with those regions. Again, if the associated rocks possess the composition of igneous products, it seems equally reasonable to conclude that they are of igneous origin. Such a series we find in the North- West of Scotland, in the Malvern Hills, and at the Lizard. In applying the test of chemical composition it is very necessary to remember that it must be based, not on a comparison of individual specimens, but of groups of specimens, A granite and an arkose, a granitic gneiss and a gneiss formed by the metamorphosis of a grit, may agree in chemical and even in mineralogical composition. The chemical test would there- fore utterly fail if employed for the purpose of dis- criminating between these rocks. But when we introduce the principle of paragenesis it enables us in many cases to distinguish between them. The granitic gneiss will be associated with rocks having the composition of diorites, gab- bros, and peridotites; the sedimentary gneiss with rocks answering to sandstones, shales, and limestones. Apply this test to the gneisses of Scotland, and I believe it will be found in many cases to furnish a solution of the problem. Caution, however, is necessary ; for crystal-building and the formation of segregation veins. and patches in the sedimentary schists clearly prove that a migration of constituentstakes place under certain circumstances. Recent work on the gneisses and schists of igneous composi- tion has shown that the parallel structure, by no means invari- ably present, is sometimes the result of fluxion during the final stages of consolidation, and sometimes due to the plastic deform- ation of solid rocks, When compared with masses of ordinary plutonic rock, the principal points of difference, apart from those due to secondary dynamic causes, depend on what may be called their extreme petrographical differentiation. Indica- tions of differentiation may, however, be seen in the contempo- raneous veins and basic patches so common in ordinary irrup- tive bosses, but they are never so marked as in gneissic regions, like those of the North-West of Scotland, where specimens answering in composition to granites, diorites, and even peri- dotites, may be collected repeatedly in very limited areas. The nearest approach to the conditions of gneissose regions is to be found in connected masses of diverse plutonic rocks, such as those which are sometimes found on the borders of great granitic intrusions. The tectonic relations of those gneisses which resemble igneous rocks in composition fully bear out the plutonic theory as to their origin. Thus, the intrusive character of granitic gneiss in a portion of the Himalayas has been demonstrated by General McMahon.' The protogine of Mont Blane has been investigated by M, Lévy? with the same result. Most signifi- cant of all are the discoveries in the vast Archzean region of Canada. Professor Lawson ® has shown that immense areas of the so-called Laurentian gneiss in the district north west of Lake Superior are intrusive in the surrounding rocks, and therefore newer, not older, than these. Professor Adams? has quite re- cently established a similar fact as regards the anorthosite rocks —the so-called Norian—of the Saguenay River and other dis- tricts lying near the eastern margin of the ‘* Canadian shield.” Now that the intrusive character of so many gneisses is being recognised, one wonders where the tide of discovery will stop. How long will it be before the existence of gneisses of Tertiary age will be generally admitted ? Atany rate, the discoveries of recent years have compelled the followers of Wernerian methods to evacuate large slices of territory. Turning now to the gneisses and schists which resemble sedimentary rocks in composition, we note that the parallel structure may be due to original stratification, to subsequent deformation, or to both of these agencies combined, It must also be remembered that they have often been injected with igneous material, as Hutton pointed out. Where this has fol- lowed parallel planes of weakness, we have a banding due to alternations of igneous and sedimentary material, This injection * “The Geology of Dalhousie,’’ Records of Geol. Survey of India, vol. xv part 1 (1882), p. 34. See also vol. xvi. part 3(1883), p. 129. 2**Les Roches Crystallines et Eruptives des Environs du Mont-Blanc,” Bull. des Services de la Carte Géologique de la France, No. 9 (1890). 3 ‘On the Geology of the Rainy Lake Region,” Annual Report Geol Survey of Canada for 1887, 4 * Ueber das Norian oder Ober-Laurentian von Canada,” Neues Jahs buchf. Mineralogie, &c., Beilage, Band viii. p. 419. 499 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 21, 18 lit par lit has been shown by M. Lévy to be a potent cause in the formation of certain banded gneisses. Will the various agencies to which reference has been made explain all the phenomena of the crystalline schists and gneisses ? I do not think that the present state of our knowledge justifies us in answering this question in the affirmative. Those who are working on these rocks frequently have brought under their notice specimens about the origin of which they are not able to speak with any degree of confidence. Sometimes a flood of light is suddenly thrown on a group of doubtful rocks by the recognition of a character which gives unmistakable indications of their mode of origin, Thus, some of the fine-grained quartz- felspathic rocks associated with the crystalline schists of the Central Highlands are proved to have been originally sands like those of Hampstead Heath by the presence in them of narrow bands rich in zircon, rutile, and the other heavy minerals which are so constantly present in the finer-grained arenaceous deposits of all ages. Such pleasant surprises as the recognition ofa character like this increase oar confidence in the theory which endeavours to explain the past by reference to the present, and refuses to admit the necessity of believing in the existence of rocks formed under physical conditions different from those which now prevail simply because there are some whose origin is still involved in mystery. A crystalline schist has been aptly compared to a palimpsest. Ilistorical records of priceless value have often been obscured by the superposition of later writings ; so it is with the records of the rocks. In the case of the schists, the original characters have been so modified by folding, faulting, deformation, crystal- lisation, and segregation that they have often become unrecog- nisable. But when the associated rocks have the composition of sediments we need have no hesitation in attributing the handed structure in some way to stratification, provided we clearly recognise that the order of succession and the relative thicknesses of the original beds cannot be ascertained by apply- ing the principles which are valid in comparatively undisturbed regions. In studying the crystalline schist: nothing, perhaps, strikes one more forcibly than the evidence of crystal-building in solid rocks. Chiastolite, staurolite, andalusite, garnet, albite, cor- dierite, micas of various kinds, and many other minerals have clearly been developed without anything like fusion having taken place. Traces of previous movements may not unfre- quently be found in the arrangement of the inclusions, while the minerals themselves show no signs of deformation. Facts of this kind, when they occur, clearly indicate that the crystal- lisation was subsequent to the mechanical action. Nevertheless, it is probable that both phenomena were closely related, though not in all cases as cause and effect. The intrusion of large masses of plutonic rock often marks the close of a period of folding. This is well illustrated by the relation of granite to the surrounding rocks in the Lake District, the Southern Uplands of Scotland, and the West of England. Those of the two first-mentioned localities are post-Silurian and pre-Carboni- ferous, those of the last-mentioned locality are post-Carbonifer- ous and pre-Permian ; one set followed the Caledonian! fold- ing, the other set followed the Hercynian folding. That the intrusion of these granites was subsequent to the main move- ments which produced the folding and cleavage is proved by the fact that the mechanical structures may often be recognised in the crystalline contact-rocks, although the individual minerals have not been strained or broken. In many other respects the rocks produced by so-called contact-metamorphism resemble those found in certain areas of crystalline schist. Many of the most characteristic minerals are common to the two sets of rocks, and so also are many structures. The cipolins and asso- ciated rocks of schistose regions have many points of resem- blance to the crystalline limestones and ‘‘ kalksilicathornfels ” produced by contact-metamophism.? These facts make it highly probable that, by studying the metamorphic action surrounding plutonic masses, we may gain an insight into the causes which have produced the crystalline schists of sedimentary origin ; just as, by studying the intrusive masses themselves and noting the tendency to petrographical differentiation, especially at the margins, we may gain an insight into the causes which have produced the gneisses of igneous * This term is employed in the sense in which it is used by Suess and Bertrand. 2 H. Rosenbusch, “‘ Zur Auffassung des Grundgebirges,” Neues Jahr. f. Miner., Bd. 11. (1889) p. 8. NO. 1247, VOL. 48] origin.! In the districts to which reference has been m: igneous material came from below into a region where the had been rendered tolerably rigid. Differential movemen not taking place in these rocks when the intrusion occ Consider what must happen if the foldi operate on the zone separating the sedimentary r underlying source of igneous material. Intrusion take place during interstitial movement, fluxion struc! be produced in the more or less differentiated igneous the sediments will be injected and impregnated with igne material, and thermo-metamorphism will be produced regional scale. The origin of gneisses and schists, opinion, is to be sought for ina combination of the the dynamic agencies which may be reasonably supposed to in the deeper zones of the earth’s crust. If this view be c it is not improbable that we may have crystalline : : gneisses of post-Silurian age in the North-West of formed during the Caledonian folding, others in~ Europe of post- Devonian age due to the Hercynian fold yet others in Southern Europe of post-Cretaceous age pi in connection with the Alpine folding.? Bat if the existen such schists should ultimately be established it will bably remain true that rocks of this character are in most of pre-Cambrian age. May not this be due to the fac gested by a consideration of the biological evidence, that | time covered by our fosisliferous records is but a small frac of that during which the present physical conditii remained practically constant ? E The good old British ship ‘‘ Uniformity,” built by Huttr refitted by Lyell, has won so many glorious victories in th and appears still to be in such excellent fighting trim, th no reason why she should haul down her colours ‘*Catastrophe” or ‘‘ Evolution.” Instead, therefore, of : ing to the request to ‘‘ hurry up” we make a demand f time. The early stages of the planet's history m legitimate subject for the speculations of mat physicists, but there seems good reason to believe tha lie beyond the ken of those geologists who concern thi only with the records of the rocks. - In this address I have ventured to express my vik certain disputed theoretical questions, and I must not without a word of caution. The fact is, I attach importance to my own opinions, at least on doubtful connected with the origin of the crystalline schists ; bu have done me the honour to accept me as your P; thought you might like to know my present attitude towards some of the unsolved problems of geology. Th still room for legitimate difference of opinion on many ¢ subjects to which I have referred. Meanwhile, we | better than remember the words with which one o} living masters recently concluded an article on a contr subject: ‘* Let us continue our work and remain friends. SECTION D. BIOLOGY, OPENING AppRESS BY REV. H. B. TRISTRAM, M.A., D.D., F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTI Ir is difficult for the mind to grasp the advance i science (I use the term biology in its wide etymolo; recently restricted sense) which has taken place ; attended the meetings of the British Association, sot years ago. In those days, the now familiar expres 1 G. Barrow, ‘ On an Intrusion of Muscovite-biotite-gneiss in | Eastern Highlands of Scotland, &c.” Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1893), p- ‘ 2 Some haRe ists maintain that fee is the case, others deny it. z vallinigchen “Schiefer aia R ited 81 ili r euscl ie fossi {" Tohaann, “Uber die Ral i mit b d B hm Norwegen,” Leipzig (1883) altkrystallinischen Schief » 1 Jezugnahme sichsische Granulitgebirge, Erzgebirge, Fichtelgebirge, und ai béhmische Grenzgebirge,” Bonn, (1884): T. G. Bonney. several | pape the Alps, and especially ‘‘On the Crystalline Schists and their o the Mesozoic Rocks of the Lepontine Alps,” Quart. Journ. Geol § xlvi. (1890), p. 188; A. Heim, contribution to the discussion om t er; C W. Giimbel, ‘‘ Geognostische Beschreibung des K, Z Goaiiwles der Geologie,” Kassel (1888-1892). 5 Although it isconvenient to speak of the three types of f )Iding so largely influenced the structure of the European continent as belon; wf to a definite period, it is important to remember that this strictly true. The movements were prolonged; they probably crept slo over the surface of the lithosphere, as did the zones of sedimentatin, those of the same type are not in all places strictly contemporaneous. SEPTEMBER 21, 1893] NATURE 491 natural selection,” ‘‘isolation,” ‘the struggle for existence,” . survival of the fittest,” were unheard of and unkuown, ‘though many an observer was busied in culling the facts which yere being poured into the lap of the philosopher who should Id the first great epoch in natural science since the days of we zeus. It is tothe importance and value of field observation that I _would venture in the first place to direct your attention. My predecessors in this chair have been, of recent years, dis- _ tinguished men who have searched deeply into the abstrusest mysteries of physiology. Thither I do not presume to follow them. I rather come before you as a survivor of the old-world naturalist, as one whose researches have been, not in the labora- tory or with the microscope, but on the wide desert, the moun- tain side, and the isles of the sea. This year is the centenary of the death of Gilbert White, whom we may look upon as the father of field naturalists. It is true that Sir T. Browne, Willughby, and Ray had each, in the middle of the seventeenth century, committed various observa- tions to print ; but though Willughby, at least, recognised the importance of the soft parts in affording a key to classification, as well as the osteology, as may be seen from his observation of the peculiar formations, in the Divers (Co/ymbide) of the tibia, with its prolonged procnemial process, of which he has given a figure, or his description of the elongation of the posterior branches of the woodpecker’s tongue, as well as by his careful description of the intestines of all specimens which came under his notice in the flesh, none of these systematically noted the habits of birds, apart from an occasional mention of their nidi- fication, and very rarely do they even describe the eggs. But White was the first observer to recognise how much may be learnt from the life habits of birds. He is generally content with recording his observations, leaving to others to speculate. Fond of Virgilian quotations (he was a fellow of Oriel of the last century), his quotations are often made with a view to gh the scrupulous accuracy of the Roman poet, as tested by is (White’s) own observations. In an age, incredulous as to that which appears to break the uniformity of nature, but quick to recognise all the phenomena of life, a contrast arises before the mind’s eye between the abiding strength of the objective method, which brings Gilbert White in touch with the great writers whose works are for all time, and the transient feebleness of the modern introspective philosophies, vexed with the problems of psychology. The modern psychologist propounds his theory of man and the uni- verse, and we read him, and go on our way, and straightway forget. Herodotus and Thucydides tell a plain tale in plain language, or the Curate of Selborne shows us the hawk on the wing, or the snake in the grass, as he saw them day by day, and, somehow, the simple story lives and moves him who reads it long after the subtleties of this or that philosophical theory have had their day and passed into the limbo of oblivion. But, invaluable as has been the example of Gilbert White in teach- ing us how to observe, his field was a very narrow one, circum- scribed for the most part by the boundaries of a single parish, and on the subject of geographical distribution (as we know it now) he could contribute nothing, a subject on which even the best explorers of that day were strangely inobservant and in- exact. A century and a half ago, it had not come to be recog- nised that distribution is, along, of course, with morphology and physiology, a most important factor in determining the facts of biology. It is difficult to estimate what might have been gained in the case of many species, now irreparably lost, had Forster and the other companions of Captain Cook, to say nothing of many previous voyagers, had the slightest conception of the importance of noting the exact locality of each specimen they collected. They seem scarcely to have recognised the , ohne distinctions of the characteristic genera of the Pacific lands at all, or if they did, to have dismissed them with the remark, ‘‘ On this island was found a flycatcher, a pigeon, or a parrot similar to those found in New Holland, but with white tail-feathers instead of black, an orange instead of a scarlet breast, or red shoulders instead of yellow.’’ As we turn over the pages of Latham or Shaw, how often do we find for locality one of the islands of the South Sea, and, even where the locality is ven, subsequent research has proved it erroneous, as though the specimens had been subsequently ticketed ; Le Vaillant de- scribed many of his South African birds from memory. Thus Latham, after describing very accurately KAipidura flabellifera, from the south island of New Zealand, remarks, apparently on NO. 1247, VOL. 48] ae, Forster’s authority, that it is subject to variation; that in the island of Tanna another was met with, with a different tail, &c., and that there was another variety in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks. Endless perplexity has been caused by the Psittacus pygmeus of Gmelin (of which Latham’s type is at Vienna) being stated in the inventory as from Botany Bay, by Latham from Otaheite, and in his book as inhabiting several of the islands of the South Seas, and now it proves to be the. female Psittacus palmarum from the New Hebrides. These are but samples of the confusion caused by the inaccuracies of the old voyagers. Had there been in the first crew who landed on the island of Bourbon, I will not say a naturalist, but even a simple-hearted Leguat, to tell the artless tale of what he saw, or had there been among the Portuguese discoverers of Mauri- tius one who could note and describe the habits of its birds with the accuracy with which a Poulton could record the ways and doings of our Lepidoptera, how vastly would our knowledge of a perished fauna have been enriched! It is only since we learned from Darwin and Wallace the power of isolation in the differentiation of species, that special attention has been paid to the peculiarities of insular forms. Here the field naturalist comes in as the helpful servant of the philosopher and the sys- tematist, by illustrating the operation of isolation in the dif- ferentiation of species. 1 may take the typical examples of two groups of oceanic islands, differing as widely as possible in their position on the globe, the Sandwich Islands in the centre of the Pacific, thousands of miles from the nearest continent, and the Canaries, within sight of the African coast ; but agreeing in this, that both are truly oceanic groups, of {purely volcanic origin, the ocean depths close to the Canaries, and between the different islands, varying from 1500 to 2coo fathoms. In the one we may study the expiring relics of an avifauna completely differentiated by isolation ; in the other we have the opportu- nity of tracing the incipient stages of the same process. The Sandwich Islands have long been known as possessing an avifauna not surpassed in interesting peculiarity by that o New Zealand or Madagascar; in fact, it seems as though their vast distance from the continent had intensified the influences of isolation. There is scarcely a passerine bird in its indigenous fauna which can be referred to any genus known elsewhere. But, until the very recent re- searches of Mr. Scott Wilson, and the explorations of the Hon. W. Rothschild’s collectors, it was not known that almost every island of the group possessed one or more repre- sentatives of each of these peculiar genera. Thus, every island which has been thoroughly explored, and in which any extent of the primeval forest remains, possesses, or has possessed, its own peculiar species of Hemignathus, Himatione, Pheornis, Acrulocercus, Loxops, Lrepanis, as well as of the massive- beaked finches, which emulate the Geospfiza of the Galapagos, Prof. Newton has shown that while the greater number of these are probably of American origin, yet the South Pacific has contributed its quota to this museum of ornithological rarities, which Mr. Clarke very justly proposes to make a distinct biolo- gical sub-region, That each of the islands of this group, however small, should possess a flora specifically distinct, suggests thoughts of the vast periods occupied in their differentiation. In the Canary Islands, either because they are geologically more recent, or because of their proximity to the African coast, which has facilitated frequent immigrations from the continent, the process of differentiation is only partially accomplished. Yet there is scarcely a resident species which is not more or less modified, and this modification is yet further advanced in the westernmost islands than in those nearest to Africa. In Fuer- taventura and Lanzarote, waterless and treeless, there is litile change, and the fauna is almost identical with that of the neigh- bouring Sahara. There is a whin-chat, Pratincola dacolia, discovered by my companion, Mr, Meade-Waldo, peculiar to Fuertaventura, which may pos-ibly be found on the opposite coast, though it has not yet been met with by any collectors there. Now, our whin-chat isa common winter visitant all down the West African coast, and it seems probable that isola- tion has produced the very marked characters of the Canaries form, while the continental individuals have been restrained from variation by their frequent association with their migratory relations, A similar cause may explain why the blackbird, an extremely common resident in all the Canary Islands, has not been modified in the least, since many migratory individuals of the same species sojourn every winter in the islands. Or take 492 NATURE the blue titmouse. Our familiar resident is replaced along the coast of North Africa by a representative species, Parus ultra- marinus, differentiated chiefly by a black instead of a blue cap, and a slate-coloured instead of a green back. The titmouse of Lanzarote and Fuertaventura is barely separable from that of Algeria, but is much smaller and paler, probably owing to scarcity of food and a dry desert climate. Passing, 100 miles further to sea, to Grand Canary, we find in the woods and forests a bird in all respects similar to the Algerian in colour and di- mensions, with one exception—the greater wing coverts of the Algerian are tipped with white, forming a broad bar when the wing is closed. ‘This, present in the Fuertaventura form, is re- presented in the Canarian by the faintest white tips, and in the birds from the next islands, Tenerife and Gomera, this is alto- gether absent. This form has been recognised as Parus tenerife. Proceeding to the north-west outermost island, Palma, we find a very distinct species, with different proportions, a longer tail, and white abdomen instead of yellow. In the Ultima Thule, Hierro, we find a second very distinct species, resembling that of Tenerife in the absence of the wing bar and in all other respects, except that the back is green like the European, instead of slate as in all the other species. Thus we find in this group a uniform graduation of variation as we proceed further from the cradle of the race. A similar series of modifications may be traced in the chaffinch (Fringil/a), which has been in like manner derived from the North African / spodiogena, and in which the extreme vatia- _ tion is to be found in the westernmost islands of Palma and Hierro, The willow wren (Phylloscepus trechilus), extremely numerous and veszdent, has entirely changed its habits, though not its plumage, and I have felt justified in distinguishing it as Ph. fortunatus. 1n note and habits it is entirely different from our bird, and though it builds a domed nest it is always near the top of lofty trees, most frequently in palm-trees. The only ex- ternal difference from our bird consists in its paler tarsi and more rounded wing, so that its power of flight is weaker, but, were it not for the marked difference in its habits and voice, I should have hesitated to differentiate it. In the kestrel and the great spotted woodpecker there are differences which suggest incipient species, while the forests of the wooded western islands yield two very peculiar pigeons, differing entirely from each other in their habits, both probably derived from our wood- pigeon, but even further removed from it than the Columba trocaz of Madeira, and, by their dark chestnut coloration, sug- gesting that peculiar food, in this case the berries of the tree laurel, has its fall share in the differentiation of isolated forms. If we remember the variability of the pigments in the food of birds, and the amount absorbed and transferred to the skin and plu nage, the variability in the tints and patterns of many animals can be more readily understood. One other bird deserves notice, the Caccadis, or red-legged partridge, for here, and here alone, we have chronological data. The Spaniards introduced Caccabis rufa into Canary, and C, petrosa into Tenerife and Gomera, and they have never spread from their respective localities. Now, both species, aftera residence of only 400 years, have become distinctly modified. C. rufa was introduced into the Azores also, and changed ex- actly in the same manner, so much so that Mr. Godman, some years ago, would have described it as distinct, but that the only specimen he procured was in moult and mutilated, and his specimen proved identical with the Canarian bird. Besides minor differences, the back is one-fourth stouter and longer than in the European bird, and the tarsus very much stouter and longer, and the hack is gray rather than russet. The gray back har- monises with the volcanic dark soil of the rocks of the Canaries, as the russet does with the clay of the plains of England and France. In the Canaries the bird lives under different condi- tions from those of Europe. It is on the mountain sides and among rocks that the stouter beak and stronger legs are indis- pensable to its vigorous existence. It is needless to go into the details of many other species. We have here the effect of changed conditions of life in 400 years. What may they not have been in 400 centuries? We have the result of peculiar food in the pigeons, and of isolation in all the cases I have mentioned. Such facts can only be supplied to the genera- liser and the systematist through the accurate and minute obser- vations of the field naturalist. The character of the avifauna of the Comoro Islands, to take another insular group, seems to stand midway in the differentiat- ing process between the Canaries and the Sandwich Islands. NO. 1247, VOL. 48] [SEPTEMBER 21, 1893, From the researches of M. Humblot, worked out by N Milne-Edwards and Oustalet, we find that there are twe! 1 species acknowledged as peculiar; two species from Africa and twenty-two from Madagascar in process of sp tion, called by M. Milne-Edwards secondary or derived speci The little Christmas Island, an isolated rock 200 miles of Java, only 12 miles in length, has been shown by Mr, to produce distinct and peculiar forms of every class vegetable and animal. Though the species are few in nu yet every mammal and land bird is endemic; but, as Darwi marks, to ascertain whether a small isolated area, or a large ¢ area like a continent, has been more favourable for the pro tion of new organic forms, we ought to make the con paris between equal times, and this we are incapable of doing. — own attention was first directed to this subject when, year 1857-58, I spent many months in the Algerian Sab noticed the remarkable variations in different pee u to elevation from the sea, and the difference of soil and tion. The ‘‘ Origin of Species ” had not then appeared ; my return my attention was called to the communicati Darwin and Wallace to the Linnean Society on the | of species to form varieties, and on the perpetuation of and species by means of natural selection. I then 1859, pp. 429-433): ‘‘It is hardly possible, I should thi illustrate this theory better than by the larks and chat North Africa, In all these, in the congeners of the whe of the rock chat, of the crested lark, we trace gradual n fications of coloration and of anatomical structure, deflecting very gentle gradations from the ordinary type, but, when the extremes, presenting the most marked differences. . . desert, where neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulati surface afford the slightest protection to an animal from its modification of colour, which shall be assimilated to that surrounding country, is absolutely necessary. Hence, exception, the upper plumage of every bird—whether chat, sylvan or land grouse—and also the fur of all the sn mammals, and the skin of all the snakes and lizards, is of uniform isabelline or sand-colour. It is very possible } some further purpose may be served by the prevailing cc o but this appears of itself a sufficient explanation. There individual varieties of depth of hue among all creatures. [ntl struggle for life which we know to be going on among species, a very slight change for the better, such eld b o means of escape from its natural enemies (which would be effect of an alteration from a conspicuous colour to one reve ling the hue of the surrounding objects), would give the v1 that possessed it a decided advantage over the typical or 0 forms of the species. . . . To apply the to the of the Sahara. If the Algerian Desert were colonised by a pairs of crested larks—putting aside the ascertained fact of tendency of an arid, hot climate to bleach all dark co know that the probability is that one or two pairs would likely to-be of a darker complexion than the others, 1 and such of their offspring as most resembled them, woul come more liable to capture by their natural and carnivorous beasts. The lighter-coloured ones more or less immunity from such attacks. Let this | things continue for a few hundred years and the dar! individuals would be exterminated, the light-colou and inherit the land. ‘This process, aided by th mentioned tendency of the climate to bleach the still more, would in a few centuries produce the Galera sinica as the typical form ; and it must be noted that it and the European G. cristata there is no distin of colour. : ve ‘But when we turn to Galerida isabellina, G. aren G. macrorhyncha, we have differences, not only of co of structure. These differences are most marked in the bill. Now, to take the two former first, G. a7 very long bill, G. zsadel/ina a very short one ; the fo exclusively to the deep, loose, sandy tracts, the latter the hard and rocky districts. It is manifest that a bird food has to besonght for in deep sand derives a great advan from any elongation, however slight, of its bill. he ot who feeds among stones and rocks, requires strength rather lengtb. We know that even in the type species the si bill varies in individuals—in the lark as well as in the Now, in the desert, the shorter-billed varieties would comparative difficulty in finding food where it was not and consequently would not be in such vigorous cond enen SEPTEMBER 21, 1893] NATURE 493 ewer billed relations. Inthe breeding season, therefore, would have fewer eggs and a weaker progeny. Often, as . know, a weakly bird will abstain from matrimony alto- r. The natural result of these causes would be that in se of time the longest-billed variety would steadily predomi- > over the shorter, and, in a few centuries, they would be the le existing race ; their shorter-billed fellows dying out until race was extinct. The converse will still hold good of the ‘Stout-billed and weaker billed varieties in a rocky district. __ “Here are only two causes enumerated which might serve to _ créate, as it were, a new species from anold one. Yet they are 5 perfectly natural causes, and such as I think must have occurred, and are possibly occurring stil]. We know so very Tittle of the cau-es which, in the majority of cases, make species dare or common that there may be hundreds of others at work, Some even more powerful than these, which go to perpetuate and. eliminate certain forms ‘according to natural means of _ It wou!d appear that those species in continental areas are ually liable to variation with those which are isolated in limited areas, yet that there are many counteracting influences which operate to check this tendency. It is often assumed, where we find closely allied species apparently inter-breeding at the centre of their area, that the blending of forms is caused e two races commingling, Judging from insular experience ould be inclined to believe that the theory of inter-breeding is beginning at the wrong end, but rather that while the general- ised forms remain in the centre of distribu'ion, we find the more ge distinct species at the extremes of the range,. caused "Ho inter-breeding, but by differentiation. To illustrate this by the group of the blve titmouse. We find in Central Russia, n the centre of distribution of the family, the most generalised om, Larus pleshii, partaking of the characters of the varicus Species east, west, and south. In the north-east and north it becomes differentiated as P. cyaneus; to the south-west and outh into P. caruleus and its various sub-species, while a branch extending due east has assumed the form of Pfavi- pects, bearing traces of affinity to its neighbour P. cyameus , north, which seems evidently to have been derived it. _ But the scope of field observation does not cease with geo- graphical distribution and modification of form. The clo-et systematist is very apt to overlook or to take no count of habits, voice, modification, and other features of life which have an important bearing on the modification of species. To take one instance, the short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydac- dla) is spread over the countries bordering on the Mediter- ranean ; but, along with it, in Andalusia alone is found another yecies, Ca/. detida, of a rather dark er colour, and with the secon- generally somewhat shorter. Without further knowledge than that obtained from a comparison of skins, it might be put down as an accidental variety. But the field naturalist sooa ( nises it as a mostdistinct species. It has a different voice, a differently-shaped nest ; and, while the common species breeds in the plains, this one always resorts to the hills. The Spanish shepherds on the spot recognise theirdistinctness,and haveaname for each species. Take, again, the eastern form of the common song-thrush. The bird of North China, 7urdus auritus, closely resembles our familiar sp+cies, but is slightly larger, and there is 4 minute difference in the wing formula. But the field natu- talist has ascertained that it lays eggs like those of the missel- thrush, and it isthe only species closely allied to our bird which does not lay eggs of a blue ground colour. The hedge accentor of Japan (Accentor rubidus) is distinguished from our most familiar friend, Accentor modularis, by delicate differences of hue. But, though in gait and manner it closely resembles it, I was surprised to find the Japanese bird strikingly distinct in habits and life, being found only in forest and brushwood several thousand feet above the sea. I met with it first at Chin- senze— 6000 feet—before the snow had left the ground, and in summer it goes higher still, but never descends to the cultivated land. If both species are derived, as seems probable, from Accentor immaculaius of the Himalayas, then the contrast in habits is easily explained. The lofty mountain ranges of Japan have enabled the settlers there to retain their original habits, for which our humbler elevations have afforded no scope. _ On the solution of the problem of the migration of birds, the most remarkable of all the phenomena of animal life, much less aid has been contributed by the observations of field naturalists than might reasonably have been expected, The facts of migra- NO. 1247, VOL. 48] | tion have, of course, been recognised from the earliest times, and have afforded a theme for Hebrew and Greek poets 3000 yeais ago, Theories which would explain it are rife enough, _ but it is. only of late years that any systematic effort has been made to classify and summarise the thousands of data and notes which are needed in order to draw any satisfactory conclusion. The observable facts may be classified as to their bearing on the whither, when, and how, of migration, and after this we may possibly arrive at a true answer to the Why? Observation has sufficiently answered the first question, Whither ? There are scarcely any feathered denizens of earth or sea to the summer and winter ranges of which we cannot now point. Of almost all the birds of the holo-arctic fauna, we have ascer- tained the breeding-places and the winter resorts. Now that the knot and the sanderling have been successfully pursued even to Grinnell Land, there remains but the curlew sandpiper (Tringa susarquata), of all the known European birds, whose breeding ground is a virgin soil, to be trodden, let us hope, in a successiul exploration by Nansen, on one side or other of the North Pole. Equally clearly ascertained are the winter querters of all the migrants. The most casual observer cannot fail to notice in any part of Africa, north or south, west coast or interior, the myriads of familiar species which winter there. As to the time of migration, the earliest notes of field naturalists have been the records of the dates of arrival of the feathered visitors. We possess them for some localities, as for Norfo.k by the Marsham family, so far back as 1736. In recent years these observations have been carried out on a larger and more systematic scale by Middendorff, who, forty years ago, devoted himself to the study of the lines of migration in the Russian Empire, tracing what he called the zsopipteses, the lines of simultaneous arrival of particular species, and by Prof. Palmén, of Finland, who, twenty years later, pursued a similar course of investigation ; and by Prof. Baird on the migration of North American birds ; and subsequently by Severtzoff as regards Central Asia, and Menzbier as regards Eastern Europe. As respects our own coasts, a vast mass of statistics has been col- lected by the labours of the Migration Committee appointed by the British Association in 1880, for which our thanks are due to the indefatigable zeal of Mr. John Coideaux and his colleapue Mr. John Harvie Brown, the originators of the scheme by which the lighthouses were for nine years used as posis of observation on migration. The reports of that committee are familiar to us, but the inferences are not yet worked out. I cannot but regret that the committee has been allowed to drop. Prof, W. W. Cooke has been carrying on similar observations in the Mississippi valley, and others, too numerous to mention, have done the same elsewhere. But, as Prof. Newton has truly ’ said, all these efforts may be said to pale before the stupendous amount of information amassed during mure than fifty years hy the venerable Herr Gatke, of Heligoland, whose work we earnestly desire may soon appear in an English version, We have, through the labours of the wiiters I have named, and many others, arrived at a fair knowledge of the When? of migration. Of the How? we have ascertained a little, but very little. The lines of migration vary widely in different species, and in different longitudes. The theory of migration being directed towards the magnetic pole, first started by Middendorff, seems to be refuted by Baird, who has shown that in North America the theory will not hold. Yet, in some instances, there is evidently a converging tendency in northward migra- tions. ‘The line, according to Middendorff, in Middle Siberia is due north, in Eastern Siberia south-east to north-west, and in Wes- tern Siberia from south-west to north-east. In European Russia Menzbier traces four northward routes: (1) A coast line coming up from Norway round the North Cape to Nova Zembla, (2) The Baltic line with bifurcation, one proceeding by the Gulf of Bothnia, and the other by the Gulf of Finland, which is after- wards again subdivided. (3) A Black Sea line, reaching nearly as far north as the valley of the Petchora ; and (4) the Cas- pian line, passing up the Volga, and reaching as far east as the valley of the Obi by other anastomosing streams. Palmén has endeavoured to trace thetines of migration on the return autumnal journey in the eastern hemisphere, and has arranged them in nine routes: (1) From Nova Zembla, round the West of Norway, tothe British Isles. (2) From Spitzbergen, by Norway, to Britain, France, Portugal, and West Africa. (3) From North Russia, by the Gulf of Finland, Holstein, and Holland, and then bifurcating to the West Coast of France on the one side, and on the other up the Rhine to Italy and North 494 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 21, 189 Africa. (4a) Down the Volga by the Sea of Azof, Asia Minor, and Egypt, while the other portion (44), trending east, passes by the Caspian and Tigris to the Persian Gulf. (5) By the Yenesei to Lake Baikal and Mongolia. (6) By the Lenaonto the Amoor and Japan. (7) From East Siberia to the Corea and Japan. (8) Kamschatka to Japan and the Chinese coast. (9) From Greenland, Iceland, and the Farohs, to Britain, where it joins line 2. All courses of rivers of importance form minor routes, and consideration of these lines of migration might serve to explain the fact of North American stragglers, the waifs and strays which have fallen in with great flights of the regular migrants and been more frequently shot on the east coast of England and Scotland than on the west coast orin Ireland. They have not crossed the Atlantic, but have come from the far north, where a very slight deflection east or west might alter their whole course, and in that case they would naturally strike either Iceland or the west coast of Norway, and in either case would reach the east coast of Britain. But, if by storms, and the prevailing winds of the North Atlantic coming from the west, they had been driven out of their usual course, they would strike the coast of Norway, and so find their way hither in the company of their congeners. As to the elevation at which migratory flights are carried on, Herr Ga'ke, as well as many American observers, holds that it is generally far above our ken, at least in normal conditions of the atmosphere, and that the opportunities of observation, apart from seasons and unusual atmospheric disturbance, are confined chiefly to unsuccessful and abortive attempts. It is maintained that the height of flight is some 1500 to 15,000 feet, and if this be so, as there seems every reason to admit, the aid of land bridges and river valleys becomes of very slight im- portance. A trivial instance will illustrate this. There are two species of blue-throat, Cyanecuda suecica and C. leucocyana; the former with its red-breast patch is abundant in Sweden in summer, but is never found in Germany, except most accident- ally, as the other is the common form of Central Europe. Yet both are abundant in Egypt and Syria, where they winter, and I have on several occasions obtained both species out of the same flock. Hence we infer that the Swedish bird makes its journey from its winter quarters with scarcely a halt, while the other proceeds leisurely to its nearer summer quarters. On the other hand, I have more than once seen myriads of swallows, martins, sand-martins, and, later in the season, swifts, passing up the Jordan Valley and along the Bukoa of Central Syria, at so slight an elevation that I was able to distinguish at once that the flight consisted of swallows or house-martins. This was in perfectly calm clear weather. One stream of swallows, certainly not less than a quarter of a mile wide, occupied more than halfan hour in passing over one spot, and flights of house-martins, and then ofsand-martins, the next day, were scarcely less numerous. These flights must have been straight up from the Red Sea, and may have been the general assembly of all those which had win- tered in East Africa. I cannot think that these flights were more than 1000 feet high. On the other hand, when standing on the highest peak in the Island of Palma, 6500 feet, with a dense mass of clouds beneath us, leaving nothing of land or sea visible, save the distant Peak of Tenerife, 13,000 feet, I have watched a flock of Cornish choughs soaring above us, till at length they were absolutely undistinguishable by us except with field-glasses. As to the speed with which the migration flights are accom- plished, they require much further observation, Herr Gatke main- tains that godwits and plovers can fly at the rate of 240 miles an hour(!), and the Jate Dr. Jerdon stated that the spine-tailed swift (Acanthyllis caudacutus), roosting in Ceylon, would reach the Himalayas (1200 miles) before sunset. Certainly in their ordinary flight the swift is the only bird I have ever noticed to outstrip an express train on the Great Northern Railway. Observation has shown us that, while there is a regular and uniform migration in the case of some species, yet that, beyond these, there comes a partial migration of some species, immi- asa) and emigrants simultaneously, and this, besides the amiliar vertical emigration from higher to lower altitudes and vice versd, asin the familiar instance of the lapwing and golden plover. There is still much scope for the field naturalist in observation of these pirtial migrations, There are also species in which some individuals migrate and some are sedentary, ¢.g, in the few primeval forests which still remiin in the Canary Islands, ani which are enshrouded in almost perpetual mist, the wod- NO. 1247, VOL. 48] cock issedentary, and not uncommon. I have often put 7 bird and seen the eggs ; but in winter the number is creased, and the visitors are easily to be distinguished residents by their lighter colour and larger size. The re never leaves the cover of the dense forest, where the growt ferns and shrubs is perpetual, and fosters a moist, rich, se peaty soil, in which the woodcock finds abundant food a) year, and has thus lost its migratory instincts. fairs But why do birds migrate? Observation has brought - many facts which seem to increase the difficulties of a tory answer to the question. The autumnal retre: breeding quarters might be explained by a want of si sustenance as winter approaches in the higher latitudes, will not account for the return migration in spring, sine is no perceptible diminution of supplies in the winter A friend of mine, who was for some time stationed at ai mary at Kikombo, on the high plateau south-east of ¥ Nyanza Lake, almost under the equator, where t variation in the seasons, wrote to me that from Nove : March the country swarmed with swallows and martins, ¥ seemed to the casual observer to consist almost three species, though occasionally a few birds of differen might be noticed in the larger flocks. Towards the ent March, without any observable change in climatic or atmo conditions, nine-tenths of the birds suddenly disappea only a sprinkling remained, These, which had previc lost amid the myriad of winter visitants, seemed to consis four species, of which I received specimens of two, Az puella and H. senegalensis. One, described as white un is probably H. ethiopica ; and the fourth, very small, ; black, must be a Psa/édoprocne. All these remained spring and summer. The northward movement of all must be through some impulse not yet ascertained. other instances observation has shown that the impulse ment is not dependent on the weather at the moment. especially the case with sea birds, Prof. Newton that they can be trusted as the almanack itself. Fo or fair, heat or cold, the puffins, /vatercula arctica, re some of their stations punctually on a given day, as movements were regulated by clockwork. In like whether the summer be ‘cold or hot, the swifts leave t home in England about the first week in August, only stragglers ever being seen after that date. Soin thre years I noticed the appearance of the common swift apus) in myriads on one day in the first week in April. case of almost all the land birds, it has been ascerta repeated observations that the male birds arrive some di the hens. I donot think it is proved that they start but, being generally stronger than the females, it is ve that they should outstrip their weaker mates. I think, there is evidence that those species which have the me southerly, have also the most extended northerly r same may hold good of individuals of the same species, | be accounted for by, or account for, the fact that, e.g., viduals of the wheatear or of the willow wren which pel furthest north have longer and stronger wings than tl viduals which terminate their journey in more southern The length of wing of two specimens of Saxicola @ my collection from Greenland and Labrador exceeds b the length of British and Syrian specimens, and the exceeding them by °5 inch, is from the Gambia. So tary Phylloscopus trochilus of the Canaries has a shorter wing than European specimens, Ls To say that migration is performed by instinct is no ex tion of the marvellous faculty, it is an evasion of the Prof. Mébius holds that birds crossing the ocean may by observing the rolling of the waves, but this will not in the varying storms of the Atlantic, still less in the v : of stormy and landless ocean crossed by the bronze cu (Chrysococeyx lucidus) in its passage from New Guinea te Zealand. Prof. Palmén ascribes the due performance flight to experience, but this is not confirmed by field ob He assumes that the flights are led by the oldest and st but observation by Herr Giitke has shown that among m as the young and old journey apart and by different routes, | former can have had no experience. All ornithologists are a\ : that the parent cuckoos leave this country long before their yo ones are hatched by their foster-parents. The sense of Si cannot guide birds which travel by night, or span oceans or co inents in a single flight. In noticing all the phenom a SEPTEMBER 21, 1893] NATURE 495 migration, there yet remains a vast untilled region for the field naturalist. _ What Prof. Newton terms the sense of direction, unconsciously exercised, is the nearest approach yet made to a solution of the ‘problem. He remarks how vastly the sense of direction varies in human beings, contrasting its absence in the dwellers in towns compared with the power of the shepherd and the countryman, and, infinitely more, with the power of the savage or the Arab. He adduces the experience of Middendorff among the Samo- jeds, who know how to reach their goal by the shortest way through places wholly strange to them. He had known it among dogs and horses (as we may constantly perceive), but was sur- prised to find the same incomprehensible animal faculty un- weakened among uncivilised men. Nor could the Samojeds understand his enquiry how they didit? They disarmed him by the question, How now does the arctic fox find its way aright on the Tundra, and never go astray? and Middendorff adds: ** 7 was thrown back on the unconscious performance of an in- herited animal faculty ”; and so are we! There is one more kind of migration, on which we know nothing, and where the field naturalist has still abundant scope for the exercise of observation. I mean what is called excep- tional migration, not the mere wanderings of waifs and strays, nor yet the uncertain travels of some species, as the crossbill in search of food, but the colonising parties of many gregarious species, which generally, so far as we know in our own hemi- sphere, travel from east to west, or from south-east to north- west. Such are the waxwing (Ampelis garrula), the pastor star- ling (Pastor roseus) and Pallas’s sandgrouse, after intervals sometimes of many years, or sometimes for two or three years in succession. The waxwing will overspread Western Europe in winter for a short time. It appears to be equally inconstant in its choice of summer quarters, as was shown by J. Wolleyin Lapland. The rose pastor regularly winters in India, but never remains to breed. For this purpose the whole race seems to collect and travel north-west, but rarely, or after intervals of many years, returns to the same quarters. Verona, Broussa, Smyrna, Odessa, the Dobrudscha have all during the last half- century been visited for one summer by tens of thousands, who are attracted by the visitations of locusts, on which they feed, rear their young, and go. Theseirruptions, however, cannot be classed under the laws of ordinary migration. Not less inex- plicable are such migrations as those of the African darter, which, though never yet observed to the north of the African lakes, contrives to pass, every spring, unobserved to the lake of Antioch in North Syria, where I found a large colony rearing their young, which, so soon as their progeny was able to fly, disappeared to the south-east as suddenly as they had arrived There is one possible explanation of thesense of direction uncon- sciously exercised, which I submit asa working hypothesis. We are all aware of the instinct, strong both in mammals and birds with- out exception, which attracts them to the place of their nativity. When the increasing cold of the northern regions, in which they all had their origin, drove the mammals southward, they could not retrace their steps, because the increasing polar sea, as the arctic continent sank, barred their way. The birds reluctantly left their homes as winter came on, and followed the supply of food. Butas the season in their new residence became hotter in summer, they instinctively returned to their birthplaces, and there reared their young, retiring with them when the recurring winter impelled them to seek a warmer climate. Those species which, unfitted for a greater amount of heat by their more pro- tracted sojourn in the northern regions, persisted in revisiting their ancestral homes, or getting as near to them as they could, retained a capacity for enjoying a temperate climate, which, very gradually, was lost by the species which settled down more pee nently in their new quarters, and thus a law of migration e established on the one side, and sedentary habits on the other, Tf there be one question on which the field naturalist may contribute, as lion’s provider to the philosopher, more than another, it ison the now much disputed topic of ‘* mimicry,” whether protective or aggressive. As Mr. Beddard has re- marked on this subject, ‘‘The field of hypothesis has no limits, and what we need is more study’”’—and, may we not add, more accurate observation of facts. ‘The theory of pro- tective mimicry was first propounded by Mr. H. W. Bates, from his observations on the Amazon. He found that the group of butterflies, He/iconiide, conspicuously banded with yellow and black, were provided with certain glands NO. 1247, VOL. 48] which secrete a nauseating fluid, supposed to render them un- palatable to birds. In the sand districts he found also similarly coloured butterflies, belonging to the family Pieridz, which so closely resembled the others in shape and markings as to be easily mistaken for them, but which, unprovided with such secreting glands, were unprotected from the attacks of birds, The resemblance, he thought, was brought about by natural selection for the protection of the edible butterflies, through the birds mistaking them for the inedible kind. Other cases of mimicry among a great variety of insects have since been pointed out, and the theory of protective mimicry has gained many adherents. Among birds, many instances have been adduced. Mr. Wallace has described the extraordinary simi- larity between birds of very different families, Oriolus bour- uensis and Philemon moluccensis, both peculiar to the island of Bouru. Mr. H. O. Forbes has discovered a similar brown oriole, Oriolus decipiens, as closely imitating the appearance of the Philemon timorlacensis of Timor-laut. A similar instance occurs in Ceram. But Mr. Wallace observes that, while usually the mimicking species is less numerous than the mimicked, the contrary appears to be the case in Bouru, and it is difficult to see what advantage has been gained by the mimicry. Now, all the species of Phz/emon are remarkably sombre-coloured birds, and the mimicry cannot be on their side. But there are other brown orioles, more closely resembling those named, in other Moluccan islands, and yet having no resemblance to the Philemon of the same island, as may be seen in the case of the Oriolus pheochromus and Philemon gilolensis from Gilolo. Yet the oriole bas adopted the same livery which elsewhere is a perfect mimicry. May it not therefore be that we have, in this group of brown orioles, the original type of the family unditler- entiated? As they spread east and south we may trace the gradation, through the brown striation of the New Guinea bird, to the brighter, green-tinged form of the West Australran and the green plumage of the Southern Australian, while west- ward the brilliant yellows of the numerous Indian and African species were developed, and another group, preferring high elevations, passing through the mountain ranges of Java, Suma- tra, and Borneo, intensified the aboriginal brown into black, and hence were evolved the deep reds of the various species which culminate in the crimson of Formosa, Oriolus ardens, and the still deeper crimsons of O. ¢vailli of the Himalayas. It is possible that there may be similarity without mimicry, and, by the five laws of mimicry as laid down by Wallace, very many suggested cases must be eliminated. We all know that it is quite possible to find between species of very different genera extraordinary similarity which is not mimetic. Take, for instance, the remarkable identity of coloration in the case of some of the African species Macronyx and the American S?z7- nella, or, again, of some of the African Campophage and the American Ageleus, The outward resemblance occurs in both cases in the red as well as in the yellow-coloured species of all four groups. But we find that the A/acronyx of America and the Campophage of Africa, in acquiring this coloration, have departed widely from the plain colour found in their immediate relatives. If we applied Mr. Scudder’s theory on insects, we must imagine that the prototype form has become extinct, While the mimicker has established its position. This is an hypothesis which is easier to suggest than either to prove or to disprove. Similar cases may frequently be found in botany, The straw- berry is not indigenous in Japan, but in the mountains there [ found a potentilla in fruit which absolutely mimicked the Alpine strawberry in the minutest particulars, in its runners, its blos- soms, and fruit; but the fruit was simply dry pith, supporting the seeds and retaining its colour without shrinking or falling from the stalk for weeks—a remarkable case, we cannot say of unconscious mimicry, but of unconscious resemblance. Mimicry in birds is comparatively rare, and still rarer in mammals, which is not surprising when we consider how small is the total number of the mammalia, and even of birds, compared with the countless species of invertebrates. Out of the vast assemblage of insects, with their varied colours and patterns, it would te strange if there were not many cases of accidental resemblance. A strict application of Wallace’s five laws would, perhaps, if all the circumstances were known, eliminate many accepted in- stances, As to cases of edible insects mimicking inedible, Mr. Poulton admits that even unpalatable animals have their special enemies, and that the enemies of palatable animals are not indefinitely numerous, 496 NATURE a Mr. Beddard gives tables of the results obtained by Weis- ~mann, Poulton, and others, which show that it is impossible to lay down any definite law upon the subject, and that the likes and dislikes of insect-eating animals are purely relative. One of the most interesting cases of mimicry is that of the Volucella, a genus of Diptera, whose larvee live on the larvee of Hymenoptera, and of which the perfect insect closely resembles some species of humble-bee. Though this fact is unquestioned, yet it has recently given rise to a controversy, which, so far as one who has no claim to be an entomologist can judge, proves that while there is much that can be explained by mimicry, there is, nevertheless, a danger of its advocates pressing it too far. Volucella bombylans occurs in two varieties, which prey upon the humble-bees, Bombus muscorum and B. lapidarius, which they respectively resemble. Mr. Bateson does not ques- tion the behaviour of the Vo/ucel/a, but states that neither variety specially represents B. muscorum, and yet that they deposit their eggs more frequently in their nests than in the nests of other species which they resemble more closely. He also states that in a show-case in the Royal College of Surgeons, to illus- trate mining, two specimens of another species, B. sy/varum, were placed alongside of the Vo/ucella, which they do resemble, but were labelled B. muscorum. But Mr, Hart explains the parasitism in another way, He states that a nest of B. muscorum is made on the surface, without much attempt at concealment, and that the bee is a jpeculiarly gentle species, with a very feeble sting ; but that the species which the Voluce//a most resemble are irascible, and therefore more dangerous to intruders. If this be so, it is difficult to see why the Voluce/la should mimic the bee, which it does not affect, more closely than the one. which is generally its victim. Ido not presume to express any opinion: further than this, that the instances I have cited show that there is much reason for further careful observation by the field naturalist, and much yet to be discovered by the physiologist and the chemist, as to the composition and nature of animal pigments. I had proposed to occupy a considerable portion of my address with a statement of the present position of the contro- versy on heredity, by far the most difficult and‘important of all those subjects which at present attract the attention of the bio- Jogist ; but an attack of illness has compelled me to abandon my purpose. Not that I proposed to venture to express any opinions of my own, for, with such protagonists in the field as Weismann, Wallace, Romanes, and Poulton on the one side, and Herbert Spencer and Hartog on the other, “* Von nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites.” So far as I can understand Weismann’s theory, he assumes the separation of germ cells and somatic cells, and that each germ cell contains in its nucleus a number of *‘ ids,” each ‘‘ id ” representing the personality of an ancestral member of the species, or of an antecedent species. ‘‘The first multicellular organism was probably a cluster of similar cells, but these units soon lost their original homogeneity. As the result of mere relative position, some of the cells were especially fitted to provide for the nutrition of the colony, while others undertook the work of reproduction.” The latter, or germ-plasm, he assufnes to possess an unlimited power of continuance, and that life is endowed with a fixed duration, not because it is contrary to its natuure to be unlimited, but because the unlimited ex- istence of individuals would be a luxury without any corres- ‘ponding advantage. Herbert Spencer remarks upon this : ‘‘ The changes of every aggregate, no matter of what kind, inevitably end in a state of equilibrium, Suns and planets die, as well as organisms.”’ But has the theory been proved, either by the histologist, the micro- sccpist, or the chemist? Spencer presses the point that the immortality of the protozoa has not been proved. And, after all, when Weismann makes the continuity of the germ plasm the foundation of a theory of heredity, he is building upon a pure hypothesis. From the continuity of the germ-plasm, and its relative segregation from the body at large, save with respect to nutrition, he deduces, 2 friori, the impossibility of characters acquired by the body being transmitted through the germ-plasm to the offspring. From this he implies that where we find no intelli- gible mechanism to convey an imprint from the body to the germ, there no imprint can be conveyed. Romanes has brought forward many instances which seem to contradict this theory, and Herbert Spencer remarks that ‘‘a recognised Principle of reasoning—‘ the law of parsimony ’—forbids the NO. 1247, VOL. 48] observed by Dr. Lowe, of piercing the calyx of Aibise: history of pa -tology. I say paleontology, for he was not a gist i sense of studying the order, succession, area, structure ~he fought the battle almost alone. ‘gist and the physiologist have rightly come into [Serremper 21, 1893. assumption of more causes than aie needful for the exp of phenomena. We have evident causes which arrest multiplication, therefore it is illegitimate to ascribe this ; to some property inherent in the cells.” With regard to the reduction or disappearance of an he states ‘‘that when natural selection, either direct or is set aside, why the mere cessation of selection should ¢ decrease of an organ, irrespective of the direct effects of dise Iam unableto see. Beyond the production of changes in size of parts, by the selection of fortuitously arising vari: can see but one other cause for the production of them competition among the parts for nutriment. . . . The parts are well supplied, while the inactive parts are ill supp and dwindle, as does the arm of the Hindu fakir, T! petition isthe cause of economy of growth—this is the ¢ decrease from disease.” i : I may illustrate Mr. Herbert Spencer's remarks by familiar instance of the pinions of the Kakapo (.S#v7: — remaining, but powerless for flight. i As for acquired habits, such as the modification of | tecture by the same species under changed circumstance they can be better accounted for than by hereditary tran instinct, I do not see. I mean such cases as the ground- Didunculus in Samoa having saved itself from extinctic the introduction of cats, by roosting and nesting in tr the extraordinary acquired habit of the black-cap in the C: ay sinensis—an introduced plant—to attract insects, for wl quietly sits waiting. So the lying low of a covey of pai under an artificial kite would seem to be a transmitted ims from a far-off ancestry not yet lost ; for many genera partridges, I fear, must have passed since the last kite hon over the forefathers of an English partridge, save in ver parts of the island. Ge I cannot conclude without recalling that the past witnessed the severance of the last link with the pie-Dars naturalists in the death of Sir Richard Owen. Though himself a field-worker, or the discoverer of a siugle animal or extinct, his career extends over the whole disturbance of strata. But he accumulated facts on remains that came to his hands, till he won the fame eft the greatest comparative anatomist of the age. To owe the building up of the skeletons of the giant Dinonz and many other of the perished forms of the gigantie's armadilloes, and mastodons of South America, Au Europe. He was himself a colossal worker, and worked for popularity. He had lived and worked before the Victorian age to accept readily the doctrin have revolutionised that science, though none has hae share in accumulating the facts, the combination of necessity produced that transformation. But, th 7 fondly to his old idea of the archetype, no man did Owen to explode the rival theories of both W. Huttonians, till the controversies of Plutonians and came to us from the far past with as little to move as the blue and green controversies of Constantinop! Nor can we forget that it isto Sir Richard’s perseverance that we owe the magnificent palace w: the national collections in Cromwell Road. For ma His demand for : of two stories, covering five acres, was denounced as ai The scheme was pronounced foolish, crazy, and é: but, afier twenty years’ struggle, he was victorious, the Act was passed which gave not five, but me acres for the purpose. Owen retired from its direc having achieved the crowning victory of his life. in his old age on the scientific achievements of t fully recognised the prospects of still further ad observed, ‘* The known is very small compared wit able, and we may trust in the Author of all truth, w will not let that truth remain for ever hidden.” I have endeavoured to show that there is still workers, that the naturalist has his place, though the mS prominence, and we need not yet abandon the field-g the lens for the microscope and the scalpel. The stud laboratory still leave room for the observations of The investigation of muscles, the analysis of brain Serremper 21, 1893 | NATURE. 497 ch into the chemical properties of pigment, have not red worthless the study and observation of life and habits. ou cannot diagnose the Red Indian and the Anglo-Saxon ‘comparison of their respective skeletons or researches into muscular structure, but require to know the habits, the age, the modes of thought of each ; so the mammal, the and even the invertebrate, has his character, his voice, impulses, aye, I will add, his ideas, to be taken into account order to discriminate him. There is something beyond tter in life, even in its lowest forms. 1 may quote on this caution uttered by a predecessor of mine in this chair (Prof. ilnes Marshall): ‘‘ One thing above all is apparent, that embryologists must not work single-handed ; must not be satisfied with an acquaintance, however exact, with animals from ‘the side of development only ; for embryos have this in common with maps, that too close and too exclusive a study of them is apt to disturb.a man’s reasoning power.” The ancient Greek philosopher gives us a threefold division of the intellectual faculties—opdvnots, émtothun, obveors—and I think we may apply it to the subdivision of Jabour in natural science: ppdvnots, 7 Te Kad’ Exacta yywptCovoa, , is the power that divides, discerns, distinguishes—z.¢. the naturalist ; ovve is, the operation of the closest zoologist, who investigates and ex- periments ; and émorhun, the faculty of the philosopher, who draws his conclusions from facts and observations. - . The older naturalists lost much from lack of the records of previous observations ; their difficulties were not ours, but they ‘went to nature for their teachings rather than to books, Now 2 ger it hard to avoid being smothered with the literature on the subject, and being choked with the dust of libraries. The ; r against which Prof. Marshall warns the embryologist is not confined to him alone ; the observer of facts is equally ex- posed to it, and he must beware of the danger, else he may yecome a mere materialist. The poetic, the imaginative, the emotional, the spiritual, all go to make up the man ; and if one of these is missing, he is incomplete. _ Lcannot but feel that the danger of this concentration upon one side only of nature is painfully illustrated in the life of our em master, Darwin. In his early days he was a lover of literature, he delighted in Shakespeare and other poets ; but a(ter years of scientific activity and interest, he found on taking them up again that he had not only grown indifferent to them, but that they were even distasteful to him. He had suffered a sort of atrophy on that side of his nature, as the disused pinious of the Kakapo have become powerless—the spiritual, the imaginative, the emotional, we may call it. The case of Darwin illustrates a law—a principle we may call it—namely, that the spiritual faculty lives or dies by ex- ercise or the want of it even as does the bodily. Yet the atrophy was unconscious. Far was it from Darwin to ignore or depreciate studies not hisown. He has shown us this when he prefixed to the title-page of his great work the following extract from Lord Chancellor Bacon: ‘‘ To conclude, there- fore, let no man, out of a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill- applied moderation, think or maintain that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God’s word, or in the book of God's works, divinity or philosophy, but rather let men endeavour an endless progress or proficience in both.’”’ In true harmony this with the spirit of the father of natural history, concluding with the words, ‘*O Lord, how manifold are Thy works, in wisdom hast Thou made them all, the earth is fall of Thy riches,” SECTION G. MECHANICAL SCIENCE. “OPENING ADDRESS BY JEREMIAH HEAD, M.Insv.C.E., Past Pres.(nst.Mecu.E., F.C.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SEcTION. Tus Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was founded with the object of making more widely known, and more generally appreciated, all well-ascertained facts and well-established principles having special reference to mechanical science. _ As President of the Section for the year, it becomes my duty to inaugurate the proceedings by addressing you upon some portion of the scientific domain to which I have referred, and in phan Shag presence here indicates that you are all more or less nterested, : NO. 1247, voL. 48] Mechanical Science. The founders of the British Association no doubt regarded the field of operations which they awarded to Section G asa not less purely scientific one than those which they allotted to the other Sections. And indeed, mechanical science studied, say, by Watt was as free from suspicion of commercial bias as chemical science studied, say, by Faraday. But whatever may have been the original idea, the practice of the Section has recently been to expend most of its available time in the consideration of more or less beneficial applications of mechanical science, rather than of the first principles thereof, Our Section has become more and more one of applied rather than of pure science. None of the other Sections is free from this fault, if fault it be (which I do not contend or admit), but Section G seems to me to be beyond all question, and beyond all others, the Section of applied science. The charter of the Institution of Civil Engineers commences by reciting that the object of that society is ‘‘the general ad- vancement of mechanical science, and more particularly for promoting the acquisition of that species of knowledge which constituies the profession of a civil engineer, being the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and’ convenience of man.” Tt seems that in 1828, when the Institution was incorporated, the term ‘‘ mechanical science” had a wider meaning than it is now usually understood to have. For, according to the charter, the art of directing the great sources of power in nature is only a particular species of knowledge which ‘‘ mechanical science” includes. In 1836, or eight years later, the founders of our Section adopted the term without again defining it. Probably they accepted the careful definition of the Great George Street In- stitution. Time has shown the wisdom of that decision. For we civil engineers and other frequenters of Section G in active practice need far more knowledge than mechanical science can teach us in the ordinary or narrow sense of the term. Our art in its multifarious branches requires, if success is to be attained, the acquisition and application of almost all the other sciences which belong to the fields of research relegated to the other Sections. For how could the gigantic engineering structures of modern times be designed without recourse to mathematics, or steam and other motors without a knowledge of physics, or modern metallurgical operations be conducted without chemistry,. or mining without geology, or communications by rail, ship, and wire be established and carried on with ail parts of the world without attention to geography, or extensive manufacturing enterprises be developed if the laws of economics were neglected ? As to biological studies, they seem at first sight to have but little to do with mechanical science. It might even be thought that the civil engineer could afford altogether to neglect this. part of the work of the Association. But I trust I shall be able to show you before I finish that any such view is absolutely untenable. Mechanisms in Nature. Indeed, I hope, in the course of this address, to satisfy you that mechanical science is largely indebted to mechanisms as they exist in nature, if not for its origin, at all events for much of its progress hitherto, and that nature must still be our guide. Mechanical science has been built up entirely upon observa- tion and experiment, and the natural laws which have been induced therefrom by man. The lower animals in their wild condition work with tools or appliances external to their bodies to but a very slight extent, and man in a primitive or savage state does the same. But many, if not most, animals can be taught to use mechanisms if carefully trained from infancy. Thus, the well-known donkey at Carisbrooke Castle draws water from adeep well by a treadmill. arrangement: just as well as a man could do it. He watches the rope on the barrel till the full pail rises above the parapet of the well, then slacks back a little to allow it to be rested thereon, and only then leaves the drum and retreats to his stable. But, accor ing to his attendant, four years were needed for his education, and unless it had been commenced early it would have been useless. I have seen a canary gradually lift from a little well, situated a foot below its perch, a thimble full of water by pulling up with its beak, bit by bit, a little chain attached to it, and securing each length lifted with its foot till it could take another pull. When the thimble reached its perch level the bird took a drink, 498 NATURE {SEPTEMBER 21, 189, ‘ and then let it fall back into the well. amples will doubtless occur to you. But though animals can be taught to make use of mechanical appliances provided for them—a fact which shows the existence in their brains of a faculty corresponding in kind, if not in degree, to the mechanical faculty in man—they rarely, on their own initiative, make use of anything external to their bodies as tools ; and still more rarely, if ever, do they make, alter, or adapt such mechanical aids. Mr. C. Wood, of Middlesbrough, informs me that certain crows which frequent oyster-beds on the coast of India, wait until the receding tide uncovers the oysters, which still remain open for a time. A crow will then put a pebble inside one, and, having thus gagged it and secured its own safety, will proceed to pick it out and eat it at leisure. A monkey will crack a nut between two stones, and will hurl missiles at his enemies. But in some countries he is syste- matically entrapped by tying to a tree a hollow gourd containing rice, and having a hole large enough for his hand, but too small for his clenched fist, to pass through. THe climbs the tree and grasps the rice, and remains there till taken, being too greedy, and not having sufficient sense, to let go the rice and withdraw his hand. This 1s on a par with the snuff-taking imbecile, described by Hugh Miller (“My Schools and Schooimasters),” whom the boys used to tease by giving him a little snuff at the bottom of a deep tin box. The imbecile would try to get at it for hours without the idea ever occurring to him that he might achieve his object by turning the box upside down. All animals are, however, in their bodily frames, and in the intricate processes and functions which go on continuously therein, mechanisms of so elaborate a kind that we can only look and wonder and strive to imitate them a little here and there. The mechanism of their own bodily frames is that with which the lower animals have to be content, and whilst they are in the prime of life and health, and in their natural environment, it is generally sufficient for all their purposes. Man has a still mone perfect, or rather a still more versatile bodily mechanism, and one which in a limited environment would be equally sufficient for his needs. But he has also an enterprising and powerful mind which impels him to strive after and enables him to enjoy fields of conquest unknown to, and uncared for by, the relatively brainless lower animals. Urged on by these superior mental powers, man must soon have perceived that by the use of instruments he could more quickly and easily gain his ends, and he would not be long in discovering that certain other animals, such as the ox and the horse, were teachable and his willing slaves, provided only he fed and trained them, and treated them kindly, First, in common with other animals, he would find out that stones and sticks were of some use as weapons and tools ; then he would go further and utilise skins and thongs for clothing and harness ; and by selecting and modifying his stones and sticks he would form them into rough implements, which would enable him to cut down trees and to make rude huts and boats. Animals caught and domesticated would first be taught to haul light logs along the ground, then to move heavier ones on rollers ; and later, in order to avoid the necessity for continual replacement on the rollers, the wheel and axle would be gradually developed. The mechanical nomenclature of all languages is largely derived from the bodies of inen and other animals. From this it is clear that animals have always been recognised as mechanisms, or as closely related thereto, The names bor- rowed from them generally indicate a resemblance in form rather than in function, though not invariably so. Thus in our own language we have the ‘‘head” of a ship, a river, a lake, a jetty, a bolt, a nail, a screw, a rivet, a flight of stairs, and a column of water; the brow of an incline; the crown of anarch; the toe of a pier; the foot of a wall; the forefoot, heel, ribs, waist, knees, skin, nose, and dead eyes of a ship; also turtle backs and whale backs; the jaws of a vice: the claws of a clutch; the teeth of wheels; necks, shoulders, eyes, nozzles, legs, ears, mouths, lips, cheeks, elbows, feathers, tongues, throats, and arms; caps, bonnets, collars, sleeves, saddles, gussets, paddles, fins, wings, horns, crabs, donkeys, monkeys, and dogs; flywheels, running nooses, crane necks, grasshopper engines, &c. Not only has our mechanical nomenclature been largely taken from animals, but many of our principal mechanical devices have pre-existed in them, Thus, examples of levers of all NO. 1247, VOL. 48] Numerous other ex- three orders are to be found in the bodies of animals human foot contains instances of the first and second, a’ forearm of the third order of lever. The patella, or is practically a part of a pulley. There are several hin and some ball-and-socket joints, with perfect lubrica' arrangements. Lunys are bellows, and the vocal oe prise every requisite of a perfect musical instrument. The is a combination of four force-pumps acting harm together. The wrist, ankle, and spinal vertebrae form univer joints. The eyes may be regarded as double-lens came with power to adjust focal length, and able, by their scopic action, to gauge size, solidity, and distance. The ner form a complete telegraph system with separate up and de lines and a central exchange. The circulation of the ble double-line system of canals, in which the canal liqui canal boats move together, making the complete circuit twice minute, distributing supplies to wherever required, and up return loads wherever ready without stopping. It is heat- distributing apparatus, carrying heat from wherever generated or in excess to wherever it is deficient, and e ing a general average, just as engineers endeavour, less success, to do in houses and public buildings. The tory system may be looked upon as that whereby the inte ventilation of the bodily structure is maintained. For b oxygen is separated from the air and imparted to the ble conveyance and use where needed, whilst at the same t products of combustion are extracted therefrom and into the atmosphere. - Mastication, which is the first process in the aliment system, is, or rather should be, a perfect system of cutting and grinding, and to assist and save animal, and esp human, mastication is the chief aim and object of gigantic milling establishments of modern times. alimentary processes are rather chemical than mechani still the successive muscular coniractions, whereby the of the canal are forced through their intricate course, tinctly mechanical, and may have suggested the ; various mechanisms which are used in the arts to o plastic materials, and cause them to flow into new directions. The superiority of man to the lower animals can become cinspicuous and decided when he began to inventive faculties and to fashion weapons and im more efficient kind than the sticks and stones which occasionally use. E But human races and individuals were never equally by nature. Some individuals would have greater powers than others, and these and their posteri gradually become dominant races. Large masses of are still more or less in the position of primeval m: if we accept the conclusions of Darwin, Lubbock, modern men of science, we must regard as one of For they are still without tools, appliances, and cloth of the most elementary kinds, and mechanical sci almost be non-existent, so far as they are concerned. It would obviously be impossible for me to treat attention even to an infinitesimal extent to the © mechanical science which surround us now so p which make our life so different from that of prim and, even if it were possible, it would be quite We have all grown up in a mechanical age. — familiarised with artificial aids ‘that we have come them as part of our natural environment, and their absence impresses us far more than their habitual pre I propose, with your leave, to proceed to the consi¢ how far man is, in his natural condition, and has aid of mechanical science, able to compete successiul other and specially endowed animals, each in its own action. Bodily Powers of Man and other Animals. The bodily frame of man is adapted for life and only on or near to the surface of theearth. Without n aids he can walk for several hours, at a speed which arily from 3 to 4 miles per hour. Under exceptional stances he has accomplished over 8 miles (‘‘ Whi manack,” 1893, p. 395) in one hour, and an avi 1 Mr. H. L. Lapage, M.Inst.C.E., who has just returned from Wes Australia, states that he found the natives of both sexes and all agesé lutely nude. SEPTEMBER 21, 1893] NATURE 499. 3 miles per hour for 141 hours.!_ In running he has covered Y 114 miles in an hour. In water he has proved him- self capable of swimming 100 yards at the rate of 3 miles er hour, and 22 miles at rather over 1 mile per hour. He can sily climb the most rugged mountain path and descend the He can swarm up a bare pole or a rope, and when of j e physique and trained from infancy can perform those wonderful feats of strength and agility which we are accustomed to expect from acrobats.. He has shown himself able to jump as high as 6 feet 23 inches from the ground, and over a _hori- zontal distance of 23 feet 3 inches, and has thrown a cricket. ball as far as 3824 feet before it struck the ground. (Chambers Encyclopedia, ‘* Athletic Sports.”) i _ The attitude and action of a man in throwing a stone or a cricket-ball, where he exerts a considerable force at several feet from the ground, to which the reaction has to be transmitted and to which he is in no way fastened, are unequalled in any artificial machine. The similar but contrary action of pulling a rope horizontally, as in ‘‘tug of war” competitions, is equally remarkable. 4 fi So also the power of the living human mechanism to withstand widely diverse and excessive strains is altogether unapproachable in artificial constructions. Thus, although fitted for an external atmospheric pressure of about 15 Ibs. to the square inch, he has | been enabled, as exemplified by Messrs. Glaisher and Coxwell | in 1862, to ascend to a height of seven miles, and breathe air at a pressure of only 34 lbs. per square inch, and still live. And, on the other hand, divers have been down into water 80. feet deep, entailing an extra pressure of about 36 lbs. per square inch, | and have returned safely. One has even been to a depth of 150 | feet, but the resulting pressure of 67 Ibs. per square inch cost him | his life. (Pal? Mail Gazette, July 5, 1893, p. 8.) Recent fasting performances (if the published records are to be trusted) are not less remarkable when we are comparing the human body asa piece of mechanism with those of artificial construction. For what artificial motor could continue its fanctions forty days and nights without fuel, or, if the material of which it was constructed were gradually consumed to main- tain the flow of energy, could afterwards build itself up again to its original substance ? These and other performances are, when considered in- dividually and separately, often largely exceeded by other animals specially adapted to their own limited spheres of activity. The marvel is not, therefore, that the human bodily mechanism is capable of any one kind of action, but that, in its various developments, it can do all or any of them, and also carry a mind endowed with far wider powers than any other animal. Animals other than man are also adapted for life and move- ment on or about the surface of the earth. This includes a certain distance below the ground, as in the case of earthworms; under the water, as in the case of fish ; on the water, as in the case of swimming birds ; and in the air, as with flying birds, As far as I know, no animal burrows downwards into the earth to a greater depth than 8 feet (‘‘ Vegetable Mould and Earthworms,” by Charles Darwin, p. 111), and then only in dry ground. Man is naturally very ill-adapted for boring into the earth as the earthworm does. Indeed, without mechanical aids he would be helpless in excavating or in dealing with the accumulations of water which are commonly met with underground. But by aid of the steam-engine for pumping, for air-compressing, ventilating, hauling, rock-boring, electric lighting, and so forth, and by the utilisation of explosives, he has obtained a complete mastery over the crust of the earth and its mineral contents, down to the depth where, owing to the increase of temperature, the conditions of existence become difficult to maintain, I have said that on land, man, unaided by mechanism, has been able to coverabout 114 miles in one hour. Two miles he has been able to run at the rate of nearly 13 miles per hour, and 100 yards at the rate of over 20 miles per hour. (Chamdéers’ Encyclopedia, ‘* Athletic Sports.”) But the horse, though he cannot walk faster than man, nor exceed him in jumping heights or distances, can certainly beat him altogether when galloping or trotting. A mile has been galloped in 103 seconds, equal to 35 miles per hour; and has been trotted in 124 seconds, equal to 29 miles per hour. (Chamlers’ Encyclopedia, ** Horse.”) There are many other animals, such as ostriches, greyhounds, antelopes, and wolves, which run at great speeds, but reliable Mw eee EE ee 1 Recent pedestrian race from Berlin to Vienna. NO. 1247, VOL. 48] records are difficult to obtain, and are scarcely necessary for our present purpose. Mechanical Aid without Extraneous Motive-power. Let us now consider how man’s position as a competitor with other animals in speed is affected by his use of mechanical aids, but without any extraneous motive-power. Locomotion on Land.—Where there is a stretch of good ice, and he:is able to bind skates on his feet, he can thereby largely augment his running speed. This was exemplified by the winner of the match for amateurs at Haarlem last winter, who accom- plished the distance of 3'1 miles at the rate of about 21 miles per hour. But the most wonderful increase to the locomotive power of man on land is obtained by the use of the modern cycle. Cycling is easily performed only where roads, wind, and weather are favourable. But similar conditions must also be present to secure the best speed of horses, with which we have been making comparison. One mile has been cycled at the rate of 27°1 miles per hour (‘‘ Whitaker’s Almanack,” 1893), 50 at 20, 100 at 16°6 (Chamders’ Encyclopedia, ‘‘Cycling”), 388 at 12°5 (Zémes, September 26 to October 7, 1892), and goo at 12°43 (‘f Whitaker’s Almanack,” 1893), miles per hour. The recent race between German and Austrian cavalry officers on the high road between Vienna and Berlin has afforded an excellent opportunity to judge of the speed and endurance of horses as compared with men over long distances. Count Starhemberg, the winner, performed the distance, about 388 miles, in 71°33 hours, equal to 5°45 miles perhour. He rested only one hour in twelve. His horse, though successful, has since died. (Vienna Berlin Race, June, 1893.) (Lawrence Fletcher cycled, also along the high roads, from Land’s End to John o’ Groat’s house, 900 miles, in 72°4 hours, equal to 12°43 miles per hour, or more than double the distance that the Count rode, and at above double the speed. To the best of my knowledge he still lives, and is no worse for his effort. The horse in this case would have to carry extra weight equal to one-sixth of his own, and the cyclist equal to a quarter of his own. But the horse carried himself and his rider on his own legs, while the cyclist made his machine bear the weight of itself and rider. Herein was probably the secret of his easy victory. With the very remarkable exception of long-distance cycling, which is of limited application, man, relying on his own bodily strength, cannot successfully compete with other animals which, like the horse, are specially fitted for rapid land locomotion. His only alternatives are either to utilise the horse and ride or drive him, and so get the benefit of his superior strength and speed, or to use his own inventive faculty and construct ap- pliances altogether apart from animal mechanisms. In either case he virtually gives up the contest as a self-moving animal, and to a great extent abandons himself to be carried by others or by inanimate machinery. Nearly seventy years ago mankind came to this conclusion, and the modern railway system is the result. The locomotive will go at least double che speed of the race-horse. It will carry not only itself, but three or four times its own weight in addition, and will go, not two or three, but 100 miles or more without stopping, if only the road ahead be clear. And the iron horse is fed and controlled without even so much exertion as that put forth by a man on a horse of flesh and bone. : Locomotion in Water.—Let us now consider the powers of mau relatively to other animals in moving upon and through the great waters with which three-fourths of the earth’s surface is covered. Here he is in competition with fishes, aquatic mammals, and swimming birds, I have already stated that, unaided by mechanism, he has shown himself able to swim for short distances at the rate of three, and long distances (22 miles) at the rate of one mile per hour. Hehas also given instances of being able to remain under water for 44 minutes. (‘* Whitaker’s Almanack,” 1893.) Credible eye-witnesses inform me that porpoises easily over- take and keep pace with a steamer going 123 knots, or, say, over | 14 miles per hour, for an indefinite length of time. This is five and fifteen times the maximum swimming speed of a man for short and long distances respectively. No doubt the form and surface of a fish, whose main business is swimming, offer less re- sistance, and his muscular power is more concentrated and better applied towards propulsion in water than is the case with man, whose body is also adapted for so many other purposes. 500 NATURE [SEPTEMBER 21, 186 T am further informed by Mr. Nelson, of Redcar, a naturalist who has made the experiment, that it is impossible for an ordi- nary sea-boat rowed by two men, and going at five miles per hour, to overtake the aquatic bird called the Great Northern Diver, when endeavouring to make his escape by alternately swimming on the surface and diving below. His speed is there- fore nearly double the short and five times the long distance speed of unaided man in water. As regards remaining under water, fishes properly so-called have unlimited powers, and even aquatic mammals, such as whales, can remain under for 14 hours. Using only his own strength, but assisting himself with mechanical devices, man has been able to increase considerably his speed as _ a swimming animal. Mr. John McCall, of Walthamstow, in- forms me that in 1868 he constructed and repeatedly used an apparatus which acted like the tail of a fish, It consisted of a piece of whalebone, having a broad yet thin and elastic blade, tapering into a shank like the end of an oar. The blade was 15 inches wide and 4 feet long, including the shank. To the end of the latter a horizontal cross-bar 13 inches long was fitted, and leather pockets were provided at the ends for the feet. By- swimming on his back and striking out alternately with his legs, he was able, with the assistance of this apparatus, to keep up with a sea-boat pulled by two men at about 4 miles per hour. - By means of boats, which he propels by oars or sculls, and notwithstanding the increased weight, and therefore displace- ment, involved ty them, man has been able to increase his speed on the surface of the water to a maximum of about 12 miles per hour for about 4 miles distance, under favourable circum- stances. “So, by supplementing his bodily powers by means of mechanical aids, such as the diving-bell and the diving-helmet, dress, and air-pump, or by the portable self-acting apparatus used with such good effect in the construction of the Severn tunnel, man has been able to approach very nearly to the natural diving powers of, at all events, aquatic mammals, except that he cannot move about in subaqueous regions with anything approaching their ease and celerity. Invariably on water, as almost invariably on land, man is quite unable to compete in power of locom>tion with other specially adapted animals, whether or not he avails himself of mechanical aids, so long as his own bodily ‘strength is the only motive-power he employs. He has gradually come to recognise this fact, and to see that he must use this inventive faculties and find new and powerful motors external to himself if he would really claim to dominate the great waters of the earth. The fastest mechanism of any size, animal or man-made, which, as far as I know, has ever cut its way through the waters for any considerable distance is the torpedo-boat, Aréefe, made by Messrs. Thornycroft and Son, of London, in 1887. It has a displacement or total weight of about 110 tons, and machinery capable of exerting 1290 effective horse-power, or 11°7 horse- power per ton of weight or displacement; or, to put it in another form, an effective horse-power is by it obtained from a weight of 191 lbs., which includes vessel, machinery, fuel, stores, and attendants. The speed accomplished at the trials of this little craft, being the average of six one-mile tests, was 26°18 knots, or 30°16 miles per hour (Zngineering, July 15, 1887). As might be expected, it resembles a fish, in that its interior is almost exclusively devoted to the machinery and accessories necessary for propulsion. During the trials the water, fuel, stores, and other ponderable substances carried amounted to 17°35 tons. ‘Two similar boats were able to make the voyage to South America by themselves, though at much lower speed and replenishing their fuel on the way. No fish or swimming bird can match this performance. And inasmuch as 191 lbs. of dead weight produced 1 horse-power, as compared with from 150 to 250 lbs. in certain flying birds, it would seem that with suitable adaptations the Ariete might even have been made to navigate the air instead of the water.! But I will revert to this subject later on. Where safety in any weather, and passenger and cargo carrying powers are aimed at, as well as, or prior to, the utmost attainable speed—and these must ever be the leading features of ocean-transit steamers if they are to attain commercial success— there I must refer you to those magnificent examples of naval * M. Normand, of Havre, is building for the French Government two torpedo-boats, each having a displacement of 125 tons and 2717 effective horsé-power, or 21°7 horse-power per ton of displacement. This is equiva- lent to x horse-power per 103 lbs, and is still within the limits of weight per.nissible for aérial flight. (See Zises, June 19, 1893 ) NO. 1247, VOL. 48] architecture which are more or less familiar to you all, which we, as a maritime nation, are so justly proud. F, example, we turn our attention for a moment to the new Cur liners, the Campania and Lucania, having each a wei displacement of 18,000 tons and 24,000 effective horse- or 1°33 horse-power per ton of displacement, we shall find with the commercial advantages alluded to, they obtaina mi mum speed of 22°5 knots, or about 26 miles per hour. If, instead of 1°33 effective horse-power per ton of di ment, they were provided with eight times that amount, or horse-power per ton, thereby sacrificing : and accommodation and making them nearly as full of prop machinery as the Arete torpedo-boat, and if it were found possible to apply this enormous power effectively there is every reason to believe they would short distances double the speed, or, say, 45 knots, or 52 statute miles per hour. ; aot By inventing and utilising mechanical contrivances e¢ independent of his own bodily strength, man can now pas: the surface of the waters at the rate of over 500 knots’ pe and at the same time retain the comforts and co life as though he were on shore. He has in this the natural and specially fitted denizens of the deep in element, as regards speed and continuity of effort. Bu still behind them as to safety. We do not find that fi aquatic mammals often perish in numbers, as man does, by « lisions in fogs, ur by being cast on lee shores and rocks by str of weather. Shall we ever arrive at the point of making travelling absolutely safe? The Cunard Company is boast that from its commencement, fifty-three years ago, | never lost a passenger’s life or a letter, a statement which ground for hope that almost absolute safety is attainal on the other hand, other owners of almost equal reput excluding the British Admiralty) are ever and anon | magnificent vessels on rocks, in collisions, by fire, and by stress of weather, in a way which makes us doubt whet! is possible for Britannia or any one else really to waves.” 4 BR In one way the chances of serious disaster have been largely diminished, and here, again, Nature has teacher. The bodies of all animals except the very low symmetrically formed on either side of a central longi plane. Each important limb is in duplicate, and if one wounded the other can still act. We have at last found o enormous advantage and increased safety of having the who our ship-propelling machinery in duplicate, and our ships m almost unsinkable by one longitudinal and numerous trans! bulkheads. i Locomotion in Air.—I now come to consider what i position of man as regards locomotion in and thr great atmospheric envelope which surrounds the « comparison with animals specially fitted by Nature work. , ay Nature seems never to bestow all her gifts on one or class of animals, and she never leaves any entirely ‘ For instance, the serpent, having no limbs whatever, w seem at first sight to be terribly handicapped ; yet, in the guage of the late Prof. Owen, ‘‘it can out-climb the : out-swim the fish, out-leap the jerboa, and, s the close coils of its crouching spiral, it can spring and seize the bird on the wing.” (Pettigrew on ‘‘ Ani motion”). Here we have the spiral spring in natur was devised by man. i Flying animals seem to conform remarkably to Thus we have birds like the penguin, which dive but cannot fly ; others, like the gannet, which dive, and walk; others, like the ostrich, which run, but fly nor swim ; and numberless kinds which can fly w only slight pedestrian powers. Man, unaided by mechanism, can, as we have seen, ¥ swim, dive, and jump, and perform many remarkable | but for flying in the air he is absolutely unfitted. 4 WW tempts (and there have been many) have up to_ been unsuccessful, whether or not he has availed mechanical aids to his own bodily powers. -It is sa certain man fitted himself with apparatus in the time of J: of Scotland, and actually precipitated himself from below Stirling Castle, in sight of the king and his cou the apparatus collapsed, and he broke his leg, and that | end of the experiment, ae accompli adel ‘SEPTEMBER 21, 1892; NATURE 501 it why should not man fly? It is not that he does not desire so. For every denizen of our precarious British climate, he has noticed the ease with which swallows and other ‘igratory birds fly off on the approach of winter, hundreds and in thousands of milesto the sunny south, must have wished = could do the same. One reason why we cannot fly, even ith artificial aids, such as wings, is that, as in the case of the in or the ostrich, our bodily mechanism is specialised and muscular power diffused in other directions, so that we could actuate wings of sufficient area to carry us even if we had _ M. de Lucy, a French naturalist, has shown that the wing- area of flying animals varies from about 49 square feet per lb. -of weight in the gnat, and 5 square feet in the swallow, to half -@ square foot per lb. of weight in the Australian crane, which weighs 21 Ibs. and yet flies well. If he were to adopt the last -or smallest proportion, a man weighing 12 stone would require Sie) ate ae Physics at the ‘British ‘Association. aoe Chemistry at the British Association . . Geology at the British Association . . Evolution and Classification. By Prof. C, °% Bessey Scientific Serials . . Societies and Academies ...... Diary of Societies . Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received By Mae I aye ks ¢ 0) ‘oct fecteneee Nog! a ae > ay ey SE ee Ce ob e. 4a ie) t) eeai oe, ame a) ee} atte ee te wa * boca eee NATURE 37 53 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1893. THE STUDY OF DIATOMS. 4n Introduction to the Study of the Diatomacee. By _ Frederick Wm. Mills, F.R.M.S. With a Bibliography y Julien Deby, F.R.M.S. (London and Washington : Iliffe and Son, 1893.) 5 EW forms in the organic world have been the sub- s jects of such close, constant and varied study as he Diatoms.. Their minuteness, their exquisite modes rowth, development and multiplication in the living te, and the beautiful refinement of symmetry and deli- y of surface ¢hasirig in their dead siliceous remains, lave made them the special objects of interest, admira- , and often of serious study and research from cer- tainly the dawn of this century until now. But there are studies of living objects, at least of those that are tremely minute, that show more clearly that the real ifficulties :presented by them are understood only by those who thoroughly study them. It is the expert who ws how little is known concerning most perestenee f lowly group. 4 If no other purpose were served by this book, it would n a popular manner make this manifest. ] T here can be no serious doubt that much of the value hat will attach to it as an “Introduction” is due to the ‘accessible and’ useful form in which Mr. Julien leby’s “Bibliography relating to Diatomology” has n presented to the student. The work consists of 240 es; of these only forty-two are devoted to an expo- ition of the nature and habits of the Diatoms proper. There are three chapters relating to the collecting, the nounting, and the microscopical examination of these orms ; but the forty-two pages are supposed to tell us of importance that is known concerning these eautiful Alge. Yet the Bibliography is enormous and udes the work and judgments of some of the leading aturalists of our century. _As this volume only aims at being an “ introduction ” 9 the study of these organisms, we have no right to nticipate exhaustive treatment in any branch of the sub- ; but we do not hesitate to affirm that ‘the aim of its hor would have been more efficiently reached had in ‘yh et his subject: received a more liberal treat- et Yo doubt the Bibliography opens to the amateur and ni tent almost every channel of knowledge, and will vent him from attempting to repeat work already done, i from exhausting himself on work that it is at present or less vain to attempt. But it would have been a advantage to have seen in a concise form much hat has been done in recent years. Thus’ we find less than three pages devoted to the tructure ” of Diatoms ; what is said is interesting and u rate ; but, even féemembering the aim of the author, fe cannot consider it sufficient. It is quite true that no generalisation of diatom structure has been arrived and We venture to think that much time and patient abour must be spent before it will be ; nevertheless, dur- NO.1249, VOL. 48] ing the last ten years some admirable glimpses at the wonderful architecture of these minute siliceous frustules have been obtained, showing that these silicified cases are not merely formed of two symmetrical valves united to one another by means of two embracing rings which constitute the connecting zone or girdle, and ‘making together an elegantly carved box in which the species may be reproduced, but showing also that the most com- plete structural principles are embodied in their internal and external construction. : : These are certainly not complete studies ; but they do exactly what the zealous amateur wants: show the paths along which profitable study may be pursued. : This will apply with even greater force to the almost new branch of diatom work done in regard to ‘‘ secon- dary structure ” in the siliceous frustule. ~To those for whom this Introduction could be alone intended, few things could have a larger interest than this. it The nature of the extremely delicate “ markings ” of diatoms has been so zealously pursued by amateurs and microscopists generally, that it has brought upon them the frequently merited reproach of “Diatomaniacs.” None the less it will be by the study of the perforations and physical constitution of the siliceous frustules that we shall ultimately obtain a true knowledge of their modes of motion, and even some aspects of their physiology. It would hardly have been supposed by those who wholly neglect, or even despise the study of the “ markings” of diatoms that the wonderful “secondary structure” now demonstrated in many of these frustules had any exist- ence. It may now, however, be taken for granted that every efficient manipulator possessed of a good micro- scope has demonstrated that, ¢.g., Coscinodiscus asterom- phalus is not only covered.on its valves with the beautiful areola so long and so well known, but that these areolz are in theirturn delicately areolated. The coarse areolations so long familiar to us are for the most part approximately circular in outline; but inside these is a most delicately perforated membrane ; and that this is related to the functions of the diatom there can be but little doubt. Again it may be stated that these studies are incom- plete ; that is so; and, moreover, they require good’ in- struments, and good manipulation of them; for satisfactory results ; but we believe that it is such matters that. the leisured amateur and the young student are most desirous of knowing in order to find suitable ia for profitable study. It is true thal the very remarkable work of Dr. Flogel on diatom séctions, and some of his modes of operation are referred to, but these represent a far higher’ and more unusual class of research. The most elementary student should know something concerning them, and they are wisely referred to in this volume; but they do: not compensate for the absence of éfficient eee to the class of work we allude to. The movement of diatoms receives careful treatment: in this’ treatise; we believe, névertheless, that more recent results might with profit have been referred’to. The subject is in many senses one of the most difficult in the range of Biology. The three principal explana- tions, viz. endosmatic and exosmati¢ currents, the pre- Lot Oe 538 NATURE | [Ocroser 5, 1893 sence of cilia, and the existence of a pseudopodic extru- sion of hyaline protoplasm, are carefully given. The author wisely inclines to the last. It is certain that one of the results of the use of apochromatic objectives during the last three or four years has been to enable us to de- monstrate that not only are there perforations in the sili- ceous tests of the diatoms, but that in the raphé of some Naviculz and kindred forms, there is a “great” per- foration, which runs tube-like from the apices of the frustule to the central nodule ; and this may be readily seen to lend itself to the pseudopodic extrusion and withdrawal of protoplasm ; and we commend the study of the possibility of this to microscopists. Delicate stains may be used that will not immediately destroy the or- ganism, and that will tend to make the “ hyaline proto- plasm” at least more manifest. But in this connection the work of Biitschliand Lauterborn cannot be neglected, Making Pinnxularia nobilis the subject of research, they specially directed attention to its mode of motion. The motion in diatoms is of a peculiar kind, being frequently a series of jerks which carry forward the frustule in the direction of its length, and often carry it back along the same path. Yet the motion may be smooth and equable. Biitschli conceived the idea of placing under the thin covering glass, laid upon the top of the water in which he was microscopically studying the Pznudaréa,a minute drop of Indian ink, This in its ultimate particles is, of course, not soluble. Its extremely fine granulation was therefore of great value, for by means of the enormous multitude of these black granules he affirms that he was able to see an extremely fine thread, which was directed backwards. This, he contends, was a_ protoplasmic filament, but so fine, and, as we apprehend, so near in its refractive index to that of water, that it is otherwise invisible. This filament, it is stated, is formed by jerks, and the diatom was. simultaneously moved in the opposite direction ; while at times the filament appears to be retracted. That these results are of value, there can be no doubt, and they open a line of study that may be most profit- able. Mr. Mills has adopted the method of classification for the Diatomacez which for the present may fairly be considered the best ; but we can but fervently hope that a series of detailed discoveries will at no very distant date make such generalisation possible as will super- induce a great simplification in this direction. There is a very useful chapter on Mounting Diatoms, and some excellent teaching on the microscopic ex- amination of these forms; and the whole is rendered complete by a chapter that will greatly aid the beginner, on “ How to Photograph Diatoms.” We welcome this book ; it will occupy a distinct place in the literature of the subject in our language at present, and will, we hope, make the way for a greatly enlarged and amplified second edition. There is much to praise in the volume, and what we have endeavoured to point out as deficiencies we do not treat as defects. The sub- ject is so large that an author may well pause and wonder at what point an “ Introduction” to such a subject should NO. 1249, VOL. 48] halt in details. But we think that what has been gi will open the way for very much more, and hope tha Mr. Mills may be called upon and induced to provide i We note some printer’s errors in the book. It wi suffice to call attention to page 6, where a period at end of the second line destroys the sense ; to the ‘ rhizopodo” for “ thizopodia” on page 13 ; to the spelling of an author’s name, as in the foot-note on and to a reference to “northern microscopic “northern microscopist” on page 159. THE PROPAGATION OF ELECTRIC ENE Untersuchungen tiber die Ausbreitung der Electri. Kraft. Von Dr. Heinrich Hertz. Pp. 295. (L Johann Barth.) DISCOVERER’S own account “pe his work always of interest, and when it is an epo making work and the account so clear and well describ as to be intelligible to all, it deserves the most attention, and should be. studied by all who feds 0 interest in the subject. Dr. Hertz’s account of his ¢ covery of the propagation of electric energy is eminer a work of this kind. The subject is of immense im ance ; the work described is of the highest order of perimental investigation; the results attained — contributed more than any other recent results revolutionise the view taken by the majority of scient workers as to the nature of electromagnetic actions. | is to be hoped that a translation of this account of on the greatest advances in our knowledge of nature w soon be in the hands of all who care to learn how functions of the ether have been raised from obs into light, from being in the opinion of many a belief to be the momentous question of the hour. Hertz gives in his introduction an interesting acco the steps by which Maxwell’s theory may be conneé with the older theories. ‘These latter supposed action a distance pure and simple, and postulated two fluids, &c. They neglected the intervening medium. The step was to introduce the medium as performing so: function when it was a material medium, but sti 1 ; retain the positive and negative electricities acting a the space from molecule to molecule. This was pra cally Mossotti’s theory as to the properties of the die founded on Poisson’s theory of magnetic induction. Poincaré seems to have got to about this stage, or haps a little further. The third stage was to transfer t molecular action to the ether, but still to consider due to electrical fluids attracting and repelling another, producing the etherial stresses. The stage was to see that these attractions and repulsi electrical fluids are quite superfluous, and to at the whole phenomenon to stresses in the ether set straining it. In this last stage there is no room | electrical fluid with attracting and repelling proper and accordingly it is suppressed. What the structu the ether may be which is strained, and thereby e magnetic stresses produced, is still unknown, and conse quently the nature of the strain is unknown, It certa differs from the ordinary straining of a solid in two 7 OcTOBER 5, 1893] NATURE Jor ant respects. In the first place, the mechanical tresses are proportional to the squares of the quantities lat represent the strains; and in the second place, aey depend on the absolute strain, and not on the lative displacement of the parts of the medium. id structures can be invented that have laws of this nd. The change of longitudinal stress in a stretched is proportional to the square of the transverse dis- ent, and, if the ends of the string are fixed, this ress depends on the absolute value of the displacement. Upon a foundation of a somewhat similar kind a theory to the structure of the ether being like a solid in ten- sion may be founded, which gets over many of the diffi- ulties of the simple elastic solid theory of the ether. Ve are, however, still a good way off any really satis- factory theory as to the structure of the ether, but the ding idea of Maxwell’s theory, that electromagnetic ttractions and repulsions are due to some sort of strain n the ether, is the direction in which scientific men are it present seeking for a dynamical explanation of electro- iagnetism and for a structure of the ether. Prof. Hertz, Owever, seems content to look upon Maxwell’s theory s the series of Maxwell’s equations. This is hardly fair. Maxwell has done much more than produce a series of quations that represent electromagnetic actions, Weber id Clausius went very close to that without revolution- sing our ideas as to the nature of these actions. Any sposition of Maxwell’s theory which does not clearly * before the reader that energy is stored in the ether ‘stresses working on strains, is a very incomplete re- ‘ tation of Maxwell’s theory. The bulk of Prof. lertz’s work is, howéver, not concerned with any theory, it with the practical study of electromagnetic propaga- or along conducting wires and throughout space. This ‘the work for which Prof. Hertz is so justly famous, and on count of which Hertzian oscillators, Hertzian receivers, fertzian waves have become in the few years since 1888 e objects of universal attention. No physical experi- ents since those by which Joule founded the theory of conservation of energy have produced as great an fect on science as these experiments here described by cir author. The subject is brought down to last year, ad the experiments of others are mentioned and dis- ssed. In this connection it may be worth while re- larking that the observation that the waves emitted by Hertzian oscillator are of all sorts of wave-lengths was ly stated by Prof. Hertz himself when he explained v rapidly they died out. For what is a rapidly dying oscillation except a Fourier series of all sorts of waves ? e is consequently no essential difference between two statements. The first states more than the nd, for it explains the character of what in the other tement is described by the vague term, “all sorts of 2” The whole work is most interesting, and well deserves best attention of all interested in the greatest scien- advance of the last quarter of the nineteenth ty, a century that has seen thermodynamics founded by Carnot and Clausius, conservation of energy ‘Joule, bacteriology by Pasteur, the origin of species ; Darwin, and the functions of the ether by Faraday, vell, and Heriz. NO. 1249, VOL. 48] OUR BOOK SHELF. Helps to the Study of the Bible. By Henry Frowde. (London, 1893 ) THE publisher of this useful volume of He//s is to be congratulated on the production of a work which is far in advance of any other book of the same kind published in England. It consists of six parts, which comprise a brief history of the Bible and its most ancient versions, including terse remarks on its canon and authenticity ; a summary of the contents of the books of the Old and New Testaments ; an account of the Apocrypha, together with historical and chronological notices of the period ; a series of chapters on the history, geography, geology, botany, zoology and ornithology of the country of Palestine, on the Jewish Calendar, weights, measures, money and time, and on the musical instruments of the Bible; and a concordance, atlas, list of obsolete English words, glossary of antiquities and customs, &c., referred to in the Bible. The book represents the col- lected learning of many eminent specialists and scholars, arranged in a handy form and most convenient for reference. The evidence relating to Bible history which may be derived from the recently established sciences of Assyriology and Egyptology, is illustrated by a series of beautiful plates, which cannot fail to be appreciated by every thoughtful reader of the Bible, and are worth more for purposes of explanation than many disserta- tions could ever have been. In the first plate the connection of the Hebrew alphabet with the hieratic writing of Egypt is shown, and from this we are led to the Latin and Greek alphabets and to the Rosetta and Moabite Stones. Facsimiles of the oldest Hebrew and Syriac MSS. of the Bible are next given, together with specimens of the text of the Vaticanus, Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus codices. The funeral customs of the Egyptians are explained by reproductions from bas-reliefs, papyri, &c., and from the monuments of Assyria and Babylonia a large number of important illustrations have been selected to throw light upon the various occasions upon which the Israelites came in contact with the “great king.” The busts of the Roman emperors referred to in the New Testament, and the Temple of Diana, are the subjects of the plates inserted to illustrate the New Testament. At the foot of each plate is a brief description, which, we must hope, may in some cases be lengthened in future editions of this excellent book. Differential Calculus for Beginners. By Joseph Edwards, M.A. (Macmillan and Co., 1893.) Mr. EDWARDS has put together in a handy form for schoolboys the elementary parts of his large treatise on the Differential Calculus. The subject is here presented in a clear and interesting manner for beginners, and it is to be hoped that the book will be useful in leading to a more general study of this indispensable subject than has hitherto been customary in this country. The French schoolboy learns the elementary ideas as part of his Algebra, but with us it has been thought right that “calculus dodging” should precede the study of the calculus itself, under a mistaken application of the pro- verb—Principiis enim cognitis, multo factlius extrema tn- telligetis. ie q Geometrical applications are very judiciously intro- duced at an early stage, but considering that the first differential coefficient invented was for the expression of a Velocity, these applications would be rendered more instructive by the introduction of the notion of Time as the primary independent variable. But “ this is Dynamics” the schoolmaster will say, and so must be kept separate by a sort of water-tight ye! head. 540 NATURE [OcrToBER 5, 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 Thieving of Assyrian Antiquities. 1. Hap I known that after having dissected my reply to the article entitled ‘‘ Thieving of Assyrian Antiquities,” which appeared in NATURE of the roth ultimo, you had intended to add further objectionable remarks to it, I should have certainly declined to have had it published. 2. You seem, even now, to ignore the My ‘prs of the High Court of Justice in the slander case of ‘‘ Rassam v. Budge,” and volunteer your own version of the story with which you have been supplied. 3. May I ask where you have found it reported about the evidence of the British Museum accountant and Sir Henry Rawlinson’s deposition regarding the fragments of the national collection? If you have obtained your information from the latter’s deposition that was certainly not revealed in the Press, and if it was supplied you by men who had no business to do so, then in fairness you ought to have quoted the other parts of the evidence. As for the “accountant,” no paper reported what the Principal Librarian wanted him to say, and that was for a very good reason, because the Judge did not consider his evidence of any use, seeing that no one had disputed the purchase by the authorities of the British Museum, of Baby- lonian antiquities before I began my researches in Southern Mesopotamia, at the time when I was there and afterwards. 4. With regard to the cock-and-bull story about the bas- reliefs which are alleged to be at ‘‘ Comford Hall,” if you had said in your article, above referred to, that they existed in a private house in England, éxstead of asserting that they were obtained by purchase, 1 would have surprised you with further revelations that such ‘‘ slabs” do exist in other houses in Eng- land and in different parts of Europe and America. Even half of the sculptures I had discovered in Assur-beni-pal’s palace in 1853, belonging /egitimately to the national collection, have been squandered, and part of them are now in the bottom of the Tigris. 5. As you seem to have allowed yourself to be imposed upon by malicious men who are not brave enough to put their names to the information with which they have supplied you, I must now close my correspondence, as it seems to me-that your journal is not a proper channel throngh which justice can be obtained. ; H. RassaM. 6, Gloucester-walk, Kensington, W. September 23. [Tue above letter calls for some additional ‘‘remarks.’’. We trust Mr. Rassam will find them less ‘‘ objectionable” than the former ones. 1. The dissection to which reference is made consisted only of omissions of personal attacks, not even courteously worded, which moreover had nothing to do with the question of import- ance to the public. 2. Mr. Rassam is not happy here in his expressions. No- wee was stated in our article which was not openly stated in ourt. “3. He is still less happy here. In his last letter he wished to make our readers believe that Sir H. Rawlinson’s opinion on the ‘‘rubbish’” Mr. Rassam had sent home was not stated in Court, and had been obtained by us in some improper way from the: British Museum. In our ‘‘ objectionable remarks” we charitably suggested that he had forgotten Sir H. Rawlinson’s deposition containing this opinion was read in Court. It now seems that Mr. Rassam had not forgotten it in the least. _ With regard to the accountant ; the counsel for the defendant did say what the accountant was to prove, and the Editor does not see what the Principal Librarian had to do with it. 4. Why does Mr. Rassam take the trouble to misquote us by writing ‘*Comford” instead of ‘‘ Canford,” and then to put his misquotation in inverted commas? The ‘‘story of a cock and bull,” ‘which we took from one edition of Murray’s Guide is re- peated in more detail'in a later one, and even the name of the donor is mentioned, Sir A. H. Layard. The more ‘‘revelations” Mr. Rassam can supply ; the more he can show that property ‘‘ belonging /egztémately (the itali¢s. are Mr, Rassam’s) to the national collection” has been squandered ; NO. 1249, VOL. 48] - positive sign and an undesirable complexity in transfo: the more reason there is for the inquiry to which pointed, 5. Requires no comment except that not a single on our part has been established.—Eb. NATURE. Vectors and Quaternions, © I wisH to make some observations in reply to the Prof. Knott which appeared in NATURE (June 1 For my part I have nowhere condemned the syst ton and Tait as ‘‘ unnatural” and “weak”; on I have always spoken of it with respect and adi appreciate its value and high place in analysis it sary to be blind to its imperfections and limitatior whether my work is mere innovation and a rec ternion investigations, I leave to the judgment read my papers. I wish merely to remark that FP says nothing about exponentials, and that he has out what quaternion investigations are recast in m “‘The Fundamental Theorems of Analysis Space.” It is the duty of acritic to state the principles which he criticises ; this has n position has been misrepresented. It may discussion of this matter if I state briefly the pi / T have taken, and the replies that have been given. T have said that the quaternion notation can be | As regards notation, Hamilton himself was an 1 in his writings he apologises for the introduction o symbols S, V, T, K, U, I, &c. My aim has been as much as possible the notation of ordinary anal; desirable to have one harmonious algebra, with from line algebra to plane algebra, and from plane alge space algebra. Prof. Tait himself has said in one faces to-his treatise that a revolution in the matte must ultimately come ; but I infer from the ec: miration, that Prof. Knott considers it part brightness of the Archangel. - ~ Thave said that the quaternion definitions are not be wished for ; I have pointed out what appear to b and I have attempted to remove them, Acco Knott, ‘*the quaternion originally defined as two vectors, can also be represented as the’product rantal versors.” I reply that what is wanted is not or temporary definition of ‘‘quaternion,” but ot stand throughout ; that in strains we have a quot vectors which is not a quaternion, but a dyad ; | ask for a representation, but a definition ; and. th: sentation indicated involves the idea of a versor, wh out a mere multiplier, is the very thing to be defined. the following questions may be asked: If bya qi meant the quotient of two vectors, how can the p vectors be a quaternion? We have also the nic that a quaternion may be represented by the p by the quotient, of two quadrantal versors. It is” the product and the quotient of two quadrantal quantities of the same kind ; if the one is a quate) the other. . I have said that some .of the fundamenta! ternions require to be corrected, especially identifies versors with vectors. I have said t unit-vector, then a2 = 1, not =~— 1. It is not that ‘‘to my mind” it appears so ; a reason i body of mass, m, have at any time a linear 1 rectangular components are a along the axis of z, c along & ; the kinetic energy of the body is 4n( that is, 47 (a2 + 62-+c*), not as quaternionists —4m‘a? + 62+ c). The convention involved is vades the whole of analysis, namely, that the proc lines having the same direction is positive, while the two lines having opposite directions is negative. energysis a square, the two lines must always have direction. 7 I have said that if a? denote a quadrantal v 2 j a (.:) =a” = — 1, and that Hamilton’s rules apply not to vectors. Prof. Knott says that I advocate a § which loses the associative principle and gains nothin permutations, Readers of NATURE will be surprised q OcrToseR 5, 1893] NATURE 541 hat I advocate nothing of the sort. What I do advocate is to ‘treat vectors as vectors, and versors as yersors, and I show that the products ‘of versors differ essentially from the products of ctors in that the associative rule applies to the former, but jot to the latter. Prof, Knott justifies the treatment of quad- ntal versors as vectors, because they are compounded accord- ing to the parallelogram law. It is true that the components of “a quadrantal versor are so compounded, because every versor “involves an axis ; but the minus comes in, not on account of the _axis, but on account of the angle of the versor, the very element _which differentiates it from a vector. We he T have said that y? = “++ is more consistent with 4 ax? ay’ dz? analysis than vVs- (- + 5 + Sy and I have remarked that ‘in works on mathematical physics, even in Kelvin and Tait’s ‘Natural Philosophy,”’ the minus was dropped, A sign that sy be so readily dropped has probably got no good reason for | its appearance. In reply, Prof.. Knott says that ‘* when v*v occurs in ordinary non-quaternion analysis, it is used in the lanation does not explain ; for ‘‘ the name /ensor is applied to e positive number which represents the length of a line” (‘* Hamilton’s Elements,” p. 164). Now the ordinary analysis is not limited to signiess quantities, but embraces quantities hich may be positive or negative. Why then is the minus ropped in an analysis where sign is essential? I asked for ‘a proof of the principle that v(vw) = Vw ; it is replied that: Are we per-' mitted, then, to doubt it as a truth in ordinary analysis, being: + “in quaternions there is no doubt whatever.” rue only.in quaternions? If it is a matter of convention, no one desires two contradictory systems of analysis; if it is a matter of truth , it cannot be true ‘‘in quaternions” and not _in ordinary analysis. * Thave said that the rule 7/ = 2 expresses what is true in pace of three dimensions. Prof. Knott asks: ‘“‘If-a_ vector "cannot be a versor in product combinations, what is the signifi- cation of the equation 77 =?” Let us first of all remove every mbiguity from the equation. We have then in all three cases : first, 7 and j botn quadrantal versors ; second, 7 a versor and / a vector; third, 7 and 7 both vectors. To distinguish between a quadrantal versor and a vector, let the former be “T ; ae vr é = noted by 7*. Then z? j*=- &? means the forward order being taken, that a quadrant round i followed by a qudrant ound / is equivalent to a quadrant round the opposite of 4. ee a : ; gain, 7*/ = £ means that the vector 7, when turned through a quadrant round 7 coincides with 2 Finally, 77 means the. unit f directed area which has 7 for base and/ for altitude ; for ‘some purposes it may be represented by 4 on the principle that the axis of a plane may be specified by the axis which it wants ; but at p. 92 of ‘‘ The Principles of the Algebra of Physics,” 1 _have shown that the several types of products of vectors may be formed independently of that principle. Prof. Knott states that “he fails to see what physical considerations have to do with mathematics of the fourth dimension, It is evident, however, hat his perception cannot be taken as a criterion of truth, for every type of product of four vectors is geometrically. real eC: eepting the one which supposes them all independent of one “another. IT have said that the rules for differentiation are much simpli- ed when vectors and versors are not confounded. In proof of is I invite comparison. _ [have said that the principles of quaternions can be greatly xxtended. In my papers will be found for the first time the tension of space analysis to logmarithmic spirals and to hyper- olic trigonometry. The connection of the latter with non- euclidean geometry is also pointed out, As further evidence of he fruitfulness of my notation and principles I may mention that I have just read before the Mathematical Congress assembled at Chicago two papers—one on ‘‘ The Definitions of the Trigo- metric Functions,” the other on ‘‘ The Principles of Elliptic d Hyperbolic Analysis.” These papers give the trigono- metry of the elliptic and hyperbolic surfaces. As regards Prof. Knott’s closing quotation from ‘* Paradise Lost,” I feel like the Senior Wrangler who, having read through the poem, remarked that it was all very pretty, but he didn’t ‘quite see what it proved. I close with a quotation which is NO. 1249, VOL. 48] nse of the ¢ensor, for only as such can it come in,” This ex-' from as good a book, and possesses more logical force: ‘‘ Ye shall know them by their fruits, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”” » ALEXANDER MACFARLANE. Chicago, IIl., August 26, Astronomical Photography. THE letter from Lord Rayleigh in your issue of August 24, on the subject of ‘‘ Astronomical Photography,” will, it is to be hoped, elicit some information from photographic experts. Meanwhile, accepting what Lord Rayleigh says as to the present possibilities in the preparation of plates, I fail to see where any considerable saving is to be effected in the cost of the apparatus, as he appears to suggest. _ For astronomical photography a pair of telescopes are re- quired. The larger of these is employed to take the photo- graphs, and the smaller acts as aguider, Supposing that plates could be obtained which were acted upon by visual rays, while comparatively insensible to the violet and ultra-violet light, this would simply mean that both the objectives would have to be made visually perfect, instead of having one of them as here- tofore corrected for violet and ultra-violet light. A photo- graphic objective is no more costly than a visual one of the same aperture ; and as to mounting clockwork and dome, there could be no difference in expense. Of course, if the necessity for a separate guiding telescope could be avoided by the adoption of Lord Rayleigh’s sugges- tion, there would in general be’ some saving of expense; it should, however, be noted, that even when reflectors are em- ployed for taking the photographs, it has not been always found desirable to dispense with the guiding telescope, though in this case, of course, the question as to the nature of the plates cannot arise at all. : : In the particular instance of the instrument now proposed for Cambridge, the guiding telescope is already to hand in the shape of the present Northumberland instrument. It is certainly easier to test the qualities of an objective cor- rected for visual rays than for photographic rays (if I may still use language which Lord Rayleigh has pointed out as incorrect). On this account it would, therefore, be desirable to have plates such as he refers to, rendered available for astronomers engaged in photographic work. } RoBerT S. BALL. : Stuervatory, Cambridge, September 12. . ya's! P.S.—Sir Gabriel Stokes, after reading the above, writes: ‘*T would ask whether in an orthochromatic plate the blue and violet are impressed more feebly than the rays which are visually the brightest. It may be so, but I do not happen to know whether it is.” : ies. : ‘The Constellations of the Far East. WITH regard to the questions asked by ‘‘ M. A. B.” about the grouping of stars into constellations (NATURE, August 17), I venture to answer the last two, which the limited knowledge of an Oriental may partly meet, hoping thereby to interest some of your readers. I do not consider that. each race necessarily relies on its own plan in the fabrication of constellations. The Coreansand Anamese are said to be still adhering to the Chinese system, and till lately the Japanese were doing so. It is.strange to find the latter, replete with so peculiar mythology, on which the national claim for high ancestry rests, possessing very few vernacular constellations. : Undoubtedly the Chinese system is of peculiar aspect. A name is given to a ‘‘ Seat,” whichis sometimesa single star, but in general a group of stars, varying in number from two to twenty or thirty; and in one group, the Imperial Body- guards, they amount to forty-five. Occasionally the same stars are at once named collectively and individually ; thus, the first seven stars of Ursa Major are grouped into Peh-tau or the North Ladle, of which the scoop consists of Shu a, Siuen A, Ki y, and Kiuen 8, and the handle of Yuh-hang e¢, Kai-yang ¢, and Yau-Kwang 7. With Polaris asthe centre, the heavens are radiantly divided into the twenty-eight ‘‘Inns” of unequal breadths, each division being denominated after its typical con- stellation, besides enclosing numerous Seats subordinate to the latter, The fundamental idea of the plan is enigmatically expressed thus: ‘' Sing (the star) is Tsing (the spirit),” Its solution con- 542 NATURE [OcTosER 5, 1893 tinues : ‘‘ Its body grows on the earth, and its spirit is perfected in the heavens.” Consequently, various worldly facts and acts that have occupied the Chinese attention, not excepting some now quite forgotten, remind us of their past existence by means of the stellar and constellar names fashioned after them from fancied resemblances or analogies. : How closely this association of the heavenly and worldly phenomena was made, a few examples will sufficetoshow. The Bow-and-Arrow, though apparently separate, formed but one group, because an archer could perform well without an assistant ; but, on account of the supposed impossibility of one’s pound- ing, without an attendant to the mortar, the Mortar was distinct from the Pestle. Imitating the civil institutions of old times, Polaris, entitled the Emperor of Emperors, and his Empress, Imperial Heir, &c., constitute : ‘* Ché-wi Palace,” with thirty-° two subservient Seats, mostly named after officials. Besides, the four ‘‘ Imperial Thrones” are ‘established, one of which is surrounded with seventeen dependents, chiefly with the names of court-buildings in ‘‘ Tai-wi Palace,” while the other, amidst the ‘‘ Celestial Emporium” has its seventeen subjects, named after provinces, market buildings, and measures. : For contriving the applications of the plan, the following methods seem to have been observed : (1) Number, eg. the Five Princes, Four Councillors. F (2) Magnitude, ¢.g. the Squire Captain, set apart from the uires. %) Form, ¢.g. the Canopy, Celestial Coin, Ascending Ser- pent. (4) Relation of positions, ¢,2. the Deep Water, Celestial Hook, and Celestial Pier, entirely and partly in, and along the Celestial River (the milky-way). (5) Direction of the Compass, eg. the South Gate, North Pole. 3 (6) Colour, ¢.g. Excrementum. The objects and attributes resorted to for modelling the stars and constellations may be classified as follows:— ~ (1) Heavenly Bodies, e.g. the sun, moon, milky-way. (2) Meteorological phenomena, e.g, thunder and lightning. (3) Topographical Divisions, ¢g. the field, tumuli, park, ond, : (4) Civil Divisions, ¢.g. Tsin (a province), Chang-sha (a shire). (5) Animals, e.g. the dog, wolf, fowl, fish, snapping-turtle. (6) Agricultural Products, e.g. bran, hay, gourd, cereals, (7) Parts of Body, e.g. the tongue, penis. E (8) Human Actions, e.g. the cry, weep, slander, punish- ment. i (9) Family Relations, eg. the son, grandson, adult, old man. (10) Occupations, ¢.2. the farmer, weaving-woman. (11) Buildings and Departments, e.g. the castle, granary, kitchen, : (12) Implements, Furniture, &c , e.g. the lock, drum, bell, bed, ship. (13). Titles. and Officials, e.g. generals. (14) Heroes, e.g. Fu-yeh, Tsau-fu. (15) Philosophical and Theological Notions, ¢.¢. positiveness, virtue, prodigy, fates, fortune, wrong, &c. As far as I could expound, the system implies certain pecu- liarities. First, it preserves some. abstract notions, thus point- ing the, way. towards investigations on the early Chinese specu- lations, Secondly, portions of the system severally harmonise with the conditions of thé Chinese social systen: that existed for many centuries before the dawn of the Han dynasty (czvca 200 B.C.), when it seems certain that the nomenclature was well- nigh finished. In the third place, I may mention that after careful revisions of the whole list containing more than three hundred names of the Seats, I have found but two that have had any reference to the sea, viz., ‘‘ South Sea” and ‘‘ East Sea,”’ the rather vague notions of old usage indicating some uncivil- ised territories ; and with this only exception there occur no names of marine beings such as. Cetus, Delphinus, and Cancer, This fact probably justifies a historical theory that locates the cradle of Chinese civilisation on a land distant from the seas. I do not know precisely what system is current among the Indians of the present day; but assuredly at least once they made use of their own plans, and mapped out the heavens into the twenty-eight divisions, each division with its typical constella- tions and their subordinates, as is often alluded t#in the Buddhist NO. 1249, VOL. 48] the feudatory, ministers, their mythic apotheoses and the articles of sacrifice, in . be closely connected with the frequent occurrence in Chine writings of the North. The equality of number of the di in the Chinese and Indian systems is striking ; but | favours the belief in their sporadic growths and ‘ velopment. The Chinese records of the typical constell: date farther back than the epoch of their intercourse with Indians ; in fact, the Indian constellations, as is obvious such abomination to the Buddhist as blood and bird’s- are essentially of Brahmanical type, and thus aii priority in existence to the event of the Buddhist missi China, which marks the era of the mutual acquaintance two nations. seg toe Eee When we see in the old Chinese works on Indian nai those of the Indian typical constellations, such as R Kamphilla, &c., not literally interpreted, but merely i with those of the Chinese, such as Shi, Fang, &c., divisions of corresponding order seem to have had almost coinciding in the two systems. Seghe! cS ‘Lwan Chin-shi (civca 800 .A.D.), a Chinese Pliny, in “¢ Miscellanies ” has left. us an extract from Indian registering the objects with which the Indians used to associ the forms of some typical constellations of their own. Of th ‘Chinese typical constellations, the original resemblance analogies can still be traced, through their names and charact with the help of the descriptive remarks in cases of difficulty Replying upon these authorities, I will now proceed to compar the cited objects of alleged resemblances or analogies, in o to see whether and how the fancies of the two nattons con into or diverge from one another, in the establishment © most conspicuous, and thence typical constellation, out stars scattered over a division almost identical in the systems. © ed ae a ap * ep SS } Chinese names. Remarks. Objects of Indian 1. Niu (Taurus). The bull with horns. © | The head of a bul 2. Wi (the Tail). 4 © | "Phe tail of scorpi 3. Litt (the Willow). Curved, with a tip bent,| The serpent. like the willow (twig). Ee aS, _ In Chinese astrology, f this is the patron of. bs the snakes. ‘ is 4. Wei(the Stomach). | The legs of a vessel for cooking. . Su (the Horn of Scops). F ‘ sag Winnowing an). . Tsing (the Well). . _Kwei (the unsettled), a uw Its character, combined with that for ‘‘ foot,’” forms one for ‘‘ kneel- ing,” and its original hieroglyphic _repre- sents ‘one kneel- ing”; hence it is probably of analo- gous plan with Her- con cules (kneeling). g. Kwéi(the Ghost), - | The coffin (with corpse). to. Pih (thé Handle-net). y 11. ‘Sing (the Star). The hook. 12.: Fang (the Screen). It appears from the above comparisons that: sometim) quite analogous or even identical plans might piers ca ) among distinct nations, probably due to the pronounce ness to be grouped afforded by the stars of not very ¢ brightness and relatively situated in a manner which ai suggests a definite outline. \ In conclusion, I should be inclined to state that the peculi in cases where it exists, can no doubt be of great valu students of sociology, as it may help to some extent towards attainment of various important discoveries. For instance Chinese constellation, Nii, or the Woman, is described as vet much simulating Ki, or the Winnowing Fan; and this mig works of a figurative phrase, ‘‘to serve the fan and broo in the sense of ‘‘getting married.” On the other hi as to the merit of its use for ascertaining the race-affinil my opinion must be somewhat negative, for, while — stances are not wanting of such remarkable analogies amon: such heterogeneous nations as the Chinese and Indian OcToBER 5, 1893] NATURE 543 ‘the subject is decidedly one of those social acquirements of highly transmissible nature, its present features being more the ult of the national intercourse than that of the race-affinity, : KuMAGusU MINAKATA, 15 Blithfield Street, Kensington, August 31. Mr, Love’s Treatise on Elasticity. HAVING now returned to England, I have had an oppor- unity of examining my paper on wires (Proc. Lond. Math. ‘Soe. vol. xxiii.), and I find that the discrepancy between my ‘results and those given by Mr. Love, on p. 169 of his book, is due to a slip in my own work. On comparing my equations ' (11 and 15), it will be seen that in the latter equation the term = plop — or cos @)--3dw'/d@ has been omitted. The value of ’ is. correctly given by equation 31, and when the omitted term ‘is inserted in equation 32, the resulting value of g will be found _ to lead to values of the couples identical with those given by Mr, Love. _ As I amstrongly of opinion that the best way of constructing _ a satisfactory theory of shells and wires is to use the method of _ vanish at the surface may be treated (to a ceftain degree of approximation) as zero throughout the substance of the shell or wire, I am exceedingly glad to find that the apparent discrep- ancy is due toa small slip in my work, and not to any defect in the rinciples upon which the investigation is based. , The question isto the values of the couples may now be considered to be - completely settled. A. B, BassET. _ September 28. hai —_——— . New Caledonian Pottery. I Am extremely anxious to be informed on a little matter, and you are my only resource. In the Fournal of the Anthropo- logical Institute, August, 1893, vol. xxiii. page 90, Mr. J. J. Atkinson describes the making of New Caledonian pottery. ape ingenious device of the pebble as a pivot is interesting. But Mr, Atkinson always says Ae. Do the men make pottery _in New Caledonia, or is this a case of what the country school _ teacher termed the men embracing the women ? _ Washington, September 17. Otis T. Mason, a SCIENCE IN. THE MAGAZINES. : oa, MON G the articles of scientific interest in the maga- + zines received by us, is one in the Contemporary _ Review, in which Prof. Weismann replies to Mr. Herbert _Spencer’s attack upon his views as to the distinction in the Metazoa between somatic and reproductive cells, and on the immortality of the latter, and of unicellular organ- isms. With regard to the experiments that have been e with a view to proving the occurrence of telegony, ‘of. Weismann says :— Herr Lang, of Stuttgart, has for twenty years experimented h dogs, without, however, ascertaining ‘a single fact that could be made use of for the advancement of the infection theory.’ if course, in such a case negative results prove nothing ; and the tempt must be made to determine the truth by new experi- nts. But as hitherto there have been no positive results m the observations that have been made ; and as the most npetent judges, namely, breeders who have a scientific know- ge, such as Settegast and Nathusius, and the late head of Prussian Agricultural Station at Halle, Prof. Kiihn, spite of ir extensive experience in breeding and crossing, have never own a case of telegony, and therefore have great doubt as to reality ; it seems to me that according to sctentefic principles, ly the conformation of the tradition by methodical investiga- tion, in this case by experiment, could raise telegony to the rank fa fact. _ In“A Note on Panmixia,” Dr. Romanes attempts to emove any doubt that may exist in Mr. Spencer’s mind _ asto whether Panmixia isa vera causa of degeneration,by % howing that there are not excessive Z/us variations of an organ. Mr. Spencer had said, “If there are not xcessive #/us variations, the hypothesis of Panmixia is alid”—ergo, accepting Dr. Romanes’ proofs, the doctrine is triumphant. _ Mr. Robert H. Scott writes on “ Weather Forecasts” NO. 1249, VOL. 48 | expansion, coupled with the hypothesis that all stresses which” in the Aew Review. He describes the difficulties that beset the weather prophet on all sides, and the various pro- posals that have been made for gathering in information which would increase their trustworthiness. Some of the proposals, ¢.g. the mooring of signal-ships in mid- Atlantic, are purely visionary, and intelligence directly re- ceived from stations in the United States or Canada is practically useless, for the condition of the atmosphere is constantly changing, and the rates at which storms cross the Atlantic vary considerably. The fact that the storms that visit us pass to the northward of the Azores would render those islands of little use to the Meteoro- logical Office, even if a cable were laid to them ; and all anticipations as to the advantages to be derived from mountain observatories remain unfulfilled, according to Mr. Scott. However, an examination of the results of forecasts prepared at 8 p.m. from 1879 to 1891 is fairly satisfactorily. Taking the eleven districts of Great Britain and Ireland, for which forecasts are made, it appears that, during the period mentioned, an average of 45°5 percent. of the forecasts were entire successes, and 34'8 partial, thus giving a total of 80°3. Of the failures, an average of 6°6 per cent. were total and 13 per cent. partial. England (South) showed the highest rate of fulfilment, viz. 85 per cent., counting entire and partial successes together. “The least successful districts are, in order of their figures, the West of Scotland, the South of Ireland, and then the North of Ireland, and the North- west of England. The least successful forecasts are therefore our exposed west and north-west coasts.” Other articles of a scientific character in the Mew Review are: “Are we Prepared to Resist a Cholera Epidemic ?” by Mr. Adolphe Smith, and ‘‘ The Increase of Cancer,” by Mr. H. P. Dunn. Under the title ‘Atoms and Sunbeams ” Sir Robert Ball gives, in the Fortnightly Review, a description of Helmholtz’s shrinkage theory of the maintenance of the sun’s heat, with particular reference to the “ precise modus operandi by which, as the active potential energy vanishes, its equivalent in available heat appears.” “Electric Fishes” is the subject of an article by Dr. McKendrick, and in it we find the investigations carried out by Fritsch, Bois-Reymond and Sachs, Burdon- Sanderson, and Gotch explained in an_ interesting manner. Before describing the minute structure of individual electrical organs the author makes the follow- ing remarks :— : About fifty species of fishes have been found to possess elec- trical organs, but their electrical properties have been studied in detail only in five or six. The best known are various species of Torpedo (belonging to the skate family), found in the Medi- ' terranean and Adriatic Seas ; the Gymotus, an eel found in the lagoons in the region of the Orinocco, in South America ; the Malapterurus, the riash, or thunderer-fish, of the Arabs, a native of the Nile, the Niger, the Senegal, and other African rivers ; and various species of skates (Aaza) found in: our own seas. It is curious’ that the Nile is rich in electrical fishes, several species of pike-like creatures (A/ormyrus and Hyper- opisus) possessing electrical organs the structure of which has been quite recently investigated by Fritsch. The electrical fishes Uo not belong to any one class or group, and some are found in fresh water, while others:inhabit the ocean. _ Two distinct types of electrical organs exist. One is closely related in structure to muscle, 2s found in the torpedo, gymnotus, and skate, while the other presents more of the characters of the structure of a secreting gland,-as illustrated by the electric organ of the thunderer-fish. _ Both types are built up of a vast number of minute, indeed microscopical, elements, and each element is supplied with a nerve fibre. These nerve fibres come from large nerves that originafe in the nerve centres— brain, or spinal cord—and in these centres we find special large nerve-cells with which the nerve fibres of the electric organ are connected, and from which they spring. We may, therefore, consider the whole electric apparatus as consisting of three parts: (1) electric centres in the brain or spinal cord ; (2) electric nerves Pagsing to the electric organ ; and (3) the electric 544 NATURE [Ocroser 5, 1893 _ organ itself. It must not be supposed, however, that the elec- tricity is generated in the electric centres, and that it is con- veyed by the electric nerves to the electric organ. On the contrary, it is generated in the electric organ itself, but it is only produced so as to give a ‘‘ shock” when it is set in action by nervous impulses transmitted to it from the electric centres by the electric nerves. The Humanitarian contains a revised form of the paper on “ Cremation” read at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Institute of Public Health by Sir Spencer Wells. Mr. Geoffrey Winterwood writes on ‘* Mars as a World” in Good Words, his article being based in the main upon Camille Flammarion’s recent work on Mars and its conditions of habitability. The article is brightened by nine excellent illustrations. ‘‘ The Cold Meteorite ” is the title of a poem by Mr. W. R. Hunting- don in the Century Magazine. ‘The meteorite is thus apostrophised :— ‘far better ’tis to die The death that flashes gladness, than alone In frigid dignity to live on high ; Better in burning sacrifice be thrown Against the world to perish, than the sky To circle endlessly, a barren stone.” HYDROPHOBIA STATISTICS FOR 1892 AT THE INSTITU’ PASTEUR: N account of the anti-rabic vaccinations undertaken last year in the Pasteur Institute in Paris has been recently published (Amzales de l'Institut Pasteur, vol. vii. p. 335, 1893). From the ‘statistics here given it appears that no less than 1790 persons underwent this treatment during the past year in Paris alone, and that out of these only four subsequently died from rabies. In 600 of these cases the bites were attributed to animals suspected of suffering from hydrophobia at the time, but in all the others the certainty. was established by subsequent veterinary examination, as well as by the death from rabies of other animals bitten by the animal in question. 3 Since the beginning of the Pasteur treatment in 1886, the mortality from bites on the head after treatment is stated as 1.48 per cent., from wounds on the hands o’55, and 0°24 per cent. from bites on the limbs. © - Thus by far the most serious cases are those in which the head is attacked, and it is pointed out how unfortu- nate is the delay which frequently occurs between the wound and the arrival of the patient for treatment, the interval militating most seriously against the success of the subsequent inoculations. The following table indicates the nationality of the patients admitted to the Institute during the. past year :—- England...) 4. eg t 20 PTY Siete ee ere I Belgas sy ae Switzerland... +3 TORY DE asc veg se eens Ee Holland ... ... 14 SDB ts) ike ee BG ts FPN eater ere Hie OF Ewes (| France and Al- United States .... 1 geria 1584 Portugal Re eee Tae S«: _Algeria is specially mentioned as being amongst those districts from which the largest number of cases are yearly sent to the Institute. _Last year a patient came from Madeira, rabies having been imported for the first time into the island by a dog from Portugal. A most unusual occurrence is drawn attention to, viz. the death of a patient, a young Englishman, treated in 1887; and who died last year, five years therefore later, of rabies. Such an exceptional case has notybeen met with NO. 1249, VOL. 48] | Bonn, — since the commencement in 1886 of the anti-rabi oculations, which up to the present number 12,782. Taking the average of cases received during the six years, rabies appears to reach a maximum i spring and a minimum in the autumn. NOTES. THE Harveian Oration will be delivered by Dr. P. H. Smith, at the Royal College of Physicians, at four o’clo’ Wednesday, October 18. THE vacancy in the Mineralo ical Department of 1 British Museum, occasioned by the death of Mr. Tho Davies, has been filled by the appointment by the trustees Mr. Leonard J. Spencer, of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, who gained the first place at the competitive examination. THROUGH the munificence of Mr. F. Duncane Go F.R.S., a botanical exploration of the island of St. Vince: was made by Mr, Herbert H. Smith and Mr. G. W. Smi 1889 and 1890. The plants then collected, and those fro St. Vincent previously in the Kew Herbarium, have now b arranged, and the resulting catalogue constitutes the Azz Bulletin for September (No. 81). All the 977 plants col | by the Smiths are included, whether indigenous or naturali and, in addition, 179 flowering plants and 24 ferns not col by them. We read that, ‘‘ with regard to the general dist: tion of the indigenous plants, the principal points are the. geographical range of the majority, and the smallness endemic element, conditions that obtain throughout the chain of islands from Tobago to the Virgin group, which striking contrast to the proportions of the endemic elk ent Cuba and Jamaica. . . . . The fern vegetation is very ric varied, and, in relation to the area, far in excess as to nui of species to that of New Zealand, which is generally regat as one of the most highly concentrated = om WE learn from the Pioneer Mail that Mr. Dallas, Asti Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India, ‘le shortly for Madras, in order to assist the authorities in startin a daily weather report in that Province. i Dr. Henry B. Ward, ‘of ‘Michigan University, has been appointed Associate Professor of Zoology to the Univers Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebr. ; tee Ea § Dr. E. Symes THomPson will lecture upon the voice, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, on October 10, II, and 13. The lectures are free to the public, and comm each evening at six o’clock. ves @ A very brilliant meteor was seen about 9.45 last night Leicester (says the Zimes of October 2). It seemed to from near the zenith, and proceeded towards the western ho’ increasing very rapidly in brilliancy, until the ground atmosphere were lit up so that objects in the landscape co’ clearly seen at.a long distance for several seconds. Mr. E Cook, of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, says th meteor was also seen at Neen Sollars, near to Cleobi Mortimer, Salop, at the above-mentioned hour. Dr. O. LoEw, of Miinich, well known for his investiga’ of the nature of protoplasm in connection with Dr. T. Boko has been appointed Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in University of Tokio, Japan; and Dr. D. Brandis, a fellow” our Royal Society, Professor of Forestry in the University In two recent numbers of the Botanisches Centralblatt 7 detailed account, by Dr. F. v. Herder, of the Herbaria Botanical Museums in St. Petersburg. Of these, five in num ber besides private collections, the richest and most importat October 5, 1893 | NATURE 545 are those of the Imperial Academy of Sciences: and of the ‘Imperial Botanical Garden. _ Tue Natural History Society of Danzig has offered a prize of 1000 marks for the best essay on the best means of pro- ducing and spreading fungus-epidemics for the destruction of E insects i injurious to the forests in Western Prussia. The essays “must be written in German or French, and are to be sent in _ before the end of the year 1898. _. The numbers of the Qsterreichische Botanische Zeitung for _ August and September contain interesting reports of the - botanical excursion of Dr. E. von Halacsy in the Pindus range ‘in Greece, and of that of Dr. J. Bornmiiller in Persia. Dr. _ Bornmiiller describes the flora of the neighbourhood of Bushire in March as being especially rich and beautiful. A SUBTROPICAL botanical laboratory has been established at _ Eustis, Florida, under the direction of Prof. Swingle. The diseases of fruits belonging to the Aurantiacce are a special subject of investigation. _ THE singular swarms of flies observed by Mr. R. E. Froude at the end of May last, and described by him in these columns (vol. 48, p. 103 and p. 176), have also been seen at Muskegon, - Michigan, by Mr. C. D. McLouth. Writing from that city to ‘Science of September 15, Mr. McLouth says that on the _ evening of June 26 the fire brigade was called to two of the highest buildings, the alarms being caused by an appearance as smoke issuing from the pinnacles of the towers. In “Both cases the appearance was found to be caused by clouds of sects. Some insects afterwards captured and supposed to be cal with the swarmers were found to be Neuropters. "THE fiftieth voluine of the Verhandl. des Naturhistor. Vereins r preuss. Rheinlande contains numerous short notices, on arious subjects, and three important memoirs :—B. Stiirtz, on -fishes, giving a bibliography of recent and fossil forms, notes on n classification and distribution, and descriptions of three new ies ; a continuation of the monograph, by A. Hosius, on the Beaminitera ‘of the Miocene ; and a paper by H. Laspeyres on nickel ores and minerals of the Rhenish rocks, giving nerous analyses and crystallographic notes. Mr. G. Cristian HorrMann has prepared an excellent ogue of Section I. of the Museum of the Geological Survey of Canada. It embraces the systematic collection of minerals and the collections of economic minerals and rocks and specimens illustrative of structural geology. Reference is facilitated very considerably ‘by four very full indexes, The 3 t of these is an index to the cases containing the minerals ; :second to the numbers borne by the specimens ; the third 9 mining districts, areas, camps, locations and claims, mines, ies, and pits, and the fourth to subjects. Since all the ccimens are from Canadian localities, Mr. Hoffmann’s talogue may be taken as a representation of the mineral sources of the Dominion. THE modifications in the physiological character of micro- ganisms which may be produced by either natural or artificial ns, and which may, moreover, bécome inherited and per- nt, is one of the most fascinating subjects in bacteriology. it opens up a problem of much importance in the identifica- of bacteria, for the characteristic appearance may become modified that its original parentage is with difficulty recog- :d. In this connection the production of a race of sporeless x, endowed with the same virulent properties, resembling microscopically the original form, is of particular interest. “asporogene” anthrax was first produced by Chamber- nd and Roux, through the addition of small doses of potassium chromate to broth infected with anthrax-blood. ‘By this ns a generation of anthrax bacilli was obtained in which power of producing spores was permanently destroyed. NO. 1249, VOL. 48] Su Since the publication of the above, ‘‘ asporogene”’ anthrax has been obtained by other investigators, whilst Lehmann came upon such a variety quite accidentally in an old gelatine culture: Still more recently (Le Bulletin’ Méd. p. 293, 1392), Phisalix has succeeded in producing sporeless anthrax by the continuous and successive cultivation of anthrax bacilli at 42° C. For the original infection the blood of a sheep dead of anthrax was taken, and portions of this culture were transferred to a second culture, and also kept at 42° C., this process being continued. for twenty-five generations covering a period of five months. The twelfth generation already yielded a variety incapable of produc- ing spores except on being first passed through the body of a mouse, but the fourteenth generation had established a race permanently incapable of producing spores. . These asporogéne cultures, however, unlike those of Chamberland and Roux, suffered an attenuation of their virulent properties, and the descendants of the twentieth generation were absolutely harm- less as regardsanimals. The possibility, therefore, of pathogenic microbes losing their virulence, or of harmless saprophytes being trained up to acquire’pathogenic properties, is one which must without doubt be taken into consideration ; and when we remem- ber that sunshine alone may produce such modifications in the physiological characters of microbes as to permanently deprive certain pigment-producing bacteria of this. property, and raise up instead a colourless race (Laurent), the indulgence of this possibility becomes yet more within the bounds of legitimate conception. THE Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India has published No. 5 of Cyclone Memoirs, containing an elaborate and valuable discussion, accompanied by twenty-five plates, of three cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea during the month ‘of November, 1891. The first storm, called the Port Blair cyclone, originated in the Gulf of Siam on October 29 and 30, and caused great destruction of life and property in the South Andaman Island. It is the first large storm for which there is conclusive evidence that it originated outside the area of the Bay of Bengal, and owing to its rapid recurvature several ships encountered the storm twice ; it was probably owing to this that-the pilot vessel Co/eroon foundered. An examina- tion of the storms which have occurred since 1737, shows that not more than three or four. of them could possibly have ad- vanced across the Malay Peninsula into the bay. The: second storm originated on the 1st and 2nd, between the Maldives. and’ the Travancore coast, and is said to be the most violent that has been experienced in Minicoy for the past quarter of a century.) This storm is the more interesting from the fact that exact in- formation is rarely obtained of the birth of such a disturbance in: the neighbourhood of the equator. The predominant feature was the excessive amount of rainfall, which was quite as exceptional as the storm itself. The third storm originated in’ the south-east of the bay, on the 19th and 2oth ; it was remark- able only for its track, as it. advanced by a curved path into Central Burma, instead of to the coast of Madras, asusual. The tracks of this and of the first storm show certain abnormal conditions to have existed during the whole of the month. All the disturbances'were generated in the humid south-west mon- soon current, and were apparently not due to any mechanical action between two opposite air currents. Mr. Eliot. states that rainfall appears to be the dominating factor in all large cyclones in India, and that this or aqueous vapour was the chief agentin determining the origin and motion, of the three storms above referred to. A REMARKABLE case of resuscitation of an optical image is described from personal experience by Prof. T. Vignoli in a paper recently communicated to the Reale Lnstituto Lombardo, On the morning of July 3, after a railway journey in a bright 546 NATURE [Ocrower 5, 1893 _ sun, and two days’ walk in a suffocating heat, he happened to be in a room with several other persons,{and during conversa- tion looked at a balcony bathed in bright sunlight, but without taking any special interest in it. The balcony was decorated with trellis-work and ivy. Flowering creepers were arranged in vertical columns, each column being crossed below by the iron bars of the balcony, and above by sticks supporting the plants. A cage with birds hung up in the middle. Two days afterwards, very early inthe morning, the professor was in bed, bat perfectly awake, and in ordinary health, when, to his astonishment, he saw on the ceiling, by the light coming through Venetian blinds of two large windows, an exact reproduction, in all its colours and details, of the balcony referred to. The phenomenon lasted long enough to permit some detailed in- vestigation. On closing the eyes, the image disappeared, to appear again when they were opened. It was unaffected by regarding it witheach eye alternately. A finger placed betwee « the eye and the image intercepted it in the same manner as it would any ordinary object ; in short, the phenomenon obeyed all the optical laws of vision, And not only was the cage of birds reproduced, but also its swinging motion noticed before. Prof. Vignoli argues that this cannot have been a case of ordinary hallucination, since the latter is unaffected by the opening or closing of the eyes, and is practically limited to occasions of abnormal health or disturbed state of mind. It must be re- garded as an outward projection ofa recollected image, though the mechanism of this projection does not appear to be well understood by the professor himself. A case such as this, of what the German psychologists would call wach-traum, merits the attention of those interested in psycho-physics. . THE current number of the Zéectrical Review contains a description of some of the latest appliances in ‘‘ electric heat. ing” for domestic use. In the cookery experiments at the Crystal Palace last year the efficiency obtained was, as a rule, very small, and the wires used in the apparatus were soon destroyed. » Mr. Binswanger, of the General Electric Company, claims to have got over both these drawbacks, as well as that of the difh- culty of insulation. Instead of wrapping the wires in asbestos, mica, &c, (under which conditions they rapidly oxidise), or clothing them with enamel (which cracks at high temperatures), a cement is applied ‘in a cold state, which is said to insulate well without cracking, even at very high temperatmes, The ‘‘ elec- tric kettle ” has a copper bottom resting on a double layer of silicate cement, between the two parts of which the copper wires carrying the current are arranged. The 1 pint size takes 3 amperes at 100 volts to raise the water to boiling, and as the time required to raise a pint of water from 15° C. to roo” C.-by an expenditure of 1000. watts is 3°7 minutes, this kettle, whichis a ‘*300-watt kettle,” will take 12 minutes to boil 1 pint.. With electricity at 4d, per unit, the cost of boiling the pint of water would be approximately one farthing, which is, of course, much dearer than gas. Stew-pans, ovens, and ‘‘ radiators” for heat- ing rooms are also made, as well as frying-pans and gridirons, in the two last-named: of which greater economy, is practicable than in the other cases, as the heat canbe produced in the exact spot in which it is wanted. ° Altogether it is evident that although the use of ‘electric heating” for domestic culinary pur- poses is not yet in its really practical stage, it is well on the way there. In the course of an interesting series of articles in Electricité on the ‘‘ Electric Lighting of Trains,” we find the following figures given as a comparison between the cost of oil- lamps and electric lights. The system under discussion is that of accumulators carried in the train and charged at fixed charging stations. .The total expense of an eléctric-lamp in a first-class carriage, including interest on capital, &c., comes out at 0°0289 NO. 1240, VOL, 48] francs per ‘ lamp-hour,” while an oil-lamp (of only 7-cand power) comes to 0°38 francs per hour, while in the second third class carriages, where more lamps are run off the battery, the comparison is still better in favour of the el system. A CATALOGUE of works on Phanerogams, %alphabeti arranged in genera, has been issued by Messrs, Dulau and C Two pamphlets by Sir Spencer Wells have been sent to one, “The Prevention of Preventible Disease,” is a lect delivered in Glasgow in May last, and the other, ‘‘Cremat and Cholera,” is reprinted, with additions, from the For for February, 1893. They both deserve a wide circulation attentive reading. Messrs. CASSELL AND Co. have just published a new ed of ‘‘ Elementary Lessons with Numerical Examples in P: Mechanics and Machine Design,” by R. G. Blaine. The has been to a large extent rewritten, and contains a good of additional matter, an attempt having been made to brin work up to date. TuERe is little of scientific value in Mr. Phil Hebiasale lat volume—‘‘ Some Country Sights and Sounds” (Unwin). — author, however, writes pleasantly enough on a varie . more or less to do with the country. WE have received a volume containing the meteorolog observations made at the Adelaide Observatory and places in South Australia and the northern territory, during years 1884-5, under the direction of Sir Charles Todd, F.F and revised by Prof. W. R. Hodgkinson, has just been publi hec by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill. A few additions have bee introduced into the work, including an extra ‘chapter, i in wh quantitative operations are dealt with. THE June number of Zimehri, the journal of the Royal cultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, has j 1 appeared, and contains articles on ‘‘ The Seasons in Gui ‘Notes on a Journey to a Portion of the Cuyuni Gold Mir District,” and ‘‘ Amateur Insect Collecting in British Gui octadtonal notes, reports of the society’s meetings, &c. It be obtained in London from Mr. Stanford. ‘ - Messrs, BLACKIE AND SON have just published an attract litle book entitled ‘‘Animal and Plant Life,” by the ‘Theodore Wood. The book is the’ sixth number of a series of science readers adapted for use in elementary sc *€ WEISSMANN’s Theory of Evolution”’:(1893) isthe title article by Prof. Romanes in Zhe Open Court of Septem Prof. Weismann’s recent modifications of his sequent the evolution are the chief points discussed. ; A usr of Coleoptera, prepared by Mr. James Ey Fe forming Part XII. of the ‘‘ Fauna and Flora of Norfol been reprinted from the Tiansactions of the Norfolk Norwich Naturalists’ Society (Vol. V.), and issued separa’ UNpER the title ‘Les Moteurs & Gaz et A Pétrole” (G thier Villars), M. Paul Vermand gives an excellent summary ¢ the present state of knowledge of atmospheric” motors. — volume belongs to the Aide-Mémoire series, Another work the same series that has recently been received is “* Décora' Céramique au Feu de Moufle,” by M. E. Guenez. Messrs, METHUEN AND Co.’s Commercial Series, ‘‘ inter to assist students and young men preparing for a comm ‘ Ocroser 5, 1893] NATURE 547 reer, by supplying useful handbooks of a clear and practical character, dealing with those subjects which are absolutely mtial in a business life,” has received an addition by Mr. H. 4 Bs B. Gibbins, entitled ‘‘ British Commerce and Colonies.” __ASECOND edition of Mr. J. R. Ainsworth Davis’ ‘‘ Element- ary Text-book of Biology” (Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co.) _ having been called for, the book has been thoroughly revised _and much enlarged, and a number of illustrations have been added. Part II. (Animal Morphology and Physiology) has had its value enhanced by the addition of a chapter on the Distribution of Animals. ___ Messrs. WHITTAKER’s library of popular science has received an addition in the form of a volume entitled “ Electricity and _ Magnetism,” by Mr. S. R. Bottone. The illustrations in the 1 k are a little coarse, but are just what a teacher requires to elucidate the text. Mr. Bottone is evidently at home in his _ subject, and he knows the way to present it to the general Dr. J. W. Grecory has conferred a benefit upon students f petrography by translating the ‘‘ Tables for the Determination f the Rock-Forming Minerals,” prepared by Prof, F. Loewinson- Lessing. The tables of Rossenbach and Michel Lévy and " Lacroix leave nothing to be desired in the matter of complete- "ness, but they are of little use to the elementary student for _ purposes of identification. By means of the synoptical tables, however, the commoner rock-forming minerals can easily be termined when their characters have been microscopically observed. A very, suitable introduction to the tables is a "description of the petrological microscope, by Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole. Messrs. Macmillan are the publishers of the 4 anslation. é ‘Tue October number of Watural. Science is of unusual terest. Among the articles are the following : ‘‘ The Effect the Glacial Period on the Fauna and Flora of the British es,” by G. W. Bulman; ‘‘ Some Recent Researches on the bits of Ants, Wasps, and Bees, Lu by George H. Carpenter ; and ‘‘The Recent Plague of Wasps,” by Oswald I. Latter. Dr. C. Herbert Hurst theorises upon ‘‘ The Digits in a- Bird’s Wing,” and Mr. J. T. Cunningham upon ‘‘ The Problem of tiation.” ~In addition there are numerous -notes and book- ices. __ AN investigation of the composition and properties of the ngerously explosive iodide of nitrogen has been ‘carried out by Dr. Szuhay in the laboratory of the University of Buda- _Pesth, and an account of his interesting experiments is contri- ted to the latest publication of the Berichte. A large mber of investigators have previously attacked this somewhat fascinating subject, but the knowledge hitherto accumulated has been insufficient to enable us to express with certainty its com- position. One of its properties, its unparalleled readiness to plode with or without provocation, has been so much to the fe as to almost entirely exclude investigation of its more im- tant, although less sensational, chemical properties. One variety of the substance, which was obtained by Dr. Szuhay by adding ammonium hydrate solution to powdered iodine, was und to be so pre-eminently disposed to detonative decom- ition that it frequently exploded even under water, and if it were successfully transferred while wet to a filter it exploded yn the passage of the .first draught of air. An attempt to certain its composition by careful decomposition with iphurous acid resulted in the complete pulverisation of the aining vessel. Iodide of nitrogen was first prepared by ois by mixing alcoholic solutions of iodine and ammonia. He considered it to be the tri-iodide NI, an opinion which was subsequently shared by Gay Lussac. Millon and Mar- NO. 1249, VOL. 48] chand afterwards expressed the view, unsupported, however, by experimental evidence, that it contained hydrogen, and might be represented by the formula NH,I. More recently Bineau, and-in this country Dr. Gladstone, have adduced more trust+ worthy evidence, from its mode of decomposition by an aqueous solution of sulphuretted hydrogen ‘and by sulphurous acid, that this extraordinary substance does indeed contain hydrogen, but only to the extent of one atom, its constitution being N HI). Bunsen, however, subsequently communicated to the Aznalen the view that iodide of nitrogen consists of NI3, but that accord- ing to its mode of preparation it contains more or less ammonia. Finally, Stahlschmiedt has brought forward the further hypothesis that when an alcoholic solution of iodine is mixed with aqueous ammonia the substance NI, is produced, but that when alcoholic ammonia is employed the product possesses the composition NHI,. _ The result of all this conflicting testimony has been to leave the question of the composition of iodide of nitrogen an open one. IopIpDE of nitrogen was prepared by Dr. Szuhay, after investi- gating most of the methods hitherto described, by adding excess of © aqueous ammonia to a concentrated solution of iodine in potas- sium iodide. -It is thus obtained in the form of a very fine pow- der, which was found to be capable of safe purification by wash- ing with a dilute solution ofsodium sulphate. It is requisite to protect the filter from draughts of air which are liable to induce explosion. The purified substance, of course in a moist condi- tion, as it cannot be dried without explosion, was analysed by decomposition with a solution of sulphurous acid of known strength and estimation of the amount of iodine and ammonia in the solution. Its composition was indubitably proved to be NHI,, thus confirming the earlier work of Dr. Gladstone and of Bineau. This conclusion is powerfully supported by the fact that Dr. Szuhay has been able to prepare a silver derivative of the compound by replacing the hydrogen atom by silver. -This silver compound is readily obtained by adding powdered oxide of silver or an ammoniacal solution of silver nitrate to iodide of nitrogen suspended in water. It is a black flocculent substance which is quite as explosive as iodide of nitrogen itself. When care- fully dried the least rise of temperature provokes explosion. It also detonates upon being struck or evenjwhen brought into gentle friction with any other substance. When warmed under water, or when treated with dilute acids it is quietly decomposed, silver iodide being deposited, free iodine liberated, and free nitrogen escaping with effervescence. The relative amounts of these pro- ducts of decomposition conclusively prove the’ compound to possess the composition Ag_ NI,. Moreover, considerable evi- dence is also adduced. to show that potassium, sodium, and barium replacement compounds are capable of existence in solu- tion. The existence of the compound HNI, is thus fully de- monstrated, and whether or not the compounds NI; and’ NH, are likewise capable of formation under different experimental conditions is a question which doubtless further work will elu, cidate.. It is not unworthy of notice that there is a considerable amount of resemblance between this extraordinarily explosive substance and the similarly distinguished azoimide H - NC for both contain’ the imido group NH the hydrogen of which is capable of being replaced by silver and other metals, and both appear in consequence to be endowed with a somewhat acid nature by the two atoms of negative iodine in the one case, and the negative diazo-nitrogen group in the other. Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week’s captures include the Annelids AZyrianida maculata (one of these with a chain of buds), Spherodorum peripatus and Siphonostoma uncinatum, the tubicolous Gephyrean Phoronis 548 NATURE {Octoser 5, 1893. hippocrepia, and the Decapod Crustacean A/hanas nitescens. The floating fauna has presented hardly any appreciable change : numbers of young Geryonta appendiculata, some Margelid medusze and swarms of Ode/ia, have formed the chief Ccelen- terate element, Voctz/uca is generally present in fair quantity. The Ascidian Czona intestinalis is now breeding, THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Rhesus Monkey (A/acacus rhesus) from India, presented by Mr. Duncan Mackintosh ; two Lions (/e/is Zea, 2 @jew.) from Somaliland, presented by The Lord Dela- mere ; four Long-fronted Gerbilles (Gerdillus longifrons) from Tunis, two Long-tailed Field Mice (A/us sylvaticus) from France, presented by Mons. Albert de Lautreppe 3 a Ring- tailed Coati (asia ‘rifa) from South America, presented by Mr. H. Rich; two White Storks (Ciconia alba) European, presented by Mr, Walter Winans, F.Z.S.; an Adelaide Parra- keet (Platycercus adelaide) from ‘Australia, presented by Mrs. Waterhouse ; two Common Sheldrakes ‘(Zadorna’ vulpanser) from Scotland, presented by Mr. Francis Alexander ; three Dwarf Chameleons (Chameleon pumilus) from Soath Africa, presented by Mr.. Henry: Beamish ; an Alligator (A//igator -mississtppiensts) from Florida, presented by Mr. H. Venn; a Serval ( Fe/z's serval), a Cape Crowned Crane :(Balearica chrys- opelargus), a Secretary Vulture. (Serpentarius. reftilivorus), a ‘Black-winged Kite (Zlanus. cextuleus) from South Africa, a Grey Squirrel (Sciurus cinereus): from North “America, | de- posited ; three Viscachas (Lagostomus trichodactylus),.a Hairy Armadillo (Dasypus villosus),. two Ypecaha Rails (Aramides ypecaha), a Great Grebe (chmophorus major) from South America, a Prétrés Amazon (Chvysotis pretrii) from Brazil, purchased ; four Indian Wild Swine (Sws créstatus) born in the Gardens, «. ; OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. ON THE PARALLAX OF THR PLANETARY NEBULA B.D. ‘+ 41°'4coq4.—During the ‘summer of! 1892: Dr. J.. Wilsing began a series of photographs of Webb’s planetary nebular B.D. + 41°'4004, using the new photographic refractor of the Potsdam Observatory, with the intention of determining the parallax. In the current number of Astronomische ‘ Nach- richten (No. 3190) he gives an account of the measurements made. . The undertaking s¢ems to have been especially difficult on account of the numerous errors that were liable to arise, and also to the lack of sharpness of the image of the nebula on the photographic plate. From June 1892 to June 1893 he obtained thirty-four plates with two exposures on each of eight minutes duration, and they were all measured with the Repsold’s mea- suring apparatus, a description of which instrument is given in vol. v. of the Publications of the Potsdam Astrophysical Obser- vatory. Six stars were used for comparison, and the distance of the nebula was measured from two of these stars, the others being used for finding the value in seconds ofarc of the measured distances, &c.. The distances measured show a distinct decrease, as will be gathered from the following table, when N. 3 and N. 6 denotes the distances from the two companion stars respectively :— 1892-93. N.3. N.6 Wt. June 25 fed 571 BES Fos ¢ RE e72 3 July 13 2A AO oi ca 9°77 I Aug. 8 a BR ae 9°56 3 Sept. 23 eh Glee, 9°71 4 Oct. 18 24°43 9 6 I Nov. 10 24/23 9°60 4 Jan. 2 24°32 9°43 4 June 5 7 24°56 139 61 8 Assuming the nebula di:tinces from these stars as 7’ 24"*40 + 13’ 9’60 for 1892°0, the position, corrections, relative yearly proper motions, and the relative parallaxes, when taken NO. 1240, VOL. 48] into account, ‘gave the following numbers for the equ observed—calculated O-C.: ; a o Nez. N. 6, NS 36 N.6.. cme a“ “ 7] a“ + 0°05: + 0°05 | 1 0106.) 13.) erase — 0'07 + 0'c6 é— O13 5.215 He OOS + 0708 - O11 | - 005 ... -— 008 + 0°02 + 0°03 0700... + 0°05 ; Zl The negative relative parallax thus obtained shows, as Dr Wilsing in his concluding remarks says, that the distance o Webb’s nebula from the sun cannot: be assumed in any way be less than the distances of both the eleventh-magnitude comparison stars. . SOLAR AND.,LUNAR EPHEMERIS FoR TuRIN.—In xxviii, of the R. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, Dr. Albe! Manaira contributes the ephemerides of the sun and moon which he has calculated out for the horizon of Torino fo year,1894. For each day of the month throughout the year gives the time of rising, meridian passage, and setting of sun anil moon, Brief reference is also made to the e visible in that year, giving the time (mean time Rome) o chief contacts, “4 pL aera a GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. © | - THE Mouvement Géographique publishes a sketch ma Dr. Baumann’s explorationto the north-east of Lake ganyika, in the country of Urundi. | He has traced out the waters of the Kagera, which take their rise close to Tanganyil and flow down the long slope to the Victoria Nyanza, bein thus the ultimate source of the Nile, if it is possible to app! that name to any of the streams which feed Lake Victoria.’ mountains between the basin of the Kagera and that of t Rusiji are called by the Warundi A/isozi a Medi, or Mount of the Moon. Some of the summits were apparently abov 10,000 feet above the sea. The Rusiji River, which flows Lake Tanganyika at its northern end, is represented provisional! as flowing from the reported Lake Oso, which drainage from the southern slopes of the Mfumbiro mounta’ the north slope of which drains to Lake Albert Edware. this topography turns out to be correct, the Mfumbiro : forms the only barrier across the great meridional furrow runs from the Mediterranean to the Zambesi, and inc Lakes Albert, Albert Edward, the possible Oso, Tangan and Nyasa, f 8 . Mr. H. F. B. Lyncu, with his brother and a Swiss ¢ succeeded, after seven and a half hours’ climbing, in making ascent of Mount Ararat, on September 19, and promises interesting information regarding his observations on his’ to this country. He took some photographs of the moun scenery. ; ; PRINCE KRAPOTKIN publishes his address on the Tea’ of Physiography, given at the Teachers’ Guild Conf Oxford, in the October number of the Geographical Fo He deprecates the exclusive use of the Heimatskunde i ducing children to the study of the earth, and approves rai el teaching geography by considering the earth as a wi insisting, however, on the importance of personal work by scholars in their own neighbourhood to extend and give rea to theoretical teaching. AN interesting history of the mapping of the state of souri, by Mr. Arthur Winslow, assisted by Mr. C. F. Marbut has been published in the Transactions of the Acad Sciences of Missouri. Starting with the dictum that the sation of a people is proportional to the accuracy with » their country is mapped, Mr. Winslow traces the gradu provement of the maps of Missouri in a readable way. gives rough sketches of the more interesting early maps. Frat quelin’s map of 1688 is the first on which the name ‘* sourils ” appears, but the river to which the name was appliet is very imperfectly drawn. In Sinex’s map of 1710 the positio of the Mississippi is shown nearly sixty miles too far west, ; the mouth of the Missouri twenty-five miles too far north. Ti du Pratz’ map of 1763 the error in both directions is doublec Lieutenant Ross, of the British Army, in 1765 made a survi of the Mississippi, accurate as to latitudes, but wrong in lon NATURE 549 - Ocroser 5, 1893] te, The first really effective survey was that of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke in 1804-1806. In 1815 Land Office surveys were commenced. After the admission of the State the Union in 1820 more accurate surveys were required to fix the boundary lines, but these had to be rectified in 1850, when serious discrepancies were found. Really trustworthy 1 ing was only begun when the Coast and Geodetic Survey - commenced a triangulated line across the state in 1871. The _ Mississippi and Missouri River Commissioners subsequently _ rectified the mapping of the rivers, and now the topographical _ survey of the State is being carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey, which has executed maps of one-third of the area on the scale of about two miles to the inch, The Missouri Geological Survey also makes a topographical map of selected _ parts of the State on thescale of about one mile to the inch. THE OBSERVATORY ON MOUNT BLANC. “AS briefly announced in our Notes last week, Dr. Janssen has 7 recently visited. the observatory on Mount Blanc. In the current Comptes Rendus he gives an account of the expedition from.a scientific point of view, and the following is a translation of his. description :— We left Chamonix on September 8, at 7 a.m., and arrived atthe summit on September I1, at 2.30 p.m. The observatory was then in front of us. This construction has several floors, _ of which the framework, formed by large and massive beams crossed in all directions in order to ensure the rigidity of the _ whole, produces a deep impression upon the mind. One won- _ ders how it has been possible to transport the edifice to this altitude and fix it on the snow.: However, if the conditions _ offered by the hard, permanent, and little mobile snows of the a ‘summit are carefully considered, it is soon recognised that the _ snows are able to support very considerable weights,! and that they. will be only slightly amenable to displacements, which will render it necessary to straighten again the construction which has been fixed uponthem. ; On my arrival I made a rapid survey, and saw that th construction had not been sunk in the snow as much as I had stipulated of the contractors.. Ido not approve of this. My guides and myself then took possession of the largest under- _ ground room. I intended at first. to fix the instruments for enabling observations to be commenced immediately, and the provisions were left on the Rocher-Rouge. - This circumstance _ put usin a state of perplexity, for the weather suddenly became _ very bad, and we had to remain two days. separated’from the stores. The storm lasted from Tuesday until Thursday morning. Beautiful weather then set in, and I was able to begin the _ observations. _ The observations have for their principal object the question _ of the presence of oxygenin the solar atmosphere, The Academy _ knows that I worked at this important point during my ascen- sions to the Grands-Mulets (3050 metres) in 1888, and at -M. Vallot’s observatory in 1890. But the novelty of the observations of 1893 lies in the fact that _ they have been effected on the very summit of Mount Blanc, and _ that the instrument employed is infinitely superior to that of _ the two preceding ascensions. . At the first, in fact, a Duboscq adie incapable of separating the B group into distinct es was employed, while the instrument about'to be employed ‘the summit of Mount Blanc is a grating spectroscope (the goa piece of which I owe to the kindness of Rowland), . telescopes having a focal length of 0°75 and showing all the details of the B group. This circumstance is of considerable _ importance, for it may lead to the discovery, in the constitution _ of the group in question, of valuable elements for measuring in 4 way the effects of the diminution of the action of our “atmosphere as one ascends into it,and, accordingly, to determine _ whether this diminution corresponds to total extinction at its its. In fact we shall learn whether or no the double lines hich make »p the B group diminish in intensity as their re- gibilities diminish ; that is, as their wave-lengths increase. his circumstance may perhaps be employed with profit, if to measure, at least to observe the diminution of the action _ of the selective absorption of our atmosphere. It has been ascertained that the most feeble doubles fade away one after the other asthe atmosphere is ascended, that is to say, as the ¥ 1See Comptes Rendus {x an account of experiments made at Meudon on the resistance of slightly compressed snow. NO. 1249, vor. 48] absorbing action is diminished. -Thus, under ordinary circumstances, at the surface of our seas or upon our plains, thirteen or fourteen doubles can be seen, not reckoning that which is known as the head of B. : But even at Chamonix, that is at an altitude of io50 metres, the thirteenth double is very difficult to make out, and at the Grands Mulets (3050 m.), it is only possible to see from the tenth to the twelfth, while at the summit of Mount Blanc I cou'd hardly go beyond the eighth. It is not to be supposed that we establish a proportionality between the numerical diminution of the doubles and that of the atmospheric action.. The law is evidently of a much more complex character. But this diminution, especially when con- sidered in connection with the. experiments made with tubes full-of oxygen, and able to reproduce the series of atmospheric phenomena to which we have referred, is sufficient for us to con- clude that the B group would totally disappear at the limits of our atmosphere. It is remarkable, however, that if we take the co-efficient 0°566 that represents the diminution of atmo- spheric action at the summit of Mount Blanc according to barometric pressures (343. 0°566 ) and multiply it by thir- teen—the number that represents the doubles clearly visible on the plain—we obtain 7°4 as the result ; that is to say, very nearly the number (8) doubles that can be seen by me on the summit of Mount Blanc. Pitas . This result is certainly remarkable, but I repeat that, in my opinion, it is only by the comparison with tubes reproducing the same optical conditions as nearly as possible, that any defi- nite conclusions will be obtained. These comparative experi- ments have already been commenced in the laboratory of Meudon Observatory, and they lead to the same result, viz., the disappearance of the groups A, B, and a at the limits of the atmosphere. - On account of the importance of the question, however, the experiments will be repeated and completed. The question arises as to whether the high temperatures to which solar gases and vapours are* subjected are not capable of modifying the power of selective absorption, and particularly whether the ‘absorption of oxygen which takes place in the sun’s atmosphere would not be altogether different from that indicated by the experiments which have been made at ordinary temperatures. I have already instituted experiments with the idea of reply- ing to this objection. 1-shall give an-account of them to the Academy in due course, but I may say that the absorption spec- trum of oxygen, either the line spectrum or the unresolvable bands, do not appear to be modified in an appreciable manner when the oxygen is raised to temperatures of about 400 or 500 degrees. , ‘ On the whole, I think that observations made on the summit of Mount Blanc give a new and much sounder foundation to the study of the question of the purely telluric origin of the oxygen groups in the solar spectrum, and lead to the conclu- sions previously stated. ee? 4 Independently of these observations I have also given some attention to the transparency of the atmosphere of this almost unique station, and to the atmospheric phenomena which are included in such an extensive view, and across such a great thickness. I shall speak of this on a future occasion, ° The observatory, of course, is not completed. There yet re- mains much to be done independently of interior arrangements and the installation of the instruments ; but the great difficulty has been overcome, for we are free to work, and no longer have to reckon with the snowstorms; the rest will follow in due course. I hope that the observatory will soon be able to offer a much more comfortable sojourn than I have had there; but that will depend upon the weather. Bethis asit may, I regret nothing. Istrongly wished to see our work in position, and still more fervently desired to inaugurate it by observations which are ever in my mind. Iam fortunate at having been able to realise my desires in spite of some dfficulties. IRON. AND STEEL INSTITUTE. A VERY successful meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute has just been held in Darlington, commencing on Tues- day, September 26. The President, Mr. E. Windsor Richards, occupied the chair There was a very good list of papers, 559 NATURE eleven in all, as follows :—On the Manufacture of Basic Steel at Witkowitz, by Paul Kupelwieser ; on the Waste of Fuel, Past, Present, and Future, in Smelting Ores of Iron, by Sir Lowthian Bell, F.R.S.; on Iron and Steel at the Chicago World’s Fair, by H. Bauerman; on Iron and Steel Wire, and the Development of its Manufacture, by J. P. Bedson ; on the Sampling of Iron Ore, by T. Clarkson ; on the Tudhoe Works of the Weardale Iron and Coal Company, by H. W. Hollis ; on the Liihrig Coal Washing and Dry Separation Plant at the North Bitchburn Coal Company’s Randolph Pit, by James I’Anson ; on Carbon in Iron, by Prof. Ledebur (Freiberg) ; on Suggested Improvements in connection with the Manufacture of Steel Plates, by William Muirhead ; on the Last Twenty Years in the Cleveland Mining District, by A. L. Steavenson; on the Pro- duction of Wrought Iron in Small Blast Furnaces in India, by T. Turner. Mr. Kupelwieser’s paper was first taken, and gave an interest- ing account of the basic process, which the author has intro- duced with considerable success at Witkowitz. It is of course well known that the cheapest process of steel manufacture is that carried out with the Bessemer converter; the Siemens furnace comes next. Although the basic process was origin- ally devised for the use of the Bessemer converter, it has had considerable application with the open-hearth furnaces. The basic process is, however, dearer than the old acid system of manufacture, and some of the most beautiful mild steel pro- duced is made in the open-hearth furnace with a basic lining. The latter, again, is more costly than the old acid lining, and we have therefore the following gradations as to cost :—First, the acid Bessemer, or original process ; next, the basic Bessemer ; then the acid open-hearth, and finally the basic open-hearth ; the latter being the dearest of the four, It is obvious therefore, that when circumstances permit it, that the Bessemer converter should be used in place of the open-hearth, but there is an objec- tion to the Bessemer converter in the fact that it acts so much more quickly ; the slower working open-hearth furnace giving time for tests to be made, and the product is consequently more certain. Mr. Kupelwieser has introduced a combined process in Witkowitz, which many members of the Iron and Steel In- stitute saw in work, when the Institute meeting was held in Austria. The pig-iron obtained in Witkowitz contains too much phosphorus for use in the ordinary Bessemer process, while it does not contain sufficient phosphorus for the basic process. As a further complication, a supply of cheap scrap was not obtainable at the works. The way in which the author got over his difficulties is highly ingenious, and is well worth study by English steel-makers. The pig-iron is run from the blast furnace into the ladle, and transferred immediately to the converter, which hasan acid lining. ‘The blast is then. turned on, and the blow kept mpl the pig-iron is de-siliconised : an operation that requires about five or six minutes to perform, The silicon being removed, manganese and a considerable amount of carbon remain ; the metal is poured into a ladle, and taken to the open-hearth furnace, where the process of steel-making is completed. This method of operation has the great advantage that the molten metal, when run into the open-hearth furnace, which is basic lined, does not destroy the lining, as it has be- come completely de-siliconised. The time required for work- ing the charge is considerably diminished, and the amount of iron taken up by the slag is said to be less, as also are the ex- penditure of fueland cost of wages. We do not propose follow- ing the author into his figures as to the cost of production, but the balance in favour of his method is Ios. per ton as compared with the cost of conversion in the open-hearth furnace from the commencement, whilst it is said to be no dearer than the basic Bessemer process when:carried out on a. large scale. Perhaps the chief point of interest to English steel-makers is the working of the metal from the blast furnace direct ; a thing which bas of course often been considered by steel-makers in all parts of the world. It is always difficult, and often fallacious, to make com- parisons unless the whole conditions on both sides be similar, and it is certain that those conditions existing at Witkowitz have not their exact counterpart in thiscountry. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that during the discussion of the. paper high authorities differed. Mr. James Riley did not by any means approve of the author’s suggestions ; basing his objection prin- cipally on the waste that would take place in the process. On the other hand, Mr. Snelus and Mr, Whitwell—both high authorities—supported the author. There is of course the un- deniable tos, a ton, which is sufficient vindication of the pro- NO. 1249, VOL. 48] cess as carried cut in Witkowitz. Whether the Ics. wou beto the good in English stec] works, is a matter that is question. Sir Lowthian Bell next read a paper on the waste of past, present, and future, in smelting iron ores. i tribution was largely of a historical nature. Its scope ciently indicated by the title, and it would be a tellectual exercise for students to follow its reasoning. Mr. Bauerman’s paper on the iron and stsel exhib Chicago Exhibition was of the usual nature of such par principal wonders to be seen were referred to by the < but it is unnecessary for us to follow him in his de: The same remark applies to Mr. Steavenson’s paper, reading of which the first day’s sitting was brought to In the afternoon a very instructive and pleasant excursion made to the Weardale Steel and Iron Company’s works Spennymore, where members had an opportunity of seein gigantic operation of cogging and rolling ingots, v characteristic of the modern steel works. [Sa The first paper taken on the second day’s sitting was Ledebur’s contribution on carbon in iron. This met with mixed reception, the opinion of some members appearing to that it was hardly worthy of the time allotted to it, althot international courtesy forbade them blankly saying so. — think such an opinion can only be due to a cursory study of th paper, which appears to be one of considerable value, an especially suitable for the Transactions of the Institute. “Che is some controversial matter in this memoir, but its value is th it brings together in a very compact form many of the leadin facts involved in the subject upon which it treats, and althoug there is not much in it that is new—in fact, the matter of that already known—yet many of the details are. stated by Mr. Hadfield, the result of the author's own” The paper is well worth the consideration of metallu IS, al we think there are few who would not benefit by their memo: being refreshed, even if the facts were not a Prof. Ledebur holds that there are four states of 1 The first is the graphitic state; the second, that » . t author described as the temper-carbon ; the third is a cart carbon or cement carbon ; and the fourth hardening carbon, will be evident that in stating this the author att largely of a controversial nature, and in the discussion wh followed, Mr. Snelus, Mr. Hadfield, Prof. Roberts-Arst Mr. oe Sir comes ae Prof. Thomas enna \ Edward Riley took part. It is unnecessary to at W! all these gentlemen engaged in the discussion ro es 01 clashing of opinion. Mr, Hadfield stated a most in fact, in that from a malleable iron casting he had o three per cent. of graphitic carbon ; but we believe the | showed all the physical qualities of having been well The result is of course not difficult to conceive, but the none the less of interest. The action of silicon in r carbon in steel also occupied the attention of the meeting this discussion, but we did not notice that any new facts brought forward. ‘jhe Am Mr. Bedson’s paper on iron and steel wire was a very a contribution on a most interesting subject. The author is” the fourth generation of wire-makers, the business in which is engaged having been handed down to him from his gre grandfather ; whilst his father added some of the most importa improvements to the. machinery and process of wire manu turing. The immense superiority of basic steel over that duced by the acid process was strongly insisted upon author; a fact which called forth some rather from Mr. James Riley, who protested against the acid Si steel being left unmentioned, as by far the greatest quanti steel wire was manufactured from that metal. Mr. paper was a long one; but if it had been even more extends his audience would not have objected to it. . For our own } we should have been glad to have seen some mention m the extraordinary tenacity in steel produced by drawing wire, a4 ‘ The next paper taken was that of Mr. William Mui Unfortunately this contribution was written in such a way tl the author’s meaning was somewhat obscure. . From the wor ing of the paper we gathered that Mr. Muirhead would a oli the cogging process by which the ingot is broken down in ro to manageable dimensions for rolling. This operation wé originally performed by the steam hammer, and the coggin rolls were undoubtedly a great improyement, enabling work a yr i= % OcTOBER 5, 1893] NATURE 351 done with more expedition and greater cheapness. The uthor in his paper certainly advocated abandoning both ham- ring and cogging. In his paper he said, ‘* Cogging, as it is present carried on, with its consequent reheating, is a ambersome, almost an ugly operation, and from the argu- nents I have endeavoured to adduce, an unnecessary one. How uch smarter and cheaper it will be to take the ingots and roll m right off into plates, and I commend this to your earnest tention.” Yet in the discussion which followed, Mr. Muir- ead said that he did not in his system do without cogging. The point is one of considerable importance, and, Mr. Muir- _ head’s position as the manager of an important steel-producing plant commands for him attention. Ifthe same results can be ‘got from the ingot without cogging and reheating, undoubtedly great step in advance will have been taken ; but the majority steel-makers—perhaps we might say all, with the exception of Mr. Muirhead—think that cogging or hammering is a “necessary though expensive process. Of course, if the author can show that he‘is right, and the rest of the steel world wrong, ‘he will have performed a signal service to the industry. If we were the owners of steel works, however, we should prefer the experiments to be carried out by other manufacturers. It may _ be added that what is known as the direct process of rolling is - not a new thing, and for Mr. Muirhead to succeed he will have to introduce some entirely fresh element into his procedure. _ The last paper read at the meeting was Mr. Clarkson’s con- _ tribution, in which he described his ore sampling machine. It ‘would seem a small matter, at first glance, to sample ore, but it is by no means an easy thing to do. The variations in “quality or composition are arbitrarily distributed, and it may easily be that a sample made up from portions from several lifferent positions in the mass to be sampled, may not be a fair representation of the whole. Machines five been before used, means of which small portions of a falling mass of ore may ‘be abstracted at regular intervals. It would be difficult to describe this device without the aid of diagrams, but it may e stated that though they appear to work fairly and quitably at first sight, they are in reality partial in their selec- tion. Mr. Clarkson has brought a trained mind to bear upon this subject, and has produced a really scientific instrument. The ea of ore is caused to fall in an annular stream, descending into a hopper, which is made to revolve at great speed. Bya ‘suitable mechanism small portions of the ore are abstracted at regular intervals, and from the fact that the falling mass takes e form of an annulus in place of a solid stream, the tendency of certain qualities to gather in the middle of the stream is obviated. A small-sized apparatus was shown in the theatre, _and the author was able to practically demonstrate the accuracy ae which it worked, so far as the exact percentage of the “Material abstracted from the whole was concerned. The ‘demonstration, it may be said, was perfectly successful. The pparatus has another useful field in distribution of a mass into ual parts, so that by it a number of bottles or boxes can be led without the tedious process of weighing being gone _ through, and yet each receptacle will have its due share of the “material. The error of the ore separator is less than at _ present. E This was the last paper read at the meeting, which concluded ith the usual votes of thanks. -) THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF MOUNTAIN a RANGES. N his presidential address, delivered before the American Association for the Advancement of Science this year, Prof. Conte dealt with theories of mountain genesis—a subject ich lies at the very foundation of theoretical geology. Want space forbids us printing the address in full, but the most nt points are contained in the extracts from it that are here Prof. Le Conte began by stating those fundamental features the structure of mountain ranges on which every true theory their origin must be founded. These features are : (1) Thick- of mountain sediments ; (2) coarseness of mountain sedi- nts ; (3) folded structure of mountains ; (4) cleavage struc- ; (5) granite or metamorphic axis; (6) asymmetric form. type of mountain, the main characteristics of which NO. 1240, VOL. 48] are not included under the above heads, are those only found in the Basin and Plateau regions, and therefore termed the Basin region type. In fact, ‘‘ mountains may be divided into two types, viz. mountains formed by folding of strata, and mountains formed by tilting of crust-blocks. The structure of the one is anticlinal or dclinal, of the other, #ozoclinal. The Sierra pro- bably belongs to both types. It was formed at the end of the Jurassic as a mountain of the first type, but the whole Sierra block was tilted up on its eastern side without folding at the end of the Tertiary, and it then became also a mountain of the second type. A complete theory must explain this type also ; but since from the exceptional character it must be regarded as of subordinate importance, we shall be compelled to confine our discussion to mountains of the usual type.” Before going any further, however, Prof. Le Conte made a digression in order to clearly Jay down what he meant by theory. After facts have heen collected they must be explained, and the explanation, which merely gives the laws of the imme- diate phenomena in hand, is called the Formal Theory. The next step towards the perfection of knowledge consists in ex- plaining the cause of these laws, and is termed the Casza/l or Physical Theory. The following is an illustration of this distinction :— : *¢ All the phenomena of the drift are well explained by the former existence of an ice-sheet moving southward by laws of glacial motion, scoring, polishing, and depositing in its course. This is the formal theory. But still the question remains, What was the cause of the ice-sheet? Was it due to northern elevation, or to Aphelian winter concurring with great eccen- tricity of the earth’s orbit? And if due to northern elevation, what was the cause of that elevation? A perfect theory must answer all these questions,” «©, . . . I wish to keep clear in the mind these two stages of theorising in the case of mountain origin, ‘The formal theory is already well advanced toward a satisfactory condition ; the physical theory is still in a very chaotic state. But these two kinds of theories have been often confounded with one another in the popular and even in the scientific mind, and the chaotic state of the latter has been carried over and credited to the . former also ; so that many seem to think that the whole subject of mountain origin is yet wholly in the air, and without any solid foundation.” Bearing in -mind that ‘‘a true formal theory, keeping close to the immediate facts in hand, must pass gradually from necessary inferences from smaller groups to a wider theory which shall explain them all,” Prof. Le Conte showed the inferences that could be made from the characteristic features of mountain structure, and he then grouped those inferences, and summed up his views as to the mode of mountain formation as follows :— Summary Statement of the Formal Theory. (1) ‘fMountain ranges, while in preparation for future birth, were marginal sea-bottoms receiving abundant sediment from an adjacent land-mass and slowly subsiding under the increasing weight. (2) They were at first formed and continued for a time to grow, by lateral pressure crushing and folding the strata together horizontally and swelling them up vertically along a certain line of easiest yielding. (3) That this line of easiest yielding is determined by the hydrothermal softening of the earth’s crust along the line of thickest sedimentation. (4) That this line by softening becomes also the line of greatest meta- morphism, and by yielding the line of greatest folding and greatest elevation. But (5) when the softening is very great, sometimes the harder lateral strata are jammed in under the crest, giving rise to fan-structure, in which case the most com- plex foldings may be near but not at the crest. Finally (6) the mountains thus formed will be asymmetric because the sedi- mentary cylinder-lenses from which they originated were asymmetric.” Several American examples illustrating these views were then given, and it was shown that eruptive phenomena, faults, mineral veins, earthquakes, and other minor phenomena associ- ated with mountains are well explained by them. To quote Prof. Le Conte: ‘‘ Leaving out the monoclinal type, which seems to!belong to a different category, all the phenomena, major and minor, of structure and of occurrences, connected with mountains, are well explained by the theory of /ateral pressure acting on lines of thick sediments accumulated on marginal 552 NATURE ‘ 4 [OctoER 5, 1893 Hl sea-bottoms, and softened’ by invasion of interior heat. . This view is therefore satisfactory as far as it goes, and brings order out of the chaos of mountain phenomena, It has successfully directed geological investigation in the past, and will continue -to do so in the future. “* But there still remains the question, ‘ What is the cause of the lateral pressure?’ The answer to this question constitutes the physical theory. Age: ‘Thus far I suppose there is little difference of opinion. I have only tried to put in clear condensed form what most geologists hold. But henceforward there are the most widely diverse views, and eventhe wildest speculations. But let us not imagine, on that account, that we have made no progress in the science of mountain origin. ‘he formal theory already given is really for the geologist by far the most important part of the theory of mountain origin. For I insist that for the geologist, formal theories are usually more important than physical theories of geological phenomena, That slaty cleavage is the result of a mashing of strata by a force at right angles to the cleavage-planes, is of capital importance to the geologist, for it isa guide to all his investigations. To what property of matter this structure is due, is of less importance to him, though of prime importance to the physicist. That the phenomena of the drift is due to the former existence of a moving ‘ice-sheet is the one thing most important to the geologist, guiding all his investigations. Whether this ice- sheet was caused by geographical or astronomical changes, is a question of wider but of less direct interest to him. So in the case of mountain ranges, the most important part of the theory is their origin by /ateral pressure under the conditions given above. The cause of lateral pressure, though still of extreme interest, is certainly of less immediate importance in guiding investigations.” ee The Contraction Theory. ‘*The most obvious view of the cause of lateral pressure refers it to the interior contraction of the earth, This theory is so well known that I will give it only in very brief outline. It assumes that the earth was once an incandescent liquid, and has cooled and solidified to its present condition,. At first it cooled most rapidly at the surface, and must have fissured by tension. But there would inevitably come a time when the surface, being substantially cool, and, moreover, receiving heat also from the sun, its temperature would be fixed, or nearly so, while the incandescent interior would be still cooling and con- tracting. Such has. probably been the case ever since the commencement of the recorded history of the earth. The hot interior now cooling and contracting more rapidly than the cool crust, the latter, following down the ever-shrinking nucleus, would be thrust upon itself by lateral pressure with a force which is simply irresistible. If the crust were ten times, yea, one hundred times more rigid than it is, it must yield. It does yield along the lines of greatest weakness, z.e. along marginal sea-bottoms, as already explained. As a first attempt at a physical theory, it seems reasonable, and therefore until re- cently has been generally accepted.” Objections to the Contraction Theory. “*Tt is well known that American geologists have taken a very Prominent part in the study of mountain structure and mountain origin ; so much so, indeed, that the lateral pressure theory in the form given above and interior contraction as its cause, have sometimes been called the ‘ American theory.’ It is, also well known that my name, among others—especially Dana’s—has been associated with this view. All I claim is to have put the whole subject, especially the formal theory, in a clearer light and more consistent form.! The formal theory I regard as a permanent acquisition. The contraction theory may not be so. It is'natural, from my long association with it, that I should be reluctant to give it up. But I am sure that I am willing to do so if a better can be offered. We all: dearly love our own intellectual children, especially if. born of much labour and thought ; but I am sure that I am willing, like Jephtha of old, to sacrifice, if need be, this my fairest daughter on the sacred altar of Truth. | Objections have recently come: thick and. fast from many directions. Some of these I believe can be removed, but others perhaps cannot in the present condition of science, i * Theory of the Formation of the Great Features of the Earth’s Sey face,” Am. Journal, vol. iv. p. 345 and 460, 1872; and also ‘Structure and Origin of Mountains,”’ vol. xvi. p, 95, 1878. NO. 1249, VoL 48] and may indeed eventually prove fatal. Time alone can I state briefly some of these objections.” c (1) ‘* Mathematical physicists assure us that on any re able premises of initial temperature and rate of cooling o! earth, the amount of lateral thrust produced by interior traction would be wholly insufficient to account for the eno: foldings (Cam. Phil. Trans. vol. xii. Part 2, December, 1 Let us admit—surely a large admission—that this is so. this conclusion rests on the supposition that the whole fh. interior contraction is cooling. There may be other causes” contraction. If cooling be insufficient, our first duty is to for other causes. Osmund Fisher has thrown out the tion (a suggestion, by the way, highly commended by Hi that the enormous quantity of water vapour ejected by canoes, and the probable cause of eruptions is} not me! in origin as generally supposed, but is original and stituent water occluded in the interior Magma. (Cam. Trans. vol. xii. Part 2, February, 1875. ‘* Physics of | Earth’s Crust,” p. 87.) Tschermak has connected this e of constituent water from the earth with the gaseous « of the sun (Geol. Mag. vol. iv. p. 569, 1877). Is it not b possible that we have in this an additional cause of contra more powerfully operative in early times, but still contin See the large quantity of water occluded in fused la’ ‘spit out’ in an act of solidification! But much still rem in volcanic glass which by refusion intumesces into lightest {ro Here, then, is a second probable cause of contraction. If th two be still insufficient, we must look for still other causes rejecting the theory. oa (2) ‘*Again, Dutton (4m. Four. vol. viii. p. 13, Pinn, Monthly, May 1876) has shown that in a rigid ¢ is impossible that the effects of interior contraction shou concentrated along certain lines so as to form mountain re because this would require a shearing of the crust on interior. The yielding would be evenly distributed everyy and therefore imperceptible anywhere. This is ey : and therefore a valid objection in the case of an earth equa rigid in every part. But if there be a subcrust layer of or semiliquid or viscous, or even more movable or more stable matter, either universal or over large areas, as t : many reasons to think, then the objection falls to the For in that case there would be no reason why the eff general contraction should not be concentrated on w lines, as we have supposed. a (3) ‘* But again, it has been objected that the lines ing to interior contraction ought not to run in definite dir tions for long distances, but irregularly in all directions. believe we may find the answer to this objection in the princip of flow of solids under very slow heavy pressure. The } the solid earth, under pressure in many directions, might be conceived as being deflected to the direction of least xesis ance, z.e. of easiest yielding. (4) ‘But again, it will be objected that the amount cumferential shortening necessary to produce the foldings ¢ some mountains is simply incredible, for it would disarrange the stability of the rotation of the earth itself. According to pole, in the formation of the Appalachian range the ci ference of the earth was shortened 88 miles, and in formation of the Alps 72 miles. _ Now this would make a < crease of diameter of the earth of 28 miles in the one case, 23 intheother. This would undoubtedly seriously quicken thi rotation and shorten the day. This seems indeed atartlia a first. But when we remember that the tidal drag is all t time retarding the rotation and lengthening the day, and. more at one time than now, we should not shrink from a tance of a counteracting cause hastening the rotation shortening the day, and thus giving stability instead of destro ing it. We must not imagine that there would be anythin; catastrophic in this readjustment of rotation. _ Mountains a1 not formed in a day, nor in a thousand years, It req hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years—if phy: allow us so much. ‘“ The objections thus far brought forward, though se: are by no means unanswerable. But there is one brougt forward very recently which we are not yet fully prep: ed | answer, and may possibly prove fatal. I refer of course to level of no strain.” . : : explos! ee Level of No Strain. By ** Until agen the interior contraction of the earth was c n= sidered only roughly and without analysis.- It was seen that le OcToBER 5, 1893] 1 . NATURE 553 ‘surface was already cool, and its temperature fixed while the in- terior was still hot and cooling ; and, therefore, that the exterior ' must be thrust upon itself and be crushed. But the phenomena "are really far more complex than at first appears. It is necessary _ to distinguish between two kinds of contraction to which the “interior layers are subjected, viz. radial and circumferential. If _ there were radial contraction only, then undoubtedly every con- centric shell as it descended into smaller space would be crushed together Jaterally. But there is for all layers, except the surface, also a circumferential contraction, and this would have just the opposite effect, zc. would tend to stretch instead of crush. _ Therefore, wherever the decrease of space by descent is greater _ than the circumferential contraction, there will be crush ; and _ where the circumferential contraction is greater than the decrease _ of space by descent, there will be tension and tendency to crack. There would be no 7a/ cracking, only because incipient cracks _ would be mashed out, or rather prevented by superincumbent ahi Where these two are equal to one another, there will be no strain of any kind. There is a certain depth at which this is the case; it is called the ‘level of no strain.’ To _ Mellard Reade is due the credit of first calling attention to this _ important principle.” After a diagrammatic representation of this principle, the president continued as follows :— __ ** Now laborious calculations have been made by Davison, Darwin, and Fisher to determine the depth of this level of no _ strain. All make it very superficial. Davison, taking an initial temperature of 7000° F. makes it five miles below the surface. _ Fisher, on the same data, only two miles, and with an initial tem- perature of 4000 only 0°7 of a mile. It is easy to see that if _ this be. true the amount of lateral thrust must be small indeed. _ ** Now undoubtedly there is'a true principle here which must mot hereafter be neglected, but it is almost needless to say that _ these quantitative results are in the last degree uncertain. The _ealculations are of course based on certain premises. These _ are a uniform initial temperature of, say, 7000° F., a time of cool- ing, say, 109 or 200 millions of years, and a certain rate of cooling _ under assumed conditions. The depth of the level of no strain _ increases with the time, and is still going downward. In a word, _ ina question so complex, both mathematically and physically, _ and in which the data are so very uncertain, every cautious _ geologist, while freely admitting the soundness of the principle, _ will withhold assent to the conclusions. Huxley has reminded 4s that the mathematical mill, though a very good mill, cannot ‘make wholesome flour without good wheat. It grinds indiffer- _ ently whatever is fed to it. It has been known to grind peas _€fte now. It may be doing so again in this case. Let us wait >: _ + ** But besides withholding assent, and waiting for more light, I -may.add that these calculations, of course, go on the supposition that the whole contraction of the earth is due to loss of heat ; but, as we have already said, it may be due also to loss of con- _ stituent water, This would put an entirely different aspect on the subject.” fhe q Alternative Physical Theories. a “ I have given the objections to the contraction theory frankly and, | think, fairly. They are undoubtedly serious. Let _ as see what has been offered in its place.” J. Reade's Expansion Theories, _ This, the most prominent among alternative theories, was first brought forward in Mr. Reade’s book on ‘‘ Origin of Mountain Ranges.” Although I have carefully read all that Mr. Reade has written on this subject, I findit difficultto get a _ clear idea of his views. But as I understandit, it is in outline as d follows: (1) Accumulation of sediments offshore, and isostaticsub- we of the same. (2) Rise of isogeotherms and heating of the ole mass of sediments and of the underlying crust in propor- ¢ tion to the thickness of the sediments. (3) Expansion of the whole ‘mass in proportion to the rise of temperature. If there were no esistance this expansion would be in all directions (cubic pansion). (4) But since the containing earth will not yield fo expansion laterally, this lateral expansion is Satisfied by plding, and this in turn produces vertical upswelling. Thus he whole cubic expansion is converted into vertical expansion, __ which is therefore three times as great as the linear expansion _imany one direction. (5) Elevation would of course anyhow be featest along the line of thickest sediment ; but this by itself would not be sufficient to produce a mountain. (6) But farther NO. 1249, VOL. 48] —and here the theory is more obscure—there is a concentration of the effects of expansion, along a comparatively narrow line of thickest sediments, by a flow of the hydrothermally plastic or even liquid mass beneath,toward this central line, and then up- ward through the parted starta, folding these back on either side, and appearing at the crest as the granitic or metamorphic axis. (7) In his latest utterances he seems to adopt the view of Reyer, viz. that the uplifted strata slide back down the slope, producing the enormous crumpling so often found, and exposing a wider area of granite axis. (8) From the same liquid mass which lifts the mountain come also the great fissure-eruptions and the volcanoes. ' ‘*Mr. Reade makes many experiments to determine the linear expansion of rocks, and he thinks that these experiments show that when cubic expansion is converted into vertical expansion, and this again concentrated along a line of one-fourth to one- fifth the whole breadth of the expanding mass, it would explain the elevation of the highest mountains, But still he seems uncertain if it be enough. In fact, he declares that if it were not for another factor yet unmentioned, he probably would never have brought forward the theory at all. (9) ‘‘ This factor is recurrency of the cause and accumulation of the effects. And here the previous obscurity becomes inten- sified. I have read and re-read this part without being able wholly to understand him. He seems to think that when expansion had produced elevation, the mountain thus formed would not come down again by cooling and contraction ; but, on the contrary, would wedge up by normal faulting, and setin its elevated position. Afterward, by new accumulation of heat, another elevation and setting would take place, and the moun- tain grow higher, and so on indefinitely or until the store of heat is exhausted. Therefore, he characterises his theory as that of ‘alternate expansion and contraction,’ or, again, as that of ‘cumulative recurrent expansion.’ ' Such is a very brief, per- haps imperfect, but I hope fair outline of Reade’s theory. It seems to me that there are fatal objections to it. These I now State.’ KG ; Objections to the Theory. (t) ‘* The first objection is inadequacy to account’ for the enormous foldings of mountains, especially when. thete is:no granite axis to fold back the strata. It is true that Mr. Reade makes comparison between his own and the / contraction theory in this regard, and seems to show the much greater effectiveness of his own. This may be true if we accept his premises, and compare equal areas in the two ‘cases. But the contraction theory draws from. the whole circumference of the earth, and accumulates the «ffects on one line, while in Reade’s theory the expansion is of course very local. > (2) ** But the fatal objection is that brought. forward by Davison. It is this: sedimentation cannot, of course, increase the sum of heat in the earth. Therefore the increased heat of the sediments by rise of isogeotherms- must be taken: from somewhere else. Is it taken from below? Then the radius below ‘must .contract.as much as the sediments expand, and therefore there will be no. elevation. Is it taken from the containing sides? Then the sides must lose as much: as the sediments gain, and therefore must contract and make room for the lateral expansion, and therefore there would be no folding and no elevation. I do not see any escape from this objection. *¢ Thus it seems that Reade’s theory cannot be accepted as a substitute. Is there any other?” ; : TI. Dutton’s Isostatic Theory? j ‘* Dutton’s discussion of isostasy is admirable, but his appli- cation of it to the origin of mountains is weak. The outline is as follows :— ; ‘* Suppose a bold coast line, powerful erosion and abundant sedimentation. The coast rises by unloading, and the marginal sea-bottom sinks by loading. Now, if isostasy is perfect, there will be no tendency to mountain formation. But suppose a piling up of sediments—but on account of earth rigidity—with- out immediate compensatory sinking, and a cutting down of coast land without compensatory rising. Then there would be an isostatic slope towards the land. And the accumulated and softened sediments would slide landward, crumpling the strata and Swelling them up into a mountain range. i j ‘The fatal objection to this view is that complete isostasy is necessary to renew the conditions of continued sedimentation, ‘1’ Ph'l. Soc. of Washington, Bul'. Vol. xi. pp. 51-64, 1889. 554 NATURE [OcroBer 5, 1893 : and therefore to make thick sediments, otherwise the sediments quickly rise to sea-level, and stop the process of sedimentation at that place. But it is precisely a want of complete isostasy which is necessary to make an isostatic slope landward, Dutton refers to Herschel as having suggested a similar cause of strata crumpling and slaty cleavage (PAz/, Mag. vol. xii. p. 197, 1856) ; but the principles involved in the two cases are almost exactly opposite. Herschel supposes sediments to slide down steep natural slopes of sea-bottoms, and therefore sea-ward. Dutton supposed sediments to slide up natural, though down isostatic slopes, landward. Herschel’s is a theory of strata-crumpling and slaty cleavage, Dutton’s a theory of mountain formation. ‘«There has been no attempt to carry this idea of Dutton’s to quantitative detail. It was probably thrown out as a suggestion in mere despair of any other explanation, for he had already re- ‘pudiated the contractional theory. But the least reflection is "sufficient to convince that such slight want of complete isostatic equilibrium as may sometimes occur, would be utterly inade- quate to produce such effects.” LIL, Reyer’s Gliding Theory.+ ‘Prof. Reyer has recently put forward certain views fortified by abundant experiments on plastic materials. His idea in brief seems to be this: strata are lifted and finally broken through by uprising fused or semi-fused matters, and these appear above as the granitic axis. As the axis rises, the strata are carried upward on its shoulders, until when the slope is sufficiently steep the strata slide downward, crumpling themselves into complex folds and exposing the granitic axis in width pro- _portioned to the amount of sliding. ‘* No doubt there is much value in these experiments of Reyer, and possibly such gliding does indeed sometimes take place in mountain strata, and some foldings may be thus accounted for. But the great objections to this view are: (1) that there is no adequate cause given for the granitic uplift, and (2) that it utterly fails to account for the complex foldings of such moun- tains as the Appalachian and Coast Range, where there is no granite axis at all. Reade, indeed, holds that the Piedmont region is the granite axis of the Appalachian, and that the original strata of the eastern slope are now buried beneath the ‘sea, But American geologists are unanimous in the belief that the shore line of the great interior Palaeozoic Sea was but a little east of the Appalachian crest and the sea washed against land of Archzean rocks extending eastward from that line.’ Conclusion. ‘* After this rapid discussion of alternative theories, in which we have found them all untenable, we return again to the contraction theory, not indeed with our old confidence, but with the conviction that it is even yet the best working hypothesis we have.” GEOGRAPHY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. AS in other sections, an absence of sensational papers, and an unusual abundance of good solid work, the outcome of study and research, were the characteristic features in Section E, The president’s address was well adapted to his audience ; the simplicity of its language, and the vivid de- scriptions of scenes in the Arctic Basin, with which it abounded, sustained the attention of every listener, and went over the head of none. Perhaps it was better calculated for the extension than the advancement of geographical science, but in many ways advance in geography depends on conditions different from those which determine advance in other sciences. Mr Seebohm rightly felt that to enforce principles familiar to professed geographers by a picturesque concrete example which no one could misunderstand was better than to record advances in specialised research, which could only appeal to the few geographers whose grasp of the subject equalled his own. : The section met on four days, and, including the presidential address, twenty-seven papers were read ; a large number of mem- bers, in’addition, took part in various discussions, A feature of the papers was the small number of mere records of travel, and the general striving after some kind of scientific elaboration of the data described. This was in some cases imperfectly done, 1 Nature, vol. xlvi. p. 224, 1892, and vol. xlvii. p. 81, 1892. NO. 1249, VOL. 48] -relation by bringing forward numerous instances o 5 but the imperfection was a consequence of the neglect of hi geographical education in this country, and the necessary beat ing out of new paths by independent workers, who, seeing t need for scientific treatment, are not always sure of the rig methods to employ. An inter-sectional discussion with Section C, on the li between physical geography and geology, had been looke ward to with much interest, but proved somewhat disappoin in Few of the speakers addressed themselves to the subjec announced, and in the extempore speeches it was evident that after a faint attempt to come to the point, there was a ten to fall off on some familiar tack, and repeat irrelevant p often said before. In fact, there was no true discussion, as tl was no distinct issue put forward. . Mr. Clements R. Markham, F.R.S., president of | Royal Geographical Society, commenced the by reading a paper, put together with consummate in which he argued for the limit of human testimo the line of demarcation between the domains of ph geography and geology. Thus he established a purely chi logical division between phenomena of the same kind, w would fall to the province of one science or the other, acc to the date of their manifestation. Heconcludes— ‘‘Meanwhile, and until better instructed, I should geology as the study of the condition of the earth and of changes on its surface during the cycles of ages before the d of history ; and I should define physical geography as a kn ledge of the earth as it is, and of the changes w place on its surface during historical times. These chan derived from human testimony, explain to us the laws accor to which similar changes are now taking place around us; ‘*The two sciences depend upon each other, and are closely allied. The geologist finds the same phenomena in tl rock formations of the past as the physical geographer di on the surface of the earth of the present. Both, for exa have the duty laid upon them of seeking out the agencies rule in the processes of upheaval and depression. The with its crest and trough, is common to both sciences geographers have rejoiced at the announcement of ‘a wedd ring of geology and geography uniting them at once and for in indissoluble union.’ ” ; Mr. W. Topley, F.R.S., who followed, admitted the v close relations of geology and physical geography, but devoted his attention to establishing the closeness of proceed dependence of geographical features on geological struc rather than to defining the limits of the two departments. Hr contention was that they merged the one into the other, were not merely contiguous subjects separated by a discoverabl line. Mr. E. G. Ravenstein supported Mr. Markham’s chron logical boundary, and summed up the conclusions of a } -speech in the statement that geology stands to physical geog in precisely the same relationship as history does to geography. Prof. C. Lapworth, F.R.S., acknowledged’ difficulty of finding any satisfactory. dividing line, cont that the geologist is in many ways absolutely dependent o physical geographer, and the physical geographer in his absolutely dependent on the geologist, the physical geograpk of the present being indissolubly bound up with the physic geology of the past. Prof. Valentine Ball contended that th relation between geology and geography was similar to tl between anatomy and art.. Dr, R. D, Roberts, viewing geo as the history of the earth, argued that physical geoerepy merely the last chapter of that history. Dr. H. R. Mill su gested that a definition between the two departments of k ledge might be found rather in the aspect in which the nomena of the earth were viewed than in the subject-mat in chronological order. Physical geography being with the present forms of the earth’s surface borrowed fro geology an explanation of the observed facts, taking results | not copying methods. Mr. H. Yule Oldham spoke of the of geography and of the importance of studying old tra order to keep a record of recent physical changes Bonney, F.R.S., characterised the discussion as wast and a search after the unattainable, for the words geog and geology contained in themselves all the definition that required or could be found. Colonel Godwin-Austen and J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S., made a few remarks ; and Sir bald Geikie, who, by the consent of the presidents of Sectior and E, occupied the chair, summed up in a judicial manner, on cer! OcroreR 5, 1892| NATURE 555 " sympathised with the desire to determine the best line of cleav- age between the two contiguous portions of science, but had to _ acknowledge that any line which might be definitely formulated _ would, to a loge extent, be artificial and arbitrary. _ Several papers on physical geography were read to the Section, but they did not approach the geological border. Mr. J. Y. - Buchanan communicated the preliminary. results of some new _ experiments he has been conducting on the effect of land, water and ice on the temperature of the air, which promise, when completed, to extend our knowledge of climatology. Dr. H. R. Mill summarised the effect of different degrees of isolation from oceanic-influences on the seasonal changes of temperature in the water and air of the Clyde Sea area, and Mr. H. N. Dickson - communicated a brief preliminary note on the results of his recent trip in H.M.S. Yackal for the Fishery Board for Scot- land, in the course of which he had examined the temperature and salinity of the water between the north of Scotland and the _ Fiiroe Islands. Dr. Schlichter submitted a piece of solid work _in pure physical geography in the form of a series of ten vertical sections drawn across northern and central Africa from, west to _ east. These sections exhibit graphically the relative heights of _ the continent as far as they have been ascertained, and by the _ blanks which occur where fixed points are wanting, they bring ‘ ee ber prominence the regions which are still practically un- lored. apers on the latest explorations were read by Mr. E. G. _ Rayenstein, who traced the opening up of Msiri’s country by the Katanga Company’s expeditions, and by Mr. E, Delmar _ Morgan, who communicated an admirable summary of recent exploration in Tibet. Mr. W. M. Conway described his work _ in the Karakoram mountains. Dr. H. R. Mill referred to the __ work which he and Mr. Heawood had carried out this year in _ the ‘unexplored England” of the lake-beds. _ Most interesting amongst the explorational papers were the _ brief accounts, given by Mr. W. S. Bruce and Dr, C. M. Donald, of the cruise of the Dundee whalers Balena and Active toward the Antarctic regions. _. Mr. Bruce’s communication may be summarised as follows :— _ “After a boisterous passage of over a hundred days on the steam whaler Aalena, from Dundee, we met the first iceberg on December 16, 1892, in 59° 40’ S. 51°17’ W. We con- ‘tinued on a more or less southerly course, passing to the east of _ Clarence Island. Danger Islets were sighted and passed on December 23, and on Christmas Eve we were in the position Ross occupied on New Year’s Day, 1843. Until the middle of _ February we remained roughly between 62° S. and 64° 4o’ S. and 52° and 57° W., the western limit being Terre Louis Philippe and Joinville’s Land. _ * All the land seen was entirely snowclad except on the _ steepest slopes, which were of black, apparently igneous, rocks. The few specimens of rocks obtained from the ice and from the ‘stomachs of penguins bear this out ; Prof. James Geikie find- ing olivine, basalt, basalt lava, and possibly gabbro among them. Rock fragments and earthy matter were seen on some of the bergs and ice. On January 12 we saw what appeared to _e high mountainous land and glaciers stretching from about ae S. 59° 10’ W. to about 65° 30’ S. 58° 00’ W. I believe this may have been the eastern coast of Graham’s Land, which has not been seen before. The whole of this district south of 60° S, is strewn. with _ bergs, and south of 62°S. they become very numerous, No entire day was recorded when bergs were not seen; as many as 65, all of great size, to say nothing of smaller ones, were counted on one day. The longest we met was about 30 miles long, one was about 10 miles long, and several from 1 to 4 miles inlength. The highest the Ba/ena sighted could not have been “over 250 feet high, and many were not over 70,to 80 feet high, All the bergs were tabular, or weather-worn varieties of that form. The base of the bergs is coloured brown by marine j isms. _ **The pack ice is said not to be heavier than that of the north, d is similar in nature. It is frequently coloured brown by thrum criophyllum, a very abundant diatom. We first et pack ice on December 14, in 62° 20’ S. 52° 20’ W. ; it was se, and ran east and west. In January we met the pack _ edge running east and west in 64° 37’ S. from about 54° to 56° W. _ **A few observations for the treezing and melting-point of ice ‘Were made, and some sea temperatures recorded. The lead was Cast in the vicinity of Danger Islets, and some bottom samples obtained, the depth varying from 70 to over 300 fathoms. NO. 1249, VOL. 48] “ Periods of finecalm weather alternated with very severe gales, usually accompanied by fog and snow. The lowest air tempera- ture recorded was 20°8° F, on February 17, and the highest 37'60° F. on January 15. December showed an average of 31°14° F., January 31'10° F., and February 29°65° F, The barometer never rose above 29°804 inches. ‘* No whale resembling Balana mysticetus, t.e. the Bowhead or Greenland black whale, was seen; but many finbacks, some hunchbacks, bottlenoses, grampuses, and several kinds of seals, the hunting of which in default of whales was the object of the voyage.” Messrs. Bruce and Donald showed a very creditable collection of observations, but the main outcome of their papers was a de- monstration of the immense value of the results which would accrue from a purely scientific expedition to Antarctic waters. Mr. Bruce announced that he was prepared to spend a year, with an assistant who had volunteered to accompany him, on South Georgia or on Grahamsland, if he could be landed there, and to undertake systematic scientific work during that time, if his passage-money and maintenance were paid for. Mr. J. S. Keltie, Mr. H. O. Forbes, Mr. Coles, Dr. H. R. Mill, Mr. Ravenstein, Sir George Bowen, Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., Colonel Fred. Bailey, and others, pointed out the immense importance of Antarctic exploration to geography, geology, meteorology, and other sciences, and warmly-commended Mr. Bruce’s resolution to conduct a series of preliminary observations. The audience, which included Dr. Burdon Sanderson, the president of the Association, received the papers and discussion with enthusiasm, and a subscription list was started in order to supplement any grants which might be obtained from learned societies to pro- vide a scientific outfit for Mr. Bruce and his assistant. A com- mittee of Section E was charged with the necessary arrange- ments, with Mr. Clements R. Markham as chairman, and Dr. H. R. Mill as secretary. The Committee of Recommenda- tions voted a grant of £50 for the purposes of this committee. The question of Antarctic exploration was supported by a letter from Sir Erasmus Ommaney, enclosing an appeal from the Australian Antarctic Explorations Committee, suggesting that the British Association should take steps to induce the Austra- lian Government to subsidise southern sealing voyages, A col- lection of water-colour sketches, by Mr. W. G. Burn-Murdoch, of Edinburgh, who was a passenger on the Ba/ena, illustrating the scenery and incidents of the voyage, was arranged round the meeting room, and attracted a great deal of attention. Tie collection has already been shown in Dundee, and arrangements have been made for exhibiting it in London in the map room of the Royal Geographical Society. Unfortunately, there were no press representatives in the meeting-room during the greater part of the Antarctic discussion, and it has consequently almost entirely escaped attention in the daily papers. Papers on special parts of the world, summarising results of travellers and geographers, were read by Mrs. Lilly Grove, on the Chiloe Islands; by Mr. Howard Reid, on the rela- tion of Lake Tanganyika to the Congo; and by Mr. Cop Whitehouse, -on the Lower Nile Valley, with refer- ence to the various delineations of it in Ptolemaic and later maps. Mr. E. Heawood read a paper recounting his ex- periences in the Bengal Duars, with special reference to the settlement of Santal colonists in that region. Mr. Heawood said :— by ‘“‘The term ‘Duars’ is applied to a tract of country lying along the foot of the Himalayas of Bhutan, and includ- _ ing the ‘doors’ or passes into that country. The first ranges here rise like a wall, wooded to their summits, from an undu- lating plain of slight elevation, which embraces a strip of forest- clad ‘ Terai’ and a more open country further south. Over a great part savannahs of gigantic grass alternate with patches of forest, sal on the higher and lighter soils, and mixed forest fringing the streams. The grass is burnt down annually, and the trees with which it is dotted are usually quick growing and shed their leaves annually, and are thus less affected by the burnings. The tiger, leopard, bear, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, bison (so-called), pig, and several kinds of deer inhabit the jungles, The peacock, jungle-fowl, florikan, parrots, and a handsome pigeon are the most prominent birds. The rainfall is very great, and the climate unhealthy, though this improves with clear- ing. The tract is sparsely inhabited,. except in the southern and newly-settled. parts, ly Mechs, a tribe of Mongolian affinities who can thrive in spite of the malaria.. They are of wandering hablts, cultivating by 556 NATURE [Ocrozer 5, 1893 q burning patches of jungle, and moving on to new spots after a few years. both early and late rice crops. Channels, often of great length, are dug by the Mechs from the numerous streams for the irri- ' gation of the late rice crops, though the tendency of the rivers to deepen their beds in the friable soil is a difficulty to more permanent settlers. The climate and the exposure to raids from Bhutan have keep the country in a backward state. It became British territory as a result of the war of 1864. Much land has since then been settled and tea-gardens opened, especially in the western part; while within the last three years a large tract of jungle has been provisionally set apart by Government—at the instance of the Rev. A. J. Shields, C.M.S.- missionary to the Santals, warmly supported by Mr. D. Sunder, settlement officer at Jalpiguri—for settlement by Santals, who in their hill country south of the Ganges are often unable to obtain sufficient land for cultivation. Forty families were taken up in 1891, the author assisting in their settlement, and still larger numbers have followed since. Although the partial failure of the rains in the first season caused unforeseen difficulties at first, these, it is hoped, are now in a fair way to be overcome. It should be mentioned that a similar experiment has been tried with success in Assam bya Norwegian mission.” Captain Williams, R.A., gave a popular. address on the people of Uganda; Mr. Herbert Ward sent a short paper on ‘the people of the Congo Basin; and Dr. R. W. Felkin sub- mitted a new scheme for a map of the distribution of diseases in Africa, ‘The Rev. C. H. Robinson gave an interesting account of the adventures of a Hausa pilgrim who passed ‘through Khartum on the way to Mecca immediately after the capture of the town by the Mahdi, and gave a new version of the story of General Gordon’s death. » Mr.:E. G. Ravenstein read a brief report of the Committee on African Climatology, which is engaged in accumulating meteorological data from the tropical parts of the colony. : Many of the communications were illustrated by the lantern, and ‘the last paper read was on a system of geographical teach- ing in’which the lantern is adapted for general use in schools, by Mr. B. Bentham’ Dickenson, of Rugby. A small association has been formed in order to promote this object. : The meetings of the Section were never attended by a larger average number than this year, and on the whole the scientific value of the papers has seldom been greater. MECHANICS AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. [X Section G, that devoted to mechanical science, at the recent Nottingham British Association meeting, there were fewer papers read than usual. This, however, was a distinct ad- vantage, for this section has generally suffered from an over- abundance of matter. It is far more satisfactory to have a few good ‘papers well discussed than a multitude of mediocre ‘or inferior contributions, which only weary the audience, and lead to no good result. The section: held its meetings in the Engineering Lecture Theatre, at University College, and the first sitting took place on Thursday, September 14, according to precedent. The president this year was Mr. Jeremiah Head, whose address we reprinted on September 21, The first paper taken was a contribution by Mr. Beaumont, entitled the ‘‘Automatic Balance of Reciprocating Mechanism,” and referred toa method of utilising the vibration caused by a revolving weight for working sieves. In the discussion which followed, the opinion was expressed that the device might find a useful place in other applications than that for which it was originally in- tended. -The rest of Monday’s sitting was taken up by a de- scription of lace machinery and hosiery machinery. Although the subject is one of considerable interest, it would be impossible to give any adequate idea of the proceedings without the numerous diagrams and lantern slides which were used by the author of the paper. Several of the most interesting machines described were shown at work in an adjoining room, and their action was explained by Mr. W. Robinson, the Professor of Engineering at University College, Nottingham. On Friday, the 15th inst., two reports were down for reading ; the first that of the committee on the dryness of steam in boiler trials, in regard to which Prof. Unwin stated that practically nothing had been done during the past year, and therefore there was no report to present. It was hoped, however, that by fol- lowing certain lines of investigation which had been suggested NO, 1249, VOL, 48] Much of the land is very fertile, and well suited for | ‘by some American experimentalists, that good results might ‘atrived at, and it-was hoped that a satisfactory report wou prepared for the next meeting. The report of the committe Graphic Methods was a contrast to Prof. Unwin’s statem it being of an exceedingly voluminous character. This is th second long report that has been presented by the committee. It would-be quite impossible to deal with the subject in an account of the proceedings such as we are able to give, whic must necessarily be brief, and as the report will be printed it full, in common with all reports of committees, in the Proceec ings, we will refer our readers to the volume when it is issued, for information on this really important subject. It is fair, ever, to notice the immense amount of good and sound wor that Prof. H. S. Hele Shaw has done, as secretary, in prep the reports of this committee. : : Two papers on the disposal of refuse followed ; one by Mr. C. C. Keep, and the second by Mr. William Warner. In thes various descriptions of destructors which had been placed upo the engineering market were described. Both authors are, we believe, members of firms which manufacture and sell apparat of this description, and trade interests were not altogether los! to sight. The subject of refuse destruction is one of | importance, but it requires, in the interests of sanitary scie to be handled in a somewhat different. manner to that pu by the section in the reading and discussion of the pape Mr. Frank Ashwellnext read a paper on -‘* Warming: and — in the course of which he di th merits of the plenum system, as against the. meth of ventilation by partial vacuum. He not muc! difficulty in establishing the claims of the former; the chief advantage, of course, being‘ that with a plenum inside th building any leakage there may be at doors, windows, &c. does not admit draught ; the air for ventilation always comir through the proper entrance, where it may be warmed, fil and, if necessary, ‘moistened. . Watchmaking by mach next occupied the attention of the section, Mr. T. P. H of Prescot, reading an interesting paper. on the subject.” ‘was stated by a speaker during the discussion which follo watchmaking in England has been lately at a very low eb ‘For many years it has had to meet the competition of cheap Jabour in Switzerland, but the most fatal blow to the s was struck by the introduction of the factory system for manufacture of watches in America. By the use of -machin tools and labour-saving appliances the Americans have been able to produce excellent timekeeping watches at a very moder- ate cost ; for the-industry is one specially suited to the geniu: of the American mechanic, whose inventive faculties are pro- verbial. So serious a blow has thus been inflicted on the Engli: watchmaking industry that its operatives were brought to greatest distress. Prescot, in Lancashire, is a very an centre of watchmaking, that is, so far as the movement of the watch is concerned, and many of the best English watches hav Prescot works. It is in this town that an endeavour is being made to revive the English watchmaking industry, but o1 entirely new lines. A large factory has been built, and th most improved appliances introduced. These, of course, ai largely American in origin, but it is satisfactory to know . the beautiful machine tools, suchas used by the Waltham an Elgin Watch Companies, can now be made in England, ¢ are equal to the productions of the United States. . Seve examples of these machines were exhibited daring the re of the paper. Mr. Ross, of Glasgow, next described a pneumatic ca and chipping tool. This is a hand-tool, working, as its would imply, by compressed air, or steam may be used, will make over 10,000 strokes per minute, and consists ¢: tially of a small cylinder and loose piston, which works the caulking or chipping chisel. The only thing the operat has to do, therefore, is to guide the tool, and the enorn 0" rapidity of the strokes enables the finest work to be doi either in caulking a metal seam or in chipping down a‘m surface. Some very beautiful specimens of work were at the meeting, and the instrument itself was exhibited. It is the custom ‘of Section G to devote Monday of the ciation meeting to electrical science, and the first paper t on the 16th was a contribution by Mr. Gisbert Kapp, e' “Relative Cost of Conductors with Different Systems of Elec trical Power Transmission.”” This wasa most useful paper, af a good example of the form contributions on electrical sub should .take in Section G, where, it must be remembe ol * Ventilating,” ‘OcToBER 5, 1893] ‘NATURE 557 electrical engineering, and not physics,’ should be treated upon. “The author said that until recently, electrical machines for the ransmission of power were of the continuous current type, but ‘ately alternate current apparatus had come into use, chiefly use the power could be carried to greater distances with a joderate cost of conductors, The reason for this was that with continuous current plant the voltage is limited by the difficulty f insulating the generating machinery. With alternate current ere is no necessity of high insulation of generator or motor, but only of the transformers, which can be easily insulated by the use of oil or other means, The author dealt with five sys- tems of transmission. 41) Single phase alternating current transmission by two wires. _ (2) Double ” ” ” 2 ss four ,, 7 (3) ” ” a a” ” re three ” : (4) Three 2” a ” 2? ” three cE _ (§) Continuous current with transmission by two wires. _ We have not space to follow Mr. Kapp’s ingenious reasoning, _ but will briefly give his conclusions. Ifall systems were put on _ the same footing as regards efficiency and safety of insulation, the following results would be obtained. If, for the transmission of a certain power over a given distance by continuous current, too tons of copper were required for the line, then the single _ phase alternating and the two phase four wire system would _ sequire 200 tons, The two phase three wire system would require 290 tons, and the three phase three wire system only 150 _ tons; therefore, so far as the line might be concerned, there would be a distinct advantage in the employment of the three phase system, : ; __A paper by Mr. A. B. Snell, ‘‘On Water Power as a Source _ of Electricity,” was next read. The subject is not one of such _ reat practical importance in England as in more mountainous _ countries. Our rivers are small, and in comparatively few cases __ is there sufficient head to make the utilisation of them profitable _ with such a form of water motors as have yet been introduced. _ Mr. Beaumont described a variable power gear for electrical _ focomotives which he had devised. The object of the gear is _ to give increased power for the motor when starting the train. _ By its use the designer hoped that electric motors might be made _ of very much smaller size. A point of interest raised during _ the discussion was the advisability of using epicycloidal gear, it being the opinion of Prof. Hele Shaw and others who had worked _ with this gear that it was not suitable for heavy loads. Mr. __W. B. Sayers read an interesting and valuable paper, in which he described a form of self-exciting armature and compensator _ for loss of pressure, which he had devised. The invention is _ one of considerable importance, the object being to obtain _ sparkless commutation. The device, however, is not quite new, _ it having been previously described, and doubtless is known to ‘the majority of our electrical readers. Monday’s proceedings closed with a paper by Mr. E. Payne, on “Electrical Conductors.” - Tuesday, September 19, was the last'day on which Section G _ met, and the proceedings opened with a paper by Mr. O. T. _ Olson, on ‘‘ Flashing Lights for Marine Purposes.” The author proposed that each important navigational light in the world should have a distinctive number which it should continuously flash at night, so that there might be no danger of any particular fight being mistaken by the mariner for another. During fog the signals were to be conveyed by gun-cotton explosion. Pro- bably Mr. Olson’s suggested signals are somewhat too com- plicated, although possibly as simple as could be practically ar- ranged were every light given aseparatenumber. Nevertheless, something might be done towards systematising the signals given _ by various lights in certain geographical sections. _ Mr. William S. Lockhart gave an interesting description of _ @n automatic gem separator which he had devised. ‘The ap- atus acts by means of the difference in specific gravity tween the gems and the gravel, quartz, &c., in which they are found. A stream of water flowing at a uniform velocity is _ directed upwards through an annular chamber. The material to be separated is fed in through a hopper at the top of the apparatus, and falls into the annular chamber. The velocity of _ the stream is so regulated that the lighter and more worthless ‘substances are carried with it, whilst the heavier gems descend into a receptacle at the bottom of the machine. One of the _ Separators was shown at work in the Section, water being laid on for the purpose, and some diamonds were actually separated from the ihe and quartz with which they were mixed. There are, it is hardly necessary to say, many points in detail which NO. 1249, VOL. 48] require careful consideration in working out before such a machine as this is brought to the perfection of practical work- ing. Mr. Lockhart appears to have been very successful in over, coming the difficulties of the problem he had to solve in designing the machine. A paper by Mr. Walker, ‘‘On Ventilating Fans,” was read, and the proceedings in this Section closed by Prof. Robinson describing the Wicksteed testing machine, which had been erected in the engineering laboratory of the college. The mem- bers of the Section were able to see this machine in action during the afternoon. In most respects it does not differ from the ordinary type of Wicksteed testing machine, but there is a clever gear for shifting the poise. This was operated by hydraulic power by means of wire rope. The device is undoubtedly an improvement on the old gear, both in rapidity of action and absence of noise.’ There’ is a neat parallel adjustment for pre- venting the pulley of the rope influencing the result of the test. The proceedings in Section G were brought: to a conclusion by the usual vote of thanks tothe sectional president, » Mr. Jeremiah Head. : ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. AFIER the President’s address on Thursday, Mrs,’ Lilly Grove read a paper on the ethnographic aspect of dancing. Dancing corresponds to a universal primitive instinct in man. At all periods there were three kinds of dances: (1) the imaginative or poetic; (2) the descriptive ; (3) the religious. This last is most important, and may be called the fountain of the other kinds, Religious dances can be divided into two classes: (az) dances directly in honour of the deity ; (4) dances intended to propitiate the deity. A strange feature is the fact that so many dances are performed in a circle.’ War-dances are of two orders, either as a preparation for war, or as a rejoicing after triumph. The Corroboree illustrates the former aspect. Ex- cellence in dancing among savages is obtained by very simple means : anyone who makes a mistake is killed. Prof. Windle read a paper on anthropometric work in schools. It appears from answers to a circular sent to the head-masters of one hundred of the largest schools in the United Kingdom, that some form of measurement is or has been carried on in twenty- five schools, but that the methods adopted differ considerably. The author suggested that an endeavour should be made to encourage and systematise such work. Dr. W. Wilberforce Smith read a paper on anthropometric weighing ; and the following reports were also presented to the section: Report of the Anthropometric Laboratory Com- mittee, and Report of the. Physical Deviations Committee. On Friday, the committee appointed to make an ethno- graphical survey of the United Kingdom presented their first report, Prof. Hans Hildebrand then read an important paper on Anglo-Saxon remains and coeval relics from Scandinavia. ‘The question proposed was to determine the relations which existed between the civilisation of Scandinavia and that of England during the period between the arrival of the Angles and the Saxons on the English coast, and the time of their con- version to Christianity ; roughly, that was from the middle of the fifth to the middle of the seventh century of our era, These limits were not exactly determinable, because both the Anglo-Saxon immigration and’ the spread of Christianity among the new- comers were not the work of a few years only, and progressed with very different rapidity in different parts of the country. During this period Sweden had no chronological record, and Christianity had no hold on that country until the eleventh cen- tury. The criterions of date, therefore, on the Scandinavian side were of purely archaeological character. There were a few instances of Roman and Byzantine coins found associated with Scandinavian antiquities, and as these could hardly have found their way northward before the downfall of the Hunic Empire in Central Europe, they gave some indication of the date of the objects with which they were lost or interred. In England similar ‘date evidence occurred, but was vitiated by the fact that the coins had often been long in circulation before they’ were buried. The practice of burial also, while it entirely super- seded cremation when Christianity became predominant, ap- eared to have coexisted with the older method during thelater agan period, and could ‘not be taken as affording an accurate criterion of age. And there was the further difficulty in comparing English and 558 NATURE [Ocrozer 5, 1893 _ Scandinavian objects, that in England the Teutonic peoples found the British and Romano-British culture already exist- ing on their arrival, while there was no parallel influence to modify the style of Scandinavian art. The author discussed the Scandinavian types of sword and spear, which presented both remarkable likenesses and differences when compared with those which gave their name to the Saxons (sword-men) and the Angles (spear-men). The boar-crest on the helmet also appeared to be a point of similarity. Numerous examples were adduced to show how designs borrowed from existing art were modified to suit Teutonic taste in the English series, which herein came nearer to the French and Belgian than to the Scandinavian. As illustrations of the development of style, the ornamental fibulee or brooches were of especial importance, and a number of types were instanced which showed the fundamental likeness of Teutonic taste on both sides of the North Sea, combined with differences in detail. Summing up his results, Prof. Hildebrand concluded that a common Teutonic taste was the source of the art styles both of Scandinavia and of Saxon England ; that the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon races were of closely allied Teutonic descent, but that in the incessant movements character- istic of that stock, the two branches were separated from one another and developed independently ; that the Kentish Jutes and the Saxons of England came not from Scandinavia, but from Germany ; but that the case was not clear with regard to the Angles, who might possibly not be of German origin, but may have been settled at one time in the south-west corner of Scandinavia. ; In a paper on the ‘‘Origin and Development of Early Christian Art,’’ Mr. J. Romilly Allen traced the various decorative elements found in early Christian art in Grea Britain to their source, and showed in what way the native styles of art existing in this country at the time of the intro- duction of Christianity (cé7ca A.D. 450) were influenced, first by the Italo-Byzantine art, which came in with the importation of the illuminated manuscripts used in the services of the church, and subsequently by the coming in contact of the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian conquering races with the Celtic and other populations already inhabiting the British Isles. The following papers were also read :—Note on an imple- ment of hafted bone, with tooth of hippopotamus inserted, from Calf Hole, near Grassington, by the Rev. E, Jones ; the pre- historic evolution of theories of punishment, revenge, and atone- ment, by G. Hartwell Jones ; four as a sacred number, by Miss A. W. Buckland. On Saturday the following papers were read :—On ancient metal implements from Egypt and Lachish, by Dr. J. H. Glad- stone, F. R.S.; notes on flint saws and sickles, by Dr. R. Munro ; prehistoric remains in Crete, by J. L. Myres ; funeral rites and ceremonies among the Tshinyai or Tshinyangwe, by Lionel Decle; the Arungo and Marombo ceremonies among the Tshinyangwe, by Lionel Decle ; the Ma-Goa, by Lionel Decle. On Monday, a paper by Mr. Herbert Ward was read, entitled ‘*Ethnographical Notes on the Congo Tribes.” In it the author gave a sketch of all the salient features of native life in the Congo region, the subjects treated at greatest length being those relating to superstition and general customs. In the description of the ‘‘ N’Kimba” ceremony of the Lower Congo natives, the motive for this remarkable ‘‘ secret society ” was, for the first time, explained. Dr. Crochley Clapham read a paper on ‘‘The Mad Head,” in which he said that the older phrenology of Gall had been superseded by Ferrier’s cerebral localisa- tion. He then gave some results of his examination of nearly 4000 insane heads drawn from eight asylums in the north of England and the south of Scotland, and compared with a number of sane heads. Insane heads he found to show a larger average size than sane ones, though insane brains were smaller. His standard of comparison was bya cranial index which he obtains by adding together the measurements of the whole circumference and the antero-posterior and transverse arches of the head. Of these measurements that of the trans- verse arch was the only one smaller in the insane, and was, in fact, their weak point. The cranial index he found further useful as, when expressed in inches, it showed about the weight of the normal contained brain in ounces,. The frontal segment of the head circumference bore a larger proportion to the whole circumference in the insane than in the sane, and this, taken with the fact that the frontal lobes in idiots and imbeciles weigh more in proportion to the whole encephalon than in the total i NO. 1249, VOL. 48] insane class, and the fact that the typical insane head y cuneiform with the greatest transverse diameter anterior to central point of the head, seemed to discredit the ‘‘noble head,” and to point out the occipital lobes as the seat intelligence. This view was ,supported by facts of development and comparative cerebral anatomy, as well the flat occiput of idiots and the cerebellum of the bu projecting beyond the occipital lobes. In a paper on pin-wells and rag-bushes, Mr. E. Si Hartland suggested that the object of the usages was w) with the divinity, to be achieved by the perpetual contact the god of some article identified with the worshipper. _ The following communications ,were also received :— port of the Abyssinian Committee. On the external ch racters of the Abyssinians examined by Mr. Bent, by D J. G. Garson; on the Dards and Siah-Posh Kafirs, by Dr. Beddoe and Dr, Leitner ; the Primitive Americans, by Miss M. Welch ; the Indians of the Mackenzie and Yukon Rivers, Canada, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Bompas, Bishop of Selkirk ; the Australian natives, by Miss J. A. Fowler ; on a modification the Australian aboriginal weapon termed the Leonile, Lang Bendi, or Buccan, by R. Etheridge, jun. ; on an unusual form rush-basket from the northern territory of South Australia, R. Etheridge, jun. ; On Tuesday, Mr. Francis Galton read some official letters — just received by him from Surgeon Lieut.-Colonel Hendley, of — Jeypore, who had memorialised the authorities in lodia in favour of affixing to the nominal roll of recruits an impres- sion in ink of the fore, middle, and ring fingers of each recruit. — In reply, the Commander-in-Chief ‘‘ approved of the proposal to employ prints of finger-tips as marks for identification, they are so extremely easy to make, and so useful in guardit against personation.” Surgeon Lieut.-Colonel Hendley has had considerable experience in taking such imprints, , already sent to Mr. Galton those of the digits of near: persons, most of whom were prisoners in the gaol of Jeypo' Dr. Munro read a paper on the structure of lake-dwelling in which he described the various methods adopted by the I dwellers in the construction of the understructures and p! forms on which their huts had been placed. In conclusion, Munro gave a description of an important discovery recen made in Argyllshire. This was a crannog showing foundatio of a circular house thirty-two feet in diameter, and divided i two compartments, one of which contained a hearth and the ~ remains of a doorway. oe pee ee Mr. Arthur Bulleid then read a paper on a British village of — marsh dwellings. This village, discovered by the author in March, 1892, is situated a little more than a mile north of the town of Glastonbury, in the upper part of one of the moorland ~ levels of central Somerset, found to the south of the Mendiy Hills. There is little on the surface to indicate the site of a village, but on careful inspection between sixty and seventy ia circular mounds may be seen, varying from 15 to 35 feet in diameter, and from 6 in, to 2 ft. 6 in. high at the centre. Th form the foundations or floors of separate dwellings, which constructed in the following way :—On the surface of the pe is a layer or platform of timber and brushwood, kept in lace ec ne by numerous small piles at the margin. On thisa layer of clay is placed, slightly raised at the centre, where the remains of a — hearth are generally found. The dwelling itself was composed of timber filled in with wattle and daub. Not only have wall-posts been found zz situ, but also the entrance thresh and doorstep. Among other things that have been discove is a boat 17 ft. long, quantities of wheel and hand-made potte: sling stones, and bones of animals, and a great number of ob; of bronze and iron, horn, bone, and stone, such as fibulz rings, knives, saws, and weapons, combs, needles, po stamps, and querns. j In a paper on the place of the lake dwellings at Glastonbu in British Archeology, Prof. Boyd Dawkins referred to existence of crucibles to show that smelting had been carried and reasoned that the time of the occupation of the place y pre-Roman. ‘ The following communications were also received :—On tl excavation of the stone circle of ‘‘ Lag ny Boiragh,” on Meayll Hill, Isle of Man, by Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R. and P, M. C. Kermode; early uses of flint in polishing, by H. Stopes; palzeolithic anchors, anvils, hammers, &c., by Stopes; Report of the Uniformity in Spelling Committee; — Report of the North-Western Tribes of Canada Committee. LC v Ocroser 5, 1893] NATURE 559 | THE EVOLUTION OF COLOUR IN THE GENUS MEGASCOPS. ‘THE American Naturalist of June and July contains an + article by Mr. E. M. Hasbrouck on ‘Evolution and Fe romatism in the Genus Megascops,’’ in which he deals _ with the distribution of the genus in North America in relation ‘to the colour of its plumage. The discussion leads to the fol- : ming conclusions :— : The red phase is confined mainly to Megascops asio (speak- ing of it as a whole), which, on its northern border, merges into the grey phase; the southern grey belt incompasses /loridanus, while in eastern Texas the few red specimens of mecal/iz that are known have been taken from the extreme north-eastern por- tion of its range, which is influenced both by humidity and ‘temperature. Again this distribution of colour corresponds very closely to the life areas—the grey phase of the Florida _ form in the south occupying a major portion of the Austro- _ riparian ; the red phase of aszo proper conforming very closely to even the outlines of the Carolinian, while the grey phase is _ equally identical with the Alleghanian. It is worthy of note that the grey phase of AZegascops asia is _ boreal in its affinities, and that where a grey phase of aszo is _ found that is not boreal, it is recognised as a sub-species. Now if fortdanus (grey) is separable from aszo just north of it (red), it seems highly probable that aszo (red) will some day _ be separated from the grey phase on the north. It has been _ shown that as regards the two phases of asio, certain areas are _ inhabited exclusively by reds, certain ones exclusively by greys, _ while still others are inhabited by a mixture of the two, and that three forms (foridanus and two colour phases of asio proper) inhabit, as a whole, entirely distinct areas, No one - acommon ancestor, and if through climatic or environmental _ conditions they have become sub-specifically differentiated in yarious localities, I see no reason to doubt that in like manner, _ under the influence of humidity, temperature, acquired charac- _ ter, and forest area, which will be felt for countless generations _ to come, that the species now known as Jegascops asio will one _ day be separated into species and sub-species—the former _ represented by the original grey, and the latter by the more - modern red.” UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. _ THE Medical Session began on Monday in the schools _ attached to the London and provincial hospitals. Dr. W. Pasteur delivered the introductory address at Middlesex Hos- _ pital, and Mr. Thomas Holmesat St. George’s Hospital. The - subject of Mr. Holmes’s discourse was the life and works of _ John Hunter, being the centenary celebration of Hunter’s death _ within the walls of the hospital. The address at St. Mary’s _ Hospital was delivered by Mr. J. Ernest Lane, and at the _ London School of Medicine for Women by Miss Helen Webb. _ Biology and ethics formed the subject of the opening address _ delivered by Sir James Crichton Browne at the Sheffield School _ of Medicine. , Mr. WALTER GARSTANG, of the Plymouth Marine Biological _ Laboratory, has been elected to a Research Fellowship by Lin- _ coln College, Oxford. : : _ THE first entrance scholarship to St. Thomas’s Hospital _ Medical School, of the value of £150, has been awarded to Mr. _ Robert Wynn Charles Pierce, and the second, of the value of 460, to Mr. Harry Edward Hewitt. , _ Tue Entrance Scholarship, of the value of 120 guineas, to Sharing Cross Hospital Medical School has been awarded to _ Mr. Harold A. T. Fairbank, and that of the value of 60 guineas to Mr. Stanley W. R. Colyer. _ Tue following entrance scholarships to Guy’s Hospital have een awarded in science. First, of the value of £150, to Philip ‘urner, University College, London; second, value £60, to George Ernest Richmond, Owens College. _ Tue Balfour Studentship, of the nett annual value of £200, will be vacant on October 18. From the regulations sanctioned by the Senate of the University of Cambridge, it appears that the studentship is not awarded upon the result of a competitive examination, and the student need not bea member of the Uni- NO. 1249, VOL. 48] will deny that all of the forms of A/egascops are descended from , versity. The holder of the studentship must devote himself, however, to original biological inquiry, and must not follow any business or profession, or engage in any educational or other work, which, in the opinion of those charged with the adminis- tration of the Balfour Memorial Fund, would interfere with his original inquiries. Mr. W. TowNsEND PorTER has investigated the relation between physical development and success in school life, his data for discussion being obtained fron: 33,500 boys and girls in the public schools of St. Louis (Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, vol. vi. No. 7). The weight of a child can usually be taken as a trustworthy index of physical development, and, comparing it with standards of intelligence, it appears that precocious children are heavier, and dull children lighter than the average child of the same age. Not only is this the case, but precocious children are taller, have larger chests, and wider heads than dull children. An examination has also been made of the relationship between precocity and rate of growth, or yearly increase in size, and the results indi- cate that the difference in weight between dull and precocious boys increases as they grow older. The conclusions arrived at are based upon means and averages, and may not be applicable to individuals. However, one deduction of considerable im- portance is made. It is that no child whose weight is below the average of its age should be permitted to enter a school standard beyond the average of its age, except after such a physical examination as shall make it probable that the child’s strength shall be equal to the strain. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. THE Meteoroloyische Zeitschrift for July contains an account of observations taken at the Hawaiian Islands, communicated by Dr. Marcuse, of the Berlin Observatory, who for some time visited Honolulu for astronomical investigations. The position of those islands, near the northern limit of the tropical zone, is very important from a meteorological point of view, and the Hawaiian Government have for some years past established a regular service under Mr. C. J. Lyons, who publishes a monthly meteorological summary. ‘The principal station is at Punahou (Oahu), a little to the north-east of Honolulu, on which island there are also sixteen other stations, also twenty-three stations on the island Hawaii, and fourteen on the other islands, making altogether a total of fifty-four, two of which are 4100 feet above sea-level. The oldest temperature observations date from the time of the first American mission in 1821, and with some interruptions have been continued to the present time. From the more recent observations the mean annual temperature is 74°'t. During the last ten years the lowest temperature was 54 ‘0, and the highest 89°*1 ; the greatest daily variation being 23°. The warmest month is August, mean temperature’ 78°'1, and the coldest, January, mean 69°’8. . Barometric pressure is very regular, the yearly period amounting to about ‘o7 inch, and the daily period to ‘06 inch, The larger oscillations occur only when the almost regular northerly trade winds, which blow on an average for 258 days in the year, are replaced by southerly winds. ' The rainfall differs considerably in different parts of the islands ; at Honolulu the mean of thirteen years’ observa- tions is 30°6 inches, The largest amount falls between Novem- ber and February ; the dryest month is June, with about one inch. August.—‘* Die neue- Anemometer-und ‘Temperatur-Station auf dem Obir-Gipfel,”” by J. Hann.—On the dynamics of the atmosphere, by M. Moller. This is a continuation of a series of valuable papers on the physics of the atmosphere. The pre- sent article deals chiefly with the behaviour of cyclones and anticyclones, and with the vertical distribution of temperature and aqueous vapour, THE Botanical Gazette for August has an article on cell-union in herbaceous grafting, by Mr. John S, Wright, in which the remarkable assertion is made that not only a geranium, but also Tradescautia xzebrina has been successfully grafted on the tomato, that is, a monocotyledonous on a dicotyledonous plant. Mr. L. N. Johnson describes the mode of formation and escape of the little-known zoospores of Drafarualdia plumosa. THE numbers of the Fournal of Botany for August and September are chiefly occupied by papers on descriptive botany. Mr. H. T. Soppill gives an account of the life-history of Ecidium leucospermum, parasitic on Anemone nemorosa, 560 NATURE [OcroBer 5, 1893 SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. PARIS. Academy of Sciences, September 25.—M. de Lacaze- Duthiers in the chair.—M. Faye, in presenting the Conmaissance des Temps for 1896, being volume cexviii., pointed out some im- provements newly introduced, The tables of the fundamental stars contain their magnitudes, their’ mean coordinates at the commencement of the tropical year, their variation and proper motion, and the dates at which the hour stars pass the meridian at noon and midnight.—The geographical coordinates of Tanana- rivo.and the observatory of Ambohidempona (founded at Mada- gascar by the Rev. Father Colin), by M. Alfred Grandidier.— On the spectroscopic observations made at the Mount Blanc Observatory on September 14 and 15, 1893, by M. J. Janssen (see p. 549)... Action of the electric arc upon the diamond, amorphous boron, and crystallised silicium, by M. Henri Moissan.—Preparation and properties of crystallised. carbon silicide, by M. Henri Moissan.—On the reproduction of oysters in the Roscoff aquarium, by M. de Lacaze-Duthiers. | The ostreicultural work at the Roscoff laboratory was undertaken in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the revival of the oyster fisheries on the Fiench coasts. on a scientific basis, During the last two years it has been proved that seed oysters could be brought to a high state of development and commercial value in artificial surroundings. : It has also been proved that oysters are capable of reproduction in the aquarium. The culture of oysters is at present divided into two main branches, that of producing seed oysters and that of de- veloping the latter into the article ofconsumption. The Roscoff laboratory isnow able to perform both functions. The oysters now completing’ their fourth year of age and their third of culture in the tank, have produced this year about 5000 young oysters, which will be used as seed oysters for future experiments. —M. Bouquet de la Grye, in connection with a recent work by M. Hatt on the harmonic analysis of tidal observations, an- nounced that the Hydrographic Service of the Marine Department intended to adopt the method expounded, viz, that originated by Lord Kelvin, to the calculation of the Annuaire des Marées, and that several maregraphical stations are about to be erected in Indo-China, where the tidal phenomena are very singular.— Circles or spheres derived from any envelope, by M. Paul Serret.—On the glucoside of the Iris, by MM. F. Tiemann and G. De Laire. . Iris roots contain a glucoside, iridine, which shows some remarkable properties. Alcoholic extract of iris treated with a mixture of acetone and chloroform of density 0°95, gives iridine. It crystallises in small white needles, fusing at 208°, and corresponding to the empirical formula CosHg0,3.. Iridine, heated under pressure , with. sulphuric acid diluted with weak alcohol, decomposes into glucose, and a. crystalline body now termed zrigzwine. This forms alcoholic ethers, and also gives rise to two series of acid ethers. Under the action of alkaline hydrates, it absorbs three molecules of water, and then splits into three bodies—viz. formic acid, an acid phenol termed 77idi¢ acid, C,)H.0;, and a phenol termed iretol, C;HgQ,y. The latter body is rapidly decomposed by the oxygen of the air. when in an alkaline solution. When iridic acid is heated above its point of fusion, it splits into I molecule of carbonic acid and a colourless oil distilling at 239° by cooling. It solidifies in large crystals fusing at 57°, con- stituting a well-defined new phenol now termed z7zdo/,—Ana- tomical researchés on the grand sympathetic nervous system of the sturgeon, by M. René Chevrel.—Contribuiion to the his- tology of the spongide, by M. Emile Topsent.—On two new types of the choniostomatide of the coasts of France, spheron- ella microcephala and salenskia tuberosa, G.and B., by MM. A. Giard and J. Bonnier. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. : Lonpon. ; TUESDAY, OctToser 10. , PuHoToGRAPHic Society, at 8 (at the Gallery, 5a, Pall Mall, East.) WEDNESDAY, Octoser 11. Puorocrapuic Society at 3 and 8 (at the Theatre, Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi). THURSDAY, OcTosER 12. PHoToGRAPHIC SOCIETY, at 3 (at the Theatre, Society of Arts, Jato Street, Adelphi). ——At 8 (at the Gallery, 5a, Pall Mall, East).—Special Lantern Nighr. FRIDAY, OctToser 13. AMATEUR SctenTiFic Society, at 7-—Conversazione and Exhibition. —At 8. —Parasitism, Commensalism, &e.: Mr. Pace. NO. 1249, VOL. 48] | (Macmillan).—Meteorological . Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical : ~BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RACE Gm D. Bocks -—Inorganic Chemistry for’ Beginners :\Sir H. E, Roscoe rig Bo servations made at the Adelaide O' tory, &e., during 1884-5’ (Adelaide). —Catalogue: of the Lepidopterous Su uper- family Noctuide found in aoa ete: mith (Washingto —Method and Resuits: Huxle (Macmillan), Brace Work iad Heat: W. G. Wonlteiabe’ oxen eae Press).—The Procon Argument 7 A. Sidgwick (Black).—A Dictionary of Birds: A. Newton, Part 2 (Black).—The, Discovery, of Australia: A. F. a ee Phi Personal Recollections of Werner von Siemens: translate x Coupland (Asher).—In Amazon Land:, M. FL Bests +. * Paina Curiosa Mattiematica, Part’ 2. Pillow Problems: 1 otek edition (Macmillan).—Décoration Céramique au Pe Py Wee ep? oa oe Guenez (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Les Moteurs A Gaz et & Peétrole: Vermand (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Biskra and the Oases and Desert of the - Zibans: A. K. Pease (Stanford).—An Essay on Newton's Freie W.W.R. Ball (Macmillan).—Catalogue of Section one of the Museum of t Geological Survey of Canada; G. C. Hoffmann (Ottawa).—An pe 01 to Human Physiology: Dr. A. D. Waller, 2nd edition fe a H. Gray, edited by T. P. Pick, oath a edition (Longmans). oping of Milk and Milk Products: Dr. H.’ mann and Dr, Beam (Philadelphia, Blakiston).—blev nth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland. Part 3: Scientific In 5 tions (Edinburgh, Neill).—On Hail: Hon. Rollo Russell (Stanford). — q PampPutets.—The — of see Brazil : L. B. Bitancourt. D6 sad jerkauern : H. ce a Dr. G. B. Rizzo Genno, net. Saint) ue of. Woods aie eth hall ; meee Exposition. sie ; » reilly 1892: Hi Eliot (Calcutta). a gical Mag: Paul) —Geographical Journal, October cer Sie CONTENTS. — The Study of Diatoms. ByD. ..... The Propagation of Electric Energy . . Our Book Shelf :— s ‘* Helps to the Study of the Bible”... 539 Edwards : i eaagarsier Calculus for Beginners.” a es ieee hers o/s Letters to the Editor :— e The Thieving' of Assyrian Antiquities. bis Rassam 540 — Vectors and Quaternions.—Prof. Alex. Macfarlane O ea. Photography: —Sir Robert S. Ball, ae The Constellations of the Far East. ” Kumagusu Minakata. . | nieente ae Mr. Love’s Treatise on Elasticity. —A. B. ‘Basset, EUR Sax, E « Facgia erent age New Caledonian Pottery. —Otis T. Mason... Science inthe Magazines. . . 3 Hydrophobia Statistics for 1892 “at ‘the Institut Pasteur 2°. 4 Notes : Pe eee eae Our Astronomical Column :— On the Parallax of | the Planetary Nebula + 41°'4004. . ‘ Solar and Lunar Ephemeris for Turin . Geographical-Notes .. . o- * © 349 Cie, ak ee ee es ee ee eee ee ee I The Observatory on Mount Blanc” ; a Iron and Steel Institute. is Theories of the Origin of Mountain AnaER Prof, Le Conte ace Geography at the British ‘Association Smee preset Mechanics at the British Association . . Anthropology at the British Association . The Evolution of Colourin the Genus Mega ise] oe a a a Se ra University and Educational Intelligence Scientific Serials ... . . i Societies and Academies... ...+..4-. Diary of Societies Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ie ee Se ie eT Wiete ‘ + r wee aa 55 ‘ NATURE nae THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1893. et i THE CORRESPONDENCE OF BERZELIUS : AND LIEBIG. vselius und Liebig. Uhre Briefe von 1831-1845. Mit erlauternden CEinschaltungen aus_ gleichzeitigen Briefen von Liebig und Wohler. Herausgegeben ‘mit Unterstiitzung der kgl. bayer. Akademie der Wissenschaften von Justus Carriére. (Miinchen und Leipzig : J. F. Lehmann, 1893.) HIS most interesting, and, for the historian of L chemistry, most valuable little book owes its origin }a sentiment akin to that which prompted the publication ‘the no less interesting and valuable collection of the ters of Liebig and Wéhler. How important the corre- ondence of Berzelius and Liebig is to him who essays ‘write the history of the chemistry of the nineteenth ntury will be obvious from the fact that this exchange ‘letters occurred during one of the most eventful cades of the century. It began at the period of epoch-making work of Liebig and Wohler on . radicle of benzoic acid, and extended over the when Liebig was devoting himself, with charac- istic ardour and enthusiasm, to the study of animal emistry and to the applications of chemistry to agri- ture. Frequent reference, as might have been pected, is made to these and the many other matters i ch during that time engaged the energies and occupied le thoughts of Liebig at what was the most active and ‘most fruitful period of his career. Nor was Berzelius communicative concerning his own work. Nothing, wever, is more characteristic of the difference in tem- srament of the two men than the manner in which each eaks of what he has done, is doing, or means to do. ‘ith Berzelius it is nearly always concerning what he is accomplished, seldom of what he is doing, and still ore rarely of what he is going to do. The sanguine, rdent character of Liebig is reflected in almost every t r. He is terribly in earnest on the matters of the joment, and full of enthusiasm and confidence concern- ig the plans of the future. The philosophic calm which srvades every letter of the great Swedish chemist is a e of wonder and envy to his correspondent. “T envy you,” writes Liebig, “the priceless tranquillity ‘mind with which you do your work. Pray tell me is it ways so with you. Has not the keen desire for dis- very not even once made your heart beat quicker ? ith you there is an ever present intellectual calm.” big wrote as he thought and spoke. “I cannot, se others of cooler blood,” he wrote to Wohler, “keep yself apart from and unidentified with my work: what do I do with all my faults and shortcomings, but also all the energy that actuates me.” e letters, therefore, are valuable not only as side- on matters which are now regarded as classical é history of chemistry, but also as evidence of ; character and temperament of the two men ; and om this point alone they will have a special interest t the historian of science. The correspondence begins with a new year’s letter om Liebig inthe January of 1831. The two chemists NO. 1250, vou. 48] had made one another’s personal acquaintance at Ham- burg during the summer of the preceding year, and Berzelius had already expressed to his friend and former pupil Wéhler, the pleasure it had afforded him to meet Liebig. Liebig had perfected his method of organic analysis, and the Giessen laboratory was busily engaged in determining the elementary composition of whole series of organic substances, and he gives in his first letter a brief account of the main results to which he and his pupils had arrived. Berzelius in his acknowledgment congratulates him on his work :— “It is quite incomprehensible to me how you can have accomplished so much in so short a time.” He tells Liebig of the discovery of a new metal by Sefstrém, which the discoverer had named Vanadium : “It is an interesting thing. It will take its place be- tween chromium and molybdenum. Wohler had well- nigh lighted upon this body. He undertook to analyse lead chromate from Zimapan. He discovered that the substance hitherto regarded as chromic acid was not so in reality, but gave himself no further trouble to.determine what it actually was.” Wohler has himself told us the story, and let the world see the characteristically humorous letter in which Berzelius “chaffed” him for being too lazy to open the door when the goddess knocked. There is the customary Teutonic contempt for most things Gallic: “Tt gives me a real pleasure to read your writings by reason of the love for truth which pervades them—in striking contrast with Dumas, who seems to do every- thing for show.” In the second letter Berzelius writes :—‘ Die Unzu- verlassigkeit der franzésischen Analysen. . . . ist eine verdammt curiose Sache,” and again Dumas and his pupils are somewhat severely handled. Berzelius is “so satt” with Vanadium that he is constrained to tell Liebig all he knows about this “sehr in- teressanter Kérper.” He has just finished his memoir for Poggendorff “in welcher die viele Salzbeschreibungen gewiss manchen Leser einschlafen machen werden.” The letter was written with the so-called ‘“ vanadium ink,” made by adding extract of gall-nuts to a solution of ammonium vanadate. “It flows,” says Berzelius, ‘‘so extraordinarily well that it is preferable to all iron inks, and fades less easily.” Unfortunately Berzelius’s ex- pectations respecting the new ink have not been fulfilled : the writing of this particular letter, the editor points out, has become quite yellow, and is difficult to decipher. Liebig does not altogether share Berzelius’s opinion respecting Dumas: “ Small as is the confidence I have in Dumas’ work, the calculations of this rope-dancer seldom fail in their object : I have assured myself by a direct determination of the vapour density of the non-inflammable gas [phos- phuretted hydrogen] that he is right. I am continually annoyed that the fellow, in spite of his wretched and slovenly style of work, should shake masterpieces, so to say, out of his sleeve.” é In 1831 Liebig’s position at Giessen, in spite of his growing fame, was pecuniarily very poor. He writes to Berzelius :— “| have latterly taken upon my back a big burden in yoking myself with Geiger as co-editor of his magazine, BB 562 NATURE [OcToBER 12, and all for the sake of filthy lucre. At the small uni- versity where I am, w.iere the dullest pedantry sits enthroned, and where natural science is learnt from the Greek authors or from Wilbrand's writings, I should otherwise die of hunger.” However much Liebig may share Berzelius’s opinion of French chemical work in general during the thirties, he will hear of no word of disparagement of his old master Gay Lussac, for whom he had the most genuine respect and esteem. A captious remark by Berzelius respecting Gay Lussac at once rouses Liebig, and his impetuous pen dashes off a panegyric which is almost eloquent in the warmth and intensity of its feeling. The only thing to his discredit that Liebig will allow is that, in common with his countrymen, Gay Lussac is not sufficiently attentive to what is done outside France: “A certain mental indolence prevents the French, to their shame be it said, from making themselves ac- quainted with foreign work. Gay Lussac shares this failing, and feels that it will gradually effect the ruin and extinction of all scientific growth in France: all his letters to me are filled with complaints on this score, and principally as regards himself. However that is no fault in his character, and can well be forgiven him when one takes his other good qualities into account.” A letter from Liebig, dated December 28, 1831, an- nounces the discovery, and describes the properties of chloral, a “ Substanz welche ich, da ich keinen besseren Namen weiss, Chloralkohol nennen will.” Berzelius, in his reply, gives an account of his work on tellurium. In May, 1832, Liebig writes that he has begun to work on amygdalin. “J am on the point of becoming Wéhler’s enemy: I see that Fate will not allow either of us to do anything that the other has not already done or is on the point of doing: all originality goes to the devil. He suggests that we should do a joint investigation on bitter almond - oil—and just before I got his letter I had written to all the apothecaries I knew of to procure me bitter almond oil, because J. too had the matter in view.” What came out of that memorable investigation on oil of bitter almonds no chemist needs to be reminded of. On July 2, Liebig writes that he has been engaged in determining the composition of an “ether-like sub- stance,” sent to him by Débereiner, who had named it “Sauerstoffether.”’ “ Oxygen-ether is no name for this substance. I am, however, very stupid at naming things. What think you of acetal (acetum and alcohol) ?” In more thin one of his letters Liebig held out the hope to himself that he might be enabled to visit Berzelius in Stockholm, and do some research in common with him, and he sends to Wohler for a Swedish grammar. The terrible pressure of his work at Giessen at this time is beginning to tell upon him. He writes to Berzelius: “T am always ill, and fear my life’s thread will not spin out much longer. Each work I undertake makes me worse, and the slightest effort excites me as if I were in a fever. W6hler and my family tell me daily what a fool I am; however, we shall see. If the journey to Stock- holm does not mend me, then I shall never be cured.” Berzelius answers :— “The pleasure which your news of matters scientific gave me, great though it was, is as nothing compared NO. 1250, VOL. 48] with that of your promise to spend some month me and to do a piece of work with me. I have § kad such a pleasant surprise, but now comes tht tion: When is this good fortune to befall me not need to speak a word of Swedish to c you wish to learn it, may it be my privilege teacher. Come soon and spend the winter me. A Swedish winter is healthier than a. Your depressed nervous system will right We will work, joke, and skate, and not ourselves, and yet labour to good purpose. Yi my laboratory far below your ex ion. and badly furnished. But it is just in such ¢ one learns to do with little.” ne The visit, unfortunately, was never made. ” lost his wife in the summer of that yea dejection sought the society of his frien Moreover, the outbreak of cholera at v. North Germany made travelling irksome and < As it was, the two never met again. The correspo) was maintained, with intermissions, down to 184: is, until about three years before the death of Ba Little by little misunderstandings arose which eve! ended in coolness, despite the most persiste! | c Wohler to preserve friendly relations. The of Berzelius, who clung, wlth the obstinacy views which the rest of the world regarded reacted painfully on the strong-willed, imp of Liebig, who could as little brook contrad was more than one sharp passage of arms, at open rupture. Berzelius made his /ahresbe vehicle of many bitter attacks on the work of the C school, to which Liebig, restrained by Wé6h some extent swayed by mixed feelings of pity, seldom replied. : His sentiments towards the great mas evident from the following excerpt from a ] Wohler, with which this most interesting volume 2 “The opinions and theories of Berzelius were a and formal expression of the ideas of his time, and fore of great value ; but they went no further. I¥ say that this was a fault, but it would have been a had he possessed a larger measure of that creative which I may term the poetry of natural philosophy BACTERIOLOGY FOR THE Manual of Bacteriology for Practitioners and with especial reference to Practical Metho S.L. Schenk, Professor Extraordinary in the of Vienna; translated from the Germ: 1, WwW Appendix by W. R. Dawson, BA., M.D.— Dublin). 8vo. 310 pp. (London: Long! : and Co., 1893.) Ss HE bacteriological library has recently bee by yet another text-book which, althoug lished in German a few months ago, has already in an English translation. In this work we have sponsibility divided between the author and trai for the latter has not merely acted as interpreter, | added numerous foot-notes, besides an appendix in to bring the book as far as possible up to ; which additions are signed by the translator. It | 3 OcrosER 12, 1893] NATURE 563 ar to us that there is much advantage in thus divid- the responsibility in a small text-book which does not ontain any original or speculative matter of importance ; id in our opinion the reader would have gained had the an original been freely edited by the translator, should have borne the entire responsibility for the nglish edition. The arrangement of the material is much the same as N most previous works on this subject, but the descrip- tion of a larger number of micro-organisms, considering size of the book, is attempted. In this matter the e has now come for a new departure, for with the con- nual additions to the number of known bacterial forms, is both impossible and undesirable that the descriptions of all of them should find place in the body of a text- I For the purpose of illustrating the principles of cteriology, comparatively few forms need be described n detail, whilst for an account of those forms which are of secondary importance, special works should be sonsulted. A work of this kind, which endeavours to describe in the tabular form, every micro-organism hitherto discovered, fortunately already exists in the shape 0 Eisenberg’s “ Bakteriologische Diagnostik” (Hamburg and Leipzig, 1891), so that the necessarily brief and im- ct descriptions of bacteria which are to be found in text-books, like the one under review, become worse valueless, inasmuch as they take up space which uld be devoted to the discussion of general principles. w, in this latter particular the work before us is ially weak ; not only is the preliminary chapter on the “ general morphology and biology of micro-organisms” rery scanty, but the introductory matter at the com- ncement of the several chapters is generally also quite nadequate. Thus, for instance, in the chapter on the micro-organisms of soil we find no less than two pages oted to the description of such obscure and unimpor- t forms as bacterium mycotdes roseum, b. radiatus, mosus, liguefaciens magnus, scissus, and clostridium fetidum, whilst there is absolutely no mention of the ba teria producing nitrification, nor of the organisms oc- casioning the tubercles in leguminous plants, which are of such enormous importance, both from a practical and theoretical point of view. In that portion of the book devoted to the practical m Bas ods, we find very ample descriptions of the anical details for staining bacteria, but the account iven of the principles upon which these methods rest is meagre, and often betrays much ignorance of che- cal principlesin general, Thus, what are we to think of statement that “ avzline oil and phenol are the mor- dants (szc) most used in bacteriological research”? Surely a few words from a competent chemist would be calcu- lated to put some order and arrangement into the wilder- ness of empirical staining recipes with which the student is confronted, and would prevent such inaccuracy in the of old-established technical terms. A mistake of € practical importance, which a little chemical wwledge again would have rendered impossible, is the ement on page 20, that plates intended for culture be sterilised “after being cleansed with alcohol corrosive sublimate” ; in this case, however, we are clined to believe that the “alcohol” being placed defore stead of a/fer the “corrosive” sublimate must be a NO. 1250, VOL. 48] ner lapsus plume which has failed to receive correction in the proof. Of the same order, again, is the statement that some bacteria ‘“‘ cause a splitting-up of urea into ammonium carbonate” ; surely if the reaction in question, and which consists in the adding on of two molecules of water, CN,H,O+2H,0=CN,H,0, Urea Water Ammonium Carbonate, can be described as “a splitting up,” the addition of two chimneys to a house might as logically be called a disruption of the building ! The author in his preface states that “ conformably to the scope of a hand-book like the present, all references to the literature have beén omitted,” but the names of investigators have been freely introduced in the text, and in some cases they have been selected apparently with- out a due knowledge of the literature. Thus, from the text (p. 124 and p. 156) it would appear that it is to Rubner and Kirchner that we are indebted for the dis- covery of the great bacteriological efficiency of the soil as a natural filtering medium, whilst we were certainly under the impression that Pasteur, not to mention others, showed the bacteriological purity of spring and deep well waters before the names of the above gentlemen were known to the scientific world. In the same way the discovery of the increase in the efficacy of chemical dis- infectants by moderately raising the temperature is ascribed to Heider, whilst it was really first made by Dr. Wynter Blyth, some eight years ago, but his paper, which was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, was doubtless unknown to both Heider and the author of this book ; but the translator might, in the interests of British science, have seen that the papers in that and other English media of publication had received their due. In the chapter on Morphology we find no mention of the researches of Ray Lankester and others on the polymorphism of beggiatoa, which are of such interest in connection with those phenomena of variation in both the form and function of bacteria which are now begin- ning to receive the serious attention of investigators ; nor is there, indeed, any special reference to this subject of variation, which at the present time is certainly one of the most important in the whole domain of bacteriology. A considerable part of the translator’s appendix is devoted to the bactericidal action of light ; here again we think that the work of the original discoverers, Downes and Blunt, has been inadequately appreciated, for these investigators practically explored the whole subject in out- line, and the more recent researches have principally consisted in a confirmation of their results, and in filling in details ; thus they showed that the bactericidal action of sunlight is independent of rise in temperature, that the most refrangible rays of the spectrum are the most active, that their effect, moreover, is highly favoured if not en- tirely dependent on the simultaneous presence of oxygen, and, further, that the bacteria may be destroyed by light in the absence of any culture-medium, but that they are more resistant to light when immersed in water or very dilute culture material. Again, we find no reference to one of the most interesting recent additions to our knowledge of this subject, viz. the discovery by Laurent that exposure to sunlight causes some chromogenic 564 NATURE [Ocroser 12, 18¢ bacteria to lose their power of producing pigment, either temporarily, as in the case of the dactllus prodigtosus, or even permanently, in the case of the dacz//us ruber of Kiel. We are, therefore, surprised at being categorically in- formed, both in the introduction and in the appendix of this work, that pigment is formed especially under the influence of light, a statement which is entirely out of harmony with the observations of Laurent, and for which the experimental foundation should have been carefully set forth. These and other points of a similar character will doubtless be rectified by the translator in preparing a second edition, which it would be well to amplify with references to literature, with which even an elementary student in a new science must at once be made familiar. The illustrations are in the majority of cases very good, and contrast most favourably with those we have seen in some recent works of the kindin which photographic re- presentations have been attempted. The coloured prints of cholera and typhoid bacilli are especially excellent. OUR BOOK SHELF. Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo. By John Whitehead. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1893.) Mr. JOHN WHITEHEAD belongs to the much-maligned class of field-naturalists. For the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the ornithology of Mount Kina Balu, he spent nearly four years collecting in the region, and accumulated a large number of new species. In addition to visiting North Borneo, he stayed some time at Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the State of Malacca. The rather cumbersome volume before us recounts the story of these explorations. It consists of 192 pages of general description and 115 pages of matter reprinted from the proceedings of various Societies. Thirty-two excellent plates illustrate specimens from the extensive zoological collections made by Mr. Whitehead, and the places and peoples seen by him. It need hardly be said that these add considerably to the value of the dook. Several woodcuts are also included. It would be ungracious to find fault with Mr. Whitehead for loose- ness of expression, since he craves indulgence for his “literary shortcomings.” .He found it far easier to ex- plore an unknown tract of country than to write an ac- count of his travels. Like some other travellers who have given to the world accounts of their wanderings, Mr. Whitehead dwells too much on trivialities. But for all that, there is much that is new and interesting in the book, and one cannot but admire the indomitable spirit which carried the author through numerous diffi- culties, and enabled him at last to reach an altitude of 13,525 feet on the mountain of Kina Balu. Pillow Problems. Curiosa Mathematica, Part II. By Charles L. Dodgson, M.A. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1893.) IN these pages we have a series of problems worked out, or, as the author says, “nearly all thought out during sleepless nights.” In the preface he informs us the exact method of procedure, and the way in which he obtained his results, The problems are about seventy in number, and deal with many branches of mathematics, but chiefly with algebra, plane geometry, and trigonometry. The order of the three and only chapters is as follows: questions, answers, and ‘solutions; and he explains the reason for this peculiarity in the preface. Considering the problems themselves, one is apt to think that some of NO. 1250, VOL, 48] them at least are not so very hard, but the publicat them will be found very interesting and perhaps useful those of ordinary mathematical powers, who may like follow the same routine way of thinking as that ado by the author. 5 The A BC Five-Figure Logarithms. By C. J. Wood B.Sc. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, 1893.) THIS small book of logarithms may be said to bea edition of the tables previously published by the In addition to the tables of mantisse of numb same A B C system has been applied to logarithms functions, with only a slight difference in the metho Besides these the square roots of numbers (from 1 to I to three places of decimals are given, and a table “numbers often wanted,” and of the densities of gas weights and measures, &c. To facilitate the finding the logarithms, &c., a lateral index is adopted. EB being a compact and convenient set of tables, the will find them easy to use, and accurate enough | such calculations as are generally met with in fl physical laboratory, the class-room, &c. ig Enunciations in Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid and gonometry. By P. A. Thomas, B.A. (London: millan and Co., 1893.) : IN these pages one is treated to a selection of som the chief questions that relate to Arithmetic, Alg Euclid, and Trigonometry. Stress is laid on the elementary parts of each subject, and several t problems are inserted. The latter relate chiefly to th arithmetical and algebraical sections, while the Eu clic section is accompanied by important riders. T! book should prove acceptable to those revising thi eS subjects, whether for examination or not, and will be both for teachers ‘and taught, a useful companion tc the text-books in use. ‘ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [Zhe Editor docs not hold himself responsible for opinions ea pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he underta to return, or to correspond with the writers of, re manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NAT No notice is taken of anonymous communications. | Thoughts on the Bifurcation of the Sciences sugge by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Associat THE opening paragraph of the President’s address con this sentence: ‘‘We have come to learn what progress hi been made in departments of knowledge which lie outside ¢ our own special scientific interests and occupations, to widen o views, and to correct whatever misconceptions may have arise from the necessity which limits each of us to his own fie study.” A most worthy and attractive ideal. Something of this k of intersectional information does go on at these meetings ; b to how small an extent! It may be said, indeed, that e: for the presidential address and the two evening lecture everyone sticks to his own section, and discusses matters ly in his own groove. oe ie This state of things is perhaps inevitable, but it is non less to be regretted. It is extremely difficult for a actively engaged in the work of any one section to atte ; attend any other. I myself used to make the attempt, but cor cluded that the results were too precarious and uncertain to | worth the dissipation of energy involved, and have now a! doned it.’ Yet there can be little doubt that if the things postulated by the President were feasible in practi would be a distinct gain, But it would seem as if the modern tendency were all in other direction. Papers in the two great scientific departm are read as far as possible on different days at the R Society, and are published in separate volumes. Such an arra ment is decidedly convenient : I am not repining at it. OcToBER 12, 1893] NATURE 565 _ Royal Scciety type of paper is almost necessarily unintelligible any but specialists, perhaps sometimes even to them. _ But the arrangement should not be regarded as anything but a lamentable necessity. If a more conjoint character could by ary device be given to the meetings of the B.A. it would be an excellent thing: soit seems to me. Whether the British Association can or cannot act as a nnecting link between the sciences, there is no doubt but that ages of NATURE do so act; and long may it be ore NATURE (I mean the publication) finds herself also urcated or otherwise subdivided, and we on either side cease hear even an echo of what the other side is talking about. _ Perhaps few are able to say that they read Nature all through as Mr. Darwin did, but we ail have the chance of doing 0; and I hope it is the practice of the biological side to com- inicate to its pages at least an epitome or a popular account all the researches which have a wide embracing interest. Much that the chemist does—still more that the biologist es—we of the physical camp do not care to hear ; battty be- use we might not understand it, chiefly because the research so far from the field we are at present occupied in cultivat- , that we can perceive none of the connecting links. But some of the problems on which the biologist—especially haps the physiologist—is engaged are, or might easily be- ome, of supreme interest to phy-icists; notably everything nnected with sense organs and the ‘‘mechanism”’ of sensa- The fear is lest we drift apart so far that we cease to under- stand each other’s language. _ The current language of physics consists mainly of adapta- ions of simple English phrases. It is full of common words, edefined and made definite*in connotation. We do indeed use the word ‘‘coefficient” occasionally, but we are getting ashamed its length and high-falutin’ character. We got it from the thematicians. We have also a few other long words, as ricity and its derivatives, which we sometimes try to abbre- fiate without much success. We got them in the Middle Ages. ut the words we coin now are as nearly monosyllabic as pos- sible, og as near akin to the ordinary usage of language as The current language of biology is quite different. Its sen- ighly dignified and elaborate structures, not wholly different om a once more prevalent German model. Its words, specially its new words, are hendecasyllabic or, at any rate, olysyllabic. They are extremely classical, and as unlike the inguage of daily life as can be contrived. This is done of good et purpose, viz. to keep free from the misunderstandings arising ut of the attempt to give to popular words a scientific, z.e. an curate, meaning. _ I suppose it is inevitable, and no doubt biologists know what best for their own science ; I only lament it because it seems ly to retard that free intercommunication between the ciences which many of us would like to see made more possible han at present it is. I shall have the President with me here ; but may I put a question to him without profanity? May I ask lim if he can imagine a biologist asking about a process, ‘What is the go of it?” I conjecture, but perhaps I am ong, that if a young biologist wanted to know more about a ost important and interesting process occurring in the blood, ® would ask, ‘‘ What mechanism do you consider it was which pplied the chemiotactic stimulus impelling these leucocytes wards the morbific microbes which they are devitalising ?” Ido not complain of this language—very likely it is well Suited for home consumption—but it does seem to render inter- ommunion difficult. Now, for instance, I am anxious to learn the most recent of biologists on the subject of life, or vitality, or vitalism, r whatever word conveys the hypothesis that the life of an nism is something different from the chemical and mechani- activities of its tissues. I see that the President touches on is very subject, but somehow I cannot seize concerning it any idea, though I rejoice to see his warning against the ise of the terms ‘‘mechanism” and ‘‘ mechanical.” The n ** mechanical” is regarded by physicists as the e plus ultra Mf explanation, and it is unlikely that any explanation of physio- gical processes will skip the intervening chemical and physical yes, and land itself straight in simple mechanics, tl wonder if I am right in supposing that the definition of 3 id Oe wy NO. 1250, VOL. 48] aces, as exemplified in parts of the presidential address, are. gist, viz. (I put it only in paraphrase, for more exact word- ing see NATURE, September 14, p. 464), ‘‘ that property of an organism which enables it to respond similarly to a variety of aiff rent stimuli” ; because a steam engine or any other prime mover can do as much as that. It matters nothing by what means the throttle valve is opened, whether by the proper driver, or by a larky boy, or by a piece of string, or a falling weight, or an electric current ; the result is the same—wheels go round, This property of responding to stimuli, and responding always in the same way if atall, may be characteristic of a clock-work mouse, but surely it is not a special peculiarity of “fe. Ifa muscle can only twitch, then, however you tickle it, it must ‘either twitch or do nothing. But life surely is something other than a power of response to a stimulus; it is more like a something which directs the stimulus, more like the driver who decides whether the throttle valve shall be opened or not. But it is absurd for me to attempt to answer such questions. I only want to ask them: all I clearly perceive from the physical standpoint is that live creatures have the power of directing energy into otherwise unoccupied channels, and that life in itself, whatever it is, is not a form of energy. But this leads me to a subject which though apparently trivial may, if not attended to, have serious or at any rate inconvenient consequences, I mean the occasional misuse by one science of the language of another science. The term ‘energy’ is a physical one given us by Thos. Young, and it has been fought for by us through a great part of this century. It will be wanted seriously by Physiologists before long, in its proper sense, and it will be a thousand pities if they misuse it. If it be urged, ‘‘but Helmholtz used the term sfectfe energies,” I reply yes, a long time ago, and so also he used the phrase, Zrhaltung der Kraft. But precision in the use of the term energy is of comparatively modern growth, and every one-now translates Zrhaltung der Kraft as ‘‘ conservation of energy.” So, also, I venture to think, they should usually trans- late the phrase ‘‘ specific energy’ by the words xormal activity or normal reaction. Of course if normal activity of an organ or tissue does not represent the thing meant, that is another matter —so far as I can judge, it usually does ; but whether it does or not, Iam clear that specific energy is usually wrong. There is one definite theory or hypothesis, to express which the words energy in some form would be correct—viz. when it is meant to assert that, for instance when light falls upon the retina, all it does is to pull a trigger, and the explosion or nerve stimulus which results is due to energy in or near the nerve ending itself. If that is a true statement of the case, and there must be a great deal to be said for such a view, the latent energy of the organ can no doubt be measured. But inasmuch as energy is all one thing in many forms, the adjective sfeczfic is better omitted ; moreover the phrase is not usually limited to this particular hypothesis ; and by ‘‘ the specific energy of an organ,” is usually meant, not anything quantitative, but simply the mode in which it normally reacts. Another case of terminology occurs to me. For specification of small lengths microscopists have introduced the term micron for a thousandth of a millimetre, or a millionth of a metre ; and very handy'is both the magnitude and the name, and I hope physicists will adopt it. But everyone should consent to use it in the same sense. There was a discussion about it in the pages of NaTuRE a few years ago, but I am not sure that the usage even now is quite distinct. Many biologists call it a micro- millimetre, which it is not ; and though they may mean the same thing, it can only be by an e:roneous, because uncon- ventional, use of the prefix micro. All these things are con- ventions, and once made the convention should be rigorously adhered to. Sometimes the word is written mzcro instead of micron ; a very small divergence, but better avoided. Either term will do perfectly well, but not both. May we understand then that a micron is a micro-metre, ora milli-milli-metre, or 10~4 centimetre ; and that a millimicron is a micro-millimetre, or 10-7 centim. ? And may I incidentally protest against too much public use of the meaningless and wasteful symbols wu and pu for these two lengths. If these symbols are found too handy in technical microscopy to be abandoned, they must be used there; but they should never be allowed to obtrude into anything intended for the general reader, nor for workers in other departments of » given apparently by Treviranus, satisfies the modern biolo- i science, 506 NATURE { OCTOBER 12, 18 I trust that physicists will agree with mein this. _I-know that some Electricians try to sin in a similar way, by writing 6 when they mean 6 ohms. But with all deference to any individuals who may have allowed themselves carelessly to drift into this practice, it is a thoroughly bad precedent. We shall soon be having 12a and 5v and ‘3% for: current and voltage and inductance respectively ; a simple specification will look like algebra, and algebra will look like gibberish. Similarly the custom of writing M for a millionth of an atmosphere, or I barad, is a worrying custom. . Let us always have names for units with which we have much to do, but never single letters. Single létters have to serve a far more important purpose, that of denoting the quantities themselyes— the whole of a quantity, numerical:part, unit, and all. ‘ This last is an old hobby of mine. Ever ‘since my brother showed me the advantage of consciously interpreting algebraical symbols as standing for concrete quantities, and not merely for abstract numbers, the advantage of doing so has presented it- self to me with cumulative force. ' Most physicists are, I think, now of a similar opinion, if they have thought atall about the matter, and Prof...Greenhill is ‘being left almost alone in his state of grievous error ; I would say heresy, but that I fear he has some of the pure mathematicians with him for company. I have dragged Prof. Greenhill in ‘because I want to deny the extraordinary assertion which he makes in an article on page 457 of your issue for September 14, viz. that I would like to ‘banish the word Aundredweight from our language.” On the - contrary, for the specification of loads I have always. found it a very convenient word ; and if ‘architects use it thus, for pressure on foundations, so much the better... I know what he is referring to—a part of my book on mechanics where I am instructing youth in the meaning of the term mass, and the difference be- tween mass and weight, Till they are clear on this point I say that ‘*‘hundredweight”’ is a term better avoided for the present. I should, for instance, recommend its avoidance for the present by Prof. Greenhill. : or oy But to return to Dr, Burdon Sanderson’s address, which it is perhaps evident from a former part of this article that I have been trying to read, there are two small points on which I would ask a question, ‘First, with regard to totally colour- blind vision, If’a person sees all the world in shades of gray he may properly be called colour-blind, im one, and that the most important, sense ; but.it does not seem to me to follow that he necessarily appreciates white, still less that he proves a specific white sense in normal’ eyes. On the orthodox theory, as held by physicists, such:an eye would strictly be called mono- chromatic ; one only of the*three colours would be seen, and which/it was would matter nothing to the seer, though it might be ascertained by:studying his spectrum’ vision which the one colour was in any given case. _ I beliéve that. Abney and Festing found it usually blue. But as regards the psychological impres- sion produced by niono-chroinatic vision on the seer, its indis- criminating monotony would obviously result ‘in total absence of colour perception. One colour sensation is psychologically the same as none. ; ; ~ The other question is whether it~is useful to distingnish ree ‘*physical light’? and ‘physiological or subjective light. retina, but after that is it not better:called ‘either sig/t or some other and more impressive-looking?;word, ‘beginning with pZo‘o | or mewro and perhaps ending: with /axis, signifying the specific disturbance of the optic nerve and brain centres. These terms light, heat, sound, &c:, have: always» been ambiguous ; but, if needful to discriminate, they had better perhaps now ‘be handed over entirely to physics, to ‘signify monosyllabically ‘the external physical stimulus ; while fresh words are coined for the physiological, and again, where not already existing, for the psychological, result. : f =a I trust that this letter has’ not the appearance of undue -pre- sumption; the whole of it is written in the key of interro- gation. : 2 OLIVER J.; LoDGE, British Association: Sectional Procedure, : MeEmBERs of the British Association often entertain schemes for the improvement of sectional procedure, which rarely, so far as I-have seen, commend themselves to the good opinion of the organising committees. I beg leave to produce one scheme more. . Whether-the remedy is: practicable or not, I.am quite sure that the grievance I have to point out is a real one., NO. 1250. VOL. 48] | this :.a fixed time should be assigned to communicati The term dgh¢ applies to the ‘stimulus as far’ as the | Every member of the Association has suffered from t! : uncertainty as to the hour at which a particular paper will on. At the recent Nottingham meeting I was ky en to spend one morning to no purpose. I had a direct inter two communications ; one was not reached that day, the: was taken as read, There is no care taken to preven accidents, and yet it would have been easy to provi the second one. at least by marking the commun ‘*Title only.” .The other case is of greater, but not, of insuperable difficulty. The remedy which occurs in the opinion of the Sectional Committee are of special int and importance. There might be at least two.absolute fixty in each day's proceedings, when members would | nothing would be .allowed to interfere with the punctual duction of certain papers or addresses, I should be ine! mark these by some distinctive title, such as ‘‘ Ad request of the Section.” _It seems to me very desirable to out special invitations before the-meeting to persons who. communicate interesting results; and I have little doubt | fixed time would often lead to acceptance by 1s who Sections would be glad to hear, but who rare never ap in the programme under the existing system. __ What is bad the audience is bad for authors too, and after an author that his communication is addressed only to people who’ to hear something ‘else, and'to: people who in their despair working through the entire list, he ceases to offer himself. _ .. If the facilities granted to pre-arranged addresses should le to a stricter treatment of trivial papers and business mat no direct scientific interest, the Sections would Seri | Orientation of Temples by the Pleiades,’ — EIGHTEEN months ago, while at the Mena House, I came across a.back Phen ee of NaTuRE, which con article on ‘The Origin of the Year,” in which. refer made to the orientation of some Egyptian tem; suggested that inquiries should be made as to wheth were not in some cases oriented by the Pleiades, I I then seen the numbers that referred to stellar orientation. A pamphlet of 105 pp. was privately printed by myself és years ago {!) for my own use in the prosecution of “A Ca parison of the Calendars and Festivals of Nations,” with sp reference to the Pleiades, =; . 1 9 [al Since that pamphlet, and a: second, of about 20 pp. on. cy regulated by the Pleiades, were printed, IL have aoliecsed g deal of further data confirming the conclusions arrived | 1863.. Miiller says, in his Religion, &c., of the Dorians, I. 3 that the famous eighth-year cycle, which was in general in Greece, was luni-sidereal, and regulated by the Pleiades, : that the great feasts of Apollo at. Delphi, Crete, an were.arranged by it. He also states (p. 338) that th vestiges of a sacred calendar in general use in Greece i ages based on this cycle, but that it fell into disus sonergaanes ti Attic festivals and months were thro confusion. He had previously stated. that the Olympia based on. the eight-year cycle. Apollo, generally as have been essentially a solar deity, though he evident originally a type of Karlikeya, was a.god of the Pleiac hence the seventh day was sacred to him. at Athens. stars were the daughters of Atlas, the forty days durin they deserted the nightly sky were spent by Apollo in and singing among the Hyperboreans. of Marlas. W rising of the Pleiades at early nrorning took place, by In 1882, at the American Association, I ; is still. remembered south..of the Atlas as ‘‘ Apélo, god, who comes and plays upon the harp.” But apse of centuries the Pleiades seemed to go astray, and } gotten, and, ‘strange to say, Athenzeus was forced te the history of the Pleiades as a bit of obsolete folk. discussing the subject of the two groups of Peleiad handles of the divining cup of Nestor, he ‘says that it take to suppose that Homer by Fé/ediades meant ‘4 mistake which Mr., Gladstone has also made in his Hor Studies), and he explains that the eup had ‘two.clusters 0 stars represented on it, Many persons, he says, are p the prominence thus given to those stars, but in early t ‘were regarded as very important, and left their impress mythology, and he also s ows that they once Seqleen . fea Ba | ft | | j OcTosER 12, 1893] NATURE _ 567 sowing, and the season for navigation. He goes at great sngth into the question in his Dezpnosophists ; and Linvite the tention of those who wish to know something as to the early story and influence of the Pleiades to the work in question. ‘Plutarch says that the great feast of Isis was always held time ‘‘ when the Pleiades are most conspicuous,” and I \d that the month of Athyr, in which it was held, was de- eribed as ‘‘the shining season of the Pleiades,’ I sent, in 55, a copy of my pamphlet to Prof. C, P. Smyth, before he ‘ent to Egypt, and invited his attention to the probability that hose stars were in some way indicated by the Great Pyramid. _ The recent discovery by Mr. Penrose that the Hecatompedon ite of the Parthenon, and other archaic Greek temples were iented by the Pleiades, lends a new interest to this subject. _ This diversity of orientation has had a far wider range than is been supposed, for nearly forty years ago it was noticed in ie Mississippi mounds by Squier and Davis; and was ago detected in several early churches of the south of ; nd, a very remarkable fact, which I think was referred to t the Anthropological Institute. As it greatly surprised and rested me, I made a careful note of it when it was published, which I regret that I cannot now hunt up, as-I am preparing to save England for the winter ; but as the point cannot have scaped the attention of others, some one among your readers vill perhaps be able to give you further information as to it. Narvre of August 31 contains an interesting letter on the mportance of the study of the date of the birth of Rama by ompetent astronomers. For several years I have been trying lo find out what was the precise time of the year when Kartikeya born—‘‘ Zhe Birth of the War God” does not refer to it, [here is a most interesting subject which is new to science, the mnnection of the Pleiades with the; nativity of divine heroes. nk Ican at last supply aclue to the Star of Bethlehem (which, er imagined to have been .a.conjunction of planets !) in ‘the Christmas Stars,” of the negroes, and other African races. _ September 7. : R. G. HALIBURTON, pes * arly Chinese Observations on Colour Adaptations. Ir seems of interest to record that the Chinese, neglectful of he sciences as they are nowadays, nevertheless suggested the arwinian interpretation of animal colours as early as the ninth mtury A.D. ‘ ‘ _ Twang Ching-Shih, in his Yu-yang-tah-tsti (Mautsin’s edition, ok xvii. p. 7 Ky6to, 1697), describes a trap-door spider as ws :—‘' Whenever rain has fallen, the ground facing my ook-room has plenty of the ‘ tien-tang’ (that is, the ‘ tumbling- lefender’). Its nest, commonly so-called, is as deep as an arthworm’s hole, and the network is finished init. The earthy id of the nest is quite even with the ground, and of the size of samara. The aninial turning upside down, guards the lid, hus watching for the appearance of ‘flies and caterpillars, it ily.turns up the lid and catches them. As soon as it retreats s lid is closed again. The lid is coloured like the ground.” pparently from this and other facts the observer has attained ation of the truth, which’ he expresses. thus :—‘‘ In _birds and mammals necessarily conceal forms and ¢ tly, a snake’s colour is similar to.that of the ground ; the in the Imperata-grass is unavoidably overlooked, and the ’s hue agrees with that of the trees.” d ‘Twang ‘Ching-Shih was a man of great erudition, and versed in poetry ; he died in the period of Hwi-Chang (841-846 a.D.), eaving us the work'cited above, consisting of thirty books. It fighly commended by Sie Tsai-Kang, a distinguished en- ‘clopzedist of the seventeenth century A.D., as one of the two ‘Crowns of all Miscellanies.” see Bist it), ; KuMAGUSU MINAKATA, +15, Blithfield-street, Kensington, September 26, A Remarkable Meteor. : A METEOR ee eeeeiee pennancy and vd size was. seen ére on the 1st inst., just before 10 p.m. fe course seemed he from westwards towards the north-east. The meteor was fa vivid blue colour, and: it lighted with its splendour the whole horizon. - Ina clear blue sky the harvest moon, on the wane, was at the time shining brightly. ; : NO. 1250, VOL. 48] vw . 5 Bed tr s by their assimilation with various objects. ; Conse-. On disappearance-the blue fiery ball left behind it for some seconds a long luminous trail, like that which follows the flight of a rocket, Travelling apparently at a considerable height, the ball was observed at much about the same time at Llanefy dd, amongst the hills in North Wales. A correspondent writes thence: ‘‘ Last night (the 1st inst.) I witnessed a remarkable meteor. I always, these moonlight nights, go up the Freith just before 10 p.m. I went up last night ; it was just like day (the effect of the moon shining in the clear air of the hills). Just when I was on the top, turning to come down, and looking up the valley, the place suddenly became lit up with a blaze of intense blue light. I thought it was a tremendous lightning flash ; but as it lasted too long for that, I looked, and then saw what it was. There was a meteor falling just behind Tan-y-Gurt Mountain, as bright apparently as the sun. It was a globe of flame as large as an ordinary foot- ball, and of a light blue colour. 1 saw the ball for about as long as a rocket takes when falling. The ball was very much like an enormous rocket, and afterwards there was an appear- ance just like a stick falling from the flame. The meteor came from the west, travelled towards.the north-east, and fell perpen- dicularly,” My correspondent adds: ‘‘ The meteor did not shoot from any radiant known to me.”. Worcester, October 4. J. Ltoyp Bozwarp. THIS meteor was distinctly seen at Driffield, East Yorkshire. It proceeded from a point about 45° altitude in the west, and passed towards south-south-west at an angle of about 40°, ais- appearing at an altitude of about 20° in the south-west, Duration two seconds ; slow motion, A trail of yellowish-red ' sparks appeared on both sides (top and bottom) as it travelled forward. Several letters appear inthe Yorkshire Post of the 5th inst. from persons who saw it in Yorkshire. . : J. Lover, TERTIARY AND TRIASSIC GASTROPODA OF THE TYROL} HOUGH much has already been done for continen- . tal paleontology, a great deal still remains to be accomplished. The earlier workers in the field laboured under the disadvantage of having to deal with compara- tively scanty material, mostly scattered in private collec- tions over large dreas at a time when intercommunication was far from easy. Nowadays these old collections with their type-specimens have for the most part found their way into the. museums of the. principal cities. Moreover, not only may they freely be examined on the spot, but sometimes, we are glad to know, are allowed, under proper precautions, to be removed for the purpose of comparison with types preserved elsewhere. These altered circumstances and the acquisition, of new speci- mens have not merély' aided, but even provoked ‘the revision, rectification, and completion of the labours. of ‘bygone times. sak ‘The two articles before us are examples—the one of supplementary, the other. of both supplementary and revisionary work. EAMG cen ee hes hc To take them in their order :— Dr. Dreger’s paper is the first of a projected series in which it is intended to treat of the fauna of the tertiary beds at Haring in so far only as it has not already been dealt with. Any conclusions Dr. Dreger may have come to concerning the exact age of these deposits, which Giimbel considered to be the equivalents. of our Bem- bridge and Headon beds, are reserved till the whole of the material has been disposed of. ~~ ied ' The fossils are’in.a very bad state of preservation, being much crushed, distorted, and broken; the more 1* Die Gastropoden von Haring bei Kirchbichl in Tirol,” Von Dr. Julius Dreger. (Annalen des KK. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseunis, Ba. Viisa892, pp. 11-34; Pls.-is-iv.), ‘Die Gastropoden der Schichten yon St. Cassian der siidalpinen Trias.” Von.E. Kittl. JI. Theil. (/déd. PP: 35797 “Pls. 5. (Wiens A. Holder.) 508 NATURE [OcroBER 12, 18 delicate parts, such as the outer lips, long anterior canals, where such existed, and any spiny projections, are usually missing. With such unsatisfactory material to work upon it 1s little wonder the author has in many cases been unable to come to any definite determination as to the species; indeed in several in.tances, most wisely, no specific identification is attempted. The list given at the end shows 114 forms, including 15 which are described as new; but of these some had better have been left unnamed till more perfect examples were forthcoming, whilst in certain instances, such as Voluta stromboides, one feels sceptical, if any reliance may be placed on the figure, as to the very determination of the genus. Nor is the description of these new species always adequate: that of TZrochus demersus being especially insufficient. One of the figures is that of an interesting example of Xenophora, considered by Dr, Dreger to be very near to, if not identical with, ¥. subextensa, d'Orb. This individual must have possessed a somewhat fastidious taste, for in leu of the ordinary fragments of shell and other oddments that its kindred usually love to attach to their tenements, it selected for the decoration of its house the fusiform shells of Cerithium and Pleurotoma, which it disposed radially, attaching them by their apices. This unwonted arrangement is paralleled in a recent example of X. pa/lidula, Reeve, dredged off the Philippines during the Cha//enger expe- dition, the decorative shells being those of Zerebra and Pleurotoma, The nomenclature employed by Dr. Dreger is not in _all instances up to that standard of exactitude which the present-day devotees of the law of priority demand, and undoubtedly will bear revision, and so, too, we regret to see will his synonymy. Dr. Dreger’s principle of giving in synonymic references the name of the authority cited for the species by the author who is quoted is decidedly the fairest and best system and one which for our part we would gladly see universally adopted. By way of instance a portion of the synonymy of Cassidaria ambigua, Brander is here given, omitting however for sake of brevity the references to the several papers :— - 1776. Buccinum ambiguum, Brander, &c. 1812, Cassis striata, Sow., &c. 1843. Cassidaria ambigua, Brander, Nyst, &c. 1851. Cassis afinis, Pnilippi, &c. 1854. ,, Pe Ps E. Beyrich, &c. 18515" ;, », Beyr., Giimbel, &c. 1864. ,, >, Phil., Giebel, &c. 1865. ,, ambigua, Sol., v. Koenen, &c. Unfortunately our author has not been as careful in following out his own system as he should. Moreover the reference to the first description of a species is frequently omitted altogether; the descriptions from Brander’s “ Fossilia Hantoniensia” are sometimes attri- buted, and correctly, to Solander, and sometimes, as in the example quoted, to Brander: the synonymy is frequently unduly swollen by references to mere lists such as thit in Giimbel’s ‘‘Geognostische Beschrei- bung.” Tne pap2r concludes with a table showing the distri- bution of the 19 species which are also known to occur in other localities. This is supplementary to the similar table givea by Giimbel (of. cé¢. Abth. i. pp. 608-9). Turning to the second article, it is needless to remark that the St. Cassian beds must ever remain a source of interest to the geologist, not only on account of the remarkable mixture they offer of palzeozoic with meso- zoic forms of life, as evinced by the occurrence of Ortho- ceras on the one hand and Ammonites on the other, but als» from the fact that so large a number of fossil species are peculiar to them. The St. Cassian fauna has been treated monographi- cally by Miinster in his “ Beitrage zur Petrefacten- NO. 1250, VOL. 48| Kunde” (Hft. iv., 1841), by Klipstein in his “ zur Geologischen Kenntniss der 6stlichea Alpen” (1 and by Laube in a series of papers published in — “ Denkschriften der k. k. Akademie der Wissens Wien,” between 1865 and 1870, Although the last-n paleontologist added very largely to the number species known, the subject was far from being c and the accumulation of fresh material has enz E. Kittl to still further augment the list of Gastro the addition of many new forms, mostly of small many of very great beauty. zt The first part of this paper, published last year preceding volume of the same serial, contained 4 tions of all the species of Scaphopoda and of Gas Prosobranchiata from Patella to Clanculus ; the s portion now before us embraces the families repre in these beds between and including the Neritide the Littorinida, and introduces two new genera— narica, in Neritide, and Pseudoscalites in Tx tropide. \ The classification and nomenclature followed, it shot be stated, is that adopted by Zittel in his well-kno “ Handbuch der Palezontologie,” and of course shares t merits and demerits of that system. Only in two instan does our author depart from his model. The g Chilocyclus, Bronn, is restored on the ground tha distinct from the Cochlearia, Braun, to which Mii had referred the St. Cassian species. In the same w Delphinulopsis, Laube, which has been set aside as‘ bracing forms referable to two genera—JVeritopsis a Fossartopsis—is re-established by Kittl for reasons whi are too technical to be dwelt on here, but which we ¢ fess do not seem entirely satisfactory. ( To criticise so elaborate and careful a work as detail is, indeed, not possible without seeing the a specimens, however good the figures and lucid the scriptions may be, and we fear it would sound ungracic when so much is vouchsafed us to wish that some of new types had been less fragmentary, or to expres opinion, however guardedly, that some of the specime figured, besides that so acknowledged, convey the i pression of being immature and possibly the fry of of species. a The difficulties that have to be contended with int production of a work of this sort are far from small, a the conscientious palzontologist must frequently be his wits’ ends to decide whether he shall refer a gi example, especially if imperfectly preserved, to a kno genus from the typical forms of which it differs co ably, or shall incur the odium of adding another n an already overburdened nomenclature. Take such an instance as that here afforded genus Scalaria (or should we write Scala?). A’ the species are forms which the synonymy shows \ referred by so able a palzontclogist as Laube to very distinct genera Zurbo, Trochus, and Turrit A glance at the figures shows how far these forms from those we have been accustomed to associa the old familiar Wentle-traps, and it is little wond Dr. Kittl suggests the desirability of establishin subgeneric name for some of the St. Cassian species: think he would be justified in even founding a new to receive them. 9 The plates that accompany this paper are admira bits of drawing, but the figures would in most in have been more satisfactory for working purpo: more of them been enlarged, and those that are en! yet further magnified. The double numeration of plates is, moreover, both clumsy and unnecessary. - It is very interesting to observe in how many of species of /Vaticopsis the colour markings seem to hi been preserved, nor is this the less remarkable becai instances of a similar description from yet older forma tions are on record. (BYV)ie OcTOBER (2, 1893] NATURE 569 re) NOTES. eek, to deliver the biennial Rothamsted Agricultural Lectures. ere is an appropriateness in Sir Henry being the lecturer for 93, the jubilee year of the Rothamsted wheat experiments. ' is, of course, bound in the first place for Chicago, where Sir _Jobn Lawes and himself have a considerable exhibit. _ WE are glad to learn that the fund which is being raised to pay he expenses incurred by Dr, Budge, of the British Museum, in the action recently decided agaiast him, now amounts to about 900, so that there is every prospect of the whole amount being t hortly obtained. -Lorp KetvIn will open the new science buildings erected : the Leys School, Cambridge, on Saturday, October 28. The buildings include an extensive museum, three lecture theatres, nd laboratories for elementary and advanced chemistry, biology, and physics, Tue Paris correspondent of the Times says that a collection of Egyptian papyri, recently purchased by subscription for the Geneva Public Library, is being examined by M. Jules Nicole. Among the discoveries already made are included a didactic elegy on the stars, and several scientific compositions. Tue Adelaide meeting of the Australasian Association for the es Advancement of Science commenced on September 25, when ‘Dr. Stirling, C.M.G., F.R.S., delivered a lecture on “ Pre- ‘ historic Man.” Prof. Ralph Tate, the president-elect, delivered he presidential address on the following day. The following are tt sections and the names of their presidents Paget nathematics, and physics, Mr. H. C. Russell, C.M.G., F.R.S. chemistry, Mr. C. N. Blake; geology and minéenleigy: Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. ; biology, Mr. C. W. de Vis ; ography, Mr. A. C. Macdoualdis anthrop ology, Rev. S. Ella ; conomic science and agriculture, Mr. H. C. L. Anderson ; engineering and architecture, Mr. J. R. Scott ; hygienic and “sanitary science, Mr. A. Mault ; mental science and education, ‘Prof. Henry Larvire. An International Exposition will be inaugurated in San ‘Francisco on January 1, and will remain open until June 3, Beet. THERE is to be a ‘‘castle in the air” at the Internationa] Exhibition to be held at Antwerp next year. An immense balloon, built in six separate parts, on the principle of the water- tight compartments in steamers, will be held captive by means of ropes, and from it a castle-shaped structure, 33 yards long by 8 yards wide, will be suspended instead of a car. Entrance to the castle will be obtained by means of two lifts, aad the supply gas will be kept up by connecting a generator on the ground ith the balloon by means of a silk tube. THE Congress of the Photographic Society of Great Britain and Affiliated Societies was opened on Tuesday. In his presi- dential address, Captain Abney reviewed the advances recently made in photography, dwelling particularly upon the Lippmann processes for obtaining photographs in natural colours, A Special lantern display will be held this evening at the Gallery t { the Society in Pall Mall. mA TERRIBLE storm passed over the Gulf of Mexico on Bionday, October 2, and, in conjunction with a tidal wave, did rious damage. ~ Immense destruction was caused to the Beaiiois, crops, and villages near the shore, and a report from New O:leans states that 1200 lives were lost in the portion of Louisiana visited by the cyclone. Hundreds of small vessels ong the Gulf Coast were wrecked, and at Chandileur Island NO. 1250, VOL. 48] tR Henry GILBERT suiled for America at the end of last | the wind is reportedjto have had a velocity of 100 miles an hour. All the buildings on the island, including the lighthouse, were destroyed, several miles of the island being completely washed away. As the railway and telegraph service in the region visited by the storm have been destroyed, details ‘of the path traversed and the damage done have not yet been obtained. THE Société d’Encouragement pour [Industrie Nationale has made the following awards. The grand medal for agriculture to Prof. E, Lecou teux ; the prize of 3000 francs for perfecting the ventilation of mines, to M. Murgues; the prize of 2000 francs for a study of the coefficients required in a calculation of the mechanical possibilities of an aerial machine has not been awarded, but a sum of 500 francs has been assigned to Prof. Le Dantee, The prize of 20co francs for the inventor of new methods of utilising petroleum, advantageously and without danger, for industrial and domestic purposes, has also not been awarded, but an encouragement in the shape of 1000 francs has been given to Dr. Paquelin. M. Kayser has obtained the prize (3000 francs) fora study of alcoholic ferments, and M. Girard that of 2000 francs for the best experiments on cattle feeding. M. Decaux has received the prize of 1000 francs for a new photo- graphic shutter. Gold medals have been awarded to MM. L, Figuier, J. Fournier, M. Mustel, E. Petrousson, and G. Tissandier (the Editor of La Nature). Tue Patent Laws of this country make no provision for an official search as regards the novelty of inventions, hence the necessity for a perfect system of indexing of specifications of patents can readily be understood. In order to facilitate refer. ence and enable intending patentees to satisfy themselves whether their brain-creations are really novel or not, a new series of illustrated Abridgment Classes is being pub- lished at the Patent Office. These abridgments have been classified according to subject, and they refer to all the specifications of patents applied for in the period 1877-83. Everything depends, of course, upon the manner in which a classification of this character is made, and we are glad to be able to say that the Comptroller-General has grouped the specifications in an excellent manner. He certainly deserves the thanks of men of science for arranging philosophical instru- ments ina class by themselves. The volume devoted to this class includes over five hundred short illustrated descriptions of inventions relating to optical, nautical, surveying, mathematical, and meteorological instruments. It is interesting reading, and should be useful to devisers of apparatus for any branch of science. During the period covered by the summary, in- ventors appear to have directed their attention principally to perfecting and devising new forms of those instruments which were already in existence. At any rate, very fewnew discoveries are indicated by the inventions set forth, which may perhaps be taken as evidence that the fundamental laws of nature have now been fairly well recognised. Among the most ingenious apparatus we may note the telemeters, or range-finders, by means of which the distances of objects can be ascertained directly from a single station, the importance of which from a military or naval stand-point cannot be over-estimated. Other surveying instruments, such as theodolites, levels, telescopes, &c., are fully represented, as also are magnetic compasses, ships’ logs and sounding apparatus, sextants, and other nautical instruments. Inthe field of meteorology we find barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, anemometers, wind vanes, sun- shine recorders, &c., while among optical instruments occur improvements in telescopes and microscopes, stereoscopes, magic-lanterns, and spectacles, reading-glasses, lenses, and reflectors. The volume also comprises mathematical drawing instruments and tripod stands for various kinds of apparatus. 572. NATURE & [Ocroser 12, 189. A LARGE number of papers on various branches of anthro- pology were discussed at the International Congress of Anthro- pology, which met at Chicago from August 28 to September 2. Dr. D. G. Brinton opened the session with an address on “‘ The Nation as an’ Element in Anthropology.” The second day’s meeting was devoted to Archzology, principally American. On the third day, devoted to Ethnology, Dr. Brinton read a paper ‘©On the Alleged Evidences of Ancient Contact between America and other Continents,” in which he categorically denied that ‘‘any language, art, religion, myth, institution, symbol, or physical peculiarity of the American aborigines -could be traced to a foreign source.” Folk-lore was the subject assigned to the fourth day’s proceedings, Religions to the fifth, and Linguistics to the sixth. The meetings were well attended, and the presence of foreign delegates showed that the Congress was truly an international one. AT the Meteorological Congress held at Chines i in August dJast, as many as 130 papers were read ‘‘ outlining the progress and summarising the present state of our knowledge of the subjects treated.’’ In Section A, presided over by Prof. C. A. Scholt and Mr. H. H. Clayton, the papers were devoted to instruments and methods of observation, especially methods of -observing in the upper air. Prof. Cleveland Abbe was chairman of Section B, which mostly dealt with questions of meteorological dynamics, much attention being also given to the study of thunderstorm phenomena in various countries. Section C, of which Prof. F. E. Nipher was chairman, comprised a series of sketches of the climate of different portions of the globe. Section D, in charge of Major H. H. C. Dunwoody, was devoted to the discussion of the relation of the various climatic elements to plant and animal life. Section E, under Lieut. W. H. Beehler, dealt with questions relating to marine meteorology, -purticularly to ocean storms and their prediction, methods’ of observation at sea, and international co-operation. Prof. Charles -Carpmael and Mr, A. Lawrence Rotch presided over Section F, which comprised papers relating to the improvement of weather services, and especially to the progress of weather forecasting. Prof. F. H. Bigelow guided Section G, which dealt with problems of atmospheric electricity and terrestrial magnetism _and théir cosmical relations. Section H (Prof. Thomas Russell) ‘had to do with rivers and the predic.ion of floods. Section I, under Oliver L. Fassig, was devoted to historical papers and to” bibliography, with special reference to the history of meteorology in'the United States. ‘ Preparations have be2n made ‘for print- ing all the papers, and it is hoped that ~~. work will be com- pleted at an early date. “THE weather over our islands has recently been much dis- turbed by the passage of atmospheric depressions across the country ; rainfall has been general in all parts, while thunder -and lightning have frequently occurred, especially over the western and southern parts of the kingdom. On Sunday, the 8th inst., three-quarters of an inch of rain fell in the north of Scotland, and on the following day a depression in the south -caused a heavy downpour in that part of the. country ; the fall measured in the neighbourhood of London on Tuesday morning amounted to an inch and a quarter. The excess above the average in all the western and southern parts of England during the week ended the 7th inst. was very large, amounting to an inch in the south-western district. The greatest deficiency in the aggregate amount since the beginning of the year was then 8°7 inches in the west of Scotland, while in the south of Ireland, and the midland counties of England, ‘the deficiency exceeded 6 inches, WE have received a copy of the Osservazioni meteorologiche -made in the year 1892 at the Turin Observatory, containing observations taken three times daily, with daily and monthly NO. 1250, VOL. 48] ‘Nikitin. This gives abstracts in Russian and. French means, and the differences from the normal values, c: by Dr. G, B. Rizzo, assistant at the Observatory. We indebted to the Italians for some of the earliest and best s of observations ; those for Bologna began as early as 1723 M. Toaldo, the first director of the Padua Observatory, established a system of more than sixty stations, the! which were published by M. Schouw, in Copenhagen, in At the Turin Observatory observations were begun in (see NATURE, June 1, 1893, p. 108), and for pati ny the establishment is now borne partly Ae the University partly by the town of Turin. Forest-Inspector R. Scuitre reprints, hom tae cultural Fournal for West Prussia, an elaborate account of district known as the Tucheler Haide, the largest continu forest district of Western Prussia, extending over an thirty-five square miles. It is characterised by great and sudd changes of temperature. The winter minimum generally below —20°R. Snow has fallen on May 19, followed by a perature of 21° R, on the 26th, and this again by night fro: the first and third of June. Prehistoric remains are fo belonging to the later stone and to the bronze ages. Theinl ants are occupied almost entirely with forestry and agric Polish is still the prevalent language, though German is generally ‘understood. A ALTHOUGH one of the most recent organisations ne ite the Geological Survey of Russia has already taken high amongst the surveys of Europe; the director is A. Karp’ The survey was commenced in 1882, and has published tl 4to volumes of .Memoirs and eleven 8vo volumes of Bul The maps, on the scale of 1 : 420,000, are issued with Memoirs. An additional annual publication is the Bibli of Russian Geology from 1885 onwards, which is edited publications relating to the geology of Russia. Although detailed survey of this, vast country is not yet sufficiently vanced for the publication of all the large scale maps, the veyors have now accumulated enough material to warraa' issue of a general map on the scale of I : 2,520,000. This t recently appeared in: six sheets, with brief explanatory ; two editions— Russian and French,” (On -the title-page of clipes edition the scale of the map is erroneously given | : 520,000.) Fuller explanations of.. various. districts, on will be issued subsequently. Some of the mation here published was supplied by S. Nikitin’ = geological map of Europe issued by Prof. Prestwich in vo of his ‘‘Geology.” The map now issued is a beautiful cartography ; it is not overloaded with detail, but. railways, and main roads are clearly indicated. The places, rivers, &c., are printed in Russian, but to ‘the t tions of geological formations in the index a translatic French is added. The following statement of subdivisic dicated on the map will give some idea of the geological ‘information ‘supplied :—5 Quaternary, 5 ry Cretaceous, 1 Volgian, 3 Jurassic, 4 Triassic, 1 Perm Permo-Carboniferous, 2 Gatsutnelsae! 5 Devonian, 2 Silm 1 Cambrian, 1 Crystalline Schists, 1 Gueiss, Granite, & Volcanic’ Rocks, Tuffs and Serpentine. ° In addition to well-recognised rock-groups extra tablets and ‘colours are for beds between the Permian and Trias occurring in son tricts and not yet understood ; the Devonian and Carboni fe not Separated, of the Transcaucasus ; ; the. Paleozoic ro: the Caucasus ; and for the ancient sandstones, &c., of Voll The interesting group of Volgian beds, linking toget! Cretaceous and Jurassic, are developed around Mosco' Simbirsk and Kalouga ; 3 they have recently been- discov AS y - “4 t ey ha k ‘ ‘ OcToBER 12, 1893] NATURE EY fe “Poland. ‘The system of colouring adopted is, as far as possible, ‘that of the International Geological» Map of’ Europe. The e the solid geology, but elsewhere they are shown. _ known ; here it was necessary to show only these deposits. The southern limit of erratic blocks is shown by.a strong red line. Messrs. Fiercuer, Russert, and Co., the. well-known _ makérs of gas appliances, have jast introduced a new process to _ supersede the use of Berlin black and black-lead for protecting the cast-iron portions of their manufacture. ‘The casting is coated with a film of enamel, which is so thin that even the finest details onthe metal’are preserved. This enamel is said to be absolutely proof against rust, and preserves its qualities at ‘any temperature upto a bright red ‘heat. All colours are obtainable, including gold and ‘silver, bright or dull, and as "many as are wished can be produced on one casting. The " process therefore offers great facilities for decorative work of all kinds, and its protective assis should ensure it a wide field _ of usefulness. PIN a previous number of atone (No. 1247) we published the opening address by Mr. Jeremiah Head, President of Section _G, Mechanical Science, ‘In this, among many of the mechanical forces used by man, he referred at some length to the prospect . of*man éver being capable of flying. Some very interesting 7 experiments, to which no allusion was made, although not bear- ing directly on actual flight, may yet be found of sufficient importance to be here related. For a very detailed account the “reader may be referred'to No. 205 of the weekly journal, Prome- theus.. The experimenter in question is Herr. Otto Lilienthal, “and his success in his so-called ‘‘ flight” is the result of much thought and considerable practice. The apparatus may. be described as a pair of large wings, similar in principle and ‘construction to those of a bird, with two tails at the back, one placed vertically, and the other horizontally. The wings are rigid and fixed, and no motive power at all is used ; the whole “apparatus weighs twenty kilograms....At the place where the experiments have been carried. on, a long sloping hill has been used, with a platform raised about ten metres above the general -surfaceat.the top, for the starting point. From this platform the _ experimenter grips the apparatus between the wings or sails with _ his hands, and springs off the edge. In the flight he descends atan angle of about 10° to 15°, and the distance covered is some- _ times very considerable. In the experiments carried on between another point he made a flight of 250 metres. The wind of course plays animportant part in these flights, but Herr Lilienthal _ says that with practice one can. steer the apparatus well. ' With the wind blowing stronger on one wing than on the other the equilibrium of the apparatus was found to be greatly dis- turbed, but this was checked by the movement of the legs, which hanged the position of the centre of gravity. In these experi- ments there is a great opportunity for gaining experience: in eering, and it seems very likely that we may learn much reby.., : eae _ THe’assumption, current some years ago, that the properties of liquids change in proportion to’ the amount of matter held in lution, has already been invalidated for the case of electrolytic onductivity. Messrs. F..Kohlrausch and W. Hallwachs,. in assumption is also erroneous. in the case of density of ‘dilute ous solutions. THe method adopted was the Archimedian _in weight. Errors due to capillarity were eliminated by attach- ing the solid, a glass ball, to the suspending wire by means. of a NO. 1250, VOL. 48] Rathenow and Neustadt he covered 80 metres, while from, | Wiedemann’s Annalen, publish some results’ showing that the } quaternary deposits are omitted where they would much ob- Insome_ rts, especially in Northern Russia, these superficial deposits , are thick and widely spread, so that the solid geology is not of immersing a solid in the solution and noting its decrease | Birds,” by Prof. A. ‘Newton and Dr. Gadow, extending from | Ga” to ‘Moa.’’ Messrs. A. and C. ‘Black's are foie pubsishiers:: clean cocoon’ fibré. “During mixing and stirring, the glass was held in position by glass rings. The stirrer was one of mica or platinum. Densities wete observed up to 1'03, and. the weighings were reliable to within 02 mgr. provided that no dust or fibres were attached to the cocoon Ahread: This gave a limit of error equal to 1 in 10,000. _ Large variations of tem- perature were corrected by a flame or ice, smaller ones by calculation according to known formule. All the bodies investi- gated-show a decrease of the ‘ratio of condensation to concentra- tion between!0'do3 and 0’5 gramme-equivalents per litre: : This décrease amounts to 1 per cent. for sugar, 2 for hydrochloric acid, 2°5 for. common! salt;..13. for: phosphoric -acid, and 20 or sulphuric acid. The correspondence between this change:of density: and the change of electrolytic conductivity - is..very apparent. Sugar, a non-electrolyte, shows the greatest constancy. of molecular density.in solution. The authors intend shortly to publish analogous results. obtained in their investi- gation of optical refraction. M. ‘Van AUBEL has continued his experiments on the re- sistance of bismuth, and gives an account of the results he has obtained in the Journal de Physique for September. The results obtained are of special interest, as the use of spirals of bismuth séems fo be ‘the most convenient way of measuting powerful magnetic fields, at any rate with a’ sufficient degree of accuracy, for most industrial purposes. According to Righi, the electrical resistance of commercial bismuth at 0° varies considerably, and bismuth which has been compressed has its. resistance less affected by magnetism than that which has been melted. The author in his experithents has made use of pure bismuth, pre- pared by electrolysis according to the method he gave in his former paper in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, and his. observations show that neither sudden cooling nor compression has much ‘effect on the ‘electrical properties of pure bismuth. The resistance at o° C. and the rate of change of the resistance with temperature, and the strength of the magnetic field in which it is placed, are almost the same, for rods that have been annealed quickly cooled, or compressed. The resistance eiweys increases with rise of temperature, and between 0° and 100° the change is very nearly regular, A mere trace of impurity, how- ever, completely changes the properties ofthe metal. - The action of a magnetic field being the same; whatever the. mode of. pre- paration. of the bismuth, it is better to use the spirals of compressed bismuth rather than the more. difficultly obtained films of electrolytically deposited metal used by M. Leduc. _ IN the current number of the Philosophical Magasine, Mr, John Trowbridge has a paper on the oscillations of lightning dis- charges and of the aurora borealis. By means of a rotating “mirror the author has photographed the oscillating spark passing between two knobs, using both great: electromotive force and great quantity of electricity. He finds that the subsequent sparks, at any rate for three hundred-thousandths of a second, exactly follow every ‘sinuosity inthe path taken by the pilot spark, Thus the comparatively small resistance to, the passage of a second spark in air is probably due to this pevensnenge of path. Tux University Correspondence College Press asa tense. the: London University Guide for the year 1893-94. i : Bulletins 96-99° have ‘been’ received ere the “Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. ’ Mr: G. GAMMIE has prepared a report on his botanical:tour made on the Sikkim-Tibet. frontier during 1892. . The report is issued by the Superintendent of the Royal. Botanical Sone Calcutta. “We have received the second: part of ‘‘A- - Dictionary of 572 NATURE [OcToBER 12, 1893 Mr. W. F. Petrerp has issued, through Mr. Wm. Grahame, Jun., Hobart, a catalogue of the minerals known to occur in Tasmania, with notes on their distribution. ; WE have received reports containing the results of physical and meteorological observations made on the coast of Germany during the first half of 1892, The reports are published by Herr Paul Parey, Berlin. Tue last ordinary meeting of the session of the North of England Institute of Technical Brewing will take place in Manchester on October 20, when Prof. Percy Frankland, F.R.S., will read a paper on “ The Polariscope in relation to Chemical Constitution.” THE Upper Norwood Literary and Scientific Society has prepared a varied programme of lectures for the coming session, in which science and literature are.given equal prominence, and are treated by well-known lecturers. A MEmoIR, by Dr. Carlos Berg, the Director of the Nationa] Museum at Buenos Ayres, on Geotria macrostoma (Burm.), Berg, and TZhalassophyrne Montevidensis, Berg, has been reprinted from the Anales del Museo de la Plata. THE second part of ‘* Dissections Illustrated,” by Mr. C. Gordon Brodie, has been published by Messrs. Whittaker and Co. It refers to the lower limb, and includes twenty finely- drawn coloured plates and six diagrams, by Mr. Percy Highley. Messrs. O, NEWMANN AND Co. are publishing a series of 120 new wall diagrams for instruction in botany and zoology in schools and colleges. The diagrams are well printed in colours on a black ground, and are highly commended by German educationalists, THE thirteenth edition of Gray’s ‘‘ Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical,” edited by Mr. T. Pickering Pick, has been pub- lished by Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. The work has been thoroughly revised, and in some parts rearranged, and much new matter referring to surgical anatomy has been added. THE first number of a bright little quarterly magazine, Zhe Nature Lover, edited by Mr. H. Durrant, has just been pub- lished by Mr. Elliot Stock. In style it is like the Selborne Society’s magaz'ne, ature Notes, though in rather lighter vein. We trust that the lovers of nature are numerous enough to make the venture a success. Dr. -V. SrerKrI has made an exhaustive study of those minute and interesting molluscs which are generally regarded as constituting the genus Va//onia. His paper appears in the Proceedings of the Academy of National Sciences of Phila- delphia, 1893 (pp. 234-279), and though not a monograph of the genus, it will serve as oie guide to further investiga. tions. THE Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society (part 1, vol. vii.) contains several interesting papers communicated during the thirty-fourth session (1892-93). Among these may be mentioned the address of the president, Mr. W. Hewitt, on ‘*The Physical Conditions of the Aralo-Caspian Region, as bearing on the conditions under. which the Triassic rocks were formed,” and a paper'on ‘‘ The Formation of Clay,” by P. Holiand and G. Dickson. A LECTURE on ‘ Bulbous Irises,” delivered before the Royal Horticultural Society in May, 1892, by Prof. Michael Foster, has been expanded, and is now. published separately at the society’s offices. A detailed description of the various. species mentioned in the lectures has also been added. Growers of irises will find the book of great use to them, it being intended more for the gardener than ‘the botanist. NO. 1250, VOL. 48] A moNoGRAPH of the ‘‘Coraciide, or Family of thi Rollers,” by Mr. Henry E. Dresser, will shortly be publish by subscription. This work will contain illustrations, a panied by letter-press, giving as complete an account as po of all the known species of these richly-coloured birds, A species have been drawn, life-size, on stone, by Mr. J Keulemans, é THE Rev. W. Colenso, F.R.S., read Rete int botanical papers before the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical - during 1892, and they are published in the ansactio the New Zealand Institute, vol. xxv. A paper of — interest, entitled ‘‘ Bush Jottings,” is a brightly-written of many botanical sights to be seen in the high inland district known as ‘‘the bush.” More technical in their cha are the descriptions of a few newly-discovered rare indig ferns, some phanerorgamic plants, and a list of fungi. these contributions help to make known the botany of } Zealand. d WE have received from Mr. Stanford an ‘ Illust: Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa,” reflects the greatest credit upon all who have had anything to do with its production, The volume is edited by Joht Noble, who evidently recognises the importance of scie for we find chapters devoted to the following subjects ‘*Geology, Fossils and Minerals of South Africa,” ‘* Vertebrat Fauna of South Africa,” ‘*Flora of South Africa,” ** W: and Forests,” and ‘* Viticulture,” all of which are contri by specialists, who, as far as we can see, have performed t several tasks with great care. The work is enriched map and over a hundred ‘‘ process ” illustrations. Si11cIDE of carbon, CSi, has been obtained by M. Mois in beautiful large crystals very similar in appearance to sapph and considerably harder than rubies, by four different proce: involving the use of his recently described electric furnace. existence of this curious compound of two closely allied ele: was first pointed out by M. Colson, ‘who obtained it in tt amorphous form by heating crystals of silicon in a current ¢ hydrogen charged with vapour of benzene. Some years ago . Moissan obtained it, in the condition of crystals several milli metres in length, by dissolving carbon in silicon, the latter bei maintained in a state of fusion by means of a small but powel ful blast furnace. The crystals were isolated from the excess o} silicon by treating the product with a boiling mixture of nitri and hydrofluoric acid. M. Moissan now shows, however, th crystallised silicide of carbon may be much more readily pared by heating a mixture of carbon and silicon, in the pr tions of their atomic weights, in the electric furnace. The mi of crystals produced during the passage of the current ma: purified by boiling first in the acid mixture above mentions and subsequently in an oxidising mixture of nitric acid ar potassium chlorate. The crystals produced by this method are most frequently yellow, but are quite transp: the operation is*performed rapidly in a closed crucible of ¢: and provided the silicon employed is free from iron. Somet however, the crystals are coloured blue, and closely resemb! sapphires. The second process for the preparation of the pound consists in heating in the’ electric furnace a mixture iron silicon and carbon, or more simply of iron silica _ carbon ; a regulus of metallic iron containing large c silicide of carbon is produced. The third process con in reducing silica by means of carbon in the crucible of electric furnace, and this mode of preparation: pos the advantage of furnishing crystals which are more near! colourless than those produced by the first two methods, inas- much as the silica and carbon can be employed in a fairly pure state. Perhaps the most interesting of all the methods of p OcToBeER 12, 1893] NATURE 573 " paration is the fourth, in which the compound is formed by ” direct synthesis by the union of vapour of carbon with vapour of "silicon. For, as has been previously described in these columns, _ M. Moissan is able to actually distil carbon at the high tem- perature of the arc which he is able to produce in his furnace. The experiment is conducted ina small crucible of pure carbon _ of elongated form, and enclosing a little block of silicon. The _ base of the crucible is arranged so as to occupy the position __ where the highest temperature of the arc is attained, and after _ the conclusion of the experiment the interior of the crucible is _ found to be covered with almost colourless prismatic needles of _ earbon silicide. CRYSTALLISED carbon silicide is an extremely stable substance which resists the action of the most energetic reagents, even those which are capable of readily attacking its elementary constituents. The pure crystals are colourless and perfectly transparent, and present the appearance of regular hexagons. Their density is 3°12, and they are so hard that the ruby is readily scratched, and may be ground by means of the powdered compound. They are unalterable in air or sulphur vapour at 1000°. Chlorine attacks them very slowly at 600°, but more rapidly at 1200, Fused nitre and potassium chlorate are entirely without action upon them, as are likewise boiling sul- _ phuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, and even aqua regia and the silicon-dissolving mixture of nitric and hydrofluoric acids are incapable of attacking them. Fused caustic potash, how- _ ever, after heating to redness for an hour in contact with them, reacts with formation of carbonate and silicate of potassium, and _ thus affords a means of estimating the content of silicon. The carbon may also be estimated by repeated combustion with chromate: of lead, which gradually effects oxidation of the carbon. The analyses thus carried out agree in all cases with the simple formula CSi. _ _Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. —Last _ week’s captures include various types of Foraminifera, colonies _ of the Hydroid Coryne pusilla (without gonophores), a colony _ of the Scyphistoma stage of Aurelia, and the Nudibranchs _ Platydoris planata, Candiella plebeia and Polycera quadrilineata. _ In the floating fauna the Hydroid meduse Cyteandra areolata _ and Lutima insignis have been observed in addition to the _. forms mentioned last week. _ THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during _ the past week include a Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus fult- _ ginosus) from West Africa, presented by Mr. Swaniston Cyril 4 ‘Hopkins ; a Serval (Fe/is serval), a Nilotic Crocodile (Croco- _ dilys vulgaris) from Africa, presented by Mr. T, E, C. Rem- ington; a Lesser White-nosed Monkey (Cercopithecus petau- _ rista) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Noakes ; a Yellow- collared Parrakeet (Platycercus semitorquatus) from Australia, _ presented by Miss A. Fenwick ; a Common Sheldrake ( Zadorna _ vulpanser) European, presented by the Rev. H. G. Morse ; an _ Oyster-catcher (Hematopus ostralegus) European, presented by Mr. Edmund Elliot ; a Goliath Beetle, from West Africa, _ presented by Mr. F. W. Marshall; two Great Eagle Owls _ (Bubo maximus) European, deposited; a Flocky Lemur _ (Avahi: laniger) from Madagascar, a Raccoon-like Dog (Canis _ procynides) from North-east ‘Asia,’ a Sanderling (Calidris arenaria), a Puffin (Fratercu/a arctica) European, purchased. ss OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. _ ASTRONOMY AT THE WoRLD’s FAiIr.—The astronomical exhibits at Chicago seem to be fairly representative of the _ State of astronomical science at the present day, but they are _ too much scattered about in the different buildings for a proper study of them to be made. Among many of the more inter- _ esting exhibits we may mention the following : Fine collection NO. 1250, VOL. 48] of astronomical photographs, made by the Harvard College Observatory, which included those of stellar spectra nebule and clusters, and of a portion of the lunar surface enlarged over one thousand diameters. Dr. Chandler’s four-inch almacantar, the collections of Draper and Langley, and the diffraction gratings and photographs of spectra by Prof. Rowland, the last of which formed the Johns Hopkins University exhibit. Specimens of the famous Jena optical glass, Kirchhofl’s original spectroscope, Brill’s mathematical models, and the magnetic apparatus of Gauss and Weber form part of the German Educational exhibit.. In the English exhibit are found many astronomical photographs by Roberts, Gill, and others; others from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Boeddicker’s Milky Way draw- ings, and the fine five-foot glass speculum by Dr. Common. Among some of the exhibits of the American astronomical instrument makers, we are glad to note the mounting of the great forty-inch Yerkes telescope by Warner and Swasey, who exhibit also some minor instruments, J. A. Brashear exhibits the stellar spectroscope for the Yerkes telescope, eighteen-inch and fifteen-inch objectives, gratings, &c. Amon G. N. Saegmuller’s (of Washington) exhibits is a Pi steel meridian circle. Two twenty-three-inch discs of the celebrated Jena glass are shown by Schott and Genossen, of Jena, in addition to other specimens of optical glass. In the Cape Colony exhibit Dr, Gill’s interesting stellar photographs are prominent, while the Lick Observatory display is housed in the educational department of the California State building, and, as Science says, is ‘‘strangely enough mixed up with the Kindergarten exhibit there.” The U.S. Government building contains interesting apparatus as used in the Coast Survey, while the Naval Observatory shows a small observatory with several instruments. THE AURORA OF JULY 15, 1893.—The system of observation ofthe aurora as lately instituted, seems to be already at ,work, and the observations. of the aurora of July 15, most of which have been made on this system, show that the results are of the highest interest. A brief account of this aurora, by M. A. Veeder, will be found in the Bulletin of the New England Weather Service for the month of August (No. 18), from which we gather the following few notes :—With regard to the places of visibility and invisibility, it may be mentionedsthat its absence was verified up to midnight in Nova Scotia. In New England it was observed at a few stations, of short duration, and not at all conspicuous. Towards New York it was a fine display, and lasted all night, and was seen as far southas Washington at this longitude, while it was defined as a fine red aurora at Salt Lake city, and was seen as far south as the Lick Observatory, at both of which places this phenomenon is very rare. A special feature of this aurora was the ‘‘ formation of a narrow band having an east and west direction, and passing just south of the zenith.” This was seen in New England, the neighbourhood of Lake Ontario, and occasionally in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Lowa, An unusual formation recorded was that of an auroral curtain with a clearly defined lower margin. The twenty-seventh day interval coinciding thus with a synodic revolution of the sun, shows, as M, Veeder says, that whatever it is in the sun that origin- ates an aurora can have this effect only when it has reached a certain position relative to the earth, and, further, that ‘*the effect must proceed from the eastern limb,” That in certain cases of large sunspots auroral effects might proceed from the central meridian of the sun as seen from the earth, M. Veeder freely admits ; but he adds that, until further study has been made, this question cannot as yet be said to be satis- factorily answered. New VARIABLE STARS IN CyGNuUS,—A communication to the Astroncmischen Nachrichten, No. 3191, by Herr Fr. Deichmiiller, informs us of two new variable stars in the con- stellation of Cygnus. Their positions are respectively h, y s. ons} 19 27 + 49 24°21 20 6 24 + 47 230) 1855 The first of these stars has a range of one anda half magnitudes, while the second varies from 74 to thé ninth magnitude. ASTRONOMICALWORKS (ANTIQ.).—We have received the catalogue of Herr Oswald Weigel’s Antiquarium in Leipsig, which is devoted simply to works on astronomy (astronomical geography and geodecy). Included also is the library of Prof. C. Fearnley, of Christiania; so that our readers may be sure that there are now some important works for sale. 5/4 NATURE [|OcToBER 12, 1893 3 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. NoRWEGIAN enterprise has led. to the fitting-out of a steamer, renamed the Antarctic, for a whaling voyage to the Ant- arctic Sea south of New Zealand, where Ross attained his highest south latitude in 1842, The Avarctic has. already. sailed, but will touch at an Australian. port, to complete pre- parations. . It is understood that those on board. will endeavour to make as complete meteorological observations as. possible throughout the voyage. a A TELEGRAM from San Francisco, dated October 3, states that the American steam-whaler WewZort, one of the fleet work- ing north of the Arctic coast of America, which passed last winter at Herschell Island (long. 139° W. near the mouth of the Mackenzie), succeeded’ this summer in steaming through an almost open sea to 84°.N.. No details are given, and until the observations for latitude have been critically examined it is necessary to.reserve an opinion as to the latitude really attained. The farthest north points, reached’ through Smith Sound, are 83° 20’ by Markham, and 83°°24’ by Lockwood. If the report is correct, the Vewfort got nearly fifty miles farther north than’ any previous expedition. wees Mr. F. G. Jackson, who is travelling in the Yalmal penin- sula, reports that Dr. Nansen did not finally leave Yugor Strait until August 20, the ice in the Kara Séa turning out to be much worse than was expected. The conditions must have improved shortly ‘afterwards, however, as a telegram from St. Petersburg announces the safe arrival in the Yenesei of the Russian vessels which left Dumbarton with railway material on July 29, The date of arrival is not mentioned, but the fact proves that the Fram would have no difficulty in getting east as far as the Yenesei, at any rate, and as she is not reported by the Russian ph nr she was probably ‘far beyond that river before they arrived. Pror. Koro publishes in the Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, Japan, a detailed description of the sur- face changes accompanying the great earthquake of 1891, illustrated by sketch maps and photographic views of the great fault, forty miles long, which was formed in the valley of Neo. On one side of this fault the ground has subsided in places for nearly twenty feet, and has also been displaced. horizontally. The result, apart from the destruction of. towns and buildings, has been to considerably.modify the physical geography of an extensive area, changing the course of streams and their rate of flow, forming swamps, and in many ways accelerating the gentler processes of surface change by erosion, .». .- Mr. CrLemMents. R. MARKHAM, President of the Royal Geographical Society, has this year been invited to deliver the opening lecture at the three provincial’ Geographical Societies. He opened the session of the Tyneside Geographical Society at’ Newcastle, by a lecture on Peru, on the 6:h'; that of the Liver- pool Geographical Society, by an address on the Polar Regions, on the roth ; and that of the Manchester Geographical Society on the irth, when his subject was Central Asia with special : reference to trade routes. The interest taken in the younger societies by the Royal Geographical Society is ‘sure to’ increase their popularity and usefulness in their own localties. BIOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. ON Thursday the address of the President was for several. reasons postponed till 12.30, and the work. of the section was opened by the Chairman (Sir William Flower) with a sym- pathetic reference to the recent sudden death of Mr. George Brook, who was to have been one of the secretaries at this meet- ing. A paper was then read by Dr. David Sharp,-on the zoology © of the Sandwich Islands. This was followed: by the report of Prof. Newton’s committee on the present state of our knowledge of the zoology of the Sandwich Islands. ‘The committee have obtained valuable results in several departments of zoology, and more especially in entomology. . The consignments received during the year from their collector may: be roughly estimated at nearly'150 birds’-skins, 3000 insects, 1000 shells, a collection of spiders in spirit, together with some crustaceans, worms and myriapods. ‘The importance and utgency of the work carried on was testified to by Sir William Flower, Prof. Newton, Dr. Hickson, and others. ‘The report of the committee dealing with NO. 1250, VOL. 48] ‘wound of a gamekeeper who. had had his arm amputated, ia observations on the migrations of birds at lighthouses was read by Prof. Newton. This committee have made prog with the systematic tabulation of their statistics, and. are commencing to fill up the schedules for their final report. sixth report of the committee investigating the zoology botany of the West India Islands shows that the Cor e have been chiefly engaged during the past year in working ou the great series of specimens secured from the West Indi: region by means of the collectors. Papers on the birds, on tl myriapods, scorpions, pedipalpi, peripatus, and the par hymenoptera, have been published, and investigations on groups of insects are now proceeding. Collections of vai groups of ‘cryptogams have also been made, are now bein worked out, and are proving to comprise many new spec The committee propose to examine next the island of Margarit: the natural history of which is wholly unexplored: An ii portant note on the discovery of Difrotodox remains in Austral by Prof. Stirling, was read. by Prof. Newton. The new n rial now. found has added to our knowledge of the structur this remarkable gigantic marsupial, especially in regard to i limbs and feet. : , s The presidential address (see NATURE, p. 490), in the abse of Canon Tristram from illness, was read in the afternoon Sir William Flower ; and the vote of thanks was proposed b Prof. Newton and Prof, Burdon Sanderson. aon The section opened on Friday with a physiological diseu:sio on the physico-chemical and vitalistic theories of life. discussion was opened by Dr. J. S. Haldane, of Oxford, who, — starting from the fact that about the middle of the centu physical and chemical theories to explain the peculiar pre of living organisms were completely substituted for the ditional vitalistic theories, proceeded to inquire how far t substitution has been justified by the results of subsequent vestigation. He argued that as evidence has accumulated failure has become more and more manifest of the attempts specify physical and chemical factors from which vital p: ties may be deduced.- This argument he based on, relating to cell-formation, nutrition, heat-production, the tion and absorption of solids, liquids, and gases, and to oth physiological processes. He then endeavoured to show that t old vitalistic theories were not mere expressions of the ne fact that physiologists are face to face with a large residuux unexplained facts, but constituted real working hypothe: which summarised the peculiarities of living organisms, indicated fruitful lines of inquiry. In conclusion he maintained that the former crude beliefs as to the existence of a material or — immaterial. ‘‘ vital principle,” formed no essential part of a vitalistic theory of life. et laa The Chairman (Mr. Langley), in inviting discussion, said that the problems of life had been thought to be physical and’ chemical questions, and the mistake had been that they had been thought to be easy questions. Possibly the fact was that the unexplained residue appertained to more complex chemistr and physics than we know at present. Raub at, - Prof; Cleland said that the old vitalism was dead, but there was a new vitalism which must be supported, To there appeared to be something in life in addition to the laws of dead matter. : i wuts laa Prof. Burdon Sanderson said that the real change that place about 1840 was not a charge of doctrine but a chan; method. It was then seen that the only way to investiga phenomena of life-was by processes which they unders as those of chemistry and physics. A great number o} tions had since been settled, and the difficult ones a all the greater because we had come nearer to them. Schifer, Allen, Heger, Hartog, Bohr, and Dr. Waller part in the discussion., Imhis reply Dr. Haldane maintain physiologists had always employed methods of observation! on -physics and chemistry. The change at the middle.of century seemed to him to be a change in working hyp rather than in methods. t a Heh The Chairman, in closing the discussion, said that d first half of the century there had been a lamentable abseni results, mainly owing ‘to’ the fact that the whole process research was governed by the vitalistic theory. - 4% A paper by Dr. A. R. Wallace, on malformation from prenat: influence on the: mother, was illustrated by photographs o remarkable case of a child born with an imperfect arm some” months after the mother had been engaged in dressing th He OcToBER 12, 1893] NATURE 575 _ Inthe afternoon the section divided into the two departments _ of Physiology and Zoology. In the former, the following papers _ were read :—-(1) On the digestive ferments of a large Protozoon, by Prof. Marcus Hartog and Augustus E. Dixon. The authors experimented with about 2000 large individuals of Pelomyxa 2 Galastris, and found that the watery extract hydrolyses starch _ paste in aneutral solution, and converts the starch rapidly into erythro-dextrin, has no action on thymolised milk in two days, _ liquefies fibrin rapidly in presence of dilute acids, only attacks _ fibrin very slowly and partially in neutral solution, and indol _ and skatol are not formed. (2) On the effect of the stimulation _ of the vagus on disengagement of gases in the swim-bladder of _ fishes, by Dr. Christian Bohr (Copenhagen). This showed that the air secreted in the bladder is largely composed of oxygen. The paper was illustrated by tables showing the increase in the os pblage of oxygen at stated times during the refilling of the ladder after puncture. (3) On a method of recording the heart sounds, by Prof, W. Einthoven. (4) On nerve stimulation, by _ Prof. F. Gotch. The. author finds that with the induction cur- _ rent he obtained excitation of the nerve of a frog at a low tem- _ perature which disappeared at a higher temperature, while with _ the discharge of a condenser the result was the reverse of that. He also found a similar difference in action in regard to the pre of the impulse down the nerve in the two cases. There- fore he comes to the conclusion that the impulse started in the _ nerve is somewhat different in the two cases. (5) On fatigue of _ merves, by Prof. Schifer. (6) On Calorimetry, by Dr. A. Waller. _ This applied more particularly to the temperature difference of _ the body under varying conditions of the surrounding medium. (7) The report of the committee on the physiological action of _ the inhalation of oxygen in asphyxia. The results are as fol- lows :—(1) In the case of asphyxiated rabbits, oxygen is of no ter service than air; (2) pure oxygen when inhaled by a 1 Ithy man for five minutes produces no effect on the respira- tion or pulse; (3) oxygen produces no effect upon a patient _ suffering from cardiac dyspncea, either on respiration or on pulse ; _ (4) an animal can be kept for a long time in a chamber contain- img 50 per cent. of carbonic acid without muscular collapse, provided a gentle strea n of air or oxygen be allowed to play - upon the nostrils. : In the Zoological Department the following papers were _ read :—(1) Report of the committee appointed to explore the _ region of the Irish Sea lying around the Isle of Man. The _ committee have conducted eight dredging expeditions, most of _ them lasting for several days; about 1,000 species of marine animals have been collected and identified, of these thirty-eight are new records to the British fauna, 224 are new to ‘the district, _ and seventeen are new toscience. Prof. Herdman gave a _ general account of the expeditions and the results attained, _ while Mr. A. O. Walker, Mr. I. C. Thompson, Mr. Stebbing, and Prof. Brady gave more detailed accounts of special groups _ of Crustacea, (2) Report of the committee on a.deep-sea tow- _ met. (3) On luminous organs in Cephalopoda, by W. E. Hoyle. These minute light-producing organs are scattered over the _ general integument in certain species. (4) On the origin of _ organic colour, by F. T. Mott.. This was to:show that the _ colours in going from stem to blossom indicate a decrease in the _ amount of light absorbed, and the author contends that the _ amount of reflected light increases as the plant attains maturity. _ 45) On the roots of Lemna, and the reversing of the fronds in E mna minor, by Miss Nina F. Layard, who showed that in _ dry seasons, when the fronds dried up, the root-cap would act as _@ protector for the tender cells of the root. Miss Layard accounted for the observed reversal of the fronds as cases where ; ot had covered the upper surface, and the fronds had re- ved in order to expose a better surface to the air. _ The section met on Saturday forenoon. when the following ‘papers, chiefly botanical, were taken :—(1) Report of the com- ‘mittee on the legislative protection of wild birds’ eggs. This _ was read. by Dr. Vachell, and supported by Prof. Newton, who urged the necessity of making known to the schoolboy which birds’ eggs ought to be protected. (2) On the ztiology and life- history of some vegetal galls and their inhabitants, by C. B. Rothera. The author traced out the life-history of certain ical galls, those of Cynips hollari, Teras terminalis, and Biorhiza aptera being specially dealt with, He gave a series of facts positive and negative, which point to the action of the ryo, and not to the deposit of a special virus by the parent ‘Cynips, as the direct and necessary agent in the production of the gall. He therefore discards the hypothesis of a specific virus NO. 1250, VOL. 48] . Crust, deposited by the parent, and attributes the genesis and metamor - phoses of .the gall to the activities of the living embryos com- bined with the normal forces of the plant. (3) Report of the Committee on the Botanical Laboratory at Peradeniya, Ceylon, where a good deal of the apparatus requires to be renewed. (4) On some new features of nuclear division, by Prof. J. B. Farmer. This paper, illustrated by microphotographs, included some new results of researches on the centrogomesand the behaviour of the achromatic spindle. (5) Variations of fecundity in Z7ifolium pratense and its varieties, and Trifolium medium, by W. Wilson. This paper detailed some observations made as to varieties of clover, contrasting them with hybrids as regards fertility. (6) Lime salts in relation to some physiological pro- cesses in the plant, by Dr. J. Clark. The action of lime salts may modify the effect of low temperatures in seed germination. The author had succeeded in finding a Baci//us which is capable of breaking up the calcium oxalate, which is at one time precipi- tated in the plant. (7) On the cortex of 7mesipteris tannensis, by R. J. Harvey Gibson. This gives an account of the histology of the cortex of the stem, with special reference to the origin and nature ofthe ‘* brown deposit” seen in the cells. On Monday a joint meeting with Section C was arranged, when a discussion on ‘‘ Coral Reefs ” was opened by Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S. Prof. Sollas said that the problem before the Sections was to explain the presence of large groups of atolls in the deep ocean, every atoll in some of the groups, save for the land piled up by the breakers, rising just up to the level of the sea. The two fundamental difficulties which had to be met were the existence of a submarine bank and the presence of a lagoon, which some- times attained a depth of 60 fathoms or more. Volcanoes had once been supposed to furnish by their cones the bank, and by their craters the lagoons. Possibly some individual atolls might be explained in this way, but not whole groups. Chamisso, postulating a submarine bank, accounted for the lagoon by the fact that corals grow fastest in the wash of the surf. Inthis way a lagoon g or 10 fathoms in depth might be formed, and some of the Florida reefs might be so explained. Dr. Murray accounted for submarine banks by the precipitation of organic sediment on volcanic cones, and for the lagoon by an explanation similar to Chamisso’s, which he supplemented by supposing that the cen- tral part of the shoal was removed by solution. There was, however, no evidence that lagoons were deepened by solution, and much opposed toit. Deposition, and not solution, occurred in the lagoon, and so long as an atoll remained stationary the lagoon tended to become filled up. Darwin, instead of meeting each difficulty by a separate as- - sumption, proposed a theory which, by a single assumption, in itself very probable, accounted for all the facts. One of the gravest objections to Darwin’s view had been the apparent ab- sence of coral reefs. resembling atolls in ancient systems~of rocks. That had been removed by the labours of geologists, who were able to point:to atoll-like limestones, from 400 to 800 fathoms in thickness, in the Tyrol, the Eastern Alps, and else- where. _ Elevation had recently affected some existing atolls, as might naturally be expected in an unstable area. That fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls should occur together in a single area proved, when the facts ‘were examined in detail, to furnish a striking confirmation of the theory, since these different kinds of reefs were not confusedly intermingled, but arranged along lines which showed a progressive change from elevation at one end to subsidence at the other. The arrangement of atolls in linear series, curving in the Pacific, and straight in the Indian Ocean, was in accordance with the outlines of the surrounding continents, and pointed to deep-seated structure in the earth’s Most remarkable in connection with this was the fact that individual atolls were elongated in the same direction as the group of which they formed a part. This was readily ex- plicable on Darwin’s theory, but not by the supposition that the elongation was determined by oceanic currents, since these cut the atolls in various directions, not correlated with that of their longest diameter. Further, the areas in which subsidence had occurred were in many cases just those where geologists had reason for supposing that land had existed in secondary times. Particularly was this true of the Indian Ocean, across which, as Neumayer had shown, a great tract of land had probably ex tended in the Jurassic period. Dr. Hickson (Section D) said that he agreed with Prof. Sollas in thinking that the Darwinian hypothesis was both clear and beautiful, but that that was about the only point in which he 576 NATURE {[OcToBER 12, 1893 found himself in agreement with the opener of the debate, In his opinion it seemed to be quite possible that some barrier reefs and atolls had been formed during subsidence of the land but in the majority of cases there was very good evidence of recent elevation, and the Darwinian hypothesis would not hold good. Contrary to the statements that are usually made, the outer edge of the reef is seldom, if ever, precipitous, and the evidence tends to show that in most cases the reefs are growing seawards on the talus of their own dééris. There is a great difference of opinion amongst geologists as to the origin of the Dolomites, and there is no evidence of any fossil coral reef more than a few hundred feet in thickness. In conclusion Dr. Hickson urged upon the combined Sections the importance of initiating some investi- gations upon the causes regulating the growth and destruction of living coral reefs. Dr. Rothpletz (Munich) criticised the diagrams and ex- planation given by Prof. Sollas of the supposed coral reefs of the Dolomites, He did not consider them to be coral reefs. Mr. Gilbert Bourne confined himself to a few criticisms of Prof. Sollas. It had been stated that reef-building corals flourished best where the breakers are heaviest on the edge of the reef. His own experience was that at these points only a few true corals grow, and that the gardens of coral described by Prof. Sollas were only to be found in quieter spots where the corals were sheltered from the force of the breakers, but bathed by a gentle and uniform current. Photographs of luxuriant coral-beds bore out this assertion, Nor did he agree with the statement that the rocks of which atolls were composed was formed by masses of coral flung over the edge of the reef by the waves. Dr. Guppy had shown that the large masses torn off at the edge of the reef tended rather to roll down the seaward face of the reef, and to form a talusslope. It had been said that soundings of lagoons invariably showed a filling-up and shallow- ing of the lagoon, On what evidence did this assertion rest ? Probably no atoll had been so thoroughly surveyed as the one with which the speaker was personally acquainted, Diego Garcia. He had very carefully compared the soundings made hy Captain Moresby in 1837 with those made by H.M.S. Rambler in 1885, and found that in every case the soundings were nearly identical, with the exception of a few channels in which, on the whole, the Rambler soundings showed greater depths. After referring to Seniper’s discovery, in the Pelew Islands, of atolls, barrier reefs, fringing reefs, and recent elevated reefs, all found in the same area, the speaker showed that the information just given by Prof. Rothpletz fully corro- borated the assertions made over and over again by Murray and Agassiz, that the upward growth of submarine banks was largely due, not to coral growth, but to the accumulation of the cal- careous skeletons of mollusca and echinoderms on those banks. Finally, he pointed out that while Prof. Sollas had revived the old theories of a Lemuria and an Atlantis, and had used the exist- ence of the coral islands of the Indian Ocean as evidence of a previously existing continent, he had given no explanation of the fact that the tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean, across which the old Atlantis was supposed to have stretched, are almost entirely destitute of coral formations. Prof. Bonney replied to some of Dr, Hickson’s criticisms. He cited Masamarhu as a case of a steep slope. He thought judgment on the Dolomites must be reserved. He asked, Was a growing reef ever found deeper than twenty-five fathoms? for that was a point of primary importance. Sir H. Howorth confined himself to whether coral reefs are now in regions of upheaval or of subsidence. The Pacific islands consist of two regions, the Sandwich Islands, which are an old land surface, and the rest, which have very recently risen from the sea, and so are in an area of elevation, although atolls, This is fatal to Darwin’s theory, which depends upon the correlation of reef-building and subsidence. Mr. Stebbing pointed out that as the young coral animals might settle down on rising or sinking areas indifferently, so reefs might be begun on either, but that only those on an area of subsidence would be under favourable conditions for growth. He also stated that it could not be said that all naturalists who had recently lived on coral reefs were agreed, as Mr. Saville Kent endorsed Darwin’s view. Mr. H. O. Forbes stated that in the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean he had found undoubted evidence of elevation, both. between two of the islets, and also in the constitution of Horsburgh Island, the largest of the group. NO. 1250, VOL. 48] Prof. Sollas biiefly replied, and adhered to his origi contention. ° Section D then took the following, chiefly zoological, pape —(1) Report on work: carried on at the Zoological Stai: Naples, viz.—On the action of coloured light on assimil by C. C. Duncan, and on the function and correlation of th pallial organs of Opisthobranchiata, by J. D. F. Gilchrist. — Report on work carried on at the Biological Station, Plymouth viz., on Turbellaria, by F. W. Gamble; on deca Jarv: by E. J. Allen ; and how fishes find food, by Gregg Wilson. (3 Report on the production of an index generum et specier animalium. (4) On seals and whales seen during a vo’ to the Antarctic, by W. S. Bruce. (5) On the penguins of | Antarctic, by C. Donald. (6) On the development of molar teeth of the elephant, with remarks on dental series, Prof. Cleland, who exhibited a specimen showing the s: condition. Pit On Tuesday the remaining papers were taken, viz. :—(t) cytological differences in homologous organs, by Prof. Gilson, dealt chiefly with differenc:s in nephridia.. (2) “ lateral canal system of fishes, by W. E. Collinge, showing modification effected by this system in the cranial elements and certain gregariuide, and the possible connection of allied with tissue changes in man, by Dr. C. H. Cattle and J. Millar. In this important paper the authors described t changes caused in the rabbit's liver by Cocctdium oviforme, compared them with the changes produced in glandular organ by cancer, The authors gave reasons for believing the bodie found in cancer to be parasites allied to Cocctdium, (6) wings of Archeopteryx and of other birds, by Dr. C. H. Hu The author regards the two large digits of a bird’s wing IV, and V. (7) The starch of the chlorophyll granule, and chemical processes involved in its dissolution and translocation by Horace T. Brown, F.R.S. The author gave an accoun the work done by himself and Dr. Morris on the formation _ starch and its dissipation. He showed that cane sugar was the first carbohydrate recognisable in the leaf, and that the sterch, both in green and colourless parts of the plant, is formed from pre-existing carbohydrates. (8) On nuclear structures in hymenomycetes, by H. Wazer. The author finds, in coatra- diction to Rozen’s results, that during karyokinesis i hymenomycetes an achromatic spindle exists, and the process i nearly similar to what obtains in higher plants. these sterna. : 5 On rms CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF CORR SPONDING SOCIETIE SS .-47 First CONFERENCE, SEPTEMBER I4. ‘THE Corresponding Societies’ Committee was represen by Dr. Garson (in the chair), Mr. Topley, Mr. Sym and Mr. T. V. Holmes (secretary). Dr. Garson, the chairman, gave a hearty welcome to delegates present. These conferences were begun at Ab in 1385. At that time only twenty-four delega'es were pointed, while last year there were forty-two. The number Corresponding Societies had also increased. This was eviden that the attempt to bring to’a focus, as it were, the efforts | the various Corresponding Societies had met with considerable success, But there was also evidence that the societies dis always sufficiently value their privileges. When circulars wet sent from the office of the British Association, the majority the secretaries of the Corresponding Societies did not fill up return them until they were written toa second time. Ag: out of more than sixty societies, only forty-two thought it we while to send delegates, though it could hardly be a d matter to find members able and willing to serve. It wasa very great advantage to the workers in the various local societi to have the titles of their papers printed and published in th Annual Reports of the British Association. Then, the Trar actions of the various Corresponding Societies were bound an kept for reference in the library of the British Association at Burlington House, while papers read before other local societi durin: OcToBER 12, 1892] NATURE 577 _ were likely to remain unknown or unconsulted. It was most _ desirable that the British Association should be brought into closer communication with the societies. It had been usual hitherto for representatives from the different Sections to attend _ the conferences and to mention anything that had been done, _ such asthe appointment of a committee for some special purpose, in which the co-operation of the Corresponding Societies would be advantageous. It would be a good thing that there should be better means of communication between the Corresponding Societies and the secretaries of the various committees appointed by the British Association, A good example of a committee especially needing the assistance of the Corresponding Societies was that appointed by Section H to make an ethnographical survey of the United Kingdom. The first report of this com- mittee had just been presented to the delegates, and Mr, Brabrook, the secretary, would shortly call their attention to it. At their last meeting at Edinburgh some delegates had asked whether the council of the Association might not be able to obtain greater facilities from the railway companies for members travelling to and from these meetings. The council, conse- quently, appointed a committee, of which Sir Frederick Bram- well was an active member, to see what could be done. The result, however, could not be deemed satisfactory. The Chairman proposed to take the report, which had been circulated, as read, and would be glad to hear any remarks from delegates regarding the work done during the past year. Meteorological Photography.—Mr. Symons (Section A) was much indebted to the delegates for the number of photographs of clouds sent in to him up to the present time. He did not press for more, as the committee appointed by the British Association for the Elucidation of Meteorological Phenomena by the application of photography had the very considerable collection of 1467 to deal with. They proposed to select the ‘typical ones, reduce them to a uniform scale, and print perhaps 100 copies of them. They were hoping to publish the atlas the year, and would then be glad if the meteorologists would take copies. ‘Chey would be pleased to have additional photographs of lightning. Mr, A. S. Red sail that the Geological Photozraph Com- mitiee of the British Association were publishing their fourth report that year. During the year they had received more than 40 new photographs, making the total collection 846. They were all British. Their appeal to the Corresponding Societies had been more successful than in any previous year, but there was still much to be done, and he hoped the delegates would stir up their societies on this point. As to the best camera, the smallest was to be preferred. He had also to report that many prints had been sent in without the names of the societies send- ing them, that of the photographer, or that of the place photo- graphed. They had decided not to lend any more photographs to the societies, and they would recommer.d the societies to send duplicate copies. Mr, Jcff:, the secretary of the Geological Photographs Committee, had unfortunately been ill during nearly the whole of the year, and this had seriously hampered their work. ‘Mr. P. F, Kendall remarked that not one of the Corre- sponding Societies had given any information to the British As ociation Committee appointed to record the character and position of Erratic Blocks, though appeals for help had been made. There were whole counties strewn. with blocks of which not a single report had been sent. Mr. Topley inquired whether any society had made researches like those brought before the Conference last year by Mr. Watts in the neighbourhood of Rochdale, as to the quantity of material brought down streams in flood. Mr, Watts’ work had been confined to the Rochdale district, and it was desirable that the results in other districts should be noted. Any local society wishing to do similar work should consult Mr, Watts. Mr. Slater (Section D) said that it was an interesting fact that a member of the’ Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union recently _ found the wild maidenhair fern on the northern portion of _ Morecambe Bay. It would not be desirable that the exact spot Should be given. He would also remark that it was better to tiera seeds from these rare plants than to take the plant itself. . In Section E, Mr..M. H. Mills said that a paper on the _ subject of ordnance mays had been read before the Federated _ Institute of Mining Engineers by Sir Archibald Geikie, whose NO. 1250, vor. 48] chief conclusion seemed to be that nothing could be done without increased funds, Mr. Eli Sowerbutts said that their member, Mr. Cooke, went before the Departmental Committee, appointed to con- sider the state of the Ordnance Survey, in order to give evidence. He had suggested to Mr. Cooke that he should write a report on what had been done by the Departmental Committee, which might be presented at the next year’s meeting of delegates. The examination on geography mentioned in the report of the Conference of Delegates at Edinburgh did not take place. They would, however, conduct some examinations next year, and he would be glad if the delegates would make their inten- tions widely known. It was a curious fact that there was no cheap book in existence giving a fairly good account of York- shire. The examinations were open to all public and private schools, There would be one on Canada for secondary schools. The latter had been found to know nothing about geography last year, and he looke i for some improvement next time. Mr, Hembry said that he had learned that in a certain county children attending schools were not taught geography in any bis He would like to know if this was the case anywhere else. Mr. Andrews replied that geography was not a class subject, and was not compulsory. . ¢: regards the ordnance maps, the archeologists of Warwickshire, acting on the advice of Mr. Whitaker, forwarded a list of thirteen ancient works to the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, ten of which had since been inserted in the map. Mr. Hembry thought that geography should certainly be a class subject. In secondary schools they ahsolutely ignored it ; but he had been astonished to find that an immense advance had been made in the teaching of geography in primary schools, In many of the latter, museums of commercial prolucts were » now being formed. In Section G, Prof. Merivale had nothing to report about flameless explosives, Mr. Brabrook (Section H) made some remarks on the pro- gress made by the committee appointed to make an ethnological survey of the United Kingdom, whose first report was in the hands of the delegates. The committee had, he said, obtained, by communication with the Corresponding Societies, a list of nearly 300 villages, with some account of their leading features and peculiarities, all of which were worthy of special examina- tion by the committee. For this result, which was much be- yond their anticipations, the Ethnographical Committee gave its most heaity thanks to the members of the corresponding societies who had helped them so efficiently. The next step taken by the committee had been to draw up a brief code of directions for the guidance of those who had been kind enough to offer assistance.. This code would be found at the end of the report, SECOND CONFERENCE, SEPTEMBER 19. The Corresponding Societies’ Committee was represented by Dr. Garson (in the chair), Mr. Galton, Mr. Symons, and Mr, T. V. Holmes (secretary), The Chairman announced that he had received a letter from the President of the Cardiff Natural History Society, stating that Dr. Vachell was unable to attend as a delegate, and that Prof, Viriamu Jones, Principal of University College, Cardiff, had been appointed in his place. He thought it would be best to take first any discussions upon the committees appointed in the various sections, , Mr. Symons (Section A) said that the work of the Karth Tremors Committee was going on under the care of Mr. Davidson, and he did not think that there were other com- mittees connected with Section A that bore upon the work of the delegates, | With regard to the report of the Earth- Tremors Committee, he should like to hold it in suspense for a while, in the hope of co-operation with some of the corre- sponding societies. In Section C, Mr, A. S. Reid said he had been asked by the Committee to make some remarks, The Underground Waters Committee ‘would present its final report next year, and would be glad to receive further information up to the date of publication. The Geological Photographs Committee thought that the size of photographs should be le{t to the donors, As to the best camera, further comments from practical pho- tographers were invited ; also remarks as to the best methods 578: NATURE [Ocroner 12, 1893 of printing. With regard to publication, negotiations respecting the proposed album of representative photographs were then in progress. .The Erratic Blocks Committee had presented a report, and they were going to publish as much as they could assoon as possible, ‘Ihe Coast Erosion Committee had not sent in a report, though they had plenty of material in hand. The Committee on Type Specimens in Museums was making arrangements for the registration of those specimens, and information was required as to where those specimens were housed, In Section D, Mr. T. V. Holmes (secretary) read a letter from Dr. Vachell stating that he had come to Nottingham in order to present the Report of the Birds’ Eggs. Protection Com- mittee that morning, September 16, and regretted he should be unable to stay till the conference on the rgth. Mr. Slater thought it was high time something was done to protect the eggs of wild birds. Influence might be brought to bear upon boys. He also deprecated the wanton shooting of gulls. The Chairman stated that the. committee had been re- appointed, and that the delegates would in due time receive a final communication on the question, Mr. Holmes then read a letter from Mr. W. Cole, hon. sec. Essex. Field Club, on the maintenange of local museums, Mr. Cole thought that ifan annual sum for the maintenance of local museums could be obtained from the Technical Education grants in each county, there would be no great difficulty in obtaining substantial sums towards buildings and fittings, The fear that a museum might not be permanent often kept back subscriptions. Donations, both of money and of specimens, would rapidly come in when once the public felt that the museum would be permanent, And.in-no way could a portion of the Technical Education grant be better expended than in placing on a satisfactory footing the local museum of the county. The Chairman hoped that ‘members of the Corresponding Societies would occasionally read papers on the specimens in their local museums, each writer. keeping to a certain depart- ment. These papers: would be catalogued in the societies’ list, and brought before the notice of many workers in the same sub- ject elsewhere. They would also be available for reference at | headquarters in London. ‘ : fn Section H, the Chairman commended the Ethnographical Survey (the first report of which had been placed in their hands at the previous meeting) to the attention.of the delegates and the societies they represented, and explained in what ways they could assist the committee. Local physical, intellectual and moral chatacteristies, folk-lore; manners, customs, dialect, and ancient monuments might all be noted by various observers, © and the results sent to the Ethnographical Committee. Ancient haman remains should be carefully preserved, together. with ° any pottery and implements found withthem, If any difficulty : occurred with regard to the best. mode of- making any explora- tion, information might always be obtained at the Anthropo- inet Institute, 3, Hanover Square, London.’ In some cases he had- known pottery and implements had been carefully pre- served, and bones thrown away or buried; in others skulls had been'kept by the explorer, and the large bones thrown away. The Anthropological Institute was always ready to advise or to. send some one down to examine the remains found, It was better to leave barrows, &c., as they were, unless people were’ prepared to examine them thoroughly and systematically. ‘ After some remarks on a proposed excursion of the delegates, a vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings. : THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. THE fifth summer ‘meeting ‘of the Geological Society of America was held:at Madison,’ Wisconsin, on August 15 and 16 ; vice-presidents J. C. Chamberlain and John J. Steven- son presiding, in the absence of the president, Sir J. W. Dawson. - The popular feature of the meeting was an illustrated lecture in the Assembly Chamber ofthe Capitol, by Prof. H. F. Reid, on ‘* The Gravels of Glacier Bay, Alaska.’ The stereopticon views gave quite the best exhibit of this interesting glacial region that has yet been presented. pert i The papers presented included a description of a new species of Dintchthys,a new Cladodus from the Cleveland shale, and a temarkable fossil jaw from the Cleveland shale, by Prof. E. W. Claypole, who is carrying on the work begun by the late Prof, NO. 1250, VOL. 48] | up in a cupboard on the previous evening. E | patches appeared on the bread, meat, and other articles of fo ‘horizon, may be amphibian. f ness of Prof. Salisbury’s first announcement that these were and warning from heaven, 'a Paduan naturalist, who éasily recognised the ' microscopic plant.’’ + the ' production near Berlin, in 1848, and, as usual with him | like circumstances, referred it to the animal kingdom, undert ‘name of Jonas fprodigiosa; but during the same year } J. S. Newberry on Devonian fossil fishes. The remains di scribed are those of new and remarkable species, one of them — showing a degree of specialisation quite surprising for that 1 The author even pole that vente at the petits ‘ 4A ey Prof. J. J. Stevenson, in his paper onthe origin of thePennsyl- vania anthracite, seemed to have actually subverted the a ted : dogma, that the metamorphosis into anthracite was conceal : disturbances of the strata. He showed that the difference betwe anthracite and bituminous beds is due to circumstances con- nected with deposition; the former having been laid down — rapidly and in thick beds, and having been long under water ; they are also earlier than the bituminous beds. Ke Sea G, Frederick Wright and A. Frederick Wright, in their re- — spective papers on extra-morainic drift in New Jersey, and onthe limits of the glaciated area of New Jersey, admitted the cor genuine glacial deposits, though occuring beyond the limits of the glaciated area, ae » Edward H. Williams, Jun., in a paper on South Mountain glaciation, described a similar formation in Pennsylvania, where he found transported Medina sandstone and glacial striation, The programme also included papers on the study of fossil — plants, by J. W. Dawson; the Manganese series of the — North-Western States, by C. W. Hall and F. W. Lardeson ; on the succession in the Marquette Iron district of Michigan, by C. R. Van. Hise; terrestrial subsidence south-east of the American Continent, by J. W. Spencer; evidences of the derivation of the kames, eskers, and moraines of the North — American icé-sheet, chiefly from its englacial drift, and the succession of pleistocene formations in the Mississippi and Niel-_ son River basins, by Warren Upham ; the cenozoic history of © Eastern Virginia and Maryland, by N. H, Darton; the Arkansas coal measures in their relation to the Pacific carbon- — iferous province, by James P. Smith ;~ glaciation of the — White Mountains, N.H., by C. H. Hitchcock ; dislocation _in the strata of the lead and zinc region of Wisconsin, and thei relation to the mineral deposits, with some observations. ; the origin: of the ores, by W. P. Blake; geology ofthe sand — hill: region in the Carolinas, by J. H. Holmes; notes of — geological exhibits at the World’s Fair, by G. N. Williams, i BLEEDING BREAD. “THE phenomenon known in Germany as ‘‘ Blut im Broce,” | + and to us as bleeding bread, has appeared in this country, — to no little dismay of the peaceful inhabitants. The subjects of 4 this visitation are not only bread and biscuit, but also boiled potatoes, rice, and other farinaceous substances, on which red stains appear, which resemble blotches of blood. In former times, before their nature was known, these blood stains created — much consternation amongst the superstitious as portents ¢ calamity. The first modern naturalist who described it in scientific terms was Dr. Sette, of Venice, who recorded its ap- ' pearance in Padua, in 1819, and gave it thename of aac as imetropha. In this instance it is stated that ‘‘a peasant of ~ Liguara, near Padua, was terrified by the sight of blood stains scattered over some polenta, which had been made and shut Next day ‘similar px “It was naturally regarded as a mir until the case had been submitted t presence of a Subsequently Ehrenberg saw the same in the same cupboard: the oceurred in the experience of Dr. Camille Montagne, who saw it on cooked fowls and cauliflower, at Rouen, and it | regarded as an Algoid, under the name of Pa/mella, prodigios The first definife record of its occurrence in Britain appears have been in 1853, when H, O. Stephens communicated an— account of it to, the Bristol Microscopical Society, and submitted specimens to the late Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who declared it t be identical with the organisms described by Ehrenberg and Montagne, but which he regarded as a ‘angus. {ae The record of its appearance at Bristol is to the following 7 1 Trouessart, ‘‘ Microbes, &c.’’ London, 1889,.p, 126. t _ » source. 4 directed the beef to be placed:aside. _ day the spots had spread into patches of consist of generally globose cells, more dispersed in the fluid the tinguishable from ordinary OcToBER 12, 1893] NATURE ‘S79 “effect! :—‘* I observed at table the under surface of a half round) _ of boiled salt beef, cooked the day before, to be specked with _ several bright carmine-coloured spots, as if the dish in which the meat was placed had contained minute portions of red) ‘currant jelly. Suspecting what these might turn ‘out to be, I On examination the next a vivid carmine-red stratum of two or more inches in length. ‘or papillated surface. The microscope shows this stratum to ‘mucilaginous or gelatinous matter. contain red endochrome ; they seem to consist ‘of a single cell- membrane, and contain a nucleus. Treated with sulpho-iodine they become blue.” ; ; As to its place in the organic kingdom, Mr...Stephens was of opinion that it wasa Palmella closely allied to Palmellacruenta, but distinct, the cells or granules of the: latter differing from it, not only in their colour but size, being very much smaller than those of P. prodigiosa. Asto its propagation, he further remarks that it seems to extend itself by elastically spurting a sort of jet or column of red particles, which Berkeley. compared to a jet of blood from an artery, and by this method it was suggested that the extraordinary rapidity with which a large surface becomes covered can be explained, The vitality ofthe cells is not im- paired (within a certain time) by desiccation, even at a: high temperature, and when dry they retain their germinating powers fora considerable period. Z The spherical cells are filled with a reddish oil, ‘which gives to them a peach-blossom tint, and when transferred. to raw meat they assume a splendid fuchsia-colour, resembling spots of blood. The plant is only developed in the dark, and the nitrogen necessary for its nutriment must be derived from the air, especially when developed upon bread. About 1886 an epidemic appearance on the Continent.{was attributed to this Pieces of cooked meat presented a singular .carmine- red colouration, and stained vividly the fingers or linen with which they came in contact.. These phenomena prevailed regularly for a period of three months. Food cooked over-night was found the next morning covered with red patches, and it then underwent rapid alteration. © Coincident with a sudden and considerable fall in the temperature the epidemic ceased, and did not reappear.” Fresenius records the result of his examination of this organism, in his ‘‘Beitrage,” to the effect that “he took four boiled potatoes, and placed them in a drawer, having previously rubbed two of them slightly here and there with the red sub- stance. After about twenty-four hours, the two potatoes’ which had not been rubbed, and which had not been in immediate contact with the other two, were affected with fresh spots of the 4 red substance, whilst the spots upon the two which had been rubbed had increased in extent. ‘The’spots showed themselves in the form of irregular groups of blood-red drops of different size, which in some places were distinct, and in others had run into one another. The individual bodies of which the spots thousandth to one four-thousandth of a line. They are mostly ~ round, occasionally oval, and sometimes slightly constructed in the middle, by way of preparation for increase by division into two small round cells. By far the greater number, of them, when brought under the microscope in.a drop of water, remain at rest—they lie close together. When the drop molecular motion. of water moves they are carried mechanically over thestage like then in another direction, Water, nor, other molecules, and when this motion ceases they remain at ‘one spot in a sort of quivering state until .a fresh current carries If the eye be kept carefully upon a jart of the stage where the small bodies are thinly dispersed, altogether ceased, are individual bodies ever seen to detach m D. : "themselves from the group, and take a contrary direction, which _ real monads would do with great activity.” The present determination of this organism, according to Some, is Micrococcus prodigiosus, but according ‘to others it is _-1H. O. Stephens, on Palmella prodigiosa in Annals of Nat.’ Hist. vol. xii. December, 1853 : 2 Pharmaceutical Journal, January 29, 1887, p- 610. NO. 1250, VOL. 48] 4 With a simple lens. _ the plant appears to consist of.a gelatinous substratum ofa paler ‘red, bearing an upper layer of a vivid red hue, having an uneven immersed in, or connected by, | The cells vary in.size, and | consist are mere molecules, their diameter varying from one two- | in large numbers ; when they are — havea motion which is not: dis- | it will be observed that they passively follow the current of the © when the current has: become sluggish, or has even | _on potato or bread-paste, ‘late hot weather, and -observations., “Hebrew Tradition ” Bacillus prodigiosus,.and consequently one of the Scfizomycetes. It has been pointed’ out, that as the te nperature rises this Bacillus loses its power of forming a pigment, and if it is grown in an incubator at blood heat, instead ithe colour is gradually lost, of at the temperature of the room, but the power and the culture no longer smells of:herring brine; -of forming lactic acid from milk-sugar, with the accompanying is frequently considerably increased ; so that it would appear that the energy required for the build- ing-up of the pigment substance’ was, in this case, diverted into another channel, and'lactic acid, and perhaps other substances, The reappearance of|thisiorganism in this country, during the especially on cooked potatoes, gives is sufficient apology for these ‘= M: (C. COOKE. | “at “8: precipitation of the casein, are produced in place of the usual pigment.* interest to ‘its history,» and “FORTHCOMING SCIENTIFIC BOOKS.» HE autumn publishing season has opened with announce- ments of forthcoming books to: suit all ‘requirements. From this year’s list we see that many works of high scientific importance are ‘in the press, but the chief feature is the large number of text-books announced. The work of the Technical Instruction Committees of our County Councils has naturally resulted in the preparation of books on various arts ‘and handi- crafts, and since the authors of these books are ustally well versed in the technicalities of their subjects, it may be presumed that the ’prentice hand will derive benefit from. their literary efforts. ; . “if, ete The following books are announced by Messrs. MACMILLAN ‘AND Co:—The Collected Works of Thomas Henry Huxley, F.R.S., in monthly volumes, from October r. Vol. i. ‘* Methods and Results” (just published) ; vol. ii, ** Darwiniana’” ; Vol. iii. ‘Science and Education *: vol. iv. ‘* Science and ; vol. v. ‘Science and Christian Tradt- tion” ; Vol, vi. “Hume.” ‘ Systematic Survey of the ‘Organic Matters,” by Drs. G. Schultz and P. Julius, ‘translated and “edited, with extensive additions, by Arthur G. Green, Examiner ‘in Coal Tar Products to the City and Guilds of London Insti- tute.“ Text-Book of the Diseases of Trees,” by- Prof. R. Hartig, translated by Dr. R. Somerville, Lecturer on Agricul- ‘ure at Durham College of Science, with a preface by' Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S., © with numerous: illustrations. “« Methods of Histological Research,” forthe use of students and ‘physicians, by Cr. C. V. Kahlden, Lecturer in the University of Freiburg, translated by H. Morley Fletcher. ** Materials for the Study of Variation in Animals.” Part i, ‘ Discontinuous Variation,” by William Bateson, Balfour Student and Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, illustrated. ‘‘Handbook of British Marine Fauna,” vol. i. Tunicata, Polyzoa, and Echinodermata, by Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., with numerous illustrations. “The Romance .of the Insect World,” by Miss L. 'N. Bade- noch, with illustrations. ‘* A Text-Book of Pathology,” syste- matic and practical, by Prof. D. J. Hamilton, vol. ii. “ Hand book of Public Health and Demography,” by Edward F, Willoughby, Diploma in State Medicine of the London University, and in. Public Health of Cambridge University. “‘ The Practitioner,” an index to vols. 1-50 of the Practitioner, a journal of therapeutics and public health. The three following volumes have been designed to suit the requirements of ‘the examinations ofthe Department of Science and Art :—“* Organic Chemistry for Beginners,” by Dr. G. S. Turpin 5, ‘ Physiography for Beginners,” by J.. E. Marr, F.R,S., and Alfred Harker, M.A. ; ‘Physiology for. Beginners,’’ by Prof, Michael Foster, F.R.S., and-Dr, L.’E. Shore. ** Geometrical Conic Sections,”’ by Charles Smith. ‘‘ Geometrical Conic Sections,” by Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, Fellow of the University of Calcutta," “ Geo- ‘metrical Conics,” Part ii,, the Central Conic, by John J. Milne and R. F. Davies, “ Elementary Trigonometry,” by H. S. Hall, Master of the Army Class, Clifton College, and S. R. Knight. Sketches in Sport and Natural History,” by the late Dr. George Kingsley ; ‘‘The Beauties of Nature,” by the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., new edition without illustrations ; “‘The Theory of Heat,” by Thomas Preston, with illustrations ; “* Researches on the Propagation of Electrical Force,” by Prof. Heinrich Hertz, of Bonn, authorised transla- tion, by Prof, D. E. Jones, with preface by Lord Kelvin, P-R.S., 1 Dr. G. S, Woodhead; “Bacteria and their Products " (2891), Ps 9 OZ fx G | 580 NATURE [OcToBER 12, 1893 _ illustrated ; ‘A Text-book on Electro-Magnetism and the Construction of Dynamos,” by Dugald C. Jackson, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Wisconsin ; ‘‘ The Mechanics of Hoisting Machinery, including Accumulators, Excavators, aid Pile Drivers,” by Dr. Julius Weisbach and Prof. Gustav Hermann, with 177 illustrations, authorised translation from the second German edition, by Karl P. Dahlstrom, Instructor in Mechanical Engineering at the Lehigh University; ‘* Hydro- statics,” by A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., Professor of Mathematics to the Senior Class of Artillery Officers, Woolwich ; ‘‘ Essays in Historical Chemistry,” by Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S. ; ‘* The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry,’’ by the late C. Schorlemmer, F.R.S., translated and edited by Prof. Smithells, Yorkshire College, Leeds ; ‘‘ Popular Lectures and Addresses,” Vol. ii., contributions to Geology, by Lord Kelvin, P.R.S.; ‘* The Life of Sir A. C. Ramsay,” by Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S.; ‘*A Text-book of the Physiological Chemis- try of the Animal Body, including an Account of the Chemical Changes occurring in Disease,” by Dr. Arthur Gamgee, F.R.S., Brackenbury Professor of Physiology in the Owens College, with illustrations, Vol. ii. ; ‘* Boot and Shoe Manufacture,’’ by C. W. B. Burdett, Head Master City and Guilds of London Leather Trade Schools, with numerous illustrations ; ‘* Lead Work,” by W. R. Lethaby, with illustrations ; ‘‘ Gold-Milling,” with illustrations, by H. Louis; ‘Elementary Course of Practical Science,” by Hugh Gordon. ’ The CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PREss announce :—‘‘ The Scientific Papers of John Couch Adams,” Vol. i., edited by Dr. William Grylls Adams, F.R.S., &c., Professor of Natural Philosophy in King’s College, London, late Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, with a memoir by Dr, }. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., &c., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; ‘‘A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy,” by Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry ; ‘* A Treatise on the Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable,” by Dr. A. R. Forsyth, F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- bridge ; ‘‘ Plane Trigonometry,” by S. L. Loney, Part i., up to and including the Solution of Triangles, is published separ- ately ; ‘f Solutions of the Examples in a Treatise on the Ele- ments of Statics and Dynamics,” by S. L. Loney, late Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge: ‘‘ Elementary Hydro- statics,” by John Greaves, Fellow and Lecturer of Christ’s College ; ‘‘The Steam Engine and other Heat Engines,” by J. A. Ewing, F.R.S., Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics in the University of Cambridge ; ‘‘ Elementary Palxontology for Geological Students,” by Henry Woods; ‘**Practical Physiology of Plants,’ by F. Darwin and E. H. Acton. Pitt Press Mathematical Series :—‘‘ Euclid’s Elements of Geometry,” Books v. and vi., by H. M. Taylor, Fellow and formerly Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge; ‘‘ Solu- tions to the Exercises in Euclid,” Books i-iv. (Pitt Press Mathematical Series, by H. M. Taylor), by W. W. Taylor. The Cambridge, University Press are also about to publish a series of Natural Science Manuals, which will cover a wide field, some of the books being adapted for beginners, whilst others will deal with special topics, and will be useful only to more advanced students. The series will be divided into two sections, a Biological and a Physical. The former will be published under the general editorship of Mr. Arthur E. Shipley, Fellow and Tutor of Christ’s College, Cambridge ; it will include ‘‘A Manual of Invertebrate Palaontology,” by Mr. H. Woods, Demonstrator of Palzeobotany at Cambridge, which is now ready; ‘‘A Text-book on the Practical Physio- logy of Plants,” by Mr. Francis Darwin, of Christ’s College, and Mr, E. Hamilton Acton, of St. John’s College, which is in the press ; ‘‘ Works on Physical Anthropology,” by Prof. Alexander Macalister ; ‘‘ On the Vertebrate Skeleton,” by Mr. S. H. Reynolds, of Trinity College; ‘‘On Fossil Plants,” by Mr. A. C. Seward, Lecturer in Botany in the University, and ‘*An Intioduction to the Study of Botany,” by Mr. Francis Darwin, which are in preparation. Other volumes will shortly be announced. The volumes of the Physical Series already arranged for include three by Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., Assistant-Director of the Cavendish Laboratory, on ‘ Light and Heat,” “ Electricity and Magnetism,” and ‘‘ Mechanics and Hydrostatics ” ; these will be elementary, text-books, based on the Practical Courses of Physics for Medical Students at the Cavendish Laboratory. The volume on ‘‘ Light and Heat” is in the press, and the other volumes are in preparation. Messrs. CHARLES GRIFFIN AND Co.’s announcements in- NO. 1250, VOL. 48] clude :—‘‘ A Text-book of Ore and Stone Mining for the Use of Mine-owners, Mine-managers, Prospectors, and all interes’ in Ore and Stone Mining,” by Dr. Clement Le Neve Fo F.R.S., Professor of Mining, Royal College of Science, H. Inspector of Mines ; a new Metallurgical series, edited by C. Roberts-Austen, C.B., F.R.S., Chemist and Assayer of Royal Mint, Professor of Metallurgy in the Royal College Science. (1) ‘‘ Introduction to the Study of Metallurgy,” | the Editor; third edition. (2) ‘Gold (The Metallur, of),” by Thos. Kirke Rose; (3) ‘*Copper (The see o!),”. by Thos. Gibb; (4) ‘Iron and Steel en Met lurgy of),” by Thos. Turner; (5) ‘‘ Metal — Ma- chinery: the Application of Engineering to Metallurgi- cal Problems,” by Henry Charles Jenkins; (6) ‘‘ Alloys,” by the Editor. Technological Manuals: ‘*Oils, Fats, — Waxes, and Allied Materials, and the Manufacture there- from of Candles, Soaps, and other Products,” by Dr. C. R. Alder Wright, F.R.S.; ‘* Agricultural Chemistry and An- alysis: A Practical Handbook for the Use of icultural Students,” by Dr. J. M. H. Munro, Professor of Chemistry. Downton College of Agriculture ; ‘‘ Dairy Chemistry : Practical Handbook for Dairy Managers,” by H. Droop Rich- mond; ‘‘Cements: A Practical Handbook on their Manu- — facture, Properties, Testing,” &c., by Gilbert R. Redgrave ; ‘Petroleum: A Treatise on the Geographical Distribution, Geological Occurrence, Chemistry, Production, and Refining of Petroleum ; its Testing, Transport, and Storage; and the — Legislative Enactments relating thereto; together with a De- — scription of the Shale Oil Industry,” by Boverton Redwood, — assisted by Geo. T. Holloway. With maps and illustrations. The — special ‘features of Mr. Redwood’s work will be (1) the hitherto” unpublished descriptions of undeveloped sources of petroleum in various parts of the world ; and (2) that the testing, transport, and storage from the point of view of legislation, and the utions © which experience in this and other countries has shown to be necessary in the interests of public safety. ‘‘ A Text-book of Physics : including Properties of Matter, Heat, Sound and Light, Magnetism and Electricity,” by Dr. J. H. Poynting, 4 F.R.S., late Fell. of Trinity Coll., Cambridge; Prof. of — Physics in the Mason Coll., Birmingham, and J. J. Thomson, — F.R.S., Fell. of Trinity Coll., Cambridge; Prof. of Exper. Physics in the Univer. of Camb. ; ‘‘ The Mean Density of the Earth: An Essay to which the Adams Prize was adjudged in 1893 in the University of Cambridge,” by Dr. J. H. Poynt- ing, F.R.S., in large 8vo, with bibliography, illustrations in the text, and lithographed plates ; ‘‘ Marine Engineering Rules and Tables (A Pocket-book of): for the use of Marine Engineers, Naval Architects, Designers, Draughtsmen, Super- — intendents, and all engaged in the design and construction of Marine Machinery, Naval and Mercantile,” by A. E. Seaton and H. M. Rounthwaite, with illustrations ; ‘‘ Gas, Oil, and Air Engines: A Practical Text-book on Internal Combustion — Motors without Boiler,” by Bryan Donkin, with illustrations ; ‘*Sewage Disposal Works,” by W. Santo Crimp. econd edition, with additional plates ; ‘‘ Engineering Drawing and Design: A Practical Manual for Engineering Students,” by Sidney H. Wells, Principal, Battersea Polytechnic Institute, — late of Dulwich College. Part I.—Geometry : Practical, Plane, — and Solid. Part 11.—Machine and Engine Drawing and Design. Complete in one vol., with numerous illustrations and — folding-plate ; ‘‘ Applied Mechanics (An Advanced Text-book | of),” by Prof. Jamieson, Glasgow and West of Scotland Tech- nical College, with very numerous illustrations. a Messrs. SWAN, SONNENSCHEIN AND Co.’s forthcoming works are chiefly text-books. We note :—‘‘ A Student’s Text-_ book on Botany,” by Dr. Sidney H. Vines, Professor of Bot in the University of Oxford, editor of ‘‘ Prantl’s Botany,” copiously illustrated ; ‘* Text-book of apr pte“ Inverte- brates,” by Drs. Korschelt and Heider, of the University of Berlin, translated and edited by Dr. E. L. Mark, Professor of Anatomy in Harvard University, and Dr. W. M. Woodworth, Instructor in Microscopical Anatomy in Harvard University, Part I., illustrated ; ‘‘ The Cell, its Anatomy and Physiology,” by Dr. Oscar Hertwig, of the University of Berlin, translated and edited by Dr. H. J. Campbell, illustrated ; ‘‘ Text-book of Paleontology for Zoological Students,” by Theodore T. Groom, : illustrated ; ‘‘ Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology,” by Wilhelm Wundt, Professor of Philosophy in the University — of Leipzig, translated and edited by James Edward Creighton, — Instructor in Philosophy to the Cornell University, Ithaca, — Se & OcTOBER 12, 1893]| NATURE 581 _ New York, and Edward Bradford Titchener, of the Cornell _ University; ‘‘ Handbook of Systematic Botany,” by Dr. E. _ Warming, Professor of Botany in the University of Stockholm, translated and edited by M. C. Potter, M.A., Lecturer on _ Biolozy and Botany in the Durham College of Science, illustrated; ‘‘ Town Flowers,” by J. W. N., with a preface by _ Canon Benham and Prebendary Weob-Peploe ; ‘‘ Zoology,” by B. Lindsay, illustrated ; ‘‘ Fishes,” by the Rev. H. A. Mac- pherson ; ‘‘ Flowering Plants,” by James Britten, editor of the Journal of Botany; ‘‘Grasses,’’ by W. Hutchinson ; _ **Mammalia,” by the Rey. H. A. Macpherson; ‘‘ The _ Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne,” by Gilbert _ White, Bennett’s edition, with notes by J. E. Harting, illus- trations by Bewick, Harvey, &c., new edition. d Messrs. Crospy LocKwooD AND Sons have in prepara- _ tion and in the press.—‘‘ Machinery for Metalliferous Mines : _ a Practical Treatise for Mining Engineers, Metallurgists, and _ Managers of Mines,” by E. Henry Davies (illustrated) ; ‘‘ The Practical Engineer’s Year-book for 1894, comprising Modern _ Engineering Formule, Rules, Tables, and Memoranda, in Civil, _ Mechanical, Electrical, Marine, and Mine Engineering,” by H. _ R. Kempe; ‘Practical Building Construction: a Handbook - for Students Preparing for the Examinations of the Science and _ Art Department, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Surveyors’ Institution, &c., designed also as a Book of Reference _ for Persons engaged in Building” (tooo illustrations), by John _ Parnell Allen ; ‘‘ Concrete: Its Nature and Uses: a Book for _ Architects, Builders, and Clerks of Works” (with numerous _ illustrations), by George L. Sutcliffe ; ‘‘ Tramways: Their Con- struction and Working, embracing a Comprehensive History of the System; with an exhaustive Analysis of the various Modes of Traction, a description of Rolling Stock, and details of Cost and Working Expenses” (with plates and other illus- trations), by D. K. Clark. new edition, in one volume, _ rewritten and revised ; New Volumes of Hasluck’s Series of _“*Handybooks for Handicrafts,” viz.: ‘‘ The Woodworker’s _Handybook: a Practical Manual on the Tools, Materials, _ Appliances and Processes employed in Woodworking” (with _ 100 illustrations) ; ‘‘ The Metalworker’s Handybook: a Prac- tical Manual for use in Technical Classes and Workshops ” (with 100 illustrations);. ‘‘ Wall Paper Decoration’ (with ‘humerous illustrations), by A. S. Jennings; ‘‘ An Astronomical ' Glossary; or Dictionary of Terms used in Astronomy, _with Tables of Data and Lists of Remarkable and Interesting Celestial Objects,” by J. Ellard Gore. __ Messrs, CASSELL AND Co. promise the following books :— _‘*The Story of the Sun,” by Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., _ Lowndean Professor of Astronomy in the University of Cam- bridge, about 380 pages, with 8 coloured plates and other illus- trations; ‘‘The Story of our Planet,” by T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Professor of Geology in University College, London, _ Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, with 6 coloured plates and maps and about 100 illustrations; ‘‘The Dawn of Astro- ‘nomy, a Study of the Astronomy and Temple Worship of the Ancient Egyptians,” by J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.; ‘‘ Our Railways, their Development, Enterprise, Incident, and Romance,” by John Pendleton, illustrated ; ‘‘ Electricity in the _ Service of Man, a Popular and Practical Treatise on the Appli- ' cations of Electricity in Modern Life,” with nearly 850 illustra- _ tions, new edition, revised by Dr. R. Mullineux Walmsley ; _**Cassell’s New Technical Educator,” an entirely new Cyclo- pedia of Technical Education,” with coloured plates and en- gravings, Vol. ii. ; ‘The Book of the Horse,” by S. Sidney, thoroughly revised and brought up to date by James Sinclair nd W. C, A. Blew, with 17 full-page collotype plates of cele- ‘brated horses of the day, specially produced for this edition, and numerous other illustrations. : __ The following are included in Messrs, GEORGE PHILIP AND Son’s list of forthcoming publications :—‘‘The Mineral esources of Western Australia, with full descriptions of the oldfields,” by Alfred F. Calvert; ‘‘ Philips’ Anatomical odel,” a Pictorial Representation of the Human Frame and Organs by means of superimposed Plates printed in colours, ith descriptive text by Dr. Schmidt, English edition by William S. Furneaux; ‘‘ Philips’ Geological Map of the _ Environs of London, extending about twenty miles round Charing Cross, showing the Nature of the Soil and the Elevation of the Land,” by George Philip (scale, one inch to a mile); ‘‘ Lessons on Woodwork for Evening Classes, comprising Exercises in the Principles of Joinery, and Studies NO. 1250, vow. 48] and Designs for Wood-Carving,” with numerous illustrations and®explanatory letter-press ; published under the direction of the Technical Education of the Hants County Council. In addition to a number of books of travel, Messrs. SAMP- son Low, MARSTON AND Co.’s publications will be :—‘*A History of Scandinavian Fishes,” described by B. Fries, C. Y. Ekstrom, and C, Sundevall, with coloured plates painted from living specimens, and engraved on stone by Wilhelm von Wright, besides numerous text illustrations, second edition, thoroughly revised and completed by Prof. F. A. Smitt ; ‘*A School Course in Heat,” revised and enlarged, by W. Larden, Assistant Master in the R.N.E. College, Devonport, late Science Scholar, Merton College, Oxford, numerous illustra- tions, fifth edition ; ‘Chemistry for Beginners,” adapted for Elementary Stage of the Science and Art Department’s Ex- aminations in Organic Chemistry, by R. L. Taylor, filth edition, thoroughly revised and partly rewritten. Messrs. CHAPMAN AND HALL have in hand :—‘‘ About Orchids: a Chat,” by Frederick Boyle, with numerous illus- trations; a book by Mr. Charles Dixon, entitled ‘‘ Jottings about Birds”; ‘* Woodworking Positions,” by W. Nelson, with twelve illustrations by Herbert Cole; ‘‘A Text-book of Mechanical Engineering,” by Wilfrid J. Lineham, Head of the Engineering Department at the Goldsmiths’ Company’s Insti-. tute, New Cross, late Professor of Engineering at the School of Science and Art and Technical College, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; ‘* Illustrations of the Principal Natural Orders of the Vegetable Kingdom,” prepared for the Science and Art Department, by Dr. D. Oliver, F.R.S., with 109 plates by W. H. Fitch; **Food, some Account of its Sources, Constituents, and Uses,” by A. H. Church, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Academy of Arts in London, new edition, revised. The following works will be published by Mr. Younc J. PENTLAND :—‘‘ Atlas of Diseases of the Skin, in a Series of Coloured Illustrations from Original Drawings, with Descriptive Letterpress,” by Dr. H. Radcliffe Crocker ;. ‘*Manual of Practical Anatomy,” by Dr. D. J. Cunningham, Professor gf Anatomy and Surgery, Trinity College, Dublin ; ‘‘ Hygiene and Diseases of Warm Climates, in a Series of Articles by Eminent Authorities,” edited by Dr. Andrew Davidson, author of ‘‘Geographical Pathology,” illustrated ; ‘‘Beri-Beri, Researches concerning its Nature and Cause, and the Means of its Arrest,” by C, A. Pekelharing, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Utrecht, and C. Winkler, Lecturer in the University of Utrecht, translated by James Cantlie; ‘‘ Atlas of Ophthalmoscopy, a Series of Coloured Plates from Original Drawings, with Text,” by W. Adams Frost. Mr. W. B. CLIVE (University Correspondence Press) will publish :—‘‘ Elementary Qualitative Analysis,” by William Briggs and Dr. R. W. Stewart; ‘An Elementary Text- book of Geometrical Conics,” by G. H. Bryan; ‘‘ Geometrical Deductions,” by T. W.. Edmondson; ‘‘Geometry of the Simpler Figures and the Plane, Euclid VI. and XI.,” by C. W. C. Barlow; ‘‘An Elementary Text-book of Hydro- statics,” by William Briggs and G. H. Bryan ; ‘‘ Examples in Magnetism and Electricity,” by C. H. Dibb ; ‘‘ An Elementary Text-book of Mechanics,” by William Briggs and G. H. Bryan; ‘‘ The Elements of Trigonometry,” by William Briggs and G, H. Bryan; ‘‘ Co-ordinate Geometry, Part II.,” by G, H. Bryan. In Mr. Murray’s list of forthcoming books we find :—‘‘ The Life of Prof. Owen, based on his Correspondence, his Diaries, and those of his Wife,” by his grandson, the Rev. Richard Owen, with portraits and illustrations. 2 vols, ‘*A Manual of Naval Architecture, for the Use of Officers of the Navy and Mercantile Marine, Ship-owners, Ship-builders, and Yachts- men,” by W. H. White, C.B., F.R.S., Assistant-Controller and Director of Naval Construction, Royal Navy. Third edition thoroughly revised and in great part rewritten, with 150 illustrations, The announcements of the CLARENDON PRESS include ‘* Ma- thematical Papers of the late Henry F. S, Smith,” Savilian Pro- fessor of Geometry in the University of Oxford, with portrait and memoir, 2 vols. ; ‘‘ A Manual of Crystallography,” by M. H. N. Story-Maskelyne, F.R.S.; ‘‘ Observations on some Points connected with Hospital Construction,” by Sir Douglas Galton, K.C.B. F.R.S.; ‘‘A Monograph on the Oligochzta,” by Frank E, Beddard, F.R.S. ; ‘f Adler’s Alternating Generations, 582 NATURE a Biological Study of Oakgalls and Gallflies.” authorised trans- lation, by C. R. Straton. 5 Messrs, LONGMANS, GREEN AND Co. have in preparation :— ‘* Agricultural Analysis, a Manual of Quantitative Analysis for Students of Agriculture,” by Frank T. Addyman ; ‘‘ The Out- door World, or the Young Collector’s Handbook,” by W. Furneaux, with 546 illustrations, including 16 coloured plates ; “Eskimo Life,” by Fridtjof Nansen, author of ** The First Crossing of Greenland,” translated by William Archer, with illustrations. Camille Flammarion’s *‘ Popular Astronomy ” is being trans- lated by Mr. J. Ellard Gore, and will be published by Messrs, CHATTO AND WINDUS. This firm will also publish ‘ The Sagacity and Morality of Plants: a Sketch of the Life and Con- duct of the Vegetable Kingdom,” with coloured frontispiece and 100 illustrations ; ‘‘Our Common British Fossils, and Where to Find Them, a Handbook for Students,” with 331 anteerte ‘*The Playtime Naturalist,” with 366 illustra- tions. The volumes on scientific subjects announced by Messrs, RIVINGTON, PERCIVAL AND Co. are:—‘The School Euclid,” by Mr. Daniel Brent ; ‘‘ The Begirner’s Text-Books of Science ” : “ Chemistry,” and ‘‘ Heat,” by Mr. G. Stallard; ‘* Geology” and ‘* Physical Geography,” by Mr. C. L. Barnes ; ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism” and ‘‘ Mechanics (Treated Experimentally),” by Mr. L. Cumming; “Light,” by Mr. H. P. Highton ; “* Practical Physics,” in three parts, by Prof. W. F. Barrett ; a aes Lessons and Exercises in Heat,” by Mr. A. D. al. In the list of books about to be published by Messrs. W. H. ALLEN AND Co. we find:—‘‘The Naturalist’s Library,’ each section rewritten by well-known naturalists, edited by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, in 20 vols. ; ‘* Handbook of British Hepatic, containing Descriptions and Figures of the Indigenous Species of Marchantia, Jungermannia, Riccia, and Anthoceros,” by Dr. M. C. Cooke, author of ** A Manual of Structural Botany,” &c. ; ‘*The Flowering Plants of Western India,” by the Rey. Alexander Kyd Nairne. Messrs. KEGAN PAUL AND Co. announce a new volume of ‘* Modern Science Series”: ‘‘ The Fauna of the Deep Sea,” by Sydney J. Hickson, Downing College, Cambridge (with illustrations) ; also a new volume of the ‘‘ International Scien-_ tific Series: ‘‘The Dispersal of Shells: an Inquiry into the Means of Dispersal possessed by Fresh-water and Land Mollusca,” by H. Wallis Kew, with a Preface by Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., &c. (with illustrations). Messrs. GEORGE BELL AND Sons propose to issue Vol. iii. of the ‘‘ British Fungus-Flora, a Classified Text-book of Myco- logy,” by George Massee, author of ‘‘ The Plant World,” with numerous illustrations; ‘‘The Elements of Applied Mathe- matics, including Kinetics, Statics, and Hydrostatics,” by C. M. Jessop : ‘‘ Elementary Analytical Geometry,” by the Rev. T. G. Vyvyan. Messrs. FREDERICK WARNE AND’ Co. announce :—‘‘ The Royal Natural History,” edited by Richard Lydekker, with pre- face by P. L. Sclater, illustrated with seventy-two coloured plates, and upwards of sixteen hundred wood engravings, by W. Kuhnert, J. Wolf, T. Specht, Gambier Bolton, P. J. Smit, &c., to be issued in monthly parts, beginning this month. Messrs, METHUEN AND Co, will add to their University Extension Series a popular introduction to modern physical astronomy, entitled ‘*The Vault of Heaven,” by R. A. Gregory ; and ‘‘ Meteorology ; the Elements of Weather and Climate,” by Mr. H. N. Dickson. From Messrs, A. AND C, BLACK will come ‘‘ Investigations in Microscopic Foams and on Protoplasm,” by Prof. O. Biitschli, translated from the German by E. A. Minchin, illus- trated ; and the remaining two parts of Prof. Newton’s ‘‘ Dic- tionary of Birds,” The following are among the educational announcements of Messrs. BLACKIE AND SON :—‘‘ Text-book of Heat,” by Dr. C. H. Draper ; ‘‘ Students’ Introductory Handbook of Systematic Botany,” by J. W. Oliver; ‘Elementary Hydrostatics and Pneumatics,” by R. Pinkerton. Messrs. W. AND R, CHAMBERS will add to their list :— ‘Electricity and Magneti-m,” by Prof. Cargill G. Knott; “Organic Chemistry,’’ by Prof. Perkin; “ Elementary Science,” by S. R. Todd; ‘*‘ Navigation,” by J. Don. Among Messrs. WILLIAMS AND NorGAte’s forthcoming books is ‘fA Pocket Flora of the Edinburgh District,” by C. O. NO, 1250, VOL. 48] ‘upwards and outwards and disappear.” .... ; (American Journal of Science, August, 1893.) Sonntag, of the Edinburgh High School, with an Analyt Key to Orders and Genera. : Messrs, J. HuGHEs AND Co. announce ‘* Horours Physic graphy,” by R. A. Gregory and H. G. Wells, and a secon edition of Prof. Walker Overend’s “‘ Elements of Physiolc The Reticious Tracr Society announce ‘* The Roma of Electricity,” by John Munro, with illustrations. ies TRILOBITES WITH ANTENNZ AT LAST ‘ R. W. D. MATTHEW? is to be warmly congratulated oi being the first to describe Trilobites with visible antenna. His detailed and illnstrated description of a rich find (some sixty specimens) of 7riarthrus Beckit with antenne, made by Mr. Valiant in the Hudson River shales near Rome, N.Y., pond naturally cause excitement among biologists all over the world. ig seb The complete absence of all traces of visible antenn: further, the failure of Walcott, after the most patient resea1 means of sections, to discover any antennal system at all, hav resulted in the Trilobites remaining without abiding home in the zoological system. They have been Isopods, Phyllopods, even Arachnida. And now, at last, Trilobites have been found with very pronounced antenne! The first question we natur- ally ask is, what lightdo these antenne throw upon the affinities of this mysterious group ? ; ote eam According to the description, these organs at es iny- jointed, typical crustacean antenve. ‘*They come o pref together from just under the centre of the anterior bo the head shield.” . . . . ** Their point of origin seems to be under the front part of the glabella, as they can be traced a little way under the head shield, where they almost coalesce, tg t the spot where they come out, the anterior margin of head shield is arched slightly upwards, seemingly to give 1 for them to play to and fro.” Bt From these details we deduce the following :— aes (1) All Trilobites had antenne, which except, as far as w know, in the case of Zriarthrus Beckii alone remained shut in under the head shield. sed ee (2) These ventrally placed antennz were inserted, ap) mately, one on each side of the labrum, Ce) ee It seems to me that these natural conclusions from the facts go far to establish the relationship between the Tril: and the Apodide originally maintai y Burmeister, an recently elaborated by the present writer (“The Apocidz,” ‘* Nature Series,” 1892). But however weighty the arguments (amounting, it seemed to me, to a proof) in favour of this relationship, the inability actually to demonstrate the existe of the antennze was a felt weakness. That weakness has now been finally removed, and my arguments have been fully con- firmed, by the finding that the Trilobites had antenne i practically the same position as the antericr pair in the Apodida:. The Trilobites may therefore take a firm place at the roc of the Crustacean system, with the existing Apus as the nearest ally. hae The modern Crustacea, with their two pairs of antenna arranged in a group with the eyes at the most anterior end o the body, have then to be deduced from primitive forms which the antennz were placed ventrally at the sides of th labrum, and were shut in under a large head shield. Zriarthrus Beckii shows us one attempt to bring the antennz forward. / pair of antenne (presumably the anterior pair) lengthened co siderably, and, without apparently changing their p insertion, projected from under the head shield throu median groove. In spite of this actual discovery, I still a that the method of attaining the same end proposed by me (4 cit.) wasthe method finally adopted. I suggested two grooves one on each side of the median line, along which the anten moved bodily to the front. This would allow both pairs to: as anterior feelers, whereas the method adopted by thr would apparently only allow one pairto do so. Further, th piece between the grooves would account for the rostrum, whic we know was very early developed. The antennz in the ear Phyllopod Cerativcaris papilio were not long and filiform as i the Trilobite Triarthrus, but look exactly like a pair of Ap antennz moved bodily to the front. a Whether the remarkable resemblance of the Isopods to the 1 On the Antenne and other Appendages of Zriarthrus Bei OcToBER 12, 1893] NATURE $83 Trilobites is due to direct descent, or is acase of convergence, cannot here be discussed. We shall wait with impatience for further details of these im- rtant discoveries, inasmuch as there seems great promise that the soft black shale to which we owe the fine preservation of the antennz has also preserved for us further details of the organi- sation of these interesting fossils. The fragments of limbs shown in the drawings make us eager for more. E II. M. BERNARD. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. AN influential and well-attended Conference on Secondary _ Education was opened on Tuesday in the Examination Schools, Oxford. The subjects considered were the need of various types of secondary education in England, with special reference ~ to (1) the curricula and gradation of first grade schools (classical and modern), second grade schools, and higher grade board schools respectively; (2) the provision of preparatory schools _ for the upper grade of secondary schools ; and (3) the relation _ between secondary schools and the Universities. Mr. A. AUSTEN LEIGH, Provost of King’s College,Cambridge, was admitted Vice-Chancellor on September 30. Dr. Peile, in resigning office, commented on the events of the University year. He-called special attention to the straitened finances of the scientific departments, and trusted that help might be obtained from external sources. The departments of Engineer- ing, Geology, Astromony, and Pathology appear to be those most urgently in need of additional resources. The Senate would be asked to appoint a syndicate for conducting Examina- tions in Agricultural Science, being strongly moved thereto by the County Councils and the Royal Agricultural Society. The Galileo Tercentenary at Padua, the Harvey Centenary in Cam- bridge, and the appointment of Mr. H. Y. Oldham as University Lecturer in Geography, in the room of Mr. Buchanan, were sympathetically referred to. ; Mr. R. A. SAmPson, Fellow of St. John’s College, and Isaac Newton Student in Astronomy, Cambridge, his been appointed Vrofessor of Mathematics in the Durham College of Science, Newcastle, A NEw. course. of lectures on ‘f The Physiology of the Special Senses, chiefly the phenomena of Vision,” will be given this term by Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, of St. John’s College, Cambridge, beginning on Monday, October 16. The lectures will be accom- panied by practical work in the Psychophysical Laboratory. Tue Technical Instruction Committee of the Bolton County Council has issued a syllabus of day and evening classes for the session 1893-4. The youth of Bolton can obtain instruction in _ wany of the arts and most of the sciences at their Technical School, and judging from the well-equipped workshops illus- trated in the syllabus, excellent courses of manual training are given. Tue Entrance Scholarships in Science at St. Bartholomew’s Ilospital have recently been awarded. The scholarship of £75 in biology and physiology has been given to E. C. Morland, of Owens College, Manchester ; the scholarship of £75 in chemistry __and physics has been gained by R. H. Bremridge ; -the junior __ open scholarship of £150 in biology, chemistry, and physics has _ heen gained by H. A. Colwell; and the preliminary scientific exhibition has been awarded to J. E. Robinson, The Jeaff- __ reson exhibition in classics and mathematics has been gained by —G. V. Bull. A picEst of the University Extension Science Lectures, to be delivered this autumn, shows that the movement is doing good work in many parts of the country. In connection with the Cambridge University Extension Syndicate, nine courses will __ be delivered on Botanical subjects, seven on Natural History, _ sevenon Hygiene and kindred matters, six on Chemistry, and two on the History of Science, while single courses have been arrange in Agriculture, Electricity, and Geology. The pro- gramme of the London Society for the Extension of University Teaching shows six courses on Chemistry, four on Astronomy, three on Geology, and the same number on Hygiene. The Oxford University Extension Delegacy have made arrange- ‘ments for the delivery of sixteen courses on Chemistry, reine on Hygiene, nine on Agriculture, four on Astronomy, three on G-ography, three on Geology, two on Electricity, two on NO. 1250, VOL. 48] 4 Physiography, one on Light, and one on the Forces of Nature. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. THE American Meteorological Fournal for August: contains an important investigation on the movements of the air at all heights in cyclones and anticyclones, as shown by cloud observa- tions made at Blue Hill Observatory. A record was made of the kind of each cloud visible, its direction of motion and relative velocity, and the observations, classified into five levels, were plotted by means of arrows on maps prepared for the purpose. The increased velocity of the wind near the centre of the cyclone and the decreased velocity near the centre of the anticyclone .are distinctly shown. The arrows also show that the inclination of the wind to the centres of the two is not the same on all sides. In the cyclone the winds blow. most nearly tangential south-east of the centre, and most nearly inward north or north-east of the centre; while in the anti- cyclone the winds are most tangential north-west of the centre, and most nearly outward south or south-east of the centre. In the cumulus region the cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation are still visible, but the general westward drift has become much stronger, while above that region that circulation is entirely masked by the drift. The diagrams also show that the currents do not all turn to the right as one ascends into the atmosphere, as is usually stated; when the winds have a northerly com- ponent, they show that the currents turn to the left as one ascends. The tables show that the circulation of the airis much more rapid in the higher regions than near the earth’s surface, both in cyclones and anticyclones. Bulletin de T Académie Royale de Belgique, No. 8.—Deter- mination of the constant of aberration, of the parallax of Polaris, of the velocity of the solar system, and of the constants of diurnal nutation, by means of the latitude observations of Gyldén and Peters at Pulkowa, by F. Folie. A further discus- sion of the evidence for diurnal nutation claimed as discovered by the author, and other deductions from the Pulkowa latitule observations. Among the latter is the R.A. of the apex of the sun’s way, 277°, the positive parallax of 0”'05 for Polaris, and the negative correction for the constant of aberration, 0°°037, which harmonises the velocity of light and the parallax of the sun.—Correct determination of the constant of aberration by observations in the prime vertical, by the same author. This shows that the accepted formula for the reduction of prime vertical observations is faulty, and substitutes a corrected one.— Researches on the mono-carbon derivatives, by Louis Henry. This portion of the researches contains a preliminary account of the ammoniacal derivatives of methyl aldehyde.—On a simple method of measuring retardation in minerals cut in thin plates, by G. Cesaro. A compensating quartz prism is placed between the microscope and the mineral, and moved across the field by means of a screw permitting a displacement of o'o5 mm. The tints utilised for the determination of the amount of retardation experienced by the extraordinary ray are those known as sen- sitive tints, which easily change from a bluish to a reddish violet.—On the nutrition of the echinoderms, by Marcelin Chapeaux. The author maintains that the amibocytes of the ccelomic cavity of starfishes play an important part in the con- tinuation of the process of digestion originated by the radial glands. Small drops of the oils emulsified by the radial glands traverse the epithelium and enter the body cavity. They are then absorbed by the amibocytes, and their duplication is carried out in the interior of these phagocytes, under the in- fluence of an acid ferment. : Bulletin dela Société des Naturalistes de Moscou,1892,No. 4.— Contributions to the fauna of the Aral Steppes, by A. Nikolsky. List of mammals and birds collected or noticed in the Steppes, with very short remarks.—Astragalus Uralensis, a new species, by D. Litwinow.—On the cold of January, 1893, note by B. Sresnewskij.—To the memory of N. I. Koksharoff and A. W. Gadolin, by W. Vernadsky. An excellent summary of Gadolin’s work. 1893, No. 1.—On some ecto- and ento-parasites of the Cyclopides, by Dr. W. Schewiakoff (with a plate). A new species, Trichophrya cordiformis, is described, also the ento-parasitic slimes of the cyclopides.—On the anatomy of Siredon pisciformis, by W. Zyk>ff (with a plate).—Notes on a new skull of Amynodon, by Marie Pavloff (with a plate). The skull has been received from America, and was found in the miocene of the Black Hills, South Dacota.—Catalogue of Lepidoptera of the Government of Kazan (third paper), by L. Krulikovski, containing the Noctuw.—On the molecular 584 °NATURE [OcroBER 12, 1893 forces in the chemically simple bodies, on the basis of thermo- dynamics, being the third part of a remarkable memoir by J. Weinberg.—On the development of the ocean, by Prof. H. Trautschold, An attempt to prove that the ocean, at its first appearance, must have been very poor in chlorides as well as in carbonates and other salts. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. PARIS, Academy of Sciences, October 2.—M. Lcewy in the chair.—On the Serpent d’eau of the Rhéne at Geneva, by M. H. Faye. This paper contains a description of a peculiar phenomenon seen at a weir near Geneva. It is a species of whirl in a vertical plane produced by a recoil of the water from the top of the barrier to a distance of 1°5 m, The axis of the whirl is horizontal, and parallel to the barrier. A delicate experiment performed by the late M. Colladon proved that this ‘* serpent ” exercises in its interior a considerable aspiration or suction. The phenomenon is complicated by the superposition of another whirl round a vertical axis in the neighbourhood of places where the barrier is interrupted, and the water is allowed a free fall. In these places conical tubes are formed whose apices descend to the bottom of the river, and into which air is noisily precipitated. Light objects—wood, paper—thrown into the whirlpool, descend, turning upon themselves with extra- ordinary speed. The whole phenomenon is very transitory and unstable. M. Faye does not share M. Colladon’s view that the phenomenon is analogous to an ascending tornado. It has no analogy to a tornado, although it essentially requires a descending whirl for its production.—Observations of the comet Rordame-Quénisset, made with the great equatorial of the Bordeaux Observatory, by MM. G. Rayet, L. Picart, and F. Courty.—Values of the magnetic elements determined by the polar expedition of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society to the mouth of the Lena, by M. le Général A. de Tillo. The values for the magnetic elements at Sagastyr, as found by Captain Jurgens, are the following :— Declination — ... ie iss ae sid 4°7° E. Bt ee oe res a yf ee a $3'2° Horizontai intensity ... 0°072° G. Neumayer’s map shows the greatest error in the declination, which it gives at 11°0° E,.—Influence of the state of the surface of a platinum electrode upon its initial capacity of polarisation, by M. J. Colin. The results of M. Colin’s experiments are in agreement with M. Blondlot’s proposition that gases, and hydrogen in particular, are the cause of changes in the capacity of a platinum-water surface. If, in conformity with this hypothe- sis, the presence of hydrogen diminishes the capacity, the capacity ofan electrode having served as kathode in the decomposition of water is very small ; conversely, that of an electrode which has served as an anode, must be very great, since the oxygen set free must have eliminated the hydrogen with which the platinum might have been charged. Chromic acid, being a powerful oxidiser, must act in the same sense.—The fixation of iodine by starch, by M. G. Rouvier. The weights of starch remaining the same, as well as the other circumstances of the experiment, if the quantity of iodine added is increased, the quantity fixed rises at first. If the iodine is employed in sufficient quantity a compound is obtained whose percentage of iodine is always near 19°6, corresponding to the formula (C,H)0O;),,!;. A higher percentage was never obtained. If tbe weights of iodine and starch remain the same, as well as the other circumstances of the experiment, and the volume of the mixture increases, the quantity of iodine fixed diminishes, on condition that no more iodine is employed than is necessary to obtain the percentage 19°6. Otherwise, the volume may increase, and yet this per- centage may be obtained. SYDNEY. Royal Society of New South Wales, August 2.— Prof. T. P. Anderson Stuart, President, in the chair.— The following papers were read:—Notes on the Bin- gera diamond field, by Rev. J. Milne Curran.—On the occurrence of a chromite-bearing rock from the Pennant Hills Quarry, near Paramatta, by W. F. Smeeth, J. A. Watt, and Prof. T. W. E. David.—Note on the occurrence of barytes at the Five Dock Sandstone Quarry; and note on the occurrence of calcareous sandstone allied to Fontainebleau sagen? from Rock Lily, near Pittwater, by Prof. T, W. E. avid. ‘ NO. 1250, VOL. 48] Linnean Society of New South Wales, August 30.—Prof, Haswell, Vice-President, in the chair.—The following papers — were read :—Notes on Australian Coleoptera, with descriptions — of new species, part xiv., by Rev. T. Blackburn.—Note on Colina Brazieri, Tryon, by Prof, Ralph Tate.~-Deseiipdameale : some new species of Araneide from New South Wales, No. ii. | by W. J. Rainbow.—Notes on aboriginal stone bin pe ee implements, No. xviii.-xx. by R. Etheridge, Junr.—Three — additional types of womerah, or throwing-stick, by a Jun. , =n BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. q Phibeophical Naden: compiled by E. a Hughes (Bickers).—Our Reptiles and Batrachians, new edition: Dr. M.C. Cooke (W. H. Allen).—The Zambesi Basin and Nyassaland: D. J. (Blackwood).—Some Salient Points in the Science of the Earth: Sir ed Wi Dawson (Hodder and Stoughton).—A Text-book of Physiology. (th ae Part 1: Dr. M. Foster (Macmillan).—The ‘“ Thumb’ er-bo k — (Frowde).—Marine Boiler Management and Construction: C. eS meyer ay neprees Elementary Text-book of Azricultural Botany: — M. C, Potter (Methuen).—Péches et Chasses Zoologiques: Murquis de — Folin (Paris, Baillitre).—Lectures on the Comparative Path ee Inflammation: E. Metchnikoff, translated by F. A. er Dr. E. H. Ppa K. Paul).—Machine Drawing: T. Jones and T. G. Jones (J. eywood). ‘ ‘AMPHLETS.—The Upper Hamilton and Portage Stages of Central and Eastern New York : C. L. Prosser.—The Climate of Chi : H. A. Hazen — Washington).—Mikroskopische Vivisektion: Dr. A. Gru estoration of Coryphodons: O. C. M October er and Francis).— Po Himmel un PAGE a CONTENTS. ) The Correspondence of Berzelius and Liebig. By _ Do Oa asa ae 6 ce ee Bacteriology forthe Student ........... 562 Our Book Shelf :— Sar ee Whitehead : ‘* Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo ” 54 Dodgson : ‘‘ Pillow Problems. Curiosa Mathematica,” Part II Thomas: ‘‘Enunciations in Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, and Trigonometry ” : Letters to the Editor :— Thoughts on the Bifurcation of the Sciences suggested by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Associa- tion.—Prof. Oliver J Lodge, F.R.S.. B. British Association : Sectional Procedure. —L. C. M. 566 Orientation of Temples by the Pleiades. -R.G. Hali Burtonss: at ee des 10 hs a ee +35 SOR Early Chinese Observations on Colour Adaptations. — a Kumagusu Minakata.......... 1 3 SOfe Remarkable Meteors.—J. Lloyd Bozward .. . 567 The Meteor of Sunday, October 1, 1893.—J. Lovel. 567 Tertiary and Trias:ic Gastropoda ofthe Tyrol. By _ a = 3 BCA MRNA sour EE a MEARE ia +. se ee ae NOTE see oe eee SON A On io Our Astronomical Column :— ; Astronomy at the World’s Fair. . . . . «+ + + 573, The Aurora of July 15, 1893... + - ++ +++ + 573 New Variable Stars in Cygnus . .....++ ++ 573° Geographical Notes ......--.-+. +++: 574 Biology at the British Association ...... 57am Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies 576 The Geological Society of America. ....... 578 Bleeding Bread By M.C. Cooke. ........ 573 Forthcoming Scientific Books ......... 579. Trilobites with Antenne at Last! By H. M. Bernard 582 University and Educational Intelligence es : Scientific Serials .......... 583 Societies and Academies ........-++. 584 — Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... 584 e- Oe Xe RLS yee i 3 NATURE 585 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1893. BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 7 Lepidoptera of the British Islands ; a Descriptive | Account of the Families, Genera, and Species In- _ digenous to Great Britain and Ireland, their Pre- _ paratory States, Habits, and Localities. _ Rhopalocera. By Charles G. Barrett, one of the _ Editors of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. _ (London: L. Reeve and Co., 1893.) \] OFWITHSTANDING the number of popular books on British insects which are constantly issuing from the press, it is only occasionally that we have to notice the appearance of a work of higher pre- tensions than this, even as regards our British biitterflies. And yet it is of great importance that we should place on record a full and complete account of our native cts as speedily as possible. Much information that ght still have been preserved fifty years-ago is now robbed us of many ofthe British insects which were abso- lutely peculiarto our country. But some still remain ; and notwithstanding the comparative poverty of the British insect-fauna as compared with that of the Continent, the British Islands possess a much larger number of peculiar forms.than is generally imagined, and the French entomologists actually call Britain “le pays des variétés.” The volume before us is the commencement of a co nprehensive work on the whole of the British idoptera (about 2099 species in round numbers) is edited by Mr. C. G. Barrett, who is well cnown to entomologists as one of our best practical workers. He has had unusual facilities for personal observation in many parts of the country, and has devoted much attention to our native Lepidoptera, and nore especially to some of the more difficult groups of the smaller moths; but he has hitherto only contributed to periodical literature. ; _ The work appears in monthly parts, with plain or coloured illustrations. It commenced last year, the first volume, including the butterflies, and illustrated with forty plates representing all the spe- cies regarded as undoubtedly British, in addition to merous figures of larve and varieties, is now. complete in ten parts, and has been reprinted on smaller paper, and without plates. It appears to us to bea grave over- sight that there is no reference to this in the smaller ition, except in the advertisements at the end of the volume. Prominent attention should certainly have been called to the larger edition, even at the risk of injuring the sale of the smaller one, either in the preface or by a conspicuous advertisement. In his introduction Mr. Barrett gives a concise account ‘the general structure and metamorphoses of Lepidop- era, and remarks on classification andsynonymy. With fespect to classification, everyone will agree with him n the following observations :— _ “ Classification is, however, largely a matter of opinion. The absolute necessity—in books, lists, and collections— NO. 1251, VOL. 48] Wert. ecoverably lost, for the drainage of the fens has- for alinear arrangement precludes the possibility of one which is really natural, since, although the relation of groups to each other is often evident, they ramify, extend, intersect and interlace to such a degree that it is only possible to take group after group in as natural a suc- cession as seems to commend itself to the individual writer, with the knowledge on his part that the arrange- ment is partly the outcome of his own particular views, and that in all probability those of other authors’ are equally substantial.” A But when he adds, ‘“‘ That which has hitherto been followed for our native species does not appear to be dis- turbed to a very large extent by an examination of the species found in other parts of the world,” it is only so far true on account of the vast bulk of the Order having hitherto prevented any rearrangement of the families (the butterflies excepted) in a sufficiently natural series to be regarded in any other light than as tentative. © Mr. Barrett cuts the Gordian knot of synonymy, as is best in a work of limited scope, by quoting every name under which any species is widely known. No other course was open to him, unless he had worked out the synonymy of every species for himself, a work of great labour, difficulty, and at times uncertainty, or unless he had decided to follow some previous author through- out. Dealing with British Lepidoptera only, Mr. Barrett appears to have almost confined himself to the use of English authors, from the time of Haworth, including an examination of the principal periodicals. A great deal of hitherto unpublished information is also included in the work, from the observations of the author and his correspondents. But little use appears to have been made of continental au thors, except as regards the larvee of some of the species described. Turning to the body of the work, we find that under each species the dimensions, essential characters, varia- tion, larvee, pupz, habits, &c., are discussed in sufficient detail for most practical purposes. A useful feature of the book is the addition of many of the species which have been reputed, on fairly good authority, to have been taken in Britain, but which are still regarded either as accidental immigrants, or as doubtfully British. Of course these notices are much briefer than those of the well-established British species, about which there is no question. But we do not see what has guided the author in his selection of reputed British species ; he has in- cluded such an insect as Thais rumina, a conspicuous South European butterfly, once found flying in Brighton Market, but which could hardly by any possibility be indigenous in Britain, while he makes no mention of many species recorded by the old authors as having been at least casually taken in England. As he has included such species as Thais rumina and Parnassius Delius, we think he should have given at least a passing notice of every butterfly recorded as having been taken in Britain (except, perhaps, in cases where there was reason to believe that there had been an actual error of identification, or when a careless and _ ill-informed author like Turton has marked species as British at random); or else have omitted all the reputed British species, except those which there was some ground for Cc € 586 NATURE [OcToBErR 19, 18 om believing might ultimately prove to be indigenous. Among the latter were many moths which were really omitted from, instead of inserted in, the British list “without authority,” by the late Henry Doubleday, and which have since been proved to be indigenous, and reinstated. But we are glad to find that Mr. Barrett admits Lycena argiades and Danats Archifpus among our native butter- flies. The latter, though an importation from America, has been so frequently taken in England of late years, that it is hoped it may become permanently natural- ised. On the other hand, there are several apparently extinct species, formerly common in England, such as Chrysophanus dispar, \ast taken in 1865, as well as others which appear to be now on the verge of extinction as British species, without any obvious reason, such as Aperia crategi and Polyommatus acis. In a few years we fear that entomologists may have seriously to con- sider the desirability of finally erasing several of our British butterflies from our list as absolutely and un- doubtedly extinct. Per contra, we may look for oc- casional additions (though very rarely among the butter- flies) among species which are possibly overlooked or confounded with others, like Lycena argiades and Hesperia lineola, the two latest novelties. In the case of Lycena betica, first taken in England in 1859, there is good reason to believe that the species is naturally ex- tending its range in North-Western Europe. Possibly this may also be the case with the moth, Syutomis phegea, which is said to have been taken once or twice in England of recent years, and which, though gregarious and generally abundant wherever it is found, is excessively local north of the Alps, though there are several isolated colonies in Germany and the Netherlands. We could have wished that Mr. Barrett had paid more attention both to the foreign literature relating to British butterflies, and to the older English literature before Haworth; but no man can accomplish everything, and within the limits to which he has confined himself his work must be regarded as by far the best and most com- plete which has yet appeared. W. F. Kirsy. COOKE ON LOCOMOTIVES. Lritish Locomotives. By C. J. Bowen Cooke. (London and New York : Whittaker and Co., 1893.) OCOMOTIVE engineers, like their brethren in the medical profession, very often differ widely in their practice ; again, they often follow the practice of some older locomotive engineer dead and gone, may be. Who can say that the late Mr. William Stroudley has not left his mark on the locomotive design in this country, and that many British railways do not bear his handiwork in the design of their locomotive stock? ‘To the layman the question why certain railways have engines with domes, and other railways have engines without domes, will always remain unanswered. The same may be said of bogies, injectors, pumps, &c. In the large locomotive works, where engines are built by contract, these divergencies of practice are brought prominently forward, and one is in danger of coming to the conclusion that anything will do in the way of loco- NO. 1251. VOL. 43] motive design. Nor is it only in the design that there so much variation, for one finds quite as much in the s} tems of doing work often rigidly specified to be followe Another point also deserves attention. Since the steel has come into use as a material for the cons of boiler shells, it is amusing to observe the different this material is handled, or rather specified to be ha: Some engineers allow the plates to be sheared to s the rivet holes punched full size without hesitation ; ot again partly follow this practice, but require the sh are edges of plates to be planed to a depth of a quarter of inch, and punched holes to be machined to a depth of eighth of an inch on the diameter. Another school | clines to have punched rivet holes at any price. T same variation in practice holds good with the qu of annealing the plates, and particularly the flanged which go to form the boiler. It is possible to take the principal parts of a lo tive and to demonstrate that what is considered practice by one locomotive engineer -is considered | some other to be decidedly wrong, and for this reaso no good can be attained by following this view of tl : question further. Any book, therefore, treating on motive engineering will naturally tend to follow the tice of some particular locomotive engineer as re design, and particularly the details, the en course being the same in all cases. The volume before us “does not -prated’ to scientific work ; its purpose being more to give ther who may not feel disposed to dive into figures an culations, some information about locomotives in a densed and intelligible form.” This is to be reg because there is no modern work on locomotive d available for reference.: But on the other hand, theaut has written a most readable book, — non | ; apprentice and lay reader. The author, being on the locomotive staff of tl London and North-Western Railway, naturally folloy the practice in vogue on that line, and a better examp of good all-round locomotive engineering will be di to find. The volume may be roughly divided into three : viz. the early history of the locomotive, details of e struction of recent engines, and descriptions of modi locomotives in use on the principal railways i country. In all three divisions the author has doneai justice to the subject ; although, as we have before p out, the book would have been of far more value engineer had the author gone deeper into the quest design, and particularly the strengths of parts. Chapter v. deals with the boiler, the most impo and delicate part of a locomotive engine ; for given ay made boiler of ample capacity, then the engine vill h every chance of being a success. The author on'E gI mentions Bessemer steel as a material for boiler si n such a way as to give an impression that it is aa mon practice to use that material for this pury whereas Siemens-Martin open hearth steel is gener: used, and Bessemer steel is the exception, Further the tensile strength of various materials used for mal boiler shells is given. Surely the author should | specify an extension or contraction of area as well? ee ee eee OcToBER 19, 1892] NATURE 587 _ We read that “rivet holes may be drilled, but in general practice with locomotive boilers they are punched ' when the plates are cold.” Has the author ever seen tivet holes punched in a hot plate? It certainly is the practice to punch the rivet holes at Crewe, but no large ‘contractor dreams of punching at all, nor would most | engineers allow it to be done; and as regards cost, it is | certainly no more expensive to drill. _ Fig. 55 represents the arrangement for staying the crown of the fire-box by direct stays to the casing plate. his is said to be “a good arrangement.” ‘There are, however, several objections to it, the more important being that no provision is made for the expansion of ‘copper tube plate on raising steam, the first two rows of tays being usually carried by a sling attached to the boiler shell. The old-fashioned roof-bar is again coming into vogue, owing probably to the fact that the fire-box is not held so rigidly, and therefore the plates are not so liable to crack with the constant expansion and contraction. The chapter on boiler fittings is good, but the asbestos packed fittings made by Messrs. Dewrance and Co. might have been included with advantage. On the subject of sylinders we find much useful information, the latest types being clearly illustrated. Under the heading of general details, the radial axle-box, Adams’ bogie and blast-pipe are described, but the bissel truck is not in- ‘cluded.> This is to be regretted, because it is very com- monly in use abroad, and is more efficient than the radial axle-box. The all-important question of brakes is iscussed in Chapter xiii. Everybody will agree with e author that it is a pity there should be two brakes in he field, because where vehicles have to run over lines using different brakes, both systems of brake gear are _ usually fitted : and so thoroughly has this to be done, that ‘in the case of fish trucks used with passenger trains the _ cost of the brake gear comes to more than half the total ost of the vehicle. _ The many improvements recently made in the design _ of the fittings and gear of the automatic vacuum brake _ have rendered it most efficient and easily maintained; a sectional drawing of the combination ejector, as made by Messrs. Gresham and Craven, would have been wel- come in this chapter. The Westinghouse brake is well described, and is illustrated with the familiar sectional drawings of that company. Chapter xiv. is on modern locomotives, and is capitally illustrated. The locomotive types on the L. and N.W.R. are described, and a table is given, being a complete list of the different standard classes with the number of engines of each class. Another table gives the numbers and names of all the passenger engines ; following this chapter we find the standard types of other companies’ locomotives treated in much the same manner. On p. 252 there is evidently an error. The author men- tions “ Mr. Stirling’s 4 ft. coupled inside cylinder engines ith 5 ft.6in. driving wheels.” What does this mean? Page 266 gives the information that the Chatham and Dover Railway has the automatic vacuum as their Standard brake. Surely this line is claimed by the Vestinghouse Company. Scotch locomotive practice is well represented by Messrs. Holmes and Drummond’s NO. 1251, VOL. 48] fine engines running on the North British and Caledonian railways respectively. Page 286 contains an error in the statement that Mr. Drummond’s engines of a particular type are fitted with the Bryce Douglas valve gear. One engine certainly was so fitted, but after a series of break- downs the gear was done away with, and the ordinary link motion was adopted. The compound locomotive is treated in Chapter xvi. Both the Webb and Worsdell types are copiously illus- trated and described, but there is nothing absolutely new to be learned from a careful perusal of thischapter. No drawing is given of the Worsdell intercepting valve ; but this is a mistake which can be rectified in a future edition. The volume concludes with chapters on lubrication and packing, combustion and consumption of fuel, engine- drivers and their duties, &c. The question of metallic gland packing is just mentioned, and that is all. There are hundreds of engines now running fitted with the Jerome metallic packing, or that of the United States Company, and descriptions of these would not be out of place in this work. Taken as a whole, this volume contains much readable and useful matter. The author has certainly succeeded in writing a most interesting book, which is sure to leave many clear notions, on the minds of its readers, con- cerning the practical side of a subject of vast importance. Most of the illustrations are very clear. The printing is good, and the volume is strongly bound. N. J. LOCKYER. WEATHER PROPHES VYING. Sécheresse 1893, ses Causes. Par YAbbé A. Fortin, Curé de Chalette. (Paris: Vic et Amat, 1893.) MA or effect such a period of drought as that through which some parts of England and the Continent have recently past may have had on the harvest, it is pretty certain to be followed with a heavy crop of literature. Some writers content themselves with a simple record of facts, and a comparison with similar experiences in the past ; some try to explain the causes, and others have remedies to suggest which may diminish the ill effects of similar periods in the future. The work quoted above belongs rather to the two last categories, but unfortunately we cannot congratulate the author on his contribution to either the scientific or the economical side of the question. His explanation of the cause of the drought is easily expressed, though we can- not hope that the suggestions put forward will carry con- viction to the readers of this journal. In the opinion of the author, the drought is due to three contributory causes. (1) To the sun-spots, which for the three months in question exhibited themselves, it is stated, on the southern side of the sun. (2) To the fact that during the three months, March, April, and May, “ Vénus s’est trouvée en opposition constante et prolongée.” (3) The third cause is due to the fact that from the beginning of the year the lunar apogee has coincided with the new moon, and the perigee with the full moon. M. l’Abbé Fortin has apparently many readers and admirers. If we have understood the text correctly, he 588 NATURE [OcrozeER 19, 1893 publishes an almanack in which the weather predictions are given a year in advance, and to judge from the adver- tisement, these predictions have met with a ready circula- tion. Further than this, it is mentioned with pardonable pride, that when the gifted author was in need of a micro- meter for the prosecution of his studies of these sun-spots, a generous and a sympathising public subscribed 700 francs with a readiness and devotion that should attest the usefulness of his labours and his popularity. With these advantages on his side we feel the responsibility of venturing to disagree with him, or of questioning his figures and his results. Nor is any hope entertained of convincing him of the inadequacy of his arguments, and some apology is perhaps due for pointing wut one or two facts which, if they do not convict the reverend Abbé of misrepresentation, exhibit at least a want of candour, which we should not have expected to meet in one of his sacred calling. We may pass over his first argument resting on sun-spots, because it is not impossible but that these do exercise an influence on our atmosphere not yet explained, though we are certain that the warmest adherent of such a theory will find little additional sup- port from the arguments stated by the Abbé. It may not be possible to do justice by a translation to the words “ opposition constante et prolongée,” as applied to Venus. By “ opposition ” is evidently meant superior conjunction, but why constant and prolonged? The superior con- junction of Venus did not take place till the beginning of May, and we regret to say that the words “coincident cette année 1893 avec les mois de Mars et Avril” (p. 46) are unwarranted and misleading. The same remark applies to the words (p. 90), “ Vénus ne se rapprochait de sa con- jonction qu’ en Juillet,’ and it may further be remarked that since Venus was approximately at the same distance from the earth in the beginning of July as at the beginning of March, June ought to have been included in this “ con- stant and prolonged opposition.” Again, with regard to the moon’s apse, it is declared (p. go), ‘‘il arrivait encore que l’apogée se faisait juste en pleine lune, et le perigée 4 la nouvelle lune.” A comparison of the dates of new and full moon with those of perigee and apogee shows that the Abbé is not more accurate here than in his remarks on Venus. The average deviation for the three months under notice is two and a half days, and in one case the time of full moon was March 31, 19h, while the apogee did not occur till April 5, 7h., or a difference of time of four and a half days. But the curious and to some extent the most interesting feature of the whole is, that the admirers of the Curé will still continue to regard him as an authority, and, what is more to the purpose, eagerly purchase his almanacks, and would continue to do so even if his errors were more palpable—more numerous they could scarcely be. The remedy which the gifted author would apply to prevent a recurrence of the ill effects which have made themselves felt this year consists in an extensive system of irrigation. Doubtless financial considerations would enter in a perplexing manner into such a scheme, and prevent it becoming a part of practical agriculture. But the knowledge of local circumstances which the Abbé probably possesses, and certainly we do not, permits him to speak with an authority we do not like to question. . WEP, NO. 1251, VOL. 48] OUR BOOK SHELF. Geological and Solar Climates: their Causes and Varia tions. A Thesis. By Marsden Manson. (Lond Dulau and Co., 1893 ) SEVERAL thinkers have from time to time set to enlighten their fellow-creatures on the subject of the caus of the Ice age, a period when ice covered quite genera’ both the temperate and the tropical areas. Each one in his own way added something towards the solutio this problem, whether that something was large or but the theory that will produce conviction in all mind or rather in the majority of minds, has yet to come. — causes which have been suggested are many and vai Some say the age was due to a decrease in the original h ing of the globe ; changes in the elevation of the land therefore varied land and water distributions ; ch in the position of the axis of the earth; while ot account for the phenomenon by suggesting a - period greater moisture in the atmosphere ; variations in amount of heat radiated by our sun ; variations in | absorbing power of the sun’s atmosphere ; variations the temperature of space ; coincidence of an Aphelion winter with a period of maximum eccentricity of the earth’s orbit; a combination of the last mentioned with that of changes in the elevation of the land; and last the explanation recently put forward by Sir Ro Ball. , In the present thesis the author, after reviewing bri the suggested explanations, goes back to the idea of decrease in the original heating of the globe, and on th builds up a very plausible theory. To state briefly theory, one must mention that two sources of heat 1 at work—first that of the resident or internal heat of tl earth, and second that of thesun. As the earth passe from the era in which its climates had been controlle internal heat to one in which solar heat predomina uniform climates “ must have been passed through during which isotherms were independent of latitude.” Before the era was reached at which the sun had comp)! control over the climates, the author says the continent: areas must have, been glaciated, independent also of latitude. ape To state in so many words the direct cawse of the Ice age, he says that it is due to the remarkable properties o} various forms of water in relation to heat and cold. As vapour it played an enormous part in the loss and rec of heat by radiation, as water it was the last to retain “the effective remnant of earth heat, on account of it high specific heat, and as ice it was able to store a g amount of cold.” ashen The author then deals in detail with the way th three forms of water played their part in this stupend phenomenon. : The end of the Ice age was brought about so soon the solar heat could find its way to the earth’s sur the air being cleared of obscuring clouds and fogs by chilling of the oceans’and the glaciation of contin areas. ist Sy eee The first zone over which the solar energy would establish its power would be the torrid zone ; tra polewards the glacial conditions would gradually removed upon lines parallel with the present isotherm More on the subject need not be said here, but we woul recommend any one who takes an interest in this pro! lem to give this book a perusal, for.although there m be many who would not agree with the writer in points, yet he has made an honest and plausible attempt: suggesting a cause of one of the most difficult and ye most fascinating problems with which we have to deal. A Manual of Electrical Science. By George J. Burch (London : Methuen and Co., 1893.) ; = OF the many useful volumes in the University Extens:on — Series published by Messrs. Methuen, this is one of th OcToBER 19, 1893] NATURE 589 _ best. “I have written,” says the author, “not for _ wealthy amateurs, nor for people who do not care to _ think, but for men and women who have to give up something else to spend a sovereign on their own educa- tion. Nearly all the apparatus described in this book can be made by anyone with a few tools and a little _ finger-skill.” In conformity with this laudable desire, technical terms are rarely introduced without being ex- plained, and by simple words and apt. illustration the way to electrical knowledge is made as easy and pleasant as it possibly could be. Indeed, popularity of style ap- pears to be the book’s sole rvatson d’étré, for, with one or two exceptions, the facts described are to be found in a number of elementary text-books. However, it can be said that there are very few, if any, books of the modest dimensions of the one before us in which so much in- formation is imparted in a more popular manner. The descriptions of experiments and principles are easy read- ing without being diffuse; the hydrostatic and other analogues are numerous, yet they are never used where likely to lead to a misconception. The illustrations, however, are not worthy of the text. They should have been far more numerous and less sketchy in order to appeal to the public for whom the book has been specially designed. 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 thts or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] The Supposed Glaciation of Brazil. In the second volume of NATURE, p. 510, I reviewed the late Prof. Hartt’s ‘‘ Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil,” and called attention to the author’s views, as well as those of the late Prof. Agassiz, relating to the supposed glaciation of that country. From their very positive statements I concluded that _the evidence as described by them did actually exist, and that until it was disproved it should not be ignored. In my “Darwinism,” p. 370, I stated, on the authority of my friend, Mr. J. C. Branner, now Professor of Geology in the Stanford _ University, California, who succeeded Prof. Hartt in Brazil, and had a much more extensive knowledge of the country, that the supposed glacial drift and erratic blocks were all results of ' subaérial denudation. Recently, however, Sir Henry Howorth has quoted some passages from my review in illustration of the ' wild and incredible theories of some geologists, as samples, in fact, of the ‘* Glacial Nightmare ” ; and, as no authoritative dis- _ proof has yet been given of the exceedingly strong and positive statements of Agassiz and Hartt, I beg leave to lay before the readers of NATURE some extracts from a paper on ‘‘ The Sup- ed Glaciation of Brazil,” by Prof. Branner, which will shortly e published, and of which he has kindly sent me a type-written copy in advance. As a partial justification of what has now proved my too hasty acceptance of the statements of these gentle- men, I will give one passage in which Prof. Agassiz refers to ’ the supposed glacial phenomena near Ceara :—‘‘I may say that in the whole valley of Hasli there are no accumulations of morainic materials more characteristic than those I have found here, not even about ‘the Kirchel ; neither are there any remains _. of the kind more striking about the valleys of Mount Desert in Maine, where the glacial phenomena are so remarkable ; nor in the valleys of Loch Fine, Loch Awe, and Loch Long, in Scot- _ land, where the traces of ancient glaciers are so distinct.” Both Agassiz and Hartt were equally strong as to similar phenomena near Rio. It is to be first noted that Hartt had only spent eighteen months in Brazil when he wrote his book, and his views on the ' glacial phenomena were thus based on a very hasty survey of that enormous territory. Prof. Branner went with him when he again visited Brazil in 1874, helped him in his geological work till his death in 1877, and himself remained five years longer making a geological survey of the country ; and hestates that, before his death, Hartt’s views underwent a radical change. Prof. Branner says :— NO. 1251, vor. 48] ‘* Under his direction I did more or less work in the moun- tains about Rio de Janeiro for the purpose of sifting the evidence of glaciation in that region, and I am glad to say, in justice to the memory and scientific spirit of my former chief and friend, that long before his death he had entirely abandoned the theory of the glaciation of Brazil, and that the subject had ceased to receive further attention, even as a working hypothesis,” A few extracts must now be given showing to what causes the phenomena which deceived these observers are really due. And first as to what were supposed to be erratic boulders often em- bedded in boulder clay. ‘*The boulders believed to be erratics are not erratics in the sense implied, though they are not always in place. The first and most common are boulders of decomposition, either rounded or subangular, left by the decay of granite or gneiss. Sometimes they are embedded in residuary, and therefore un- stratified, clays, formed by the decomposition in place of the surrounding rock. And everyone has heard of the great depth to which rocks are decomposed in Brazil. The true origin of these boulders and their accompanying clays is often obscured by the ‘creep’ of the materials, or in hilly districts by land slides, great or small, that throw the whole mass into a confusion closely resembling that so common in the true glacier boulder clays. In this connection too much stress cannot be placed upon the matter of land slides ; they are very common in the hilly portions of Brazil, and aside from profound striations and facet- ting produce phenomena that, on a small scale, resemble glacial till ina very striking degree.” .... ' ‘The second method by which these boulders have been formed is quite similar to the first, but instead of being cores of granite or gneiss, they have been derived by the same process of exfoliation and decomposition from the angular blocks into which the dikes of diorite, diabase, or other dark- coloured rocks break up, Their colour’ marks them as quite different from the surrounding granites, and the dikes themselves are almost invariably concealed. The residuary clays derived from the decomposition of these dikes are somewhat different in colour from those yielded by the granites, so that when ‘creep’ or land-slides add their confusion to the original relations of the rocks the resemblance to true glacial boulder clays is pretty strong. The chance of discovering the source of such boulders is further decreased by the depth3to which the mass of the rock has decayed, and by the inpenetrable jungles that cover the whole country, and so effectually limit the range of one’s observations. Dikes, such as these last mentioned, are not uncommon in the mountains about Rio de Janeiro. Indeed, what have generally been regarded as the very best evidences of Brazilian glaciation, some of the boulders near the English hotel at Tijca, fall under this head, though some are of gneiss. The fact isthat the great mountain masses about Rio are of granite or gneiss, while some of the boulders ‘come from the dikes of diabase or other dark-coloured rock high on their ‘sides—dikes which were not visited by Agassiz or Hartt.” ° Prof, Branner then describes a third class of supposed erratic, derived from certain sandstone beds of the tertiary deposits, which, by exposure, change to the hardest kind of quartzite, and when the surrounding strata are removed by denudation, and a few blocks of this quartzite are left, they are so unlike the rocks by which they are surrounded that unless the observer has given a special study to the tertiary sediments, he is liable to be misled by them. ; 2 The wide-spread coating of drift-like materials tha covers considerable areas of the country, consisting of boulders, cobbles, and gravels, sometimes assorted and sometimes, having clay and sand mixed with them, are then described, and are shown to be due to the denudation of the tertiary beds during the last emergence of the land, aided by subsequent subaérial denudation and surface wash. Prof. Branner thus concludes :— «*T may sum up my own views with the statement that I did not see, during eight years of travel and geological obser- vations that extended from the Amazon valley and the coast through the highlands of Brazil and to the head waters of the Paraguay and the Tapagos, a single phenomenon in the way of boulders, gravels, clays, soils, surfaces, or topography, that required to be referred to glaciation.” : The very clear statement above given of the real nature of the phenomena which deceived Prof. Agassiz and Mr. Hartt, is very instructive, and it shows us that a superficial resemblance to drift, boulder-clay, and erratic blocks, in a comparatively un- known country, must not be held to be proofs of glaciation. 59° NATURE [OcTOBER 19, 1893 We require either striated rock surfaces or boulders, or undoubted voches moutonnées, or erratics, which can be proved not to exist sufficiently near to have been brought by ‘‘ creep” or land- slides. In view of these liabilities to error, we may be almost sure that the supposed evidences of glaciation described by the late Mr. Belt in his ‘‘ Naturalist in Nicaragua” (p. 260), are explicable in the same manner as the Brazilian evidences, since he nowhere found glacial stric or any boulders that could be proved to be true erratics ; and this is the more certain because he himself states (p. 265), ‘I have myself seen, near Pernam- buco, and in the province of Maranham, in Brazil, a great drift deposit that I believe to be of glacial origin.” All students of the past and present history of the earth are indebted to Prof. Branner for having relieved them of a great difficulty—a true glacial nightmare—that of having to explain the recent occurrence of glaciation ona large scale far within the tropics and on surfaces not much elevated above the sea- level. ALFRED R. WALLACE, Telegony. Dr. RoMANEs’ letter inviting a discussion concerning the re- markable phenomenon of telegony will be welcomed by many who have felt that too little notice. has been paid by men of science up till now to one of the most obscure problems of heredity. - At the conclusion of his remarks, Dr. Romanes rejects Prof. Weismann’s hypothesis that sperm elements are capable of penetrating into the ovary, and fertilising immature ova zm séiz, on the ground of their obvious incapa- bility of doing so. It seems, however, possible to doubt whether the spermatozoa are so incapable of penetrating such tissues as the stroma surrounding an ovarian follicle. Although, as far as I am aware, the actual penetrating of spermatozoa through ovarian tissues has in no case ever been shown to take place, yet we are bound to take it for granted that in some cases this actually occurs, from facts observed in many Inverte- brata. Prof. Whitman, in an exhaustive paper published in the Fournal of Morphology, January 1891, has collected a con- siderable mass of evidence to show that in many widely- differing animal groups the spermatozoa make their way through the external body wall at many different points, usually a large number being bound together to form spermatophores. Perhaps the best examples of animals where this occurs are found among the Turbellarians and Leeches. In these forms the spermatozoa pass directly through the epidermis, basal mem- brane, and the layers of muscular and connective tissue till they reach the body cavity. Here the spermatophores break up, and in some instances the individual spermatozoa undoubtedly must penetrate the wall of the ovary in order to fertilise the ova zz situ, As in many mammals, the immature ova lie very near the sur- face of the ovary, it does not seem to be beyond possibility that even in the higher vertebrates some similar process may occur. On the other hand, as Prof. Weismann points out, if such be the case we should expect to find animals pregnant several times in succession after once being crossed, of which no instance has ever been recorded. Dr. Romanes’ suggestion that the followers of Weismann may explain the facts of telegony by supposing the spermatozoa to disintegrate and that their ‘‘ids” and ‘‘ determinants ” somehow enter the unripe ova, must for the same reason be dismissed as impracticable, unless it be assumed that enough ‘‘ids” never reach one egg to supply the place of those ‘‘ids” which have been got rid of by the reducing division of the egg nucleus, and would be replaced in the ordinary course of things by the spermatozoon. Such an assumption would be obviously unscientific and unwarrantable. It seems, therefore, unsafe, until more definite experimental work has been done with regard to this obscure and interesting problem, to attempt to give any very definite explanation of the factsas they now stand, if we adopt Prof. Weismann’s, views as to the continuity of the germ plasm. The facts, as Dr. Romanes very rightly insists upon, show that telegony is on the whole, of very rare occurrence, and on this account it is premature to go so far with Mr, Spencer as to maintain that the few isolated instances of telegony are sufficient to knock down ata blow the far-reaching theories of heredity which Prof. Weismann has put forth, bs Ae) B Jet > U September 29. NO. 1251, VOL, 48] The Use of Scientific Terms. Pror, LopGE has made a valuable statement rega scientific terms in last week’s NATURE as follows :- words used in the current language of biology are ext classical and as unlike the language of daily life as can be cor trived. This is done to keep free from the misunderstandin arising out of the attempt to give to popular words a scienti z.é. an accurate meaning.” Botanists have not always be careful as Prof. Lodge would have us believe, and n instance to the contrary I would cite the following : I was recently lecturing on forest utilisation, and used the word bar in its ordinary meaning of the outer envelope ofa tree. One of the students in the class interrupted me to point out that I was speaking loosely, as darz is now a scientific term, the transformed outer envelope of a plant, the German after the growth in it of corky or stony tissues. _ pas I appealed to the sense of the class as to whether b have any right to adopt a common English word for thing beyond its ordinary meaning, and the class took my 1 of the subject unanimously, carrying eventually even objector with them. ets a The substance now scientifically termed bark might be styled rhytidome, as is done in France (vide ‘‘ Flore Forestiére,” by A, Mathieu, edition 1887, p. 595) ; or can any reader of NATURE propose a better term ? W. Ry FISHER. — Coopers Hill, October 16. gehy igh is . Rustless Steel. is SoME months ago I noticed, in 7ze Field, the statement that steel containing twenty per cent. of nickel was free from Sy and, on that account, very suitable for the manufacture of sn i arms of high quality. From its use in the manufacture of ordnance and armour-plate I presume, moreover, that nickel alloy does not compare unfavourably with ‘ordin steel in point of tenacity and hardness. Re If this proves to be the case—and it is the object of letter to elicit the information from some of the nun readers of NATURE—nickel-steel would form an inval material for the construction of certain parts of astronom and geodetic instruments, notably the pivots and axes, w as made at present, slowly deteriorate from rust when’ of st or from wear when of bronze, With geodetic instrume continually set up as they are in exposed situations, somet ; near the sea, it is seldom there is not, after a few years’ use, — evidence of rust enough on the pivots to have yyed rauch of the extreme perfection of figure attained by makers like Repsold or Ertel. The wear of bronze pivots is even worse. I am informed that the earlier meridian observations at a leadi observatory are not comparable in cies | with those t after the original bronze pivots had been replaced by steel ones. Cape Town, September 27. . G. FOURCADE, $e RESEARCH LABORATORIES FOR: WOMEN? “TRE session which we inaugurate to-day will in future be regarded as of prime importance in history both of Bedford College and of the higher edu tion of London at large, Paes aR It will be remembered in the history of London, fo: the course of it the Gresham Commissioners will issu their long-expected report. Whatever the nature of tl report may be it will be important; most im the Commissioners succeed in solving the di blem which has been proposed to them, and enlist in favour of their recommendations so strong a < ment of public approval that a teaching university at length established on the lines which they lay d Important, though no doubt less important, if they to the long list of failures to find the true solution, thus only prove that another route to the desired end barred. As regards Bedford College itself, we meet this sessi under the shadow of aloss. Miss Martin, for many the Lady Resident, who has done so much in helping an he 1 Inaugural address delivered at the Bedford College for Wome , | Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S.] Ocroser 19, 1893] NATURE 59t _ guide our institution amid the difficulties which have sur- _ rounded it, has retired from her post. Many here have _ already had opportunities of expressing their regrets to _her in person, but I feel sure that none interested in ' Bedford College would wish the first meeting of this _ session to pass without our conveying to Miss Martin the _ assurance of the affection with which she has inspired ' many generations of Bedford College students, or with- _ out our telling her once more of our hopes that she may _ enjoy for many years the rest she has so well earned. _ In an inaugural address, however, it is natural to look _ rather to the future than to the past. : It has been thought well that the organisation of the _ College should be brought into closer approximation to _ that which obtains in most similar institutions, whether ' intended for the education of men or of women. We _ have now a Lady Principal. It would be impossible in the presence of Miss Penrose to express fully how much we hope from her in the future ; it may be sufficient to _ say that we welcome her as the daughter of a distin- _ guished scholar, and as one who has shown herself capable of climbing the very highest rounds of the ladder of learning. Miss Penrose was selected as Principal by the Council-from among a group of candidates, of whom _ several would have adorned the post, and we believe _ that the large share in determining the future of Bedford Eo lese, which she must now take, has been placed in safe ands. On the occasion of this new departure it may be well _ to consider how widely the position of those who are now engaged in working for Bedford College differs from that of its founders. __ When the College was first instituted the very principle which it was intended to embody was disputed on all hands. It was denied that the doors of the Temple of Learning should be thrown open to women equally _ with men; that there is no crypt, however dark, no chapel, however sacred, which may not be entered by both alike. : ate ; That principle has now been vindicated. Women are working side by side with men in the same universities, competing with them in the same examinations, and _ proving by their successes that they can bear a worthy part in the intellectual strife of the schools. But if in this respect the Council have not to face the prejudices which their predecessors overcame, they have _ to encounter new difficulties caused in part by the very _ success of the principle for which their predecessors contended. ; Bedford College was the first institution designed for the _ introduction of women to the higher learning, but unfor- tunately, or, as the cause is greater than the College, I _ should perhaps say fortunately, it had no patent rights _ in the theory which it first illustrated. Rivals, friendly _ rivals, have sprung up, and in some respects they possess advantages we cannot claim. ‘ Some share the charm of the surroundings and the _ prestige of the names of the older universities. Another, _ near London, has wealth to which we have not yet attained. As women’s colleges have become more _ numerous, the beauty of their buildings has increased, _ the standard of their equipment has improved. To beauty of outward adornment we cannot in York Place _ pretend, but I would not have dwelt on this point to _ discourage you. Our laboratories, though small, are well fitted ; the art studio, the class and lecture rooms _ are sufficient for all the claims that are at present made _ College, though without the advertisement of external _ decoration, is adequately equipped for its great task. __ Another change which has taken place since Bedford College was founded is in the ideals of those who are _ engaged in promoting the higher education. When the College was first inaugurated the great NO. 1251, VOL. 48] upon them, and we may truly assert that Bedford’ examination craze was at, or was approaching, its height. Since then we have learnt that that method of testing ability is not all-sufficient, and signs are not wanting of a growing disbelief in its efficacy, especially when applied to very advanced students. The Education Department is laying greater stress on inspection and less on examination. In the University of London the note-books of the work done by scientific students in the laboratory are submitted to the examiners, thus recognising work done outside the examination room. At Cambridge the Smith’s prizes are given for suc- cessful theses instead of after an examination test. To have completed an original research now carries a man further towards his fellowship than all the triumphs of the Schools. In the University of London the degree of Doctor of Science is given without further examination, if the candidate can prove that he has added to knowledge on the subject he professes. I am told that there is at present a movement on foot at Oxford for giving to those who have carried out a successful research, what is still to some Englishmen almost inconceivable, an examinationless degree. It is perhaps chiefly in the mathematical and physical sciences that this movement is most noticeable, and it is largely based upon the growing conviction of both teachers and students, that it is, if not useless, at all events unsatisfactory to master all the intricacies of a mathematical or experimental machinery for investigating nature, if the knowledge gained with much pain and labour is not turned to account. Every man who has solved a mathematical problem has done work which is, as far as he is concerned, original, and it is absurd to train men so as to endow them with a special facility for such work, and yet to do nothing to show them in what direction their excep- tional attainments may be of real service. A student who has mastered a science but complains that he can add nothing to knowledge, is like an athlete who has learned to run well on a cinder track, but fails on the high road. More and more stress, then, is now being laid on the power both of teacher and students to use their knowledge. It is no exaggeration to say that original papers are produced in the principal London colleges by the score. If we turn to the provinces we find that the Com- missioners of the 1851 Exhibition give scholarships to those among the provincial students whom their colleges recommend as capable of undertaking advanced scientific work. And here it may be noticed that examination has again been dispensed with. In the old days the candidates would have been selected after a centralised examination held in London, whereas now the Com- missioners are content—and, in my opinion, very pro- perly content—with the recommendation of responsible authorities. In view then of this great change in the aims and objects of the higher education, I want to impress upon you that fact that if Bedford College, if women’s colleges in general are to hold the high position which the success of their students in the examination room has won for them, they must become places, not merely for acquiring knowledge, but for adding to it. I do not think that it can be honestly said that up to the present time the success of women as investigators has, in spite of some notable exceptions, been as great as their rapid and extraordinary achievements as students would have led us to expect. Nevertheless, if the fundamental idea of our founders is to govern us in the future as it has guided us in the past, the students of Bedford College must distinguish themselves in the research laboratory as they have often distinguished themselves in the struggle for a degree. In undertaking this task, 592 NATURE [OcToBER 19, 1893 many of them possess one qualification for success which most men lack; they have, at all events, time at their disposal. Do. not let me be misunderstood. I am far from de- siring that the students of Bedford College should leave } its walls impressed only with the importance of adding to knowledge, and inclined to neglect other and, at least as urgent duties. In my opinion, no man or woman can afford to cultivate any one part of their nature to the exclusion of the others. been told of homes in which work has been done which will never be forgotten, but done at the cost of all the | brightness and happiness which are usually associated with the name of home. This want of the sense of proportion, of the relative importance of different claims, casts a shadow on the brightest inteliectual fame. I am not asking for such sacrifices. I believe that in general they are absolutely unnecessary. But where the over-mastering curiosity of the born investigator exists, it will find a career, which may indeed involve self- sacrifice, but which need make no harsh demand on others. There are, to my knowledge, at the present moment a large class of men who are, living more hardly than they otherwise might live, who are cheerfully surrender- ing days which might be given to pleasure or to money- making, and are spending laborious nights, simply be- cause they are impelled by the desire to add some- thing to the pile of knowledge which our race is through the centuries accumulating. It cannot but be that if the same spirit animated the women and girls of this generation, many would be found among them who, without neglecting any duty, would work with the same energy for the same object. It is possible that some of my hearers may accuse me of holding up an impossible ideal. My answer is that the founders of Bedford College held up to their genera- tion an ideal which was then regarded as impossible but which has nevertheless been realised. Women, if they please, can now be educated to the same high level as men. which Bedford College should aim in the future. It is that it should be known as a place of learning as well as a place of education, as a place where not only is the number of those who know added to, but where knowledge itself is increased. THE INNER: STRUCTURE OF SNOW CRYSTALS. phi E ice and snow crystals photographed and described by me! may be referred to the following types. I. Crystals developed in the direction of the vertical axis. (a2) Hexagonal prisms. (4). Bottle-shapedj prisms. (c) Needles. II. Tabular crystals. (@) Hexagonal tables. lated tables. . (c). Dendritic tables. III. Crystals equally developed along the vertical and lateral axes. Among these groups, types I. (c) and III. arein no way different from the ordinary hexagonal crystals, and accordingly of less general interest. (0) Stel- the under layers of the snow covering. They are never found among the snowflakes, and are accordingly origin- ated by a molecular change in the snow covering. Type II. (c) comprises the relatively large dendritic crystals with complicated ramifications which are visible even to the naked eye as handsome regular stars. They have been figured and described by several observers, from Claus Magnus and Keppler to Scoresby and Glaisher, and I 1 “Geol. Foren. i Stockh.” Forh. Bd. 15, p. 146. NO. 1251, VOL. 48] I in turn venture to hold up to you an ideal at | Sad stories have sometimes | The former, I. (c), is | common in drifting snow ; to the latter belong the sharp | edged hexagonal prisms w7thout cavities, which compose | shall therefore not dwell upon them in the present paper. Of the remaining extremely interesting types (I. a, 6; IL. a, 6), which, owing to their microscopic dimensions, hay hitherto received no attention from men of science, give a brief description. a I. (a) Hexagonal Prisms. = Fig. 1 shows the commonest type. It is bounded by ~ the basal planes and the hexagonal prism, and of interest — on account of the hour-glass shaped cavities invariably present within the crystal. These are, as shown by the ~ figure, widest near the two basal planes, where they are ~ bounded by a negative hexagonal prism; nearer the ~ ee Fic. 1, yea tabtitc ts centre they contract again to expand in the form of two — bulbs, elongated to points and confluent. The shape of © the cavities is almost always the same. Crystals of this type are very small (about 05 mm. long), and the inner — structure only distinguishable under: the microscope. They are common in drifting snow. = : 4 I. (6) Bottle-shaped Prisms. The bottle-shaped crystals of elongated; prismatic form have the appearance shown in Fig. 2. Like the crystals of.the preceding type, they are bounded by an hexagonal prism and the basal plane; but — one end is pointed, and the ‘crystals accordingly © hemimorphic. The bottle-shaped crystals also contain — — ee ar ee Di aa Fic 2. cavities, less regular, however, than those in the crystals” of the preceding type. The following circumstance ~ attaches a special interest to these crystals. On Feb-— ruary 8 there wasa rather sparse fall of agglomerations of — bottle-shaped crystals such as are shown in Fig. 2. The cavities in these crystals proved under the microscope to” OcTOoBER Iu, 1893| NATURE 595 contain water in which one could sometimes (as in Fig. 2) _ discern a small air-bubble. On the day when this snowfall occurred the temperature was -8° C. Still there was a continual dripping of water from the house roofs, in spite _ of the fact that the sky was overcast, and the sun thus could not contribute to melt the snow. The dripping _ continued even at midnight in a temperature of - 12°C _ Shortly after the fall of snow a transformation could be _ observed in the crystals ; on the surface of the snow they had passed from prismatic bottles to hexagonal tables _ without any cavities. The above described fall of small ice-bottles containing water, a phenomenon, as far as I know, new to meteorologists, combined with the trans- _ formation of the crystals after their descent, affords a simple explanation of the fact that, in spite of the severe cold, the new-fallen snow was so saturated with water as to cause an incessant dripping from the roof. Il. (a) Hexagonal Tables. To the naked eye these crystals look like small, lustrous scales. Their dimensions vary between 0°8 and 1°4 mm. _ Under the microscope they prove to contain regular _ cavities, remarkable as being bounded not by planes, but, _ contrary to the accepted principles of crystallography, by regularly distributed curved surfaces. The limits of these cavities are shown under the microscope as fine black markings, to which, on account of their resemblance to forms within the organic world, I have applied the name : of or-ganoid lines, cavities, and formations. The following & Fic. 3. example will illustrate the structure of such crystals, including such organoid cavities. The snow-crystal (Fig. 3) shows in the centre a handsome star. The crystal __ is composed of two (or more ?) superimposed tables, with _ the same orientation. The different hexagons indicate _ the outer limits of these tables. Two tables are united __ by a stratum, which has the outlines shown by the stellate _ figure. Within this figure the crystal is therefore homo- _ geneous; without the same, its two different layers are _ separated by a flattened cavity, bounded by sinuate sur- _ faces, and probably ‘containing air. The same star in- cludes some extremely regular cavities of smaller size. _ On this table we can observe a hemihedral development, _ the six triangular fields into which the hexagon is divided ; A by lines drawn between the centre, and the angles being only alternately equal to each other. Such a hemihedry _ is the rule in this type. It is most developed in some _ almost triangular tables that occur among the equilateral _ hexagons. The above described structure, two tables united by a stellate layer of ice, is the general rule in the _ tabular ice crystals. The organoid figures show a great multiplicity of forms, but the fundamental type is the same in all of them. It is evident that their outlines are fixed by certain crystal- _ Ographic laws yet unknown to us. We might possibly NO. 1251, VOL. 48] find in these organoid formations, which so strongly remind us of shapes in the world of life,a clue to the mathematical laws of the structural outlines of organisms. Or perhaps these remarkable organoid figures are caused by microscopical aérozoic organisms, around which the crystals have developed. I hope next winter to be able to collect observations for the answering of this question II. (6) Stellate. Tables. Figs. 4-6 show some of the countless modifications exhibited by crystals of this type. Thecentral table often shows beautiful organoid figures sometimes, hemihedrally developed and regularly orientated cavities. Similar Fic. 4. cavities, usually of very minute size, are with great regu- larity distributed in the arms of the star. The ramification of the plates has some connection or other with the orientated cavities. Through each arm of the six-sided star runs what may. be called the mazn nerve, which originates either in the central plate or just outside it. This nerve is present in all the tables and dendritic stars with elongated arms. The main nerve is bounded by two fine, parallel gas cana/s. The first beginning of these canals consists of two or Fic. 5. four small cavities with parallel orientation. In the con-’ tinuation of these small cavities lie larger ones, often ’ prolongated to extended canals (see Fig. 4). Owing to’ evaporation on the surface of the crystal, these canals gradually become open, first at one end, and then along a part or the whole of their extent, only the ridge that divides them remaining as a merve (Fig. 5).. That these canals are really cavitiesin the ice I have ascertained by observ- ing and photographing snow crystalsin a coloured liquid. 504 NATURE I found that the liquid gradually penetrated into and filled the canals which were open. Fig. 4 shows the central parts of crystals with canals partly filled with the coloured liquid. Near the centre small air-bubbles are still visible. Fig. 6 is the central part of a star powerfully magnified. The interesting structure may be judged by the photograph. Phenomena attending the Compression of Snow Crystals. —A stellate plate was slowly compressed by screwing down the objective upon the cover-glass. After this pressure it was still entire. In the interior of the crystal new curvilinear figures or pressure lines had appeared, following a regular course analogous to that of the organoid figures. This analogy suggests that the latter may possibly be explained as tensional phenomena. Exceptional Symmetrical Conditions.—The fine cavities in the centre of the stars are sometimes regularly ar- Fic. 6. ranged after only ¢wo symmetrical planes at right angles to each other and of different value (see Fig. 4), in ac- cordance with the symmetrical conditions that we find in crystals belonging to the orthorhombic system. Hoar-frost.—\n addition to the photographing of snow crystals, I have also examined and reproduced by photo- graphy crystals of hoar-frost deposited on window-panes. Even these crystals formed often hexagonal tables, but were entirely without the remarkable cavities observed in snowflakes. The investigations of which I have here given a brief account show that the structure of snow crystals is very complicated, and display several peculiarities which, so far as we know at present, are unexampled in other crystals. I hope to be able to resume these investiga- tions next winter on a more extensive scale, in order to obtain, if possible, a complete elucidation of the interest- ing phenomena alluded to in the present paper. G. NORDENSKIOLD. BUTSCHLI’S ARTIFICIAL AMG@BA. ROF. BUTSCHLI, of Heidelberg, so well known by his valuable work on the Protozoa, and his | contributions to Bronn’s “ Klassen und Ordnungen,” has, in the monograph under review, approached a subject of deep interest and great difficulty, namely, the cause of protoplasmic movement. His researches in this direction are already known to readers of the Quarterly Fournal of Microscopical Science, for in 1890 Prof. Lankester inserted a letter from Prof. Biitschli, in which the latter gave a short account of his experiments. In the present monograph his researches are given in a * “ Untersuchungen tiber mikroskopische Schaume und das Protoplasma.” Von O. Biitschli. (Leipzig : Wilhelm Engelmann, 18,2.) NO. 1251, VOL. 48] completed form and in great detail. The gist of the whole subject may be put as follows:—Prof. Biitschl makes an artificial oil and water emulsion in a way sug- gested by Nuincke, and finds that under certain conditions drops of this emulsion exhibit streaming movements and changes of shape: according to Prof. Biitschli, proto- plasm is itself a natural emulsion, and the streaming and amceboid movements of protoplasm are, like of the artificial emulsion, due to surface tension. ~ : Working at emulsions, Nuincke had previously found that if substances soluble in water be finely powdered and rubbed up with oil, and the oil subsequently su rounded with water, the latter diffuses into the oil, wh it converts into a foam or emulsion of little water dro lets closely packed together in the oily matrix. The emulsion may obviously be compared with the sea-fi in which we find air globules closely packed in a water matrix, the oil in the emulsion and the water in the sea- foam having an alveolar or honeycomb build or form. The Nuincke emulsion is obviously, too, the reverse of the emulsions made by Johannes Gad with weak K,CO, and oil, in which the oil droplets lie closely packed in a water matrix; it is also the reverse of the numerous emulsions made every day by the druggist who uses oil in mucilage, malt-extract, &c. When Biitschli first tried the Nuincke method he used common salt, sugar, and nitre, taking these as examples of substances readily soluble in water. He succeeded, however, better by using Na,CO,, or K,CO,, and proceeded as follows. The salt, preterably K,CO,, was obtained pure and dry, and was finely powdered in an agate mortar. He then breathed upon it until it was slightly moist, and rubbed it up with olive oil until a thick white paste was formed. A tiny drop of the paste was then placed on the centre of a cover-glass, and inverted over a drop of water, and in order that the drop might not be pressed out of shape by the weight of the cover, the latter was supported by li pellets of wax or paraffin, The preparations so obtained were placed on one side in a damp chamber for twenty- four hours, and then washed out with water by inserting a piece of blotting-paper into the chink between the slide and cover, and supplying fresh water at the opposite side of the cover by means of a pipette. The water was then replaced by equal parts of glycerine and water, after which the drops of emulsion became clear and trans- parent, exhibiting changes in shape and streaming move- ments very much like those of an amceba. It appears” that the consistency of the olive oil isa very important factor in determining the successful issue of one of these experiments. Ordinary oil is of no use, it must be kept for some time in an open vessel, though the time may be shortened by keeping it in a hot-air chamber at 50°C. and testing the oil from day to day. It must be thick and viscous, but not too much so. oi When examined by the aid of a microscope the sion appears as a network of oil enclosing the wate droplets, for the structure is, of course, seen in optical section. Curious streaming movements may be observed within the emulsion, and these may continue for hours; movements of the drop as a whole occur, and alway in the direction of the stream. If the emulsion drop b carefully watched it will be seen to change its shape, an¢ to throw out processes—which, by the way, are always ciub-shaped—and to withdraw others. Up the centre of these processes a streaming movement takes place, and the streams at thetops of the processes spread out and flow back in a layer next the surface. These movement are influenced by warmth and electricity, and we have, therefore, in these Biitschli’s drops something which might deceive one into supposing that actual amoeba were in the field of observation. oe The movements of the oil emulsion are due, no doubt to changes in the surface tension of the fluids in contact with each other, Biitschli’s case being an illustration of OcToBER 19, 1893] NATURE 595 the effects of surface tension, effects which are more _ simply shown in the contracting films, and tears of wine of the laboratory and dinner-party. It is well known | that surface tension is capable of producing important ' and curious changes in the form of fluids, and will induce well-defined movements of a streaming character ; _ surface tension, and the movements resulting from it, _ are modified and influenced by heat and electricity, and | many biologists have suggested that surface tension may _ play an important part in producing amceboid movement. Prof. Biitschli takes many steps in advance of this; for _ having formed his artificial emulsion, he sees in all living _ protoplasm nothing but a similarly constructed emulsion, ' and concludes that because it is so similar its move- "ments must be of the same nature. We feel in _ reading his work that not only does he in his - enthusiasm twist the appearances of protoplasm _ to suit his own especial view of what its structure _ must be, but he is guilty of want of logical treatment _ of his premises when he has got them. Frommann, _ Hertzmann, Klein, and, indeed, most histologists regard _ protoplasm as consisting of a network of less fluid material, the interstices of which network are filled with - amore fluid material, and this structure has been demon- _ strated in almost every animal cell. This view of the nature of protoplasm is open, however, we think, to criticism, for histologists are in the habit of preserving and harden- _ ing their tissues in fluids such as alcohol, picric acid, cor- _ rosive sublimate, which act as precipitants to protoplasm, and they blindly conclude that what they see in these “preparations are present in the living cells. On this - account many have questioned whether these networks are ever present in the living cells, and Berthold and _Biitschli view living protoplasm as an emulsion of two uids, one forming an alveolar honeycomb, the other _ filling its cavities. This heoneycombed structure—emulsion _ -—Biitschli finds everywhere, from the protoplasm of the _ protozoa to that of the higher vertebrates ; where there _ was once a network now there is an emulsion. The inter- _ fibular substance of muscle mistaken by a few observers for a network is, for Biitschli, a honeycomb with frequent transverse partitions, and the fibrillated axis cylinder of a nerve has cross strands indicating that this is a honey- _ comb too. In the apparently structureless protoplasm of _ the outer part of an amceboid cell, such as is figured by _ Schifer in the last edition of ‘‘ Quain’s Anatomy,” this _ structure is present to Biitschli, and as he cannot see it _ there, even with the eye of faith, it is believed to be too _ delicate and the meshes too finely drawn out to be seen. As to the chemical nature of protoplasm, about which ‘most biologists who have had anything of a chemical train- ing feel themselves rather in the dark, Prof. Biitschli has fairly definite views, and these it must be admitted fit in admirably with theemulsiontheory. The honeycomb he regards with Reinke as a nucleo-albumen, containing some molecules of a fatty acid, and not miscible with water ; the more fluid portion of protoplasm, filling the interstices of the honeycomb, he regards as a’ watery eid containing albumen and an alkali free or combined with it. Holding the above views concerning the structure of protoplasm, which indeed, according to Biitschli, re- sembles both in minute anatomical structure and chemical and physical properties the microscopic froth which he can manufacture, he looks upon the cause of he movements of the froth as the cause of the movements the amoeba, and also in all probability of striped muscle itself. Let Prof. Biitschli speak for himself :— “Die Bewegung einfacher Amdben, wie A. guttula, _‘limax, A. blattze, Pelomyxa, ist den friiher beschriebenen strémenden Oelseifenschaumtropfen so ungemein ahniich, ja in allen wichtigen Punkten, so ganz ihr - Ebenbild, dass ich von der Uebereinstimmung der NO. 1251, VOL. 48] wirksamen Krafte in beiden Fallen vollkommen iiberzeugt bin ” (page 198, see also pages 200 and 208.) Now, for some time past it has been held that surface tension plays a part both in the streaming movements of protoplasm and in the production of amoeboid movement, but no one has pushed this idea to the extent that Biitschli has done. Let us see if the facts of the case justify himin sodoing. It is true that the picture of the moving foam and of the moving protoplasmic mass pre- sent many points of similarity to the eye of the observer, but what of that? The waxwork figure may deceive us all into imagining that it is a man, but once we know what it is the most ignorant of us would hardly venture to argue from its mechanism to our own. So when we look at Biitschli’s foam particles, and when ve are told that they do not consist of protoplasm, and merely of rancid olive oil and a weak carbonate of potash, then we may exclaim at their interest and novelty, but we shall not seriously compare them with living protoplasm. Science is passing through two phases—the first spiritual- istic, the second mechanical. Psychology is still very much in the first stage, and physiology in the second. There are still those among us to whom the circulation is a thing of tubes and force-pumps, and nothing more, and absorption a process that can be imitated by a parchment dialyzer. Fortunately, we are getting rapidly through these two stages, and are beginning to recognise that the force-pump and parchment paper have led us often into. wrong conclusions. Studies in evolution have taught us _ that protoplasm, made up no doubt of elements of the in- organic world, is nevertheless a complex of these elements of unique character, and with properties distinct from everything thatis not protoplasm. The oil emulsion may, to the eye of the observer, conduct itself in a way exactly similar to an amceba—which, by the way, it does not, its processes being club-shaped, and never pointed—but this does not indicate that amceboid movements are similar in their nature. With equal right would the_ to-day. representative of Madame Tussaud urge, on the strength of their waxwork show, that human arms move by springs and clockwork. Not only do these foam particles tell us nothing about protoplasm, but for the investigation, of questions of surface tension they are evidently ill fitted. They are toys for the physicist, not for the physiologist. We know that surface tension can well account both for changes in shape and flowing movements of fluids ; it is only by experimenting on protoplasm itself that it will be possible to determine what part this agency plays in pro- toplasmic activity. In Professor Biitschli’s work the reader will find much valuable information as to the views held from time to time as to the structure of protoplasm ; and the production of this monograph is a strong indication of the single- mindedness both of German scientific men and of German publishers. It is a large quarto volume of two hundred and thirty pages, well printed, and illustrated with six beautiful plates, and upon a subject which of necessity appeals to a very limited number of readers. JOHN BERRY HAYCRAFT. FINGER-PRINTS IN THE INDIAN ARMY. | be may interest some of your readers to see the terms of the order by which the method of finger-prints for purposes of identification has now been introduced into the Indian Army. A copy of it, sent by Lieut.- Colonel Surgeon Hendley, of Jeypore, has just reached me. Army Headquarters, Medical Division, Sinila, August 25, 1893. In continuation of this Office Circular, No. 5, dated January 16, 1891, it is requested that as a+ means of identification of recruits for the Native Army, examining medical officers. will 596 NATURE {OcToBER 19, 1893 cause an impression in printer’s ink of the ends of the first three fingers of the right hand of each recruit passed by them as fit for the service, to be made on{the Nominal Roll opposite the name of the recruit ; and in the case of the Army Hospital Corps, in the Verification Roll. A specimen of the required impression is shown below. By order. (Signed) C. H. PEARSON, Surgeon-Major, Secretary to the P.M.O., H.M.’s Forces in India. [Here follows the specimen impression. } I trust that the medical officers who will have to take these prints, understand the importance of using so little ink that the impression shall be clear, though its tint may be only brown and not black; also that when comparing two prints they will use a low power lens and four pointers, two for each print. I have lately been using a watchmaker’s glass of two-inch focus, secured to the end of a long and counterpoised arm, which turns, not too easily, round the screw by which it is attached to its support. The lens can be brought into focus with great ease, and it remains steady when left alone. I use at least two pointers for each print. They are T-shaped; their long arms are six or seven inches long, they are roughly made of wood as thick as the thumb, so that they are purposely not over light. Each pointer stands on three _ supports, viz. on the point of a bent pin, whose headless body has been thrust into the end of the long arm of the T, and on the ends of two nails, or better on staples, one ‘of which is driven under either end of the cross-arm. It is most easy to adjust the point of the bent pin upon any desired character in the finger-print. Both hands of the observer are thus left free to manipulate other pointers, when desired. The stationary pointers are a great help in steadying the eye while pursuing a step by step comparison between two finger-prints. FRANCIS GALTON. NOTES. THE collected works of Jean Servais Stas, which it is pro- posed to publish as a mark of honour to his memory, form three quarto volumes of about 500 or 600 pages each. The first volume contains the memoirs and papers relating particularly to the deter- mination of atomic weights; the second comprises notes, reports, and lectures ; and the third, posthumous works, which especially refer to spectroscopic researches.. The edition is under the direction of MM. Spring and Defaire, and it will probably be completed in about a year. The three volumes will be published simultaneously at the uniform price of thirty francs. Sub- scribers of twenty francs or more to the Stas memorial fund will each receive a copy of the work, and contributors of less than twenty francs may increase their contributions to that sum, and so become a recipient.. The names of subscribers will be published in an appendix to the third volume. After the com- pletion of publication, the balance of the fund will be used for the erection of a monument. Stas’ scientific work is more than sufficient to perpetuate his name among men of science, and the monument which it is proposed to erect will make it ‘‘ known to all people.” AT the second day’s meeting of the Photographic Congress, the opening of which was noted in our last issue, Mr. Andrew Pringle read a paper on ‘‘The Present Position of Micro- Photography,”’ and W. Weissenberger contributed one on ‘* A Process of Photo-Mechanical Printing in Natural Colours.” The president, Capt. Abney, read a paper dealing with ‘‘ Exposure and Chemical Action,” in which he showed that the sum of excessively small exposures is not equivalent to the same exposure given at one time, and further, that very feeble inten- sity of light fails to produce the calculated amount of chemical NO. 1251, VOL. 48| action. Capt. R. H. Hills followed with a description of ' instruments employed and the results obtained during t recent solar eclipse. At the final meeting of the congress, @ October 12, Dr. A. Miethe read a paper on ‘‘ The Practica Testing of Photographic Objectives,” and Dr. P. Rudolph « on ‘*The Measure and Numertation of the Stops of Ph graphic Lenses.” A 'sTaTUE of Duhamel-Dumonceau was unveiled at F iviers, on October 1. The French Minister of Agriculture, wh performed the ceremony, claimed that Dumonceau was the | to institute agricultural experiments in the field. 3 Dr. H. Méxier has been appointed Professor of ae the University of Greifswald. AT the meeting of the International Geodetic Anocaaeia re cently held at Geneva, a Commission, composed of M. Tisseran with Profs. Foerster and Schiaparelli, was appointed to dra up a programme of observations to be made permanently at number of different places in order to elucidate the question « latitudinal variations. The association will hold its annual meeting in Austria next year. - THE Lancet says that the Apothecaries’ Society are about t Oo apply to the courts for powers to sell their Botanical Gardens at Chelsea, the money value of which has been fixed at abo £30,000. The removal of this historic garden would be source of keen regret to the many who have profited ws instruction conveyed by its means. WE are informed that the fund raised for paying the costa: Dr. Wallis Budge in the recent action of Rassam v, Budge hi been fully subscribed. The list of the contributors, which is tc long to print in its entirety, includes the following names ; Miss H. M. Adair, the Duke of Argyll, K.G., K.T., 1 Armstrong, C.B., the Marquis of Bath, Walter Besant, Ir. Bezold, Rev. H. Blunt, E. A. Bond, C.B., the Earl Cado; K.G., the Earl of Carlisle, Somers Clarke, N. G. Cleyto Miss Clendinning, Alfred Cock, Messrs. Thos. Cook and S: Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B i F.R.S., C. Drury Pertanian; A. W. Franks, C.B., F.R.S Right Fon: W. E. Gladstone, M.P., Rev. Canon Green’ F.R.S., Major-General Sir F. Grenfell, G.C.M.G., K.C.B H. Rider Haggard, Lawrence Harrison, Thomas Harri James Hilton, Thomas Hodgkin, Sir H. H. Howo K.C.LE., M.P., F.R.S., Right Hon. Thomas Huxley, F.R.S Sir Frederick Leighion, Bart., P.R.A., William Lethbridge, Rev. W. J. Loftie, Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart, M.P., F.R.S., Lady Meux, F. D. Mocatta, Walter Morris Sir Fink Mowatt, K.C.B., Sir Charles Nicholson, B: D.C.L., the Duke of Northamberlaba, K.G., F. G. Hi Price, Hon. W. F. D. Smith, M.P., E. Maunde Thomps C.B., Cecil Torr, Sir Reginald Welby, G.C.B., John Whi New and extensive electrical works were inaugurated at pool at the end of last week. In the course of a speech n during the celebrations, Lord Kelvin expressed the pe icrasbes municipal corporations were right to take into their b everything calculated to further the general good of the AEE: It seemed to him that the Government ought to take up ti whole business of telegraphs and telephones, and it would 1 be an improper thing if the whole railway system of the cou were placed under the same management. AN International Congress on Aerial Navigation formed o of the series of congresses which have recently been held Chicago. The papers read on that occasion are being publi: in the form of a supplement to the American Engi’ together with other information relating to aeronautical gineering. The new publication is given a distinctive tit! Aeronautics, but whether it will be continued after the whole -OcrosER 19, 1893] “NATURE 597 the proceedings of the aeronautical conference have been issued _ will depend upon the success of the enterprise. Tue first International Botanical Congress ever convened on American soil was held at Madison, Wis., immediately after the adjournment of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science, August 23 and 24. The foreign repre- sentation, however, was so small that the title of the meeting was changed to the ‘‘ Madison Botanical Congress.” The meeting was an outgrowth of that at Genoa last year. Prof. -. L. Greene, of California, was elected president. All the subjects discussed at the meeting referred to terminology, the following being the topics :—(1) Plant diseases ; (2) anatomy and morphology ; (3) physiology ; (4) horticultural forms ; (5) bibliography. It is expected that the next meeting will be held in Europe in 1894, but the precise time and place was not - announced. , : Tuat Traugott Friedrich Kiitzing, the author of the Phycologia __ generalis, should have been still with us until within the last few weeks will probably be a surprise to many. As an author, _Kiitzing had indeed completely disappeared from the scientific world ; he had published nothing for more than twenty years, and nearly all his most important. works appeared before the close of the first half.of the present century. He may indeed be regarded as the founder of a scientific study of the Algze, es- pecially of sea-weeds. Much of his work has, of course, been superseded by more recent investigations; but his Phycologia ___ generalis, published in 1843, his Tabule Phycologice, issued in twenty volumes from 1845 to 1870, with 2009 illustrations, and his Species Algarum, 1849, are still classical works, which. must needs be in the hands of every student of the lower forms of vegetable life, if it is only for the excellence and |ife-likeness of their illustrations. In 1841 he published the Umwandlung - niedrer Algenformen in hohere, and in 1844 the Die hieselscha- ‘ligen Bazillarien oder Diatomen, the introduction to our know- ledge of the structure of the diatom-shell, in which there is now ‘so extensive a literature. Kiitzing died on: September 9, at Nordhausen, in the 87th year of his age. His extensive col- lection of dried Alge has long been in the possession of the ' University of Leyden. , Mr. G. W. Youne has issued ‘‘ A Key-table showing the “characteristics of the. principal Natural Orders of the British Flora,” compiled for the use of students. A very brief synopsis _ is given of the leading characters of each natural order, and a familiar plant is mentioned as a “type.” A few small correc- _tions might be made in a subsequent edition. Thus, Dielytra spectabilis is the gardener’s, not the scientific, name of the plant indicated ; in the Caryophyllacee the ‘free central placenta- tion” is by no means universal. ____ ‘Few geographers of the present day enjoy so wide a reputa- tion as Baron F. von Richthofen, Professor of Geography in Berlin University, and it is pleasant to observe the fitting way ~ in which his former students did honour to the sixtieth anniver- sary of his birth on May 5, 1893. Many ofthem wrote papers, either on geographical or geological subjects, for special publica- tion in the form of a handsome book, ‘‘ Festschrift,” bearing Baron .von Richthofen’s portrait as frontispiece. Among the _ . contributors we note the names of A. Philippson, F. Frech, ___H. Yule Oldham, C. E. M. Rohrbach, and E. Hahn. Dr. A. PHILIPPsoON’s contribution to the ‘‘ Festschrift ” is an interesting investigation of the ‘‘ Types of Sea-coasts” (Ueber die Typen der Kiistenformen). Dr. Philippson insists upon the _study of the simplest types of form and the individual relation- .ship of these types to the groups of natural agents which pro- duce them. He shows how all sea-coasts may be reduced to NO. 1251, VOL. 48] two great and fundamental types. (1) Isohypsal coasts, where the existing form of the coast-line still coincides with the primary relief of the earth’s surface at that part, so that we may trace its origin from tektonic, volcanic, or other earth move- ments. (2) Thalassogenic coasts, where the primary isohypsal condition of the coast-line has been in greater or less degree obliterated by the action of ‘‘littoral forces.” Dr. Philippson gives particular prominence to the flat-beach variety of thalas- sogenic coasts, and describes in detail the purely potamogenic type due to the action of inflowing rivers, the purely thalas- sogenic type due to the action of breakers, and to the building- up and breaking-down of ‘‘ strand-walls.” Lastly, the mixed potamogenic and thalassogenic type combining the character- istics of both. Numerous examples are drawn from familiar European coast-lines, and several diagrams are given. A paper on ‘*The Mechanical Genesis of the Form of the Fowl’s Egg,” was read before the American Philosophical Society on April 21. In it Dr. J. A. Ryder gives evidence that the configuration of the outline of the hen’s egg is deter- mined by mechanical means while the egg membranes and shell are in the process of formation within the oviduct. ‘‘ The pres- sure preventing the passage of the elliptical mass down through an elastic tube must be developed largely in the form of fric- tion, and the resistance of the walls'of the oviduct to dilation. To overcome this a greater pressure must be exerted on the elliptical egg-mass at a point above its minor axis than below the latter. » This will tend to sque2ze part of its substance, since it is at last enclosed in an elastic capsule before shell- formation takes place, into the lower or larger end of the mass. In this way the ovoidal form of the egg seems to have first arisen.” It therefore appears that the development of the figure of the eggs of birds is a purely dynamical problem, or one in which energy is applied in a definite manner to the plastic surface of a mass in statical equilibrium within the oviduct. This principle has many extensive applications, and may lead to the elucidation of several obscure points connected not only with the eggs of birds, but also those of reptiles and insects, In a letter to Scfence for September 15, Mr. O. T, Mason relates the discovery at the World’s Columbian ‘Exposition of two examples of the Mexican atlatl, or throwing-stick, lying in the Colorado Alcove. His description is as follows:—The shaft is a segment of a sapling of hard wood. At the distal end is a shallow gutter and a hook to receive the end of a spear- shaft. At the proximal end or grip in the more perfect speci- men, about four inches from the extremity, is a loop on either side of the stick, one for the thumb, the other for the forefinger. The remaining three fingers would be free to manipulate the spear-shaft. These loops were made by splitting a bit of raw hide, sliding it down the proper distance on the stick, forming loops less than an inch in diameter by bringing the projecting ends of the raw hide, and seizing it fast tothe shaft. Below the fingér-loops or stirrups were a long chalcedony knife or arrow- blade, the'tooth of a lion, and a concretion of hematite seized by a plentiful wrapping of yucca cord. Mr. Mason believes that the Bourke example from Lake Patzcuaro belongs also to the same oiitfit. - This is the first instance, as he says, of ‘‘finding the ancient atlatl figured in the-codices, and described by Mrs. Nuttall.” “A connection between the cliff dwellers and the Mexican peoples is thus indicated. : Dr. G. SCHOTT contributes to a recent number of Globus an account of the Atlas of the Indian Ocean, published by the Deutsche Seewarte, with particular reference to the behaviour of the storms of the tropical part of thatocean. The article plainly shows that whereas some twenty years ago the Germans were 598 NATURE e a [OcToBER 19, 1893 dependent on the labours of English seamen for their sailing directions, they now rely almost entirely on their own publica- tions, except as regards nautical charts. Dr. Schott gives an intelligible account of the older or circular theory of storms, and of the later, or spiral theory, to which attention was drawn by Dr. Meldrum, in 1860, If the former theory be correct, a ship which in a given position might safely run across the path of an advancing storm, would according to the later theory run into the most dangerous part of it. Between these theories seamen must therelore have great difficulty in shaping a correct course at the most critical time, and every careful investigation into the movements and laws of storms should be welcomed, in the interest of science, whether undertaken by this Betis or by foreign nations. In connection with the science meetings at the Chicago Exhi- bition, Dr. M. A. Veeder read a paper on periodic and non- periodic fluctuations in the latitude of storm tracks, in which he referred to the occasional rearrangements in the distribution of the atmosphere, consisting, in the main, in the displacement of the belts of high pressure on each side of the equator, with the consequent deflection northward or southward of the usual courses taken by storms, Notable instances of this kind have occurred at different times, such as in 1877-8 and in 1888-9, and the present year also affords another example, the winter in northern latitudes being distinguished by a severity in strong contrast to their mildness during the years above mentioned. These rearrangements of weather conditions. on a large scale make it difficult, the author. considers, to resist the conclusion that the atmosphere asa whole is under the control of forces which haye acommon origin, and depending upon some form of solar variability, Although it is not yet beyond dispute whether the sun is hottest or coldest when most free from spots, the evidence appears conclusive that the weather conditions in question bear some sort of relation to the spottedness of the sun. The author thinks that there is ground for the belief that there may be special forms of solar activity not yet fully understood, which exercise powerful terrestrial effects independently of the amount of solar heat falling upon the earth as a whole, and which may be of the nature of electro-magnetic induction, and depend upon conditions different from those which appear in the case of simple radiation from a source of combustion. If the variation in weather types follow the solar electro-magnetic record, he thinks that it would not be unwise to approach the problems from this side of the question, although it would involve a reconsideration of the facts of meteorological science from a standpoint different from that of an assumed variability of solar heat. The author considers that it may be necessary o discard provisionally the accepted theory of the origin of storms, in order to determine the part which electro-magnetic induction of solar origin plays, independently’ of heating effects. In any case, the study of periodic and non-periodic fluctuations in latitude of the cyclonic and anti-cyclonic belts surrounding the earth is most important in many ways. A CONVENIENT modification of the hydrometer method of determining the densities. of -gases,has been devised by M. Meslans, whose apparatus is described’and ,illustrated in the Comptes rendus, No. 11. It,consists of two; hollow spheres hung to the arms of a balance.. , Eachsphere, which is made’ of glass, aluminium, or gilt copper, hangs in a separate’ compart- ment, the suspending thread being. introduced through a hole in the lid. The compartments are enclosed in a box and surrounded by water in order to keep them’ at equal tempera- tures. They are at first filled with air to determine the posi- tion of equilibrium. The gas whose density is to be determined is then introduced through a long tube immersed ‘in the water, and enters one of the compartments, having previously been NO. 1251, VOL. 48] dried. The gas is passed through in a slow and continuo stream, and if its density differs from that of air, the equilibrit of the balance is disturbed. The weight necessary to re-est equilibrium is noted, and the density calculated according to simple formula. Thus the density is found by a single we ing, and by keeping the current of gas continuous any varial in its density is easily observed. A fairly high accuracy is. tainable, depending upon the sensitiveness of the balance and upon the perfection of gauge of the spheres. One important application of the apparatus is that for determining the density and composition of the products of combustion in furnaces. scale of the balance is graduated so as to show at a glance t percentage of carbonic acid, and hence the degree of efficien of the furnace in question. This percentage, which is theoretically, never exceeds 18 in practice, except in g generators. Ina great number of works it varies between 6 and 8. M. Meslans’ apparatus is being applied to the study : the various methods of heating. Another application is that by which the presence and percentage of marsh-gas is indicated. With spheres of 1 litre capacity and a balance sensitive down to half a milligramme it was found possible to detect o'r La cent, | of methane in the air of a mine. THE Liectrical Review, in the course of an article on 6 Elec- trical Engineering at the World’s Fair,” describes the “curious rotary effects of a two-phase alternating-current field-magnet. A ring-armature is wound with four coils, connected in pairs across the circle ; one pair is connected to one of the two-pha: currents, the other pair to the second current. ‘The 1 armature is then laid horizontally ona table, and a board p! over it. Almost any metallic article placed on the board coins, &c., or any other easily movable condcting article il at once get into motion. THE October number of JZénd contains an ences on snr E of light-sensation, by Mr. C. L, Franklin, Mr. GEORGE HoGBEN has sent us two papers extra from the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1892, and referring to earthquakes experienced at the Antipodes in June, July, and December, 1891. a THE lecture on ‘‘ The Interdependence of Abstract Science and Engineering,” delivered by Dr. W. Anderson, F.R.S., at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in May last, has be extracted from the Proceedings of the institution, and is now published separately. i Seals stig Ga A course of lectures upon Planetary Astronomy, with esp cial reference to ‘‘ The Planet Venus” will be delivered in the theatre of Gresham College, on the evenings of October 24, 26 and 27, by the Rev. E. Ledger. i A HANDY book on ‘* The Art of Projection and. Compl c Magic Lantern Manual,” by an expert, has been published b Mr. E. A. Beckett, Kingsland- -road, N.E, Lantern operate Messrs. WHITTAKER AND Co. have published the «Pri n ciples of Fitting,” for apprentices in engineering and “a in technical schools, by a Foreman Pattern Maker. ‘he book is profusely illustrated, and should be of great assistance to the workers for whom it is intended. + hog STUDENTS preparing for the examination in the ‘Prin- ciples of Mining” ‘held by the Department of Science Art, or for colliery managers’ examinations, are recommended to use an elementary text-book of ‘* Coal Mining,” by Mr. Robert Peel, just published by Messrs. Blackie and Son. The — book is very well written and quite trustworthy... se OctosER 19, 1893] NATURE 599 A DAINTY brochure, by Martha F. Sesselberg, entitled ‘‘In Amazon Land,” and containing adaptations from Brazilian _ writers, with original selections, has been published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. The part of the book of interest to us refers to Amazonian legends, beliefs, traditions, and super- - Stitions. : A SECOND edition of ‘‘An Introduction to Human Physi- _ ology,” by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., has been published by _ Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. Several alterations and _ transpositions of text have been made, and the results of many recent investigations have been included, thus giving additional _ value to an already highly appreciated work. WE have received the Transactions of the Sanitary Institute, vol. xiii. The volume consists chiefly of reprints or abstracts _ of the papers read at the conferences which were organised in connection with the congress held at Portsmouth in 1892. It _ also includes an address to sanitary officers, delivered by Sir Douglas Galton at Worcester. A CLASSIFIED list of plants in the Royal Botanic Gardens, _ Trinidad, has been issued as a Bulletin of Miscellaneous In- _ firmation, No. 17, by Mr. J. H. Hart, the Superintendent. _ The list contains the names of plants under cultivation and in- digenous in the Gardens, and is of scientific as well as economic _ interest. _ Dr. Kicucut, of Tokyo, has just published, in Japanese, _ a text-book on Trigonometry, thus carrying on the good _ work he has begun in his manuals on Geometry, Logic, &c., and in his translations of ‘‘Clfford’s Common-sense of the _ Exact Sciences,” of ‘‘ Russell’s Technical Education,” &c. The _ degree of Rigakuhakushi (= D.Sc.) is a degree conferred by _ the Minister of Education with the advice of the Council of the University. _ Lieut, J. P. Finey has prepared a report on ‘‘ Certain _ Climatic Features of the Two Dakotas” for the U.S. Depart- _ iment of Agriculture. The report is illustrated with 163 tables, charts and diagrams, and it presents a vast amount of infor- mation concerning the meteorological phenomena which are believed to have a marked influence upon the agricultural inter- _ ests of the States investigated. From the report it appears that _ the Dakotas should at once resort to an extensive system of _ irrigation in order to increase the precipitation and check the _ high evaporation. Forests ought also to be preserved, and extensive plantings of trees should be made. In the words of _ the report, ‘‘ The meteorological and physical features of the Dakotas are such that, under the influence of settlement and _ the consequent development of agriculture, changes are effected which tend to the rapid dissipation of the moderate rainfall, _ through absorption and evaporation. Irrigation and reforesta- tion are the only remedies.” THE disinfecting properties of peroxide of hydrogen have _ long been known, but considerable additions have been _ recently made to our more exact information concerning its bac- _ tericidalaction. Richardson (Chem. Soc. Fournal, Sept. 1893) has shown that the antiseptic action of sunlight on urine is due to the production of peroxide of hydrogen, for samples exposed to _ sunshine remained clear, and on examination were found to contain peroxide, whilst similar samples kept in the dark be- came turbid and contained no peroxide. Traugott, in ‘‘ Einige _ Erginzungen zur Praxis der Desinfection’’ (Zeitschrift fiir | Hygiene; vol. xiv. 1893, p. 427), points out as the result of his _ investigations that this material may be substituted in all cases for corrosive sublimate and carbolic acid where the period of contact is not less than a quarter to half an hour; but that it isnot suitable where rapid disintection is required, as in the NO. 1251, VOL. 48] case of the disinfection of the hands, &c. Being innocuous and also harmless as regards clothing and the like, it is a safer dis- infectant for general application than the former ; its cost is, however, considerably greater. Some years ago, Heidenhain stated that he had constantly used peroxide of hydrogen as a gargle in cases of diphtheria, and Traugott mentions in his memoir that ten seconds’ contact of a 2 per cent. solution of H,O, with a young and vigorous growth of the diphtheria bacillus on blood serum, entirely destroyed this organism. If however two days’ old cultures were similarly treated, contact for thirty minutes, even when repeated three times, was not sufficient for its annihilation. Thus the therapeutic value of this material consists in its immediate application at the very outset of the disease, whilst it may be recommended as an important prophylactic during epidemics of diphtheria. As regards the hygienic importance of peroxide of hydrogen, and its practical application, the experiments of Van Tromp and, later, Altehoefer on its action upon bacteria, pathogenic and otherwise, in water are of much interest. Van Tromp men- tions that an addition of peroxide of hydrogen in the proporticn of I : 10,000 parts of the water, when shaken up and allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, is usually sufficient to sterilise a water. Altehoefer, however, found that to ensure sterility it was advisable to use larger quantities, viz. 1 : 1000 parts of the water. Experiments made with waters purposely infected with cholera and typhoid bacilli, respectively, showed that in both cases these organisms were destroyed after twenty-four hours by this proportion of peroxide of hydrogen, Altehoefer, more- over, specially mentions that he found this addition in no way interfered with the dietetic value of the water, and recommends its application for household purposes as a protective measure, during any epidemics of typhoid fever and cholera, Traugott also testifies to the innocuous character of this material even when swallowed in large doses, and states that 100 grm. or haif a wineglassful of a 5 per cent. solution was administered by one of the doctors in a hospital in Breslau without any ill-effects whatever, whilst undoubted benefit was derived from its use. Care must, however, be taken that the particular material employed is as pure as possible, as traces of the poisonous barium chloride in larger or smaller quantities may:be present ; moreover, it is important that the sample should be freshly prepared, as its strength and consequently bactericidal action is reduced when it has been preserved for some time. WeE are indebted to 7%e Gas World for the following par- ticulars concerning a remarkable process, which is now being suc- cessfully worked, for very considerably increasing the illuminating power of coal gas, involving what at first sight would appear the highly dangerous operation of .introducing into the gas a quantity of pure oxygen. In the year 1890 Mr. Edward Tatham, of New South Wales, made the bold proposal! to add consider- able quantities of pure oxygen to warm, heavy oil gas, with the object of producing a stable gas of very high illuminating power. Later in the same year Dr. L. T.. Thorne communicated to the Gas Institute the results of preliminary experiments with this gas, which he had carried out on behalf of Brin’s Oxygen Com- pany. These experimental results led to the conclusion that rich oxy-oil gas Jer se was far and away more effective as an illuminant than the coal gas now employed for this purpose, but that its more immediate prospect of use lay in the direction of enhancing the lower illuminating power of ordinary coal gas. Preparations have since been made for practically testing the ap- plicability of oxy-oil gas to the enrichment of coal gas, and the Hydro-Oxy Gas Patents Proprietary, Limited, have erected: at 11, Salisbury-square, E.C., a complete experimental plant for the purpose. Moreover, the corporation of Huddersfield are erecting a plant forthe purpose of enriching the coal gas sup- 600 NATURE [Ocroser 19, 1893 4 plied to the borough. The Huddersfield installation is not yet completed, but a portion of it is ready, and is now in actual operation. When complete it will consist of an oxygen plant and four bays of oil-gas retorts, capable collectively of producing 200,000 cubic feet of oxy-oil gas per day, together with the necessary condensers and holders. The oxygen plant has been already erected by Brin’s Oxygen Company, and is their newest type of producer. It is built in two sections, which may be worked together or independently, and will make no less than 30,000 cubic feet of oxygen per day. This, the largest oxygen-producer ever constructed, is now in active operation. Of the oil gas plant one bay, consisting of fifteen cast iron retorts, is also working, and is capable of producing 50,000 cubic feet of oil gas perday. The lowest and hottest of the retorts are intended for ‘‘ cracking” the residues from the upper retorts, but they may of course be fed with clean oil if required. The oxygen is introduced into the oil gas soon after the latter leaves the retorts and while still warm ; the mixed gases then pass: together through’ the condensers. The admission of the oxygen is automatically adjusted by means of a combination of meters, so that the proportion is constantly maintained at fifteen per cent. The oxy-oil gas is stored in special holders, and it is arranged to admit it into the coal gas just before the entry of the latter into the station meter, the quantity being regulated by a meter coupled to the station meter. The results so far attained are highly satisfactory. The ad- mission of about six per cent. of oxy-oil gas is already found to increase the illuminating power of the corporation gas by the equivalent of five and a half candles, and this is probably much below the enrichment which will eventually be attained when the plant is complete, and when normal coal can again be employed at the cessation of the strike. The results attained by the Salisbury Square plant are considerably superior to this, and it is expected that the Huddersfield installation will even- tually attain the same standard. Further, a marked increase in the stability of the gas is observed, for poor coal gas actually loses more illuminating power by storage than the same gas admixed with oxy-oil gas does. As regards cost, it is calculated from the experimental data furnished ‘by the working portion of the Huddersfield installation, that ‘the increased cost of production of the gas so enriched will not, at the highest estimate, exceed a third of a penny per thousand cubic feet. Nores from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth.—Last week, like its immediate predecessors, was characterised by stormy weather, which confined the dredging operations to inshore areas, The chief capture was a large haul of the Opisthobranch Oscanius (Pleurobranchus) membranaceus. The approach of winter is already indicated in the bottom fauna: colonies of the Compound Ascidian Fragarium elegans have been frequently taken in their state of ‘‘ hibernation,” and the colonies of the Polyzoan Bugula turbinata, which in the summer orms extensive forests on the stones in certain areas, have now almost completely died down. The Nemertine Amphiforus dissimulans has begun to breed, and the greater number of Micrura fasciolata are full-grown and sexually mature. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Sykes’s Monkeys (Cercopithecus lbigularis, 2 2) from West Africa, presented by Mr. W. H. Barber ; a Thick-furred Capuchin (Cebus vellerosus) from South America, presented by Mr. R. Kettle; three Tigers (Felis tigris, 6 2? 2) from India, presented by H.R.H. Princess Beatrice ; a Senegal Parrot (Pwocephalus senegalus) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Rylands ; a Ruddy-headed Goose ernicla rubidiceps, 6) from the Falkland Islands, presented y Mr. Henry Phillips; a Tuatera Lizard (Sphenodon punc- tus) from New Zealand, presented by Mr. C. Stonham, NO. 1251, VOL. 48] F.Z.S. ; a Diamond Snake (Morelia spilotes) from New Sov Wales, presented by Mr. Arthur W. Darker ; a White-fron' Lemur (Lemur albifrons) from Madagascar, two Comm Squirrels (Sccurus vulgaris, albino) British, deposited ; Blue- winged Teal (Querquedula cyanoptera) from South America, a Japanese Teal (Querguedula formosa) from Nort! east Asia, a Himalayan Monaul (Lophophorus impeyanus) from the Himalayas, a Turnstone (S¢repsilas interpres), a Cu ew (Numenius arguata) European, purchased ; a Molucca Deer (Cervus moluccensts) born in the Gardens, ; ; : OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. — THE SCINTILLATION OF STARS.—Though the question a to the cause of the scintillation of stars has not received th =a attention of many workers, yet it has had and still retains its adherents. Ina recent number of the Revue Scéentifigue, Dufour gives the results of observations commenced in the year 1853. The observations were made with the naked eye, and were continued in all seasons and in all conditions of the weather, since the chief object of the investigation was to find out whether there was any relation between the | scintillations of stars and the disturbances which occur in our atmosphere, .The first results which were obtained led to the forming of the following laws. (1) That red stars scintillate less than white stars. (2) The intensity of the scin- tillation is nearly proportional to the product obtained by mul- tiplying the astronomical refraction for the height at which the star appears, by. the thickness of the stratum of air traversed by the luminous ray that one is considering, and (3) that the causes of some of the essential differences between the scintillations of different stars may perhaps be due to the’ stars themselves. Experiments forstudying the question as to whether there w any difference between the scintillation on mountains and upo the plain, showed that on the mountains the scintillation was most — feeble. An important meteorological conclusion, which, as M. Dufour says, is contrary to general opinion, and which he de- duces from his numerous observations, is that a feeble scintilla- tion generally announces the approach of bad weather. gives many instances in support of his view, am: which occur the observations at Col du Géant on July 12, 1788, when the brightest stars in Lyra, Cygnus, and the Eagle at the same altitude showed practically no signs of scintillating, while the next day there broke out over France the most violent storm that the annals of meteorology had ever registered. M. Dufour compares his work with that of M.- Montigny, who commenced work after him, and who was led to the same three laws above mentioned. He suggests that as his observations were made in Switzerland, it would be interesting to find out if afeebleness © of scintillation observed at sea also indicates bad weather, = A UNIVERSAL TELEscopg STAND.—The construction of a good and simple universal mounting for small telescopeshas been the aim of many instrument makers, and it is pleasing to note an advance in this direction made by the firm of K, Fritsch, formerly Prokesch, in Vienna. In their new so-called ** Universal statio” they have overcome many of the main difficulties. The chief point about this special kind of mounting is that the observer can either use the telescope as a theodolite— that is, with circles reading altitude and azimuth—or, by aslight adjustment, he may have the equatorial no where the circles read right ascension and declination. This 4 gained by hinging what would be the polar axis on to a pivot at the side of the stand, thus allowing the axis to be moved from the horizontal to the vertical or any inter- mediate position, A strong metallic arc fixed on the t of the stand supplies a means of clamping this axis, and giving it a slight adjustment. With the axis vertical, v have then practially a theodolite mounting; with the axis o of the vertical, a parallactic mounting. It is needless to say th this mounting is only for small telescopes, and indeed its application to large: ones is not needed. A detailed account ot the mounting, with figures, will be found in No. 208 Prometheus. PoPULAR ASTRONOMY.—Some time ago we inserted a note — in this column to the effect that the editors of Astronomy and Astro-Physics, if they received sufficient support, would publish — a monthly journal—Popular Astronomy—written especially for © OcrToBER 19, 1893] NATURE 601 _ the rapidly increasing number of amateurs. We are glad to say that we have recently received the first (September) number, and, as far as one can judge, the journal has a successful future before it. The present number contains the first chapters of _ some séries of articles on various subjects. To give some idea of the subject-matter and their writers, we may mention that _ ‘The Spectroscope, and some of its applications,” is dealt _ with by Keeler; ‘‘ Concerted Observation of the Aurora,” by Veeder; ‘‘ Shooting Stars: How to observe them, and what they teach us,”’ by Denning ; ‘‘ Nebule and Comet-seeking,” _ by Lewis Swift; ‘‘The Moon,” by W. W. Payne, &c. ; while future numbers will contain a series of articles by Barnard, on “Celestial Photography”; one by Elgar, on ‘* The Moon” ; another by Hale, on ‘‘The Sun,” and many others. The treatment of the subjects is all that could be desired for those not acquainted with technicalities, and the illustrations, which include two excellent ones of the moon, are of the same style as those familiar to readers of Astronomy and Astro-Physics. The various tables, notes, &c., which complete this journal of forty-eight pages, form a useful and important addition. Tue Aucust METEORS.—The prevalence of fine weather ' during the month of August afforded many observers excellent opportunities of observing the Perseids, and it is not surpris- ing to hear that so many observations were made. Astrovzo- mische Nachrichten (No. 3192) gives some of the results, showing that at Warendorf, August 8-11, 410 paths were re- _ corded, at Eversunital 72, Brilon 184, Arnsberg 114, Altona - Hamburg more than 400, and so on. Prof. Denza, in the current number of Z’Ast:vnomie (No. 10, October), gives a list of some of the observations made in Italy. He refers to the shower as among ‘les plus éclantantes remarquées jusqu’ 4 présent,” and suggests that for the next few years it should receive special at- tention. The radiant point he locates as a = 44°, 5 = + 55°, the number of meteors attaining their maximum on the night of the roth torrth. Mr. Denning has also a few words to say (the Observatory for October) with regard to this shower, commenc- _ ing first with the inaccuracy shown in observing the Lyrids of April, and pointing out ‘‘the same extraordinary differences ” _ manifested in these Perseid observations. The accurate places, as he believes, were obtained by Mr. Booth on August 9, 43° and + 57°, and by Mr. Evershed on August 10, 44° + 57. On _ August 16 he himself deduced the radiant as 52° and + 57°, a _ value agreeing approximately with Kleiher’s theoretical position for that date, namely 54° + 59°. _ ASTRONOMY OF THE FELLAHIN OF PALESTINE.—An inter- _ sting paper by Mr. P. J. Baldensperger, on the beliefs of the Fellahin of Palestine, is found in the] October report of the Palestine Exploration Fund. It appears that the Fellahin know _ the Pleiades by the name of Thureiyah. Besides this, many of _ the conspicuous stars and constellations have received names. _ The following are examples, though the list can be considerably extended :— Banat Na’asch ... Nijmetain el-Joz The Great Bear. Castor and Pollux, Thureiyah ais ivi Pleiades. Hareef el Thureiyah ... Auriga. Sawak el Thureiyah ... Aldebaran. Il Jiddi ... iny Vega. Nijmet el Danab Denebola. Ilsamak ... Mr ix ts Fomalhaut. Ilmizine uk Orion’s Belt. __.. Nashallat il mizine Betelgeuse and Rigel. _. Sawak il mizéne is Sirius, ne Sihdle.... ae i Canopus. Tareek i-tubanet The Milky Way. The planet Jupiter is known as Nijmet el Gharara, Venus as _ Morning Star, and Mars as Nijmet el Sha’ate. A number of _ curious stories and beliefs are connected by the Fellahin with the _ stars, and a few with planets. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. ___M. A. HauTrevx has been engaged this summer (Bu//etin of _ the Bordeaux Society of Commercial Geography, 1893, No. 14) ‘in investigating the difficult question of the currents of the Bay _ of Biscay, by means of specially contrived floats consisting of _ two bottles attached by a cord a metre in length. The lower bottle being weighted with water keeps the upper one, contain- NO. 1251, VOL. 48] ing air, from being driven by the wind, and the whole drifts along with the superficial layer of water. ‘The results obtained seem to point to the absence of any current northward along the coast of the bay. From all points of the line at which floats were discharged west of France they showed a tendency to drift rapidly south-eastward towards the south-eastern angle of the bay. The observations will be continued, and the result will be of value in furnishing additional information to sailors of the landward drift that has so often proved fatal to vessels on the north coast of Spain. THE Queensland Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia has adopted a resolution approving of Sir Thomas Mcllwraith’s proposal to adopt an hour-zone system of time reckoning for Australia and New Zealand, with the 150th meridian (ten hours from Greenwich) as a unit, and urging the other branches of the society to take the matter up. The meridian of 150° E. runs through Cape Howe in the south-east of Australia and through the south-east of New Guinea, andits time would hold for the capitals of the three eastern colonies and Tasmania. The next hour interval westward (135° E.) would include the whole of South Australia, and the third (120° E.) would hold good for Western Australia. Eastward the time of the 165th meridian would apply to the south island of New Zealand, and that of the 180th meridian (twelve hours from Greenwich) to the north island and to Fiji. Globus announces that an exploring and surveying expedition, to which five Germans are attached, has been orgamised in Brazil to study the less known parts of the Amazon basin and collect information as to ethnography and natural history. The expedition was intended to leave Santos in August, and cross the plateau of Matto-Grosso towards the upper waters of the Amazon, where surveys and scientific collections will be made. THE last number of the Mouvement Geographique gives a sketch-map of Lake Leopold II., which lies south of the Congo. It has been resurveyed, in April 1892, by Mr. Mohun, the United States Consul to the Congo State, who was accom- panied by M. De Meuse. The lake extends from 1°5’ S. to 2°45’ S., and its outflow drains into the Congo from the southern end. ‘The lake receives no important streams, but is fed by drainage from extensive marshes which stretch away from its north-western end. The water is shallow, but rises 1°5 metres in the -rainy season, inundating a large area of country. The deeply-indented bays serve as harbours for the canoes of the warlike slave-hunting races who inhabit the surrounding country, their villages being hidden deep in the forests at some distance from the shores of the lake. THE new session of the Royal Geographical Society will be opened by an address on “Geographical Desiderata ” by the new President, Mr. Clements R. Markham, F.R.S., on November 13. At the second meeting a paper on the Antarctic regions is expected from Dr. John Murray, of the Challenger, which will be followed by a discussion. Other papers which are being arranged for will be announced later. Mr. Mackinder will give the second course of his educational lectures on the relations of geography to history after Christmas, and a course of educational lectures on the principles of commercial geography is now being given, under the auspices of the Society, by Dr. H. R. Mill, in the London Institution. : THE HARVEIAN ORATION} ye is now 237 years since the illustrious Fellow of this College whose name we are met to commemorate, provided, when two years before his death he conveyed his estate at Burmarsh to the College, that :— ‘* There shall be once every year a general feast for all the Fellows ; and on the day when such feast shall be kept, some one person of the said College shall be from time to time appointed by the President and two Eldest Censors and two Eldest Elects for the time being of the said College (so that the person so to be appointed be not in that behalf appointed two years to- gether), who shall make an Oration publicly, in the said Col- lege, wherein shall be a commemoration of all the benefactors of the said College by name, and what in particular they have done for the benefit of the said College, with an exhortation to others to imitate those benefactors, and to contribute their en- 1 Delivered by Dr. P. H. Pye-Smith, F.R.S., at the Royal College o Physic‘ans, on Wednesday, October 18th. 602 NATURE deavours for the advancement of the Society, according to the example of those benefactors ; and with an exhortation to the Fellows and members of the said College to search and study out the Secrets of Nature by way of experiment ; and also for the honour of the profession to continue in mutual love and affection among themselves, without which neither the dignity of the College can be preserved, nor yet particular men receive that benefit by their admission into the College which they might expect; ever remembering that ‘concordia res parva crescunt, discordia magne dilabuntur.’” I. Concerning the originality of that immortal discovery, which places Harvey in the limited class represented by Aristotle and Archimedes, Copernicus, Newton, and Darwin, it is sufficient to bear in mind the following considerations :— 1st. If Harvey’s doctrine of the circulation was not new, why was it opposed by men in the position of Riolanus and Hoffmann, and welcomed as a discovery by Bartolinus and Schlegel and Descartes? Surely his contemporaries were better judges of the novelty of his views than we are ! 2nd. Admitting that Servetus and Columbus taught the doctrine of the lesser circulation, we need but a moment’s thought to convince us that no complete knowledge of this part of the subject was possible until the existence of a systemic circu- lation was established ; for the one is physically impossible without the other. 3rd. The title of Harvey’s great work is not, as it is some- times quoted, ‘‘ The Circulation of the Blood,” but ‘‘ De AZotu Cordis et Sanguinis.” He first showed that the flesh, or parenchyma, of the heart is true muscle, that the heart is not a passive chamber recéiving the blood, but a contractile organ expelling it. Until the motive power of the heart was un- derstood there cou/d be no true theory of the circulation. The fact is, that when we know the true solutionofa problem, it is easy to see or think we see it in any discussion which preceded the discovery ; for there is only a limited number of answers to most questions, and therefore true as well as false solutions are almost sure to have been proposed. Tn the writings of Columbus, Servetus, and Czsalpinus, phrases occur which sometimes seem as if the writers were going to state the truth that Harvey first asserted. But it would be as reasonable to infer, from such passages, that the circulation of the blood was then known, as from the lines that Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Brutus: ** As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart.” As Paley well said, he only discovers who proves. To hit upon a true conjecture here and there amid a crowd of untrue, and leave it again without appreciation of its importance, is the sign, not of intelligence, but of frivolity. We are told that of the seven wise men of Greece, one (I believe it was Thales) taught that the sun did not go round the earth, but the earth round the sun, and hence it has been said that Thales antici- pated Copernicus—a flagrant example of the fallacy in question. A crowd of idle philosophers talking all day long about all things in heaven and earth, must sometimes have hit on a true opinion, if only by accident, but Thales, or whoever broached the heliocentric dogma, had no reason for his belief, and showed himself not more but less reasonable than his companions. The crude theories and gross absurdities of phrenology are not in the least justified, or even excused, by our present knowledge of cerebral localisation; nor do the baseless speculations of Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin entitle them to be regarded as the forerunners of Erasmus Darwin’s illustrious grandson. Cuvier was perfectly right in his controversy with Geoffroy St. Hilaire ; the weight of evidence was undoubtedly on his side, Up to 1859 impartial and competent men were bound to dis- believe in evolution ; after that date, or at least so soon as the facts and arguments of Darwin and Wallace had been published, they were equally bound to believe in it. He discovers who proves, and by this test Harvey is the sole and absolute dis- coverer of the movements of the heart and of the blood. Concerning the methods used by Harvey they were various, and his discovery, like most great advances.in knowledge, was not achieved by one of the happy accidents which figure in story books, or by the single crucial, and never-in-after-ages- except-under-license-and-special-certificate-to-be-repeated, ex- periment which some members of a certain Royal Commission supposed to be the only kind of experiment needed in scientific inquiries. NO. 1251, VOL. 48] A perusal of Harvey’s own statements makes it ‘plain, it seems to me, that having gained his knowledge of the anatomy of the heart and of the current hypotheses of its function fi his Italian masters, he reasoned thus :—First, that the cardi valves must be intended for such physiological service as the construction would indicate. He believed that every part this human microcosm has a meaning ; that it is by no ch: result of blind forces that an organ is adapted to its end. — great postulate is necessary for scientific progress. If difficulties of physiology, whether normal or morbid, seem intricate and insuperable that we are tempted to doubt wheth the riddle after all has an answer, we must again and again fall back on the faith of Harvey and of Newton, of Boyle and Linnzus. The great doctrine of natural selection has throw wonderful light upon the methods by which the results that 1 see have been reached, but has not impaired the excellence those results nor their evidence of beneficent design. : Belief then that the body and all its parts is a machine col structed for certain uses, that everything in Nature has a reasc and an end—this was Harvey’s postulate when he argued o the functions of the heart and vessels from their anatomical construction, : Nee ois Harvey’s second method was that of actual experiment. On this point he leaves us in no doubt. His second chapter is headed, ‘‘ Ex vivorum dissectione qualis sit cordis motus,” and in the introductory chapter which precedes this, he says:— ‘Tandem majori indies et disquisitione et diligentia usus, multa frequenter et varia animalia viva introspiciendo, multis. observationibus collatis et rem attigisse et ex hoc labyrintho me extricatum evasisse, simulque motum et usum cordis et arteriarum quze desiderabam comperta habuere me existimabam.” _ Many of his vivisections were not strictly speaking experi~ ments, but observations—inspection of the living heart and arteries—others were experiments in the modern and restricted use of the word. These were Harvey’s methods, as they must be the methods of all natural science. First, observation ; next reflection ; then experiment. ‘‘ Don’t think ; try,” was Hunters advice to Jenner; an advice that is often needed by an acut inquiring genius like his ; still more often by sheer idlenes' that will never bring its fancies to the test of fact. ai Experiments without hypotheses are often fruitless, . hypotheses which are never brought to the test of experimen are positively mischievous, : ’ a. How far have the Fellows of this College obeyed Hues precept and followed his example in ‘‘ searching out the secrets of nature by way of experiment.” We must, I fear, confess that after the brilliant shige of the seventeenth century (in som respects the greatest of our history and certainly the most fruit- ful in great men) experimental science made slow and uncertain progress, so that between Harvey and Newton, Hook and Gre Mayow and Boyle on the one hand, and Cavendish, Black an Priestley, Hunter and Hewson on the other, there was a lon period of stagnation or even retrogression. Hypotheses 4 dogmas, misapplied mathematics, imperfect chemistry, and an affected literary style (made more conventional by the prac! of writing in a foreign language better fitted for rhetoric than science) contributed to make the eighteenth century compara- tively barren, in so far as science generally, and physiology medicine in particular, are concerned. ie B The ‘‘ way of experiment,” in the strict sense of the word, has been hitherto most successfully applied to normal physi The successors of Harvey were not Sydenham, Arbuthnot, Garth, Meade, Freind and Heberden, but Low Mayow, Hales, Vierordt, Ludwig and Chauveau. atholog; an experimental science is still in its infancy, but the infancy that of Hercules, and bids fair to strangle such dire pests a anthrax, cholera, tetanus and hydrophobia. wie Jae Before quitting this part of my subject, I would fain correct a popular misconception that Harvey was a neglected genius— that his contemporaries, his professional brethren, and in p cular this ancient College, refused to listen to his new notio ridiculed his discoveries, and spoiled his practice. Whet! as his fame grew his practice diminished, we cannot tell. so, his patients were the losers. What Harvey and ‘ honest man cares for, is not popular applause, but the con fidence and esteem of his comrades ; and this he deserved anc received, It was as lecturer at this College that he propound 1 Ea autem vera esse vel falsa, Sensus nos facere debet certiores, nom Ratio ; avroya non mentis agitatio. Second Epistle to Riolanus, p. 133+ (College edition). OcTOBER 19, 1893]| NATURE 603 his discoveries ; it was here that-he found his disciples and his friends. Here he was urged to take the presidential chair ; and here his statue was erected, five years before his death, with the inscription, *‘ Viro monumentis suis immortali,” It would have ‘been a poor compliment to his elaborate demonstrations, and _unworthy of a liberal profession, if so startling a revolution as _ Harvey proposed had been accepted without inquiry. It was considered, it was discussed, and, without haste but without timidity, it was at last accepted—the very way in which Dar- _ win’s theory was received and criticised, and finally adopted by Lyell and by Hooker. Let then no scientific impostor or medical _ charlatan quote Harvey to console him under merited censure. II. Of Harvey’s writings, the second, and by far the longer _ treatise, is thatupon Generation. This formed the subject of a valuable criticism in the Harveian Lecture by the late Sir Arthur Farre, It fis [full of interest and contains many _ observations that remain true for all times, many acute _ criticisms, and a few broad and true generalisations, such as the _ famous dictum —‘‘Omnia animalia ex ovo progigni.” _ Perhaps, however, what most strikes the reader of this treatise _ is the earning of the writer. He is familiar with his Aristotle, and quotes from Fabricius and other writers with much greater freedom than in the succinct and almost sententious treatise, “De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis.” Some would have us believe _ that here, as in other cases, erudition was a clog upon genius. _ This question has been often discussed, and it has even been _ maintained that he is most likely to search out ‘‘ the secrets of Nature by way of experiment” who comes fresh to the task ith his faculties unexhausted by prolonged reading, and his judgment uninfluenced by the discoveries of others, This, how- ever, is surely a delusion. Harvey could not have discovered the circulation of the blood had he not been taught all that was previously known of anatomy. True, no progress can be made _by mere assimilation of previous knowledge. There must be intelligent curiosity, an observant eye, and intellectual insight. “ Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam,” and few things are more deplorable than to see talent and in- _ dustry occupied in fruitless researches, partially rediscoverin, what is already fully known, or stubbornly toiling along a ro: which has long ago been known to lead nowhither, We te then instruct our students to the utmost of our power. 4 ther they will add to knowledge we cannot tell, but at least _ they shall not hinder its growth by their ignorance. The strong _ intellect will absorb and digest all that we put before it, and _ will be the better fitted for independent research. The less F hah will at least be kept from false discoyeries, and will q (what genius itself requires) a competent and appreciative udience. Even the dullest scholars will be respectable from their learning, and if they cannot make discoveries themselves, can at least enjoy the delight of intelligently admiring the dis- -coveries of others. III. There is, however, a third phase of Harvey’s intellectual work of which, unfortunately, the records have for the most part perished, and which hos not, perhaps, been duly ap- preciated. What I believe Harvey contributed, or would, but for adverse fate, have contributed to medicine as distinct from ysiology, was a systematic study of morbid anatomy. In the lowing passage he speaks of the great benefit that would ensue from the regular observation of the structural changes oduced by disease :— *Sicut enim sanorum et boni habit(is corporum dissectio imum ad philosophiam et rectam physiologiam facit, ita porum morbosorum et cachecticorum inspectio potissimum ad athologiam philosophicam.” ‘Now this was a new notion, It was not uncommon for the body to be a. after death, especially in the case of great person- ges, either for the pu of embalming or for discovering (as it was supposed) the fact of poison or other foul play ; and casionally a physician would obtain permission for a like in- ction when something unusual in the symptoms had excited a ble curiosity to ascertain their cause, But the records of h inspections in the seventeenth century by Bartolinus, or pius, or Bonetus, or, in our own country, by Mayerne, or te, or Morton, are fragmentary, their object being limited to individual case. There was no attempt to search out the ets of nature in disease by a systematic observation of the fate of the organs after death, nor was there for more than a tury after Harvey’s death. Morgagni in Italy; the French NO. 1251, VOL. 48] anatomists of the early part of this century, Corvisart and Laennec, Broussais and Cruveilhier; in Germany Meckel and Rokitansky, and in England Baillie, Abercrombie, Cars- well and Bright—these were the founders of scientific pathology on a sure anatomical basis almost within living memory. Not only had Harvey the prescience to recommend the study of morbid anatomy for itself, but he had himself carried it out by recording a large number of dissections, or, as we should now call them, inspections, of diseased bodies. Unfortunately most of these post-mortem reports, with his observations on the gen- eration of insects, and other manuscripts were destroyed, or irrevocably dispersed, when his house in London was searched while he was with the King at Oxford. If the records of these inspections had been published, may we not asssume that Harvey’s great authority would have set the fashion, and that the systematic study of morbid anatomy would have begun | a century and a half earlier than it did? And think what this would have meant. With the exception of a few shrewd ob- servations, a few admirable descriptions, and here and there a brilliant discovery, such as the origin and prevention of lead colic and of scurvy and the introduction of vaccination, it may be said that medicine made no important progress between the time of Harvey and that of Laennec. The very notion of diagnosis in our modern sense of the word depends upon morbid anatomy. The older physicians seldom attempted to determine the seat of an ailment. Disease was looked upon not as a con- dition depending upon disordered physiological functions, but as something external, attacking a previously healthy person, disturbing, and, if not expelled by art, finally destroying him ; while any structural changes which were found after death were regarded rather as the effects than the causes of the symptoms during life. Now, the ambition of every intelligent student—and in medicine we are life-long students—is to fix upon the most objective, certain, and important of the symptoms of a patient, to follow out this clue, to determine the organ affected and the nature of the affection, so that in his mind’s eye the tissues become transparent and he sees the narrow orifice for the blood- stream and the labouring muscle behind it ; or the constricted loop of intestine with violent peristalsis above and paralysis below, the blood-current stopped and congestion passing hour by hour into gangrene ; or, the spinal cord with grey induration of adefinite region, and the motors, sensory and trophic changes which physiologically ensue. Sometimes this minute search to fix upon the locality and exact nature of a lesion has been ridiculed ; and we are asked what benefit to the patient such knowledge when attained can bring. We answer, that in medicine, as in every other practical art, progress depends upon knowledge, and knowledge must be pursued for its own sake, without continually looking about for its practical application. Harvey’s great discovery (which we physicians rightly cele- brate this day) was a strictly physiological discovery, and had little influence upon the healing art until the invention of auscultation.. So also Dubois Reymond’s investigation of the electrical properties of muscle and nerve was purely scientific, but we use the results thus obtained every day in the diagnosis of disease, in its successful treatment, and in the scarcely less important demonstration of the falsehoods by which the name of electricity is misused for purposes of gain. : It is true that Bernard’s discoveries of the diabetic puncture and of the digestive function of the pancreas have not yet received their practical application. He was right when he said, ‘* Nous venons les mains vides, mais la bouche pleine a’ esperances légitimes*—but he should have spoken for himself alone. The experiments on blood-pressure begun by Hales, and carried to a successful issue in our own time by Ludwig, have already led to knowledge which we use every day by the bed- side, and which only needs the discovery of a better method of measuring blood-pressure during life, to become one of our foremost and most practical aids in treatment. Again, we can most of us remember using very imperfect physiological knowledge to fix, more or less successfully, the locality of an organic lesion in the brain. I also remember such attempts being described as a mere scientific game, which could only be won after the player was beaten, since when the accuracy of diagnosis was established, its object was already lost ; but who would say this now, when purely physiological 604 NATURE [OcroBER 19, 1893 4 3 research and purely diagnostic success have led to one of the most brilliant achievements of practical medicine, the operative treatment of orgenic.diseases of the brain ? It has often been questioned whether the study of morbid anatomy has not withdrawn attention from morbid physiology ; and, again, whether the time employed upon pathological researches would not have been better spent in directly thera- putical inquiry. To boththese questions I take leave to answer, No. Anatomy must precede physiology, whether in the nor- mal or the diseased state. The humoral physiology of the ancients did infinite mischief (mischief not yet exhausted), be- cause it lacked the sound basis of anatomy ; and experimental pathology, necessary and important as it is, and valuable as even its first endeavours have proved, was impossible without previous knowledge of the anatomy and histology of disease. As to therapeutics, 1 hold that for the successful cure of a patient it is far better that his physician should have a thorough and extensive knowledge of morbid anatomy, than that he should be acquainted with all the baths and waters, the hotels and lodging- houses throughout the world, or familiar with the barbarousnames and pretended virtues of all the advertised nostrums that deface the fair English fields from London to Oxford. The public suppose that it is ¢ze¢r business to know what is the matter, and the doctor’s to find the remedy ; if so, our art would be confined to learning the name of the patient’s disorder by letter, post- card, or telegram, and looking up in an index of remedies the twenty or thirty drugs which are ‘‘ good” for that particular complaint. /Ve know that the real difficulty is to ascertain the mature and origin of our patient’s disorder ; when that is done, the treatment in most cases is obvious, and in many effectual ; ‘when it-is not done, our treatment is vacillating, and either futile or mischievous. We have already ample means at our disposal for influencing almost every organ of the body. A new tool is occasionally offered us which deserves proving, but what we want far more is knowledge how to use the tools that we have. Treatment without diagnosis, besides its inefficiency, brings us for the time unpleasantly near to the charlatan who, whatever title he may assume, is always therapeutical and never pathological. Rational, bold, and effectual treatment, whether preventive or curative, must always depend upon accurate diag- nosis and sound pathology, and the power of diagnosis depends upon that systematic inspection of the bodies of diseased persons which was recommended and practised by Harvey. ‘*Ad hance inspectionem, cum Heraclito apud Aristotelem, in casam furnariam (sic dicam) introire si vultis, accedite: nam neque hic Dii desunt’ immortales. Maximusque omnipotens Pater in minimis et conspectior vilioribus quandoque est.’ Suffer me, then, Mr. President and Fellows of this College, to obey the instructions of the founder of this lecture, by ex- horting my hearers, and especially those Fellows who are junior to myself, to emulate, according to the varied talents entrusted to each, the example of Harvey in these three par- ticulars :— (t) In investigation by experiment, whether by pathology or physiology. We have now difficulties unknown to Harvey in carrying out this duty, for duty it certainly is, incumbent upon all who have the opportunity and the necessary training. The countless experiments on living animals which were carried out during the 17th century in all civilised countries—in Italy, Holland, Denmark, France, Germany, and England—bore a rich fruit of physiological knowledge. If the anatomy of the human body was thoroughly ascertained by the great men of the 16th century, by Vesalius, Sylvius, and their successors, it is no less true that to the 17th century is due the discovery of the elements of physiology. The action of the heart and the circulation of the blood, the absorption of chyle by the lacteals and thoracic duct, the mechanism of respiration and some knowledge of its chemical effects, the function of secre- tion by glands, the minute structure of the eye and ear, and of the reproductive apparatus, and a knowledge—imperfect, but true as far as it went—of the functions of the brain and nerves, these were the achievements of the 17th century due to Harvey, Glisson, Willis, and Mayow, among our own country- men, and to Pecquet, Malpighi, Leuwenhoeck, De Graaf, Swammerdam, Aselli, Redi, and Bartolinus. In all this bril- liant advance. of knowledge, experiment upon the lower animals was the method used, and the method is as indispen- sable now, NO. 1251, VOL. 48] | Lister, the subjects of experiment are spared the pain Anyone conversant with a single branch of natural is aware that experiment, as well as observation, is nec Who would expect discoveries in physics, or in ch without laboratories and experiments? Do not botanists vestigate the functions of plants by dissection, by microscop: and chemical investigation, and by experiment? Have we this very year celebrated the important results of u experimental researches into the life and growth of plants b Lawes and Gilbert? And is it not obvious that the necessary well-tried and indispensable method of inquiry 1 be continued in the case of animals? Bae, the same perimental science has discovered the means of abolishi tribute of suffering which the brute creation paid in the of Harvey and Hales, of Haller, Magendie, and Sir. Charl Bell. By méans of chloroform and other anzesthetics, and b means of the antiseptic methods which'we owe to cot osep of an operation, and the pain which used to follow an oper tion. In fact, almost the only experiments upon the lowe animals which involve distress are those which are most i diately and directly useful to ourselves and to them; ii a tions, namely, with a view to reproduce diseases, and the dir therapeutical testing of drugs. Cruelty is utterly repugn to our calling ; and it seems absurd that men, who will just confidence entrust themselves and the lives of those nearest to them to our protection and care, should yet so far distrust u as to shackle attempts to improve our knowledge and o1 power by cumbersome and ridiculous restrictions, Let us hop that on the one hand increasing humanity and gentler manne will extend compassion for the lowest of God’s creatures frc the educated classes of England and America until it permea all ranks and all nations ; and that on the other full libert will be given to the prosecution of researches, laborious thankless in themselves, but of the utmost value for the and prevention of disease in man and brute alike. May express a hope.that those who administer our laws wil heart of grace, and in this, as in other matters, try wheth Englishmen do not prefer the conscientious maintenance statesman’s own judgment before a time-serving submiss ignorant clamour. (2) In the second place, I would exhort my brethren, an pecially the members of this College, to cultivate le iTarvey went to study in Italy, then the nursery of s well as of art, and he was familiar with the writings of Aristotle and Virgil, as well as with those of his imm predecessors, Fabricius and Columbus. So in that golden which comes to most of us, between taking the acacl degree and becoming immersed in the daily duties of life, I strongly advise a visit to one of the German unive: or to Paris, to acquire the key to the two languages in best modern books are written ; and to widen the mind ing the aspect of science and affairs from a continental st point. It is lamentable that there is so little professional int course between the students of one of our London schools andt teachers of another. The laudable energy which has made e: of them complete, and well-equipped colleges has had this dre back, that at the present day the attention of a diligent student more confined to the teaching and practice of his own school # it was sixty or seventy years ago.! The narrowness and p judice bred by this isolation may be corrected by a visit to. famous sister universities of Edinbargh or Dublin ; for complete removal no prescription is so efficient as a prolor stay in continental laboratories and hospitals. But even suc broad and liberal education, even familiarity with the di advances of medical science recorded in periodicals and z and year-books, or transmitted’ by telegraph to the wond readers of the daily newspapers, is not all that is needful to a learned physician. We know well the: difference bet reading of an experiment, or even seeing it performed, and it with our own hands. We know the difference bet studying a pathological atlas, or even a cabinet of histolog slides, and seeing and handling morbid tissues and m sections for oneself. So also is there all the difference betw learning the present conclusions as they stand recorded cience 1 1 Let us hope that the University of London when reconstituted labours of the Royal Commission, which is now preparing its report Crown, may provide by the regulations of its medica’ faculty for community of teaching and learning g stud of city, OcrToBeER 19, 1893] NATURE ; €05 last edition of a text-book or compendium and tracing the steps by which our present knowledge has been reached. With regard, for instance, to the physiology of the circula- tion, it is not only curious but instructive to follow its gradual growth from Galen and Vesalius, Columbus, Czsalpinus, and tus, to Harvey and Lower and Malpighi, to Hales and Vierordt, to Ludwig, and Chauveau, and Gaskell, and Roy. _ The only true scientific method is the historical one. If we only know the results of a science without the steps by which _ they have been reached, we have indeed its practical use, but lose half its educational value. We are almost in the position _ of an engineer who knows the conclusions of trigonometry by _ rote, but is ignorant of the demonstration. I would therefore _ urge upon junior Fellows, while still enjoying the prospect _ rather than the fruition of professional success, to spare some of the time which is unoccupied by work in wards and labora- _ tories for the perusal of such antiquated works as have been published as much as twenty years ago, and particularly for gaining acquaintance at first hand with classics like Virchow’s _ “Cellular Pathology,” and the lectures of Watson, Trousseau, _ and Stokes ; or, if their time and inclination does not allow of _ more extended researches, at least to read such succinct master- as Laennec’s ‘‘ Mediate Auscultation,’”’ Heberden’s _ **Commentaries,” Sydenham’s ‘‘ Treatise on Gout,” and _ Harvey ‘‘On the Movement of the Heart and of the Blood.” (3) I would, moreover, exhort Fellows of the College to _ see that, while all the new methods of experimental pathology and pharmacology are carried out by duly trained physiologists, _ we do not neglect the fundamental method taught and practised _ by Harvey of inspecting the bodies of those who have died of _ disease. It was this union of morbid anatomy with clinical observation which made the discoveries of Laennec and of _ Bright really fruitful. Without these autopsies, clinical medi- cine is but an empirical art, diagnosis a sham, and treatment _ little better than quackery. Exclusive attention to therapeutics is apt to bring a man dangerously near to homceopathy and other pretended systems of treatment, but sound pathology, and diagnosis controlled by fost-mortem inspection, give positive _ knowledge and that union of modest self-confidence and prudent _ enterprise which become the physician. Lastly, I have to fulfil the duty of exhorting the Fellows of this ancient College ‘‘to continue in mutual love and affection ” _ among ourselves; and this is the easiest task of all. For, if _ we must admit that experimental science in England, and par- _ ticularly scientific pathology, is not surpassing our byegone _ achievements as it ought to surpass them, considering the in- _ creased number of competent labourers and the vastly improved j methods of research ; and if we admit that the crowd of modern _ literature, and the distractions which we fondly imagine to be peculiar to our generation, leave small opportunity for the culti- _ vation of ancient learning; and if the prejudices of our ‘ ents, both gentle and simple, still make post-mortem _ Inspections less common and systematic than they should be— _ whatever, I say, may be our shortcomings in these or in other _ respects—your Harveian orator may most honestly congratulate _ the College and the profession upon the concord and mutual _ €steem which has happily marked our history from the days of _ Linacre to those of Harvey, from the days of Arbuthnot and _ Garth to those of Meade and Freind, from the days of Fothergill _ and Heberden to those of Matthew Baillie, of Babington, and of Sir Thomas Watson. Long may this continue, for thereon de- pend not only the dignity and peace of our profession, but in great _ measure our, power of doing good. However ignorantly our pa- tients will sometimes decry what they call professional etiquette, the wiser among them know (and in the long run the wise lead the _ foolish) that this term really means the observance of the rules _ which distinguish a profession from a trade, which make our _ calling honourable as well as honest, which check the arts of _ advertisement and direct our ambition to obtaining the suf- a frages, not of the public which cazmof, but of our profession which can, judge truly—rules of conduct which are, in fact, _ nothing but the carrying into daily practice of the golden rule to _ do to others as we would they should do tous. For maintaining _ and strengthening this spirit of concord and good feeling, we _ depend upon each one of our Fellows, but especially on the _ example and authority of our Head—an example and authority which, as the College well knows, are worthily maintained _ by the untiring devotion to its best interests of our honoured _ President. NO. 1251, VOL. 48] THE EFFECT OF WATER VAPOUR ON ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES. VERY interesting paper by Prof. J. J. Thomson, on the effects of electrification and chemical action on a steam jet, and of water vapour on the discharge of electricity through gases, appears in the October number of the Phz/o- sophical Magazine. In it the author first considers the effect of an electrical field on the surface tension of a water drop, and he shows that if the electrical field is uniform, the diminution in the surface tension is very small and independent of the size of the drop ; so that a uniform field will not be able to counter- balance the effect of surface tension, since the latter varies inversely as the radius of the drop, and therefore when the drop is excessively small must be greater than the constant effect due to the electric field. When, however, the electric field instead of being uniform is due to a number of charged atoms distri- buted throughout the volume occupied by the steam, the effect of the electric field in diminishing the surface tension varies inversely as the square of theradius of the drop. Thus for very small drops the electrification will overpower the cause (surface tension) which, under ordinary circumstances, puts an end to the existence of small drops. The above seems capable of explaining the effects of electrification on a steam jet first observed by Helmholtz, for. the electricity which escapes into the gas is carried by charged atoms of the gas, and since in the region immediately around these atoms there will be a very intense electric field there will be a tendency for the steam to condense into drops in these regions. Helmholtz also dis- covered that chemical action in the neighbourhood of the jet affected it in much the same way as a discharge of electricity. If the forces which hold the atoms together in a molecule are electrical in their origin, so that in a diatomic molecule one atom has a positive and the other an equal negative charge, the above explanation will also apply to this case. For when the molecule of the gas is in the ordinary state, the equal and op- posite charges of the atoms will, in the region outside the mole- cule, neutralise each other’s effect, so that the electrical field round a molecule will be much less intense than that round a single charged atom, and thus, though the field round the latter may be sufficient to cause condensation, that round the molecule may not. When, however, the molecules which enter into chemical combination come together and form a new compound, requiring a rearrangement of the atoms, then while the chemical change is going on, there will be an interval during which the atoms are comparatively free, and there will be an electric field almost as strong as if the atom were dissociated. The author also considers the effect of moisture in promoting chemical action, for if the forces which hold thee atoms in the molecule together are electrical in their origin it is evident that these forces will be very much diminished when the molecule is near the surface of, or surrounded by, a conductor or a sub- stance like water having a high specific inductive capacity. Thus if A and B represent two atoms in a molecule placed near a conducting sphere, then the effect of the electricity induced on thesphere by A will be represented by an opposite charge placed at the image of A in the sphere. If A is very near the sphere, this opposite charge will be very nearly equal to that at A. Thus the effect of the sphere will be to practically neutralise the electrical effects of A, and as one of these effects is to hold the atom B in combination, the affinity between the atoms A and B will be almost entirely annulled by the presence of the sphere. Molecules condensed on the surface of a drop of water or sur- rounded by water will thus be practically dissociated, or at any rate the forces between their component atoms will be much reduced. Since water vapour produces so great an effect on chemical combination, it is interesting to investigate whether its presence has any considerable influence on the passage of elec- tricity through gases, since there is strong evidence that this phenomenon is closely connected with chemical changes taking place in the gas through which the discharge takes place, Observations were made on dry and damp hydrogen, and show that there is a marked difference both in the appearance of the spark and in the proportion between the potential difference necessary to produce the first spark through the gas, and that which is sufficient to cause one to follow it immediately after- wards. In the damp gas this difference was comparatively small, averaging about ten percent. In the dry gas, however, this effect attains quite abnormal proportions, the potential difference required to produce the first spark being often more 605 NATURE [Ocroser 19, 1893 than twice that required to maintain it when once started. These experiments show that the behaviour of a gas with refer- ence to the passage of an electric spark is analogous to that of a vapour condensing to a liquid, the freezing of a liquid, or the deposition of crystals from a saturated solution. For in the case of a gas which contains a foreign substance (water vapour) the potential difference which the gas can support without a spark passing is approximately steady, but when the gas is care- fully dried it can support an abnormally large potential differ- ence, though when once the discharge has started the potential difference at once falls to its normal value. The passage of the spark producing a supply of modified gas which persists for some time after the discharge has stopped. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. OxForD.—The opening of the new department of Human Anatomy was the occasion of some ceremony on Saturday after- noon. The Vice-Chancellor presided at a large gathering of scientific and medical men, including some distinguished visitors from. the leading medical schools and universities. © After speeches from Sir William Turner, Mr. Arthur Thomson, Sir Henry Acland, and Prof. MacAlister, the Vice-Chancellor declared the buildings open, and the proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the Vice-Chancellor, moved by Prof. Burdon Sanderson. : The lectures and practical courses in the Natural Science Department are as follows for the current term:—In Physics, Prof. Clifton lectures on Electricity, and gives practical instruction with the assistance of Mr. J. Walker and Mr. S. A. F. White. Mr. R. E. Baynes, lectures at Christ Church on Heat and Light, and Sir John Conroy and Mr. F. J. Smith lecture at Balliol and at Trinity College, respectively, on Elementary Physics and on Mechanics and Physics. } In Chemistry, Prof. Odling lectures on Organic Chemistry, and Mr, W. W. Fisher, on Inorganic Chemistry. Other lectures and practical instruction are given by Mr. J. Watts, Mr. V. H. Veley, Mr. J. E. Marsh, and Mr. J. A. Gardner. Mr. Vernon Harcourt and Mr. P. Elford lecture at Christ Church and St. John’s respectively. Prof. A. H. Green lectures on Geology.in the Museum on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Prof. Ray Lankester lectures three days a week on the Com- parative Anatomy of the Vertebrata, and Dr. W. B. Benham and Mr. G. C. Bourne give other lectures in the Linacre Professor’s Department. Mr. J. Barclay Thompson _lec- tures on the Osteology of Fish and Amphibia ; and the Hope Professor of Zoology, on Means of Defence in the Struggle for Existence. In Physiology, lectures and practical instruction in the sub- jects for the Final Honour Examination are given by Prof. Burdon Sanderson, Mr. J. S. Haldane, and Mr. M. S. Pembrey. Prof. S. H. Vines gives advanced and elementary courses on Botany at the Botanical Gardens. In Anthropology, lectures are announced by Dr, E. B, Tylor, by Mr. H. Balfour, and by Mr. Arthur Thomson. It is announced that the examination fora Biological Fellow- ship at Merton College will commence on November 14. Examinations for Natural Science Scholarships and Exhibi- tions at Balliol, Christ Church, and Trinity, are announced to begin on November 21. CAMBRIDGE.—The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that Mr. H. Yule Oldham, University Lecturer in Geography, will deliver an inaugural lecture on the progress of geographical discovery, in the large lecture theatre of the chemical laboratory, on Tuesday, October 24, at noon. During the Michaelmas and Lent terms, Mr. Oldham will give courses of lectures on the principles of physical geography, in bie same theatre, on Thursdays, at noon, beginning on October 26. The Council of the Royal Geographical Society offer to award during the present academical year an exhibition of £100 to be spent in geographical investigation (physical or historical) of some district approved by the Council, to a member of the University of not more than eight years’ standing, who shall , the second order with linear coefficients, by Oskar Bolza (pp. — NO. 1251, VOL. 48] have during his residence attended the courses of the lectures geography. Further particularswill be announced. __ ro The office of Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum is vacant by the resignation of Dr. Middleton. A new Director will be appointed on Friday, November 17. The stipend is £30 year. Candidates are to send their names to the Viee-hat cellor by Friday, November 10. eee The Walsingham Medal, founded by the High Steward o the University, will be offered during the present acaden year for the best monograph or essay giving evidence of original research in any subject connected with biology or geology. Essays are to be sent to Prof. Newton by October 1, 1894. There are this year 132 freshmen who have indicated their tention of studying medicine in the University. agro ta Entrance Scholarships in Natural Science have been award at Christ’s College to A.V. Cunnington (£60), Clifton Colleg and J. Hart-Smith (£30), Berkhampstead School; and Emmanuel College to W. F. A. Ermen (£50), Clifton Co and R. G. K. Lempfert (450); Manchester Grammar Scho At Downing College an Examination for Minor Scholar: (£50) in Natural Science will be held on April 17, 1894. — St. John’s the Examination for Natural Science Scholarsh (£80 and under) and Exhibitions (£50 and under) will begin on — December 5, 1893. : : e THE United States Bureau of Education has published a remarkable ‘‘ Circular of Information,” by Dr. Arthur © Macdonald, entitled ‘‘ Abnormal Man.” The volume inchides _ essays on education and crime and related subjects, ‘vith digests of literature and an extensive bibliography. With regard to the effect of education on crime a statistical } ‘ tion shows that in France and Italy there has been an incr of both education and crime. Germany shows an increas habitual criminality and a general increase of both universi education and crime. As far as statistics are accessible, A shows an increase in education and a decrease in crime. Als while there has been a decrease in the number of convictio for crime from 1881 to 1887 in Norway and Sweden, there has been an increase in education. But in Norway alone for th year 1888-89 there was an increase in the number of crimes. England, Scotland, and Ireland all statistics are in accord showing an increase in education and a decrease in crime {ror 1885-1890. Japan and Saxony also exhibit an increase in edu. cation and a decrease in the number of convictions. It thus appears that while some countries show an increase in bo education and crime, yet not a few, and some of the mo developed nations, show an increase of education and a decrease of crime. The statistics, therefore, fail to show the exact relation between education and crime. a SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. — American F ournal of Mathematics, vol. xv. No. 3. (B: more, 1893).—On groups whose orders are products of th prime factors, by F. N. Cole and J. W. Glover (pp. 191-2 In this paper the authors fully determine}the groups for th prime factors, equal or unequal. Those of order fg and 7" known from Netto.—The nature and effect of singularities ofp! algebraic curves, by Miss Scott (pp. 221-243) is a continuatio of the paper in vol. xiv. Inthe earlier memoir the method em- ployed was stated to be directly applicable, in general, to th determination only of the joint components of the singularity ; in this the restriction is removed, and it is shown that the S enables one, in every case, to enumerate the double lines (double - tangents and inflexional tangents) involved in the ae ; —The elliptic irregularities in the lunar theory, by E. / Brown (pp. 244-263), gives a general solution in series of problem : a system of three bodies is in motion in one pl the first is revolving about the second, and is disturbed fre its elliptic orbit by the third. The third body is suppe to be of infinite mass, and to be moving ina circle of infin radius with a finite angular velocity. Given the relative positio of the three bodies at any one time, to find their relative positi at any other time. The differential equations used at the out-_ set are given in Dr. Hill’s paper (vol. i.) and M. Poincaré’ researches (Acta Math. vol. xiii.) afford considerable help in thi work.—On the transformation of linear differential equations o! OcToBER 19, 1893] NATURE 607 264-273), is a fresh treatment of the problem by methods of the theory of invariants.—On certain properties of symmetric, skew- symmetric, and orthogonal matrices, by W. H. Metzler (pp. 274-282) proves in another way properties of these matrices which have been obtained by Dr.. Taber (Z. Math. S. Proc. vol. xxii.), and Mr. Buchheim (Afessr. of Math. vol, xiv.). The number closes with a deduction and demonstration of Taylor’s formula, by W. H. Echols (pp. 283-4). Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine for September contains an interesting climatological table for seventeen selected stations in the British Empire, for the year 1892. This valuable summary has now been published for several years, and: corre- sponding monthly tables with remarks have been also regularly printed since July, 1881. The highest temperature in the shade was 110°'8 at Adelaide on January 20. This station also recorded the highest temperature in the sun, and had the lowest mean humidity. The lowest shade temperature was -44°'4 at Winnipeg, on January 18; this station had also the greatest yearly and daily range, and the lowest mean tempera- ture. The dampest and most cloudy station was Esquimalt. ‘The greatest rainfall was 95°1 inches at Bombay, and the least, 21°3 inches at Jamaica. Attentionis again drawn to the fact that the Australian stations record higher temperatures both in shade and in sun than occur at the East Indian stations. A table is given of the absolute maximum temperature in shade and sun for each of the ten years 1883-92, at Adelaide and Calcutta, and shows an average excess at Adelaide of 5°°2 in shade, and 6°*4 in sun ; but the heat ismore prolonged in India, and inthe hottest months the average maxima in the shade are always higher at Calcutta. Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 9.— Luminous phenomena in vessels filled with rarefied gas under the influence of rapidly alternating electric fields, by H. Ebert and E, Wiedemann. Gas vessels without electrodes were placed between the condenser plates of a Lecher wire combination. The luminous phenomena were investigated and discussed from the point of view of tubes of electric force undergoing displace- ment. It was shown that the portion of energy dissipated by radiation is perfectly commensurable with that occurring in the field generally. The glowing of a gas is therefore a sufficient cause for diminution of pressure in tubes of force, and hence for the displacement of tubes in the field, leading to a dissipation of the energy contained in them. Experiments were also made with tubes fitted with electrodes, one or both of which were attached to an end of the Lecher system. It was shown that any metal plate in contact with a rarefied gas and exposed to slightly damped electric oscillations, shows all the phenomena of akathode. Also, that at every wall suitably crossing a gaseous space filled with electric oscillations a kathode is produced.— Vapour pressures of aqueous solutions at 0° C. by C. Dieterici. —Thermo-electric studies, by E. Englisch.—Concerning the physical interpretation of thermo-electricity, by F. Braun.— Density of dilute aqueous solutions, by F. Kohlrausch and W. Hallwachs.—Solubility of some ‘‘insoluble”’ bodies in water, determined by the electric conductivity of the solutions, by F. Kohlrausch and F. Rose. The determination of small quantities of ‘‘ insoluble ” substances in a large amount of water is ‘subject to many experimental errors due to the necessity of evaporating large quantities of water at the boiling point, whereby the solubility of the material of the dish becomes a dis- turbing factor. As the laws governing the relation between concentration and electric conductivity are fairly well known, it is possible to arrive at an estimate of minute quantities of dis- solved matter by a determination of the electric conductivity of the solution. This method has proved to be very simple, expe- ditious, and accurate.—On heat generated by dielectric polari- sation, by A. Kleiner.—Experiments on the generation of elec- tricity by small drops, by A. L. Holz, A jet of mercury was Peay upon an amalgamated copper plate, whence it re- nded in small globules on to a glass plate, and thence to the electrometer. The increase of potential was found to be pro- portional to the sectional area of the jet, the pressure and height of fall of the mercury, and the size of: the saturated glass plate. —Dielectric constants of liquid bodies as dependent upon tem- erature and the Mossotti-Clausius formula, by A. Franke.— xperiments on the interference of electric waves in air, hy I. _ Klemencic and P. Czermak.—Notice on secondary heatings of galvanic cells, by H. Jahn. NO. 1251, VOL. 48] SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Lonpbon, Entomological Society, October 4.—Henry John Elwes, President, in the chair.—Mr. F. Merrifield exhibited specimens showing the effects of temperature in the pupal stage on several species of Lepidoptera. Vanessa polychloros was much darkened, especially towards the hinder margin, by a low temperature. Vanessa c-album showed effects on both sides, especially in the female ; they were striking on the under side. Some Vanessa io showed the gradual disintegration, by exposure to a low tem- perature, of the ocellus on the fore wing, which in the extreme specimens ceased to be an ocellus, and was a remarkable con- firmation of Dr. Dixey’s views of the origin of that ocellus, as ex- emplified in the plate attached to his paper in the Entomological Society’s Transactions for 1890. Mr. Goss stated that in his experience of V, c-a/bum in Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Monmouthshire, the form with the pale under side was the first brood, occurring in June and July ; and, that the specimens of the second brood, occurring from the end of July to October, were invariably dark on the under side.— Mr. A. H. Jones exhibited Lepidoptera collected in Corsica in June last, including dark forms of Polyommatus phlaas, Lycena astrarche, in which the orange marginal band is very brilliant on upper and under sides of both wings, Lycena argus, the females.of which are much suffused with blue, prob- ably var. calliopis ; a series of Vanessa urtice var. ichnusa, bred from larve, Argynnis elisa, Satyrus semele var. aristeus, Saty- rus neomiris, Cenonympha corrina, both spring and summer brood, and many others.—Mr. G. C, Champion exhibited for Mr. G. A. J. Rothney, a number of Aethoca ichneumonoides, Latr. (female), taken at Bexhill, Sussex, showing great vari- ation from the usual large black and red form.—Dr. D. Sharp, F.R.S., exhibited a pupa of Galleria me-onella, on which the eggs of a parasitic Hymenopteron had been deposited while the insect was in the cocoon. He also exhibited the hitherto ‘unique Asprostoma planifrons, Westw.—Mr. J. J. Walker exhibited specimens of the following species, viz. Halobates sericeus, from the Pacific; A. sobrinus, and H. wiillerstorffi, from Marquesas Islands; H. princeps, from the China Sea ; and a female of H. wiillerstorffi,; with ova attached.—Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher showed a variable series of 75 specimens of Cymatophora or, bred in 1893 from larvae from Sutherland, a series. of about 40 C. ocu/aris bred-in from stock from Oundle ; also a series of 33 moths, all females, supposed to be hybrids between C. ocu/aris male and C. or female, from the above stock in each case, bred as a second brood in August and Sep- tember, 1893. Hestated that he placed the reputed parents in a muslin sleeve on a branch of Populus nigra, and did not open the sleeve until the resulting larvee required fresh food. The supposed hybrids resembled the female parent, except that both orbicular and reniform stigmata were very conspicuous, being pure white filled up slightly with black.—Mr. F. J. Hanbury exhibited a specimen of Leucania vitellina, taken at Brocken- hurst on August 24, 1893, and another taken at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on September 7; also an extraordinary Gonepteryx rhamni, showing red blotches at the tips of the fore wings, taken at Walthamstow, Essex.—Mr. C. G. Barrett exhibited a gynandrous Argynnis paphia recently taken in the New Forest by Mr. Cardew.—Mr. J. M. Adye exhi- bited a specimen of Ded/ephila livornica recently caught at Christchurch, Hants. —Mr. Elwes exhibited and described two species of the genus (eis (Chionobas, Bdy.) G2, beani and CE, alberta, from North America, which had not been_pre- viously described, and stated that he had prepared. a revision of this very difficult genus, which would be read at the November meeting.—Mr. Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., exhibited a new genus and species of Papilionide (Baronia brevicornis), He also com- municated a paper entitled ‘‘ Description of a new genus and species of Papilionidz from Mexico.”—Dr. Sharp read a paper entitled ‘‘ On the Cost and Value of Insect Collections.” Mr. W. F. H. Blandford, Mr. McLachlan, F.R.S., Mr. Jacoby, Mr. Waterhouse, and the President took part in the discussion which ensued.—Prof. Auguste Forel communicated a paper entitled ‘* Formicides de St. Vincent, récoltées par Mons. H. H. Smith,”—Mr. Blandford read a paper entitled ‘* Description of a New Subfamily of the Scolytide.” The President, Mr. Jacoby, and Mr. Waterhouse took part in the discussion which ensued, 608 NATURE [Ocroer 19, 189 3 PARIS. Academy of Sciences, October 9.—M. Loewy in the chair.—On the theory of pyro-electricity and piezo-electricity, by Lord Kelvin.—On a class of new transcendentals, by M. Emile Picard.—Theorem on triple orthogonal systems, by M. Lucien Lévy.—Circles or spheres derived from a plane or solid envelope of any class, by M. Paul Serret.—On the aperture fringes, in the expériment with parallel gratings, by M. Georges Meslin. These fringes are independent of the form, the size, and the orientation of the slit; they do not require a particular position of the screen or the slit, and the use of a lens is not indispensable. Their essential characteristic is that of exhibiting alternate colorations, which are sensibly com- plementary. In other respects they present the same aspect as those produced by one slit illuminating one grating. But the black fringes, which are very fine in the first case, are less sharply defined ; the second phenomenon does not reproduce the delicate portions of the first, but shows only those bands which have a certain breadth. If the periods of the gratings are identical, the bands are sharply defined. If the illuminat- ing grating has a number of slits per mm. equal to half that of the second, the colorations are the same, but less brilliant. On reversing the positions, the fringes become achromatic, owing to the superposition of the red and green bands of the two systems.—On the relation between the precipita- tion of chlorides by hydrochloric acid and the lowering of the boiling point, by M. R. Engel. To precipitate one molecule of .a chloride from its saturated solution at 0° re- quires in the case of monovalent chlorides, one molecule of HCl, and in the case of divalent chlorides, two molecules. This is now proved also to hold good for temperatures other than 0°, and for double chlorides, like that of copper and am- monium, containing four atoms of chlorine and requiring four molecules of HCl. The molecular depression of the freezing point of solutions of the various chlorides was also investigated in its relation to the concentration. It was found that for the monovalent chlorides the molecular depression remains sensibly the same, varying between 35 and 40, but tends to reach twice that value for divalent, and four times that value for tetravalent chlorides. Hence at the freezing point of the saturated solution of alkaline chlorides, bromides, and iodides, there must be a relation between the atomic weights of the constituents of the molecule and the solubility. —On the variations of glycogeny in anthrax infection, by M. H. Roger. The glycogenic function remains intact during the first stages of anthrax infection. The amount of sugar contained in the blood is normal or slightly diminished. At the end of the disease, the hepatic glycogen rapidly disappears and a considerable hyperglycemia is pro- duced.—Researches on the extension of the blastoderm and the orientation of the embryo in the ova of the Teleostea, by MM. R. Keehler and E. Bataillon.—On_ the locali- sation of the active principle in the Capparidee, by M. Léon Guignard, The existence of special ferment cells is general in the Capparidee. By their morphological cha- racteristics in the root- and the stem they resemble those found in the corresponding organs of the Crucifere. In the leaf and especially the flower of the caper-tree their grouping is peculiar, All the reactions of their contents are those of myrosine. In the capers they are most numerous, and the glucoside is most abundant. The grains of all Capparidez. however, are relatively poor in ferment and in glucoside, and of their two constituents the embryo alone contains the ferment.— Sexual reproduction of the Ustilaginez, by M. P. A. Dangeard. —On plane-tree honey, by M. Edm. Jandrier. During dry summers an exudation of varying consistence and aspect may be found on certain planes (Platanus Orvientalis), It is some- times dry and bright, sometimes pasty and yellowish, and contains, besides a small quantity of reducing sugar, probably glucose, about 80 or go per cent. of mannite, which may be extracted with the greatest ease by means of boiling alcohol and crystallisation.—Observation of an Aurora Borealis, by M. le duc Nicolas de Leuchtenberg. This was observed from the camp at Krasnoe Selo in the middle of July, about 1oh. 30m. p.m. Its apex was situated very near the zenith, and seemed based upon a cluster of light vapours from which regular and regularly spaced bands proceeded, passing from white to a delicate pink and green, with a vibration resembling that exhibited by rarefied gases in Geissler tubes. It was seen to last about a quarter of an hour. NO. 1251, VOL. 48] BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. . Booxs.—Solutions of the Examples in the Elements of Statics and Dynamics: S. Soney (Camb. Univ. Press).—An Elementary Treatise on Theoretical Mechanics, Part 1, Kinematics: A. Ziwet_(Macmillan).—Text- book of Geology: Sir A. Geikie, 3rd edition (Macmillan).—Eskimo Life : F. Nansen, translated by W.. Archer (Longmans).— Geometry (Burns and Oates).—The Shrubs of North-eastern Dr. E. F. Willoughby (Macmillan).—An Elemen Treatise on t Geometry of Conics: A. Mukhopadhyay (Macmillan).—A Treatise on — Hygiene and Public Health, Vol. 2, edited by Dr. T. Stevenson and S. F. Murphy (Churchill):—Vorlesungen iiber Maxwell’s Theorie der Elektricitat — Dr. L. Boltzmann (Leipzig, Barth).—Healthy — Hospitals: Sir D. Galton (Oxford, Centon als Krank- riedlainder).—Zoo0- und des Lichtés ii. Theil: heitserreger, Erstes Heft: Dr. A. Korotneff (Berlin, , logical Record 1892 (Gurney and Jackson).—Everybody’s Letter Writer (Saxon).—The Out-door World: W. Furneaux (Longmans). _ PAmPHLETS.—Reports of the Director of the Michigan Mining School for 1890-92 (Lansing).—Anleitung zur Krystallberechnung: Dr. (Leipzig, Barth).—Report on the Present State of our Know! B. view ing the General Circulation of the Atmosphere: L. T. de Bort Stanford). Miswoey of Slavery in Connecticut: Dr. B. C. Steiner (Baltimore).—Mer- chant Venturer’s School, Prospectus 1893-94 (Bristol).—The Interdependence of Abstract Science and Engineering: Dr. W. Anderson (London). SERtALS.—Mind, October (Williams and Norgate).—American Meteoro- logical Journal, October (Ginn).—Boletin del Instituto Geografico Argen- tino, tomo xiv. Cuadermos 1 to 4 (Buenos Aires). —American Science, October (New Haven),—American Naturalist, Septem! delphia).—John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Studies from the Laboratory, Vol. v. No. 4 (Baltimore).—Records of the of India, Vol. xxvi. Part 3 (Calcutta).—Botanische Band, 3 and 4 Heft (Williams and Norgate).— togamen- von orgate).—Annals of Schlesien, 3 Band, 2 Halfte, x Lief (Williams and r Scottish Natural History, No. 8 Te Douglas).—Agricultural estine Exploration Fund. Gazette of N.S.W., August Gydney) = Z Quarterly Statement, October (Watt),—Nyt Magazin for Natur viden- skaberne, 34 ke Binds, 2 det Hefte (Christiana).—Proceedings and Ty-ans- actions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science, Halifax, 2nd series, Vol. i. Part 2 (Halifax, Nova Scotia). CONTENTS. PAGE British Butterflies. By W. F. Kirby ....... 585 Cooke on Locomotives. By N. J. Lockyer... . 586 Weather Prophesying. By W.E.P... Our Book Shelf :— 88 388 Cire, Wine eerie § se ee Letters to the Editor :— The Supposed Glaciation of Brazil.—Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, PUR.S:: sau 0es, dee Telegony,-— M.D: Bi. 1.) 2.! es ee ee The Use of Scientific Terms.—Prof. W. R. Fisher Rustless Steel. —H. G. Fourcade . . Research Laboratories for Women, By Prof. A. W. Ricker, FoR, oo oe ce ec. se a ee The Inner Structure of Snow Crystals. (Z//ustrated.) i By G. Nordenskiold) 540.050... G9 ee Biitschli’s, Artificial Amoeba. By Dr. John Berry — Haycraft:.. eae ee ai inas 2 508 Finger-prints in the Indian Army. By Francis Galton, FR S..00 545 seca oe es Notes 0050 50. So Se ES ee Our Astronomical Column :— The’ Scintillation of Stars. ....s 4: 3). a's. Sate 00 A Universal Telescope Stand ....... 4... 600 Popular) Astronomy s)..c.604 ewes Se el ee The August Meteors ........ «3 eine CBE Astronomy of the Fellahin of Palestine ..... . 608 Geographical Notes . 2°. 0°05 0 2 ee is OO The Harveian Oration. By Dr. P. H. Pye-Smith, FURS, se sth ee ee she Se Cie The Effect of Water Vapour on Electrical Dis- Charges 2 ocs ss eS ea ae se University and Educational Intelligence .... . 606 Scientific Sexiale 5, js sea ecw «nis + eee Oe Societies and Academies .........24++ + 607 Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received .... . 608 Key to Carroll's. C. S. Newhall (Putnam).—Handbook of Public Health and Demography = — of (Phila Biological shibhceee Saba ine : oat cort ea ae eed cee Fear ee ne eee a a hal tl “was reviewed in NATURE, June 16, 1892. three long Sections or Books, the subjects of Attraction, Bending of Rods, and Astatics, left over from Vol. I. _ Functions, NATORE 609 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1893. 4 ANALYTICAL MECHANICS. A Treatise on Analytical. Statics. With numerous _ Examples. Vol. II. By Edward John Routh, Sc.D., LL.D., M.A., F.R.S. (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1892.) HIS volume finishes Dr. Routh’s work on the subject of analytical statics, the first volume of which It contains, in In Attractiona start is made with the Newtonian Law, and the Gravitation Constant is introduced. The experimental redetermination of the numerical value of the Gravitation Constant is engaging the attention of Mr. Poynting (who has just been awarded the Adams Prize for his Essay on this subject) and of Mr. C. V. Boys. But we cannot hope to obtain, with the greatest refine- ments, an accuracy of determination within limits of error of less than one per cent.; the Astronomical Unit of Mass, defined in § 3, would be subject to the same limits _ of error, which are far beyond what is permissible in _ careful measurements with the Balance. The only reason for the introduction of the Astrono- _mical Unit of Mass is to save the trouble of writing down _k, the Gravitation Constant, in our equations; but we agree with Prof. Minchin, in his Analytical Statics, in _ thinking that it tends to clearness if we take the trouble to write £ in its proper place, so as always to measure 7 in such well-determined units as the gramme or kilo- _ gramme. Nowadays the theorems of Attraction receive their ~ most appropriate interpretation, analytical and experi- - mental, from the subject of Electrostatics ; the theorems on the Potential of Laplace, Poisson, and Gauss, on Tubes of Force, Green’s Theorem, Inversion, Laplace’s and on the Attraction of Ellipsoids of Chasles, all present themselves as fundamental in the _ Electrostatical chapters of Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism ;” insomuch that Maxwell ventured to present g Pp _ a demonstration of some of the most abstruse analytical results of Laplace’s Functions, founded on physical principles of Electrostatics, and thereby excite the ire of certain mathematicians of the purest proclivities. For instance, the complicated theorems on Centrobaric Bodies, discussed in §$ 111, 116, become self-evident when interpreted as the analogues of the electricity induced on an uninsulated closed surface by an electrical point in the interior. The external electrical effect being zero, the potential of the induced electricity is equal and opposite to that of the point, and therefore the surface has an electrical coating which is centrobaric, the function which represents the superficial density being Green’s _ Function for the surface and the point. _ Ifthe dielectric in the interior is stratified, an elec- trical concentration is distributed throughout the space, and thus the analogue of the centrobaric body is _ obtained ; but incidentally the electric analogy shows that the strata of equal density in the centrobaric body _ are each separately centrobaric, so that the centrobaric NO. 1252, VOL. 48] body is built up of centrobaric shells. The sphere is the homogeneous centrobaric body,as Newton showed in the “ Principia” ; and an application of Sir W. Thomson’s powerful geometrical method of electrical inversion deduced the fact that a solid sphere whose density varies inversely as the fifth power of the distance from an external point O’ is centrobaric with respect to the interior inverse point O. So also for a spherical shell, either this or composed of a series of con- centric strata ; and this by inversion leads to the theorem that a shell bounded by two excentric spheres of which the limiting points are O and O’is centrobaric if the density at any point P init is OP75g(OP/O'P/) The discovery of Green’s function for a given surface, or rather the discovery of surfaces for which Green’s function can beassigned, is one of the most difficult and baffling of modern analysis ; and it has so far only been effected for some few simple cases. The British Association met recently at Notting- ham, the birthplace of George Green in 1793. There must be people still living there who remember him, and could supply now, before it is too late, some interesting details of the causes which led to the development of his wonderful mathematical genius, at a time too when little encouragement was vouchsafed to such abnormal proclivities. In France a statue would long ago have arisen in his honour; but at least an in- teresting paper on the subject of Green’s life could be communicated to Section A. : The theorems of Chasles and Maclaurin on the attrac- tion of homeeoids and focaloids are fully discussed in §182 ; the homeeoids receive ample illustration in electrical phenomena ; but Maclaurin’s theorem on the attraction of confocal homogeneous solid ellipsoids is rendered more convincing by supposing the smaller confocal to be scooped out of the larger so as to form a thick focaloid, the matter which is scooped out being condensed homogeneously with the rest of the substance. The effect of this operation is to leave unaltered the ex- ternal potential, and the original matter may thus ulti- mately be condensed into a thin focaloid, in which the thickness is inversely proportional to the perpendicular on the tangent plane; and this focaloid will have the same external equipotential surfaces as the solid ellipsoid. Part ii., on the Bending of Rods, does not assume any new experimental knowledge beyond that of the pro- portionality of the curvature to the bending moment, an assumption which we know from Prof. Karl Pearson’s “ History of Elasticity” to be onlya first rough approxi- mation to the truth. The analytical consequences of the hypothesis are, however, very elegant and instructive, and Dr. Routh has brought together an interesting collection ot illustrative examples. He does not, however, develop the elliptic function solution of the plane Elastica or associated Lintearia, curves which can now be drawn with great accuracy and rapidity by Mr. C. V. Boys’s scale. He also restricts himself to the uniform helix in the tortuous Elastica ; but the student who wishes to pursue this branch of the DvD 410 NATURE [Ocroser 26, 1893 _ subject to its fullest development must consult vol. ii. of Mr. Love’s “ Elasticity,” which has recently appeared. Kirchoff’s Kinetic Analogue between this Elastica and the motion of a Top, makes the same analysis serve for both; thus, as pseudo-elliptic solutions, we may mention that tortuous Elasticas are given by :— (i.) rary 9) = A/{r? — $e( — 4c)a*} / {72 +4(t — 2c) (1 - 4c)a*} +32(0 — 4c)an/{he(t — 2c)a*— 7 ; — 3¢)a*} s/{7° — (2c — 3?)a*} (1-c) (1- 3e)a 72 + (1 —c)? (2c — 3¢2)a%? 5 3 + go, of (ii.) ee aye aH (2 +2(2 - 3¢) /{-74 corresponding to parameters @, + 3, and a, the related Elliptic Integrals of the third kind. Here a determines the scale of the figure, and c is an arbitrary parameter, upon which Z depends; and it is curious that in case (ii.) the value c = 4 makes / vanish, and then @, = 4/(— 3). Other interesting applications of the Theory of the Bending of Rods, requiring Bessel Functions, are the investigations of the greatest height consistent with stability to which a vertical wire or mast can be carried, or to which a tree can grow, without drooping over under its own weight; we can thus supply the analysis required in the old German proverb, quoted by Goethe, “Es ist dafiir gesorgt, dass die Baiime nichtin den Himmel wachsen.” The third part, on Astatics, is intimately bound up with the distribution in space of Poinsot’s central axis for a system of forces; or with Sir Robert Ball’s in- vestigation on Screws. A great analogy exists with the analysis required in the distribution of principal axes in space. A problem which might well find a place here is, ‘The moment of inertia of a body of mass M about any generating line of the hyberloloid of one sheet x 5 ie 22 @tp +p is constant, and equal to M(a? + 3? +c? + 2y).” Dr. Routh has now completed his work on “ Analytical Statics,” and the two volumes form an indispensable addition to the library of the mathematical student. A. G. GREENHILL, MOLESWORTH’S POCKET-BOOK. Pocket-Book of Useful Formule and Memoranda for Civil and Mechanical Engineers. By Sir Guilford L. Molesworth, K.C.I.E., M.inst.C.E., and Robert Bridges Molesworth, M.A., Assoc.M.Inst.C.E. 23rd edition. (London: E and F. N. Spon, 1893.) Cy all the many books published for the assistance of engineers generally there is none so well known to the profession as ‘‘ Molesworth.” This pocket-book is to be found in the possession of every engineer, and rightly so, because it is certainly the most useful and accurate of the many to be obtained. Any work which has reached the 23rd edition requires no praise to verify its position. This edition is said to contain new and important information on recent NO. 1252, VOL. 4%] proportions of grate, fire-box, and tube surfaces. engineering and industrial developments, many of the: entirely new, and much of the matter in previous editior has been revised. “ Molesworth” treats with nearly a the various branches of engineering, and so extensiv el has this been carried out that it is impossible to notic but slightly its contents; besides the many purely tech nical formule there is to be found a collection of m useful tables applying generally to engineering. There are, however, a few mistakes in the mass of matte brought together in this book, and in some instanc statements are made which would have been better omitted. si On page 254 we read that Vickers’ straight steel axl should have an ultimate tensile strength of not more tha 23 tons per square inch, and that this test can only made by destroying the tested axle. Crank axles shou ld also have a maximum tensile strength of 23 tons. Th is either a typographical error or gross mistake in this statement. Had the maximum limit been given 33 ton it would have been nearer the mark ; 23 tons is absurd. Probably the best tensile tests for steel axles would b 30 tons per square inch, 25 per cent. extension measured over a length of three inches, and 4o per cent. contraction of area at point of fracture. The author omits to state. that straight axles are tested under the tup, and that it is this test which destroys them. It is usual to take the tensile sample from this axle. Again, in the tests for ste: tyres given on page 255, we notice that a tensile strengt of 47 tons is required, but no extension or contraction of area is specified. This is all very well, but tyres on been known to stand the tup test and give the pro) tonnage in the tensile test, still the extension has only been 5 to 8 per cent. on three inches, when 16 per cent. is the lowest limit safety demands. : On p. 410, under the head of workshop recipes, ther are several mixtures given for case-hardening of wrought iron. The first recipe is used by a few people, but the majority use ordinary charcoal mixed with about 2 per cent. of soda ash. This gives a very uniform and close- grained casing. The author gives no;time-allowance for the articles to remain in the furnace ; thisis all-important, because the time governs the depth of the casing. Furth on, at p. 418, we find some recipes to prevent the i crustation of boilers. One cannot help being amused to discover in “ Molesworth” of 1893 that potatoes, yt the weight of water in the boiler, when put in preven adherence of scale. Twelve remedies are given, but th only one a man having any regard for his boiler would use is that of frequent blowing off. { When dealing with the question of the proportions of locomotive boilers on p. 453, the statement is made that— (1) no fixed rule can be established as to the best relative (2) Length of tube does not affect economic result. (3) Diameter of tube is a matter of indifference. q These conclusions are, to say the least of it, very dog- matical. Given the class of fuel to be consumed and work to be done, then the question of the design of boiler is not very difficult, and the general practice in this respect may be said to be uniform. This practice is" certainly approaching a fixedrule. Given the conditions, the design, or we should say the proportions, becomes — an easy matter to designers worthy of the name. re OcToBER 26, 1893] NATURE 611 } _ We leave our readers to form their own opinions upon conclusions Nos. 2 and 3. It is a pity they are to __ be found in “ Molesworth,” because they may lead students _ and others to form the opinion that these most important details are matters of no consequence. The compound locomotive naturally is included in the new matter added to this edition, and being of great interest to all connected with railways, we expected to find the subject thoroughly upto date. In this we are disappointed ; two-thirds of a page is considered ample space to discuss this im- portant question, the other third being taken up with a _ few lines on American locomotive practice! American _ locomotive engineers do not consider the two-cylinder - arrangement for compounding ‘‘ most suitable,” nor does ' Mr. F. W. Webb, the able locomotive superintendent of the L. and N.W. Railway. Surely these two subjects are __ worthy of more space and better treatment. i q ' On p. 466 we notice a formula having reference to _ the blast pipe of locomotive engines, applying in par- _ ticular to the exhaustive power of the pipe, as the efficiency _of ablast pipe seems to depend more on its vertical _ position in the smoke-box than on anything else. This _ fact might have been noted with advantage. _ Therulegiven on p. 499 for the safe load on locomotive _ springs, by Mr. D. K. Clark, is found to be rather exces- _ sive ; the constant 11°3 can be increased with advantage to 15, the result thus obtained being the actual load to be carried. Notwithstanding these few weaknesses, _ Molesworth’s Pocket-Book is,without doubt, incomparably the best of its kind ; and so accustomed have engineers, and particularly draughtsmen, become to the continual _ use of this valuable book that most of them would be now _ really lost without it. This book is clearly and well printed, nicely got up, and is a credit to all concerned in its publication. THE AMERICAN CATALOGUE OF MEDICAL LITERATURE, _ Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office U.S. Army. Vol. xii. (Reger—Shuttleworth), pp. 1004, 1892, and vol. xiii, (Sialogogues—Sutugin), pp. 1005. Imp. 8vo. Washington, (Government Printing Office, 1893.) _ JT is a great pleasure to all who are interested in any form of library or literature to observe how _ punctually, year by year, these magnificent volumes _ appear, and show in a very practical way how American _ enterprise can deal with old-world questions of gathering . together and keeping up a collection of books that is _ superior in its own department to any other, and which _has been got together in little more than thirty years, _ What is framed as an Index Catalogue of the Library of _ the Surgéon-General’s Office at Washington constitutes in effect a dictionary of all medical and surgical litera- _which at first sight may well have seemed too ambitious —viz. to catalogue under subject-headings all the signed articles which touch on medicine which exist in the _ periodical publications of all languages, as well as to cross- NO. 1252. VOL. 48] catalogue all medical books and pamphlets of the world under both author and subject-headings—has turned out perfectly successful. In the first eleven volumes there were mentioned 3,929 periodical publications which were thus treated ; in the two more volumes which are before us there are 341 additions, and though some of the older ones may have died out, yet the labour remaining is ob- viously no lightone, Thethirteenth volume brings us within sight of the end, and it is probable that two years more may finish the first edition of the catalogue ; yet it cannot but be that some provision, by supplement or otherwise, must be made for the literature which during fifteen years has been accumulating under the headings of the earlier volumes, and some arrangement must be made for the literature of the future. From the monthly issues of the Index Medicus,which is a catalogue issued by Mr. Billings, on similar lines, of purely contemporary medical literature, we may estimate that the sum total of titles of additions to the world’s medical literature would amount to about one such volume as the present every three years, which leaves us no doubt that the successors to Mr. Billings, the present librarian, will have occasion for all the indomitable activity and accuracy he has shown. In the twelfth volume, considerable use in various quarters has enabled us to find only one trifling misprint of a well-known physician’s initials (xii. 449), but accuracy in such details is indispensable when we have to do with 136 authors of the name of Richter, 227 of the name of Smith, and 240 of the name of Schmidt. The student may be over- whelmed at first by the 39 imperial 8vo. pages that are required for a closely-printed catalogue of the titles of the literature of scarlet fever, but he will find that 46 pages are needed for rheumatism, 63 for small-pox, and 102 for surgery. Under these large headings the sub- indexing is excellent. The great importance of such a classification under subject-headings should never be lost sight of in a catalogue which deals mainly with matters of observation and natural science, for, ina large majority of cases, the importance of the record depends more on the observation than on the observer, and the student for whom all these volumes are such an invaluable help to knowledge is much more likely to be wishing to pursue an inquiry on a particular subject, regardless of those who wrote on it, than to trace out the works of a parti- cular author regardless of what he wrote upon. However, Mr. Billings is extremely liberal to him, and gives him an excellent chance of doing both, of seeing all the vast mass of signed periodical literature as well as the books written on the particular subject, and also of seeing a list of all that each author has written with the exception of the articles in périodical literature that he has not re- published, and he will find that many authors have republished in pamphlet form all that is worth reading. The task of classification under subject-headings of all literature, both periodical. and other, has been felt too enormous for any first-rate general library, and, so far as we know, has only been attempted by the Germans over comparatively small branches of knowledge, e.g. Carus and Engelmann’s Verzeichniss der Scriften tiber Zoologie welche in der periodische Werken enthalten. The Royal Society’s ‘‘ Catalogue of the Scientific Papers contained in the Scientific Periodicals” (8 vols. 4to) contained only a list under authors’ headings of the publications between 612 NATURE [OcToBER 26, 1893. : 1800 and 1873, and did not attempt to deal with any subject-headings, or any of the past history of the sub- jects as Mr. Billings has done in his rich and varied Index Catalogue of very nearly all the Medical Literature printed between the fifteenth century and the present day. A. T. MYERS. OUR BOOK SHELF. Lehrbuch der Botanik nach dem gegenwartigen Stand der Wissenschaft. Bearbeitet von Dr. A. B. Frank. Zweiter Band: Allgemeine und Specielle Morphologie. 8vo, 431 pp. with 417 Woodcut Figures in the text, and an Index to Volumes I. and II. (Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1893.) THE first volume of this work, dealing with histology: anatomy, and physiology, was noticed in NATURE, vol. xlvi. p. 610, where some facts may be found connected with its history, scope, and arrangement. The present volume is concerned with general morphology and special morphology, or classification. It is, on the whole, exceed- ingly well compiled, and, as was said of the first volume, it is written in the clearest and easiest style, with no superabundance of words, such as often render German text-books unnecessarily difficult to the beginner. The illustrations (upwards of 400) are for the greater part borrowed from the works of Sachs, Goebel, Schenk, Prantl, Pringsheim, Hanstein, Schimper, Strassburger, Hofmeister, De Bary, Tulasne, Bornet, Brefeld, Woronin, and other specialists, but chiefly from the first. These are all duly acknowledged, and, as the author states in his preface to the first volume, he has made the best selection he could, and he has used these familiar figures because he could not substitute better ones. This is, of course, true ; yet we put it on record to inform the student that he will find little that is original inthis way. General morphology occupies fifty-four pages, under four heads, namely: discrimination of forms in the vegetable king- dom, directions of growth, general laws of the relative positions of the members of the vegetable body, and origin of the members of the vegetable body. The re- mainder of the volume is devoted to special morphology, or systematic botany ; but the large groups are somewhat unequally treated, 179 pages being devoted to crypto-. gams, as against 140 to phanerogams. Indeed, too much has been attempted in the space. For instance, the very brief diagonses of the natural orders given at the end of this volume can be of little service to the beginner. Few of them exceed six lines, and many of them are even less, consequently the characters given are often insuffi- cient to include half of the genera. Generally speaking, they are correct as far as they go, but they are often not sufficiently comprehensive. We have said that this is an excellent book, yet here and there one stumbles upon statements that cause no little surprise. Thus the pictures of Nepenthes, Sarracenia, and Cephalotus are described indiscriminately as transformed terminations of tendril-like continuations of the leaves. Then with re- gard to the bibliography, the selections are by no means critical, and sometimes defective, especially in foreign literature. The indexes, of which there are three, are sufficiently copious. There is an index to the woodcuts, an index to the subjects, and an index to the plant-names. When will authors learn that one general index is prefer- able to a number of classified references? In this work it would have been much more convenient to have had an index to each volume. The Elements of Natural Science. Philosophy.. By Dr. H. Wettstein. Newmann and Co., 1893.) THE German edition of this book is obligatory for all the secondary schools of the canton of Zurich, which NO. 1252, VOL. 48] Part III. Natural (London: O. partly accounts for the fact that more than sevente thousand copies have been sold. It is doubtful, however whether the translation will be so widely appreciated i England. There are already many excellent introductio to science covering practically the same ground as | Wettstein’s work. In one feature only is the superior to the majority of those produced in En: viz. in the abundance of illustrations. As a rule, ou text-books of science are very poorly off in this matte! whereas Ganot, and Deschanel, and the book before us, are brightened considerably by the insertion of numerou: illustrations. % When we say that in the 138 pages of the book sciences of mechanics, sound, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism are treated, it will be at once understood that the descriptions are of a rather sketchy nature. In spite of this, however, the book will give its readers a good grounding in the principles of physical scien Though most of the text can be easily comprehended by the average pupil, there are portions which should hardly be inserted without explanation. Thus, on p. 44 we read: “ The atmospheric pressure carries our legs and arms, fo the condyle of the femur fits air-tight into the acetabulum ~ of the pelvis, and likewise the condyle of the humerus into the articular cavity of the shoulder-blade.” And it is misleading to say: “The complete spectrum of sunlight - consists of three parts—the heat spectrum, the light spectrum, and the chemical spectrum” (p. 71). The table of spectra given in the frontispiece is poor, one of its defects being that the solar spectrum only differs — from the spectrum of Sirius by the addition of the three lines A, a, and B. With this exception, however, all the illustrations are very clear and accurate. A Short Course in the Theory of Determinants. By La G. Weld. (London: Macmillan, 1893.) i WE have read Prof. Weld’s book with much interest, for though there are few, if any, novel results brought for- ward, he has certainly attained the goal he set before himself, and has developed the theory in a very simple manner. Some of the methods he has employed are new — tous. The greater part of the work requires little be yond an intimate acquaintance with the principles of algebra as given in the ordinary school text-books. T confine the treatment within very moderate limits, there — is no application of determinants to analytical geometry, but many of the more important algebraical applications find a place. After treating with sufficient detail of the origin and notation of determinants, our author gives a general definition of them, and enumerates and proves the more useful of their properties, and then touches” lightly upon their applications to elementary algebra, z.2. to. matrices and Sylvester’s and Euler’s methods of elimination. In Chapter vi. he briefly discusses the multiplication of determinants and reciprocal determin- ants. The last three chapters give a brief account of special forms, and of linear transformation. The text is very clearly printed, and we have detected but few trivial errors. There is a good store of examples, some of which appear to us to be rather “ stiff.” Due acknow- ledgment is made in the preface to the sources from I which results have been derived. q A Practical Treatise on Bridge Construction. By T Claxton Fidler, M.I.C.E. Second Edition, enlarged and revised. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 1893.) THE first edition of this book was reviewed at length in NATURE, Vol. xxxviii. p. 2. Since then the Forth Bridge — has been completed, and great advance has been made in the manufacture of steel. ; 2 ' The principal criticism to be added to the former reviev gi is that the author should add some remarks on the sear Es of erecting a bridge, large or small. Asitis, the structures OcTOBER 26, 1893 | NATURE are described as if they dropped down ready made from the sky into their appropriate place. Many superior designs could at this rate be made for the Forth Bridge ; but then this ignores an important controlling element, that the bridge was to stand, not only when completed, but at every intermediate stage of the erection. _ Even the operation of hoisting or rolling into place a forty-foot girder is not a simple matter ; during the pro- cess the ordinary stresses are mostly reversed, and the _ structure runs the risk of ‘‘cockling.” _ We find no mention of the Tower Bridge, the most ‘important experiment of a drawbridge @ dascule. G. The Amphioxus and its Development. By Dr. B. ; Hatschek. Translated and edited by J. Tuckey. (London : Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 1893 ) _THIs is a translation of Dr. Hatschek’s well-known paper on the subject published twelve years ago. It will no _ doubt enable those who cannot read German to follow Dr. Hatschek’s statements. But unless the rest of the translation is more accurate than that of the title, _ readers will be deceived and disappointed. This book is not correctly called “Amphioxus and its Develop- ment.” That is a salesman’s title. There is nothing in it about Amphioxus, except an account of the earlier part of the development. The important facts of the larval development discovered by Willey, as well as the _ adult structure, are not dealt with. The original plates _ havenot been reproduced in this translation,but very small and often obscure reductions of them are substituted. BE. Rek: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 4 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 Use of Scientific Terms. I am glad that so distinguished a physicist as Dr. Lodge has found certain matters relating to the history of physiology, which I discussed, I fear very imperfectly, in my Nottingham address, to be of sufficient interest to induce him _ to read and criticise it. Fully appreciating the geniality with _ which his criticisms are expressed, I will ask your permission to comment on one or two points in his letter, which may not be - uninteresting to the readers of NATURE. _ One of the principal objects which I had in view in my address was to promote that intercommunication between the physical and physiological sciences which Dr. Lodge thinks so _ desirable, and I am no less sensible than he is that this solid- _ arity is much impeded by inconsistency in the employment of words. Your correspondent avers that whereas the language of _ Physics consists in ‘‘simple English phrases’? and ‘‘common words made definite by connotation,” our biological words _ are ‘‘polysyllabic,” and our modes of expression as unlike those of daily life as can be contrived. We say ‘‘ devitalising,” for instance, when we mean killing, just as the chemist says “* desic- cating” when he means drying. It is difficult to express the complicated relations which exist between the phenomena of life without using terms ‘which are _ themselves complicated. Thus, I venture, notwithstanding Dr. Lodge’s good-natured pleasantry, to think that the word ‘*chemiotaxis,” bad as it may be, serves better to express the j little that we know about the ‘‘ particular go” of certain pro- cesses than any simple English phrase we could substitute for it. __ Two words, ‘‘ life” and ‘‘ energy,” are specially referred to __ by Dr. Lodge as examples in illustration of the inconveniences which are to apt to arise from their improper use. In Physio- _ logy the word ‘‘life” is understood to mean the chemical and q physical activities of the parts of which the organism consists _ together with their co-ordination—not the processes only, _ hor their co-ordination only, but both at the same time. Dr, ; NO. 1252, VOL. 48] ee Lodge uses the word life without making it ‘‘definite in con- notation,” but from what is said about it, itis evident that the life which he has in view is not made up of processes, but merely consists in their co-ordination or adaptation for the purposes of the organism ; for it is defined as the ‘‘ power of directing (the italics are mine) energy into otherwise unoccupied channels.” This being understood, all that Dr. Lodge says about life, and particularly his statement that it is of a form of energy, seems to me to be in accordance with the views that I endeavoured to set forth in my address. The only difference, therefore, that exists between us relates to the sense in which the word life is to be used for scientific purposes. - Next follow some trenchant observations as to the misuse of the word .‘‘energy.”’ I do not think that Iam accused of such misuse. Nevertheless it may be useful to note that in referring to the sense in which J. Miiller and his illustrious pupil had used. the term ‘‘ specific energy,” it was expressly stated that their use of it was in a sense entirely different from that in which it is employed in physical science ; and further, that the words quoted from the “* Physiological Optics,” viz. ‘* energies of the nerves of special sense,” were written in 1886, not ‘long ago,” as Dr. Lodge suggests. 1 can assure your readers that to the best of my knowledge the word ‘‘ energy” is never used in the old sense by physio- logical writers, excepting, so to speak, between inverted commas; and with reference to the historical importance of Miiller’s doc- trine, and still more of Helmholtz’s earlier physiological writings, the words ‘‘normal activity,” or others of similar import, are substituted for *‘ specific energy,” not as necessarily meaning anything quantitative, but simply the mode in which the organ normally reacts. To the suggestion that ‘‘subjective light’ should in future be designated by an impressive-looking word beginning with Photo and ending with axis, I have no objection to make, ex- cepting that it might turn out to be rather sesquipedalian. May Ladd, that I hope to have the opportunity of recurring to the subject of the vision of the totally colour-blind. J. BuRDON SANDERSON. The Thieving of Antiquities. A RECENT case, which has occupied some space in NATURE, raises much larger issues than the character of individuals, and issues which must be faced sooner or later. : The present conditions of the laws and practice regarding antiquities is most unhappy, both in the interests of science and in the interests of museums. Two matters require much re- vision: (1) The modes of excavating ; (2) the laws regarding excavation and exportation. As to the mode of excavating it is still generally the custom to leave much in.the hands of native overseers, and often the European in charge does not live on the work. Until it is recognised that it is unjustifiable to disturb antiquities without recording everything that can be observed, we shall remain in the state of mere plunderers, without a claim much higher than that of the treasure-hunting natives. In Egypt, hitherto, nearly all official excavations have been made by trusting entirely to un- educated and dishonest native overseers ; and while the laws are strict concerning Europeans working, the natives plunder almost at their will under one pretext oranother. With suitable regulation it has been proved practicable to entirely excavate a site without any loss or pilfering of the smallest objects by the natives; and such excavation, entirely ‘under trained and educated observers, either native or foreign, should be the aim in all future work. But in the matter of the legal position it is far more difficult to reach a satisfactory basis. Baldly stated the case stands thus. Every country in which there is anything much worth having, stringently prohibits exportation and excavation ; and nearly all the growth of museums of foreign antiquities is in direct defiance of the laws. Most countries are engaged in thieving from others on a grand scale, by various underhand agencies; a form of thieving which is as much tolerated by public opinion as smuggling was in former days According to law, no antiquities of any kind can possibly leave Turkish or Greek territory, and nothing that is of great im- portance can leave Italian or Egyptian territory. Yet museums TOW. : The actual course of affairs is that some private agent, or museum official, hears of something important, and buys it up 614 NATURE [OcroBEr 26, 1893 _ in order to smuggle it for the museum in which he is interested. — Sometimes museum officials go on missions to collect, or to excavate in accordance with the laws, while what they obtain is smuggled out in defiance of law. This is going on yearly, and will go on till some better system is established. Meanwhile all information concerning such discoveries has to be suppressed ; and ‘the most important acquisitions of museums are a matter which cannot be published, or even talked about in detail, while official papers have to be treated as secret archives. In England the Government isa hindrance rather than a help to a better state of things, France and Germany ask other powers in a straightforward way for presents of antiquities by diplomatic channels ; and they often get what they want, as we did in the days of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and Sir Henry Layard. But recently English diplomacy has, on the contrary, repeatedly thrown away what rights Englishmen might claim concerning antiquities, in order to gain petty advantages which diplomatists were capable of understanding, The work which has been done in Egypt by the Exploration Fund and myself, at least shows that such an unsatisfactory state of things is not unavoidable. The Egyptian laws are ad- ministered with more sense than such laws in other lands, and with a little diplomatic protection the position would be all that could be reasonably wished. For many years large excavations have been made openly, and with complete freedom, by English- men ; nothing has been lost, either of objects or information, owing to surreptitious methods ; all that has not been most essential for the country itself has been openly brought to assist study in England, and the fullest statements can be openly and honourably made‘on the subject.. Meanwhile objects smuggled by officials have to be kept quiet, and lose whatever scientific value their record might have possessed. Until our Government sees: its interests in backing up work for its museums by honest methods, and straightforward dealing, we shall continue to lose the greater part of the scientific value. of museum acquisitions, and to have a seamy side to our ad- ministration which is more discreditable than those personal questions that have lately been raised. -W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, University College, London, October Io. The Glaciation of Brazil. Dr. WALLACE’Ss pointed reference to myself in this week’s NATURE induces me to send you these few lines. It has been said by more than one critic of my book on the *‘Glacial Nightmare” that in some cases I was merely slaying the slain, and notably in regard to Agassiz’s views about the glaciation of Brazil. It has been overlooked that Agassiz’s experience and authority on glacial matters were unrivalled, and that he had written on this very question: ‘An old hunter does not take'the track of a fox for that of a wolf. I aman old Harr of glacial tracks, and I know the footprint whenever I nd it.” Again, Dr. Wallace, whose knowledge of the tropics is so pro- found, had written: ‘Professor Agassiz was thought to be glacier-mad, but if we separate his theories from his facts, and if we carefully consider the additional facts and arguments adduced by Prof. Hartt, we shall be bound to conclude that how- ever startling, the theory of the glaciation of Brazil is supported by a mass of evidence which no unprejudiced man of science will ignore merely because it runs counter to all his pre- conceived opinions.” Again he says’: ‘* It can hardly be main- tained that the discoverer of glacial phenomena in our own country,and who has since lived in such a preeminently glaciated district as the Northern United States, is not a competent observer ; and if the whole series of phenomena here alluded to have been produced without the aid of ice we must lose all-con- fidence in the method of reasoning from similar effects to'similar causes, which is the very foundation of modern geology.” Lastly, Mr. James Geikie, in his second and revised edition of *- The Great Ice Age,” quotes Agassiz’s conclusions without a word of protest or warning (of. ¢zt. 484-5). With these strongly expressed views before me, it was impos- sible to ignore the issue, and it can hardly be said I was slaying the slain in criticising those who believed in tropical glaciation. I did not then know that in his subsequent work on Dar- winism Dr. Wallace had, with that candour which makes his | works so valuable to some of us, qualified and partially with- drawn his previous conclusions on the subject, a fact which he NO. 1252, VOL. 48] again emphasises in his letter to you. With this letter ca questio, 1 know no one now who is willing to support Agassiz theory, and we may take it to be dead. Reguiescat in pace. Meanwhile, however, let us do justice to those whose obse vations and logic have dispelled one phase at least of the nightmare, Dr. Wallace attributes this to his friend respondent, but the work had already been done, and : done, by others, as I tried to show in my recent book. In have quoted largely from the admirable remarks of Prof, O Dr. Ricketts, M. Crevaux, and last, but not least, Prof. E himself, who as far back as 1871 had given up Agassiz’s in regard to the Amazonian glacier (see American Fournal Science, 3rd ser. vol. i. pp. 294-5). eae When we have got rid, however, of Agassiz and hi Amazonian glacier, we have not got rid of all our difficul While we cannot accept the notion of tropical ice-sheets, w have still to explain the existence of erratic phenomena in th tropics, such as those described by Schomberg in Guiana, by De la Beche in Jamaica, by Blandford in Southern Persia, Chardin in Media, by Belt in Nicaragua, and by Hartung in the Azores. There seems some difficulty in explaining these pheno- mena without invoking the former existence of local glaciers it parts of the tropics where they no longer exist, and also the occurrence of large diluvial movements there. I shouid be greatly indebted to Dr. Wallace, and so would others, for hi: views on this subject. There remains another and a more critical difficulty which I must reserve for another letter. In ¢onclu- sion he will permit me to thank him for his very valuable an courteous letter. 45 Agha Henry H. Howorrs. 30 Collingham Place, Cromwell Road, SW. ‘The Glaciation of Brazil.—Scintillation of Stars. A VERY cursory examination of the gneiss rocks about Rio d Janeiro—particularly the Corcovado—will show how the roc breaks up. In some places it comes off in great flakes like th coats of an onion, and the edges of these flakes are quite friable, and can be reduced to fine grains between the fingers. In many places it is ‘found quite crumbled up by the weather, and down the coast towards Santos fine grains of these rocks can be founc in the soundings at some distance from the land. = It is somewhat singular that observation has led me to a contrary opinion to M. Dufour in the scintillations of stars (NATURE, October 19). My attention was first drawn to th henomenon by an old and experienced sailor, a native of the Western Islands, and a most clever weather prophet. I have constantly observed at sea that steadily-burning stars indicated calm, fair weather, and the more they twinkled the worse the weather was likely to be. The forecast given by this variation in scintillating was almost invariably correct in the high lati- tudes, though it failed sometimes in the tropics. : i Davip WILSON BARKER. — 3. The Worcester, Greenhithe. The Summer of 1893. In his letter in Nature of August 31, Mr. W. B. Crump explains how the weather of the year has influenced the times of the flowering of the Halifax flora; and it may be of interest to offer a note on the blossoming of a few common — plants, trees, and bushes around Worcester. sg ; : The cardamine blossomed on April 16, herb Robert on the © 16th, the oak on May 5, the elderberry on the toth, _ purple orchis on the 13th, and bear’s garlic on the 13th also. In this part of England field blossoms form an important factor in cottage economy. The harvest of this flora begins in spring with the primrose, the violet, and the wild daffodil, the — latter here called the Lent lily. This season the Lent lily blossomed in March, as did the primrose and violet. Of late years these flowers have acquired a commercial importance, anc engage, especially the former, a multitude of pickers a packers, lending life and colour to lonely railway stations. During the season dealers station in suitable country habitats agents who collect the flowers gathered by the pickers, and in large hampers despatch them to destinations all over the k dom, This year the daffodil yielded less abundantly than usu Next to these blossoms foliows the cowslip crop. This, for the sake of the pips, which, at 1s. a peck, are in demand at the British wine makers, is collected largely by cotters’ children, wv OcToRER 26, 1892] NATURE 615 Owing to the drought the crop, greatly to the distress of poor folk, proved an utter failure. Happily the wealth of the season’s blackberry crop atoned in some measure for the _ cowslip failure. . _ The modern taste for cut flowers has given a commercial place also to the blossoms of the wood anemone, the marsh _ marigold, the ladies’ smock, and the yellow iris. _. The apple, pear, and plum crops were excellent. In some plantations the gooseberry crop, through the ravages of the or known as the red spider, was destroyed, and the bushes _ killed. y ane hop crop was good and great, the bulk being of a quality rarely, if ever, surpassed. As early as July 28 two _ pockets reached Worcester market ; a date, save one, the earliest on record. Some twenty-four years ago—I cannot put my hand on the exact date—a pocket was delivered in this market on July 26. n August § this season picking began to get general, On September 8, some days earlier than picking usually commences, many planters had finished. _ On September 19, in ordinary years, hops begin to reach the market. This season much before that date the public ware- _ houses were filled with new hops. The season being in advance of the hop requirements of the brewers, merchants did not attend - to buy. For all this, waggons heavily laden with towering - loads of hops came pouring in, and not only were the public _ warehouses filled, but the floor spaces of the Shirehall, the _ Guildhall, and the Gymnasium were packed. The most notable feature of the year, doubtless, is the cir- - cumstance that during the latter part of July, as well as through _ the month of August, and down to the present date, there was, and is, a second leafing, blooming and fruiting of fruit and - forest trees, and blossoming of the spring and summer flora. In Paris the horse-chestnut trees blossomed and leafed afresh, _as happened with many horse-chestnut trees in Cambridgeshire. In Kent orchards again put forth blossoms, while the ripening _ fruit of the year loaded the boughs. As far north as Manchester, _ and likewise near Wigan, the rhododendrons blossomed again. - Throughout England many fruit trees are in second bearing. In _ the avenue of lindens in the New Road, in this city, many of the trees are garnished with new foliage of the exquisite vivid reen tincture of spring; the leaves have attained full size. _ Strawberries ripe and of large size (5 inches in circumference) are common over a wide area of England. At Redruth, Corn- wall, primroses, gentians, and golden chain, and most of the early spring flowers are again in splendid blossom ; and there also fruit trees, while in full crop, are again in rich bloom, In the Cottenham district of Cambridgeshire a second crop of various kinds of fruit is being gathered. Green gooseberries have been secured during the last few days from one of the gardens ; raspberries have in several places biossomed again, and produced finer fruit than the first crop ; while apple-trees also show a rich second bloom. In North Wales dog-roses, honeysuckle, and foxgloves are again in splendid bloom. In Worcestershire the midsummer flora is again in flower. Gen- erally the late potato crop is growing again, and great deteriora- _ tion of the tubers ensues. In Tenbury, Worcestershire, many of the potato tubers are flabby, asthough scalded, and when boiled turn black and become nauseous, and the growers are wondering what is the matter. __ At Médoc the vintage began on August 20, a month anterior to the usual date. For generations such an early date has not been known. The Girondins say the crop is splendid ; sufficient _ casks for the crop are not procurable. Here, in spite, or perhaps in consequence, of the drought, the familiar wayside wilding, the ladies bed straw, formed (in meadows put up for mowing) a great part of the crop, and, flinging lavish perfume around, lined every wayside hedgerow. The humming-bird moth, of which the bed straw is a food plant, was more common than ever before within my rather long ex- perience. At the end of August, a month before the usual time, thousand of Irish harvestmen left our shores for home, _ The summer of 1818 resembled greatly that of the present _ remarkable year. _ Worcester, September. J. Luoyp Bozwarp, Asymmetrical Frequency Curves, i: SoME six years ago (September 1, 1887) Dr. Venn wrote to _ you pointing out the asymmetrical character of certain frequency NO. 1252, VOL. 48] curves occurring in physical and biological measurements. I have recently obtained a generalised form of the probability curve which fits with a great degree of accuracy such curves, and propose to discuss it at length shortly. Meanwhile I wish to point out that an asymmetrical fozv¢t binomial may be readily fitted to such curves, although not with the complete- ness of the above referred to continuous curve. Let 2 be the number of events in a group, / the probability for single event, and g that against it; let ¢ be the horizontal space selected as the basis of each rectangle forming the point binomial, and let a be the total area, Then we have the following diagram given by the point system : és Ls Pee ae s ee ge detach eg a ee tien ke ae Seth iis aaa oe a ee ea res ol One > <> OS N where the successive heights are the terms in al p++ np” “lg + me = 3) Then I premise that to fit this to any real curve we cannot (1) use the length of base (z + 1)c, for by trial I find this is never sufficiently accurately known ; (2) use the magnitude or position of the maximum ordinate of the observation curves, for the first is not accurately known, and the second is dependent on knowing the exact end of the observation curve. Accordingly I proceed ot by the method suggested in Prof. Edgeworth’s ‘* Law of Error and the Elimination of Chance”’ (Phil. Mag. p. 318, April 1886), but by a method of higher moments. ‘ Reckoned from O, the distance ON to the vertical through the centre of gravity, G, of the system of rectangles is c(1 +79). I now calculate the moments of the rectangles round the vertical, OY, and find for the 7th moment eS asd a : Ree ; M, = ae dy! ay La . » . to» differentiations {7(f + 7)"}, where # + g is only to be put unity after differentiation, and ¢ is supposed small. From the first four moments about OY, I find the first four moments about NG [with the following results :— m-tgt . ..), ho = ah Hy = apgac?, Mg = npq(p — g)ac’, By = Mpgil + 3(% — 2)gphact. . Now the centre of gravity of the. observation curve is found at once, also its area and its first four moments by easy calcu- lation. Thus the position of NG, a, us, #3, and py are given quantities. Taking the values of po, 3, #4, given above, and also p+ 7=1, Lhave four equations to determine , 7, , and ¢, Solving them, I have the following results : pand g are roots of the guadratic ; 2g 4 (3H2" — Ms)o + Ms? og, BET Gut — paling + Ong? = 2p." 3 hide: fae os ton CaaS (3H42* — ale + Bs — N2(3Mo* = Ma)Me + 3ey" ae) As verification note that for the normal probability curve 34g” = oy and py = 0, Thus we have P-p+4=0,7¢6 p=4, andg =4, n=a,and¢=0, as it should be. 616 NATURE [OcToBER 26, 1893 4 The method enables us to fit a binomial to any asymmetrical curve, the results being based on no single ordiaates, but on the moments of the whole system throughout. The importance of this solution is that it enables us to[deter- mine # and g very approximately for any system of physical, biological, or sociological measurements ; z.¢. it tells us how much greater is the tendency for a deviation to occur on one side of the mean rather than on the other. A scientific measure of this is clearly given by £3 = (2 a Qe, B 2 which measures the asymmetry of the frequency curve, and tells us at the same time the difference of J and g. University College, October 17. KKARL PEARSON. British Association Report on Thermodynamics. As IT am now drawing up a second report for the British Association, on certain researches connected with thermo- dynamics, may I be permitted to invite the assistance and co- operation of all specialists in that subject ? It is proposed to deal with (1) the ‘‘ Boltzmann-Maxwell” law of distribution of energy in systems of colliding and non- colliding bodies ; (2) the virial equation when intermolecular force is taken into account, and its application to liquids and gases. It is desirable that the report shall be completed in time for the 1894 meeting of the Association. The compilation of reports on different branches of science is one Of the most. important functions carried.out by the British Association, but it is essential that every paper bearing on the subject of a report should be consulted in its preparation. The labour involved in wading through the enormous mass of exist- ing literature on any physical subject can only be appreciated by those who have undertaken such work, and there is a constant risk of overlooking important papers, which are often buried in the Transactions of some obscure foreign society. It sometimes happens, too, that such papers cannot be procured, and hence cannot be consulted, to the great detriment of thereport. May I therefore hope that the authors of any investigations bearing on the subjects of my report will kindly send me reprints? Lists of papers or suggestions will also be most acceptable. ; G. H. BRYAN. Thornlea, Trumpington Road, Cambridge, October 18. Curious Phenomenon, I wAS on the top of a small mountain in the Dévrefjeld, near HUjerkin, in the late afternoon of August 26, the sun be- ing 10-15° above, the horizon, when -I saw’a remarkable phenomenon. On the opposite side to the sun was a bright disc, perhaps 5° in diameter, shown on some drifting clouds. The shadow of my head appeared in the centre of the disc, that of my: body below, while outside the disc the shadow of my legs was faintly visible. The phenomenon continued on and off—that is to say, when the clouds were favourable—for nearly a quarter of an hour. The landlord of the hotel said he had never seen anything of the sort. WILLIAM CHURCHILL. New University Club, St. James’ Street, S.W., October 17. HUMAN AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AT OXFORD. Shy October 14, a distinguished company, including the Professors of Human Anatomy in Edinburgh and Cambridge, the President of the College of Surgeons of England, and many well-known medical men and teachers, attended the opening of a new institute of Human Anatomy by ‘the Vice-Chancellor of the Uni- versity of Oxford. The occasion is one in connection with which a few words are appropriate concerning the history of anato- mical studies in Oxford and the relation between the special technical study of the anatomy of man required by medical students, and the more general study of the comparative anatomy of man and animals, or animal morphology. Historically the study of natural science has had the closest connection with the profession of NO. 1252, VOL. 48] -applied—more especially by Cuvier-and his followers. ‘Thus the great Johannes Miiller discharged this multiple — medicine. In the last century, zoology and botany were not pursued in the universities of Europe as branches o science to be studied for their own intrinsic value as departments of knowledge, but primarily as giving the student acquaintance with “ drugs” or “ materia medica.” Linnzeus was the first university professor who lectu on animals from the strictly zoological point of view until his time, animals had been studied, even in the un versities, chiefly in relation to their supposed medicinal virtues. Concurrently the anatomists, who had mainly confined themselves to exploring the structure of the human body and of the animals nearest to man, extend their area of study. Through John Hunter and Georges. Cuvier an immense body of knowledge as to the anatom of all kinds of animals was accumulated and _syste- matised, to which the name Comparative Anatomy was In this country, and very generally elsewhere, the study of “comparative anatomy” was carried on by men like™ Hunter, members of the medical profession, even prac- titioners. In the earlier half of the present century it was usual to find in the universities of Germany, as well as of Britain, that anatomy, including the wider compara- tive anatomy, as well as the topography of man required — for medical purposes, together with physiology and even — pathological anatomy, were all taught by one professor. function until his death in Berlin in 1858. , It is not therefore surprising that when the Oxford University Commissioners of 1856 revived the ancient foundation of Linacre, they charged the new professor with the teaching of both anatomy and physiology. To this large task Rolleston, the first Linacre professor, — devoted himself with characteristic energy and with a_ breadth of view which few nowadays could command. ~ Rolleston taught physiology, comparative anatomy, as- well as that topographical anatomy of the human body - which medical training demands—a pursuit which he loved to call ‘‘anthropotomy.” Anthropotomy was not — neglected in Rolleston’s time; those students of the | University who wished to pursue human dissections in — Oxford found the necessary material and assistance in — his department. ee The more recent Commissioners (of 1880) came to the | conclusion that it was desirable that a separate chair of — Physiology should be founded in the University of Oxford, — and accordingly instituted such a professorship from the ~ funds of Magdalen College, whilst they altered the title - and scope of the Linacre chair to “Human and Com-— parative Anatomy.” It was to the Linacre chair thus modified that Moseley was appointed on the death of Rolleston in 1881, whilst subsequently Burdon Sander- son was appointed to the newly-created Waynflete (Magdalen) chair of Physiology. 4 A further division of labour now became desirable. The teaching of anthropotomy—the medical student’s — necessary groundwork—could not be carried on per- sonally by the same professor who was charged with the — subject-matter of Cuvier’s life-work. It was a question between either assigning to the Linacre Professor a specially qualified assistant to superintend the dissecting-- room of Human Anatomy, or appointing an independent — lecturer in that subject. The latter course seemed to be the better, and Mr. Arthur Thomson, the senior demon- strator in the Medical School of Edinburgh University, was appointed as Lecturer in Human Anatomy in Oxford. The expressed purpose of this appointment was to relieve the Linacre professor of that part of his duties which consisted in teaching human anatomy for the specific purposes of medical education, and it was in no” way proposed to remove from the professor his functions as a teacher of the anatomy of man in its morphological aspects and his duties as guardian of the anatomical and ethnological collections of the University. P a ac eee ne “human anatomy” ina medical school. _ special purpose that we have just added to the excellent OcTOBER 26, 1893] NATURE 617 On the death of Prof. Moseley, in 1891, 1 was ap- pointed his successor in the Linacre chair of Human and Comparative Anatomy. The University voted funds for the building and fitting of additional laboratories for the Linacre professor (which were completed and opened without ceremony last year) at the same time that we approved the expenditure necessary for a new laboratory for Human Anatomy. At my suggestion a statute was prepared, and has received the assent of her Majesty in _ Council,-removing the words “human and” from the title of the Linacre professor ; so that the professorship in question is now the “ Linacre professorship of Compara- tive Anatomy,” whilst the duty of teaching anthropotomy or that special study of the topography of the human body which medical training requires, is definitely assigned to the “ lecturer in Human Anatomy.” The consideration of human structure in relation to that of vertebrate animals—the morphology of man as of other animals-—the “‘ comparative ” anatomy of man and collections of Comparative Anatomy and Craniology, which are attached to the Linacre professorship, do not need advertisement; they have been rendered famous by the scientific discoveries and researches of those who in the past have held that office. Of the new rooms for the study of anthropotomy, we have the expectation that they will in the future, under the care of successive lecturers in Human Anatomy, add to the attractions of the University as a centre of professional training, and justify the policy which has led us to the expenditure necessary for their erection. E. RAY LANKESTER. CELESTIAL PHOTOGRAPAY AT THE PARIS OBSERVATORY. DESCRIPTION of the work that is being done in connection with the photographic star chart and catalogue is given in Za Nature by M. A. Fraissinet. Weare indebted to that journal for the accompanying animals—remain as heretofore the charge of the Linacre professorship. In short, the treatment of man’s structure as part of the general science of morphology remains necessarily the business of the professor of Comparative Anatomy. Theexposition of the geography of the human body, in which the surgeon, and to some extent the physician, must be as expert and familiar as a townsman in the pathways of the city in which he resides and does It is for this laboratories and museum already arranged and used for _ the study of anatomy in its widest sense, a new dissecting room and adjuncts adapted to the reception and proper | _ treatment of human bodies. It is to be hoped that the effort now made by the Uni- versity to establish technical training in anthropotomy NO. 1252, VOL. 48] | measurement of clichés organised by MM. Henry. | _asanindependent ffshoot of the Linacre professorship | _ may be successful. The older laboratories and museum- | means of a screw. Fic. 1.—The part of the Paris Observatory devoted to the Photographic Star Chart. | | his business—is the distinctive function of the teacher of | illustrations and the following information referring to them, A special bureau for the measurement of the stellar photographs designed for the catalogue was organised at the Paris observatory in 1892. To accommodate the new service the building shown in Fig. 1 was erected. On the first floor of the new building a photographic laboratory has been established. The ground floor has been set apart for the service.of the This service is under the direction of Mdlle. Klumpke, who is assisted by four other ladies. Two measuring machines were provided last year of the new kind devised by Gautier, and supplied to the French and some: foreign co-operating observatories. The instrument is illustrated by Fig. 2. It consists at the lower part of a fixed horizontal piece having two rails on which a carriage may be caused to slide by Under the face of the carriage 618 NATURE [OcroneEr 26, 1893 4 inclined to the horizontal at an angle of 45° is another screw geared to a frame on which moves a circle carrying the fixed holder which receives the plate to be measured. Each plate after it has been putin the holder can be subjected to three movements: a movement of rotation, which serves the purposes of orientation, and two recti- linear movements, one of which takes place on the horizontal and the other on the inclined plane. Each of the rectilinear movements canbe roughly read off by means of the millimetre scales attached to the planes. Fractions of a scale division are determined by means of the micrometer screws. The head of each screw is divided into one hundred ‘parts, and this is further divided into ten by estimation. Since, then, one turn of the screw corresponds to one minute of arc, it is possible to read to 0°6” by means of the micrometer divisions. It is hoped that in five or six years all the plates re- quired from each observatory will have been obtained, Ail i mi uni a UE Fic. 2,—Instrument for Measuring Star Photographs. O, Observing Microscope. but the measures can hardly be completed in less than ten years, and the computations to which they give rise will occupy about the same length of time. This rate of progress, however, cannot be regarded as slow for it must be remembered that the results will occupy forty ponderous volumes of one thousand pages, each page con- taining the positions of fifty stars. When the immense labour involved is taken into con- sideration, one ceases to wonder that some of the co-operating observatories are unable to keep up with the measurements. It is to be hoped that lack of funds may not be allowed to prevent the obtaining of proper assistance in such .cases, or to retard the publication of the results as soon as they are ready. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION; HODGKINS FUND PRIZES. — answer to inquiries, and in further explanation of statements made in the Hodgkins circular (NATURE, vol. xlvii. p. 611), it may be added that any branch of NO. 1252, VOL, 48] natural science may offer a subject of discussion for t he Hodgkins prizes where this subject is related to th study of the atmosphere in connection with the welfare of man. a Thus, the anthropologist may consider the history of man as affected by climate through the atmosphere ; th geologist may study in this special connection the crust of the earth, whose constituents and whose form are largely modified by atmospheric influences ; the botanis the atmospheric relations of the life of the plant; the electrician, atmospheric electricity ; the mathematician and physicist, problems of zrodynamics in their utili- tarian application ; and so on through the circle of the natural sciences, both biological and physical, of which there is perhaps not one which is necessarily excluded. In illustration of the donor’s wishes, which the Insti-- tution desires scrupulously to observe, it may be added that Mr. Hodgkins illustrated the catholicity of his plan by citing the work of the late Paul Bert in atmospheric electricity as a subject for research, which, in his own view, might be properly submitted ‘for consideration in this relationship. : While the wide range of the subjects, which the founder's purpose makes admissible, cannot be too clearly stated, it is equally important to emphasise the fact that the prizes in the different classes can be awarded 3 only in recognition of distinguished merit. S. P. LANGLEY. NOTES. Pror, Vircliow was elected honorary president of the Berlin Medica! Society on Monday. ’ : 3 b % a THE death is announced of Prof. Léon Lefort, vice-president g of the Paris Academy of Medicine. i Pror. SCHAUTA, of Vienna, has received the Cross of a & Knight of the Order of the North Star from the King og i Sweden, . A DISPATCH from Valparaiso announces that a volcanic erup- tion has occurred near Calbuco, causing erent damage to that town, WE are glad to learn that Prof. von Helmholtz is recovering | from the injuiries he sustained from falling down a companion — ladder on board the Saa/e, while returning from his recent visit to America. Tur Franklin Institute has received the sum of one thousand a dollars from Mr. A. A. Boyden, to be rewarded as a premium — to any resident of North America who shall determine by ex-— periment whether all rays of light, and other physical rays, are — or are not transmitted with the same velocity, Miss ORMEROD has received a report from her correspon- dent on crop insect pests in Norway to the effect that the Hessian fly is now for the first time recorded as occurring in Norway and doing damage to barley. Specimens of the infested straw, showing the presence of the flat brown chrysalis— of the Cecidomyia destructor, were sent with the report. Dr. J. W. Grecory has returned from East Africa after a very successful investigation of the geology and natural histo of Mount Kenia and the neighbouring region, His observa- tions, and the large number of geological, zoological, -- botanical specimens collected during the expedition, add con- siderably to our knowledge of the character and capabilities of British East Africa, ; f WITH reference to the reported outbreak of cholera at Green-. wich, Dr. Thorne Thorne reports that, whilst in certain important respects the materials that have been investigated suggested t ae gic 2 * OcroBER 26, 1893] NATURE 619 _ cholera was in question, it now transpires that in every case _ examined one or more of the ordinary proofs as to this have _ been wanting, and Dr. Klein concludes that the outbreak is - not one of true cholera. AFTER the Ist of November the time of Central Europe, _ which is employed in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Hungary, _ Bosnia, and Servia, and is reckoned from the fifteenth degree of longitude, will be adopted upon Italian railway-systems. _ Railway time in Italy will therefore be exactly one hour in _ advance of Greenwich time, and 50 min. 39 secs. in advance of Paris mean time, the difference of time between Greenwich and Paris being 9 min. 21 secs. ' THE passengers on board the North German Lloyd s.s. Oldenburg, which left Genoa for the East on the 23td inst., in- ‘clude Dr. W. Kiikenthal, Ritter Professor in the University of Jena, who proceeds, under the auspices of the Senckenberg Naturalists’ Society, on a twelve months’ zoological. expedition to the Moluccas. After a short sojourn in Java, he will make _ Ternate his headquarters, exploring the surrounding islands, and especially the island of Halmahera. We are informed that _ Prof. Kiikenthal was the elected one of fifty zoologists who sought the leadership of the expedition. The energy and en- durance which he displayed in his recent investigations in the Arctic Seas led to the accumulation of rich material, and they _ justify an anticipation of good results from the present, less tropical, journey. : _. Tue exhibition arranged by the Deutsche Mathematiker- _ Vereinigung at Munich, of models, drawings, apparatus, and __ instruments used in pure and applied mathematics, was closed _ on October 5. From a circular that has been issued by the _ Association we learn that the exhibition was in every respect successful. Owing to the support given by the Royal Bavarian _ Government and the Ministry of the Interior, it was possible to considerably extend the plans originally proposed. The success of the undertaking was largely due to the kindness _ of the many public bodies and private individuals who lent apparatus, &c,, and have participated in the work, often at a _ pecuniary sacrifice, The committee of the Association desire _ to express their thanks to exhibitors and others who have supported them during the last two years, . THE following gentlemen have been nominated for election on the council of the London Mathematical Society for the session 1893-4 :—Mr. A. B. Kempe, F.R.S. (Président) ; Messrs. A. B. Basset, F.R.S., E. B. Elliott, F -RsSij-A. Gi ; Greenhill, F.R.S..(Vice-Presidents) ; Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S. (Treasurer) ; Messrs. M. Jenkins and R. Tucker (Hon. Secs.). _ Other members—Dr, Forsyth, F.R.S., Dr. Glaisher, F. R.S., _ Dr. Hill, Dr. Hobson, F.R.S., Mr. Love, Major Macmahon, _ F.R.S., Mr. J. J. Walker, F.R.S. The new nominees are _ Lt.-Col. J. R. Campbell and Lt.-Col. A. J. C. Cunningham, _ R.E,, in the place of Messrs, H. F. Baker and J. Hammond, who retire. The annual general meeting (November 9) will be made _ Special for the consideration of the following resolution, which will be moved by the council : ‘‘ That the London Mathematical _ Society be incorporated as a Limited Liability Company under _ Section 23 of the Companies Act, 1867; and that the Council _ be empowered to take the necessary steps to carry this resolu- _ tion into effect.” The presentation of the De Morgan medal, _ awarded by the council in June last, will be made at the same _ meeting, to Prof. Felix Klein, the medallist, who expects to be present to receive it in person. _ WE have received the first part of the second half of vol. iii, of _ Cohn’s Aryptogamen- Flora von Schlesien, devoted to the fungi, under the editorship of Dr, J. Schroeter. The present part _ commences the description of the Ascomycetes, and is occupied _ by a portion only of the first sub-order, the Discomycetes. NO. 1252, VOL. 48] THE second part of vol. vi. of the Yournal of the College of Science of the Imperial University of Japan is entirely occupied by an elaborate paper, by Prof. Sadahisa Matsuda, on the anatomy of the Magnoliacee. It is illustrated by four plates exhibiting the excellence of work to which we are now accus- tomed in the products of the Japanese press. Dr. R. A. PHILIPPi contributes tothe Verhandlungen of the German Scientific Society of Santiago in Chile two interesting papers on the ‘‘ Fauna and Flora of Chile and Argentinia.” With regard to the flora he points out that, notwithstanding the wide difference between those of Chile and of Europe, the num- ber of identical species is greater than Europe has’ in common with South Africa or Australia ; while both the flora and fauna of Chile differ in a very remarkable way from those of Argen+ tinia. Dr. Philippi argues from these facts that the mountain © range of the Cordilleras must have been formed before the de- velopment of the fauna and flora of these,countries. AMONG other excerpts from the Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, vol. vi., that have recently been received, the following are of interest :—‘*The Opening of the Buds of Some Woody Plants,” by Mr. A. S. Hitchcock. This: paper records observations made during the spring of 1892. In **Flowers and Insects—Labiate” Mr. "Charles Robertson gives an account of the pollinators of various Labiates. . Of the twenty-three species described, nine have long-tongued bees astheir principal visitors, and eight show special adaptation to bees in general. No species was found’ to’ be adapted ‘to the: lower hymenoptera, though ten species were visited by them. Diptera occurred as visitors of nineteen species, and butterflies’ on all but five species. The ruby-throated humming-bird only: visited Monarda, Bradburniana, and M, fistulosa,and beetleswere found only on the six least specialised flowers investigated. Mc. J. Christian Bay has prepared the materials for a monograph on Inuline, in the form of a list of. papers on the subject, published up tothe end of 1890, Dr. EpMuND NAUMANN, the well-known ‘writer on Japan Geology, has just published an interesting paper in Petermanns Mettheihingen (Erganzungsheft, No. 108), under the title of “* Neue Beitriige zur Geologie und Geographie Japans.” Three coloured plates are given—plate i. the crater of Shiranesan and views of Bandai, two volcanoes active within recent years; plate’ ii. a stereographic representation of the geology of Japan (scale (I 5,000,000) ; plate iii, the general contours of the* country (scale 1 ; 2,600,000). : Japan is possibly one of the best illustrations of the value of geological knowledge. in throwing light and colour; on the geographical features of a: country. Dr. Naumann, in his account of the geological structure of the great mountain: chain, empha. sises the presence of a crystalline core throughout the whole length of the islands, and against it the sedimentary deposits may be said to have a zonal distribution,’ He proves that while there was prepaleozoic folding in these crystalline schists and gneisses, the main. period of mountain:movement and the up- heaval of the greater portion of Japan took place in early Mesozoic times. The intrusions of the enormous granitic masses are probably of late Mesozoic age, and since that time there have been several periods of volcanic activity, constant recurrences taking place along ancient lines of weakness. The result of the particular processes of mountain-making in Japan on the present configuration of its surface, and the correlation of the rocks with the various types of landscape, are then_ briefly described. Tuer ‘Fossa magna” is an apt name given some years ago by Dr. Naumann to that curious well-marked depression between the north and south wings of the main island—a de 620 NATURE [OcToBER 26, 1893 7 pression bordered by the highest summits in Japan, and occu- pied by a girdle of volcanoes, Ed. Suess (‘ Antlitz d. Erde,” bd. ii. p. 225) and the Japanese geologist, Harada, are of opinion that the mountains in the north and south wings belong to two independent chains which during the period of upheaval had been pushed against one another at this ‘‘ fossa magna,” and they compare the case of Hindu Kush and the Himalayas. Dr. Naumann still adheres to the view he had previously advanced, namely, that the mountains of the north and south wings form one chain, which after its upheaval was broken by a transverse fault along the ‘‘fossa magna,” the transverse fault being of later date than the main longitudinal fault on the west or inner side of the islands and cutting through it. The eruptive activity and frequent subsidences within the ‘‘ fossa’ have merely taken advantage of this important tektonic break. Tue Report on the Botanic Gardens at Georgetown, British Guiana, for the year 1891-92, contains some interesting informa- tion on the meteorology of that colony for the year 1891. . The rainfall was much above the average, though not so much so as in the two previous years. For the nine years ending 1888 the average fall was 80°5 inches, but for the three years ending 1891 the average fall has been 119°6 inches ; the returns from various stations show that there is a- gradual increase in the rainfall from the south to the north of the colony. . The number of days on which the sun shone was 351, leaving only 14 days of unbroken cloudiness; the mean daily sunshine for the year was 7h, 13m. The maximum day temperature in the shade ranged from 84° in February to 90° in September and October. The miniraum night temperature ranged from 71° to 74°, and the solar radiation from 148° to 157°. A CAREFUL study of the vapour pressures of aqueous solutions has been carried out by C. Dieterici, of Breslau, who has com- municated his results to Wiedemann's Annalen. The deter- minations were made for 0° C. by means of an apparatus de- signed for the appreciation of very feeble pressures. The gauge used was an aneroid box with a German silver disc, which has the advantage of yielding to a great extent without elastic fatigue. The motions of the centre of the disc were transferred to a mirror suspended in jewelled bearings by means of a light watch- maker’s arbor, the connection being made by a cocoon thread, and the mirror being gently held in position by a small spiral spring. Deflections were measured by reflected scale and tele- scope. The gauge was fitted to a tube which could be filled with the vapour of the solution surrounded by melting ice, or could be exhausted at pleasure. The gauge and tube were enclosed in another air-tight space which could be filled with pure water vapour at o°C. or exhausted. The pressure of the water vapour produced a deflection of 170 scale divisions, equivalent to 2°31 mm. of mercury. The author discusses at length the bearing of his results upon Van’t Hoff’s dissociation theory, and upon the kinetic theory of gases. The, curves exhibiting the relation between degree of concentration and the corresponding vapour pressure have the common characteristic that with the concentration increasing from an infinitely dilute solution to about 26 in multiples of the normal solution, they commence at approximately the same angle, then fall with a steep incline, and finally tend to become parallel to the axis of abscissee. At about 26 the curve of sulphuric acid cuts this axis, showing that the action between the acid and the water counter- balances the osmotic pressure necessary for evaporation. - The other bodies investigated were glycerine, phosphoric acid, and the hydrates of potassium and sodium, enumerated in the order of decreasing vapour pressures. THE current number of the PAdlosophical Magazine contains an account of the most recent determinations of the refractive indices of liquid nitrogen and air, carried out by Profs. Liveing NO. 1252, VOL. 48] and Dewar. Owing to the bubbles constantly rising from liquid nitrogen, the prism method could not be made to give accurate, results, The refractive index was therefore determined — b: finding the angle of total reflection. The liquid nitrogen, or air, was enclosed in a cylindrical vessel containing two ver cal plane-parallel plates of glass with a film of air between them. The light from an electric discharge or a monochromatic flame was sent through a slit into the vessel, a suitable portion’ be cut off by black paper screens, and an image of the slit 5 thrown upon the slit ofa spectroscope by the glass vessel itself. The vertical plates were turned round a vertical axis till the ex- tinction of the image indicated that the angle of total reflection had beenréached. The refractive index thus obtained for sodium light was 1°226 in the case of liquid oxygen (the prism method gave 1'2236), 1°2062 for liquid air, and 12053 for liquid nitrogen at —190°, and of density 0°89. The nitrogen probably contained 5 per cent, of oxygen. The refraction constant of nitrogen is therefore 0°225 as determined from the liquefied substance. — Mascart gives o 237 for the constant as determined from gaseous nitrogen. The two results are in as fair an agreement as could be expected, considering the difficulties surrounding the measurements, : ; 3 WIEDEMANN’S Annalen de Physique et de Chemie for October contains a paper, by Kk. J. Holland, on electrical conductivity of copper chloride solution. The solution, whose resistance was to be measured, was enclosed in a dumb-bell shaped glass vesse] _ about 10 c.m. long, the electrodes, which had a surface of © 21 sq. c.m., being fixed at the ends. In order to determine the mean section of the tube between the electrodes, it was filled with a solution of sodium chloride and the resistance measured, then using Kohlrausch’s results for the resistance of the salt solution the mean section was calculated.’ The resist- ance was measured by means of a Wheatstone’s bridge, with an alternating current and telephone, All the strengths of copper chloride solution examined show a regular, though - slight, increase of conductivity at high temperature, this in- | crease being different for solutions of different degrees of concentration. ‘The maximum conductivity was obtained with a solution containing about 18 per cent, of the dried salt. The temperature coefficient varies with the degree of concentration, i and attains a maximum value for a temperature of about 40° C. When the difference in concentration is taken into account, the results obtained agree very well with those obtained by Trétsch — and.Wiedemann, though they do not show so satisfactory an— agreement with those obtained by Isaachsen. ; a L’ Elettricista for October contains a paper by Dr. Monti, in which he gives the results of the experiments he has undertaken in order, if possible, to account forthe fact that the values obtained by Macfarlane in 1877 for the difference ‘of potential required to pierce a plate of paraffin were very much smaller than those obtained by Steinmetz and himself. Macfar- lane found that the difference of potential required to pierce a plate of paraffin 3 mm. thick was 39,000 volts, while Dr. Monti finds that to cause a discharge to p between two knobs 5mm. in diameter through a layer of paraffin 1 mm. thick it requires a difference of potential of 155,000 volts. The author employed paraffin which melted at 54°76° C. The terminals were brass balls which were fixe within a glass tube about 10c.m. long. Their distance a having been measured by means of a microscope, the paraffin was melted and allowed to cool in a partial vacuum. It wi then again melted and allowed to solidify under the ordinary pressure. By this means the formation of air bubbles within the paraffin was avoided, and it is to the presence of such air bubbles in the slab of paraffin employed by Macfarlane that Dr, — Monti attributes the difference in the values obtained. ‘ _OcrToBER 26, 1893] NATURE 621 AN electrical method of fog-signalling, which has great _ possibilities before it, has been invented by an electrician in the __ employ of the Great Northern Railway Company. A wire is laid by means of a pipe from the signal-box to the various signals, at which points brushes composed of copper wire pro- ject some four or five inches above the side of the rail nearest the signal. To the foot-plate of the engine a similar brush is fixed, connecting with an indicator and bell on the engine. If the signal be at danger the two brushes coming in contact has the effect of ringing the bell, and indicating to the driver by means of a miniature signal fixed on his engine that the line is not clear. The arrangement can be switched off in fine ‘weather. The process, which is in working order at Wood Green, has proved so satisfactory that the company have decided to fit up the suburban lines, and eventually the whole of their system. THE report of the meeting of the Soctdté Heludtique des Sciences Naturelles, held at Basle in September 1892, has just been published. Natur und Haus, edited by Dr. L. Staby and Herr Hesdorffer, begins its second year with a number full of articles ona variety of scientific topics, The journal must help to popularise science in the Fatherland, for its contents—both text and illustration — are excellent. THE second year’s meetings of the University Extension Philosophical Society will commence on Friday, October 27, at 8 p.m., when Mr. Bernard Bosanquet will give an address on ‘‘ Atomism in Psychology,” at Whitelands College, Chelsea. Among other gentlemen who will read papers during the present year are Prof. Sully, Mr. G. F. Stont, Mr. C. S. Loch, and Mr. P. H. Wicksteed. THE trustees of the Australian Museum have issued their thirty-ninth annual report. Weare sorry to notice that there has been a slight falling off in the attendance of visitors during the year 1892. The number of visitors was 130,701, being fewer by 2144 than in the previous year. The average week-day at- tendance was 265, and that for Sundays 712. Tue following lectures will be delivered at the Royal Victoria Hall during November :—November 7, Mr. Francis Bond, on ‘* Norway and the Norwegians” ; November 14, Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., on ‘‘ Skulls” ; November 21, Mr. James Swin- burne, on ‘The Mechanics of Street Toys” ; November 28, Mr. Douglas Carnegie, on ‘‘The Philosopher's Stone, or the Royal Road to Health and Wealth.” A new and revised edition of ‘‘Our Reptiles and Ba- trachians,” by Dr. M. C. Cooke, has been published by Messrs. W. H. Allen and Co. As the author remarked in the preface of the original edition, he aimed at producing ‘‘a popular volume on a rather unpopular subject,” and not a work for the man of science. The fact that a new edition has been called for shows that the general public appreciate tales of snake-stones and the incarceration of frogs in blocks of granite; of the ‘‘toad’s envenomed juice,” and incombustible salamanders. However, in the reading of these accounts something is learned con- cerning the habits and characters of the lizards, snakes, newts, toads, frogs, and tortoises indigenous to Great Britain ; so instruction is happily combined with amusement. THE “Zoological Record for 1892,” edited by Mr. David Sharp, F.R.S., and being the twenty-ninth volume of zoological literature, has just been published. The scope of the Record has been greatly enlarged, and an index of special subjects has been included in each department, in addition to the list of titles and _ the taxonomical arrangement according to genera. It has not been possible, however, to make a complete epitome of palzeon- NO. 1252, VOL. 48] tological literature ; indeed, Mr. Sharp thinks that palzeonto logists should undertake the compilation of a separate record. We are inclined to agree with this. Everyone knows that an incomplete record is of very little use; for valuable time may be wasted in searching through it for references which it does not contain. But if every branch of science had a publication which did for it what the ‘‘ Zoological Record” does for zoo- logy, scientific papers would be in a fair way of organisation. SoME years ago Prof. Frank Clowes communicated to the Royal Society and to the Aberdeen meeting of the British As- sociation the fact that there occurred in the neighbourhood of Nottingham a large area of sandstone, in which the cementing material was wholly crystalline barium sulphate. The subject was mentioned again in the Geological Section at the recent Notting- ham meeting of the British Association, and several geologists gave instances of similar sandstone occurring in other parts of England. Prof. Clowes writes that he would be glad to learn of the occurrence of such sandstone in any locality, and to receive specimens for examination and chemical analysis. WE have received part 4, vol. v. of the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, and are glad to find that both financially and numerically the society is in a satis- factory condition. Ofthe 250 members many are non-resi- dent in the county, and it is probably owing to thei- help that for a small subscription the society is able to issue a goodly publication consisting of more than 190 pages. The address of the president, Mr. H. B. Woodward, of the Geological Survey, deals mainly with the geolozy of the county, which presents many very interesting features, and he also contributes a memoir (with portrait) of the late Caleb B. Rose, one of the fathers of Norfolk geolozy. These mempirs of local naturalists of note form a marked feature in the society’s publication, as also do the lists of the fauna ani flora of the county, the twelfth of which; namely the Coleoptera, by Mr. Jas. Edwards, in which 1728 species are enumerated, is included in the present number. Amongst the other contributions are a very interesting paper on tortoises in domestication, by Sir Peter Eade, containing mz2asurements and weights of two tortoises, taken annually since the year 1886; notes on the occurrence of the Siberian pectoral sandpiper and Sowerby’s whale in Norfolk, onthe Lapland bunting, the Holkham shooting parties at the com- mencement of the present century, on Norfolk slugs, and other matters of local and general interest. In these Notes on August 24, reference was made to some recent modifications in the method for staining the cilia of micro-organisms. Strauss mentions in the Bulletin Médicale, 1892, No. 51, that he has succeeded in colouring the cilia of the cholera spirillum, the spirillum Metschnikowi, and Finkler Prior’s spirillum in a /iving condition. For this purpose broth cultures, from 1-3 days old, are employed, one needle-loop of which is placed on a microscopic slip and carefully mixed with a needle-loop of Ziehl's fuchsin solution diluted with water (1: 3-4). A cover glass is then superposed, and the preparation examined under the microscope as rapidly as possible. The above-mentioned. organisms become intensely red in colour, and many retain their motility for a short-time, and at one of the pores may be seen the extremely thin corkscrew-shaped or wavy cilium-tinted pale red containing more highly coloured granules, which are disposed in longitudinal series in its interior. When the organism is no longer in a living condition, the cilia may still be seen although less distinctly, whilst numerous isolated and detached cilia may be seen moving with great activity in the fluid. Strauss has not so far been successful in exhibiting by this method the cilia of other organisms in a living condition. 622 NATURE {[OcTOBER 26, 1893 Ir is usual in cases of thrush to recommend the use of alkaline substances in order to counteract the acidity of the mouth, which is generally supposed to favour the growth of the thrush fungus. Some recent researches of Marantonio (‘* Con- tributo alla biologia del fungo del Mughetto” Istituto d’Igiene di Roma, vol. xii. 1893, p. 199) show, however, that this fungus grows abundantly in strongly alkaline as well as in acid media. Experiments were made to ascertain what substances exerted a bactericidal action on this organism, special attention being given to those usually prescribed in the treatment of thrush. It was found that many of these were quite ineffective, on the other hand salicylic acid, amongst others, was highly efficacious ; these laboratory experiments were, moreover, con- firmed in actual practice, for extremely encouraging results were obtained when this substance was tried in some cases (of thrush in children in one of the hospitals in Rome. In some hospitals it appears that thrush is endemic, and Marantonio was able to isolate out the organism of this disease from the dust in the interstices of the flooring of a children’s ward ; considering that the fungus can successfully resist the effects of desiccation over four and. a half months, this. fact is not surprising. The behaviour of this organism when exposed to sunshine was also investigated. Portions of vigorous agar-cultures were spread in thin layers on pieces of white cardboard, which were placed in glass boxes, some being preserved in the dark, whilst others were insolated for various lengths of time. It was found that thirteen hours’ exposure to direct sunshine retarded the develop- ment, of the fungus, whilst when prolonged for seventeen hours it wascompletely destroyed. The great mortality which prevails amongst children suffering from thrush should render these elaborate and carefully-conducted experiments of especial interest and importance. CARBIDE of boron has been isolated by Dr. Miihlhauser, of the University of Chicago, and is described by him in the current publication of the Zeitschrift fiir Anorganische Chemie. It proves to be an extremely stable substance, being capable of successfully resisting the action of almost all the usual solvents and reagents, Its composition has been ascertained by taking advantage of the fact that chromate of lead is capable of oxidising it at the usual temperature of a combustion furnace. The analytical data indicate the simple empirical formula BC, but its constitution is assumed to correspond to double that C=B formula, namely B,C, or | Boron carbide was prepared c= by heating boric anhydride with the hard variety of carbon employed for making the terminals of electric arc lamps. The reaction proceeds in accordance with the equation: B,O3 + 5C = B,C, + 3CO. Five parts of borax were dissolved in twenty parts of water, one part of sulphuric acid was added, and the solution allowed to cool. The crystals of boric acid which were formed during the cooling were separated by filtration, washed with water, dried, fused, and finally heated to low red- ness, by which they were dehydrated, and boric anhydride produced. The powdered boric anhydride was then mixed with the powdered electrode carbon, in the proportion of five parts of the former to eight parts of the latter, and the mixture disposed upon a suitable carbon support between the terminals of a powerful arc lamp. Upon-the generation of the are by means of a current of 350 ampéres action almost immediately commenced, the mixture of boric anhydride and carbon fusing and evolving a considerable amount of gas with effervescence. The operation is concluded when the effervescence ceases, when the current should be switched off and the product allowed to cool. Carbide of boron is thus produced in the form of black graphitoidal spherules, frequently aggregated so as to resemble the shape of a bunch of grapes. The spherules NO. 1252, VoL. 48] 5 mr ee, possess a bright metallic lustre. They may be freed from traces of the ingredients of the mixture used in their prepara- tion by heating for a few hours in a platinum crucible, then powdering, and repeatedly treating the powder with hydro-— chloric acid, water, a mixture of hydrofluoric and sulphuric acids, and finally once more with distilled water. The powder thus prepared yields numbers on combustion with chromate of lead which agree closely with the formula above given. carte of boron closely resembles graphite in outward appearance ; blackens the fingers in a similar manner, and the coating Ai, : transferred possesses the same bright metallic lustre and greasy — feel. Examined under the microscope it appears bluish black — and transparent, and reflects light with chromatic effects. When — heated to a high temperature the powder cakes together, form-— ing a soft mass, which is readily malleable and capable of being | rolled. At a very high temperature it completely fuses to a liquid much resembling a molten metal. It burns only with great difficulty in oxygen, but is combustible, as above - stated, with chromate of lead. It is insoluble in all the ordinary solvents, but fused caustic or carbonated alkalies | attack it with formation of borate of the alkali and liberation of. carbon, Notes from the Marine Biological Station, Piya —tLast week’s captures include the Mollusca Lima Loscombii and Pholadidea papyracea, and the Schizopoda Leptomysis gracilis and a number of E£rythrops elegans.. The floating fauna is unusually rich in Diatoms and ,Dinoflagellates, and a few Radiolaria are still to be seen. The larve of Polynoé, Chatop, terusand Terebella are fairly numerous, and Cyphonantes and larval Lamellibranchs are plentiful. On the other hand the larvee of Decapoda (esp. of Brachyura) are scarce, and a few Ophiuria P/utei are the only representatives of the Echino- derma. The more oceanic forms (Muggiea, Podon and Evadne, &c.) have of late become increasingly scarce. The Hydroid Aglaophenia tubulifera is now breeding, and a few Erythrops elegans contain late os tr in se brvod: pouches. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s ‘eatibe deg the past week include a Wanderoo Monkey (Macacus silenus, from Cochin, -presented by Capt. Morgan ; two Macaque Monkeys (MJacacus.cynomolgus, 6 2) from India, presented re: spectively by Mr. John Cook and Mr. Stanley Sinclair ; a Chacma Baboon (Cynocephalus ‘porcarius, 2), two Common — Quails (Coturnix communis) from South Africa, presented by — Capt. F. Baker ; two Manatees (Aanatus america, 2 et jew.) from Manatee Bay, Jamaica, presented by Sir Henry A. Blake, K.C.M.G. ; a Black-headed Lemur (Lemur brunneus, 2 ) from Madagascar, presented by Miss Hoare; a Rufous Rat Kangaroo (Aypsiprymnus rufescens) from ‘Austral, presented by Kenneth Crawley, Esq., R.N.; a Kite (AZilvus ictinus) from the Canary Islands, presented by Mr. E. G. Meade- Waldo, F.Z.S.; two Purple Porphyrios (Porphyrio “coruleus) South-east European, presented by Mr. Joseph S. ‘Whitaker, F,.Z.S.; a Turtle Dove (Zurtur communis) British, presented by Miss Alice L. West ; a Kinkajou (Cercoleptes caudivoloulus), a King Vulture (Gypagus papa jew.), a Common Boa (oa constrictor) from South America, two Ospreys (Pandion — halietus) from Hayti, W.I.; two Rufous-necked Weaver Birds (Ayphantornis textor) from South Africa’; a Dunlin — (Zringa alpinus) British, purchased; a Burchell’s Zebra (Equus burchelli,?), a Wapiti Deer (Cervus rere ees 2) 3 born in the Gardens, OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. A New Comet.—£dinburgh Circular (No. 40, dated Octo- ber 19) informs us of the discovery of a comet by Mr. W. R. Brooks, of Geneva, N.Y., at 15h. 52m. local time, its place then OcTOBER 26, 1893| NATURE 623 being R.A. 12h. 21m, N. declination 12° 55’. The comet has also been observed at Hamburg, October 17, 17h. 5°8m. Hamburg mean time. R.A. 12h, 22m. 429s. Declination + 13° 25’ 24”. It has a tail, and is about as bright as a star of the ninth magnitude. DETERMINATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL LoNGITUDE.—In part 15 (August 1) of the Zeitschrift fiir Vermessungswesen, Herr C. Runge, ofthe Technical Hochschule, Hannover, gives a very interesting account of his results in determining geo- graphical longitude with an ordinary camera. The negative trom which the results were obtained, was taken on June 17, the camera being pointed to the new moon, Eight exposures were made one after the other, with intervals of about two minutes. Without moving the camera, and after an interval of about thirty minutes, another series of pictures was taken (on the same plate), the objects this time being some stars in Leo, which were allowed to record their trails on the plate for the period of about an hour and a quarter with regular intermittent breaks of five seconds. The times of exposure were noted with an ordinary watch, and the measuring of the plates made with an accurate micrometer. Dealing here only with the accuracy of the method, we may say that the declination of the moon can be determined to 20’, and in some cases with greater +6’. Inthe measuring of the moon-distance Herr Runge says that although this was the first trial, and the star-images were not all that could be desired, yet the accuracy was surprising, and can perhaps be still increased, even without the help of any ‘*mechanische Hiilpmittel.” Since the above example was made he has obtained the geographical latitude and local time by this photographic means, and with excellent results. The instrument employed consisted of a simple camera with a so- called ‘‘ gruppenantiplanet” objective, by Steinheil in Miinchen, with a focal length of 24 cm. The stop used for the above plate had a diameter of 17 mm, ASTRONOMY AND AsTRO-Puysics AT CHICAGO.—A few of the many papers on astronomy which were read at the series of meetings that commenced at Chicago on August 22 appear in this month’s Astronomy and Astro-Physics, and as they are too long for individual description, we give simply the titles of the papers and their authors: ‘‘Great Telescopes of the Future,” by Alvan G. Clark. This deals with the subject completely from the object-glass point of view.—‘‘ A Field for Woman’s Work in Astronomy,” by Mrs. M. Fleming ; ‘« Engineering Problems in the Construction of Large Refracting Telescopes,” by Worcester R. Warner. This is accompanied by a photo- graph taken by Mr. Burnham of the 40-inch Yerkes instru- ment, as exhibited at the Columbian Exposition.—‘* The Two Magnetic Fields surrounding the Sun,” by Prof. Frank H. Bigelow ; ‘* The Constitution of the Stars,” by Prof. Edward C. Pickering. This paper concludes as follows: ‘‘ With few exceptions all the stars may be arranged ina sequence beginning with the planetary nebulz, passing through the bright line stars to the Orion stars, thence to the first type stars, and by insensible changes to the second and third type stars” ; ‘* Concerning the Nature of Nova Aurigz’s Spectrum,” by Prof. W. W. Camp- bell ; ‘‘ Preliminary Note on the Corona of April 16, 1893,” by Prof. J. M. Schzeberle, being a discussion of the facts gathered from the numerous photographs taken ; ‘‘ The Wave- lengths of the Two Brightest Lines in the Spectrum of the Nebulz,” by Prof. James E. Keeler; and lastly, ‘‘Con- tributions on the Subject of Solar Physics,” by Prof. E, R. von Oppolzer. A NEW ASTRONOMICALOBSERVATORY AT MANILA.—Manila already possesses a Government meteorological and seismo- graphic observatory, and an important astronomical observatory will soon be established there. The chief instruments will be a novel photographic meridian instrument and a large Merz re- fractor (19°2 inches), the latter being provided with a photo- graphic correcting lens. Father Algue seems to be taking the work in hand, and he ‘proposes to institute a series of latitude observations in connection with a similar series to be carried on at the Georgetown Observatory, for the determination of the varia- tion of latitude: The instrument at Manila will consist, ac- cording to Astronomy and Astro-Physics for October, of two telescopes in the same tube ; or at least there will be two object glasses, one at each end of the tube, their foci coinciding. These will be of the same diameter, 6 inches, and focus 3 feet, the NO. 1252, VOL. 48]| tube being equal to the sum of the focal lengths of the object- glasses. The photographic plate is placed in the focus of the two objectives, z.e. in the centre of the tube. The method adopted is that of Talcott, and during the observation of both stars the instrument is not moved. The upper objective throws the image of the first star on the upper side of the sensitive film, while by the help of a basin of mercury below, and the lower objective, the trail of the second star is recorded on the under side of the same film. Besides visual work the Merz refractor will be used for photographic observations of double stars, spectro- graphic work, photographic parailax, &>. THE VISIBILITY OF VENUS TO THE NAKED EyrE.—Principai A. Cameron, at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and M. Bruguiere, ai Marseilles, have made a series of observations with a view of determining for how long a period the planet Venus can be seen in the day time without optical aid (7rans. Nova Scotia Insti- tute of Science, vol. i. part 2. 2nd series). Beginning with the superior conjunction of February 18, 1890, Mr. Cameron saw Venus with his naked eye 264 days after that date, and M. Bruguiere, in the same latitude, detected the planet 44 days before the inferior conjunction of December 4, 1890; so that altogether she was visible to the unaided eye during 259 days. The elongation of the planet when first picked up by Mr. Cameron was 64°, and when M. Bruguiere saw her last in November, 1890, the elongation was nearly 9°, but the brilliancy was only 64 per cent. of the mean greatest brilliancy. MEYER’s CONVERSATIONAL LEXICON.—The popularity of this series of volumes can only be accounted for by the very judicious way in which the publishers have dealt with every branch of science, treating it fully, accurately, and in such language that it can be understood by the most general reader. Under the heading ‘‘Astronomy” is given an excellent and concise account of the early historyrand development of the science, This lexicon has reached its fifth edition. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. A CABLE has recently been laid between the seaport of Bundaberg, in Queensland, and New Caledonia. This line of gto miles, although not very important in itself, is of some interest as possibly the commencement of a great Pacific cable which may ultimately unite Australia and Canada. Should this scheme be carried into effect the probable route of the cable would be from New Caledonia to Fiji, thence to Samoa, and by Honululu and the Fanning islands to Vancouver. THE last number of the Az//etin of the Paris Geographical Society publishes the list of awards of the society’s medals, the bestowal of which was noticed in this column (vol. xlviii. p. 40), together with the reports of the awards, which were too lengthy to be read at the meeting in April. A notable fact connected with these prizes is the custom of recognising the value of original maps and books of geographical research, historical or critical, as well as the work of explorers. : AN amusing instance of the danger of commenting on geographical news without referring to a full report occurs in the last number of the Revue Francaise, a journal which is valued for its full and usually accurate record of recent and projected travels. In mentioning the fact of the discovery of Active Strait, near Erebus and Terror Gulf, by the Dundee sealers this spring, the editor adds parenthetically, ‘‘ volcanoes of Victoria Land to the south of New Zealand”’—a pardonable mistake, as the names of Ross’s ships were perhaps too freely scattered over the Antarctic regions. But in this instance it happens, somewhat oddly, Erebus and Terror Gulf is in land named after a French and not a British monarch, being in Terre Louis Phillippe, south of the Falkland Islands, Tue full programme of the Royal Geographical Society’s Evening Meetings for the Session 1893-94 has been published. In addition to the subjects intimated in this column last week, we note that papers are expected by Prof. Lapworth, F.R.S., on the ups and downs of the earth’s surface; by Dr. J. W. Gregory, on his expedition to Mount Kenia ; Mr. R. D. Old- ham, of the Indian Geological Survey, on the geographical de- velopment of India; Mr, K. Grossmann, on a journey in Iceland; Mr. T. J. Alldridge, on journeys in the interior of Sierra Leone; Dr. H. R. Mill, on the survey of the English lakes; Mr. H, Warington Smyth, on journeys on the Upper 624 NATURE [OcTosER 26, 1893 Mekong; Mr. W. H. Cozens-Hardy, on surveys and research. in Montenegro ; and Mr. E, J. L. Berkeley, on British East Africa, It is also hoped that the Prince of Monaco, Sir Archibald Geikie, and Mr. J. Y. Buchanan may contribute papers. If Mr. and Mrs, Bent return in time from their pro- jected exploring journey in Hadramant, an account of their work will be looked forward to before the close of the session. A NUMBER of the ¥ournal of the Manchester Geographical Society just issued (January to June, 1893) contains a paper on the Yoruba country, Abeokuta, and Lagos, by the Rev. J. T. F. Halligey, which gives some vivid descriptions of native life and n.anners. Dr. GERHARD Scuott’s physical observations on a voyage in a sailing ship from Ilamburg to the China coast and back are published as an Ergiinzungsheft of Petermanns Mitteilungen. . In the discussion of his work Dr. Schott takes account of previous researches on the parts of the ocean he traversed, and his paper is an interesting addition to our know- ledge of oceanography. The memoir is divided into two parts : hydrography, including a discussion of surface temperature as affected by diurnal range,'rainfall, and wind, the specific gravity of surface water, surface currents and drifts, and observations on waves ; and meteorology, dealing with the instruments employed, the record of air-temperature, humidity, and cloudiness. “The memoir is, of course, well illustrated by maps and diagrams. THE THICKNESS AND ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF THIN LIQUID FILMS. [X August, 1883, an article was published in NATURE (vol. xxvili. p. 389), signed by:Prof, Riicker and myself, giving an account up to date of our researches on liquid films. Since that time our work has from time to time as opportunity offered been ontinued and further results have been obtained, a brief account cummarise the results to which attention was drawn in 1883. of which I now propose to give. It may be useful first to briefly A cylindrical soap film when allowed to thin under the action of gravity shows in succession the tints of the various orders of Newton’s: Colours, and finally becomes black. The thickness of any part of the film may be determined (supposing the re- fractive index to be known) from the colour it exhibits when light is reflected from it at a definite angle. The mean thickness of a horizontal ring of the cylindrical film may also be determined by measuring the electrical resistance of the ring, and by assuming the specific conductivity of the film to be the same as that of the liquid in mass. In the case of a liquid consisting of a mixture of soap solution and glycerine with a little potassium nitrate added to increase the conductivity, we proved by comparing the thickness of a film obtained by the optical method with the thick- ness deduced from its electrical resistance, that down to a, thick- ness of 374 wu (micromillimetres)—corresponding to colours of the second order of Newton’s scale—the specific conductivity of the liquid remains unaltered. When the film becomes thinner than 374uu, and exhibits the colours of the first order, estimates of its thickness derived from colour observations are less trustworthy, and when these colours are replaced by black, we only know from tbe colour that the thickness of the film has less than a certain maximum value. Assuming, however, the specific re- sistance to be unchanged when the film became black we showed that the thickness of such a black film does not differ much from I2up. {-xperiments were then carried out by the electrical method ona solution of oleate of soda (hard soap) containing 3 per cent. of KKNO, but no glycerine, Black films made of this solution were found to have a mean thickness of 11°7u;, showing that the thick- ness of the black is practically the same whether the solution does or does not contain glycerine. As this result, however, depends upon the validity of the assumption that the specific re- sistance of a black film is the same as that of a large quantity of the liquid, it was desirable if possible to measure the thickness in question by a method free from the assumption involved in the electrical method, For this purpose an optical method depend- ing upon interference phenomena (Phil. Trans. 1883, p. 652) was employed. Two glass tubes about 16 inches long and # inch in diameter were placed horizontally side by side and were tra- versed by two interfering beams of light, the interference bands being produced by thick glass plates. The tubes were filled with plane soap films, each tube containing from 40 to 60 films and having its ends closed by pieces of plate-glass. After an hour or NO. 1252, VOL. 48] ‘4 more, when the films had thinned sufficiently to appear black, the position of the central interference band in the field was noted, — and its displacement when the films were broken, first in one tube and then in the other, carefully measured, From these measure- | ments the average thickness of a black film could be de- duced, the only assumption made being that the refractive index — of the liquid is unaltered by the tenuity of the film. The average thickness of about goo films was found to be 12"Iuu. This pe justified the assumption made in the electrical method with — regard to the constancy of the specific conductivity of the liquid. The results established before the recent work was begun were therefore as follows :—(a) The thickness of a black soap film formed of a solution containing one part of oleate of soda dissolved in 40 of water with 3 per cent. of KNO, added is about — twelve micromillimetres. (4) It is practically the same when to — the soap solution is added two-thirds of its volume of glycerine. (c) From this it follows that the specific conductivity of such a solution is the same whether the liquid be considered in large quantity or in the form of a minutely thin film. (¢) The thick- | ness of the black, though often varying from film to film, is always the same in the same film—z.e., is independent of area. and age. With regard to these results it may be said at once that they have all been repeatedly and completely confirmed by subsequent investigation. eee We now come to the more recent work. Since in the earlier experiments the solutions were always of the same strength as re- gards soap, andalwayscontained not lessthan 3 per cent. of KNO, it was important to determine whether the thickness of a black film is or is not dependent upon the proportion of soap or salt in the solution, The optical method was first employed. The — strength of the soap solution being kept constant, viz. 2 grammes _ of hard soap to 100 cc. of water, the proportion of salt was diminished from 3 per cent. tozero. Under these circumstance:, the mean thickness of a black film was found to steadily in- — crease from 12uuto about 24 uu. A similar largeincrease in the thickness was found when the solution contained glycerine, or was made of soft instead of hard soap. When no metallic salt _ is present, and the strength of the soap solution varies, the thickness of the black increases as the solution becomes more dilute. Thus for a hard soap solution, when the per- centage of soap was 3°3, the thickness was found to be 21°6 wu and rose to 29°3 mu as the percentage of soap diminished to — 1°25. If, on the other hand, the solution contains as much as 3 per cent. of KNOs, variation in the proportion of soap has little or no influence on the thickness of the black. This is shown by the following table :— : P ae Soap Solution, containing 3 per cent. of KNO3. ercentage Of soap in t : “the alates Be Stee 9 1°66... Mean thickness of the black in wu 1.14 } 1g 12°, Tae ae The results above given have been deduced from the optical method of measurement, and the question arises whether the large increase in the thickness of black films formed from an unsalted solution is real, or whether it is due to some incorrect assumption. The only point where error is possible is inthe — hypothesis that the refractive index is the same as that of the” liquid in mass. The thickness of a film varies inversely as u - 1 (u being the refractive index), and as the refractive index of the soap solution is 1°34, it would have to be reduced to 1°17 in’ order that the calculated thickness might be doubled. It — appears therefore 2 fviori extremely improbable that the mere addition of 3 per-cent. of KNO, should so completely change the optical properties of the liquid that whereas if the salt be’ added the refractive index is practically the same inthe thin — films and in the liquid in mass, yet without the salt the refrac-- tive index should be as much as 13 per cent. lessthan that of the liquid in mass. It may further be mentioned that Drude (Wied. - Ann. xiii. p.. 169, 1891), by an optical method quite different from that employed by us, has compared the refractive indices” of black and coloured films, of which the latter may unquestion- — ably be taken as nearly if not quite identical with that of the liquid in mass, and has shown that they do not differ by more than I part in 140. Such a variation would not affect the ap- parent thickness of the films as measured by the optical method _ by more than 3 per cent., whereas, as we have seen, the presence or absence of the salt alters the apparent thickness by Ico per cent. On the whole, then, the evidence is very strong that the differences of thickness indicated by the optical method ee _ salted solutions it is of frequent occurrence, OcTOBER 26, 1893] NATURE 625 are not merely apparent but real, and this point may now be treated as established. We now pass on to consider the thicknesses of black films as deduced by the electrical method. The method adopted was in all essentials identical with that previously employed and de- scribed (Phil. Trans, 1883, pt. ii. p. 645, NATURE, 1883, loc. cit.). The apparent thickness of a. black soap film as measured by the electrical method increases as the percentage of added salt diminishes, but in a far larger ratio than would be inferred from. the optical method. If the proportion of salt be diminished to zero the thicknesses thus calculated are greater than the greatest thickness at which a film can appear black. Thus with a hard soap solution the apparent thickness rose from 10°6 uu to 26°5 wu, as the percentage of KNO, added was diminished from 3 to 0°5, and became 148 uu when the solu- tion contained no salt, this number being the mean value derived from fourteen films, the individual thicknesses of which ranged from 79 to 240 wu. Inanother set of experiments made with a rather stronger soap solution, the apparent mean thick- ness of the black was 184 wu, the extreme values for six films being 84 and 250 wu. Similar results were derived from a soft soap solution, the mean apparent thickness obtained from the examination of twenty-three black films being 162 uu, and the extremes about the same as before, viz. 80 and 252. z Now a film 148 uu thick (to take the smallest of the mean thicknesses given above) could not possibly appear black. According to Newton the beginning of the black occurs when the thickness is 36 uu, which is about one-fourth of the smallest mean value obtained from unsalted solutions. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that the close agreement between the results of the optical and electrical methods, which has again and again been proved when the solution contains 3 per cent. of KNO, does not hold in the case of unsalted solutions. The measured thicknesses cannot be true thicknesses, and there- fore there must be a difference between the specific conductivity of a film, and that of the liquid from which it is formed. Apart from this, however, is the fact that the apparent thick- ness varies considerably from film to film, although all the conditions are maintained as far as possible constant. This is certainly due in some cases to a real variation in thickness, We have frequently seen in the same film two different shades of black separated from each other by a definite sharp line, which is generally very irregular in form. The line which separates the black from the coloured part of a cylindrical film thinning in the normal way is always a horizontal circle. This is rarely the case with the boundary between the two black tints. Some- times a patch of the darker black is completely surrounded by the other, sometimes the line of separation is sinuous, or stands higher at one point than at another. It is thus difficult to obtain comparative measures of the thicknesses of the two tints, as the method of experiment employed assunies the thickness of a cylindrical film to be the same at all points on the same horizontal circle. Such measures, however, as have been made indicate that the thickness of the thicker black is about twice as great as that of the thinner. The two black tints are not always easy to detect or to dis- tinguish from each other. If only one occurs it is almost im- possible to say whether it is the thinner or thicker variety. Frequently the passage of an electrical current through a film, the black portion of which appears to be homogeneous, dis- closes the existence of the two different tints by producing or intensifying little white flecks which lie along the boundary between the two. On the suppression of the current the flecks become smaller or disappear, but the atten- tion of the observer having been called to the boundary line, there is no difficulty in distinguishing between the regions on the two sides of it, the thinner appearing more intensely black than the other. We have never, when experimenting with solutions containing 3 per cent. of KNO,, seen any indication of the two shades of black. If the added salt is reduced to 0°5 per cent., the phenomenon is seen occasionally ; but with un- ; The two varieties _ of black in a soap film were noticed by Sir Isaac Newton, who _ remarks that sunlight is reflected'from even the darker spots. : But to return to the question of the mean apparent thickness _ ofablack film, As has been stated, the optically measured _ thickness differs little if at all from the true thickness. If the electrical thickness is approximately equal to the optical thick- hess, we may assume that the specific conductivity of the liquid NO. 1252, VOL. 48] i is unaltered by the tenuity of the film. If they differ consider- ably the inference is that the specific conductivity has changed. Now in the case of an unsalted solution containing one part of soap dissolved in sixty of water the optical thickness is 27°7 uu, while the mean apparent electrical resistance is 160 uu. The specific conductivity is therefore greater in the film than in the liquid in mass in the ratio of 58 to 1. A number of experiments have been carried out for the pur- pose of determining whether the change in the specific con- ductivity is a function of the thickness of the film, or is peculiar to black films. The result is to show that with an unsalted solution of hard soap the change begins when the film is com- paratively thick. Thus, the ratio of the electrical to the optical thickness (which measures the proportional increase of con- ductivity) is 1°66 when the film exhibits the green of the second order: (thickness = 641 wu); it is 1°98 at a thickness of 296 “Ee, 4°47 at 97 wu (white of first order) and becomes 5'8 when the film is black. When the solution contains 3 per cent. of KNO, we know that for the black films the conductivity is the same as for the liquid in bulk. That it remains constant under all circumstances is highly probable, though not absolutely certain. We have now to inquire into the possible causes of the fact that a black film made of an unsalted soap solution appears to be about six times as great as it really is, or, in other words, that the specific conductivity of the film is six times as great as that of the liquidin mass. This increase might possibly be due to (I) evaporation or absorption of water by the film as it thins, (2) changes of temperature, (3) changes in the chemical consti- tution of the film by the electrolytic action of the current em- ployed, (4) absorption of carbonic acid or of oxygen from the air. In considering these it must be borne in mind that our observations are based on a comparison between two solutions which differ from each other only by the addition to one of them of 3 per cent. of KNO;. If, therefore, the change in con- ductivity were ascribed to any one of these causes it would be necessary to assume not only that the cause was competent to produce the change, but that its efficiency was very greatly modified by the addition of the salt. It is extremely improbable that evaporation or absorption of water, changes of temperature, or absorption of carbonic acid (if occurring in the one liquid), would produce the enormous observed change in the conduc- tivity, while they were inoperative in the case of the other. We have not, however, been satisfied with @ grio7i considerations, but have experimentally examined each of these possible causes. With regard to the first, it is sufficient to say that all the pre- cautions which experience has shown to be efficient in securing constancy of composition in the case of liguide glycérigue—a liquid much more susceptible to changes of composition, due to variations of hygrometric state, than plain soap solutions—have been taken. We imay be perfectly sure that the change in con- ductivity is not due to the loss or gain of water by the film when thinning. Experiments have been made at various temperatures between 17° and 27° C., but there is nothing in the results obtained to indicate that the apparent thickness of the black either increases or diminishes as the temperature changes. Thus, to take four films out of many that might be selected, we have the following results :— Temperature ra 18°7 pee ee 2U'I ... 26°3 Apparent thickness of black film in pipe 171 237 201 935 There is no doubt that the relatively small changes of tempera- ture which occurred in our experiments are not the cause of the large increase in the apparent thickness of a black film. But the observed result might be due to change in the com- position of the liquid caused by the passage of an electric current through the film. The current employed to measure the re- sistance of the film is always a feeble one; but in order to produce a rapid thinning, we have frequently passed a current from a battery of 28 Leclanché cells down the film from the moment of its formation. Such a current, though probably never exceeding 100 microampéres, is passed for a long time, and might conceivably affect the specific conductivity of the liquid. As a specimen of the kind of results obtained, the following, derived from a soft soap solution, may be given. Each of the values of the thickness was obtained from a dif- ferent film, and the number of cells indicated is that employed 626 NATURE [OcroBER 26, 1893 to pass a continuous current through the film from its first formation. The measuring current was small and inter- mittent. No. of cells. Apparent thickness of black film, measured el Lavoisier placed in a long-necked retort about four ounces of mercury, and so arranged the ape that the air above the: mercury in the retort should freely communicate with the air in a measured receiver, all contact with the outer air being pre- vented by standing the receiver in a vessel of mercury. He. now heated the four ounces of mercury.in the retort nearly to, its boiling-point, and kept it at this temperature for twelve days and twelve nights. At first no change took place, some of the mercury merely distilling into the upper part of the appa-— ratus and falling back again; but presently some little red, specks began to appear on the surface of the metal, and in- creased in amount for several days, but at length ceased to. form ; and after continuing the heating for a day or two longer, ” A lecture to working men, delivered by Prof. Vivian DB. Lewes at Nottingham, in connecticn with the British Association i . —Ocroser 26, 1893] NATURE 627 in order to make sure that the action was completed, he allowed the whole apparatus to gradually cool down again to its original temperature. Before starting the experiment he had carefully measured the air in the apparatus, which amounted to fifty cubic inches, and the first thing which he now noticed was that of this forty-two cubic inches only remained, and that this residual gas had lost all the most characteristic properties of air; a taper plunged into it was at once extinguished, a mouse placed in it died after a few moments; it would, in fact, neither support life nor com- bustion, and he recognised it as a gas discovered some three years before by Rutherford, and now called nitrogen. He then collected the red film formed on the surface of the mercury, which weighed forty-five grains, and heated the powder in a hard glass tube to a higher temperature than that at which it had been formed, when it again broke up, leaving behind metallic mercury, and yielding eight cubic inches of a gas which had to an exaggerated extent all the properties which the air had lost—a gas which he at once recognised as being the oxygen or ‘‘vital” air which Priestley had discovered in 1774. ¢ It was in this way that the air was shown to consist of the two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, and we know from experience that air is necessary for carrying on those cases of combustion which we ordinarily meet with, and the quickest way to ex- tinguish a fire is to cut off the supply of air from it. Having reached this point, the next question which suggests itself is, which of the constituents of the atmosphere is it which supports and carries on combustion, and how does it act in ‘doing so? And the answer to these points can most readily be given in Nature’s own words, by carefully translating the result of afew simple experiments. _ Here are two gas jars, the one containing oxygen, the other nitrogen, and, taking a small ball of tow soaked with turpen- tine which is burning vigorously, I plunge it into the atmosphere of nitrogen, when it is at once extinguished, but on now re- lighting it, and plunging it into the oxygen, it burns far more fiercely than before, and emits a most brilliant light. If we continued experimenting in this way, we should find that every- thing tends to confirm the impression gained from our first ex- periment, and we soon learn, as Lavoisier did, that anything which will burn in air will burn with still greater vigour in oxygen, whilst nitrogen alone instantly stops the combustion of those bodies which require air to enable them to burn ; indeed, we might go a step beyond Lavoisier’s experiments, and find that many bodies not looked upon as combustibles, such as iron and zinc, burn with considerable brilliancy in pure oxygen; and it is from these facts that we came to look upon oxygen as our great supporter of combustion. The enunciation of these truths by the great French philo- sopher was one of the most important steps in the history of science, but with increase of knowledge we find that we must still further widen our views with regard to combustion, and must take care not to fall into the error of looking upon those substances which will burn in air or oxygen as the only com- bustibles, and oxygen as the only supporter of combustion; we find, indeed, that these terms are purely relative, and a substance which we look upon as a combustible may, under altered condi- tions, become a supporter of combustion. _ Indeed, a body like coal gas, which burns in air or oxygen, will support in turn the combustion of air, and we can experimentally show that it is just as easy to have a flame of air burning in coal gas, as under ordinary conditions to have a flame of coal gas burning in air. Again, we find that many cases of combustion will take place without the presence of oxygen or those substances generally looked upon as combustibles, and we can take a metal like antimony, and cause it to undergo brilliant combustion by throwing it in a powdered condition into an atmosphere of a gas called chlorine, although neither the metal nor the gas answer to our general ideas as to combustible or supporter of combustion. If we examine carefully all cases of combustion, we find that in them we have a body with certain definite properties of its own, uniting itself with something else to form what we call the products of combustion, which are equal in weight to the sum of the weights of the two bodies uniting, and which have charac- teristic properties differing from those of the original substances, an action which we term one of chemical combination ; and ex- tended experiments show us that in order to obtain a true con- | NO. 1252, VOL. 48] ception of combustion, we must look upon it as ‘‘the evolution of heat during chemical combination.” The rapidity with which chemical combination takes place varies to a very great extent with surrounding circumstances, and inasmuch as heat is very rapidly dissipated it often happens that where a chemical combination is slow, the heat produced by it is given off as rapidly as it is generated, so that the tem- perature of the mass becomes but little raised, and escapes detection by our senses. For instance, if I take a steel watch- spring, and having ignited a small piece of German tinder attached to the end of it, plunge it into a vessel of oxygen gas, the combustion of the tinder ignites the watch-spring, which burns away in the gas with the greatest brilliancy, and the evolution of heat is sufficient to fuse some of the metal, the result being that the watch-spring is converted into a chemical compound of iron and oxygen. If instead of bringing about the combination of the iron and oxygen as we have done in a few seconds, we allowed it to remain in moist air for two or three months; combination with the oxygen of the air would result, and the metal would rust away, and if the weight of metal had been the same in each case, and the same weight of oxygen had been combined with, exactly the same amount of heat would have been generated in each case; but in the rapid combustion of the metal, this heat, being all generated in a few seconds of time, would have made its presence perfectly mani- fest ; whilst when the same action is spread over a long period, as in the rusting of the metal, the heat being dissipated as it is generated, escapes our notice ; and there are many amongst us who would smile at the idea that the rusting of their garden railings was giving rise to any increase of temperature. In this case the heat generated by the combination of the iron with oxygen was made manifest by raising the burning metal to a high temperature in the presence of oxygen free from the diluting action of the inert nitrogen which is mixed with it in the air ; but we can do the same thing by taking the iron in a very finely-powdered condition, so that a very large surface shall be exposed to the action of the oxygen of the air. I have here iron in this condition, sealed up in a glass tube, and on opening and shaking out the finely-divided metal into the air, it at once enters into combination with oxygen, and the heat generated is sufficient to make it red-hot. If, however, the same weight ofiron in a compact form, such as wire, be taken, a long period of time, extending perhaps over years, would be re- quired for its conversion into oxide by air and moisture, and the heat generated would be spread over such a duration of time that it would be inappreciable, unless the conditions were such that the heat was unable to escape or the surface of metal exposed very large. A case of this kind occurred during the manufacture of the Mediterranean telegraph cable, which was enclosed in a strong casing of iron wire, and tightly coiled in water tanks, one hundred and sixty-three miles of cable being wound in a coil thirty feet in diameter. Owing to a leak in the tank which contained the cable the water ran off, leaving the wire casing exposed to air, and the moist metal oxidised so rapidly that sufficient heat was generated to form considerable quantities of vapour, and to give rise to serious fears as to the softening of the insulating material of the core. Many cases of chemical combination with the oxygen of the air take place in nature, which are so slow that the heat evolved during the action escapes our senses, and indeed all cases of decay are processes of this kind, and the action is termed one of ‘‘slow combustion.” ‘ A tree left to rot upon the ground gradually disappears in the course of years, being mainly oxidised into gaseous products such as carbon dioxide and water vapour, and yet scarcely any evolution of heat is observed, although the same amount of heat is generated as if the tree had been cut into logs and burnt. ; In all cases slow combustion is accelerated by increase of temperature, and the higher the temperature the more rapid becomes the chemical action, and all combustible bodies, at a certain temperature, undergo what is termed ‘‘ignition,” that is to say, a temperature is reached at which slow combustion passes into ordinary combustion with manifestation of flame or incandescence, the chemical combination being then so rapid that the heat evolved is manifest to our eyesight, whilst a still greater increase in the rapidity of combustion will in some cases bring about the most rapid form of combustion, which we term ‘* explosion.” 628 NATURE [OcToBER 26, 1893 Many substances are capable of undergoing all three rates of combustion. For instance, it can readily be proved that when organic substances containing hydrogen undergo decay, some of the hydrogen present unites with the oxygen of the air to form water, and the heat generated by the combination is spread over so long a period that at no one moment of time is it perceptible to the sense. If, however, hydrogen gas be confined under pressure in a gas-holder, and allowed to escape through a jet into the air, on being ignited it burns with an intensely hot flame, the heat energy of which can be converted, by suitable contrivances, into other forms of energy, such as mechanical force. In this case as much hydrogen is converted into water in the course of a minute as would have been formed in some years by the process of slow combustion, and the increase in calorific intensity obtained is solely due to the increased rate of combustion, the total thermal value of the hydrogen being the same, whether it is burnt by a slow process taking years, or a rapid one in a minute. If now the same volume of hydrogen be mixed with sufficient air to supply it with the oxygen required to convert it into water, and if a light be applied to the mixture, the hydrogen being side by side with the oxygen necessary for its conversion into water, combustion takes place with enormous rapidity, and the intense heat generated expands the vapour formed to such an extent that an explosion results, We have now seen that during the deeay or slow oxidation of combustible bodies, heat is generated, and that it is only necessary for this heat to reach a certain point, z.¢. the point of ignition, for the little noticeable slow combustion to become ordinary combustion with its manifestation of flame and in- candescence, and it is this action to which the term spontaneous combustion has been given. When the combustible substance has a great affinity for oxygen, and at the same time a low point of ignition, spon- taneous combustion will take place with great ease. Indeed, in some cases, such as that of phosphorus, we are obliged to pre- vent the access of air to the body if we wish to prevent ignition taking place, and we also find that the finer the state of divi- sion of the substance, the more readily will its spontaneous ignition take place, not because dividing the body up in any way lowers the point of ignition, but because the increase in the size of the surface exposed to the oxidising action of the air is so much increased, that the heat is generated with greater rapidity than it can be dissipated. If we take a piece of phos- phorus, and expose it to the action of the air, it almost directly commences to give off white fumes, and if the weather is warm, it will in the course of a short space of time even ignite ;. in cold weather, however, it may be left until it has nearly all undergone slow oxidation without ignition. If, however, we dissolve it in the liquid called bisulphide of carbon, and pour some of this solution upon a piece of blotting-paper or linen, the carbon bisulphide, being highly volatile, will all evaporate, and leave the phosphorus in such a fine state of division that it will at once spontaneously ignite. In practically all of the cases of spontaneous ignition which come under our notice, we have the heat evolved during the slow combustion kept in by the presence of a mass of non- conducting material, and this heat being unable to escape gradually grows higher and higher, the chemical combination becoming more and more rapid as the temperature increases, sae we reach the point at which ignition of the mass takes place. Sometimes, also, the increase in temperature necessary to bring about spontaneous ignition is partly due to physical actions. If a gas be suddenly compressed heat is always evolved, a fact prettily shown by the so-called fire syringe, in which the heat evolved by the compression of air is sufficient to ignite a piece of German tinder. Certain bodies have the power of absorbing many times their own volume of gases, and in doing this they not only give rise to a certain increase in temperature, due to the compression of the absorbed gas upon their surfaces or in their pores, but they also increase the chemical activity of the gas so compressed. Carbon is one of those substances which possess to an extra- ordinary degree the power of attracting and condensing gases upon their surface, this power varying with the state of division of the particular form of carbon used. The charcoal obtained from dense forms of wood, such as box, exhibits this property to a high degree, one cubic inch of such charcoal absorbing— according to Saussure— NO. 1252 VOL. 48] Ammonia gas 90 cubic inches Sulphuretted hydroge 55 ” ” Carbon monoxide 35 ” . Ethylene—olefiant gas 35 ” ” Oxygen “ 9°25 55 ” Nitrogen 65. ” Se This absorption is very rapid at first, but gradually decreases, and is, moreover, influenced very much by temperature, It is at first purely mechanical, and itself causes a rise of temperature, which in the case of charcoal formed in closed retorts, as in pre- paring alder, willow, and dogwood charcoal for powder making, would produce spontaneous ignition ifit were not placed in sealed cooling vessels for some days before exposure to air. The rate of absorption varies with the amount of surface exposed, and is, therefore, able to take part in this condensing action, so that when charcoal is finely powdered, the exposed surface being much greater, absorption becomes more rapid, and rise of temperature at once takes place. If, after it has been made charcoal, it is kept for a day out of contact with air, and is then ground down into a powder, it will frequently fire after exposure to the air for thirty-six hours, whilst a heap of charcoal powder of one hundred bushels or more will always ignite. It is for this reason that in making the charcoal for powder it is always kept, after burning, for three or four days in air-tight cylinders before picking over, and ten days to a fortnight before it is ground. Ne There are several very interesting points with regard to the spontaneous combustion of charcoal, which call for more atten- tion than has yet been devoted to it. It is self-evident that the more porous a body is, the greater amount of exposed surface will be available for the condensation of gases, and the great power that charcoal has of absorption is undoubtedly due to its great porosity. Now the temperature at which wood can be carbonised varies very considerably, and wood will begin to char ; that is to say, will begin to be converted into charcoal at temperatures very little above that of boiling water, and in the manufacture of some of the newer kinds of gunpowder the charcoal is formed by heating with superheated steam. Charcoal formed at this low temperature, however, still con- tains large quantities of hydrogen and hydrocarbons, and is not nearly so porous as charcoal made at a high temperature ; and although the diminution in porosity reduces the quantity of oxygen absorbed, yet another cause which tends still more to dangerous rise of temperature comes into play. When a substance condenses oxygen upon its surface from the atmosphere, the gas is in a very chemically active condition, and will bring about chemical combination with considerable rapidity. For instance, if a piece of platinum foil be heated to redness, so as to drive off all gases from its surface, and be then allowed to cool until it ceases to be visibly red, and is held in a stream of mixed air and coal gas, or air and hydro- gen, it again becomes red-hot, owing to the chemical combination of these substances upon its surface ; that is to say, it has been able to condense these gases together and set up combustion. If now charcoal be burnt at a high temperature, the carbon is in a dense condition, and resists to a considerable extent the setting-up of chemical action by the oxygen condensed and absorbed in its pores, but ifit has been formed at a low tempera- ture, this condensed oxygen will rapidly act upon the hydro- carbons and hydrogen still remaining in the mass, and will raise in this way the temperature to a dangerous point; and it is more than probable that very many it ers fires have been brought about by beams and woodwork becoming charred in contact with flues and heating pipes. 5 It has been experimentally determined that when wood has been charred at 500° it will take fire spontaneously when the temperature is raised in the presence of air to 680°, and that when wood has been carbonised at 260° a temperature of 340° only is required for its spontaneous ignition. tt a beam is in contact during the winter months with a heated flue, or even steam-pipes, it becomes carbonised upon its surface,’ and during the summer, when the flue or pipe is probably not at work, it absorbs air and moisture, and during the next winter it again becomes heated and further carbonised, whilst the mois- ture and air are driven out, leaving the pores in a condition eminently adapted for the absorption of more air as soon as the temperature is allowed to fall, and in many cases sufficient heat is generated to cause the charred mass to smoulder and, when air is freely admitted to it, to burst into flame. OcTOBER 26, 1893] NATURE 629 In the case of charcoal burnt at a higher temperature, it may be taken that the cause of heating is to a great extent physical, whilst in the low-burnt charcoal it becomes chemical as well as physical, and it is this chemical action which is the most dan- gerous, and acts in most cases of spontaneous combustion. The spontaneous ignition of coal has been the cause of an enormous number of serious accidents, and the earliest theory as to its cause was that it was due to the heat given out during the oxidation of the pyrites or ‘‘coal brasses,”’ which are com- pounds of sulphur and iron,and are present in varying quantities in nearly all coal. This idea has held its ground nearly up to the present time, in spite of the researches of Dr. Richters, who twenty years ago showed the explanation was an erroneous one, and even earlier, in 1864, Dr. Percy pointed out that the cause of spontaneous ignition was probably the oxidation of the coal, and that the pyrites had but little todo withit. Pyrites is found in coal in several different forms, sometimes as a dark powder closely resembling coal itself, and in larger quantities in thin golden-looking layers in the cleavage of the coal, whilst sometimes again it is found in masses and veins of considerable size ; these masses, however, are very heavy and are carefully picked out from the coal, and utilised in various manufactures. The yellow pyrites,and even the dark varieties, when in the crystalline: form, remain practically unaltered, even after long exposure to moist air, but the amorphous and finely divided portions will oxidise and effloresce with great rapidity, and it is during this oxidation that the heat is supposed to be generated. Some coals that are very liable to spontaneous ignition only contain 0’8 per cent. of pyrites, and if we imagine this to be concentrated in one spot instead of being spread over the whole mass, and to be oxidised in avfew hours, the temperature would rise only a few degrees, and under ordinary circumstances this rise in temperature would be practically inappreciable. The oxidisation of masses of pyrites under certain conditions gives rise to the formation of ferrous sulphate and sulphur dioxide, with liberation of sulphur, and one might easily imagine that this free sulphur, which has an igniting point of 250° C., would play an important part in the action by lowering the point of ignition, This, however, could only happen with large masses of pyrites undergoing oxidation, and with the small amount of pyrites present in coal, supposing air were present in sufficient quantity to oxidise it, the sulphur formed would be converted into sulphur dioxide at temperatures as low as 60°C. This oxidation of sulphur at low temperatures is an action not generally known, but in my experiments I have found it takes place with considerable rapidity. The only way in which pyrites can assist the spontaneous ignition of coal is that when it oxidises, it swells and splits up the coal, thus exposing fresh surfaces to the action of the atmospheric oxygen. T have carefully determined the igniting points of several kinds of coal, and find that Cannel coal ignites at 698° F. = 370°C. Hartlepool coal ,, ,, 766%F. = 408°C, Lignite coal 95:1 389 O42 deo, 450-0. Welsh steam coal ,,_ _,, 870° F. = 477°C. So that it is impossible for the small trace of pyrites scattered through a large mass of coal, and slowly undergoing oxidation, to raise the temperature to the necessary degree. When coal is heating, a distinctive and penetrating odour is evolved, which is the same as that noticed when wood is scorched, and the gases produced consist of nitrogen, water vapour. carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons of the paraffin series, and sulphuretted hydrogen, the presence of the latter gas showing beyond doubt that oxidation of the sulphur has nothing to do with the action. , Ever since coal has been generally adopted as a fuel, it has been recognised that great care was necessary in the storing and shipment of masses exceeding 1000 tons, and ifthe coal has been stored wet or in a broken state, firing or heating of the mass has frequently taken place. Much inconvenience and loss has been caused by this on shore, but the real danger has occurred during shipment, and owing to this many a vessel has been lost is all hands, without any record of the calamity reaching shore. Owing to the greater facility for treating the coal when it becomes heated on shore in coal stores and gas works, absolute ignition only rarely takes place, and it is mainly from, evidence obtained in the. case of coal cargoes that we learn most as to the causes which lead to it, NO. 1252, VOL. 48] Coal is a substance of purely vegetable origin, formed out of contact with air, by long exposure to heat and pressure, from the woody fibre and resinous. constituents. of a monster vegetation which flourished long before the earth was inhabited by man. Coaltherefore may be looked upon as a form of char- coal, which having been formed at a temperature lower than that of the charcoal-burner’s heap, and under great pressure, is very dense, and still contains a quantity of these constituents which, in the ordinary burning, are driven off as wood naphtha, tar, &c., and these bodies consist of compounds containing essentially carbon and hydrogen, together with a little oxygen and nitrogen, and form the volatile matter and hydrocarbons of the coal. Coal also contains, besides these, certain. mineral bodies, which were present in the fibre and sap of the original wood, and these form the ash which is left behind on the coal being burnt. These mineral substances consist almost entirely of gypsum or sulphate of lime, silica, and alumina, together with some oxide of iron, which gives the colour to the reddish-brown ash of many coals, and which has been formed by the decom- position of the pyrites in the original coal, The mineral constituents of coal are the only ones, with the exception of the pyrites, that play no part in ithe phenomena attending the heating and spontaneous ignition of coal, and we need therefore only regard the actions which take place when the carbon, hydrocarbons, and pyrites in freshly-won coal come in contact with air and moisture. Certain kinds of coal exhibit the same power of absorbing gases which charcoal has, although to a less degree. The absorptive power of new coal due to this surface attraction varies, but the least absorbent will take up one and a-quarter times its own volume of oxygen, whilst in some coal more than three times their volume of the gas is absorbed, which gives rise to an increase in temperature, and tends to increase the rate of the action which is going on, but is rarely sufficient to bring about spontaneous ignition, as only about one-third the amount of oxygen being absorbed by coal that is taken up by charcoal, and the action being much slower, tends to prevent the temperature reaching the high ignition point of the coal. All coal contains a certain proportion of hydrogen, with which some of the carbon is combined, together with the nitrogen and oxygen, forming the volatile matter in the coal. The amount of this volatile matter varies greatly, anthracite containing the smallest quantity, and cannel and shale the largest. When the carbon of the coal absorbs oxygen, the compressed gas becomes chemically very active, and soon commences to combine with the carbon and hydrogen of the bituminous portions, converting them into carbon dioxide and water vapour. As the temperature rises so this chemical activity increases, so that the heat generated by the absorption of the oxygen causes it to rapidly enter into chemical combination. This kind of chemical combination— oxidation—is always accompanied by heat, and this further rise of temperature helps the rapidity of oxidation, so that the temperature rises steadily ; and this taking place in a large mass of coal, which from physical causes is an admirable non- conductor, will often cause such heating of the mass that if sufficient air can pass into the heap in order to continue the action the igniting point of the coal will be reached. It has been suggested that very bituminous coal, such as cannel and shale, are liable to spontaneous ignition from the fact that heavy oils would exude from them on a rise of temperature, and that these, by oxidising, might produce rapid heating. Experi- ment, however, shows that this is not the case, and that the heavy mineral oils have a decided effect in retarding heating. We can now trace the actions which culminate in ignition. As soon as the coal is brought to bank, absorption of oxygen commences, but except under rare conditions the coal does not heat to any great extent, as the exposed surface is comparatively small, and the largeness of the masses allows of the air having free access to all parts, so keeping down the temperature. After the coal has been screened and the large pieces of pyrites picked out, it is put in trucks, Here it begins to get broken up, owing to the many joltings and shuntings, and so offers a larger surface to the action of the air. When it has arrived at the ship, it is further broken up by being shot down the tips or shoots, and more harm is done at this than at any other period, for the coal is broken by reason of the distance it has to fall, and it has to bear the impact of every succeeding load falling upon it, and it rapidly becomes slack, so that the under part of the ship-load is a dense mass of small coal, which soon rises in temperature by reason of the large surface exposed to the air and the con- 630 NATURE [OcToBER 26, 1893 sequent absorption of oxygen. This sets up chemical com- bination between the oxygen absorbed by the coal and the hydrocarbons, and in some cases culminates in combustion. It is found that the mass of coal exercises a most important action in the liability to spontaneous combustion, as although with 500 tons of coal to the cargo the cases of spontaneous com- bustion amount to only about 4 per cent. when the bulk is increased to 2000 tons, cases of spontaneous combustion rise to 9 per cent., this being due to the fact that the larger the cargo the more non-conducting material will there be to keep in the heat, and also to the fact that the breaking-up of the coal and the exposing fresh surfaces will of course increase with increase in mass ; and it is also found that coal cargoes sent to European ports rarely undergo spontaneous combustion, whilst the number of cases rise to a startling extent in shipments made to Asia, Africa, and America. The result is party due to the length of time the cargo is in the vessel, the absorption and oxidation being a comparatively slow process, but the main cause is the increase of heat in the tropics, which causes the action to become more rapid ; and if statistics had been taken, most of the ships would have been found to have developed active combustion some- where about the neighbourhood of the Cape, the action fostered in the tropics having raised the temperature to the igniting point by that time. Moisture has a most remarkable effect upon the spontaneous ignition of coal. The absorption of oxygen is at first retarded by external wetting, but after a time the presence of moisture accelerates the action of the absorbed oxygen upon the coal, and so causes a serious increase of heat. The researches of Cowper, Baker, Dixon, and others, have of late years so fully shown the important part which moisture plays in actions of this kind, that it is now recognised as‘a most important factor. A very marked case of the influence of moisture came under my notice a few months ago. A ship took in a cargo of coal at a South Welsh port, the weather being fine and dry whilst’ she was loading at ' the main hatch, but wet whilst she was taking in the coal at the after-hatch, the result being that the temperature in a few days was uniformly about 10° higher in the coal that had been loaded wet, than in the dry portion of the cargo, spontaneous ignition being the final result at the after-hatch. In order to prevent the spontaneous ignition of large masses of coal, it is manifest that every precaution should be taken during loading or storing to prevent crushing of the coal, and on no account must a large accumulation of small coal be allowed. Where possible the depth of coal in the store should not exceed 6 to 8 feet, and under no conditions must steam-pipes or flues be allowed so near the mass of coal as to give rise to any increase of temperature. These precautions would amply suffice to prevent spontaneous ignition in stored coal on land, whilst special precautions would have to be taken in the case of coal for shipment. Perhaps: he commonest’ case of spontaneous combustion is the ignition of oily waste or greasy cotton rags. Nearly all vegetable and animal oils have the power of slowly absorbing oxygen, and in some of them this goes on with considerable rapidity, with conversion of the oil into a. resin, a property which gives them the power of drying, and causes a consider- able rise of temperature. A mass of oil, however, only ex- poses a very small surface to the oxidising influence of the air, but when such oil comes to be spread upon any non- conducting fabric, the oxidisation is very rapid, and the non- conducting power of the fibre of the fabric prevents the rapid dispersion of the heat, with the result that even a small quantity of such oily substance will readily inflame. There are plenty of well-authenticated cases in which even a handful of oily cotton waste, which has been used for polish- ing furniture, has ignited when thrown on one side, and caused most disastrous fires, Just twenty years ago Mr. Galletly read a most valuable paper before the Chemical Section of the British Association, in which he showed that the liability of oils to produce spontaneous combustion was in proportion to their tendency to dry. If a substance like cotton-waste be rendered oily with anything except the mineral oils, it acquires the power of taking up oxygen from the air, and this gives rise to heat. The oxidation is slow at ordinary temperatures, and accord- ingly it may be some time before the increase of temperature becomes manifest ; but when this point is reached, the action proceeds with great rapidity, and the point of ignition is reached in a very short time, and then the mass burstsinto flame. If the oily matter be placed ina warm position at first, spontaneous NO. 1252, VOL. 48| ignition. may take place within a few hours, or even minutes. Galletly found that oily cotton at ordinary temperatures took some days to heat and ignite, whilst if placed in a chamber warmed to 130° to 170° F. (54° to 76° C.} the cotton greasy with boiled linseed ignited in 1 hour 15 minutes, and olive oil on cotton in 5 hours; and in a chamber heated to 180° to real F. (82° to 93° C.) olive oil on cotton ignited in two ours. 5 4 Cases of spontaneous combustion, due to this cause, have been more abundant than from any other, and cases are even on record where serious fires have resulted from sparrows using oily waste in the construction of their nests. In all well- regulated workshops the orders against allowing any accumula- tion of oily waste are very stringent, and the most reasonable precaution to be taken is that all oily material, when done with, should be thrown into a metaljvessel containing water, or which, ,at any rate, can be either emptied of waste or filled with water at night. If a sheet of cotton be hanging in a warm room and is splashed with oil, a hole will often be found charred in the fabric by the next morning, whilst if a few drops of a drying oil be allowed to fall on powdered charcoal or lamp-black, ignition is almost certain to follow in a few hours. Another common case of spontaneous ignition is that of hay- stacks which have been made up before the has been thoroughly dried, this being due to the sap left in the vegetable fibre undergoing fermentation, which being a process of oxida- tion gives rise to heat. This heat is kept in by the surrounding hay, which is an admirable non-conductor of heat, and gradually increases until the ignition point of the mass is reached, when thestack bursts into flame. In some cases the action does not goas faras this, and we often see the inside of a haystack charred to an almost black colour, showing that the action has sto; > but little short of the point required to give active combu this being probably due to the stack having. been _ closely built, and the access ofair to the centre being small, and in some cases, when such a rick is cut, the air coming in contact with the central portion causes active ignition. If hay has once been properly dried, and then becomes wetted with rain, spon- taneous ignition hardly ever takes place, although the hay becomes mouldy, and it is evident that the action which leads to ignition of the hay is fermentation of the sap. yb ape Having now discussed the more common cases of spontaneous ignition, and seen that in every case it is due to rise of tem- perature, brought about by chemical action until the igniting point of the substance is reached, we are in a position to under- stand the impossibility of spontaneous combustion taking place in the human body. t The process of respiration by which the tissues of the body used up in every action, voluntary or involuntary, are got rid of by a process of slow combustion, gives a normal temperature to the living body, and it might seem, at first sight, possible by pre- venting the escape of such temperature, to increase it to a point at which ignition might be possible ; but we know by experience that the effect of swathing the body in non-conducting materials, so as to prevent the escape of heat from it, results in profuse perspiration, and before the living flesh could undergo com- bustion it would be necessary to drive from it the whole of the moisture which it contains. : The human body contains from 75 to 80 per cent. of its weight of water, and in order to evaporate this amount, an enormous amount of heat would be required, and life would have been impossible long before the necessary dryness of the mass had been arrived at. In fact, the moisture present in the body may be looked upon as its great safeguard against the’ effect of heat, and it is perfectly. possible for a living man to re- main in an oven which would roast a steak or cook an egg ; the evaporation of water from the skin taking up so much heat that the temperature of the living flesh would never rise above a cer- tain point until the moisture was exhausted. It used to be sup- posed that the cases of spontaneous combustion took place in people whose intemperate habits had caused the body to 2 saturated with alcohol, and that it was this substance which caused its ready ignition; but as Liebig pointed out, some forty years ago, the presence of the alcohol could have no effect, as if we take a sponge and soak it in spirits of wine and ignite it, the alcohol burns away and leaves the sponge untouched, and the same thing would undoubtedly happen in the case of the living flesh. 3 In this lecture I have tried to bring before you the important fact that spontaneous combustion merely means that the heat due OcrToseR 26, 1893] NATURE 631 to chemical actions taking place in any substance, heat which has been unable to escape has raised the temperature to the point of ignition, a point at which slow combustion passes into rapid combustion with manifestation ofincandescence ; and in speaking of spontaneous combustion, we must clearly remember that it ‘represents merely the acceleration of an action which has been going on slowly and surely, although our senses may have been too deadened to detect it, and that if we wished to be hyper- critical, ‘* Unaided Ignition,” or ‘‘ Natural Ignition,” would be a far more correct term to apply to it than ‘‘ Spontaneous Combustion.” UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—The following appointments in connection with the scientific departments are announced::—Mr. Francis Darwin, Reader in Botany, to he Deputy Professor in the place of Prof, Babington, who is still unable to lecture ; Dr. D. MacAlister to - be Assessor to the Regius Professor of Physics; Dr. Hill, Master of Downing, and Dr. H. D. Rolleston to be Examiners in Anatomy; Dr. A. S. Lea and Prof. Schiifer to be Examiners in Physiology ; Dr. W. J. Sollas and Mr. P. Lake (St. John’s) to be Examiners in Geol»gy; Mr. Skinner (Christ’s) to be an Examiner in Chemistry ; Prof, J. J. Thomson and Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald (of Dublin) to be. Examiners in Physics; Mr. A. Sedgwick (Trinity) and Mr. W. Bateson (St. John’s) to be Examiners in Zoology ; Prof. Lewis and Mr, H. A. Miers to be Examiners in Mineralogy; Mr. Seward (St. John’s) and Prof. D, E. Oliver to be Examiners in Botany. rof. Sir R. S. Ball has been appointed an Elector to the Isaac Newton Astronomy Studentships. f The Moderators and Examiners for the next Mathematical Tripos (Part I:) aré Mr. Walsh (Jesus), Mr. Dawson (Christ’s), Mr. Burnside (Pembroke), and Mr. Whitehead (Trinity). For the Second Part, Dr. Forsyth, Sir R. S. Ball, Prof. Lamb, and _Mr. H. F. Baker (St. John’s) are to examine. Mrs. E. J. Moore, daughter of the late Colonel Fletcher, has presented to the University her father’s valuable collection of Silurian fossils, in supplement of the Fletcher collection pur- chased many years ago for the Woodwardian Museum. The Clerk Maxwell Studentship in Experimental Physics, of the value of about 4180 a year, tenable for three years, is vacant by the resignation of Mr. W. Cassie, who has been ap- pointed to a professorship at the Royal Holloway College. Candidates must be members of the University who have been a student for one term or more at the Cavendish Laboratory. The names of applicants are to be sent to Prof. J. J. Thomson before November 18. A grant of £100 from the Worts Travelling Scholars Fund has been made to F. W. Keeble, Frank Smart student of Caius College, to enable him to pursue botanical research in Ceylon. An examination for scholarships and exhibitions in Natural Science, of the value of £80 a year and under, will be held at Trinity College on Tuesday, October 31. AT the annual meeting of the New Decimal Association, on October 18, Mr. Samuel Montagu, M.P., remarked that there was a prospect of the United States adopting the metric system as well as a decimal system of coinage. Efforts had been made to induce Mr. Acland to instruct inspectors to examine in the metric system in those schools where it was taught, and, in a letter received from the Education Department on the subject, it was said: ‘The Code does not prescribe knowledge of the metric system, but of the principles of that system—z.e. of the diminution of quantities by tenths, and their increase by tens, with examples sufficient to illustrate the conveniences of the system. Her Majesty’s inspectors are required to satisfy themselves that the principles as thus defined are properly taught. It is proposed - issue ® memorandum to inspectors on the point at an early ate. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American Fournal of Science, October.—On endothermic reactions effected by mechanical force, by M. Carey Lea. The object of this investigation was to find whether the blackening NO. 1252, VOL. 48] effects of pressure upon the silver haloids and other salts could be made immediately visible to the eye, instead of after the application of a reducing agent. For this purpose the pressure was increased to about a million pounds per square inch, or about seventy thousand atmospheres. This pressure was obtained by means of a vicé actuated by a screw with six turns to the inch and a lever three feet long. The nuts had to be four inches in length to prevent stripping of the thread. The jaws were specially constructed, and faced with steel welded on. The materials experimented upon were wrapped in platinum or silver foil, which remained unaffected by the pressure. Silver sulphite and carbonate were moderately darkened by two days’ pressure, and silver salicylate considerably so. Salts of mercury also showed pronounced effects, which prove that mechanical force can bring about endothermic reactions corresponding to those affected by light, heat, and other forms of energy.—Con- ditions of Appalachian faulting, by Bailey Willis and C. Willard Hayes. The authors discuss the antecedent conditions for the development, the mechanics of step-folds and thrust-faults as bearing upon actually observed Appalachian structure, and the direction from which the compressing force acted. They come to the conclusion that the latter was equal in opposite directions, and directed north-westward and south-eastward.—On the separation of copper from cadmium by the iodide method, by Philipp E. Browning. The copper was precipitated from a mixed solution by potassium iodide, and filtered through an asbestos felt, washed, dried at 120° C. and weighed. The fil- trate and washings containing the cadmium were heated to boiling, and sufficient sodium carbonate was added to complete the precipitation. The precipitate was washed with hot water until free from sulphate or iodide. The crucible containing the cadmium carbonate was heated gently at first, then gradually to a higher degree until the white carbonate had changed to the brown oxide. The method, as tested by. means of standard solutions, is fairly accurate, and it is simple in manipulation. — Also papers by Messrs. Foerste, Hidden, Wheeler, Eakins, Williams, Penfield, and Marsh. THE American Meteorological Journal for October contains an account, by A. L. Rotch, of the establishment of a meteoro- logical station at Charchani, near Arequipa, at an altitude of 16,650 feet, which is said to be the highest station in the world. A sum of money was left to Harvard College Ob:ervatory by U. A. Boyden, tor the purpose of establishing an observatory at a high station, and owing to the remarkable clearness of the air at Arequipa, Peru, this situation was selected for the purpose. The establishment is fully equipped with instru- ments and is 8,050 feet above the sea; to the north-east and ten miles distant is the quiescent volcano of the. Misti, 19,000 feet in altitude, and twelve miles north rises Charchani, 20,000 feet high. The meteorological station now in question has been established just below the permanent snow line, and is supplied with self-recording aneroid and thermometers. The ascent from the permanent observatory, 8,600 feet below, can be made by mule in about eight hours, and an assistant is en- trusted with the duty of visiting the station periodically to attend to the records. The results of the observations at both stations will be published in the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory, and will furnish a valuable addition to our know- ledge of mountain meteorology. In the same number, Prof. G. E. Curtis gives an analysis of the causes of rainfall, with especial relations ‘to surface condi- tions. Among these a principal question is whether forestation increases and deforestation decreases the rainfall. The author considers that the influence of forests has been over-estimated, and that if they affect the rainfall, the amount has, in most cases, not been greater than the amount of probable error in the observations themselves, and therefore that the statistics give no assurance that the effect is not an error of observation. If the rainfall is increased it must be due either to an increase of evaporation, and its subsequent precipitation over the same region, or to the diversion of rain to the forest area, which might have fallen elsewhere. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Paris. Academy of Sciences, October 16.—M. Lewy in the chair.—On the stability of equilibrium of the axis of the gyroscopic top, by M. H. Resal.—On the partial differen- tial equation presented in the theory of the vibrations 632 NATURE [Ocroser 26, 1893 of a membrane, by Enile Picard —Oa the crystallisation of water hy decompression below zero, by M» E. H. Amagat. The experiments were performed with the appara- tus provided with glass sights used for studying the solidi- fication of liquids under pressure. But the conical sights mounted in ivory were apt to split into plates, and lose their transparency under high pressures. Cylindrical pieces mounted with marine glue were substituted, some of which resisted pres- sures up to 1800 atmospheres. The water enclosed in the steel cylinder was first solidified and maintained at a temperature below zero. By gradually raising the pressure, the ice was fused and made to disappear completely. On diminishing the pressure, crystals were deposited on the inner surface of the glass, just as in the case of bodies denser in the solid state when the pressure was raised. The phenomenon is, however, rather more difficult to produce. The solidification was especially retarded when care was taken to fuse all the crystals by pressure, but even when a few fragments were left no such beautiful crystals were obtained as in the case of chloride of carbon. It would be extremely interesting to fol- low up, for a certain number of liquids, the variation of the point of fusion under very high pressures ; as the ratio of the co- efficients of compressibility of water and of ice is unknown, it may be asked whether under sufficient pressures the density of ice does not exceed that of water, thus giving rise to a point of inversion which would assimilate the behaviour of water to that of other liquids, or whether other liquids show such a point of inversion in the opposite sense. This would explain certain appearances observed in the case of chloride of carbon,—On an extension of Riemann’s method applied to equations of the second order to equations of any order, by M. Delassus.— On the third principle of energetics, by M. H. Le Chatelier. This is a reply to M. Meyerhoffer’s criticism, and shows that the term capacity for energy is differently defined by the two authors. Thermo- dynamic theory is based upon two experimental principles and an hypothesis concerning the nature of heat. The latter may be eliminated by substituting for it the experimental principle which can be expressed as follows: It is impossible to extract energy from a system of bodies without making two at least of its constituents experience changes of opposite sense. From this the proportionality of work performed and heat consumed or generated is easily deduced. It is this proportionality which enables us to reduce the number of algebraic equations to two, sufficient to represent three distinct experimental principles. —On the electric conveyance of heat, by M. L. Houllevigue. The difference of potential between a conductor and iron is dif- ferent accordingly as the iron is magnetised or not. One joint of a copper-iron couple was brought into a magnetic field, and the other left out. Since this arrangement could not give rise to a steady current without creating energy, an opposing electromotive force was to be expected between the variously magnetised parts of the iron. Such a differ- ence of potential was, in fact, found, the balance being in favour of the less magnetised portions.—On some properties of the oxides of lead, by M. A. Bonnet.—On the interior tem- perature of bread coming out of the oven, by M. Balland. Experiments performed on various kinds of bread from different. ovens show that the temperature of the crumb during baking reaches 100° or 102°, that of the crust being much higher. When beyond 100° the steam imprisoned by the crust is under a certain pressure. If this pressure is relaxed by the bursting of the crust, the temperature of the interior falls to 100°.— Observations of the phenomena of karyokinesis in the blasto- derm cellules of the teleostea, by MM. E. Bataillon and R. Keehler.—On the germination of the Ricinus, by M. Leclerc du Sablon.—A new enemy of the vine, Blanyulus guttulatus, Fabr., by M. Fontaine. This is a myriapod which invades the buds in numbers, ranging from five to ten per bud, forming balls of the size ofa small pea, Washing with potassium sulpho- carbonate and sulphuring the soil are remedies proposed.— On some phenomena relating to the movement of the sea near Bonifacio, by M. Nicol. c DIARY OF SOCIETIES. LONDON. THURSDAY, Ocroser 26. InstiruTion oF MecHANIcat ENGINEERS, at 7.30.—On the Working of , Steam Pumps on the Russian South-Western Railways: Alexander Borodin. NO. 1252, vol. 48] : ; FRIDAY, Octover 27. Puysicat Society, at 5.—On Air-Core Transformers: E. C. Rimington.— ‘lwo Experiments on the Rings and Brushes in Crystals, and Hlectrical Radiation in Copper Filings: W. B. Croft. d SUNDAY, Ocroper 29. : Sunpav Lecture Society, at 4.—Savages and Barbarians: a Sketch of © their Institutions and their Growth from Savagery to Barbarism: Prince — Kropotkin. THURSDAY, Novemser 2. . Linnean Society, at 8.—A Contribution to the Phanerogamic Flora of © Mato Grosso and the Northern Chac»: Spencer Le Marchant Mvore.— — On a New Fresh Schizopod from T: ia: G. N. Th FRIDAY, Novemser 3. , ‘4 GEoLoGisTs’ ASSOCIATION, at 8.—Conversazione. BOOKS RECEIVED, f Booxs.—Plane Trigonometry: S. L. Loney (Camb. Univ. Press).—The Mummy : Dr. E. A. W. Budge(Camb. Univ. Press).—With the Woodlanders and by the Tide: a Son of the Marshes (Blackwood).— Romance of Low Life amongst Plants: Dr. M. C. Cooke (S. P.C. K.).—Eleventh Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey, Part 1: Geology.—Eleventh Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey, Part ii.: Irrigation: J. W. Powell (Wash- ington).—Measurement of Lignt and Colour-Sensations: J. W. Lovibond (Gull). —Results of Astronomical Observations made at Sydney Observatory, N.S.W. in the years 1879, 1280, and 1881: H.C. Russell (Sydney, Potrer)— j Horns and Hoofs, or Cnapters on Hoofed Animals: K. Lyddeker(H. Cox). —The Municipal Technical School and School ot Art, Manchester, Session © 1893-94, Syllabus (Manchester).—Round the Works uf our Principal Kail- ways (Arnold). ‘ CONTENTS. PAGK Analytical Mechanics. By Prof. A. G. Greenhill, ie cer el diet te eee - . 610 Tne American Catalogue of Medical Literature. : By Dr. Aa Tio Myere sos sk os ts eee Our Book Shelf :— ; ‘*Lehrbuch der Botanik nach dem gegenwartigen 4 Stand der Wissenschaft”. .. .. s+ +.» Glam Wettstein: ‘‘ The Elements of Natural Science” . . 612 Weld: ‘‘A Short Course in the Theory of Deter- minants” Hu ie iter pe atu yo os SA 612, Fidler: ‘‘ A Practical ‘Treatise on Bridge Construc- TON ESAS Se eee ls) 0218) Stee ae ene Ce Hatschek : ‘‘ The Amphioxus and its Development.” femctike dD hee eer iases ss oo see ye | Olam Letters to tne Kditor :— : * : The Use of Scientific Terms.—Prof. J. Burdon Sandérson, FLR-S.00°5 o.oo ee The Thieving of Antiquities. Prof, W. M. Flinders CS PORES he eae kal soo alee The Glaciation of Brazil—Sir Henry H. Howorth,. BeBe cee ess. Clee Se eater eee) Sane The Glaciation of Brazil.—Scintillation of Stars.— David Wilson Barker. ........ = sia) The Summer of 1893.—J. Lloyd Bozward ... . 614 Asymmetrical Frequency Curves.—Prof. Karl PORIBOR oe ee ee ee thas wily ORS British Association Report on Thermodynamics.—G, Hy Bryans oss hae a ee Papp tey <7 Curious Phenomenon.— William Churchill. . . . 616 Human and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford. By Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.RiS.. 0 cs Seetane “OID Celestial Photography at the Paris Observatory. (Lilwstrated. \ a csny gece ys A a oy eee. 617 Smithsonian Institution: Hodgkins Fund Prizes. By Prof. S..P. Dangiey.:.. oc inal. ioe hates Oe WIGKOS SS Gauiar en ete ood 5 fiw’ naan ga Conan Our Astronomical Column :— A New Comet. otic. .cs 5s ee tae Determination of Geographical Longitude . ... . 623 Astronomy and Astro-Physics at Chicago... . . 623 A New Astronomical Observatory at Manila. . . . 623 The Visibility of Venus to the Naked Eye . . . . . 623 Meyer’s Conversational Lexicon ......-.- 623 Geographical Notes .......... it ey The Thickness and Electrical Conductivity of Thin Liquid Films. By A. W. Reinold, F.R.S. . . . 624 Spontaneous Combustion. by Prof. Vivian B. LB WO6 2.05 came ye me ae we EN , | University and Educational Inteligence .... . 631 Scientific Seriaiesy co css s. +..> ia se aaemny ecamneeny TR Societies and Academies. ......+-++.-. >» Oge Diary of Societies. ae. ose ear anes hes - 632 Books Received ote eee. ae ees { 632 ie ae eee Lay, ae ta tt Se ia te DINVING SEU. MAN 40 WIG Nast gute x H4 fingaatess ideale ; ‘ sigh tie stepeee, i GES aren : ‘ Me : 5 ; ; ; aheos et z ee. : avtnee , ens 4 i = sayfa me Hy * f + eee ‘a 1) oe + Fy ‘ cen ise wet r ma : : % F mi a . waste wre ; ; 3. Ws fat tay ttt Scare ie fs : : 7 ae Shen a hat Boob i eh 42 fi P) = ew! : ( i tii bar 5 : ; : : ; a pet * Cnet) thie a : ; 3 Lape Waynes ; i m r : ; ee rep h, mlabetsg i ods se edie othe in F sens Whe ‘ eee H atl eee ser nn s ; ; ye focal { : a | i F sate Ant ; ieee SES tre eee aes va . H : F ; ; wS Seana Bash S wt : Ae fe Senay ; ; ; F yest a . i : : " Noeys a ape At ay 4 rs : tekstas . ‘ ae aint 33 since Mis : : : ; : : aS : BE ‘ vss ; i ‘ i ii i ; ee dae! x : i x er : ‘ : melts ee : ante oP Try ate ‘ ia a { : 7 ran Pe) “ whet Hen tera - i e4 ies ' ve toe ely i \ : i \